Let us turn again to God's words
and as I said this morning we in the Lord's will turn once
again this evening to the portion we were considering earlier. This final paragraph in the 52nd
chapter of Isaiah. This prologue to what follows
in chapter 53. As I said then if we read the
53rd chapter we should certainly read these three verses because
they introduce that great chapter concerning the suffering servant
of the Lord. Really the chapter break should
have been made here at verse 13. Let us read through these
verses Isaiah 52 13 fourteen and fifteen behold my
servant shall deal prudently he shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high as many were astonished at thee his visage
was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons
of men so shall he sprinkle many nations the king shall shut their
mouths at him for that which had not been told them shall
they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Well, we've looked at the 13th
and the 14th verses. We were looking last Lord's Day
at the opening words there. In verse 13, Behold my servant. God speaks directly in these
three verses. and calls us then to behold his
servants and his dealings, his works. There is one who is truly
the servant of the Lord but we did remark last week that all
things must serve the purpose of God because he is sovereign. There are many devices in a man's
heart says the wise man nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that
shall stand God's counsel, His purpose, His paramounts in all
the affairs of men. The Lord hath made all things
for Himself, even the wicked for the day of evil." The words
of the wise man there in Proverbs 16.4. But there is one who is
surely the true, the great servant of the Lord. who in all things
only ever desired to do that which was pleasing before God
who came not to do his own will but the will of the one who had
sent him he would finish his work he says and God says therefore
that we are to behold this one the true servant and those words
earlier in chapter 42 behold my servant whom I upon mine elect
in whom my soul delighteth, He is the first of all God's elect,
and all the election of grace are chosen in Him, the one upon
whom God has put His Spirit. The Father giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto Him. What a mighty effusion, what
a glorious outpouring of the Spirit came upon Him even as
He is baptizing when the Spirit descended there in the form of
a dove. How He came then to do all the
will of God. Behold My servant and is obedient and is obedient
unto death even the death of the cross. And then this morning
we were looking more particularly at the 14th verse as many were astounded that his
visage was so marred more than any man and his form more than
the sons of men. But the statement is this concerning
this one, so marred in his visage, so marred in his form, there's
repetition, there's emphasis in that 14th verse. He's marred,
he's degraded, he's treated with utter contempt. as that one who comes to serve
God in him and all his sufferings
we see what an ugly thing sin really is what does he go on to say has
no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no
beauty that we should desire he is despised and rejected of
men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief These are some of
the things we were considering then earlier concerning this
one God sending His Son for sin. He sends His Son in the likeness
of sin and forcing to suffer as if He were the sinner bearing
all that sin of His people upon Him. God has made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him, and we sang earlier this morning that 154th hymn,
O thou hideous monster of sin, what a curse hast thou brought
in all creation grown through thee, pregnant cause of misery,
thou hast God afflicted too. nothing less than that would
do and how he was so much afflicted again we have it later don't
we there in the 53rd chapter he was oppressed and he was afflicted
and he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter
as a sheep before her shearers he is dumped so he openeth not
his mouth how willingly he undertakes all those awful ugly sufferings
as he makes the great atoning sacrifice for sins and so we
are told aren't we in that 14th verse how many were astonished
astonished at that archaic word we don't use the word anymore
we tend to use another word astonished but I like that word really old-fashioned
as it is and the significance of what it means astonished turned
to stone Stunned, stupefied, thunderstruck,
here is a sight the eye cannot behold it. All men don't want
to look upon this awful scene. We turned our faces from him,
it seems. The scene is so dreadful to behold,
the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, these are some
of the things that we've said previously with regards to the
first two verses of the paragraph and now turning to this 15th
verse for a little while tonight. And what do we read here? Well,
what is the consequence of all these things? And we're told,
so shall he sprinkle many nations. The kings shall shut their mouths
at him. For that which hath not been told them shall they see,
and that which they have not heard shall they consider. Consider what is spoken of here,
the sprinkling of many nations. That's a significant clause at
the beginning of verse 15. And that's the theme really I
want to take up, the sprinkling of many nations. And so first
to say something with regards to the sprinkling, and then in
the second place to say something concerning preaching this message. The preaching of the message.
