ISAIAH 53 SERIES: WILL OF THE LORD
ISAIAH 53:10 | #Isaiah53
PERSON IN THE CONGREGATION READS ISAIAH 53
READ ISAIAH 53:1-12 (ESV)
“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 a 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.”
SERIES REMINDER
We are currently in a sermon series focusing on Isaiah 53.
* In verses 1-2 we saw how Jesus, though seemingly ordinary, would be the extraordinary arm of the Lord for our salvation.
* In verse 3, Isaiah predicted He would be constantly despised, often rejected, entered into sorrow, experienced grief, and was ignored. All that came true.
* In verse 4, we dove into the idea that the motivation for God saving us was His love.
* In verse 5, we talked about how sin creates a broken relationship between a Holy God and us sinful human beings. We are on opposite sides. The Suffering Servant would bring a peace treaty between God and His Creation.
* In verse 6, Isaiah talks about salvation in terms of sheep and prophesies that we like sheep go our own way and need a Savior.
* In verse 7, we noted that Jesus stayed silent so that nothing would derail His death on the cross.
* In verses 8-9, we discussed how the trials of Jesus, the suffering of Jesus on the cross, and His time in the tomb did not take very long, but impacted us for eternity.
We have this week (verse 10) and then next week (verses 11-12) and then we will be finished with our deep dive into this prophetic passage about the Suffering Servant… Whom we interpret to be Jesus Christ. There is much in this prophet’s writings that predict about Jesus. He looked forward to the cross and we look back on it.
We are focusing on one verse this morning, verse 10.
RE-READ ISAIAH 53:10 (ESV)
“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.”
ILLUSTRATION… Lyrics from “Thou Man of Sorrows, Hail!”
hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/h/o/u/m/thoumans.htm
A hymn written by Adam Thebesius (1596-1652) in German and first translated into English in 1851 says these words that help frame Isaiah 53:10:
Thou Man of Sorrows, hail! Receive my adoration.
On Thee the Father laid, Grief for my consolation.
Thanks for Thy anguish, Lord, Bonds, stripes endured by Thee;
Thanks, Lord for all Thy grief, Thy last sad agony!
Thy conflict is our crown; Thy death our life in Heaven;
Lord, by Thy bonds to us Is endless freedom given.
Thy cross our solace is, Thy wounds salvation give;
Thy blood our ransom price, By this we sinners live.
O may Thy wounds, we pray, Be to our sins for healing;
Sustain us at the last, Hope through Thy death revealing;
O Jesus grant to us That, through Thine agony,
Thy sufferings, cross and pain, We never forsaken be.
TRANSITION
Verse 10 is overall focus on how the Suffering Servant will follow God’s will, and as a result, He will offer His soul bringing about spiritual offspring as a direct result of His offering. He will have followers because of what He does. As I looked over verse 10, the last phrase jumped out at me: “the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” There are some good true thoughts in this verse for us.
WILL OF THE LORD FOR THE SUFFERING SERVANT (ISAIAH 53:10)
Verse 10 at the end, talks about those things that are “the will” of the Lord. These are those things in which God takes “delight” in and give Him “good pleasure.” This is why the KJV, YLT, and NASB use the word “pleasure” and other translations (NLT, CEB) use the words “plans of the Lord.” God does what brings Him pleasure. The God of the Universe does what brings a smile to His face. He plans out to do what He likes. He does what is reflective of His immovable eternal character. God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
Verse 10 at the end, talks about the things of the Lord that bring Him pleasure “prosper.” That word means “to advance,” “to make progress,” “to be successful or profitable.” We often see two ways of living usually presented in the world. One way is the way of the world which is wide and broad and leads to no where good eternally. The other way is the way of God which is narrow and specific and leads to life eternal. God’s will is that narrower way which leads to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, coffee in the mornings, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We want those types of things (the fruit of the Spirit) to progress in our lives and God’s way makes those things advance in us.
