The Suffering Servant Summarized

[0:00] We've just finished celebrating the first coming of Jesus, and tonight we'll consider why! we should celebrate that first coming. Countless babies have been born since Jesus, the eternal! God himself took on human form and arrived on this earth. But Jesus' birth is one of the few that! virtually the entire world celebrates.

[0:29] And the only birth that reset the world's calendar. And we celebrate the birth of Jesus because of what he did for everyone who puts their faith in him alone. If Jesus had only talked a good game, none of us would even know who he is. Normally we read the main passage early in the lesson, but before we read our text for tonight, let's spend a few minutes setting the stage for why tonight's passage is important. For believers, this is going to be review. But my hope is that by studying these truths again, we'll be even more grateful for who Christ is and what he has done. And for people who have yet to believe in Christ and his finished work on the cross, my hope is that God will use his word to open your eyes to your need for a Savior and to the salvation that is only offered through faith in Jesus alone.

[1:24] The Bible clearly shows that every human sins by breaking God's commandments. And we've broken some of those commandments by our actions and we've broken some by our thoughts.

[1:37] Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 and 22. Matthew 5 is part of the Sermon on the Mount. And Jesus said in Matthew 5, 21 and 22, You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.

[2:04] Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. For more proof that we all break God's commandments, at least in thought, if not by actions, listen to what Jesus said just a few verses later.

[2:21] These verses are Matthew chapter 5 verses 27 and 28. He said, Starting with the Old Testament, God required a blood sacrifice as payment for our sins.

[2:47] And in the New Testament, Hebrews 9, 22 reiterates what was first said in Leviticus 17, verse 11. So here is Hebrews chapter 9, verse 22.

[3:00] It says, Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So let the last part of that verse sink in.

[3:14] It says, Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. God taught his people in the Old Testament that the sacrifice made for sins must be spotless.

[3:27] The requirements for the Passover lamb showed that to Israel. Exodus chapter 12, verses 5 and 6 are where God documented the Passover lamb requirements.

[3:38] Here are Exodus chapter 12, verses 5 and 6. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male, a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

[3:51] And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Moving to the New Testament, Romans 6.23 confirms that we deserve death as the payment for our sins.

[4:09] But Romans 6.23 also tells us about a solution. Here is Romans 6.23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[4:24] Later on in Romans, Romans 10.9 tells us how we can obtain the solution that God offers. Romans 10.9 says, Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

[4:44] Jesus' birth is worth celebrating because he came to earth as the sinless Messiah. He willingly died on the cross to be the spotless sacrifice required for everyone who believes in him.

[4:56] God then validated Jesus' sacrifice by raising Jesus from the dead on that first resurrection Sunday, also known as Easter. People who put their faith in Jesus' sacrifice alone get the benefit of Jesus' righteousness being applied to them.

[5:13] All true believers receive eternal life, but those who reject Jesus' sacrifice will be condemned to spend eternity in hell. Something else makes what Jesus did even more remarkable.

[5:28] The events concerning Jesus' life, death, and resurrection were prophesied by Isaiah approximately 700 years before they occurred. To see that, let's read our text for tonight and then start digging into it.

[5:42] We'll start with Isaiah 52, verse 13, and then read all of Isaiah 53. And in Isaiah 52, verse 13, God is speaking through Isaiah here.

[5:56] Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.

[6:13] So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him. For that which has not been told them, they see, and that which they have not heard, they understand.

[6:27] Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground.

[6:40] He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

[6:54] And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

[7:05] Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

[7:17] Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

[7:35] He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

[7:48] 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, stricken for the transgression of my people.

[8:01] And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.

[8:15] He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

[8:28] Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

[8:39] Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

[8:52] Yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors. Those verses summarize the entire gospel.

[9:04] Charles Spurgeon said, A condensed Bible is in this chapter. You have the whole gospel here. And that Spurgeon quote leads us to the main idea for this passage.