It goes on, doesn't it, from what we're told at the beginning
of chapter 53, the preachers say, Who hath believed our reports?
And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Well, we'll come
to consider something of the preaching. Secondly, but first
of all, the sprinkling. And what does the sprinkling
remind us of? It reminds us of the application
of the work of the Lord Jesus, the great sacrifice that He made.
There must be an application. of these things. That's what sprinkling speaks
of, the sprinkling of the blood of sacrifice. But I want to try
to draw a link between what we have here in verse 14 and the
beginning of verse 15 with what we read at the end of chapter
53. There at verse 11 it says, "...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."
And draw out certain parallels between what we have at the end
of the 52nd chapter verses 13 and the beginning of 14 and there
in that 11th verse at the end of chapter 53 first of all here
we read of the travail of his soul the travail of his soul,
his travailing or rather we read that at the
end of chapter 53 but here of course what we read of is how his visage
and his form was so marked and connecting those two those two
ideas as it were and thinking in terms you see of childbirth
as it were we know there is sorrow a woman when she is in travail
has sorrow the consequence of the sin of
our first parents there in Genesis 3.16 in sorrow shall thou bear
children is what God has said concerning the woman and there
is that there's that time the labor the anguish the pain that
the woman is passing through how trying it is and even evident
maybe in the contortions of the face and so forth. Well, can
we not say that when we read of the travail of the soul of
the Lord Jesus Christ in this, we see his visage march. All
those things that are taking place in the agonies of his suffering
upon the cross, because he's not just suffering at the hands
of men, principally he's suffering at the hand of his father. how
agonising it is for him even when we see him previous to that
in the garden of Gethsemane as he is wrestling with his father
he will do the father's will but he is no stoic he has a human
will and that human will how it is subject always to the divine
will how he prays here not my will but thine be done he will
submit to the father's will but all how he praise, if it be possible
let this cup pass from me, and yet it's not possible. And being
in an agony we're told. He prays more earnestly and his
sweat is like drops of blood falling to the ground, his forehead,
his whole body really bathed in a bloody sweat. the visage of the Lord Jesus
Christ affected here because of all that's taking place in
the very depths of his human soul. He feels these things. He's a man, he has emotions,
he feels what he's having to endure and it's evident. Oh,
so fair a face bejewed with tears! What beauty in, in grief appears! He wept, he bled, he died for
you! What more, ye saints, could Jesus
do? We sang those words of Bedom
at the Lord's Supper just a week ago. All the Lord Jesus you see
and all that he's having to endure and it's so evident really where
his visage and his form is marred and we see it really so degraded
treated with such contempt but then also connecting these verses,
verse 14 and also the beginning of verse 15 with what we have
there at the end of chapter 53. He shall sprinkle many nations
and there in that verse in Isaiah 53 it's a travail of his soul
and then his satisfaction and then by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities
by his knowledge or when people come to a knowledge
of him and here I think of the sprinkling you see there's got
to be there's got to be some application of these things there must be the sprinkling
as it were he is the mediator of the new covenant we are told
that and he as the mediator is also
that one who sprinkles the blood just as with the old covenant
it was Moses who sprinkled the blood Hebrews chapter 12 and
verse 24 we read Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and the blood
of sprinkling which speaketh better things. You see where
there is the sacrifice there must also be the application,
the sprinkling of it. The sprinkling of the blood indicates
that the sacrifice is now being applied. and we are told, aren't
we, that that was the case with Moses Hebrews chapter 9 the whole of
