The Suffering Servant - Introduction
Isaiah 52:13-Isaiah 53:12 · Vern Peterman · Dec 3, 2006
Isaiah, No. 46
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926010303073

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

A good and blessed morning. We're going to be proceeding into this rich passage that Wayne wisely read just a portion of this morning. Before we do that, though, I just want to point out, as Wayne highlighted, there are some maps, and it has some key clues that you'll need. The church building is substantial, but finding it, the clues are not as substantial. So I suggest you get a hold of the map if you haven't gotten it already. One other thing, if you're going to this service, I'd like to ask for your help. We're going to be singing some congregational hymns that a good number of people there may not know. And they're ones that we have sung here recently. So I'd like to enlist your help. Unless you really feel it's painful, sing up.

OK? All right. Oh, that's not right. Yeah, that's better, sort of. One of the things that's sort of subtle here is we've had some projects that the Deacons have been working on, the windows here and some things in the back. So anyway, we greatly appreciate that. But you might not have noticed because they're a bit subtle. But anyway, I just want to. Bring those to your attention.

Now, this time of year when people are looking for the right size Christmas tree, and that can be tough. Sometimes just getting the right size can be a real rough chore, and I know that. That's just one of the challenges of the season. You may have also been doing various kinds of shopping for lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of Christmas presents.

We know that. We know this is also a time of year when you have to endure endless long lines. Incredible. It seems like they don't move either. That's the other part. The long lines are not the half of it. We also know that you've been walking through malls, walking through long shopping centers. You've been comparison shopping and different things. You've been walking across large parking lots. Of course, the open available places are on the far end away from the store. So I know you've just been walking your baby toes off.

But anyway, we do want to focus on the passenger this morning. We are galloping into, now having begun, Isaiah 53 and verses just preceding that of chapter 52. And so we will be doing that up until the beginning of next year, at least the first Sunday. and proceeding at it, we're, after having kind of paced our way through the book of Isaiah, selecting passages, this is one we're going to hover on for a while, because there's such rich material in it, and you'll see why as we go through it. We've been mentioning for some weeks now the Servant Songs, and this is actually the fourth Servant Song out of the four in the Isaiah series. And so this is a servant song that we're proceeding through. And as we go through, one more bit of warning as we go. Right in here, they mention sheep. So just be prepared. At some point, you're probably going to get a farm story or two. OK, just so you know. All right. Actually, it was a year ago today that we started the Arizea study.

And one of the things we pointed out is that about 20 percent of the quotes of the Old Testament in the New are of Isaiah. So one out of every five times, roughly, where the New Testament quotes an Old Testament book, it's Isaiah. Now, we know also that pie charts and percentages can put a lot of you over the edge, and so we've done it this way, okay?

Hopefully it's a little bit more seasonally appropriate and a little more to your appetite. All right. One of the things we want to point out here, most of the references to Isaiah in the New Testament, remember we said about one out of every five, are out of this passage here. So it's a rich passage, one that the New Testament sees as kind of the main center point, maybe not numerically, but in terms of content of the book of Isaiah.

Alright, now as we go Through this passage, and we're kind of surveying, one of the things we want to present here is that this passage is kind of like a sandwich. Okay? I know that's a tough thing to bring up just before lunch, but I'll make the comparison anyway. Kind of like a sandwich.

What do I mean by that? First few verses on the top, that's the bottom, the top bun, alright? And then the bottom, there's the bottom part of the sandwich, okay? The part that Wayne read is the middle part of the sandwich. All right. And we'll be proceeding through that. Now, what do I mean by this sandwich idea? It means that there's there's a top and the bottom and that there's some content in the middle. And putting that aside, there's another comparison we can make that will perhaps make it more understandable. And that is it's a chiasm. All right.

Is a mirror image in writing. It starts off and ends off on the theme. that has a middle section, using this here if you don't get dizzy by hanging upside down half the time. Similar idea, it's a mirror image in writing is the concept. It has this beginning introduction of three verses that kind of presents an enigma, both exaltation and humiliation. In the first three verses of the passage, There's a middle section, which divides up into three. And then there's a finishing section of three verses, which kind of answers the enigma and helps address that. So this is a passage that has this mirror image pattern to it. All right.