[9:18] Jesus Christ is presented as our suffering servant, whose substitutionary death and victorious resurrection are predicted seven centuries in advance. Because of his death and victorious resurrection, all believers have eternal life.

[9:34] Once again, Jesus Christ is presented as our suffering servant, whose substitutionary death and victorious resurrection are predicted seven centuries in advance.

[9:47] Because of his death and victorious resurrection, all believers have eternal life. Isaiah's prophecies are so accurate that skeptics have said that Isaiah must have been written after those events took place.

[10:03] God has provided archaeological evidence to show that the book of Isaiah existed long before any of these prophesied events happened. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947.

[10:18] And one of the first and best preserved documents discovered was a complete scroll of Isaiah. It's known as the Great Isaiah Scroll, and it's now on permanent display at the Shrine of the Book, a special wing of the Israel Museum.

[10:35] The scroll is more than a thousand years older than any other existing manuscript. Subsequent research has identified fragments from at least 20 other Isaiah scrolls.

[10:47] These scrolls prove that Isaiah's prophecy was highly prized and well-known in the first century. Nearly 200 years before the time of the apostles, the book of Isaiah was already well-established and thoroughly documented in exactly the same form and content that we have today.

[11:07] The prophecies in our text tonight are so accurate that these verses are forbidden to be read publicly in Jewish synagogues. Every Sabbath in every synagogue worldwide, two portions of Scripture are prescribed to be read aloud, one from the Pentateuch, which is also known, of course, as the Torah, and the other, a selection of texts drawn from the various prophets.

[11:32] The same schedule of readings is followed in all synagogues year after year. And over a year's time, the rotation covers every verse of the Torah in canonical order.

[11:43] One of the featured readings of the prophets is Isaiah 51.12 to 52.12. The next reading in the cycle is Isaiah 54.1 to verse 10.

[11:58] And if you notice that gap there, that gap is Isaiah 52.13 to 53.12. Isaiah 52.13 to 53.12 is never read publicly.

[12:09] Because of that, Isaiah 53 is an unfamiliar passage for multitudes of devout Jewish people. And in mid-2015, an Israel-based Messianic Christian community known as the Medebrim released a video on the internet titled The Forbidden Chapter in the Tanakh, which is the Hebrew Bible.

[12:31] And it features a number of Israelis reading Isaiah 53 from the original Hebrew text. All of them were seeing it for the first time. And if you go out there to YouTube and watch the video, you'll see that the astonishment is obvious on the faces of the people reading it.

[12:50] Their surprise quickly gives way to thoughtful implications of the passage. And as an interviewer asks them to put into their own words the implications of the passage, it's obvious that every one of them sees the clear connections between the prophecy and the New Testament record of Jesus.

[13:09] And now you can find even more similar videos like that on YouTube with Isaiah 53. We're going to look at tonight's Scripture in five sections, starting with Isaiah 52, 13, through verse 15.

[13:25] And in those verses, we see the summarization. So the summarization is the first blank on your handout. These verses summarize what we'll see in Isaiah 53 itself.

[13:39] So here are Isaiah 52, 13, through 15 one more time. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.

[13:52] As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations.

[14:05] Kings shall shut their mouths because of him. For that which has not been told them, they see. And that which they have not heard, they understand. A servant existed solely to do his master's will and bidding.

[14:22] The Lord Jesus, the servant of whom Isaiah prophesied, likewise had no will of his own as such when he came to this earth. His reason for coming into the world was to do his father's will.

[14:34] His father's will was to accomplish the redemption of his people. This servant mentality motivated and drove the Lord Jesus during his time here on earth.

[14:46] Remember what Jesus told his disciples in John chapter 4, verse 34. In John chapter 4, verse 34, Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

[15:03] When we think about a servant or a slave, we often get the picture of someone who is forced to do something against his will. But Jesus eagerly did his father's will.

