Sign #4: Prophecy That Describes the Savior: Part Two Isaiah 53

The Signs of Christmas

 Sermon Series

Sign #4: Prophecy That Describes the Savior: Part Two

Isaiah 53

 Introduction

1. The Promised King Would Be Rejected (vv. 1-2)
2. The promised king is rejected because He enters the world in a quiet way.
3. The promised king is rejected because of how he looked.
4. The promised king is rejected because He takes on himself the pain and “suffering” of the world.

“It was May 21, 1946. The place – Los Alamos. A young and daring scientist was carrying out a necessary experiment in preparation for the atomic test to be conducted in the waters of the South Pacific at Bikini.

He had successfully performed such an experiment many times before. In his effort to determine the amount of U-235 necessary for a chain reaction–scientists call it the critical mass–he would push two hemispheres of uranium together. Then, just as the mass became critical, he would push them apart with his screwdriver, thus instantly stopping the chain reaction. But that day, just as the material became critical, the screwdriver slipped! The hemispheres of uranium came too close together. Instantly the room was filled with a dazzling bluish haze. Young Louis Slotin, instead of ducking and thereby possibly saving himself, tore the two hemispheres apart with his hands and thus interrupted the chain reaction.

“By this instant, self-forgetful daring, he saved the lives of the seven other persons in the room. . . (A)s he waited. . for the car that was to take him to the hospital, he said quietly to his companion, ‘You’ll come through all right. But I haven’t the faintest chance myself’ It was only too true. Nine days later he died in agony.

“Nineteen centuries ago the Son of the living God walked directly into sin’s most concentrated radiation, allowed Himself to be touched by its curse, and let it take His life . . . But by that act He broke the chain reaction. He broke the power of sin.”[1]

The Promised King Would Save Us From Our Sins (vv. 4-12)

As A Substitute (vv. 4-6)

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 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. 6 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.”

(v. 5) “There is one emphatic subject in verse 5, he, and this initial stress is reflected in what follows: he was crushed, . . . upon him . . . his wounds. While he thus deals with our moral and spiritual needs and our broken personhood we are not even mentioned except as contributors of the sin which caused his pain.”[2] (v. 6) is focused on us, “we are like sheep, we have turned away from God, it is our iniquity that was laid upon Jesus.

The Promised One would be a man who would suffer because of what we have done.  When we discover Christ, we find a Savior who was born into the world with the purpose to die for it.  But when this Savior arrives, when the world sees him, “we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” They mistook his suffering and being punishment from God – which is true, but it was not for his own sins He was suffering, it was for the ungodly.

(v. 4-5) Romans 5:6-8 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  We did not understand this, and we did not cooperate with God in this. God even while we were still opposing Him and rebelling against Him – Christ died for us.

This is the heart of the gospel of Jesus – substitution. Instead of collapsing in grief over our rejection, he bears our grief. Instead of increasing our sorrows as we deserve, he carries our sorrows. Instead of avenging our transgressions he is pierced for them in our place.

Instead of crushing us for our iniquities he is crushed for them as our substitute. And all the chastisement and whipping that belongs to us for our rebellion he takes on himself in order that we might have peace and be healed.

(v. 6) “We all, like sheep, have gone astray” – another way of saying this is “we all have sinned, and fallen short of the requirement to gain entrance into heaven.”  and Isaiah specifically adds, “we have turned—every one—to his own way” “We all and every one expresses both common culpability and individual responsibility. We cannot blame a ‘herd instinct’ even though we are all alike implicated.”[3]

God knew that we would never be able to be without sin, so he sent His Son to take our place.  And Jesus’ death “brought us peace” (shalom) – this peace is with God.  God’s wrath is what awaits anyone who is not at peace with God.  But The Promised One would act as a sacrifice for anyone who desired to accept this gift of God.

“His suffering was actually intended to effect the will of God. Gods’ will is no less that that all men should possess the full life in a covenant of peace (Num. 25:12; Ezek. 37:26; see 54:10), and so be healed of all their diseases (Ex. 15:26; Ps. 103:3).”[4]

As a Sacrifice (vv. 7-9)

“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. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 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.”

(v. 7) Matthew 27:12-14 “But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” 14 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.”  The lamb is blindly led to the slaughter; Jesus, however, went knowing full well what was ahead, He even sweated drops of blood in anguish of what was coming (see Matthew 26:38-39).

As the disciples sat around the table for the last supper, Jesus says, “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:28. And when Simon Peter drew his sword and cut off the high priests servant’s ear in the garden before his arrest, look at Jesus’ comment to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11). Jesus knows that God the Father is sending Him to the cross, and He is going willingly.

Jesus was not just led to the slaughter, he was slaughtered as a sin offering.  And like all the other lambs of the Passover or the sin offerings of Israel, he was slaughtered not for his own transgressions. He was slaughtered for the transgressions of his people.  (v. 7) John 1:29 “The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”[5]

One commentator said, “Now, however. We stand on a very sacred spot indeed, within the Servant’s own consciousness, and we see him, not caught in a web of events, but masterfully deciding, accepting and submitting.”

The Promised One would sacrifice himself, He would be without sin in anyway – He never did, said, or even thought anything wrong.  It was because of this that he was able to be a substitute and an acceptable sacrifice for our sin. “It is the very heart of our sinfulness that we sin because we want to. We do not want ‘this man to reign over us’ (Luke 19:14). Because of this, no animal can do more that picture substitution: only a person can substitute for a person; only a consenting will can substitute for a rebellious will.”[6]

(v. 9) Matthew 27:57-60 in discussing Jesus’ burial, “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.”

His body would be placed among the wicked and the rich when he died (just as God said).  The Creator of all that exists was born as a man in a manger among the stench of animals, and he would die and was buried as a common man.

As a Complete Satisfaction (vv. 10-12)

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; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 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. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,10 and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,11 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.

In these final verses we see why this servant of God has suffered. They were not accidental; they were intended.

(v. 10) “when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring;” When Jesus makes this sacrificial and substitutional gift of his life that satisfies the wrath of God, who are the offspring that Jesus will see? Those who would believe in Him, and place their faith on His gift of salvation. We stray away as sheep, but return as children.

God will pour out His wrath upon this Promised One and he will be all that we will ever need for salvation.  We know that He has the power over sin and death because it says “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied.”

All of the punishment man deserves was placed upon Christ – and he satisfied God’s justice for all of mankind’s sin – past present and future.  He was numbered as one of us, he interceded for us, he bore all of our sin – and now Christ sits at the right hand of the Father.

(v. 12) “the work of the Servant is explained as a great victory. When Christ prevailed in death, He triumphed over Satan and earned the spoils of a victor. What seemed like a pitiful display of weakness turned out to be a victory of massive proportions.”[7]

Conclusion

“During the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sentenced a soldier to be shot for his crimes. The execution was to take place at the ringing of the evening curfew bell. However, the bell did not sound. The soldier’s fiancé had climbed into the belfry and clung to the great clapper of the bell to prevent it from striking. When she was summoned by Cromwell to account for her actions, she wept as she showed him her bruised and bleeding hands. Cromwell’s heart was touched and he said, “Your lover shall live because of your sacrifice. Curfew shall not ring tonight!”[8]

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[1] https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/s/substitution.htm

[2] Motyer, 429.

[3] Motyer, 431.

[4] George A. F. Knight, Deutero-Isaiah, A Theological Commentary on Isaiah 4-55 (New York, New York; Abingdon Press, 1965) 235.

[5] (v. 7) 1 Peter 1:18-19 “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

[6] Motyer, 433.

[7] Wolf, 219.

[8] https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/s/substitution.htm