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[0:00] Let's remind ourselves one more time about the main idea of the entire Isaiah 53 passage.

[0:18] ! Jesus Christ is presented as our suffering servant whose substitutionary death and victorious resurrection are predicted seven centuries in advance.!

[0:29] For several weeks we've been working through the future confession of Israel when the people realized that Israel rejected God's one and only Savior, the promised Messiah of Isaiah 53.

[0:41] Isaiah 53 10 finishes that confession, then in the last two verses of chapter 53 we'll hear from God Himself to close it out. In the three verses we'll study tonight, we'll see references to the previous twelve, so because of that, let's begin by reading all fifteen verses of Isaiah 53.

[1:00] Remember those fifteen go back to where the chapter really should begin and that is Isaiah 52 13. Starting in Isaiah 52 13, we have God speaking there.

[1:12] He says, Well, pause there just a second because after that summary by God, Isaiah 53 13, Isaiah 53 13 begins with the confession of the future people of Israel.

[1:49] And so the people say, Who has believed what he has heard from us? 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.

[2:02] 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.

[2:14] 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. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

[2:28] 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.

[2:39] All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted.

[2:51] 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. By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

[3:04] 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.

[3:17] Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. And that brings us to the verses we'll study tonight. As we just mentioned, verse 10 finishes Israel's future confession.

[3:28] And the people will conclude by saying, 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.

[3:40] He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. And then God takes center stage again to finish the chapter. And God says, starting in verse 11, Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.

[3:56] By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. And he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many.

[4:07] And he shall divide the spoil with the strong. Because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

[4:20] So here's the main idea for tonight's three verses. Jesus perfectly fulfilled God's plan to redeem sinners, resulting in eternal exaltation for Jesus and eternal salvation for all who believe in him.

[4:35] Once again, Jesus perfectly fulfilled God's plan to redeem sinners, resulting in eternal exaltation for Jesus and eternal salvation for all who believe in him.

[4:47] We'll again break tonight's passage into three sections of one verse each. And in verse 10, we see the resurrected sufferer. So the resurrected sufferer is your first set of blanks.

[5:03] Look at verse 10 again. Verse 10 says, 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.

[5:17] He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Consider verse 10's first phrases where it says, Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.

[5:28] He has put him to grief. The Hebrew word translated will in verse 10 by the English Standard Version literally means to delight in or to take pleasure in.

[5:39] If you have the New American Standard Bible, it translates the phrase more literally, and it says, The Lord was pleased to crush him. The phrase, He has put him to grief, is a strong phrase, and it describes the intensity of Christ's suffering.

[5:56] It indicates an experience so excruciating that it's excruciating enough to completely debilitate someone. God did more than merely crush the servant in the sense of killing him.

[6:07] He did so in the most appalling way possible. And then verse 10 summarizes the deepest and most mysterious aspect of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus, and that is the Father's pleasure in crushing his son and making him suffer.

[6:23] The best explanation for this is of Jesus' own attitude toward the cross in Hebrews 12.2. Remember what Jesus, or what was said about Jesus in Hebrews 12.2.

[6:35] It said, For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. The delight of the Father in Isaiah 53.10 is the same as the joy of the Son in Hebrews 12.2.

[6:53] And that's not the cross itself, but the glory that it would win for God and the salvation that it would bring for a multitude greater than anyone could count from every nation on earth.

[7:03] And we know that will happen because of Revelation 7.9. The ultimate cause of the servant's terrible sufferings was the will of God. God ordained and ensured that his servant should suffer like he did.

[7:17] And the will of the Lord was fulfilled when his own son came and humans put him to death by hanging him on a tree. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility met at Calvary.

[7:31] The relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility is beyond human comprehension. So if you thought I was going to explain that tonight, you'll leave disappointed.

[7:43] What we do know about divine sovereignty and human responsibility is that Scripture teaches both. The Bible teaches that the ultimate cause of Christ's death was the will of God.

[7:54] Yet the Bible also teaches that those who were humanly responsible for Christ's death were free and rational agents in all that they did. And so they're fully culpable in that death.

