Out of the Darkness: A Savior

Well, let's open our Bibles this morning to Isaiah chapter 53.

! If you've been here for the last several weeks, not last Sunday. Tom was gracious to fill this pulpit last Sunday, and I appreciate him for that.

I know you were blessed by his message. But throughout this month, I've been preaching through some of Isaiah's prophecies, and so we have reached the final one we're going to look at this holiday season.

It's Isaiah chapter 53. And I want you to listen as I read to you verses 1 through 12. Ready?

See? Those rare moments I forgot to put my marker in my spot. But then you didn't have a marker in your spot, did you?

All right? So, Isaiah 53, starting with verse 1. Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness. And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And by his stripes 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. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth.

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment.

And who will declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people he was stricken. And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death.

Because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief.

When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant shall justify many. For he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great. And he shall divide the spoil with the strong. Because he poured out his soul unto death.

And he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bore the sin of many. And made intercession for the transgressors. Alright? So there's Isaiah 53.

Now, this morning, as I've said, we've come to the passage of Scripture in Isaiah's prophecy that is perhaps one of the more familiar ones.

Not necessarily familiar because it's normally associated with the Christmas season. Even though it fits here quite well. Otherwise I wouldn't be preaching it.

But it's not well known because of its maybe Christmas message. But it is, still I would maintain, one of the most well known prophecies in all of the Old Testament.

As a matter of fact, I would say to you that nowhere in the Old Testament is the gospel of Jesus Christ more clearly presented than right here in Isaiah chapter 53.

Now that's quite unusual, isn't it? When you think about it. We don't normally think of the Old Testament when we think of the gospel presentation. And yet the gospel is very clear, not only here, but in many, many places.

And I would even maintain throughout the Old Testament. But it is most clear right here in Isaiah 53 in these verses that I just read.

Now, really, this section of the prophecy begins in chapter 52. And I've not read that yet. And we'll read parts of that a little bit later in the message.

But Isaiah 53 is the most familiar part of it. Now, here's the amazing thing about it. Now, I've said that this is a clear gospel message. And it is right here in the Old Testament.

But the amazing thing is that this gospel message was given 700 years before the cross. That's a long time before the cross.

And yet I'm saying it's a clear gospel message. Dear people, 700 years before Jesus came into this world the first time, God supernaturally opened the eyes of his prophet Isaiah and allowed him by his grace to look into the very heart of God and to see his redeeming grace.

That's what God did 700 years before it was actually fulfilled. Now, let me tell you what this prophecy does for me and therefore what I think it should do for you, each one of you.

Number one, it reminds me again that what Jesus did at Calvary, he did for me. This prophecy reminds us of that.

That what Jesus did at the cross, he did for me. And I'm emphasizing the word for because that's the idea. This prophecy means or tells me that Jesus took my place.

He took my place. That's the message of this prophecy, the larger part of it. Jesus was wounded for me. Jesus was bruised or more literally pierced for me in my place.

He was punished. That is, he was chastised in the old King James word here. He was chastised for me, for me in my place.

See, listen, the heart of the gospel is substitution. Don't ever forget that. It's substitution. The gospel is all about the substitutionary death, the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, let me tell you something else this prophecy will do for you. And that is, it will prove the validity of your salvation. That is, that what you've believed in is sure.

It's true. You don't have to ever doubt that. And make excuses for it and say, well, you know, I've just believed this way. This prophecy gives validity to the reality, the truth of your salvation.

You see, Jesus died for sinners in fulfillment of clear, specific, explicit Old Testament prophecies.

Of course, you know that. But why did he? Why did he do that? That is not, why did he die? But why do we have these Old Testament prophecies? And then the New Testament making such clear connections for us.

Why did he die in this sense to fulfill Old Testament prophecy? The reason is because he wants believers to be assured. This is for our assurance.

And that's very important for God's children to have assurance of their faith. And he did this then so that we could know for sure that we are saved.

When you read Isaiah 53, you're reading, again, a story of your salvation. And you're reading a story of your salvation in detail that was written 700 years before it happened.

That is, before it was accomplished for you. And so you not only have here in this great familiar prophecy, you not only have revelation to thrill you, you have a validation to assure you, to secure you.