Now, a chiasm is a Jewish way of writing. The Jews often wrote this way, even into the New Testament. And frequently, as we've been through Isaiah, we've seen this mirror image kind of writing. So it's a Jewish way of writing things. Even the Apostle Paul in passages we've studied has had these chiasms built into the way he wrote. So while we're looking at this, of course, this is a Jewish passage. Here it is Isaiah, a Jew, writing to an audience at his time, primarily of Jews. And since we're asking Jewish questions, we want to ask this question. How have the Jews looked at this passage? What's been their viewpoint as they look at this passage?

You got stars in your eyes or something? Okay. So the thought is, what's been the Jewish thinking about this passage? How have they thought about it? What's the Jewish brain been thinking about this one? By the way, there's been a lot of good Jewish brains, so think about that. What has been the Jewish perspective on this passage? After all, think about it. It was a Jew that wrote this. It was the Jews who continued copying Isaiah very carefully for centuries. What did they think? What's interesting is we go back to records that date from around the time of the New Testament and shortly before and after.

The rabbis, it appears, looked at the Old Testament passages and they actually thought that there were two messiahs. They thought about the two messiahs being, they called them Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David. Messiah ben Joseph would suffer and die. Messiah ben David would reign. So two messiahs was the way they looked at it.

This Joseph was not the Joseph who was the father of Jesus. They saw it as Joseph after the character of Joseph, the son of Jacob, the one who was thought by Joseph to be dead for years. The one who went and was falsely accused by Potiphar. the one who spent time in the prison. That Joseph was the way it was looked at.

The word Ben, by the way, means son. There was also the second Messiah, Messiah Ben David, Messiah son of David, the one who would reign like King David. Now, as it happens, The one about Messiah ben David, Messiah son of David, him reigning was the one that was popularized far more, was the one that was taught and brought out into the public eye. The rabbis tend to be more quiet about this Messiah ben Joseph, partly because they didn't understand it very well, which becomes more apparent. of the Jewish anticipation of the Messiah was centered around Messiah ben David, the one who had come to reign, the one who had come to boot out all the enemies, the one who would bring peace and give the Jews their rightful place. That was the one that got the focus. Messiah ben Joseph was the one who was seen as being described here in Isaiah, the end of 52 and into chapter 53.

The one who would suffer, that was what they thought. Why didn't the Jews just see that Jesus was the Messiah? Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David together. Why didn't they just see those? Wouldn't that have been nice? Hey, here He is. Here's Messiah ben Joseph. Here's Messiah ben David, all wrapped up into one guy. There He is. We believe. Let's go.

Wouldn't that have been easy? It's not the way it worked out, was it? No. They didn't see them together, for one thing, and they weren't sold that Jesus was the one. The Pharisees were the ones, not the Sadducees, they didn't believe in a Messiah. They didn't believe in an afterlife, you can imagine that. It wasn't the Sadducees, but it was the Pharisees who taught these two Messiahs that idea.

They taught that Messiah ben David, the one that would reign, would actually be the one to resurrect Messiah Ben-Joseph. How about that? The first Messiah, Messiah Ben-Joseph, would suffer and die, and then Messiah Ben-David would come and raise him up. That's how they thought about it.

So, the Pharisees were the champions of the two Messiah's ideas. The Sadducees weren't big on it. The Romans didn't give a hoot. So here the Pharisees were champions of this two Messiah's idea, And so when Jesus wasn't real supportive of them, read Matthew 23, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, seven times, not real supportive, right?

When Jesus wasn't real supportive, they didn't see a good fit. Hey, this guy doesn't work with us. This guy doesn't think we're great. What's the matter? So they figured, no, this guy isn't the one. Besides that, Jesus says, I'm both. I am Messiah ben Joseph, and I am Messiah ben David. And they said, wait a minute, that doesn't work. So he didn't fit. He didn't support the Pharisees. He didn't think that they were heroes. And he said, I'm both of them at once.