Verse 10 at the end, talks about how the things of the Lord that bring Him pleasure will advance and progress to success in the “hand” of the Suffering Servant. We know that hands are often used to describe strength or effort. It describes what someone spends time doing. We get the sense from all the verses we have looked at thus far that the Suffering Servant will be dedicated to the will of God and the will of God will be accomplished by Him. His hands will do the work of God. His hands will always be working for God’s purposes.
We see all of that predicted at the end of verse 10.
TRANSITION
Did that happen with Jesus? Does Jesus fit the predictions? Do we see the will of God discussed by Jesus? Does Jesus know what He is doing in the Gospels? Does He say He is doing God’s will? As Christians, you and I interpret the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 to be Jesus of Nazareth Whom we believe to be the Christ of God. He is the Christ the Son of the Living God and through Him all the promises of the Bible come true and the will of God is accomplished. We believe this. We believe that Jesus followed God’s will, and as a result, He will offered Himself bringing about spiritual offspring as a direct result of His offering.
We are going to look in the Gospel of John, dig a little deeper, and see if in fact Jesus claimed to be doing the will of God.
WILL OF THE LORD IN THE LIFE OF JESUS
There are 3 passages from the Gospel of John that are helpful as we look at the will of God for the Suffering Servant and by extension the will of God in the life of Jesus Christ. John 4, John 5, and John 6 each have a passage into which we should look.
READ JOHN 4:34-42 (ESV)
“Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
In this passage in John 4, we find Jesus in the middle of a part of His life where He traveled through an area known as Samaria where folks whom Jews hated lived. Jesus could have gone around like everyone else, but 4:4 says matter-of-factly, “He had to pass through Samaria.” He didn’t actually have to, because there were lots of roads around these people He was supposed to hate, but He wanted to go through Samaria because any form of racism has no place in Jesus or in His followers. He went through Samaria to meet Samaritans.
He met a lose-moralled woman at a well and strikes up a conversation with her to reveal to her that He is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the One Who would bring salvation. The disciples return with some Taco Bell from the nearby town and Jesus says He isn’t hungry. He isn’t hungry not because it was Taco Bell (because it really wasn’t), but He is jazzed and filled because He has literally been doing God’s will. Jesus says in verse 34: “My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” Jesus was advancing the Kingdom. Jesus was teaching about God and worship. Jesus was sharing all about Himself. That filled Him up and was His focus.
The woman believed.
She brought the town and they believed.
The townspeople asked Jesus to stay awhile and share with them more.
Verse 41 lets us know that Jesus had accomplished what brought a smile to God’s face because people who had been estranged from Him now followed Him with a true heart. Verse 41 says: “And many more believed because of His word.” Boom! Will of God done, advanced, accomplished, and prospered. He saw His offspring before Him. These folks believed in Him.
The next passage is just one chapter over in the Gospel of John.
READ JOHN 5:30 (ESV)
“I can do nothing on My own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not My own will but the will of Him Who sent Me.”
Jesus is being asked by what authority He is teaching, preaching, and healing people. Jesus had just healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years (5:1-17) and the religious leaders had some questions. Not praise, but accusatory questions. Jesus tells them He is going about the work of God (verse 18). This actually makes them madder.
Jesus lets the leaders know that He is not acting on His own, teaching on His own, or healing on His own, but comes in the Name and Authority of the YHWH God of the Universe. He tells them later that a prophet named John the Baptist came and pointed Him out (verses 32-36), but they wouldn’t listen. They ignored the prophet of God who pointed out the Christ.
In John 5:30, Jesus says specifically that He is not seeking to do His own will, but to do “the will of Him Who sent Me.” Jesus is doing God’s purpose. Jesus is healing for God’s good pleasure. Jesus is teaching according to what God wants said. Everything Jesus does, heals, speaks, doesn’t do, or doesn’t say is 100% in alignment with God’s good pleasure.
We know that things are progressing in Jesus’ ministry and that He is finding success in the will of God because John 6 opens with Jesus feeding 5000+ people. Many are hearing. Groups are repenting. Individuals are getting right with God the Father. Many are entering into a peace treaty with God provided by His love for them. It is happening! Jesus is seeing the Kingdom of God come near because He is bringing it about!