[8:06] And just think about all the people who had a hand in Jesus' death. We can name several people who deserve the blame for killing Jesus. Obviously, Judas had a big role in Jesus' death because Judas betrayed him.

[8:20] And we can blame the Jewish religious leaders who orchestrated the plot. Herod and Pilate were involved in Jesus' sentencing, even though Pilate said more than once that Jesus was innocent.

[8:33] The Roman soldiers performed the actual crucifixion, and those are just some of the people who played an active part. What about all the people who failed to protest the injustices that Jesus suffered?

[8:46] So are those people the ones who killed Jesus? Well, verse 10 says the answer to that question is both yes and no, because behind all secondary causes, the ultimate expression of the death of Christ is the will of God.

[9:04] So even this most cruel and wicked of human acts was divinely ordained, and it was ordained for the salvation of souls and the glory of God. Those who fail to grasp that Jesus' suffering was the prerequisite to glory have never really understood the first thing about the gospel.

[9:23] Think about what Jesus went through. He received no help or support in His death. He suffered under the relentless, unrelieved terrors of divine wrath and fury against sin.

[9:34] God arrived in the blackness at Calvary to bring judgment, not on the ungodly, but on His Son. God brought the outer darkness of hell to Calvary that day as He unleashed the full fury of the extent of His wrath against the sins of all who would ever believe in Jesus Christ.

[9:53] infinite wrath was moved by infinite righteousness and that brought infinite punishment on the eternal Son. As we previously studied, Old Testament passages that foretold Jesus' sufferings include the symbolism in Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac, the Passover lamb, the bronze serpent that was lifted up in the wilderness, the blood shedding that was so prominent in the sacrificial system, the piercing and mockery portrayed in Psalm 22, the suffering described in Psalm 69, 118 and other Messianic Psalms, and the betrayal and piercing alluded to in Zechariah 11, 12 and 13 and also Zechariah 12, verse 10.

[10:42] So the people had enough in the Old Testament to know what was going to happen to the Messiah if they'd really paid attention. The actual torture of Jesus was an agony beyond measure for the Father, and He showed that by darkening the skies eerily and by shaking the ground when His Son died.

[11:01] So this showed immeasurable pain followed by infinite pleasure and joy. And this pleasure and joy related to the salvation of others that the Father's and the Son's pain would bring to others.

[11:13] The outcome pleased God, and it pleased God in the sense that His pleasure in crushing Jesus and putting Him to grief was in the Son's fulfilling of the Father's purpose.

[11:26] It wasn't in Jesus' agony, but His accomplishment. It wasn't in Jesus' suffering, but the salvation that the suffering accomplished. God was pleased because the servant willingly sacrificed Himself as a guilt offering.

[11:40] He gave His life to save sinners. The Messiah suffering before His glorification clearly should have been expected by the Jews. We looked at all those references earlier, but listen to what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11 after all these events had happened.

[11:59] In 1 Peter 1, 10 and 11, Peter said, Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully.

[12:10] inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. Peter emphasizes in verse 11 that the Spirit worked through the prophets to predict both the sufferings of Jesus and Jesus' subsequent glories as we just read.

[12:32] As we move into the latter parts of verse 10 now, in Isaiah 53, we'll see those glories begin to be revealed. We see these words next in verse 10's prophecy.

[12:44] It says, When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. The Old Testament guilt offering was sometimes referred to as the trespass offering.

[12:56] And this was one of the five main sacrifices in the Levitical system. Those sacrifices are described in the first seven chapters of Leviticus, and they also included the burn offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, and the sin offering.

[13:14] Sin and guilt offerings were the two that were mandatory. Sin offerings and guilt offerings were offered every day in the morning and evening sacrifices as well as on the Sabbath.

[13:26] Four of the offerings, and that's all except the grain offering, involved animal sacrifices. All these pictured the deadly result of sin, the sobering reality that the soul who sins shall die.

[13:40] They also offered hope because God allowed a substitute to die in the sinner's place, and we know, of course, that foreshadowed Christ's death as the ultimate sacrifice.

[13:52] The guilt offering added an important dimension that was absent from the others, and that is the principle of restitution, satisfaction, or propitiation.

[14:04] Restitution was required when someone deprived another, whether God or another human, of his or her rightful due. The guilt offering was thus the most complete of the five major offerings.

