Today, I want to invite believers both here and a Cross Church to participate with us as we take the Lord’s Supper. We are devoting ourselves to a study of one of the powerful chapters in the Bible. Nowhere in all the Old Testament does the gospel shine more brilliantly than in Isaiah 53. I hope this chapter becomes one of your favorites as move through the series.
Why Isaiah 53 at Easter? Isaiah 53 “looks as if it had been written beneath the cross upon Golgotha.” Many believe this is the best single chapter in the whole Bible to explain what happened on the cross. Sit back and listen to this song and hear from the very voice of God Himself.
“Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— 15 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. 1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 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. 3 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. 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 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. 7 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. 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. 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. 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.” (Isaiah 52:13–53:12)
Here’s a brief overview of who Isaiah simply calls a “servant.” Isaiah shows us a portrait of no ordinary man. In these 5 stanzas we see someone who has an extraordinary love for those who hate and abuse him. Focus on the “servant” by looking at the 2nd stanza, verses 1-3. Along the path of today’s message, pick up on this theme: Promise made … promise kept.
I want you to notice that Isaiah is so sure of his prediction that he uses the past tense in verse two. Even though he is speaking of Someone who is yet to come and will not come for another 7 centuries, He is so sure of Jesus’ coming, He uses the past tense.
1. I Got This
For the believers in the room, think back with me at the circumstances surrounding your conversion. Can you remember the first time you heard the gospel? Think with me about the “coincidences” surrounding your time when you came to faith in Christ. Most stories of our conversions have a strange mixture of guilt and curiosity about Jesus. There’s guilt there where you used to just “blow off” your sins. Yet, you could not do that any longer. Do you remember how you lacked the self-assurance you had in the past? Remember how tentative you were when your life began to fall apart right around this time? Do you remember how you began to hear the gospel from friends and family members in what seemed like an accident after accident? The girls you work with were talking about Jesus and them you were channel-surfing when you paused when there was someone talking about the gospel. You used to be able to blow this stuff off but something tells you to pay attention to the gospel.
This is exactly what verse one is talking about: “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed” (Isaiah 53:1)? You see, the Holy Spirit orchestrates your conversion to Christ. You come to God on God’s terms and you come only through God’s assistance. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). Here are people who now understand what God is doing and are wondering who’s going to believe this. “Believe what,” you ask?
1.1 The Message
There’s more exclamation than question in verse one: “Who has believed what he has heard from us” (Isaiah 53:1a)? In other words, “Who has believed our report?” There are two questions in verse one and the questions asked by believers who are wondering why more people do not believe.
Let’s do a quick review God says, “Look intentionally at my servant,” back in verse thirteen. Yet, people turn their face away from this man because He is marred beyond human sensibilities (verse fourteen). Nearly everyone is agreed that this man’s suffering is because God is punishing Him for His sins: “we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4b). In Jesus’ day, most thought His suffering was caused by His sin: “… a hanged man is cursed by God…” (Deuteronomy 21:23) Yes, they turned their noses up to a story about Messiah who died cursed by God. Yet, look again for He’s not suffering because of His sins, but instead, it’s because of my sins: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4a). We were surprised to discover that His suffering was caused by my sin.
His suffering achieved my peace. His suffering sprinkles “many nations” or many people says Isaiah 52:13. This speaks of a priest and uses language from the book of Leviticus. Jesus is acting as the One who makes people clean and whole again – He cleanses us by sprinkling us. This is the gospel, this is the message but watch the reaction.
1.2 The Reaction
“Who has believed what he has heard from us” (Isaiah 53:1a)? Now this passage is quoted twice in the New Testament.
1.2.1 Jewish Reaction
“Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed” (John 12:37–38)? John says Jesus spoke amazing words in John 12:36 and Jesus did amazing miracles in John 12:37, yet very few people believed in Him (remember Jesus is the message). John’s point in quoting Isaiah 53:1 in verse 38 is simple: we shouldn’t be surprised that Jewish people rejected the Jewish Messiah for Isaiah predicted this very thing. Isaiah tells us few people will believe in the Messiah. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11).
Promise made, promise kept.
1.2.2 Your Reaction
That was then but this is now. What makes some people believe the gospel and others reject? One of the critical components is in the words at the end of verse 1: “And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1b)? “The arm of the LORD” is another way of saying the power of God. Friend, outside of the miraculous power of God, you have no hope of seeing your need of Jesus. The truth is: I need God’s help to believe.
Quick and handy tool to reading your Old Testament: this is Hebrew poetry and this is using a handy little tool that you need to know. It is called parallelism where the second phrase repeats the thought of the first phrase and builds on the thought. It’s a teaching tool so you remember the important words of God.
