INTRODUCTION
Today we are going to step out of the series on the Sermon on the Mount to do a short four message series from the book of Isaiah.
I wanted to take us to Isaiah because of the fact that Resurrection Sunday is coming in a few weeks. The book of Isaiah is a great place to go as we close in on the most celebrated of holidays in the church.
The book of Isaiah contains the second most Messianic prophecies of any other book in the Old Testament, only the Psalms contain a larger number of Messianic prophecies.
James Smith in his book, The Major Prophets says, “For the Christian the Book of Isaiah is extremely important. Forty-seven chapters of this book were directly quoted or alluded to by Christ or the Apostles. With more than four hundred allusions, Isaiah stands second only to Psalms as the most cited book in the New Testament.”
It has been said that Isaiah predicted Jesus more clearly than any other of the prophets and he has been called, “A prophet of the Gospel before the Gospel.”
In the book of Isaiah, we find many predictions about the coming Messiah, ranging from the virgin birth, to the ministry of the Messiah, to the suffering and death the Messiah would undergo.
The thing that we need to understand about Isaiah is that his ministry took place from 740 BC to 680 BC, a span of 60 years. Jesus was born in about 6 BC, so we have about a 700 year gap between Isaiah’s prophecies and the coming of Jesus.
The part of Isaiah we are going to study over the next few weeks is the 53rd chapter. In Isaiah 53 we have what many have called the “Suffering Servant Poems”. In the 53rd chapter of Isaiah will paint a picture of the Rejected Servant in verses 1-3, the Suffering Servant in verses 4-6, the Despised Servant in verse 7-9 and the Victorious Servant in verse 10-12.
This week we will look at the picture Isaiah paints of the Rejected Savior.
Over 700 years before Jesus came to Earth, Isaiah will share with us the fact that the Predictions about and the message of the Savior would be rejected, the Power of the Savior would be rejected and the Person of the Savoir would be rejected.
Today as we look at the prophecy of the Rejected Savior, if Isaiah were alive today, would he be able to write this about you?
SERMON
I. THE PREDICTIONS ABOUT THE SAVIOR WERE REJECTED V1
READ ISAIAH 53:1a
Who has believed our report? This is the question Isaiah was asking his fellow countrymen with amazement.
Isaiah uses an emphatic “WHO” in the opening of this chapter. The great mass of Isaiah’s countrymen had rejected the message of the promised messiah. Isaiah was trying to get the people to understand the important roll that the nation would play in the salvation that would come through the promised seed of Abraham and throne of David.
In the book of Romans, look at chapter 10 verse 16. (READ ROMANS 10:14-17)
Paul was saying that even in his day many of his fellow countrymen were still rejecting the message of and about the messiah and therefore they were crossways with God.
Paul was dealing with people who had heard what Jesus said, but they still rejected Him.
The evidence of the scriptures is overwhelming proof of the fact Jesus is the Messiah. The Jews recognized the fact that Isaiah’s prophecies in chapter’s 52-53 dealt with the coming Messiah until about 1150 AD when the Jews abandoned the traditional interpretation if these chapters in favor of saying that Isaiah was really talking about Jeremiah, Josiah or the people of Israel.
I wonder why they tossed almost 2000 years of interpretation? Maybe Jesus fit the passages a little too much for comfort?
Today we are still rejecting the prophecies that were made concerning Jesus, people are still rejecting the message of Jesus.
READ 1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-25
READ ROMANS 1:16-17
Who has believed our message?
A soap manufacturer and a pastor were walking together down a street in a large city. The soap manufacturer casually said, "The gospel you preach hasn’t done much good, has it? Just observe. There is still a lot of wickedness in the world, and a lot of wicked people, too!" The pastor made no reply until they passed a dirty little child making mud pies in the gutter. Seizing the opportunity, the pastor said, "I see that soap hasn’t done much good in the world; for there is much dirt, and many dirty people around." The soap manufacturer replied, "Oh, well, soap is only useful when it is applied." And the pastor said, "Exactly, so it is with the gospel."
II. THE POWER OF THE SAVIOR WAS REJECTED V1
Read 53:1b- And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
The arm of the Lord refers to His power. In Isaiah’s time people did not see a lot of God’s power in action, but when Jesus came, the power of God was working through Him, yet, people saw the power, and did not believe.
In JOHN 12:37-38, John writes, “But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
Later in the chapter Isaiah says that God hardened the hearts of the hearers. Isaiah was preaching from a broken heart because of the fact that people were rejecting his message.
