The topic that has been assigned
to me is Christ, our substitute. And I invite you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 54. I want us
to look at the very heart of the Bible, at the very heart
of the Old Testament, this Mount Everest. chapter Isaiah chapter
53. I want to begin by reading verses
four through six. I intend to look at the entire
servant song, but I want to begin by reading the very center three
verses of this servant song. Christ our substitute. I begin
reading in verse four, God's inspired, inerrant, an infallible
word. Surely our griefs he himself
bore, and our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced
through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being
fell upon Him, and by His scourging, we are healed. All of us, like
sheep, have gone astray. Each one of us has turned to
his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity
of us all to fall. on Him. That Jesus died upon the cross
2,000 years ago is an undisputed fact of history. That Christ
was crucified in the holy city of Jerusalem during the Roman
occupation of Palestine is accepted by virtually all. that Jesus
of Nazareth was put to death at the hands of Roman soldiers
through the barbaric form of execution known as crucifixion
is agreed upon by virtually all historians. But the real issue
before us is not that He did die, or where He died, or how
He died, The burning issue is why. Why did he die? What was the purpose of God in
the death of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ? What was God's
intent in the cross? What did God intend to accomplish
as he delivered over his son at Calvary? Here is God's own
commentary. This is the gospel according
to Isaiah. This is God's own theological
commentary upon the death of his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And to put it in one word, it
is the word substitution. That Jesus Christ stood in the
place of guilty, hell-bound, cursed sinners. As He was lifted
up upon the cross, He died in our place. He bore our sins. He suffered the curse on our
behalf. Isaiah 53 finds itself in a very
climactic position in the book of Isaiah. The major prophet
of the major prophets. In Isaiah 6, there is a vision
of Christ, high and lifted up. Isaiah 7, His virgin birth. Isaiah
9, His birth and many names. Isaiah 11, His humble origins
and lowly beginnings. Isaiah 40, He was preceded by
a forerunner. Isaiah 42 is humble demeanor,
His gentle ways. Isaiah 49 is divine commission,
His tireless service. Isaiah 50, His faithful teaching
and full obedience to the Father. And now, here in Isaiah, 52 and
53 is the fourth servant song. Isaiah 42, 49, 50, and now 52
and 53 are the four major servant songs that speak of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the high watermark. This
is God's commentary on the death of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. This servant song actually begins
at the end of chapter 52, beginning in chapter 52, verse 13. It extends all the way through
Isaiah 53, 15 verses. This literary unit stands as
a whole. It is divided into five sections
of three verses each. perfect symmetry, perfect literary
beauty. As it is written, it is done
so to reflect the perfection of the atonement of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to begin at the beginning.
I want to begin in chapter 52, verse 13. This is one of those
places where it is a very unfortunate chapter division. I want to give you five headings
for each of these stanzas of three verses each. And this first
stanza is supreme exaltation. What Isaiah does is he begins
at the end. This is like a biography that
begins with the last scene of the person's life. In this case,
it begins with the exaltation of the servant. Note verse 13,
behold, in other words, draw your attention to this. Do not
let this pass you by. Behold my servant, as this servant
is the Lord Jesus Christ who has come to do the will of the
Father. His food is to do the work and
the will of the Father who has sent him. My servant will prosper. He will be extraordinarily successful
in the mission for which the Father has sent him. He will
be triumphant. He will be victorious. It will
be mission accomplished. He will be high and lifted up
and greatly exalted. The very words that are used
of Christ in Isaiah chapter six John 12, 41 tells us that Isaiah
wrote of Christ. He will be high, exalted, lifted
up, magnified, triumphant, with all authority in heaven and earth,
entrusted to Him, King of kings, Lord of lords. holding the keys
of death and the grave in one hand, and holding the affairs
of providence in the other, presiding over heaven and earth, the judge
of all, high and lifted up. But in verse 14, it now takes
an unexpected twist. Just as many were astonished
at you, this high and exalted and lifted up servant of Yahweh,
they're astonished. Here is why. His appearance was
marred more than any man. He so suffered, was so opposed,
so beaten, so whipped, so brutalized, so abused, so mutilated, so scourged,
so whipped that he is unrecognizable at the end as even being a human
being as he suffered inhuman cruelty. Verse 15, as a result
of this marring, He will sprinkle many nations. The language here
is of a blood sacrifice under the Levitical priesthood service
in which they would slay an innocent substitute and take the blood
and sprinkle the mercy seat with the blood making or picturing
an atonement for sin. This horrific death that this
servant would suffer His blood, He would be so shattered that
His blood will sprinkle to the ends of the earth. His blood
will sprinkle many nations. And kings who preside over these
nations, verse 15, will shut their mouths on account of him.
Listen, kings speak, kings decree, kings legislate, kings give orders,
kings have their mouths open and their subjects listen. But
in this case, as they are told of the mission of this servant,
when they hear the account of it, it will be jaw-dropping.