Our salvation is no myth, as some would have us believe. Our salvation is the historical work of God through Christ.

It's historical. That is, God planned to do it. And He told us He was going to do it before He actually did it. And that brings us great assurance. So, this specific prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, as I said, actually begins in Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 13, where Isaiah identifies the person of the prophecy there for us.

Now, He does it again in Isaiah 53. But He identifies the person, the object of this prophecy. And He does so with the word servant. You see that in verse 13 of Isaiah chapter 52.

He calls Him, My servant. And then when you get on into Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 11, again, as I read a moment ago, He refers to Him there as My righteous servant.

All right, so He's the servant. And really, this entire block of the prophecy of Isaiah is generally referred to as the prophecy concerning the suffering servant.

All right, so the servant is in view here. And, you know, most of us, evangelical Christians as we are, we just automatically assume that the, or identify the servant as who?

As Jesus, right? In fact, we don't even question that. The servant is Jesus. And we've been taught that all of our lives. And I'm not going to dispute that.

But I am going to ask you, how do we know it? How do we know that's the case? The name Jesus does not appear in the prophecy. Again, the person or the object of the prophecy is just simply identified as servant.

And it might be interesting for you to know that sometimes in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah, the servant of the Lord, the servant of the Lord is the nation Israel.

Sometimes that's who the servant is, the nation Israel. And it's very clear from the prophecies of Isaiah. Sometimes, as a matter of fact, the servant is Isaiah, the prophet himself.

All right, so what makes us think that here in Isaiah 53 that Isaiah is speaking of Jesus or the Messiah? Well, I would emphatically assure you that Isaiah 53 is not a prophecy concerning the nation Israel.

It's not a prophecy concerning Isaiah the prophet himself. The servant of the Lord here is none other than Jesus himself. It is the Messiah.

And I'll prove it to you. On at least two planes. The servant cannot be the people of Israel. And it cannot be the prophet Isaiah himself.

Because in the prophecy, the servant is sacrificing himself for the people. And he is sacrificing himself for the prophet.

That is, literally, he is substituting himself for the people and for the prophet. And so the servant himself cannot be the people of Israel. Cannot be the prophet himself.

Because the servant is doing the sacrificing for the people. Substituting himself for the people. Look at verse 4. It's very clear from the text. The Bible says here, Isaiah's prophecy says, Surely he, that's a reference to the servant, has borne our griefs.

Our griefs. Our. That is, that includes Isaiah. Because he's writing the prophecy. Our griefs. My griefs, Isaiah could say.

It could also include Israel. Our includes Israel. God's chosen people. And it includes ours. Here today. Secondly, we know this is Jesus.

Because the New Testament identifies Isaiah's suffering servant as Jesus. It does so very clearly. Let me give you a few examples from Scripture. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 24.

You don't need to turn to it. We studied that some months ago. But let me refresh your memory about that particular text. There, Peter reveals the biblical principle of submission to our authorities regardless of how cruel or abusive they may be.

And that's the point of that text. And in the New Testament, in this New Testament passage, Peter says that Christ also suffered for you.

Alright? Wonderful. And then, Peter quotes a portion of this passage in Isaiah 53 as support for the point he's making.

And so, very clearly, he is linking Jesus with Isaiah's suffering servant. It's very clear. We could go back a little ways there in Peter's first letter.

1 Peter chapter 1, verses 10 and 11. And there, Peter is speaking about the prophets. And he is speaking of how the prophets, and that would include Isaiah, how they inquired, he said, and searched carefully the gospel message.

He says there, Peter says, searching. This is what the prophets were doing. Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand.

Now listen to this. When He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. A clear reference to Isaiah 53.

And then third, the third example of this from the New Testament and perhaps the most compelling proof that Isaiah 53 or Isaiah's suffering servant is none other than Jesus Himself.

It can be found in Acts chapter 8 in verse, well, verse 35 specifically. But that whole narrative there. And if you remember Acts chapter 8, that portion of Acts chapter 8, it's talking about Philip where Deacon Philip has been called away by the Holy Spirit to witness to a certain Ethiopian eunuch who's on the road traveling.

