I need your help in choosing two topics for an upcoming sermon series entitled, You Asked For It. On the two Sundays directly following Easter Sunday, I want to answer your questions about God, Life, What’s Right & What’s Wrong. This is simply a two week sermon series so we will only highlight two biggest questions with the most votes. Visit our website to vote for the topic you wish we would deal with and you’ll have an opportunity to even write in your question. Thanks for doing this ahead of time and I look forward to seeing your questions.
Turn with me again to Isaiah 53. This chapter is so good it should be written on a parchment of pure gold and written in letters of pure diamonds. Consider this as Jesus’ biography 700 years before He was born in Bethlehem.
“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. 10 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, 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)
In a moment, I am going to focus you on a funnel or a tornado. But let me just offer you one insight in Isaiah 53:9. This is a poem or a song if you will that makes predictions about One who is to come.
Honorable Burial, Dishonorable Death
In verse eight we are told that One coming will die or, “cut off out of the land.” So in verse nine, we are told this Servant is to be buried. It also says in verse 9 His grave is with the “wicked” and with the “rich.” The mysterious Servant is to be given an honorable burial after a dishonorable death. Honorable burial: “they made his grave … with a rich man in his death” Dishonorable death: “they made his grave with the wicked.” Did Jesus have a dishonorable death? “Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left” (Matthew 27:38). Did Jesus have an honorable burial? “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus” (Matthew 27:57). Look also at Matthew’s words: “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 27:59–60)
Promise Made, Promise Kept. I find Isaiah 53 to be really the biography of Jesus. Yet, all these predictions are seven centuries before Jesus makes His appearance on the earth. Promise Made, Promise Kept.
The New Testament writers were constantly going back to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 really was the basis for their understanding of what happened on the cross. I wonder did the resurrected Jesus preach from Isaiah 53 to the two disciples on the Emmaus Road?
For the next few moments, I want to focus on verse ten. Think with me about three circles all focused on verse 10 and each circle’s radius is tighter. Think of these as a funnel sitting down on the earth. Like a tornado sitting over a small town in central Oklahoma, this funnel sits over verse 10. Yet, the power of this tornado isn’t to destroy but to heal. Watch the funnel from the top to the bottom…
Circle #1: The Cause of Christ’s Death
“Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief...” (Isaiah 53:10a). Peter said this just 50 days after Jesus was crucified: “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23). Peter overlooks both Pilate, Herod, and the religious leadership (if you will) and traces the cause of Jesus’ death back to the heavenly Father. This does not absolve any of these men from their responsibility for the choices they made. But it does tell us how their evil actions fit into God’s perfect plan.
God is not indifferent spectator sitting in the stands with His arms folded while His Son was crucified. God isn’t forced into mercy because Jesus was more merciful and loving than He. No, “Jesus did not wrestle His angry Father to the floor of heaven … [to] force God the Father to be merciful to us.” No, what Jesus did was planned by the Father. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Let me show how the death of Jesus can be traced to God the Father. Picture what I am calling the Book of Destiny God alone writes in the book of destiny. God alone writes in the book of destiny and no other penmanship can be found on those pages. From beginning to end, God is charge of our lives and He has designed and planned the events of our days. He is the One who guides the sparrow. He is the One who both knows and protects the hairs of our head and He would not omit planning and staging the crucifixion of His Son. In His book of destiny there is a blood-stained page where God determined that Jesus was to be born of a Virgin Mary, suffer under Pontius Pilate, be crucified between two thieves, and on the third day rise from the grave. The New Testament looks back over time and sees the cross as planned by God since the beginning of time itself. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son...” (Galatians 4:4–5). Yes, “… it was the will of the LORD to crush him...” (Isaiah 53:10a).
Normally, people are remembered by something they accomplished by their living. For example: When you think about George Washington, you immediately think he was the first president of the United States. When you think about Benjamin Franklin, you remember he discovered electricity. When you think about Thomas Edison, you remember he invented the light bulb. When you think about Neil Armstrong, you know he was the first man to step foot on the moon. But according to the Bible, one of the most significant items Jesus Christ did was to die. Two thousand years after Jesus left this earth physically, the universal symbol of the movement that He began, is not a cradle, nor a crown, but a cross. The cross is the cruelest instrument of execution known to the ancient world, and one which was banned nearly fifteen hundred years ago. God underwent a violent, voluntary, and vicarious death to forgive you and to receive you. The cross is God’s flashing neon sign telling us that if you’re to know Lord Jesus, you must know Him in His vicarious death. I marvel that the offended Judge would permit and plan His co-equal Son to suffer the pain of death for the redemption.