[14:17] Jesus, the sinless sacrifice, willingly substituted himself as the guilt offering for everyone who believes in him. Repentant sinners, having died to sin through their union with Christ in his death, are freed from sin's guilt.

[14:32] Christ's death is the payment for the sins of all who believe. Verse 10 clearly says that Jesus voluntarily makes himself the guilt offering. Then it says, he shall see his offspring.

[14:46] So how is a dead person going to see his offspring? Well, the answer, of course, is that Jesus would suffer and die, but then be resurrected.

[14:57] In earlier studies in this series, we looked at several places where Jesus told his disciples that he would die and then be resurrected. Here's just one of them to refresh our memories about that.

[15:09] And this is what Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 17, 22, and 23. So here are Matthew 17, 22, and 23. As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.

[15:31] And they were greatly distressed. In Acts chapter 13, verses 26 through 30, Paul summarized how Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection fulfilled prophecy, even though most Jews and their leaders failed to understand.

[15:50] Listen to Acts 13, 26 through 30. Paul said there, Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent this message of salvation.

[16:04] For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

[16:16] And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

[16:29] And then here are the great words of verse 30, But God raised him from the dead. The last phrases of Isaiah 53, 10 do emphasize that Christ is the resurrected sufferer.

[16:42] The last phrases say, He shall prolong his days, the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall prolong his days is a Hebrew figure of speech for a long, enduring life.

[16:57] And then in Revelation 1, 18, Jesus declared, I died, and behold, I live forevermore, and I am alive forevermore. The writer of Hebrews noted that Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.

[17:17] And that is Hebrews 7, 25. We'll come back to that a little bit later in the lesson. Through his willingness and acceptance of God's judgment, Jesus caused the will of the Lord to prosper.

[17:30] In other words, Jesus accomplished everything that God wanted him to do. For us as believers, Jesus accomplished everything that we needed him to do.

[17:43] This brings us to the second section of the passage. And verse 11 then explains why Jesus was resurrected. Jesus was resurrected because he is the righteous savior.

[17:56] So righteous savior is your second heading. Look again at verse 11.

[18:09] Remember here, this is God starting to speak. 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.

[18:26] And as we mentioned, we've been talking about how Isaiah 53 verses 1 through 10 will be spoken by future Israel on the day that they finally realize that Jesus was and is the promised Messiah.

[18:39] I just said a while ago that verse 11 is God speaking and we know that because of how the speaker changes. In the last two verses of this amazing prophecy, we know that God is the speaker because the pronouns change from plural to singular.

[18:56] Notice how it says, my servant, and then later on, it says, I will divide. The context makes it clear that God is now the one speaking. The suffering servant is God's servant, and so this can be none other than the voice of God in the last two verses.

[19:15] Here in these verses, God is speaking in real time as far as the people in Isaiah's generation were concerned. In verse 11, in the first half of verse 12, God therefore deals with the cross as a future event.

[19:29] His words affirm the testimony of the repentant Israelites that we just looked at in the previous ten verses. God verifies that those Israelites are correct in understanding the atonement as a vicarious, satisfactory sacrifice.

[19:45] Verse 11 again mentions the anguish that Jesus endured, but the focus is more on the results of that anguish and why those results occurred. Following the reference to the anguish, the prophecy says that Jesus shall see and be satisfied.

[20:02] Despite everything that Jesus endured, we see from these verses that Jesus has no regrets. Jesus will have the joy of seeing his spiritual offspring, the redeemed, gathered into God's kingdom.

[20:16] It will be Jesus' honor to see them surround his throne, worshiping and serving him to the praise of his glory throughout all eternity. Jesus will be satisfied that his work of substitutionary atonement was completed, as indicated by his triumphant final cry from the cross.

[20:35] And that final cry comes in John 19.30 where it records Jesus says, It is finished. And as Jesus said to the Father on the night before his death, he said, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

[20:52] And that is John 17.4. The next section of Isaiah 53.11 says, By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous.

[21:08] Let's dig a little deeper into the phrases here. The phrase by his knowledge is translated poorly. The Hebrew phrase really means by the knowledge of him shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous.