Jesus did many things that should have convinced the people as to who He was.
Many times when Jesus showed the power of God, people would not accept it. When He healed people, the Pharisees would take the focus off the miracle and on to some man-made law that Jesus had supposedly broken while healing a person.
READ Matthew 12:22-26
Even today when the power of God has been evident in the lives of people because of what Jesus has done, people will not accept it. Whenever Jesus changes lives, we should take note. I believe it is easier to heal a person of illness than to change who they are, not just clean up the exterior, but to change them.
People, even people in the church will be skeptical when they see a changed life, as if they are waiting for them to revert back to the way they were.
According to a 1988 study, the percentage of adults who mostly agree or completely agree with the statement, "Even today, miracles are performed by the power of God": 82. Even with that large number, when people today see the power of God, they soon forget what happened and why it happened.
Isaiah tells us that in his day, people would reject the power of God that had been revealed to them. In Jesus’ day, the people rejected the power of God that was displayed to them through Jesus. Jesus even raised people from the dead, but His power was still rejected.
Today, Jesus’ power is working in the lives of millions of people, yet Jesus’ power is still being rejected. The power to save you from your sins is available to you today, are you going to reject the power of God to save you through Jesus?
III. THE PERSON OF THE SAVIOR WAS REJECTED V2-3
READ ISAIAH 53:2-3
In the first part of verse 2, Isaiah says that Jesus grew up out of spiritually dead time. When he speaks of parched ground he is speaking of the deadness of the time. The Messiah was to come from the line of David and the root was not producing a strong tree until Jesus grew up before God from the root of the line of King David.
Part of the reason that Jesus was going to be rejected was the fact that He came from humble origins. This is what the rest of verse 2 speaks of.
Jesus was born in a manger, not in a palace. He did not come with all the pomp and circumstance that one would think would accompany the savior of the world, the Son of God.
Verse 2 does not suggest that Jesus was ugly, but rather He did not have the trappings surrounding Him that would attract people to follow Him. Those who decided to follow Jesus lost all they had in this world, but they gained so much more for eternity.
Had Jesus come as royalty, many people would have followed Him so that they could get something out of Him. The people who followed Jesus knew that they had to put Jesus ahead of everything else. They were not going to gain worldly fame and fortune by following Jesus like they would if He can as a worldly king would.
Even today, if Jesus would promise to take care of every thing in life and give us wealth, everyone would follow Jesus, but Jesus wants true followers who follow Him because they love Him.
Jesus was rejected because He did not have the pomp and circumstance that the Jewish leadership wanted. They wanted someone they could cling on to that would make them look good. We are no different today.
People follow the latest religious crazes because they think if gives them something.
Look at verse 3. READ verse 3
He was going to be despised and forsaken by men. His teachings were going to be ignored, He was not going to be highly esteemed because of who He was.
We see the ugliness of this acted out on the night before He was crucified.
MATTHEW 26:67-68 says, “Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, and said, "Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?"
MAT 27:28-31 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
Isaiah said that Jesus would feel sorrow for the people for what they did. As He was hanging on the cross LUKE tells us in 23:34 “But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.”
Jesus was going to understand what it meant to suffer. HEBREWS 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
John Howard Griffin was a white man who believed he could never understand the plight of African-Americans unless he became like one. In 1959, he darkened his skin with medication, sun lamps, and stains, then traveled throughout the South. His book, Black Like Me, helped whites better understand the humiliation and discrimination faced daily by people of color. Jesus Christ became like us; the Incarnation is evidence that God understands our plight. "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering" (Isa. 53:3).
Jesus knows what it is like to suffer. Jesus can sympathize with us.
Are you rejecting Jesus because He does not look the way you want Him to?
Maybe Jesus requires more of you than you feel God should? Jesus was rejected by many and still is today.
One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is LORD! Not Buddha, not Mohammed, no one but Jesus!
CONCLUSION
Where do you stand?
Are you a bit amazed that Isaiah could paint such a vivid picture of the rejection that the savior would endure, over 700 years before it happened?
What do you think? Maybe he got lucky? Or just maybe the Bible is the word of God?
Maybe Isaiah was inspired to write by an all-knowing God?
Do you know what John says about Isaiah?
JOHN 12:41 These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.
In 2 weeks we will look at the Suffering Savior. Why did He have to Die?
What about you will you accept Jesus as your Lord today?
