Prophecy Fulfilled in Christ

Transcript

GRM 1047
04/04/10
Prophecy Fulfilled in Christ
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Gil Rugh

What a great message we have of a risen Savior, a Savior who died for the express purpose of providing salvation for us and was raised victorious. What a message we have, what a life-changing message.

On Jesus' last night with His disciples they had a meal together and at that time He said that it was necessary for Him to fulfill what the scripture said about Him, referring to the Old Testament. Then He quoted from an Old Testament passage, He was numbered with the transgressors. And that's the passage I want to look at with you for a little bit this morning, drawn from Isaiah 53. This is a passage that no matter how many times I come to it I am in awe and amazement.

Isaiah was a great prophet in Israel. I want you to remember Isaiah began his prophetic ministry about 740 years before Christ. So we'll talk about him as about 700 years before Christ was born. And the remarkable thing is the most detailed and full explanation of the death of Christ and its result was written by Isaiah 700 years before any of it occurred. Remarkable details on the fact that Christ would be victorious over death, a death that would be on behalf of sinful people. And when that death was accomplished the work of dealing with sin by the Savior was done. And so rather than being buried with wicked people, He would be buried in the tomb of a rich man. And then we're reminded again, He will rule someday over all the earth. A remarkable, remarkable section of the word of God. And you must not forget it was written 700 years before any of it occurred, because God was unfolding what His purposes and plans were for His Son. Wicked men crucified Jesus Christ. Peter referred to that in the sermon he preached on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. But you know what? It was the plan of God so that salvation might be provided for sinful human beings.

This section that we're going to look at begins in Isaiah 52:13, perhaps an unfortunate chapter break here, and will run through chapter 53. So we have fifteen verses. You'll note they are broken down into three verses evenly through this whole chapter. So at the end of chapter 52 there are verses 13-15, then in chapter 53 you have three-verse divisions, each of these sections focusing on the work that Jesus Christ has done. You'll note the section begins in chapter 52 verse 13 by saying, behold My servant. That's a name that Isaiah is using for Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel. One of the earliest Jewish writers after Christ wrote on this section and basically gave his translation saying, behold My servant the Messiah will prosper. Talking about the Messiah of Israel. And here we're told My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. The One who is the servant of the Lord, the Messiah, is going to do the work of God and be successful in that work. And as a result He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. That's how we begin this section. Note how we end it in chapter 53 verse 12, therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great and He will divide the booty with the strong. He is the ultimate victor when the work is done also. So this section begins and ends with that strong emphasis to grab our attention. Behold, My servant, the Messiah of Israel will successfully accomplish My work and will rule and reign over all.

Paul talked about the same thing in Philippians 2 where he said that Christ humbled Himself and became obedient, even to the point of death on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's the message we have in Isaiah 53, 700 years before any of it takes place

Let's just highlight some of these things through this passage. Picking up with chapter 52 verse 13, behold My servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. So before we say anything else you understand My servant, the Messiah of Israel will be successful in the work I give Him. We must remember this because we're going to hit some terrible lows in Isaiah 53. But it's all part of the plan of God to bring about the greatest victory.

Just as many were astonished at you, so His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. This One who brings such great victory, suffers such awful abuse. His appearance was marred more than any man, His form more than the sons of men. The idea the way this is presented is He hardly looks like a man anymore, the abuse was so great, the suffering was so intense that He was distorted. His body and His emotional state are so abused that He hardly looks like a man.

Back up to Psalm 22. You know it is interesting again, if you want the most detailed description of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and its physical impact upon Christ, you don't go to the New Testament. You go to the psalmist who wrote it 1000 years before it happened, before crucifixion was even a practice commonly used. In Psalm 22 David wrote, and you'll note how the psalm begins. The verse which Christ quoted on the cross, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Verse 6, but I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see Me sneer at Me, they separate with the lip, they wag the head saying, commit yourself to the Lord. Let Him deliver Him, let Him rescue Him because He delights in Him. Remember when Jesus was on the cross He cried, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. And they said, He's calling for Elijah, let's see if the Lord will answer Him and send him. A thousand years before those events, we were told about it by the psalmist.