About 1100 AD, the Rabbi Rashi was the first to propose that this passage we're looking at here this morning was really about the hardships of the people of Israel. Can you imagine that? Yeah, read through that passage. That's what he began teaching. The other rabbis living at the time shook their heads. No, no, no, no, no. Rashi, you are wrong. You've made a big mistake, they told him, for centuries. Well, it wasn't around for centuries, but that's what they said.

Only by the mid-1800s, about a century and a half ago, did most of the Jews begin to embrace this idea. Isn't that interesting? the history of the church, the Jews have thought that this passage is talking about Messiah ben Joseph, the suffering Messiah. And only recently have they changed to think otherwise. Although my discussions just about a year ago with my friend Rabbi Yossi, he said, basically, we just don't want to talk about it.

And I can see why not. The church, however, is not easily excused here. The church can easily be accused of being blind in the middle of this. This is the, you know, see no evil. One of the central messages of this passage is that Christ died in our place. Christ died in our place.

I should have been the one on the cross. He died instead of me. I was the one who deserved to be there. I was the one who deserved to have the nails. I was the one who deserved God's wrath and condemnation. I should have been there. This is the idea of this passage here repeatedly. We'll see this message. Christ died in our place. I should have been the one hanging there. He died instead of me.

Some weeks back, Chrissy sang this song for us here, and I have just the first verse in the chorus. It starts very much like one of the verses in Isaiah 53. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has made the sin of all to fall on him.

Despised, he was rejected. To death, subjected. Instead of me, see, in my place, He was a substitute. I should have been the one hanging there. I can make it personal. Vern should have been the one with the nails. Vern should have been the one receiving the wrath. And we can each put our own names in there.

Instead, He took it upon Himself. That's the message of Isaiah 53 throughout. Instead of me, He took the blame. the misery. Instead of me, He suffered silent agony. And in that final breath, He died alone, the sinner's death, instead of me. Instead of me. It may seem obvious to us that Christ died in our place. We see this passage here, and repeatedly Isaiah keeps saying again and again, He died in my place.

What is amazing is we have multiple volumes, and I can put my arms out like this, we have multiple volumes of writings after the time of the New Testament into the centuries that follow. Astoundingly, about a thousand years passed before any of the writings that we have of that period of time after the New Testament conveyed this message, that Christ died in our place.

Isn't that amazing? Yeah. Believers, Christian believers, missed the idea. Even though it's all throughout, even that one passage there. Not even to begin to talk about the New Testament. Christ died in our place. The church for over half of what is now church history has not understood that.

Isn't that interesting? Christ took upon himself what was due, you know, each of us. We can look at this cartoon and kind of, sort of chuckle. It is, you know, we could say, I need a volunteer for the class. The reality is, were it not for Christ, I would deserve to be there, right? Here's an interesting thought.

Did Christ die just so that we could become Adam again? That was one idea, rather than understanding that Christ died in my place. Believe it or not, that was a very prominent idea. A writer who wrote rather substantially, Irenaeus, in the century right after the New Testament, wrote of that idea.

Just to make us Adam again, put us back in the garden, restore things. That's what it's all about. A number of you have either read the Narnia stories, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. You may have seen the movie that was recently produced. I, by the way, think it was very well done.

But something very interesting, it has an allegory conveying the idea of paying off Satan. You see that in the picture there? Satan is paid off. Believe it or not, until this time of about a thousand years after the New Testament era, until that time, this was a very popular idea, that somehow God had to pay off Satan, and that's why Christ died. Isn't that interesting? And this movie kind of paints that picture.

But Isaiah 53 repeatedly brings home the message, He died instead of me. It was about the same time as Rashi wrote about this Isaiah passage that Anselm brought forth this idea that Christ died in our place. It was finally presented to them a thousand years after the New Testament was completed. So as we look at this passage here, one of the things that stands out is we have the gospel presented in Isaiah 53.

Paul has focused the teachings of the gospel here in 1 Corinthians 15. I know Gene mentioned it in our first Peter class here this morning. Let me read it for you here. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins. Whose sins? Ours. He did the dying for our sins. But wait a minute, those sins were mine. I was the one who deserved those, right? I deserved the penalty. I'm the one who did it. No. He died for them.