And Philip gets there and he finds that the eunuch is sitting there in his chariot or cart or whatever he's traveling in. And he has a scroll, the scroll of Isaiah.

And he's reading, it's clear from the text there that he's reading from Isaiah 53, the very passage we're looking at this morning. So here's the Ethiopian eunuch and he's reading Isaiah chapter 53 and Philip comes alongside the chariot and he says, do you understand what you're reading?

And what does the eunuch say? He says, how can I unless somebody guides me? That is, I need somebody to teach me, somebody to expose the meaning of this passage here.

And so what happens next is really awesome. The eunuch asks Philip specifically, literally, he says, of whom does the prophet say this?

He's reading Isaiah 53. He says, of whom does the prophet say these things? Is he speaking of himself or of some other man?

That is, what he's asking is, who is the suffering servant here? And then the Bible says in Acts 8.35, then Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture, what scripture?

Isaiah 53. Beginning there, what does Philip do? He preached Jesus to him. Now, it's indisputable that Isaiah 53 is about Jesus.

It is a prophecy concerning the coming Messiah and the New Testament tells us who that is or was or is and it's Jesus Christ.

And so clearly, the only person who could have been Isaiah's suffering servant is Jesus Christ. Even Jesus said in Mark chapter 10 and verse 45, He said, even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.

To serve. And to give His life a ransom that is a substitute for many. All right, so having said all of that, let's connect this with my series of messages this month.

We started, if you recall, and if you were here on the first Sunday of December, we started with Isaiah 7 and this was the theme. Out of the darkness, a sign.

And the sign is simply this. It was given to Ahaz, but given really to us. A virgin will conceive and have a son and he shall be called God with us.

All right, so out of the darkness, a sign. A sign of the Messiah. And then, after that, we looked at Isaiah chapter 9. Out of the darkness, a shining light.

A shining light. And Isaiah the prophet said, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned. And now here in Isaiah 53, out of the darkness, a Savior.

A Savior. It is a travesty. It does not do God's Word justice for us to go through a Christmas season and not link Christmas with salvation.

With the gospel. And that's what this prophecy and therefore what this sermon is all about. Out of the darkness. The darkness of lostness.

The darkness that is a spiritual darkness. Darkness of rebellion against the one true God and His Savior. Our only Savior.

Out of that darkness comes a Savior. A Savior. There is, here is, in this passage, a salvation story told 700 years before the first Christmas there in Bethlehem.

But where does Isaiah begin? It does not begin with that precious little baby born in the manger. It doesn't begin there.

And the gospel really doesn't begin there. He begins, rather, with the description of those who need a Savior. Sinners. Unbelievers.

That's where he begins. Or what I would call God's disloyal subjects. That's number one. God's disloyal subjects.

How does he state it here in verse one? He says, or asks, who has believed our report? Who has believed our report?

And the implication is, of course, no one has. No one has believed. That's where he begins. With this gospel message. That's a good place to begin. He begins with those who have not believed the report.

And that's everyone at some point or another. That's where it all began with me. Dear people, God created me. God graciously gave me life.

He gave me air to breathe. The air I'm breathing right now graciously is doing that. He gave me food to eat. He gave me all kinds of things in His creation to enjoy and to sustain me and to provide for me.

But beyond that, and more importantly, He gave me His love. Gave me His word so that I could know Him. He gave me His law.

Some would say that's not such a good thing. But He gave me His law because He had my best interest in mind. There's freedom in the law. There's blessing through the law.

He gave me His law. He gave me His Son. His precious Son, Jesus. And I, like the disloyal subjects mentioned here in verse 1, I rebelled.

And not just me, but all of us. That is, I did not believe His report. I did not believe the Gospel.

See, the answer to Isaiah's question is implied. And it is put in the form of a question, but it's rhetorical, and the answer is implied. He says, Who has believed?

Our report. And the answer is, no one has. No one has. All have rejected it. All are unbelieving. And there was a time when you did not believe.

Some of you may be in unbelief yet. And many, I might even use the word most, in the world today, have not believed.

have not believed. And the question is, why not? Why not? Why did Isaiah then, and why do we today, find such unbelief in the world in the face of the presentation of the Gospel?