Come down to verse 14, here's a description of Christ on the cross. I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint, my heart is like was, it has melted within me. You see, and this will be described in Isaiah, He is not only bearing that physical pain and suffering, but He is bearing the weight of the sin of the world—emotional and spiritual stress and pressure is crushing. My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death, for dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me, they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. Remarkable, isn't it, what the sovereign God revealed a thousand years before the event would occur, the awful abuse that His Son would have to endure, the depths of suffering He would go to pay the penalty for our sin.

Come back to Isaiah 53. His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. Chapter 52 verse 15, thus He will sprinkle many nations. You see the result of His work here. To sprinkle pictures what went on in the sacrifice when they would sprinkle the blood, showing it was applied. Peter refers to this in I Peter 1, the opening verses. He speaks about believers being sprinkled with the blood of Christ. That means the blood of Christ, the effect of His death is applied to me. So when he says in Isaiah 52:15, He will sprinkle many nations through His suffering and death, He will provide salvation and many from all nationalities, all nations will come to believe in Him and have the effects of His death applied to them. So He'll be remarkably successful, He will prosper. But it takes His death to accomplish what needs to be done to bring forgiveness of sins.

Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him, for what they have not been told they will see, what they have not heard they will understand. When all is said and done, this One who is rejected and despised by men will come to this earth and rule and reign over all and all will be in awe of Him. The nations, people from all nations will have come to believe in Him and kings and rulers will bow before Him, will come to Jerusalem to offer Him honor. He will be the victor.

Chapter 53 opens up, who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? This is quoted in the New Testament, John 12. We won't have time to go to many verses, Isaiah 53 is quoted and referred to many times. But in John 12 Jesus comes to the end of His earthly ministry. Chapter 13 is the Last Supper, so you see in John 12 we are at the end of His public ministry, on the brink of the crucifixion. And in John 13:37 we are told, but though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. The arm of the Lord, the might and the power of God had been revealed to them, but they were not believing in Him. Look at verse 38, 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? The presence of the very Son of God, the truth that He taught, the miracles that He did, they still did not believe. Surprise. No surprise. Seven hundred years earlier Isaiah had prophesied that's exactly what would happen.

Come back to Isaiah 53. What's the problem? Why were people so obstinate in their refusal to believe in Him. One of the problems is He doesn't have earthly glamor. We're trying always to compensate for that these days, you know. Trying to make Christ worldly appealing, more attractive to the world, make Christianity more what the world would like and want. But you understand that's not biblical Christianity because that's not the biblical Christ. Why did they not believe Him? Why did they not trust in Him.

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground. He seemed like a nobody. Remember Nathaniel when some of the disciples came and said, we have found the One who is the Messiah. Yes, it's Jesus of Nazareth. What did Nathaniel say? Could anything good come out of Nazareth?

Verse 2 goes on, He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. If you saw Him, He's just a man walking in Palestine, in the land of Israel. He doesn't have any kingly presence, the trappings of kingship. Look at religious rulers today, they parade around in their crowns and their robes and their gold. Why? We want to appeal to the world. You know Jesus Christ didn't have any kingly majesty about Him. He was just born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, hardly ever left the confines of the land of Israel. He's not what we are looking for, doesn't have that worldly appeal. He wants to talk about sin, He wants to talk about the need for cleansing, He wants to talk about salvation. We want to talk about glory, we want a king who will deliver us from the Romans, crush them, make us the people who rule. And you want to talk about sin.