[15:14] And in Mark 10, 45, Jesus said, For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

[15:27] We have much more to study in all the verses of tonight's text, but pause for a few seconds and think about how Jesus, God himself, willingly became a servant to accomplish our salvation.

[15:44] Greatness, according to the thinking of this world, involves getting others to serve you. The Christian faith proclaims that God, the one to whom all service and worship rightly belongs, that same God in Christ became a servant to accomplish our salvation.

[16:01] He became a servant with a specific task, namely to give his life as a ransom for many, to pay the ransom price and set us free from the penalty and power of sin.

[16:13] In Isaiah 52, 13, God leaves no doubt that his servant will succeed at his mission. The ESV says, Behold, my servant shall act wisely.

[16:27] Some of you may have translations that translate that phrase as shall prosper. The Hebrew word speaks of someone who performs a task with skill and expertise.

[16:39] Both translations are valid because the Hebrew word speaks of prudent action that gains prosperous results. Because we know that the suffering servant will accomplish God's will, that will cause the second part of verse 52, 13 to happen.

[16:57] God says of the servant, He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. But then, Isaiah 52, 14 makes an abrupt switch.

[17:09] We go from the exaltation of the suffering servant to the humiliation of that servant. Look at verse 14 again. God, speaking through Isaiah, briefly talks directly to the Messiah here.

[17:24] And God says, As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. Isaiah here is looking backward from a prophetic viewpoint near the end of world history and he was seeing Christ's future suffering as if it already was a past event.

[17:47] Those of you with the King James Version see a difference in the translation. The King James uses the word astonied rather than astonished. And astonied is a better translation, but few people, including me, before studying this passage have any idea of what astonied means.

[18:06] astonishment can be either positive or negative based upon the context, but astonied carries with it the idea of someone being so dismayed that the person can do nothing.

[18:21] The Hebrew word astonied is never used to describe a positive reaction. It's closer to the English word appalled. But it's even stronger than that.

[18:31] It speaks of being totally devastated. It's a term that can describe the total defeat of an army or the utter desolation of a vast region that has fallen into ruins.

[18:43] When used in contexts such as Isaiah 52, 14, the word has the connotation of horror. It speaks of a shock so staggering that a person loses control of all rational faculties.

[18:57] It could be translated numbed, petrified, or even paralyzed. Then the remainder of verse 14 explains why Isaiah and the Holy Spirit chose to use that word.

[19:10] Speaking of the Messiah, the remainder of verse 14 says, His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and is formed beyond that of the children of mankind.

[19:24] Christ's appearance would be so disfigured that onlookers would wonder if he was even human. And this refers to the repulsive effects of scourging and crucifixion on the human body.

[19:36] How Jesus' bones would be out of joint and how his body would be covered with blood. We know from the gospel accounts that Jesus was struck on the head, he was spat upon, he was mocked, and he was flogged.

[19:50] He was beaten and abused by the chief priest, the temple guard, and the Romans. Added to that was the terrible scourging he received on Pilate's orders. And then, in Isaiah 52, verse 15, we see what will happen after Jesus' resurrection and ascension.

[20:12] Isaiah 52, 15 says, So he shall sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him. For that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.

[20:27] The key to verse 15 is understanding what is meant by Jesus sprinkling many nations. Leviticus uses this verb to speak of the application of atoning blood to cleanse sinners from their impurity.

[20:43] This is a technical term that predicts the blood atonement by Jesus Christ for believers from every nation. Before we start digging into the remaining 12 verses of tonight's passage, we need to realize something about these next 12 verses.

[20:59] These next 12 verses are written as a prophecy about what the nation of Israel will say on the day that Israel realizes that Jesus really is the Messiah. The words that we'll see in Isaiah 53 would be a suitable expression of repentance for anyone who has known about Christ but spurned him for some time before embracing him as Lord and Savior.

[21:21] But in the context of Isaiah 53, this is a remarkable confession of national repentance. Think about it though. Most Gentiles also say no to the gospel.