Hebrews of course really is so wonderful because it explains
to us so much of what we have recorded back in the Old Testament
book of Leviticus and in Hebrews chapter 9 This is how the Apostle
writes to these Hebrew believers. He says at verse 9 which was
a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect pertaining to the conscience. rather verse 19, not verse 9. Chapter 9, not verse 19, but
verse 19. It goes on later in this chapter,
you see, to speak of Moses, that when Moses had spoken every precept
to the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves
and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled
both the book and all the people saying this is the blood of the
testament which God hath enjoined unto you moreover is sprinkled
with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry
and almost all things are by the law purged with blood and
without shedding of blood is no remission no forgiveness without
shedding of blood but the blood that is shared in sacrifice must
be sprinkled, there must be the application, that's the point
that is being made. And what we have there concerning
Moses is typical of what we witness concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
and his sprinkling of many nations. Doesn't Peter in the opening
verses of his first epistle speak of the sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ? And again Paul to those Hebrews
says having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed in pure water, oh there must be that sprinkling
of the blood, the application of these things. And where there
is application Well, where there is application there will come
the pardon of sin, the conscience now at peace. When those Jews and proselytes
were present on the day of Pentecost and heard the preaching of Peter,
they were pricked in their hearts, they were pricked in their consciences. and Peter addresses them and
tells them they must repent and repentance goes hand in hand
with faith they must believe the gospel they must believe
these things that Peter is declaring and then those that gladly received
his word while they are baptized you know the account that we
have there in Acts chapter 2 but how there comes peace to the
conscience where the conscience is aroused and the pricks of
conscience. All that appears to their very
hearts, but then there's peace with God through the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, the heart
sprinkled from an evil conscience, the conscience no more accusing.
There's pardon, there's forgiveness, there's justification. as the
experience of that justification. Remember how in Romans 5 Paul
says as much, doesn't he, being justified by faith we have peace
with God. Or it's by faith that we come
into the experience of that blessed justification. And this was the
message very much preached by the apostles, we see it with
Paul in his preaching in Acts chapter 13 there at Antioch in
Pisidia, what is he preaching? He's preaching the great doctrine
of justification. By him, by Christ, all that believe
are justified, he says, from all things that you could not
be justified from by the deeds of the law. Oh, there must be
the sprinkling, there must be this blessed application. In
that hymn we're going to sing it just now, number 31, and he
speaks about the Gospel must come not in word only, but in
power, in the Holy Ghost, in much assurance. Sinners I read
are justified by faith in Jesus' blood, but when to me that blood's
applied, tis then it does me good. We can read it. We can
read these great truths of the doctrine. We can familiarize
ourselves with them. Our minds can be full of all
these things. But oh how we need that blessed
application. How we need that that doctrine
should be written upon our hearts. That with meekness we're receiving
this word, the engrafted word. It's able to save our souls.
This is the sprinkling. So shall he sprinkle. many nations. That great sacrifice is spoken
of throughout the 53rd chapter. The blood shed is applied to
the sinner's soul and is pleased with God and acceptance. And
that sinner now is no more guilty but his guilt is gone. And now
he is accounted righteous, clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
He is a justified sinner. The sprinkling there. But really,
this whole verse speaks of preaching. That's what this verse is really
about. The preaching of the gospel.