He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like One from whom men hide their face, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. That word despised is used two times in this verse, verse 3—He was despised in the first line, then in the last line, He was despised. People didn't just ignore Him, they hated Him. They had a disdain for Him, they held Him in contempt, they wanted nothing to do with Him. Oh, people aren't like that today, churches are full, but they don't want to hear about the Christ of the Bible. Let's talk about why Jesus Christ was on this earth. Why did He died? Why is the resurrection so important? Do you know why? You are a sinner, you are lost, you are without hope, you have no relationship with God, you are His enemy. I don't want to hear that. You know what? The people of Jesus' day didn't want to hear it either. You talk about unpopular. You have the religious leaders of the nations Israel all gathered together and do you know what Jesus said to them in front of everybody? You are of your father the devil and you are just like dad. You always do what he does. You are liars and you are murderers. Any wonder He wasn't popular? That's not what they wanted to hear, they wanted to hear how good they were, they wanted to hear how God was pleased with them, they wanted to hear how well they were doing. And Jesus says, you have nothing to do with My God, you are a child of the devil.

He was despised, forsaken of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, we did not esteem Him. The Jewish nation did not have anything to do with Him. He was the creator of everything, John 1 tells us, He created all things. And He came into the world, He came to His own and His own wouldn't have anything to do with Him. The world that He created rejected Him, the people Israel that He chose for Himself would have nothing to do with Him. He was despised and not esteemed, not held in honor. Forsaken of men. They hide their face from Him, they just don't want anything to do with Him.

Verse 4 picks up to draw attention on why He is here, what is He doing. He will be effective in the work God has given Him as the servant of the Lord. He is not received by the people He comes to, and yet there was an eternal purpose in what He was doing. Look at verse 4, surely our griefs He Himself bore and our sorrows He carried. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. Our griefs He Himself bore, our sorrows He carried. Through this section we are going to see this balancing emphases. Verse 4, surely our griefs He bore, our griefs He bore, our sorrows He carried. On our situation and what He did. Our griefs, our sicknesses He bore. Some people read this verse and say, see Christ died for our physical sicknesses, therefore God doesn't want you to be sick. Well in the context here he is talking first and foremost about our spiritual condition, like written by other prophets that the whole body is sick from the toes to the head because it is corrupted by sin. Down in verse 5 he'll talk about our transgressions, our iniquities. Our physical illnesses are a result of sin being present.

Turn over to Matthew 8. During Jesus earthly ministry one evening they brought to Him all kinds of people afflicted physically in a variety of ways. And He was healing them, casting out demons, restoring their physical health. We're told in verse 17, this was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, He Himself took our infirmities, carried away our diseases. What was He doing here? He was demonstrating that He was the servant of the Lord, the One that could bring spiritual cleansing. And the end result of that for all who experience this physical cleansing is when Jesus Christ comes and sets up His kingdom. You know what? There will be no sickness and death.

Look at Matthew 9. Jesus has a man brought to Him who can't walk, they carry him on a pallet or a bed. At the end of verse 2 Jesus says, take courage, son, your sins are forgiven. And the scribes said to themselves, this fellow blasphemes. Why? Because only God could forgive sins and He said, your sins are forgiven. He said to them, why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or to say, get up and walk. But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. We always want to run beyond the real issue. Sure, I want Jesus to make me healthy and wealthy, but I don't like to be told I am a sinner, under condemnation and going to hell. And that's the real issue. In Jesus Christ there is forgiveness and you know what? Ultimately sin and death will be removed. I will someday have a glorified body, there will someday be a kingdom on this earth and it will not be a kingdom permeated by sickness and death because the Messiah will rule. The foundation for that is dealing with sin.

Come back to Isaiah 53. Our sicknesses He Himself bore, our sorrows He carried. He was carrying the penalty for our sin, He Himself in His body on the cross bore our sins. That's what Peter wrote in I Peter 2, He Himself bore our sins on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Our griefs, our sicknesses He bore, our sorrows He carried. All associated with our sin. But what was the thinking of people? Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. Do you know what the Jews said? Pilate said, I want to set Him free. The Jews said, if you set Him free you are no friend of Caesar, and He deserves to die because He made Himself equal with God. That was the attitude. We esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. He deserved it. God telling 700 years before it happens exactly what is going through people's minds and exactly what they'll say. That's exactly what happened.