[21:34] Unbelief is always the dominant response to the gospel in virtually every culture worldwide. Proud sinful people refuse to confess their need for forgiveness.

[21:45] They will suppress or mock any mention of sin's guilt or God's wrath. They recklessly dismiss the good news of salvation as foolish and offensive.

[21:57] But we'll see the remaining four sections build out Isaiah's prophecy and God uses Isaiah to expand on what will happen in the future. So our second section will be Isaiah 53 verses 1 through 3 and in that section we see the rejection.

[22:15] So the rejection is your second blink. listen to Isaiah 53 verses 1 through 3 again. Who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

[22:32] For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him.

[22:45] He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

[22:59] Very few believe the messengers of God. Very few experience God's salvation because very few believed in Jesus as the Messiah. In verse 1 of Isaiah 53, Isaiah is speaking about himself and about anyone else who has proclaimed the gospel.

[23:19] He's asking, has anyone believed what we have told them? Then fast forward to the New Testament and listen to John chapter 12 verses 37 and 38.

[23:31] Speaking about Jesus, here's what John wrote in John chapter 12 verses 37 and 38. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.

[23:48] Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? You can see that's a direct quote of Isaiah 53.1.

[23:59] The arm of the Lord there is a symbol of the Lord's divine power. Here it refers to God's power demonstrated in the miracles of Jesus and ultimately revealed in his power to save through the good news about the Messiah.

[24:14] Isaiah's focus is still firmly fixed on the gospel message. We see from the biblical record that Jesus was an outsider from a tiny town who had no physical characteristics that would draw people to him.

[24:30] Look again at Isaiah 53 verse 2. Jesus is described as a young plant, but that's a much nicer translation of what the original Hebrew word means.

[24:42] The Hebrew word translated young plant refers to a sucker branch, a useless, uncultivated, unwanted parasitic shoot off the main plant, which is removed so that it can't drain resources from the main branches.

[24:57] Jesus' beginning seemed irrelevant, insignificant, and totally unpromising. His parents were common people without any social status. His first cradle was an animal's feed trough nearly 100 miles from home.

[25:13] He grew up in the small village of Nazareth off the beaten track in Galilee, far from the centers of Jewish culture and religion. Nazareth is never mentioned in the Old Testament, the Talmud, or the writings of Josephus, the Jewish historian.

[25:30] Christ lived there in complete obscurity for 30 years, working as a carpenter until the start of his public ministry. If you have doubts that Jesus' hometown and circumstances caused people to doubt whether Jesus could be the Messiah, just listen to what the Bible records elsewhere.

[25:50] Here are John 1, 43-46, where Jesus is calling his disciples. John 1, 43-46 say, The next day, Jesus decided to go to Galilee.

[26:06] He found Philip and said to him, Follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses said in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

[26:28] Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Now are you starting to see that Isaiah really is telling us that Jesus was an outsider from nowhere who had no physical characteristics that would draw people to him?

[26:48] Well, Isaiah still has more to say about the humble human beginnings and the unremarkable appearance of the suffering servant. Isaiah also said that Jesus is like a root out of dry ground.

[27:02] Root out of dry ground translates a four-word Hebrew phrase sapling. The phrase literally means a root in a parched wilderness portion of the earth. It describes a sapling that no one purposely planted and that no one cares about.

[27:17] If they cared about that sapling, they would have watered it. But the phrase also could refer to a parched root jutting out of the ground that may trip somebody. It's another way of saying that he was unwanted, unimpressive, maybe even feeble and fragile in appearance, uncared for by people and someone they thought should be avoided.

[27:39] He gained nothing in their eyes from his family origin, his social status, or education. He was not trained in the rabbinic schools and even his closest followers were largely unrefined, uneducated working men who lacked any kind of social prestige or influence.

[27:57] people who knew Jesus confirm how they viewed him. Here are Mark 6, verses 1-3.

