THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ISAIAH
Prologue – What Is The Gospel?
Isaiah 52:13-15
Perhaps the most common word used within the context of the church is “Gospel”. We listen to and sing Gospel songs, in our sermons we preach the Gospel, in our classes we learn and discuss the Gospel, and much focus is placed on our responsibility to share the Gospel with others. Without the Gospel there would be no Christianity, without the Gospel we would possess no hope whatsoever. Therefore, it is important for us to truly grasp what the Gospel is and what it means for us.
Gospel is a word that is found in the New Testament over 90 times and it literally means “good news”. At the outset of His earthly ministry, Jesus “came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-16). At the conclusion of His ministry Jesus commanded His Disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16)
Throughout the book of Acts, Luke describes how the Apostles obeyed this command and went forth preaching the Gospel. The Savior declared in Matthew 24:24 that, “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come”. Some two millennia later, the Gospel is still being preached to all the nations and this process will indeed continue until the end comes.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ was the primary focus of the Apostle Paul’s ministry. He knew that preaching the Gospel was the reason that he was called by Jesus. He informed the Corinthians that Christ did not send him to baptize, “but to preach the Gospel” (I Corinthians 1:17). Though he constantly faced severe oppression and even physical persecution, Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel and He remained faithful to God’s call on his life. He declared in Romans 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” In his many epistles, Paul often referred to the “Gospel of God”, the “Gospel of Christ”, and “the Gospel of peace”; when writing to Timothy he called it “the glorious Gospel”.
In the original language the word that is used is “euaggelion”. It is from this Greek word that we get the English words evangelist, evangelize, and evangelical. Though in a broad sense Gospel is the entirety of holy scripture, the simple definition of the Gospel is “the good news of Jesus Christ”. It is the message that declares and defends the reality that Jesus Christ is the way, the only way of salvation.
Sometimes, in order to truly appreciate good news we must also endure some really bad news. That is the case concerning the good news of Jesus Christ. The bad news is that many years ago in the Garden of Eden, Adam rebelled against God. This rebellion brought suffering, death, and separation from God into this world. That sin has been passed down throughout the ages and each of us are guilty before God. (Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.)
Through His servant Moses, God gave Israel the Old Testament Law;
we sometimes refer to this as the Mosaic Law. The Law serves as something of a measuring stick concerning righteousness; anything that falls short of the standards that God set forth in His Law is considered sin. Scripture tells us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This means that each and every one of us is guilty of sin.
Furthermore, the deserved consequences of sin is physical and spiritual death. Spiritual death speaks of separation from God, the very source of life. We were unable to pay our sin debt, therefore our only hope of deliverance from the consequences of sin was for an acceptable payment to be made on our behalf. God made it clear in His Law that the only hope of sin being cleansed is through the bloody sacrifice of an innocent life. (Hebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.)
Throughout the Old Testament God’s people were required to offer various animal sacrifices in order to experience forgiveness of sin. In those prescribed sacrifices innocent animals died in the place of the sinner. However, the results of these sacrifices were only temporary and that is why such sacrifices were offered on a regular basis. Hebrews 10:11 says, “every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins”. There was no power in the blood of those animals to provide true and ultimate forgiveness of sin. Hebrews 10:4 says, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins”. Animal sacrifices were merely an illustration, a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice that was to come; that perfect sacrifice is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
God’s only Son, Jesus was the ultimate sacrificial substitute for the sins of man. He shed His blood, He gave His life, once and for all time! (Hebrews 7:26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.”
As we have seen, we are all sinners and without God’s intervention we would have no hope of salvation. Our deserved destiny would be condemnation in the eternal Lake of Fire. Tragically, this will be the destiny of all who refuse to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not just bad news; it is the worst news that one could ever receive. Thankfully, we have some really good news, in fact it is the best news that anyone will ever receive, of course I am referring to the Gospel. That same Gospel that declares that even though "the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord!" (Romans 6:23)
God sent His only Son into this world; Jesus lived a sinless life and suffered on our behalf. Through His death on the Cross Jesus fulfilled the Law’s righteous requirements. (Romans 8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”)
Those Old Testament animal sacrifices that were offered year after year were intended to be a reminder of sin. Furthermore, they were also a symbol of the perfect sacrifice that was to come. That symbol became a reality for all who would believe when Jesus willingly laid down His life at Calvary. Our Savior took our place and paid our sin debt.