But, now note again the emphasis on the He and the our. He was pierced through for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our wellbeing fell upon Him; by His scourging we are healed. What He did for us, what He did for us. We call this substitutionary atonement. Christ was taking our place. II Corinthians 5:21 puts it this way, God made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf in order that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Christ was taking our place. He was pierced through. Remember we read in Psalm 22, they pierced My hands and feet. He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed. Not His physical body, not a bone of His body was broken, but He was crushed. The emotional and spiritual weight of the sin of the world on the sinless Son of God was crushing. You add to that the physical abuse. That's why His appearance was marred more than any man. He was crushed for our iniquities.

The chastening for our wellbeing, our peace, fell upon Him. He was taking our place, bearing our punishment. The New Testament uses the word propitiation which means to turn the wrath of God away. That's what He is doing here. My sin required the penalty of death to bear the wrath of God, a holy God. And Christ is bearing that penalty, absorbing that wrath to turn away God's wrath from me, from you, from those who would believe. By His scouring we are healed.

Verse 6 sometimes called the John 3:16 of the Old Testament because like John 3:16 in the New Testament, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life, summarizes and encapsulates the gospel, so Isaiah 53:6 does also. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us, you'll note, all of us, everyone, all have sinned, there is none righteous. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us. Not all of us considered as a group, but everyone individually, each of us has turned to his own way. That describes our condition. There is a song that comes and goes, it was popularized by a man who is now deceased, I Did it My Way. I never hear that song or parts of that song and not think about Isaiah. I did it my way, when all is said and done I'll be able to say, I did it my way. That's the way to hell, that's what God says sinners do, they do it their way. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way. And we're going to do our own thing. Nobody is going to tell me what to do. And that's the seriousness of our condition. We are astray from God, we're on our own road, but it's not the road to heaven, it's not a road that provides forgiveness.

So what did God do with these sheep who have gone astray, everyone turning to his own way? Turned away from God, turned against God. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. What a statement. The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. To place all our sin He made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf in order that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Why in the world would a holy and righteous God give His Son? Why would His Son willingly come from glory to bear the penalty for sin for those who wanted nothing to do with God? If I were God I wouldn't have done it, I would have wiped you all out. I mean, this is why the Bible says the great demonstration of God's love is this, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. People like to talk about the love of God, but this is the demonstration of the love of God, His Son dying for us. Why is that such a great love? Why was it necessary? Why are we celebrating Easter and the resurrection of Christ? Sin, sin. You understand if it weren't for sin Jesus Christ would not have had to be here, He would not have been suffering. You see in verse 5, He was pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, the chastening for our peace fell on Him. The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. It's all about sin. That's why the resurrection is so exciting. It's God's declaration that the penalty for sin is paid, the work is done. People think, I'm glad Christ died, I'm going to believe in Him, I'm going to go to church, I'm going to get baptized, I'm going to try to live a good life, I'm going to partake of the sacraments. No, no, you don't understand. He caused the iniquity of us all, all our sin placed on Him for all of us. Done. That's the beauty of it.

He was oppressed, He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, like a sheep that is silent before his shearers, so He did not open His mouth. They are amazed, the religious leaders. You make no defense? The only time Jesus Christ opened His mouth was when keeping silent would have been a statement that He wasn't the King of the Jews, that He wasn't the Son of God. When He did acknowledge that that was true, they said, we don't need any more proof. Let's crucify Him. What did Pilate say? You don't answer me? You remain silent in my presence? Don't you know I have authority to crucify you or set you free? Jesus just reminded him, you would have no authority unless God had given it. Pilate recognized the truth of that and wanted to set Him free.

By oppression and judgment He was taken away, as for His generation who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. The Jews deserved to die for their own sin and we all deserve to die. Who gives consideration that He was dying for my sin? The Jews didn't think about it, nor did others. How many people are celebrating Easter today and it's just a great day and don't consider that He was paying my penalty. I'm excited He's alive because He died for me.