[28:09] He, that's Jesus, went away from there and came to his hometown and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were astonished saying, where did this man get these things?

[28:25] What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon and are not his sisters here with us?

[28:42] And they took offense at him. Then Luke chapter 4, verses 29 and 30 record how the people of Nazareth wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff because he claimed to be the Messiah.

[28:56] Jesus was and is the Messiah but the people of Israel in Jesus' day expected a conquering Messiah who would rescue them from Roman oppression. Those people failed to understand that Jesus came to rescue them from something even worse than Roman oppression.

[29:14] Jesus came to rescue them from the consequences of their sin and from God's wrath for that sin. The people of Jesus' day despised and rejected Jesus and we see that in Isaiah 53 verse 3.

[29:29] The Hebrew word translated despised there is used frequently in the Old Testament as an expression of disdain and contempt. Isaiah 53 verse 3 applies that word to Israel's general impression of the Lord's servant and it has all those connotations.

[29:47] They deemed him vile, contemptible, worthy of shame and derision mainly because instead of leading the nation to triumph over the Romans he died. Worse yet his earthly life ended in sorrow, disappointment and execution by those Roman officials.

[30:05] The word translated as rejected has an even deeper meaning. The idea is that he was rejected by mankind in general symbolically excommunicated from the human race by public crucifixion.

[30:18] The people of that day thought that Jesus was the one who deserved to be punished and Jesus' own people legally condemned him when he was on trial before the Roman authorities.

[30:31] And even when you think about it today Jesus is still the most despised and rejected man in history. So we've seen the summarization and the rejection in Isaiah 53 verses 4 through 6 we see the substitution.

[30:49] So the substitution is your next blank. Listen to verses 4 through 6 again. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed.

[31:19] All we like sheep have gone astray and we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. This third stanza of the suffering servant passage reflects a staggering awakening a sudden realization of why God's servant had to suffer such humiliating agony and this third stanza is the theological key to Isaiah 53.

[31:47] It also is the key to everything scripture teaches about how sin ultimately is atoned for. The three verses are tied together by a common theme and that theme is confession of sin.

[32:00] Each verse expands the scope of what is being confessed and each verse presents an aspect of sin and the servant's atonement. These three verses summarize the core of the gospel.

[32:15] Jesus' substitutionary atonement on the cross permanently paid the penalty for all believers sins. The people of Israel making this confession are saying that they had despised Jesus.

[32:27] They had rejected Jesus. In a sense they even enjoyed seeing Jesus suffer and die because they believed that Jesus had received what he deserved. Now they realize that they were wrong.

[32:39] They are so dismayed by their new realization that they say again what they previously thought. They finally understand that Jesus suffered and died for their sins and now they realize that Jesus really is the Messiah.

[32:54] Jesus is the Messiah who suffered for them. Those people like all people were sinners who deserved to die but Jesus took their place. Jesus took their punishment and he did it for them out of love.

[33:08] The word translated surely indicates a sudden recognition of something totally unexpected, a dramatic change from a previous belief, a realization that the people speaking have been egregiously wrong.

[33:23] And here the word surely signifies the total reversal of repentant Israel's attitude toward Jesus. It's a stunning and an abrupt revelation, a complete reversal of how Israel had previously viewed Jesus.

[33:37] For all the generations since he came, they had assumed Jesus' death on the cross proved that he was nobody, a fraud, and someone whose once promising career ended in humiliation and failure.

[33:50] But on that future day, they will confess that he is indeed their true Messiah. He came to deliver them from the eternal guilt and condemnation of their sin.

[34:01] Their subsequent words in verse 4 finally prove that they get the picture. Those words go on to explain what Jesus has done. They say he has borne our griefs.

[34:13] And the word translated borne there literally means to lift or take up. It's an active verb. The servant of Isaiah 53 is suffering because he has taken on himself the full burden of his people's sin and guilt with all the consequences, including the wages of sin, which we know is death.