John 6 also contains the next passage for us to look at. After Jesus feeds 5000+ people and walks on water like it ain’t no thang, Jesus teaches the masses of people that He is not a vending machine to fill their stomachs, but He is presenting them Words for their very lives. His teaching brings eternal life. His ministry is in the will of God.
READ JOHN 6:35-40 (ESV)
“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him Who sent Me. 39 And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day.”
Jesus again says specifically that He is not doing any of His ministry in His own strength, according to His design, or based on His own will. He is following the will of God the Father. Jesus also comments that everything He is doing will last into eternity. He will lose nothing God gives Him. Everything will be made right on Judgment Day. All people who believe in Him will rise to eternal life on Judgment Day.
This is a great promise and also an important part of God’s will. It was God’s will and good pleasure to provide permanent salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ sacrifice is not like the blood of bulls and goats which was a spiritual band-aid (Hebrews 9-10). Jesus was a permanent divine solution to the problem of sin (Hebrews 9-10, Jude 3).
No one gets lost in the shuffle.
No one gets taken out of the Hand of Christ.
No one gets left standing in line.
No one who accepts Jesus as Lord gets left behind.
RE-READ ISAIAH 53:10 (ESV)
“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.”
APPLICATION
Two thoughts come to mind as I think over verse 10.
First, we see that Isaiah predicted Jesus’ single-minded devotion to the will of God. Jesus followed the will of God and was crushed and was put to grief. Often, we think that the will of God is rainbow farts and unicorns, but it isn’t. There are times when the will of God is a hard road and suffering… it was for Jesus Christ. Jesus did what was hard and what made God smile. He offered Himself as an offering for guilt… not His, but ours. Jesus was only about His Father’s business and wanted to make an impact for the Kingdom of God through His followers. His followers would then take the message of the Gospel to the rest of the world. Jesus centered His life in the middle of the will of God and did not turn to the right or the left, but stayed centered on God’s good pleasure. This resulted in death for Him.
This resulted in life for us.
Second, I immediately want to do the same as Jesus. I want my life to be in the center of God’s good pleasure. I want my life to remain in the palm of His hand and to always prosper and succeed under His care. Life is not always kind, but when we know we are in God’s will the terribleness of life can be endured, persevered, and even conquered.
What kind of things bring a smile to God’s face? What can I reflect on and make sure are part of my relationship with Him so I can be part of His good pleasure?
In the Bible, several actions and attitudes are described as bringing pleasure to God. These things are described as pleasing to God. Here are a few key ones:
Obedience: Following God’s commandments and living according to His will.
READ 1 SAMUEL 15:22 (ESV)
And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”
Humility: A humble heart and a contrite spirit.
READ PSALM 51:17 (ESV)
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
Worship: Sincere worship and hope-filled praise.
READ PSALM 147:10-11 (ESV)
“His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor His pleasure in the legs of a man, 11 but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.”
Righteousness: Acting justly and living a righteous life.
READ MICAH 6:8 (ESV)
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Generosity: Giving to those in need and being prayerfully generous.
READ 2 CORINTHIANS 9:7 (ESV)
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Faith: Trusting in God, having faith in His promises, and seeking Him well.
READ HEBREWS 11:6 (ESV)
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.”
I then back up after reading those passages and self-reflect: How am I doing in those areas? I would like you to do the same. Ask yourself the same questions I am asking myself. Commit to some honest self-reflection in these areas. Am I pleasing God? Am I in God’s will? Is His will prospering in my life? Are you pleasing God? Are you in God’s will? Is His will prospering in your life?
How am I at obeying God and living according to His will? God likes that.
Do I live daily with a humble heart? God smiles at that.
Do I come to worship with sincerity and hope-filled praise? God wants this from me.
Am I committed to acting justly and living a righteous life? This is God’s will for me.
Do I regularly give to those in need and am prayerfully generous? God likes that.
How firm is my trust in God? This is God’s will for me.
May you prosper in His hand as the offspring of Jesus.
PRAYER
INVITATION