[21:25] So God is saying that because people know Jesus in the saving sense, those people will be the ones who are counted righteous. People knowing Jesus and Jesus knowing them is what saves them.

[21:39] That fits with Jesus' own words in the high priestly prayer on the night before he was crucified. Listen to what Jesus said in John 17.3. Jesus said in John 17.3, And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

[22:01] When we truly know Christ and put our faith in him, the verse says that we are counted righteous. righteous. An important distinction exists between being made righteous and being counted as righteous.

[22:15] Believers gain a right standing with God because they are accounted righteous. Romans 4.6 says that God credits them with righteousness apart from works.

[22:26] The concept of being credited with righteousness is more than a New Testament concept. The concept first appears long before we see it here in Isaiah even. In Genesis 15.6, Moses was speaking of Abraham when Moses wrote, And he believed the Lord, and he, being the Lord, counted it to him, Abraham, as righteousness.

[22:52] It's the same concept that Paul referenced in Philippians 3.9. So we see the consistency of the Bible as it carries forward from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Listen to what Paul wrote in Philippians 3.9.

[23:07] Paul says that he wants to be found in Jesus, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

[23:23] Consider the significance of the fact that the servant, Jesus, makes people to be accounted righteous instead of the people trying to be righteous by their own merit. That statement runs contrary to every religion ever invented by the human mind.

[23:39] Rather than instructing people how they can better themselves to earn divine favor, reach nirvana, gain enlightenment, or whatever, the gospel, according to God, announces that God's servant, Israel's Messiah, the Lord of the church, does everything necessary to justify sinners.

[23:58] Specifically, God counts people as righteous because his servant has borne their sin. Out of the anguish of his soul, believers' sins are atoned for.

[24:11] The fact that people can never do enough to earn their salvation can be hard for some people to accept. However, the fact that we're saved by faith in what Christ has done should instead bring us great comfort.

[24:25] If we can do nothing to earn our salvation, we also can do nothing to lose that salvation. The end of verse 11 reminds us why we can be counted righteous because of Jesus' sacrifice.

[24:39] That end of verse 11 says, and he shall bear their iniquities. Believers can be counted as righteous because Jesus has fully paid the penalty for every sin we as believers have done or ever will do.

[24:55] Think about Colossians chapter 2 verses 13 and 14. Here are Colossians chapter 2 13 and 14. And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made a life together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands.

[25:21] This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. focus on the comment there that God has forgiven all our trespasses. The theme of forgiveness runs throughout the entire Bible.

[25:36] Let's look at some Old Testament passages that mention forgiveness. In Psalm 32 1, David wrote, blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

[25:51] Then in Psalm 130 verses 3 and 4, Psalm 130 verses 3 and 4 say, If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand?

[26:04] But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. Here's Isaiah 1.18. Isaiah 1.18 says, Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord.

[26:18] Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Then a little bit later in Isaiah, past the passage we're looking at tonight, Isaiah 55.7 has these words, Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

[26:40] Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Micah 7.18 says, Who is a God like you pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?

[26:58] He does not retain his anger forever. Then moving to the New Testament, listen to what Jesus told his disciples during the Last Supper. Here's Matthew 26.28.

[27:12] Jesus said in Matthew 26.28, For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Then in Acts 10.43, Peter said the following, To him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

[27:37] And of course, we know the him and his there refer to Jesus. Paul preached these words in Acts chapter 13, verses 38 and 39.

[27:50] Acts 13.38 and 39 say, Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

[28:09] We could look at more examples where the Bible talks about God's forgiveness, but let's close out this set of cross-references by hearing God's quote in Hebrews 8.12.

[28:20] God said in Hebrews 8.12, for I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more. And we know that God cannot forget, so the sense there is that he chooses not to remember our sins.

[28:38] God can be merciful toward our iniquities because Jesus bore those iniquities just as Isaiah predicted 700 years before it actually happened. So we've seen the resurrected sufferer and the righteous Savior.

[28:53] In the last verse of Isaiah 53, we see the rewarded supporter. The rewarded supporter is your last set of blanks.

[29:05] In his now glorified and exalted position, Jesus is both the Savior and the supporter of everybody who believes in him. Look again at Isaiah 53.12.