Now we know that on the authority of the New Testament because
the words of this verse are quoted by the Apostle in the portion
that we read in Romans 15. And that's how we are to interpret
the Old Testament in the light of what we read in the New Testament. the greater light of the New
Testament brought to bear upon every passage that might to us
seem rather dark and difficult to understand in the Old Testament
we see it more clearly when we come to that fullness of the
revelation which we have with the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the ministry of his apostles. We turn back to that
chapter there in the 15th of Romans. What does the Apostle
say? Romans 15 verse 20, he says, Yea, so have I strived to preach
the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build
upon another man's foundation. But as it is written, to whom
he was not spoken of they shall see, and they that have not heard
shall understand. He's quoting the latter part
of this 15th verse. And what is he speaking of throughout
this whole chapter? He's really speaking of his own
ministry. Verse 16, that I should be the
minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, he says. ministering
the gospel of God that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable
being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Previous to that he is
repeatedly quoting different verses from the Old Testament. Look at verse 8 following in
that 15th chapter. Now I say that Jesus Christ was
a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm
the promises made unto the fathers and that the Gentiles might glorify
God for His mercy as it is written for this cause I will confess
to thee among the Gentiles and sing unto thy name and again
he says rejoice ye Gentiles with his people and again praise the
Lord all ye Gentiles and Lord him all ye people and again Isaiah
we have the Greek form there but it's Isaiah isn't it that
says there shall be a root of Jesse, Isaiah 11, the root of
Jesse, the father of David, this is the Lord Jesus Christ clearly
being spoken of. There shall be a root of Jesse
and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles and in him
shall the Gentiles trust. The whole of Romans 15 concerns Paul's ministry and that ministry
very much to Gentile sinners. The calling of the Gentiles.
And that's what we have there. He shall sprinkle many nations. It's not just Israel. All this
gospel is to go to the nations and we see it repeatedly here
in this book. Verse 6 in chapter 49, it is
a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the
tribes of Jacob again this is the Lord's servant isn't it?
it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise
up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel
I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest
be my salvation unto the end of the earth always the preaching
of the words that this verse is all about. Now what of that
preaching? When this word is faithfully
preached, when this truth is being rightly proclaimed, what
will be the outcome? Well, there will be conviction of sin. There must be conviction of sin.
Who has Christ come to call? He says himself, I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners unto repentance. All are sinners
in God's sight, there are but few so in their own. So surely
before the Gospel can come in any meaningful way to any person
they must have that realization of what they are, their sense
of their sinnership, sensible sinners we say. And that's what
we have here. When this message comes, what
do we read? The kings shall shut their mouths
at it. the kings shall shut their mouths
at him." And one immediately thinks of what Paul says concerning
the ministry of the law, because where there is gospel preaching
it must go hand in hand with the preaching of the law. And
what does Paul say? Romans 3.19, We know that what
things however the law saith, etc., them who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped. The kings shall shut their mouths
at him, every mouth stopped, all the world guilty. By the
deeds of the law, no salvation. By the law, the knowledge of
sin. That's the ministry of the law.
That's what Paul is saying. There in that third chapter of
Romans, and it's the same truth as we have here. There's no salvation. A man might Imagine when he's
first in some measure awakened to where he stands he's accountable
to God as a creator. The God who has made him and
one day he must appear before that God. He might be minded
therefore to change his living and try as it were to please
God. So He'll fly to the commandments. He'll try to do the commandments.
Now, you know, that's the religion of the Pharisee.
That was the religion of Saul of Tarsus. Before the Lord saved
him, he was a Pharisee. And he lived the life of a Pharisee,
just as he was the son of a Pharisee. and he can say there in Philippians
3 touching the righteousness of the Lord he was blameless
and he was sincere in that he really thought he was blameless
because he kept the law and he attended to all the additional laws of the Pharisees
which really swamped God's law and destroyed God's law the folly
of their ways But there he was, he was no murderer, he was no
thief, he was no adulterer, his life was respectable. He was
a good, he was an upright Pharisee. But he didn't really understand
anything about the Lord, did he? He acknowledges that later
in Romans 7, where he's brought to see that the Lord is spiritual.
and I'm carnal, I'm just a natural man. What hope is there for me
in the Lord? It's a spiritual law. I'm not
a spiritual man. And he speaks, doesn't he then,
of that tenth commandment, Thou shalt not covet. And what is
covetousness? Well, it's desire, isn't it?
We say a thing we want it. I like that. I like that car.
I'd love to have a car like that. I desire that. We want that.
People want possessions. They have a desire for things.
