“He
Was Pierced for Our Transgressions”
[Isaiah
52:13-53:12]
April
25, 2021 YouTube
In the first section of Isaiah 52, God explains to
Jerusalem that salvation is coming, that it will be seen by all peoples, and
then will be the Greater Exodus. At a quick glance, it would seem that God is
speaking about Jerusalem being freed from the impending Babylonian exile, and
while it is true that God will redeem His people from Babylon, this pertains to
spiritual and eternal salvation that the Promised Savior – the Servant Savior –
will bring.
Last week we saw that this salvation will occur, but
Jerusalem is not told how it will come to pass.
In this morning’s text, we find out how God provides eternal salvation
for all those who will believe.
This will be a familiar text to many of us, still let us
hear the Word of God.
Here we are introduced to another aspect of the Servant: He is the Servant Savior, and He is also the
Suffering Servant. God secures salvation
for all His people through the work of the Suffering Servant.
“Behold,
my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be
exalted.”
Does
that sound familiar?
Back
in Isaiah 6:1, we read: “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple”
(ESV).
The
Suffering Servant is the Lord – the Almighty God Who Isaiah saw in the Temple.
And
Matthew tells us about the victory of the Suffering Servant, “But Jesus remained
silent. And the high priest said to him, ‘I adjure you by the living God, tell
us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have said
so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right
hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven’” (Matthew 26:63-64, ESV).
So,
the Suffering Servant is God Himself, but He – the Son – incarnate. God the Son became a human being so He can be
the Savior. He must be God to be able to
perfectly keep the Law and thus be righteous, and He must be human to take on
the whole Wrath of God for our sins.
And
so, we read:
“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. 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.”
To
be the Savior – since we are sinners – the Servant must suffer unbelievably to
pay the debt we owe to God.
Jesus
is taken to Pilate and flogged – He is whipped until His skin is torn apart.
“Then
the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and
they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a
scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on
his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked
him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ And they spit on him and took the reed
and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of
the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him” (Matthew
27:27-31, ESV).
Due
to the work of Jesus – including this horrific suffering – people – even the
leaders of nations – when their eyes are opened, and they see and understand –
either as believers or when it is too late – their mouths will be shut – they
will not be able to speak a word.
Who
can hear what Jesus taught about Himself and see what He did and understand the
death He died and have a word to speak?
Our mouths are shut.
Prior
to the resurrection, what can anyone really say?
The
disciples on the road answer the Resurrected Jesus, “But we had hoped that he
was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third
day since these things happened” (Luke 24:21, ESV).
Then
Jesus opens their eyes, and they see and understand, “They said to each other, ‘Did
not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he
opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32, ESV).
His
blood sprinkles the nations.
Paul
writes, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God
a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men. And
being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross. 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” (Philippians
2:6-11, ESV).
The
Servant Savior is necessarily the Suffering Servant.
Second,
the Suffering Servant is innocent.
Paul
asks, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has
believed what he has heard from us?’” (Romans 10:16, ESV).
The
Gospel – the Good News – has gone out:
salvation is coming! Salvation is
seen by the world! The Greater Exodus is coming, and the people of God will be
delivered from this sinful, fallen world into the Holy Kingdom! And this must occur by the Son of God
becoming a human being Who lives a perfect life and dies paying our debt by suffering
the Wrath of God for all our sins.
The
answer to this Good News by most people is, “You’re nuts.”
“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; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no
beauty that we should desire him.”
“Look
at Jesus – you expect us to believe that this is God become a human while
remaining God? You expect us to believe
that He never sins and will suffer the full Wrath of God to save His people?”
“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.”
Paul
writes, “as it is written, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame’” (Romans
9:33, ESV).
God
knew from before the Creation that the way that He would save His people would
not make sense to the person enslaved to sin, the flesh, and the devil. Many Jews then and now look at Isaiah 53 and
say it has nothing to do with the Promised Savior, rather, it has to do with the
triumph of the nation of Israel.
We
see in the Gospels, Jews looking at Jesus and despising Him for Who He says He
is. Some of the Pharisees look at Him
being from Nazareth and His interpretation of the Scripture and conclude that
He cannot be the Savior. They worry that
the Romans will see Him as a threat to Caesar, and they want to avoid Rome
cracking down on them and taking their power and position in Israel away from
them.
“But
Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, ‘I adjure you by the
living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You
have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at
the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high
priest tore his robes and said, ‘He has uttered blasphemy. What further
witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?’
They answered, ‘He deserves death.’ Then they spit in his face and struck him.
