Pastor Scott L. Harris
Grace Bible Church, NY
April 10, 2009, Good Friday
The Suffering Servant
Isaiah 53
Introduction
We have gathered tonight to remember the death of Jesus Christ as the payment for our sin. We have read the crucifixion story from Luke. We have sung a couple of songs dealing with His death – O Sacred Head and Now Wounded, Lamb of God, and we have heard some special music on the same theme. A little later in our service we will be observing the Lord’s Supper which has the purpose of proclaiming His death until He comes.
Since we live after the fact of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, we have an understanding of those events and of the prophecies predicting them that those at that time did not have. For example, following Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, all the apostles except Peter and John ran away. Following His crucifixion we find them hiding together in an upper room confused and afraid that they would be next target of the Sanhedrin. Jesus had previously told them what to expect, and they had learned the prophecies concerning the Messiah from childhood, but they did not understand at that time the fulfilment of them in what had just occurred.
In a similar way, the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 was confused about the prophecy he was readying. However, God’s blessing was on him for the Holy Spirit had sent Philip to meet him and explain what the prophet was talking about. Acts 8:35 tells us that Philip opened his mouth and beginning with the very prophecy the Ethiopian was reading, Philip preached Jesus to him. The result was this man’s salvation, and he returned to Ethiopia rejoicing.
This evening I want us to look at the same prophetic passage that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading. Please turn to Isaiah 53.
Background
The prophet Isaiah lived from the time of King Uzziah through Kings Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah and then died as a martyr by King Manasseh. It was a time of great trouble in Judah. There had been conflict with Israel, then Assyria became the dominant power and conquered Israel taking its people into captivity. The Assyrian army had even conquered much of Judah and was laying siege to Jerusalem when God answered King Hezekiah’s prayer and fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy by destroying Sennacherib’s army and calling him back to Assyria where he was subsequently assassinated (2 Kings 18-19; Isaiah 36-37).
It was during this time of great upheaval that Isaiah prophesied concerning God’ plans and promises regarding Israel’s future. Other prophets had said similar things, and now Isaiah added great detail regarding the prophet who was to come that would be like Moses whom they were to listen and heed for God would put His words in his mouth (Deut. 18:15-19). Messiah, the anointed one, would come in the future to save His people.
Follow along as I read, starting in Isaiah 52:13.
13 Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up, and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, [My people,] So His appearance was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men. 15 Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.
Isaiah 53, 1″ Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no [stately] form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being [fell] upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living, For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke [was due?] 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting [Him] to grief; If He would render Himself [as] a guilt offering, He will see [His] offspring, He will prolong [His] days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see [it] and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”
This is a section of the Old Testament that Jewish Rabbis avoid because it is very obvious in even just a first reading who the passage is talking about and they do not want their people to think about that. If the passage is brought up, they do some very intricate interpretive gymnastics to try to make the passage refer to the nation of Israel instead of an individual, though prior to the 12th Century Jewish commentators were consistent in understanding that this passage referred to an individual. But try as the modern commentators might, the text obviously refers to an individual there is only one person that fits the description in it, and that is Jesus Christ who became the sacrifice that paid the penalty of our sins when He died on the cross at Calvary.
Before we look more closely at this passage and its fulfillment in Jesus, I want to stress again that this was written about 700 years prior to its fulfillment. Jesus was not surprised by His crucifixion or the events that surrounded it for they had already been prophesied. He told His disciples repeatedly what would happen after they arrived in Jerusalem. “He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Matt. 16:21).
The accurate fulfillment of specific prophecy is the mark of God. He declared in Isaiah 46:9-10, “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; [I am] God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” Only God can do this. The devil and demons can make good guesses about the future, but they are only guesses for they cannot control future events. That is why they will be wrong and why a true prophet must be 100% accurate. Anything less than that is a false prophet (Deut. 18). Jesus knew what was going to happen even before He arrived in Jerusalem.
The passage has 5 strophes or stanzas with the first one, Isaiah 52:13-15, being a summary of the whole prophecy. The Servant would be exalted, but the suffering would come first. He would be the redeeming sacrifice that would bring salvation to all the nations.
