Title: The Passion of Christ
Theme: Show the true passion of Christ in Isaiah.
Text: Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12
Introduction
This prophecy was written 700 years before the crucifixion.
Isa 52:13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently (wisely, practical wisdom); 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.
Prudently - 1. Wise in handling practical matters; exercising good judgment or common sense. 2. Careful in regard to one's own interests; provident. 3. Careful about one's conduct; circumspect.
Romans 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.
MSG 19 One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.
Exalted – Resurrection – Extolled-ascension be very high - glorification
Sprinkle many nations – the symbolic water of purification
Isa 53:1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Quoted in John 12:38 and Romans 10:16
Arm – zerowah - help, power, strength
The “arm of the Lord” points to His impact through us, His might for us, His protection of us. Who wouldn’t want that! Who wouldn’t want that for the people you love?
(2) For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, (as a babe to a boy to a man) And as a root out of dry ground. (David’s lineage seemed to be dead, cut off, but a root would grow out of the hewn tree) He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
There was nothing physical that attracted people to him. He was an ordinary looking man. He was like me and you. Joseph is told to call His name, “Jesus”. A typical name.
(3) He is despised and rejected by men (could it be that being the illegitimate son of Mary also brought this about, Did he ever escape the fact that she was pregnant out of wedlock?), A Man of sorrows (suffering, anguish, pain) and acquainted with grief (sickness, . And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem (regard, count, bring value) Him.
This was His plight.
Despised, rejected, Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief
We hid our faces from him (rejection)
Why? For Us
(4) Surely He has borne our grief’s And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
Mat 8:16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: 17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Isaiah 52:14 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;
MSG 14 But he didn't begin that way. At first everyone was appalled. He didn't even look human-- a ruined face, disfigured past recognition.
He not only took our sins, iniquities but he also took our sorrows
Heb 4:15-16 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
(5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised (crushed, wearing the weight of) for our iniquities (warped deeds); The chastisement (punishment) for our peace (wholeness, MSG “He took the punishment that made us whole) was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
Transgressions: Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Bruised – crushed, beat, break, bruise, destroy, humble, oppress, smite
1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were 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.
All we like sheep have gone astray – “All have sinned all fall short” Romans 3:23
Turned everyone to his own way, Jud 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Matthew 9:36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
“lain on Him the iniquity of us all”
1Pe 2:25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Unfair Trial
(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.
“He opened not His mouth”
This is not how God works. This is how we work
“lamb to slaughter”
John 1:36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
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.
“taken from prison and from judgment” not a fair trial
Who shall declare His generation? Who shall fight for this generation, who shall avenge this generation?
(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.
This was His plight even though it was not of His own cause
God’s Pleasure – Christ’s Suffering – Our Redemption
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 (“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” Rom 6:23 ) of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities (sins, scars, brokenness).
Why pleasure
1) He shall see his seed
2) His days shall be prolonged throughout eternity (rather than Satan)
3) He shall see the redemptive outcome of His suffering
4) God shall share with Him the victories of His conquest over sin and suffering
The only way He could see the labor of His soul was by death on the cross.
Matthew 16:25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
“The lost art of today is the unselfish hero who is willing to give up his own life to save the life of others”
(12) Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Why must the Servant of the Lord be exalted?
1) Because He poured out His soul unto death (he gave everything), 2) And He was numbered with the transgressors (yet overcame them), And He bore the sin of many (he took on the sin of the world), And made intercession for the transgressors.
Rom 5:6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Intercession
Heb 4:15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Matthew 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Philippians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