Paul spelled it out here. According to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures Notice there's the repeated message there according to the scriptures Which scriptures is Paul referring to okay? Does he mean the New Testament the Old Testament both?

What's interesting is that, here's 1 Corinthians, if you look at the sequence of New Testament books, you have to turn your head sideways, everybody, like this. Anyway, forget that. Here's 1 Corinthians right there. And what's interesting is most of the New Testament had yet to be written at that point. There was about five New Testament books completed when he wrote, including this one, when he wrote 1 Corinthians. And so when he says, according to the scriptures, the Gospels hadn't even been written by that point in time.

He was pointing back to the Old Testament. And I think that this passage in Isaiah was probably principally and chiefly in his mind when he wrote that. All these books yet to be completed. He was thinking, I believe, of Isaiah 53 here, this passage and some others, but principally there.

According to the scriptures, There are a few New Testament books when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, and considering that Christ Himself spoke of what must take place according to the Scriptures, remember the two on the road to Emmaus? Then there was no New Testament books written on the road to Emmaus. Here He walked along with the two and explained to them according to the Scriptures all that must take place. I think it's very easy to envision the Lord pointing them to Isaiah 53, this passage we're looking at here this morning. Isaiah 53, 4-6, verse 8, and then 10-12 have this idea. Surely our griefs he himself bore. Whose griefs? Ours. Mine. Instead of me.

Our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried. Verse 5, but he was pierced through for our transgressions. The transgressions were ours. He got the piercing. Instead of me. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening of our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging, we are healed." Isn't that amazing? His body was baked to shreds so that we could be healed. What an amazing picture. In verse 6 in the last part, "...but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." All of us. You and me.

In the last part of verse 8, he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. When Isaiah wrote that, who was he thinking of as my people? Israel. His own people. And notice, he didn't say those people. He put himself in the same group. This one died for me, Isaiah, is what Isaiah is saying. My people, including me. Isaiah knew that. He foresaw that seven centuries in advance. The stroke was due the people. The Lord took it instead of me.

In verses 10-12, these portions come out. But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. Isn't that amazing? The Lord was pleased to do that? You say, well, wait a minute. How could He be pleased to do that? Putting him to grief if He would render Himself as a guilt offering. Pleased because... Amazingly, the Lord was pleased so that we would be saved. Even the Lord Himself, our Lord who took the sins, for the joy set before Him, would do that.

The end of verse 11, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, and he will bear their iniquities. Justify. Not justify as in making excuses, but justify as in making declared righteous. The last part of verse 12, he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded with the transgressors.

When our Lord died there on the cross and took my sins, mine, he said, it is finished. And he used the perfect tense there, which implies permanence and completeness with ongoing results into the present and on into the future. And you know that was an accounting term? How about that? Here He is on the cross shouting out an accounting term. The debt's paid! That's what He said. It's done. I have paid their debt. It was a debt I owed. But the Lord said, I'll pay it. The debt's paid. It's all done. Completely. Completely paid.

Isaiah 53.9 out of the focus, he was buried. The second part. His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death. We'll see more when we get there about the details of that. But certainly the focus, he was buried. He had a grave. He was placed there. But that's not, quite fortunately, not where it ends. Isaiah 53, 10-12 again comes into focus.

These are the three things to be believed about Christ in order to be saved. Do you believe that Christ died for your sins? He took the sins instead of you? Do you believe that He died for your sins? The sins for which you and I were due the penalty. Do you believe that He was buried? Do you believe that He was raised on the third day? That's the gospel message. Do you believe it? That's salvation.

At the end of verse 10, he will see his offspring. Oh, he's not going to stay in the grave. By the way, who are the offspring? Ah, we'll talk about that too. He will prolong his days and not be ended. And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hands. Verse 12, I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong. Something's going to happen afterwards. Something's going to happen afterwards. It's not all over because he's in the grave. He was resurrected. One more really big thing. Alright, if you can handle that.