And some slapped him, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that
struck you?’” (Matthew 26:63-68, ESV).
Isaiah
continues, “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.”
And
we may ask, “How can the death of one Man – not matter how horrific the death –
cause those who believe to be delivered from sin and death and be made right
with God?”
And
we might answer, “The animal sacrifices for the sake of the sins of the people
did not pay the debt for all of their sin.
The sacrifices had to be offered again and again.”
As
we have already seen, the only Sacrifice that could be once for all who believe
would be a willing Substitute – One Who is both the Holy God and a righteous
human in the same Person – Who keeps the Law and credits that perfect keeping
of the Law to those who believe and pays the debt to God for the sin we commit.
Jesus
says, “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. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up
again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:17-18, ESV).
From
before the Creation, the Triune God decided to create humans who would rebel
and sin against God, and God the Son willingly planned to become a human being
to save those who would believe.
“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.”
Every
mere human is born a sinner – at enmity with God. The only hope we have is that God planned to
come to earth as a real human being and meet the requirements to take our sin
upon Himself, paying the debt we owe to God.
Paul
writes, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more
shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we
were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are
reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received
reconciliation” (Romans 5:9-11, ESV).
Jesus
submitted to the Father’s Will and went humbly and with patience to the cross. He became the final Lamb, fulfilling the
Passover, and securing the salvation of His people.
“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. 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?”
Initially,
Jesus’ disciples did not understand that He had to die to satisfy God’s Justice. They looked at His brutalization and
crucifixion and did not know what to make of it. In fear, most of His disciples scatter and
hide.
“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.”
Jesus
is Innocent, and so He Alone can satisfy God, and save His people. He was crucified with two criminals – as
though Jesus was a sinner as well. But
Jesus is Innocent – He never sinned, so we are seen as righteous and will be
righteous.
And
as Isaiah prophesied:
“When it was evening, there came a rich man
from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to
Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to 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. And he rolled a great
stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away” (Matthew 27:57-60, ESV).
The Suffering Servant is Innocent and took our place to
save us.
Third, God willed the suffering of the Servant.
“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.”
This is truth we often neglect: we say that God the Father sent His Son to incarnate
as the man, Jesus. We say that the Jews
and the Gentiles – even we, ourselves -- caused Jesus to be crucified to save
His people. But we don’t often say that God
willed Jesus’ suffering.
After Pentecost, Peter preaches, ““Men of Israel, hear these
words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and
wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves
know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge
of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him
up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held
by it’” (Acts 2:22-24, ESV).
From before the beginning, God planned to crush Jesus to
save God’s people. This is the
fulfilling of the promise given after the fall in the Garden as God says to the
serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise
your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15, ESV).
Some argue that Jesus did not suffer because He is also
God. If He did not truly suffer the most
horrific death having the Wrath of God poured on Him, then we ae lost – the
debt is not paid, and there is no hope. If God is Just, He must punish sin
fully. But He truly did suffer:
In the Garden, we read: “And he withdrew from them about
a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if you are
willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be
done.’ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And
being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops
of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:41-44, ESV).
“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.”
The work of the Servant is complete as we read, “When
Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his
head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30, ESV).
“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; yet he bore the sin of many, and
makes intercession for the transgressors.”
The author of Hebrews tells us that we out to be “looking
to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand
of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2, ESV).
Jesus did not enjoy the cross, but He had joy in the
cross knowing that His death – and resurrection – would secure salvation for
every person He died for. And now He is
seated at the Right Hand of the Father.
He has returned to His throne in heaven as a true and resurrected human,
and He intercedes for us with the Father.
“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” (I Timothy 2:5-6, ESV).
God
willed the suffering of the Servant.
How
will the Servant bring salvation to His people?
The
Son of God will Incarnate as the Person of Jesus to suffer as the Innocent Substitute
for all we who believe. God will crush
Him and pour all His Wrath on His Servant, by which the Servant will pay all
the debt to God that His people owe for their sins. And He will rise from the dead, for an
Innocent Man cannot be held by death – and in this, He secures our salvation.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, in Isaiah 53 we get a glimpse of the horrors that Jesus suffered that we
would be saved. We thank You for
choosing us to be saved and did not just leave all of us to be received into
Hell. We ask that we would be willing to
suffer for Jesus’ sake, that we would pursue righteousness and holiness all the
days of our lives, and that we would recognize and submit to Your Sovereign Providence
in our lives as Jesus did in His. Cause the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in the
faith and make us able to rightly proclaim the whole Gospel that You would be
glorified and draw many to Yourself. For
it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen,
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