Behold His wisdom and humility...52:13-53:3
God tells us to “Behold” to give our complete attention to Jesus Christ His Servant because Jesus knows and Jesus does what is necessary to bring us back from condemnation into communion with God. Because of Jesus’ willingness to humble Himself to do God’s will, God exalted Jesus to the highest place, gave Him victory and made Him Lord over all.
When earthly kings seek victory, when they seek to spread and secure their domain they humble others and make others their servants. They never chose to be humble servants to achieve victory. Remember King Herod and how he made the Wise Men serve his interest in locating the Christ Child so he could destroy Him and thereby secure his own throne? Remember the White Witch, the self-proclaimed Queen of Narnia, and how she humbled Edmund to serve her selfish ends to bring his sisters and brother so she could turn them to stone and secure her throne in Narnia?
God says kings will shut their mouths because in Jesus they now understand what they never saw or heard, that humility is the way to victory; humility is what the arm of the Almighty Lord looks like. Who would have believed that a little baby born in a feeding trough could deliver Israel from an oppressor stronger than Rome? Even John the Baptist needed God to reveal to Him that Jesus was in fact the Savior of the world because Jesus did not look like a Savior.
He grew up like a shoot to be cut off. He grew up like a root out of dry ground; came up for the purpose of dying. Jesus was poor. He did not have earthly possessions, power or glory. David killed his ten thousands and had beautiful eyes. Joseph was ruler of Egypt and was handsome and well-built. Jesus did not have these earthly attractions. Therefore, He was dismissed and rejected by people – considered worthless and unworthy of our attention. Jesus was a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” with such disfigurement and humiliation that He did not look like Himself, He did not even look human! And so, we refused to believe that victory comes through humility and did not give Jesus a second thought but we hid our faces from Him. But God tells us to turn our faces to Him and pay the closest attention to Him because when you do you understand that victory comes because Jesus was willing to come and sacrifice Himself and suffer for our sins.
Behold His sacrifice and suffering...53:4-9
Remember when Aslan said that the White Witch has renounced her claim on Edmund’s life and the whole camp cheered? But remember how Lucy noticed that Aslan didn’t cheer but seemed deeply sorrowful? Aslan was planning on taking Edmund’s sins and bearing them for him. In a similar way, when we saw the pains and sorrows of Jesus we thought God was punishing Him for some sin He committed. That’s how dull our sins make our perception. But in reality it is certain that Christ, who had no sin, was lifting up our griefs and shouldering our sorrows and carrying them away from us as if they were His own to bear them on Calvary in our place.
Remember how the White Witch scorned sacrificial love and said she would take all of Narnia including Edmund’s life and then she pierced Aslan to death? What she didn’t know and what we need to know is that it was Christ who was pierced through violently until dead for our rebellions. Jesus was pulverized into many pieces for our perversions.
Jesus was struck down violently so we would no longer be God’s enemy but would become God’s family. Jesus was scourged so healing might be available to us. God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us so in Jesus we might become the righteousness of God.
We are all like sheep with attitude. We go astray and want our own way and our perversions, like a boomerang, return to strike us down. We are all like Edmund. Once we taste our Turkish Delight we get fixated on our lusts and we are willing to betray family, even God to satisfy our appetite. This is why God says to behold His Servant Jesus because of His willingness to be our substitute and be sacrificed in our place and struck down for our perversions. Do you remember how the White Witch wished to sacrifice all of Aslan’s troops to spread her reign over Narnia? Her mouth was eventually shut and king’s mouths were shut because God’s Servant Jesus Christ secured His reign not by sacrificing you but being sacrificed for you. For that, He should have our complete attention.
God calls us to behold His Servant’s sufferings. Who would believe that suffering silently was the way to victory? Do you remember how Aslan silently suffered at the hands of the White Witch’s henchmen? Do you remember how they shaved His mane off to humiliate him? Although he could have easily killed them all and stopped their hearts with one fierce roar he was silent. So Jesus humbled Himself and silently suffered while He was oppressed with false accusations. He could have called over 70,000 angels and made His enemies suffer but He did not complain or utter threats. Jesus was led to slaughter like a lamb only Jesus like Aslan knew exactly where He was being lead and what would take place. Jesus also suffered in that He had no offspring; without fruit – cursed. Death came and took Jesus away. For our rebellion Jesus was struck down and abandoned by God. Even in death Jesus was buried with those whose values were opposite to His. He was with the wicked and those whose hunger for earthly riches had no desire for Him. But His silent suffering was the way to victory.
Behold our victory...53:10-12
There was no mistake in Jesus’ humility, sacrifice and sufferings. Before Aslan suffers he tells Susan and Lucy that his sufferings must be done and so it was with Jesus, it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and put him to grief. When Aslan rises he tells Susan and Lucy about a deeper magic that was never told to nor known by the White Witch – that when someone who had done no treachery willingly offered themselves as a sacrifice for blood the stone table would crack and even death would work backwards – life would be lived under God’s grace and not under the curse of the Law.
So it is with Jesus when you offer to God Jesus’ sacrificed life as an offering for your guilt and sins you shall be seen by God as family; His seed. You shall be adopted by Him and share His eternal life as an heir of God and joint-heir with Christ and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished by Christ in partnership with you. You will be empowered by Him to storm Satan’s house with Him and breathe God’s words on those enslaved to Satan because of their sin and call people back from the coldness and deadness of condemnation to the warmth and vitality of communion with God. Remember when Aslan was raised from the dead and breathed life on those who had been turned to stone by the White Witch and they became his army against her?
Jesus endured His cross because of the joy set before Him. Jesus saw you, standing sinless and righteous before God (just as sinless and righteous as He is) and it satisfied Him and so He bore your perversions to make what He saw reality. Therefore, Aslan went through the anguish of death in order to see Edmund the Traitor as Edmund the Just and Narnia released from the power of the White Witch for good.
Because Jesus bore our iniquities and offered Himself for our sins God will reward Him with riches and Jesus will divide the spoil with His people just as victors divide up plunder when they conquer a kingdom. Remember when the White Witch was defeated and how they celebrated the reign of Aslan? He sat Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy on thrones and made them rulers of his domain. God says that one day we shall wear a crown and sit with Jesus and reign with Him under new heavens and on a new earth where righteousness dwells. Amazingly, we can be royalty and the only reason this promise is secure is because of Jesus. He exposed His soul to death, Jesus was numbered with the rebels but He was there to bear your sins.
One day you will met your Creator and give an account for the life you’ve lived and on that day you will need a Savior a Mediator who will speak up for you who will stand in for you. Do you remember when the White Witch came for Edmund’s life because of his betrayal? God says that the soul that sins must die. Don’t you want Jesus to speak up for you and turn Satan’s accusing eye off of you the way Aslan did for Edmund? Jesus makes intercession for the rebellious. Today while you have time come to God. Tell Him all about your sins and rebellion. Then ask Him, He never forsakes those who seek Him, ask Him for Jesus’ sacrifice to speak for you for the blood of Jesus to cover every sin to silence every accusation against you. Come to Jesus today He’ll never turn you away. Come, all who are weary and burdened down with sin, guilt (Turkish Delight) and He will give you rest. He will cast your sins behind His back, hurl them into the depths of the sea, Jesus will separate your rebellion from you as far as the east is from the west, Jesus will remember your sins no more, and tread all your perversions under foot. He has taken the punishment in your place will you come to the place where He was punished?