[29:20] Because Jesus successfully bore our iniquities, God said there, 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.

[29:36] Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. Do you notice how Isaiah's prophecy has come full circle?

[29:47] God began the prophecy with these words in Isaiah 52.13. He said there, Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.

[30:01] God now ends the prophecy similarly on an exalted note with the servant's glorification. Jesus was glorified because he did everything necessary for the salvation of his people.

[30:13] Verse 12 begins with God saying that Jesus will get a portion with the many and that Jesus will divide his portion with the strong. What you need to have in mind here is the imagery of a conqueror sharing his victory with his allies.

[30:31] The many and the strong are the multitudes whom Christ has justified and those for whom he poured out his blood. Their strength is not their own but the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

[30:44] But they too will be exalted as joint heirs with him and we know that from Romans 8 verse 17. All the redeemed of all ages will be part of an everlasting fellowship with Jesus that will enrich their lives.

[30:59] Everything Jesus possesses of the eternal glories in the new heaven and the new earth will be our possession as well. We will reign with him on earth in the millennial kingdom and forever in the new heaven and the new earth.

[31:14] All people must either submit to Jesus or be destroyed by him. All principalities, powers, human or angelic are subject to him.

[31:26] Philippians 2 verses 8 through 11 say and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross.

[31:37] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

[31:59] Going back to Isaiah 52 13 we see four reasons why we have this exalted position of Jesus as the servant.

[32:10] First he was exalted because he poured out his soul to death. We also saw that in Isaiah 53 8 Jesus' willingness to pay the ultimate penalty of suffering and death exemplifies a humiliation and sacrifice above all others and far above all others.

[32:30] The original Hebrew text gives a better sense of the meaning than the English translations do. The Hebrew verb translated poured out means to lay bare. It has a strong connotation of defenselessness.

[32:44] Literally it means he exposed his soul to death in the sense that he handed it over. He willingly gave up his life and it's an echo of the same truth confessed by the repentant Israel in verse 7 when they say he died like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.

[33:02] Remember also what Jesus said in John 10 verses 17 and 18. Here are Jesus' words in John 10 17 and 18.

[33:15] For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me but I lay it down of my own accord.

[33:26] I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. The second reason God gives for exalting Jesus is that he was numbered with the transgressors despite being sinless.

[33:43] We saw that when we looked at Isaiah 53 9. Rather than remaining a highly exalted one who was totally separated from sinners the servant allowed himself to be identified with the sorrows and sufferings of the rebellious people of his day.

[33:58] The people at that time despised and rejected him wrongly assuming that God punished him because of his own sins. In reality God punished him because of their sins.

[34:11] And this is not a direct reference to his being crucified between two thieves when it says he was numbered with the transgressors although that arrangement does give a living picture of the extreme humiliation that this verse is talking about.

[34:25] This is more a reference to Jesus' willingness to be identified with the transgressors in his incarnation. Remember how he was identified with the transgressors.

[34:37] He came to earth as an infant. He grew up in poverty. He lived among sinners. He mingled with sinners and ultimately died in the place of those sinners.

[34:50] From a visual standpoint Jesus did not stand out from anybody else. Unlike countless portraits of him over the centuries, he had no halo. Have any of you seen that picture on the billboard on Frank Phillips where Jesus has the halo?

[35:06] I think about the Isaiah 53 passage every time I drive by that now. So despite that billboard, he didn't have a halo and we know that nothing about his physical appearance marked him as a supernatural being.

[35:20] In fact, as we've seen from the start, the disconnect between his ordinary appearance and the miraculous power he possessed was a stumbling block for many who rejected him. And that goes back to what we saw in Isaiah 53 verse 2.

[35:36] The third reason that God gives for exalting Jesus is that he bore the sins of many. And we saw that in Isaiah 53 verse 4 and also here in verse 11 that we've looked at tonight.

[35:49] Jesus accepted the load of their guilt so that he could make reparations for that guilt. The many refers back to the many justified in Isaiah 53 verse 11. The many Israelites who were appalled at his disfigured looks in 52 verse 14 and the many kings who shut their mouths in Isaiah 52 verse 15.