Why is it that most do not believe it? And even more than that, they're militant against it. Why is that the case? Well, the answer to that question is, by the way, in the passage, in the prophecy, but it's not implied.

Rather, it is explicitly stated. It's very clear. And it's found there in verse 6. Look at it. Verse 6. That famous passage. All we, like sheep, have, what?

Gone astray. And here's the problem. And it's stated next. What have we done? We've turned, turned, everyone.

That's pretty inclusive, isn't it? We have turned, everyone, to, his own way, or our own way. That's why.

Now listen, the essence, of unbelief, is rebellion. That's something I wonder, if most Christians know.

The essence of unbelief, is not lack of understanding. The essence of unbelief, is not a weak faith.

I've talked to people, in years past, and lost people, and they say, well, I'd believe that, if I just had enough faith. The problem is not, a lack of faith, in that sense.

Unbelief, is not a, a fear, not based upon a fear, of failure. Or those who express, that kind of sentiment. Well, I, you know, I, I would trust this Jesus, and live for Him, but I don't think I could do it.

I would fail. And so, I just won't, believe it. But that's not it. The essence, of unbelief, is not, fear of failure. It's also not, a feeling, of unworthiness.

And there are many, who express, that kind of excuse, when it comes, to whether or not, they're going to respond, to the gospel. Unworthiness. Well, none of us are worthy.

The essence, of unbelief, unbelief in the gospel, of Jesus Christ, at the heart of it, is rebellion. It's rebellion, against God, and against His word, and how Isaiah, articulated it here, in his prophecy, it's simply this, having our own way.

Going our own way. Living our own way. Doing our own thing. Believing our own way. Desiring, craving our own things.

And so forth. We could go on, and on with that list. And listen. When, when you and I, understand this, about unbelief, it, then we're going to understand, what's happening, in America today.

It explains, explains it all. Think about this, for a moment. God says, that you are a rebel, if you do not believe, and follow Christ.

That's the essence, of unbelief. That's what God says. And since no one, wants to think of himself, or herself as rebels, then, what's the best way, to keep yourself, from feeling like a rebel?

Just don't think about God. Just don't think about Him. Don't think about Jesus. And more than that, if you can just simply, put Him out of your mind, or, exclude Him, from every area, of your life.

You can just do that. I mean, if you can just, get rid of everything, that reminds you of God. The one true God, and His word. And hence, reminds you, of what He requires of you.

If you can just, exclude that, and get rid of all of that. I mean, listen, let me ask you a question. What's the big deal, about Tim Tebow anyway? The man kneels, and he prays, and he has a great witness for Christ.

And a lot of people, have a problem with that. Why? They don't want to be reminded, that they're rebels, against God, and God's word. And the best way, not to be reminded of that, is to just exclude, all of that.

And more than that, become militant, against it. To remove it, from all areas of society. And certainly, don't go any place, where you might hear about Him. You know.

Be reminded of Him. And if you can do that, then you could, go your own way. See? And then, you'd be going your own way, and that'd be just, the natural way of living for you.

As it is for most people. It's very natural, to do my own thing. Because I don't ever go anywhere, where I'm reminded of God. I don't go anywhere, where that's, that's, I'm going to be confronted with that, with Him.

And with His word. What He demands of me. Because when I'm confronted, with the one true God, I come face to face with Him, the first thing I know, is I'm a rebel against Him. And so, I could just, go my own way, and it would be the natural way, to do things.

And, and if I do that, then I certainly would not, feel like a rebel. That really gets, it right down to the, the basic problem, in our world today.

It explains, by the way, what is happening in our culture today, in this season. And what has been happening, for a number of years, and continues to be the case. I mean, why take the word Christ, out of Christmas, and call it Xmas?

What, what was the motivation, behind that? Do you think? I mean, why, why remove, I mean, and people are so, intent on removing, the greeting, Merry Christmas, and replacing it, with some, kind of generic, happy holidays.

I mean, why do that? What's the point of that? I know what, what unbelievers say, and what those who espouse these things, what they say, they're wanting to do, and trying to do.

I mean, you know, you don't push your religion on other people. I know what they're saying, but it really comes down to, I don't want to be reminded of God. And I'm putting Him out of my life, and out of the routine of my life, and out of my society, so that I don't feel like a rebel.