His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with rich men in His death. He was crucified? You know where He ought to have been then? Buried with the criminals, but Joseph of Arimathea came in and interceded with Pilate and He ends up buried in a rich man's tomb. Isn't that amazing? It's amazing, but most amazing is Isaiah said that was going to happen 700 years before it happened. You see God is sovereign and in control of all that was done.

Why was He buried with the rich man and not buried as a wicked man? Because He had done no violence nor was there any deceit in His mouth. You understand Jesus Christ had not sinned, He was the perfect spotless Lamb of God. So when He died on the cross the penalty for sin was paid in full. So there is no more disgrace, there is no more humiliation. He is not buried in a wicked man's grave, He is buried in a rich man's tomb. The work is done, the dishonor is over.

But the Lord was pleased, verse 10, to crush Him putting Him to grief. Crush Him, the Lord was pleased. Not that that made the Lord happy, but this is what the Lord did for our good. It was the loving intention of a holy God agreed upon by Father, Son and Holy Spirit that the Son of God would bear the crushing responsibility of paying the penalty for sin. They put Him to grief. If He would render Himself as a guilt offering. That's what He did, He made the sacrifice for sin.

Now note, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. I thought we had Him buried in verse 9, but He doesn't stay in the grave. So Isaiah 53 doesn't specifically say He was raised from the dead but it tells you He was because He will see His seed, His offspring. That's why in Hebrews 2 the Messiah can quote and say, behold, I and the children you have given Me. This is not physical descendants but spiritual descendants. He will prolong His days. His days aren't over with the grave. The good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. Chapter 52 verse 13, My servant will prosper. This is the servant that Isaiah in chapters 40-66, marvelous chapters, and the prophecy of Isaiah concludes with those great chapters on the reign of Christ in glory. He will prosper and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand because it's His intention that His Son rule and reign over an eternal kingdom.

As a result of the anguish of His soul He will see it and be satisfied. By His knowledge the righteous one, My servant, will justify the many as He will bear their iniquities. How do you get justified before a holy God? You turn to the servant of the Lord, the One who bore your iniquities on the cross, and you trust in Him. We've been studying Romans on Sunday mornings here at Indian Hills, and we're told repeatedly it is by faith in Christ, by trusting in Him alone that the work of Christ is applied to your account and you are forgiven. He will justify the many. Who are the many? All of us, verse 6, who have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. So He'll justify the many, He has provided that righteousness. Now it is given as a gift to all who believe in Him.

Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great. He will divide the booty with the strong, He will ultimately rule and reign. He is the ultimate victor. He came the first time to this earth to suffer and die, He'll come the second time, not to die for sin, but to reign as the Lord of glory. Why? Because He poured out Himself to death, was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He Himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors. That's what He was doing. There is one God, I Timothy 2, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all.

That's the message. Isn't it amazing? We can go back and read the account in Isaiah 53, 700 years before Christ and the details are unfolded exactly as they took place. And the message has not changed. We are 2000 years after this prophecy was fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Christ. The message is the same—Jesus Christ died for your sin, for my sin. He paid the penalty. He is raised from the dead. He will someday come again to rule and reign. Now God offers you salvation. He paid the penalty, He paid the price. You can have it for free. It's called the free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for a Savior who bore our sins in His body on the cross, who was here despised and rejected by men, the holy, spotless Son of God. But He was here so that He might pay the penalty for our sin, He might take our place, do what holiness and righteousness required that the penalty for sin be paid. We are all sinners, each and every one of us. We are guilty before you. And Lord, how we rejoice on this Easter Sunday morning that there is a Savior, He is alive, He has been raised from the dead. And that is a testimony to all that the work of salvation has been finished and now who will trust in your Son can have forgiveness and new life. May that be the real experience of each person here today. May we who have entered into that forgiveness rejoice again over the Savior who loved us and died for us and ever lives to make intercession on our behalf. We pray in His name, amen.