Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
This morning we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We remember especially his victory over the grave and death. We look forward to our participation in this victory he has won for us, and we thank him for this grace shown unto us. Yes, our salvation is freely given to us, and all we are called upon to do is believe on him for our salvation. The offer is extended to whosoever will who may come. It is not an offer to see how much we can do, it is not an offer to see how much we can refrain from doing. It is a simple offer of, whosoever will may come.
Isaiah, a prophet of God, called to preach repentance to Israel in the eighth century gives to us our message this morning. It is a prophecy of suffering and triumph.
Isa.53:1-12 We will see His Prophecy, His Purpose, His Passion and His Pleasure.
This is a chapter that begins His Prophecy depicting the shame and sorrow our Savior would endure for us. And it ends with the triumph and treasures secured for us in Christ.
v.1 For your reading this week read Ps.22-24, from Suffering to Shepherding to Shining.
Isaiah refers to Jesus Christ as the Arm of the Lord. Since no man hath seen the Father at any time, and it is said this Arm of the Lord is revealed, it is surely a prophecy concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ. But instead of the sweet Christmas nativity scene, it is something quite different. All we would have to do to understand this would be to read the last three verses of chapter 52 where we see the humiliation our Lord endured as he was beaten beyond human recognition prior to his crucifixion.
v.2
This Arm of the Lord is said to be one who would grow up before the Father in his incarnate body as “a tender plant”. This depicts his innocence among hostile people.
And it was said he would be “like a root out of dry ground”. His beginnings in Bethlehem of being born in a borrowed stable to the attempts on his life even as an infant was as harsh as a root sticking up out of dry hard ground. Of course the hardest ground our Lord ever had to deal with was the dried up hearts of those whom he tried to sow the seeds of the Gospel into. Israel rejected him all the way, just like most folks do today.
“ He hath no form or comeliness” The Hebrew word hadar means worldly splendor. People are too often looking on the outward appearance and the trappings of success instead of looking at the purity of soul and character. Christ had no worldly splendor.
“And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” Do you remember it was said that nothing good could come out of Galilee. He was called a friend of drunkards and harlots. Even the religious leaders said his miracles were nothing more than the work of Satan himself. Any worldly attribute people thought he needed to have to be taken seriously he was found without. This causes me much grief; when churches will substitute a show or activity or something in place of sitting at the feet of the lowly Savior to hear his word. This tells me that they too do not find him appealing or one that we should desire.
v.3 read.. This is still the case today. The word despised means to be viewed with contempt. He is rejected of men, many of whom which are gathering today to hypocritically celebrate renewal of life and the renewal of the earth in spring instead of Jesus Christ resurrection from the dead. To many this is just a religious observance, and the relevance of Christ’s death means nothing to them. What a wasted opportunity. Then Isaiah says, “ and we hid as it were our faces from him” This depicts avoiding personal contact. It depicts one who avoids looking at the Savior. Please don’t do that.
It depicts turning a deaf ear to the Truth. But Jesus Christ doesn’t want men to remain ashamed of their sin, for this is what causes the turning of the head, he wants them to turn to him and be saved from their sin. Don’t despise the Savior, despise your sin.
vs.4-6 gives to us an honest visage of our Savior. These verses depict one who objectively looks to the Savior for salvation and sees His Purpose
These verses are summed up in Paul’s words in II Cor.5:21 “ For he hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
The just demands a holy God requires for payment of sin is death. Rom.6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
Jesus died in my place and your place. So the Father laid the iniquity of us all on Him.
v.7-9 read.. Here we see His Passion
His mockery at his trial where he was wrongly accused and then crucified and buried is seen in these verses. And yet as angry and indignant as we may become at those who crucified him whether they were the Romans or the religious zealots of that day, his cross had our personal names written all over it. Our sins are what brought him down to earth, and the taking away of our sin debt to God is what put him on the cross.
His silence as a Lamb before the slaughter demonstrated his voluntary submission to the will of the Father, to die for mankind’s sins. This part of his passion, his suffering for us, was not a surprise to God for he is omniscient, he has always known all things.
And so, his horrific ordeal along with his beatings leading up to the cross, plus another six long hours on the cross, our Lord suffered for our sins as a ransom payment for our souls. When he had paid for every last sin of mankind our Lord said in John 19:30, “It is Finished” and then he voluntarily gave up his spirit and bowed his head and died.
v.10-12 Looking at verse 10 you might think of the Father as a cosmic sadist, but to understand how this pleased the Lord you have to understand the plan of God. The Holy Trinity knew from eternity past the whole story of redemption including the suffering of Jesus Christ, but don’t think this didn’t bring great suffering to the Father and the Holy Spirit as well. They loved Jesus Christ more than any mortal will ever understand, and yet as God, all three have always known the outcome of this story. Love could not save Jesus Christ from God’s just payment for sin, and love alone cannot save you. We are the fortunate ones in that all we have to do to inherit eternal life and receive the forgiveness of sins is to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. In these verses we see His Pleasure.
v.10... The Son saw the blessings to come through his suffering.
1) he knew he would justify many, i.e. he would bring many sons to glory, Heb.2:10
2) he knew he was pleasing the Father and those who believed in him would also glorify the Father through their lives. This is one reason I hate to disappoint the Lord. In that he died with me in mind knowing I would have many opportunities to glorify the Lord in my life. This motivates me to remain faithful in all things and to keep growing in the word.
3)v.11 he would see the travail, the labor of his suffering as O.T., N.T. and tribulation saints as well as Mill. saints enjoying life because of what he underwent for sins.
4)v.12 The Lord made it possible for all believers to be winners in this wicked world because he was victorious over the grave and death. Now it is up to us to be worthy to share in his victory as strong, mature Christians. For Easter to be all God wants it to be for us we need to take in as much truth and apply it to our lives and then tell this story to the world. Tell them the Gospel story and leave the rest up to them.