[34:33] The word translated griefs is a broad term that can also mean sickness, infirmity, or calamity. Isaiah is talking about griefs that are brought on by sin.

[34:46] Sin causes our lives to be a constant struggle with sickness, disease, and calamity of every kind. Jesus also carried our sorrows. And the word translated as sorrows has the idea of bearing a heavy load.

[35:01] Jesus intentionally took on the heavy load of every issue that sin causes. The word translated as sorrows could be better translated as anguish.

[35:13] The requirements of the Day of Atonement provide a picture of sorrows being carried away. Listen to part of those requirements. These verses are Leviticus chapter 16, verses 6 through 10.

[35:27] Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

[35:41] And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering.

[35:55] But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel should be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness of Azazel.

[36:07] The goat that symbolically carried our sins into the wilderness is what we know as the scapegoat. And like that scapegoat, Jesus carried the sorrows of believers away.

[36:18] The difference is that the scapegoat was a symbol. Jesus was and is the scapegoat who the day of atonement foreshadowed. Closing out Isaiah 53, 4, we get a reminder of what the suffering servant endured.

[36:34] He was stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. And the thing that we must notice here is that Isaiah says that Jesus was smitten by God. Humans willingly caused Jesus' suffering, yet this suffering was purposeful and planned by God before the foundation of the earth.

[36:54] Listen to what Peter said in Acts chapter 2, verse 23. This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

[37:11] Isaiah 53, verse 5 has four phrases that reference how Jesus served as all believers substitute. First, Jesus was pierced for our transgressions.

[37:22] He was crushed for our iniquities. Then he endured the chastisement that brought us peace. And finally, his wounds healed us spiritually.

[37:34] All four punishments in this verse describe things that did happen to Jesus. He was pierced in his wrists, feet, and side. He was crushed by the beatings he endured at the hands of the Sanhedrin and also the Romans.

[37:49] He was formally but illegally punished as a result of an unjust indictment, trial, verdict, and sentence. And he was severely marked with stripes and raw wounds because of the brutal scourging he received at the hands of the Romans.

[38:05] And these were merely the visible wounds inflicted on him by the hands of lawless men. verse 6 then tells us that people apart from God are like sheep because they go their own way instead of God's way.

[38:22] You probably know that sheep by nature are stupid animals prone to wander off on their own and place themselves in mortal danger. They are defenseless against predators and can't take care of themselves.

[38:35] Similarly, people are prone by nature to go astray from God to turn their own way and become lost or morally capsized. So let's move on to the next section of the passage.

[38:48] We've seen the summarization, the rejection, and the substitution. In Isaiah 53 verses 7 through 9 we will dig into the affliction. So the affliction is your next blank.

[39:02] Isaiah already has told us quite a bit about the affliction, but we learn more about that affliction in verses 7 through 9. Those verses say, He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

[39:16] Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 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, stricken for the transgression of my people, and they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

[39:46] This section shows that Jesus willingly did more than just suffer on behalf of those of us who put their faith in him. Jesus died on each believer's behalf, and that is what Isaiah meant when he wrote that the Messiah was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

[40:07] Notice some other things. Verse 9 predicts that Jesus' grave would be made with a rich man. Crucified people normally were dumped into a common grave.

[40:19] Jesus received a different treatment that was highly unusual. Listen to Matthew chapter 27, verses 57 through 60. These verses happen after Jesus was crucified on the cross.

[40:35] And Matthew 27, verses 57 through 60 say, When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was a disciple of Jesus.

[40:46] He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it should be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock.

[41:01] And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Something to notice about Isaiah 53, 9 is that the verse also confirms Jesus' sinlessness.

[41:14] The end of verse 9 says that Jesus was killed although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. The sinlessness of the substitutionary sacrifice was important.

[41:28] Remember the Passover Lamb requirements that we looked at earlier. The only sacrifice acceptable to God was a spotless one. Jesus perfectly and permanently fulfilled the requirements that the Passover Lamb symbolized.