I mean, why replace the nativity, with blow up Santa Clauses, or Frosty the Snowman?

Anything wrong with those? Nothing wrong with that. I'm not, not slamming that. But, but we have, as a society, all you have to do is you drive around town, you know it's true, have replaced the nativity, which is what Christmas is all about, replaced it with every other kind of thing, that goes with the holiday, or, or how our holiday has, has evolved over the years.

And there is something diabolical behind it. Something very rebellious behind it. The best way not to feel like a rebel, is to remove Jesus from everything.

Just get rid of Him. To keep God's way, from interfering and conflicting with our way, we just exclude Jesus from everything.

Because, you see, we are by nature, disloyal subjects. That's what we are. That's why we need a Savior. And this is where the Gospel begins.

Yes. This is where Isaiah began. And this is where the story of salvation begins, with disloyal subjects. Now, next, and it gets worse before it gets better, Isaiah tells us about, number two, secondly, he tells us about the despised servant.

And these two go together. The natural progress of things. Look at verse three again. He is despised and rejected by men.

Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we did not esteem him not. Esteem him.

The despised servant. Now, when God graciously sent his servant to save us, that's why he sent him, what did we do?

We despised him. We rejected him. And why? Verse two tells us, for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, a young plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness. Comeliness is kind of an old word. It means no splendor about him. Nothing attractive about him. That is, to man.

And when we see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. Now, what does this mean? Well, the meaning of this really points to something far more than just the socioeconomic status of Jesus and his family.

Some have just simply attached that exclusively to this passage. That is, he was just a poor, common man. So was his family. But it's more than just that.

There's more here than just the humble way Jesus was born and the way he lived. The point, the point, I think, is this. The person Jesus, not just as a baby in the way he was born, but his entire life, the person of Jesus is not compatible with the desires of disloyal subjects.

His life just is not compatible with that. The two can't go together. His life is inconsistent. It's not compatible with rebels.

I mean, his whole view of life. Think about it. As the Bible describes the life of Christ. His whole view of life. That is what he very clearly taught concerning money.

What he taught on material things, possessions. What he taught and exemplified in his life about moral purity.

What he taught about pride and humility. About prayer and faith and what true worship is. None of those things fit with our own way.

Do they? They don't. Just think about it. Jesus was so lowly and humble that our desire for influence, to be influential, or to be wealthy, or to be popular, those desires make us feel so evil when we think about Jesus.

They're not compatible. Jesus, his poverty makes our desire for more things seem so materialistic and foolish.

Jesus, his willingness to suffer as he did, to suffer not for himself or for some cause, but to suffer for others.

His desire to do that makes our desire for physical comfort. It makes that feel so self-centered. Selfish.

And, dear people, quite honestly, we don't like to feel that way, do we? We don't want to feel like rebels. We just don't. But this is what we are.

We are disloyal subjects. We are rebels. And here's the point here. Because we are disloyal subjects, we don't like to feel that we are. Therefore, Jesus is the despised servant of the Lord.

But it is at this point that we discover the most amazing thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ. God knew this would happen.

Even before he sent his son. Even before he sent this prophecy. even before the world was created. God knew that his subjects would be disloyal.

God, it didn't catch God off guard when his servant was despised. And so, this is why he sent his servant.

Why he came in the first place. And he came as, and here's the third thing I want you to see. God's destined substitute for us.

He was destined, he was sent to be a substitute for us. Because none of this got, caught God off guard. That little baby that, you know, we kind of visualize in the manger and we wonder at him and, you know, is so serene and beautiful.

That little baby came to fulfill his destiny. A divine destiny. As Jesus said again in Mark 10, 45, I quoted this a moment ago, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom.

Again, I would insert a substitute for many. That's the heart, again, the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's, it's substitution. That's what we get from this text. You see, this is, this is good news for all disloyal subjects.

This, this is why we call it the gospel. This is good news. Disloyal subjects who are willing to repent of their disloyalty. to disloyal subjects who are willing to lay down, lay aside their rebellion.

The despised servant of the Lord has come as the destined substitute for us. He bears our grief. He bears our guilt.

He bears our sorrows. And here's the good news. Instead of vengeance because of our sins, He bears them for us. That's what He says.