But we're not to covet, that's the tenth commandment. And that
commandment really did strike home with that man Saul of Tarsus
because he saw that his heart was full of all evil desire.
What's called concupiscence in our authorized version, his heart
was full of it. And thou shalt not covet, Paul.
There's no salvation in the law. remember that hymn we often sing
that hymn of Isaac Watts 111 and how it reminds us in just
a few verses of these truths remarkable some of these hymns
there's more than a sermon in about four to five verses of
a hymn sometimes 111 verse 2 let Jew and Gentile stop their mouths
without a murmuring words and the whole race of Adam stand
guilty before the Lord. The king shall shut their mouths
at him. They have to plead guilty you see. In vain we ask God's
righteous law to justify us now since too convincing to condemn
is all the law can do. No salvation in the law. Oh but thank God there is salvation.
There is salvation. There is a saviour for sinners.
And what do we read later, the end of the verse? For that which they had not been
told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard
shall they consider. He is speaking of many nations,
Gentile nations. They had not any of the Old Testament. They didn't have the book of
Leviticus, which is gospel really to the enlightened Jew in the
Old Testament, the true spiritual child of Abraham. All those sacrifices
and offerings, they're wonderful, aren't they? They're gospel.
They're all types of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gentile didn't
have the Old Testament, didn't have the book of Isaiah certainly,
knew nothing of Isaiah 53. Even that Ethiopian eunuch, he
was a proselyte it seems, he was a Gentile, he converted to
the Jewish religion and we see him there in Acts and he's reading,
he's reading Isaiah 53 and he hasn't got a clue. And Philip
joins his chariots. And what does he do? He preaches
Jesus. You see, the Gentiles, they know nothing
of any of these things. That which had not been told
them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall
they consider. What does Paul do in his preaching? Well,
he tells the Corinthians, doesn't he, that he He determined not
to know anything amongst them save Jesus Christ and him crucified. And then he says we, and I think
there he's embracing all the apostles, we preach Christ crucified. That's their message, the person
of Christ and the work, his obedience unto death and also his resurrection
because in the act we see repeatedly they're testifying to that truth.
that God has vindicated Christ. He's raised Him from the dead. He's declared to be the Son of
God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. But how Paul will emphasize the
great truth of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He glories
in the cross. And he says to those Galatians,
doesn't he, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently
set forth. crucified among you. Think of
that church or those churches there in Galatia. They were principally
Gentile churches. Now I know of course there is
a sense in which the gospel is going to Jew and Gentile beginning
at Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to the uttermost ends of the
earth it says. It comes first to the Jew and
there were Jews who were converted and doubtless there were Jews
in those churches of Galatia but they were principally Gentiles
that were in those churches. They were principally Gentile
churches. It's interesting. Jews are converted, aren't they?
I don't know if any of you ever had any contact with a converted
Jew. I can remember some years ago
we had quite a bit of contact with a man. Chematronola knew
him because he ministered in Scotland. A man by the name of
Well, we used to call him Moshe, Moshe Radcliffe. I don't know
if you ever had any contact at all or ever heard of him. Moshe
Radcliffe. Moses, his name was. And his anglicized name was Radcliffe. And he was an Austrian Jew. And he... When the Nazis moved into Austria,
he was a child of about eight years old. And his whole family
had to flee. They came to England for a while
and then moved on to Australia. That's where he spends his formative
years in Australia. He was converted. And then he
trained. He trained for the ministry in
the Church of England, but strangely, eventually he became a Presbyterian
and comes back to the UK and finishes up in Scotland ministering
amongst the Free Presbyterians. Dear old Moshe Radtif. And I
remember, it must be 30 years ago, he had a son called Simeon who lived
in Guildford. And on occasions he'd visit his
son, and when he was in Guildford he attended a Bethel chapel,
so he got to know the Riesbridgers, dear old Arthur Riesbridger,
and through that contact we were able to have him come and preach
on occasions at Hedgen. He'd come down to see his son
and he'd come over to us sometimes on a Tuesday and preach, and
stay the night. And Andrew Randalls knew of him,
he used to come over to hear him preach. And he was a remarkable
man. He was such a clever man, and
so well-versed in the scriptures, and it was so delightful to talk
with him. He was a converted Jew. And he
looked like a Jew. You couldn't mistake him, that's
what he was. He was a son of Abraham, you know, a natural
son of Abraham. And when I think back to those
days and some of the conversations we had with him, and he'd stay
with us, he had his strange and peculiar ways, but he was a dear,
dear man, long since gone to glory. But Jews are converted. And there were doubtless Jews
in the Galatian church, but it was principally made up of Gentiles. And what does Paul say to those
people when he's reminding them of his ministry? He says, "...before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified
among you." So evidently set forth in his preaching that it
was as if they had actually seen the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That was their experience. You see the mouths are shut,
the kings shall shut their mouths at him but then that which had
not been told them shall they see and that which they had not
heard shall they consider. What is the ministry of the law?