It was necessary for Jesus to die on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins; thankfully though, that is not the end of the story! You see, the Gospel is not just that Jesus died in our place, it also involves the glorious reality that on the third day He rose again. In fact, without the Resurrection there is no gospel.
In raising Christ from the dead, God signified that He was satisfied with Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. Because Christ’s redemptive work was accepted by God, those who are “in Him”, (that is, those who are saved) are accepted as well. This was God’s plan from the beginning. Paul said in Romans 4:25 that Jesus “was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification”. Corresponding to this, Paul says in verses 21 & 22 of this chapter that, “since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”
We refer to the first four books of the New Testament as “The Gospels”. These are four separate accounts of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though there are four books, they all tell one story, the story of Jesus. It is important for us to understand that each writer told his story from a difference perspective and each was writing to a different audience.
Matthew was written to a primarily Jewish audience and presents Jesus as the Messiah King who fulfills the Old Testament prophecies and the expectation of the Jews. (Key Verses: Matthew 1:1; 16:16; 20:28). Mark’s original audience were Romans and he presents Jesus as the suffering servant of God who actively ministers on our behalf. (Key Verses: Mark 1:1; 8:29; 10:45; 15:39) Luke’s gospel account was originally a letter to a man named Theophilus and he presented Jesus as the perfect Son of Man who came to save and minister to all people through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Key Verse: Luke 19:10) John wrote to people in the Greek/Roman world and he presents Jesus as the fully human, fully divine Son of God in whom we must believe to receive eternal life. John declared the purpose for his writing in John 20:31, he said: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name”. (Key Verses: John 3:16; 8:58; 20:31)
In these four Gospel accounts each writer focuses on a different aspect of Jesus’ character. In Matthew, Jesus is presented as the Son of David (Isaiah 11:1; Matthew 1:1); in Mark, Jesus is presented as the Son of Man (Zechariah 3:8; Mark 8:36); in Luke, He is the Son of Adam (Zechariah 6:12; Luke 3:38), and in John, Jesus is presented as the Son of God (Isaiah 4:2; 7:14; John 3:16).
Though we often refer to the “four Gospels”, many commentators refer to Isaiah’s prophecy as “the fifth Gospel”; this designation goes all the way back to some of the early Church fathers. Though Christ is seen in numerous passages throughout Isaiah, the Servant Song that is recorded in chapter 53 is an especially vivid portrayal of the life of our Savior.
I would like for us to embark on a detailed study of this amazing chapter in a series that I have entitled “THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ISAIAH”.
When Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John penned their Gospel accounts, they were looking back on the life, ministry, sacrifice, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus. When Paul presented his fantastic summary of the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, he too was looking back on the finished work of Christ. Writing to the people of Corinth he said:
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles….” (I Corinthians 15:3-7).
As fascinating and important as the writings of the Apostles and other Saints of God are, the passage in Isaiah 53 is even more astonishing to me simply because it was penned some 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This truth highlights the reality that the words we read are not the words of Isaiah, they are the words of God given to His people through His servant, the prophet Isaiah.
- Let’s take a moment and read what God has to say about His Suffering Servant.
Isaiah 52:13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.14 Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men; 15 So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see, And what they had not heard they shall consider.
Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 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. 3 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. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes 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. 7 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.8 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. 9 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. 10 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. 11 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. 12 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.
Adam Clarke says, “This chapter foretells the sufferings of the Messiah, the end for which he was to die, and the advantages resulting to mankind from that illustrious event.... This chapter contains a beautiful summary of the most peculiar and distinguishing doctrines of Christianity.”
It is my prayer that as we methodically move through each verse of this “Servant Song” that we would be reminded of the great sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf. We should ever be humbled to know that all that Jesus endured, He endured for us; furthermore, He did so “while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8)
- I leave you with the words of that beautiful and powerful hymn by Isaac Watts:
When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of glory died,
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
save in the death of Christ, my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them through his blood.
See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