Wounded for our, in our place. Our transgressions. Instead of destroying us because we're rebels, He bears it for us.

Our rebellion. He was bruised, crushed for us in our place.

and all of the chastisement that Isaiah speaks of here in the, or refers to here in the prophecy. All of the whippings. Let's just use that word there.

All of that that we deserve. All of it we deserve as His disloyal subject He takes upon Himself so that we may have peace with God.

the disloyal subject despised servant destined substitute and then one more this morning very quickly this is especially for us today the discovered Savior.

Even though Isaiah 53 verse 1 implies that few if any have believed the report believed the salvation story remember Isaiah said who has believed our report meaning no one has yet Isaiah 52 and verse 13 says tells us that the servant this suffering servant of the Lord that he will be successful he will accomplish what he has come to do Isaiah 52 and verse 13 says behold my servant shall deal prudently that is he will act wisely that is in short he's going to be successful in what he comes to do that is some will believe many of you have believed and I have believed and that's not my success that's the success of the Lord of the servant of Christ look at

Isaiah 52 verse 13 if you haven't already let's just walk through this very quickly because what what Isaiah is referring to here is the cross this is the success of the Savior because the cross means salvation to all those who believe look at it Isaiah 52 verse 13 he will be exalted that's the word used in the new King James means raised up and he will be extolled that's an old word he's lifted up all right raised up lifted up and when will he be raised up and lifted up well it's not will be it has been at the cross at the cross don't miss this he will be raised up and lifted up the prophecy says and be very high very high or greatly exalted supremely and why why will the servant be greatly exalted because of the cross because of his crucifixion that's what

Isaiah in effect is saying here's the answer to your question look at the cross and he describes it some aspect a very important aspect of the cross he describes it in verse 14 look at it just as many were astonished or appalled you might even use the word horrified at you now you attach this to the cross and rightfully so you should you know that many were appalled horrified when they looked upon Jesus hanging upon that cross and why were they well Isaiah tells us verse 14 his again speaking of the servant his visage what was that his appearance yeah his face someone said what he looked like his visage and what about it it was marred or disfigured disfigured how disfigured was it

Isaiah says more than any man and his form more than the sons of man of men many after they were finished with Jesus on the cross he did not look like a man in fact he did not even resemble a human being is what Isaiah said we really do it injustice when we have these little pictures of Jesus hanging upon a cross and you know he got a little blood trickling down his forehead that's not it at all Isaiah says in prophesying of that event that people who looked upon him were horrified he didn't even look like a!

if his own mother had not been there throughout and knew it was Jesus she would not have recognized him he didn't even look human by the time they were through with him this is the cross this is what Isaiah is saying that the servant was successful and highly exalted because of the cross in all of its graphic cruelty the servant Jesus was raised up to that he was exalted lifted up to that highly lifted up because through the cross verse 15 he shall sprinkle many nations what what is that these these are words that refer to sacrifice sprinkling of the blood that this is the sacrifice like the blood of a sacrifice is sprinkled on the altar on behalf of the people this is the blood atonement of

Jesus Christ he atoned for your sin and my sin so that your sin and my sin could not only be covered but wiped completely away the atonement and then the prophet goes on kings will shut their mouths because of him this has not yet happened the prophecy goes even beyond the cross kings will shut their mouths for they will see and they will consider the question really is do you see!

Do you see? Do you understand? The significance of the cross have you discovered the Savior? One day at the end of the age of man all will see Jesus for who he is and who he has always been all along sadly for many that discovery will come too late it's not too late right now here's the real burden of this message really this morning and I would even say to you the real burden of Christmas a burden for all disloyal subjects sinners and rebels who through unbelief despise the servant of the Lord the Lord Jesus Christ this is the burden discover him today discover him the

Savior discover the Savior discover Jesus today he's here presented here through the prophecy of Isaiah connected by the New Testament to Jesus who came born of a virgin so that he could be Emmanuel God with us who lived and died on a cruel cross through that lifting him up on the cross he made atonement payment everlasting payment for your sin so that if you will trust him and believe in him all your sins will be blotted out and he will give to you free gift of eternal life if you will believe in him that's what it's all about have you discovered him today

Thank you.