What is the shutting of the mouth? Every mouth stops. Well the law
is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified
by faith All the law comes in all its terrors, but then we
have the Gospel. And what of the Gospel? The wonder
of the Gospel. And of course we have Gospel
throughout the Bible. We have Gospel in the Old Testament,
Gospel in the books of Moses, the first five books. We have
Gospel surely there in what Moses is saying in Deuteronomy 32 and
verse 2, My doctrine shall drop as the rain. My speech I'll distill
as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as
the showers upon the grass. All that's gospel. He goes on
to say, because I will proclaim the name of the Lord. All when
the Lord's name is proclaimed. The only name under heaven given
amongst men whereby we must be saved. It isn't Isaiah saying
much the same here in chapter 55 verse 10 as the rain cometh
down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but
watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it
may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater so shall my
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return
unto me void but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall
prosper in the thing where to I sent it Ye shall sprinkle many nations,
all the sprinklings of the Gospel, the showers of blessings that
come from the presence of the Lord. You see, what's being spoken
of here is the preaching of the Word. There must be the preaching,
there must be the application. It pleases God by the foolishness
of preaching. to save them that principally
the foolishness of preaching is referring to the message,
not so much the manner. It is in some ways the manner
preaching is scorned at, but the content of the message. That's
the salvation. And what is the message? Behold
my servant. That's the message to direct the sinner to Christ.
And Christ is to be considered, isn't it? They that have not
heard, they are to consider. What is this considering? We said earlier this morning
about those who were astonished. How they turn from, they can't
bear the sight. It's overwhelming, they turn
to stone. what are we to do? we're not
to turn from it, we're to turn to, we're to behold these things
we're to consider these things and this word that we have at
the end of the verse to consider it's a strong word it means to
come to terms with to carefully consider it's not some sort of
just mechanical hearing, just going through the motions, as it were,
and understanding with the mind. It's much more than that. It's
where there's that mixing of faith with the things that are
heard. Remember Hebrews 4, those who fell in the wilderness when
they came out of Egypt, that generation that passed away,
they didn't mix faith with the things that they heard. We have
to mix faith. And where do we get faith? Well, we can get that
only from Christ, looking on to Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. Consider him that endured such
contradiction of sin as to himself. This is the one that we have
to look to. That the message, the message of salvation that's
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ might come
home as it were and that we might receive it as that implanted
word that's able to save our souls it's a wonderful little
prologue isn't it to what follows behold my servant shall deal
prudently shall be exalted and extolled and be very high as
many would have told it of thee his visage was so mild more than
any man and his form more than the sons of men so shall he sprinkle
many nations the king shall shut their mouths at him for that
which they had not been told then they shall see and that
which they had not heard shall they consider or the Lord grant
that we might know that blessed application that sprinkling of
our consciences from all those dead works a sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus, a blessed application of the atonement. May the Lord
then be pleased to bless His word to us. Amen.