Circle #1: The Cause of Christ’s Death – The Father Bruises Him
Circle #2: The Reason for Christ’s Death
Remember, we move from the top of the funnel to the middle now. “…when his soul makes an offering for guilt...” (Isaiah 53:10b). God longed to save sinners but justice tied His hands. When you see the Roman soldiers lifting Jesus up in His agony, you see not only Jesus but you see you should be there. You were condemned to live forever in hell as punishment for your sins, but God send His Jesus as a replacement for you. If sin is the only cause of death, yet Jesus had no sin, but Jesus still died, then there can only be one real cause of His death - our sin. Again, if death results from sin, and Jesus never sinned, the only explanation for His death is this: He died on the behalf of sinners, and He died in their place. Jesus takes the punishment you deserve.
A substitute is someone who is acting in place of another. We think of substitute teachers for example. When I was young, I leaped for joy when a substitute teacher filled in for the teachers. There were 623,000 Americans who agreed to serve as a substitute teacher in 2014.1 A substitution teacher is called for when the teacher is unable to perform his/her duties. Or, a substitute in sports, often called a “sub”. You need a “sub” when you are physically unable to perform. But do we need a “sub” in life? Yes, you need a sub because you are morally and spiritually unable to perform.
Perhaps you were in a science class in school when the teacher demonstrated to you the power of a magnifying glass. The teacher takes a small pile of leaves and then holds that glass at just the right distance to form a tiny circle of brilliant light on that pile of leaves. In a few moments it begins to smoke-then they burst into flames. Somehow that glass lens was able to gather the heat from all of the rays of sunlight striking its surface, and direct the combined sizzling intensity to one spot on those leaves. Now I want you to picture the world, a globe covered with billions of people, and above it like rays from the sun, comes the blinding intensity and heat of the righteous judgment and wrath of God. It’s bearing down upon the human race. Then imagine a great cosmic magnifying glass-as wide as the world placed in between, gathering all of that intensity of burning wrath, and focusing it on one spot, on one individual-on Jesus Christ nailed to the cross.
“… his soul makes an offering for guilt...” (Isaiah 53:10b)
Circle #2: The Reason for Christ’s Death – His soul makes an offering for our guilt
Circle #3: The Effects of Christ’s Death
Now here we move to the bottom of the funnel. Here is where the tornado sits on the ground wrecking our towns. Only the death of Jesus is the opposite of a tornado for He brings healing rather than destruction. Yet, here is where you feel the impact of all Christ for you - let me show you. “… he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10c). “his offspring” in verse ten is us. He speaking of us, the people who believe in him - we are His offspring or his seed. Marvel at this… We stray as sheep but we return as children. Wow! Double Wow!
Look again for the resurrection in Isaiah 53. It says He will see the results of His suffering and be satisfied. Think for a moment with me for the 1st part of verse 10 tells us the mysterious Servant will be buried. Here’s the perplexing question in verse 10: How do buried men see? How do dead men see their offspring unless they have been resurrected?
Is God Real?
You maybe saying, “If God is real, I wish he would just prove it to me.” Look God could prove himself right now if He wanted to. He could pick the roof off this building and look down and say, “Boo!” Jesus laid aside all of His splendor, all of His majesty, and all of His glory that was inherently His. Think of this: He laid all of this and yet He still had people believe in Him. He laid all of the glory aside but He laid aside none of the character.
Conclusion - The Cup
On the night before Jesus was crucified, He sat in a garden pleading with His Father – this was request: “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). What is this cup? “Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering” (Isaiah 51:17). Jesus Christ looks up to the Father and says in effect, “Father, I would like out of this. Father, I’m beginning to taste the cup. I’m in shock. I’m amazed at what this is going to be like. If there’s some way out of it, I want out of it.”
Stealing is in the cup. Injustice is in the cup. Envy and lying and betrayal are in the cup. Deception and greed are in the cup. The cross is Jesus drinking the cup of the wrath of God so that sin is punished. The gavel of justice is brought down on Jesus. I am go grateful that Jesus said: “Father, for your sake and for their sake, if you want me to, I’ll take the cup.” Is your sin in “the cup”?
Pray
Father, we marvel at the perfection of your justice. Where others would shrug their shoulders saying, “There’s nothing I can do,” you delivered on a perfect plan where justice and mercy are married together. You brought together in perfect harmony those who were in need of forgiveness by not simply passing over our sins, but you delivered your Son up to be our “rightness.” Yes, your mind conceived of the perfect plan. There is no one like you.
I have no idea of black, chilling night Jesus endured. Many of us have felt the black loneliness of our sins. We have sensed how far away our ugly hearts have pushed us away from those who we are deeply about. We have seen the hurt our sinful actions have caused. And we marvel at how you could drink of the blackness of just our individual cups. Just drinking the blackness of what I have done is vile. But, to consider how the Holy Son of God would drink the punishment of millions of black, vile sinners is a thought beyond my comprehension. I marvel at your love for us.
Amen.