Isaiah 52:13 says, “Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up, and greatly exalted.” Jesus said in John 3:14 that He would be lifted up just as Moses had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness that whoever believes may have in him eternal life. He said in John 12:32 that he would draw all men to Himself when He was lifted up. Jesus was lifted up on the cross just as He said
Isaiah 52:14 says, “Just as many were astonished at you, [My people,] So His appearance was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men.” Jesus’ physical beatings prior to His crucifixion would have greatly damaged His body. I have heard people say that they thought Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of Christ, was overdone in its portrayal of beatings Jesus suffered. While Gibson may have had more blood spread around than is contained in a human body, he did not exaggerate the beatings and scourging of Jesus. It would have been that bad or worse leaving Jesus’ body severely mauled.
Isaiah 52:15 says, “Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.” The term “sprinkle” is to the blood of purification from a sacrifice (Leviticus 1:5; 7:2, etc.). The Messiah would redeem the nations which is why Paul quotes this verse in Romans 15:21.
The next stanza, Isaiah 53:1-3, deals with the Messiah being despised. 1″ Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no [stately] form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
The religious leaders did not accept Jesus as the Messiah for He did not come in the manner that they thought He should. They were convinced that Messiah would return as the conquering king that would throw off the yoke of Rome and reestablish Israel as dominant nation as it had been under David and Solomon. That Jesus came in a humble manner confused them. Jesus has been born in the right place at the right time to the right lineage, but He remained in a humble estate even during His public ministry. There were crowds of people and even some effort to crown Him king (John 6:15), but Jesus did not take advantage of any of that and at times even avoided the public attention.
Jesus did not come with the attributes they were looking for. They were looking for the equivalent of someone who could be a media celebrity, and Jesus was not that. Isaiah specifically points out that Messiah would be neither stately in form or majesty nor attractive in appearance. His life would be hard with sorrow and grief. He was not esteemed. Crowds are always fickle, and some of those that had proclaimed Hosanna a few days earlier when Jesus entered Jerusalem were the same ones incited by the hypocritical religious leaders to cry out, “Away with Him, Crucify Him.” They now despised Jesus and forsake Him.
The third and fourth stanzas in Isaiah 53:4-9 describes the suffering the Messiah would endure and His reaction to it.
The physical suffering Jesus went through included scourging, being pierced and being crushed just as Isaiah had predicted. Isaiah also prophesied that Messiah would respond with silence as a lamb led to slaughter.
After Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane He was taken to the home of Annas and then to Caiaphas the High Priest and then later before the Sanhedrin. Jesus would not answer their illegal questioning, but directed them to get the needed testimony according to the law. When adjured by the living God whether He was or was not the Christ, Jesus answered that He was. The high priest considered this blasphemy and deserving of death. Those present blindfolded Him, then spat upon Him, beat Him with their fists and slapped Him while mocking Him to prophecy who hit Him. It was during this time that even Peter denied knowing Jesus when questioned by a servant girl.
Jesus was then taken before the Roman governor, Pilate, since the Jews did not have the authority to crucify Him themselves. Pilate was quickly able to determine that Jesus was innocent, but he was afraid of the Jews and sought ways to appease them. First, he thought he could pass off the responsibility to Herod Antipas who ruled over Galilee. Since Jesus was a Galilean and Herod was in Jerusalem it seemed like an easy way out. Herod gladly received Jesus hoping He would do some miracle before Him, but did not do that nor did He answer Herod’s questions. Herod had his soldiers treat Jesus with contempt, put a gorgeous robe on Him and then sent Him back to Pilate.
Next, Pilate sought to use a custom of releasing a prisoner on Passover and gave the crowd a choice of that either being Jesus or Barabbas, a well known robber and murderer. But the people called out for Barabbas to be released and Jesus to be crucified.
Next, Pilate thought that scourging Jesus might solve the problem. It was unjust and terribly cruel, but perhaps it would be a way to keep Jesus alive and satisfy the crowd. Scourging involved a special whip that had several strands of leather with pieces of rock, pottery shards or other sharp objects tied to them which was used to slash into his back and tear out hunks of flesh. Scourging alone was enough to kill as it could lacerate the back to the point that they the internal organs would be exposed. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus head and then put a purple robe on Him. They then mocked Him by hailing Him as king of the Jews and hitting Him in the face. Pilate then brought Jesus out in the robe, bloody and beaten, and again proclaimed Jesus’ innocence, but the crowd only cried out all the more to crucify Jesus.