[36:11] The fourth reason that God gives for exalting Jesus is that Jesus also interceded for the transgressors. This aspect likely has a double meaning.

[36:22] first with his life, his suffering and his death, he took the transgressor's place. Second, after his resurrection, Jesus continually makes intercession for his people.

[36:36] We read Hebrews 7 25 earlier but here we need to come back to it. It says, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.

[36:50] Notice one more thing about the four reasons God gives for exalting Jesus. The verbs translated poured out, was numbered, and bore are in the perfect tense signifying a completed action.

[37:05] But the verb translated makes intercession is imperfect describing a continuous ongoing action. That's very important for all of us.

[37:15] It shows that Jesus is our ceaseless defender, intercessor, and mediator. Listen to what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2 verses 5 and 6.

[37:28] 1 Timothy 2 5 and 6 say, For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

[37:45] John MacArthur said, This magnificent passage ends where it began in verse 13 of chapter 52 with the exaltation of Jesus Christ.

[37:56] He will return to defeat the world's rebellion against God, judge the ungodly, and establish his glorious thousand-year kingdom on the earth. He will receive the title deed to the earth.

[38:09] The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. of course, that comes from Revelation 11, 15.

[38:21] And then MacArthur concludes, And at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. We saw that in Philippians 2, 10 that we read earlier.

[38:34] Remember the main idea for tonight. Jesus perfectly fulfills God's plan to redeem sinners, God himself categorically affirms that the confession of faith found in Isaiah 53 is a true and sound understanding of the work of Christ on the cross.

[39:00] This must be the confession of all who come to faith in Christ. They must acknowledge Jesus as the only acceptable sacrifice for sin, embrace him as the substitute who died in their place and confess that Jesus rose from the dead.

[39:16] That is still the only way of salvation. Remember John 14, 6. In John 14, 6 we see this.

[39:28] Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Also remember Acts 4, 12.

[39:42] Peter echoes the same thought in Acts 4, 12. He wrote there, And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

[39:56] The fact that Isaiah 53 speaks so plainly of Christ's substitutionary death seven centuries before Christ is evidence of the supernatural origin of the book of Isaiah and of the whole Bible.

[40:09] We should quote the Bible's details to lost people. We should also build our own faith in Jesus daily by pondering Isaiah 53 verses 5 and 6.

[40:20] We should find eternal security in these verses. We know that God made a plan for our salvation before the foundation of the world and predicted it clearly through Isaiah.

[40:32] Jesus achieved it 2,000 years ago and now Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for us until we are at last with him in heaven. We should use this chapter as grounds for personal and corporate worship and finally we should seek by the Spirit to imitate Christ's full obedience to the Father.

[40:54] So here's a question to ponder but I won't let you ponder it for too long. We'll give you the answer as well. That question is this. How do believers know that we are safely sheltered by Christ's sacrifice and resurrection?

[41:09] How do we as believers know that we are safely sheltered by Christ's sacrifice and resurrection? Well here's part of the answer. In Isaiah 53.12 the link between Jesus atoning death and his constant intercession is made clear.

[41:28] Those Jesus died for he also prays for. The image of Jesus at the right hand of God interceding for us is comforting for us who still battle constantly against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

[41:44] If you still need more proof that believers are safely sheltered by Christ's sacrifice and resurrection, listen to this quote from Charles Spurgeon. It begins by Spurgeon quoting the end of Isaiah 53.6.

[41:59] Spurgeon said, the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. It was the sovereign decree of heaven which constituted Christ the great substitute for his people.

[42:15] No man taketh this office upon himself. Even the Son of God stupeth not to this burden uncalled. He was chosen as the covenant had in election.

[42:26] He was ordained in the divine decree to stand for his people. God the Father cannot refuse the sacrifice which he has himself appointed. My son said good old Abraham, God shall provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.

[42:42] He has done so in the Savior and what God provides, God must and will accept. So that last sentence is key. What God provides, God must and will accept.

[42:58] If you remember one thing about our study through Isaiah 53, make that be the words of Isaiah 53 verses 4 and 5. Speaking about Jesus, those verses say, Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

[43:20] 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.

[43:31] . Thank you.