The reading is on the back of
your hymn sheets. It is the prophecy of Isaiah,
Isaiah chapter 53. It's on the back of the hymn
sheets. Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, And as a root out of a dry ground,
he hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we
hid, as it were, our faces from him, he was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep,
have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, So he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, And who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked, And with the rich in his death, because he had done
no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him, he had put him to grief. When thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he had poured out his soul unto death, and
he was numbered with the transgressors. and He bear the sin of many and
made intercession for the transgressors. Now the word that I've highlighted
as a text this morning and a word to think upon is He is brought
as a Lamb to the slaughter. Now this passage is a passage
that was inspired 750 years before our Lord came. And yet it very,
very clearly sets forth the sufferings and death of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. We have in the New Testament
a wonderful example of the reading of this passage being blessed
to an Ethiopian eunuch. In Acts chapter 8 we read how
the eunuch had been going up to Jerusalem to worship and was
returning. And the Spirit told Philem, the
evangelist, to go and meet with that chariot. And he found him
reading this portion. And he asked him, Understandest
thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I except
some man guide me? And if you and I understand this
portion, it is because we have been guided, have been taught
by the Holy Spirit, and have had it revealed to us. And he,
the Ethiopian eunuch, asked Philip to come up into the chariot with
him. And the place that he was reading
is those two verses, 7 and 8, that are highlighted in bold
on your sheets. It is rendered slightly different
in the New Testament, but this is what he was reading. He was
oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before
her shearers is done, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from
present and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation
for he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken." And of course right through those
verses there is mentioned he. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
he is brought as a lamb to slaughter. And so the question that the
Ethiopian eunuch had of Philip, who? Who speaketh the prophet
of himself or of some other man? And we're told that Philip, he
began the same scripture, so he used these two verses as his
text, and he preached unto him Jesus. Now, they obviously were
still traveling as they were speaking, as he was preaching
to him. They came to water, He says,
see here is water, what doth into me to be baptized? And Philip
then asked him, dost thou believe on the Son of God? And he said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And on that profession
he was baptized, and went on his way rejoicing. He went on
his way, and no doubt he did, still reading in Isaiah, When
he came to Isaiah 56, only three chapters further on, then he
would have read of God's special blessing for eunuchs. And it
must have been a very precious time to him to read that. And really these chapters of
Isaiah, it speaks of the lead up in 52 to Christ's sufferings,
and we remember Good Friday, remember his sufferings tomorrow,
And then we have his sufferings in Isaiah 53. Then we have the
blessing on the Church of God. And it's all that flows from
Christ's sufferings is the blessing on the Church of God. Now I've
highlighted this about the lamb, a lamb to the slaughter. A very,
very familiar thing for all of the Old Testament saints. the
land that was brought, the land that was shed, there is blood,
the Passover land, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And this is how, of course, John
the Baptist, he began his ministry and began pointing out the Lord
Jesus Christ. When our Lord was walking, he
pointed to him and said, behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. And so linking to this passage
and pointing to Jesus at Nazareth as that Lamb. And may it be that
at this time of year that we are really refreshed in this
and strengthened in our belief. Remember the Apostle Paul into
the troubled church at Corinth? He determined to know nothing
among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that is
what is right through this passage. Now, what has struck me with
this passage is how it is designed, how the Spirit has organized
it. The first three verses, it is
setting forth how that when the Messiah comes, when the Christ
comes, there won't be any fanfare, there won't be anything spectacular. He has no form nor comeliness. There's nothing that would make
us desire him. He's just, as viewed by many,
just as an ordinary man. And he was despised. He was rejected
of men. They cast him out. They said,
this is Jesus, the son of Joseph, the carpenter's son. And though
they saw his miracles, they heard his words, yet they despised
him, a natural man. will do that. Natural man will
not see a beauty in the Lord Jesus Christ, but unto you which
believe he is precious. So it's a thing for us to ask,
is the Lord Jesus precious to us? And do we see him in this
passage? Now, from then verse 4, right
through these verses, it's as if the Holy Spirit is taking
and speaking about the sufferings of Christ and then immediately
telling us the benefit and what flows to us through those sufferings. He could have done it in making
half the chapter speaking of Christ's sufferings and then
the second half speaking of the benefit to us, or to the people
of God. But instead, hardly a word goes
by of his sufferings, then immediately he gives us the benefit and the
blessing, as if it can't wait to show the fruits and the blessings
that flow to us from Christ's death and resurrection. So in verse 4, it begins, With
the benefit to us, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows. Immediately that should get the
attention of poor sinners who have griefs and sorrows. He has
borne them. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. That is what he endured in bearing
our sins. And we think of him weighed down
in the garden of Gethsemane and then going to Calvary from judgment. Then in verse 5, we are clearly
told there again that He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. With our strives we are healed,
the benefit and the blessing that comes to us through Christ's
precious blood. Then it highlights what we have
done. All we thy sheep have gone astray. We have turned all our own way. It lies us in the dust. It doesn't
give any praise or any goodness to us. This is the mercy of God,
the blessing of God that comes to us through Jesus' precious
blood. And so, then we have in the two
verses that Philip, that he spoke to the eunuch on, how that he
was oppressed and how he's brought us around to the slaughter. they
would have really understood this. So humble, so passive,
so meek, the lowly lamb of God, and then cut off out of the land
of the living. And at the end of verse 8, again,
very clearly, for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
This is good news for poor sinners to be told this. This is why
he was stricken. This is why he suffered for our
transgressions and our sins. And then in verse 9 and 10 it
speaks of making his grave with the wicked rich in his death,
the two thieves each side of him, Joseph of Arimathea burying
him in his own tomb. And yet it pleased the Lord to
bruise him. You think, how could Jehovah
bruise his only begotten son? Why did it please? and then follows
a whole long list of the benefits and blessings that flowed out
from Christ's death. And we see, He shall see His
seed. He shall see His people. The
Lord knowing His people as He suffered for them. He knew who
He suffered. He knew He loved them. That's
why He gave His life for them. He shall prolong His days. He shall rise again. He shall
live forever. and ever, and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It is the Lord's hand.
He is the executor of his own will, and the benefits and blessings
of his death are given into Christ's hand to then bestow to his people. Speaking of Jehovah, he shall
see of the travail of his soul. It wasn't just sufferings like
the two thieves, was it? His soul the sins that were laid
upon him, his groans, his sighed, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Again, the psalmist in Psalm
22, a thousand years before Christ suffered, spoke the very same
words that Christ uttered upon the cross. And then, how that
God shall be satisfied, he shall justify many, or account them
to be free of guilt, free of condemnation, for he shall bear
their iniquities. And it finishes how that he made
intercession for the transgressors. And verse 12, of course, it speaks
how the Lord shall be highly exalted. In Paul's epistle to
the Philippians, he speaks of how that he humbled himself even
unto death, the death of the cross. Wherefore he hath given
him a name which is above every name. that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow. And this chapter finishes in
a similar way, lifting him up, giving him a great portion and
a great blessing. Well may we see, and especially
when we see and feel our sin, in this chapter a sin bearer,
the Lamb of God taking away our sin, suffering in our place,
His groans. His sighs, His sufferings, and
may that be fulfilled in us. They shall look upon Him whom
they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him. May we be believers
and go on our way rejoicing like the eunuch did.