[41:42] An animal simply can picture substitution. Only a person can substitute for another person and only a consenting will can substitute for a rebellious will.

[41:54] The servant indeed fulfills the stated requirements for a substitute. He identified with sinners in their condemnation. He was slain without stain of our sin.

[42:05] He was acceptable to the Holy God. And he also adds what no other ever did or ever could do. The will to accept and to submit to the substitute's role.

[42:17] So we've seen the summarization, the rejection, the substitution, and the affliction. Now we come to the resurrection. So the resurrection is your last blank.

[42:28] Listen to Isaiah 53 verses 10 through 12 again. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring.

[42:42] He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities.

[42:59] Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

[43:10] Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. Verse 10 begins by reemphasizing the point that God killed Jesus.

[43:21] God killed Jesus as a suitable offering for the guilt of others. Jesus' death would provide a way for sinful people to be saved from spending eternity in hell.

[43:32] My sins and your sins were so offensive to a holy God that only the death of the sinless Son of God who is God himself can adequately atone for those sins.

[43:43] You might be thinking, I thought you said this section is about the resurrection but you still are yammering about sin, suffering, and death. Well, look at the end of verse 10 again.

[43:54] It says, When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

[44:06] And now skip to verse 12. God is speaking through Isaiah and he says, Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

[44:21] Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. We just looked at verses 7-9 that documented Jesus' death.

[44:33] No dead person can see his offspring. No dead person can prolong his days. No dead person can make the will of the Lord prosper.

[44:44] Moving to verse 12, a dead person can have neither a portion with the many nor share a portion with the strong. And no dead person can make intercession for the transgressors.

[44:55] Here's what you need to see here. Only a living person can do those things. A previously dead person can be alive only if that person has been resurrected.

[45:07] And that's the message of these three verses here. Jesus' resurrection is the key message of this section. But also notice verse 11. It says, Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.

[45:22] By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities. The people God's servant makes accounted righteous are only those people who have placed their faith in Jesus alone for salvation.

[45:36] And if you are a true believer you're one of those people regardless of what sins you've committed in the past and regardless of what sins you commit in the future. Jesus can make people be accounted righteous because his sinlessness means that his grave can never hold him for long.

[45:54] Earlier we looked at Acts chapter 2 verse 23 but listen to what Peter said in the next verse. Here is Acts chapter 2 verse 24. Speaking about Jesus Peter said God raised him up loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

[46:16] Christ's sufferings were planned, purposeful, and successful. His death and all its horror and anguish was prophesied centuries earlier in Isaiah 53. Jesus knew exactly how his life would end down to the minutest detail and he had known it since before the foundation of the world when the plan of salvation was formed.

[46:37] If God has opened your eyes to the fact that the gospel is true, a verse we read in the introduction tells you what to do next and that verse is Romans 10.9. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

[46:56] And we just studied how Isaiah prophesied exactly what would happen seven centuries before it happened. But proof of Jesus' resurrection didn't stop there. For just one example, listen to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 3-8.

[47:14] For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

[47:32] Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

[47:44] Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. Isaiah 53 is the message of the gospel, a message of sin and judgment, but also of substitutionary atonement, forgiveness, and above all, God's love.

[48:03] It includes the fact that the true Messiah, the silent suffering servant of Isaiah 53, is the only acceptable sacrifice for sin slaughtered by God for us as our Passover lamb.

[48:16] In exchange, all who put their faith in Jesus' atoning work receive eternal life. As Isaiah 53-5 says, he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.

[48:30] Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the reminder of what you have done for us by coming to earth and taking the form of a human, the human that we know as Jesus, the eternal Son of God.

[48:55] We thank you that he was willing to pay the penalty for our sins and that he successfully did so. Help us be ever more and more mindful of what he did and what that means.

[49:07] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[49:18] Amen.