Built within this concept of the word Christ, the Anointed One, is that He is Deity, He is the Son of God. And that's why John, at the end of the Gospel of John, or near the end, but these have been written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, Deity. And that believing you might have life through His name. One of the points that Gene made in the first Peter elective this morning is that it is believing these things that are laid out in this passage in Isaiah. Believing the things that are laid out in 1 Corinthians 15 that we've looked at here this morning. It's believing those things that is the focal point.

It's the sole door, you know, for salvation. There is no other. There are other things that are consequence that go along with it. Does Jesus come to be in our heart? Yes. But it's believing that's the key. Do we accept Christ? Well, yes. It's probably a bigger issue, does He accept us? But it's believing that is the point.

And that's why Paul underscores in Ephesians 2, is by faith we're saved, not by works. One of the points that we have from our study of the New Testament, these things crucified, buried, and raised that are pointed out here in Isaiah, are brought forth in the New Testament with some additional revelation. Isaiah didn't foresee it, but we see in the New Testament that we, although Christ was there instead of me on the cross, that we were identified with Christ in His death. We were there. It just wasn't just me on the cross. We were there when Christ was crucified. We were there when He was buried. We were there when He was raised. We were present.

Furthermore, these identification truths laid out in several passages of the New Testament, and I've only alluded to a few here in Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians. There are others. These give us additional truths and insights. So Isaiah is laying out some valuable, wonderful truths. Truths to which the New Testament authors would add, particularly the Apostle Paul, in this identification set of truths. When Christ was crucified, when he was buried, when he was raised, all things that Isaiah said would take place, we were there with him because we were identified with Christ in those things. Isaiah looked forward to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. He looked seven centuries ahead. Isn't that amazing? We have the luxury, the marvelous privilege of looking at the things that Isaiah wrote about seven centuries in advance.

Israel had the practice of observing the Passover. Isaiah stood about at the halfway point between the institution of the Passover, right as the Jews were exiting Egypt, and the coming of Christ. Isaiah lived at about the halfway point in there. We in the church or in a different spot, we stand looking back upon Christ having come this first time, and looking forward until He comes.

Our perspective on the various things that Isaiah wrote about is different. Our time perspective is different. We also have additional revelation about those things, and we're going to be taking the Lord's table this morning from that special and precious perspective that we have, all the while taking advantage of the insights that Isaiah has given us seven centuries before they occurred, and now 2,700 years ago. We have this privilege, and we also have a great deal more revelation about what God has accomplished. When Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 1, verse 30, he said, by God's doing you have been made in Christ Jesus. God's doing. He was the one who accomplished it. We have that additional revelation.

We have the understanding that we have been identified with Christ in His death. And what a marvelous perspective that is to have. What a privilege we have to have those understandings and insights. to see we are in the Lord Jesus Christ, actually in Him, identified with Him, and even phenomenally seated with Him in the heavenlies. We have the privilege of gazing upon Him and beholding Him.

That's a wonderful, marvelous thing. As this event took place roughly 2,000 years ago, We look at it and, you know, it's interesting to think about perspectives. Think about Isaiah looking seven centuries ahead to this event, not understanding all of what was taking place, but knowing God's doing something incredible here. Think of what the Romans were thinking.

All right, another crucifixion. All right, got to hang around, make sure he's dead. Think about what some of the other people were thinking, even some of the Apostles of the Lord thinking, oh boy, we're done. What we thought was really great isn't going to happen.

What an incredible perspective we have to look at that. That moment of incredible shame from this world standpoint. And to look at it and say, He did that instead of me. And how marvelously, in that, as He did that instead of me, I was identified with Him in that. That's just unfathomable. And yet, Scripture says it's true. It's deep beyond belief. For the joy set before Him, He would endure that instead of me. That is amazing. It's amazing grace.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your indeed amazing grace. Thank you for your love for us, your marvelous grace. We thank you for it, Lord. We pray, although it will take eternity for us to understand the depth of it, that you, out of a grace that cannot be plumbed, Out of an amazing grace, you died there instead of me, instead of each of us. We thank you for your grace. In Jesus' name, Amen.