Sin blinds you: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way…” (Isaiah 53:6a). The Spirit of God is all over your life and He’s convincing you of your need for a Savior. If you feel an attraction to Christ even now, don’t reject and push Him away. Believers, stop giving yourself so much credit for trusting Jesus. Now, some become uncomfortable when considering God’s role in our believing and there’s a number of controversies regarding this issue. Still, it is important to highlight this feature of biblical teaching. Don’t share your conversion story as if you and you alone were the determinative cause on whether you came to Christ. God sets the groundwork for your turning your life over to Jesus.
2. Jesus Doesn’t Walk the Red Carpet
Most people want the Messiah to walk the red carpet of Hollywood. But this is not Jesus’ style. He didn’t “check the boxes” for the hero we sought.
2.1 Jesus is Ordinary
And Jesus wasn’t the Messiah I was looking for: “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” (Isaiah 53:2),
He wasn’t well-built, handsome, or attractive. Again, He didn’t “check the boxes” for the hero we sought. The word “esteemed” at the end of verse 3 is an accounting term and it suggests someone who looks over Jesus and sees nothing. When the human eye sees Jesus, it added up to zero. There was “no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2b). Jesus wouldn’t make the list of sexiest men alive nor would He be splashed across the pages of Men’s Fitness or GQ magazines.
Take note, Isaiah predicts Jesus to be “dry ground” not a tall cedar tree. Jesus doesn’t impress you like a grand, stately oak tree. Jesus is compared to a “like a root out of dry ground” – when you think of a root in a dry parched ground, you realize that such an environment means the tree struggles to live. It’s not rainy, fertilized ground but “dry ground.” All of this recalls Isaiah’s earlier words: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1). Jesus was ordinary as He showed up as a blue-collar worker from the Jewish ghetto of Nazareth.
Promise made, promise kept.
2.2 Ordinary Followers Too
Oftentimes, people are turned off by the ordinariness of Jesus’ followers. Everybody feels like, “There’s a certain level of smart and hip and cool and neat that I want to associate with, and I really don’t want to be dealing with people who are further down the scale.” When you show up at church, there are a lot of people who are further down the scale.
C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters is a wonderful, quick-read and it speaks to this very issue. It’s a fictional account of a devil (named Screwtape) giving counsel to a junior devil on how to tempt human beings. Chapter two of the book begins by Screwtape telling his junior associate what to do if his human were end up going to church for several weeks in a row. He begins by saying, “make the best of the situation. There is no need to despair…” He then continues by saying, “One of our great allies at present is the Church itself… [Make sure he pays attention to the people next to him when they] sing out of tune, or have [shoes] squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous.”
2.3 The Servant Is a Man
I pause to note that Isaiah predicts the Servant to come is “a man” toward the middle of verse three. “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” (Isaiah 53:3). Note the word “despised” is used twice in verse 3. What is worth your attention is how the Old Testament predicts that Jesus will be a descendant of King David and He will sit on the throne of David (2 Samuel 7) and He is also a suffering servant. See the strange mixture of light and darkness, victory and defeat, light and darkness. There’s One coming who is both king and servant at the same time. Even though He was loved and adored of angels, men hid their faces from Him. The Highest had stooped to become the lowest and the Greatest had taken His place among the least. We watch the Creator of water ask for a drink of water on the cross. Yes, Jesus was a man and a humble man.
Jesus was born of a virgin with a stable for a crib.
In eternity He rested on His Father without the benefit of His mother.
But in time, He rested on His mother without the benefit of an earthly Father.
He is as old as His Father and ages older than His mother.
Time cannot age Him and ages do not time Him.
He didn’t work for Walgreen’s or CVS, but in the “hem of His garment” is more medicine than all the medicines in town.
He never rode in a Presidential motorcade but He did ride on the back of donkey as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He’s bread when you are hungry, He’s water when you’re thirsty, and a bridge over troubled water when you are hurting.
He’ll make a way where’s there is no way and He’ll share your heavy-load.
Promise made, promise kept. Jesus is not predicted to be a sorrowful men but a man of sorrows. There are some who are men of pleasure while others are men of wealth. Not, Jesus … He’s a man of sorrows. Jesus isn’t someone who is well-manicured, nor is He someone who’s experienced a nip and a tuck alongside Botox from a plastic surgeon. Was there ever such a good-natured man who received such terrible treatment? As Jesus moved through His life, His sorrows multiplied. He preached to hard hearts who would not believe. He did good but His good works were paid by those who took up stones to stone Him. He pleaded with people from a heart that wept not for His rejection but for their destruction.
Conclusion
I’m not here today to tell you how to multiply your 401k. I didn’t come here today to tell you to lose weight and feel better about yourself. I came here today instead to tell you about Jesus. But because of His rejection, you are accepted by God. Because He was alienated, you are brought near to God. Because He experienced pain, you are healed. And because He was punished, you escape judgment.