Pilate once again questioned Jesus and found him innocent, but the crowd was now nearing a riot, so Pilate ritually washed his hands saying he was innocent of Jesus’ blood and then turned Jesus over to be crucified. Pilate was still guilty, and perhaps more so because he knew what was right and had the power to do it, but he gave into fear instead and sent Jesus to His death. The soldiers then took Jesus and stripped him, putting a scarlet robe upon Him and once again mocked Him, spat upon Him and beat Him before leading Him away to be crucified at Golgotha.
Jesus had already lost so much blood that He fell under the weight of the cross He was carrying, and Simon of Cyrene was compelled by the guard to carry it for Jesus. At Golgatha, they laid Jesus on the cross, nailed spikes through His hands and feet, then lifted up the cross and dropped it into its resting place between two thieves.
While on the cross other predictions from other prophets were fulfilled. The soldiers cast lots for His clothes (Psalm 22:18). The people sneered and mocked Him is the same way Psalm 22:8-7 said they would. Even Jesus prophecy that no one could take His life from Him but that He would lay it down on His own initiative was fulfilled. Crucifixion is a slow and a painful death usually lasting one to three days. Being “crushed” is a good way to describe slowly suffocating from the weight of your own body. Jesus died after only about 6 hours on the cross and He did so when He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.” In order to speed the death of those being crucified, the soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves, but finding that Jesus was already dead, they did not break His. Thus the prophecy of Psalm 34:20 was fulfilled. Because they wanted to make sure that He was really dead, one of the soldiers pierced His side with his spear and blood and water poured out proving that Jesus had already died. Jesus was stricken; He was afflicted; He was scourged; He was crushed; He was pierced just as Isaiah had said. However, the most important aspects of Isaiah’s prophecy is why the Messiah would undergo these things.
It was for our sake He bore our griefs and He carried our sorrows. He was pierced for our transgressions and was crushed for our iniquities. It was for our well being and healing that He was chastened and scourged. Our iniquity fell upon Him. Jesus became the sin sacrifice and His atonement healed us from the judgement of that sin.
Isaiah 53:8 adds that the Messiah would have “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.” Jesus would have been assigned to a grave with the two thieves except for the intervention of Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, who took Jesus’ body and placed it in the tomb he had prepared for himself. Jesus was never accused of either violence or lying. He fulfilled these prophecies concerning the Messiah.
The final strophe of this passage reinforces the reasons the Messiah would undergo this suffering and proclaim that it was sufficient.
10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting [Him] to grief; If He would render Himself [as] a guilt offering, He will see [His] offspring, He will prolong [His] days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see [it] and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”
It comes as a shock to many people that the Lord would be pleased to crush the Messiah, but that is because they only think of the crucifixion of Jesus as some tragedy. While the elements of suffering in it and the reason it had to happen are tragic, the Lord’s purpose in it and the Messiah’s willingness to go through it are anything but tragic. They are triumphant. Jesus died as a guilt offering. His death was the payment of the price of our sin by a substitute. We deserved to die for our sins, but He bore our sins upon Himself and He died in our place. In doing so, He satisfied the demands of righteousness and justice so that we can be justified before God. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Because the sacrifice was accepted, the promise for the future was made sure. The Messiah will see His offspring, have His days prolonged and prosper at the hand of the Lord. Since a guilt offering is put to death, the only way this could happen is for the guilt offering to be resurrected to life, which is exactly what Jesus did. We who believe in Him and are His followers are His offspring, adopted into His family by faith. We will prosper with Him in the future.
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of Isaiah 53. Jesus was not caught unaware by anything surrounding His crucifixion nor was He a victim. He knew what would happen in advance and even looked forward to what it would accomplish. Hebrews 12:2 expresses this saying of Jesus, “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The prophets of the Old Testament looked forward to what the Messiah, the Righteous One, the servant of the Lord, would accomplish in the future. We look back on what He has done and are assured then of our future if we have placed our faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only question is where do you stand with Him tonight? Has that payment been applied to your life so that you stand forgiven before God? If so, Jesus death brings you the joy of a firm hope for the future. You are assured of a place in heaven with Him. If not, then God will judged you by your own words and works and they will condemned you. Tonight is the night to repent and place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We will now prepare for Communion.