They will be silenced at this King of kings and Lord of lords
for what had not been told them, they will see. And what they
had not heard, they will understand. that this sovereign, this Lord
will suffer such deprecation and such misery. I trust that
as we gather this morning, that every one of us will continue
to be gripped with astonishment and amazement at this story. that one so high and lifted up
would bow down so low upon the cross. We move now to chapter
53 to the second stanza of this servant's song. And we move from
his supreme exaltation to his severe rejection. A different speaker is now heard
It is the voice of the believing remnant who will be the recipients
of the merit of His death upon the cross. Who has believed our
message? and to whom has the arm of the
Lord been revealed. Those who will be given eyes
to see and those who will be given ears to hear and those
who will be given faith to believe in this mission of this servant
who would die in the place of sinners. They will take this
message and they will go far and wide and they will fulfill
a commission that will be entrusted to them to be servants of the
Most High, and to go into the highways, and into the byways,
and to lift up their voice, and to tell of Christ crucified,
this glorious King lifted up, who has suffered upon the cruel
cross. But who has believed? So few. Such a small remnant has believed. Here's the reason why in verse
two. Note it starts with the word for, F-O-R, which introduces
the explanation to verse one. Here's why so few have believed
our message. Here's why so few believe your
message. When you speak to your family,
to your classmates, to your neighbors, For he, referring to my servant,
grew up before him, the father, like a tender shoot. No one took
notice of him. He was like a twig, a bit of
vegetation, emerging from the dust. He was not regal in the
manner with which he came. He came with such obscurity,
and lowliness, and like a root out of parched ground." He came
from such a common background. He was not born in a palace,
but in a manger with animals. He came from obscure circumstances. Can any good thing come from
Nazareth? He has no stately form or majesty,
zero, none, that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that
we should be attracted to Him. He did not come like a rock star.
He had no star power. He had no shtick. He had no glamour. He did not look like a mighty
Messiah. He had no swagger about him. Verse three, he was despised,
considered so unworthy of anyone's trust. He was forsaken of men,
intentionally rejected. No one has ever been more despised
or forsaken. than him. No one ever started
out so high in the heights of glory and ended up so low and
forsaken. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He wept over Jerusalem. He felt
the weight of the human trauma. He was weighed down by sorrows. Please note, it's in the plural,
a man of sorrows. It's an intensive plural. Sorrow
upon sorrow, like waves of sorrow swept over his soul. And like
one from whom men hide their face, he was despised and we
did not esteem him. This is the message of the believing
remnant. We did not esteem him until our
eyes were at last opened to him. He was too repulsive to look
upon, too loathsome, too hideous, such that men intentionally looked
away rather than upon him. It is no different today. The
vast majority of people in the world still despise him and still
reject him. His holy name is still the butt
of jokes and still joined with curse words. His gospel invitations
still go unanswered. Who has believed our report? We come now to the third stanza. I want to call it His saving
intercession. As we move now beyond His upbringing
and the pedestrian-like nature of His life, these verses, these
next three verses take us deep into the heart of the message
of the gospel. Verse 4, with certainty. Truly, truly,
I say unto you, it is a trustworthy statement. Surely, our griefs
He Himself bore and our sorrows He carried. As I was sitting
on the front pew before we began this morning, I pulled my pen
out of my pocket. And as I went through verses
four through six, I just underlined all the pronouns. to see the
contrast in every line of verses four through six from the plural
pronoun to the singular pronoun. Our, he, our, he, we, him, he,
our, he, our, our, him, we, his, we, us, us, us, him, Here is the substitution. Here
is His saving substitution. He stood in our place. He took our sins upon Himself. He bore our sins in His body
upon the tree. Surely our griefs, griefs here
speaking of the consequences of sin. Sin always brings grief. Sin always brings sorrow. our
griefs, He Himself, no one else. It wasn't subbed out. It wasn't
delegated to one of the angelic beings. It wasn't passed down
to one of the prophets, but He Himself, He all by Himself. Here is the exclusivity of the
death of the Savior on behalf of His people. He Himself bore
our griefs. He bore them like a heavy load. The mountains of our sin dropped
upon Him. The weight of our sins He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. We once saw him with eyes of
unbelief, and we saw him in a different light. We saw him suffering merely
as a martyr. We saw him suffering like Barabbas,
suffering for the consequences of his own sin under the judgment
of God. Verse 5, but he was pierced. He was pierced
through for our transgressions. This speaks of crucifixion prophetically
700 years before the crucifixion of Christ. His hands and his
feet were pierced with nails. His side was pierced by a spear. His brow was pierced with a crown
of thorns. His back was pierced with a whip. His face was pierced by the fists
of Roman soldiers. He was pierced through, why?
For our transgressions, not for his own, for he had no sin. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being
fell upon him. And by His scourging, we are
healed. This is the great exchange of
the cross, that our sins, our iniquities, our transgressions
were laid upon Him, and it crushed Him. And His righteousness, and
His grace, and His healing from the deadly plague of sin was
laid upon us. and we were healed from the inside
out, from the depths of our being. Verse six, all of us, all of
us. whether you were born in a church,
born outside the church, whether you were born in a Christian
home, whether you were born in a pagan home, whether you grew
up knowing of the name of Christ, whether you have just come to
faith in Christ, whoever you are, from whence ever you have
come, all of us, like sheep, just dumb, wayward, lost sheep,
defenseless, unable to find our way, subject to perishing. All of us, like sheep, have gone
astray. There's a way that seems right
to a man, but the end thereof is the end of death. We have
gone astray from God. Each of us, there are no exceptions
to this, has turned to his own way. We've lived for self, for self-pleasure,
for self-centeredness, but the Lord has caused the iniquity
of us all to fall on Him. It wasn't just placed upon Him. It came crashing down upon Him
at Calvary. He died in our place. 1 Corinthians
15, 3, Christ died for our sins. Galatians 1, 4, he gave himself
for our sins. Romans 4, 25, he was delivered
over because of our transgressions. John 1.29, the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world. 1 Peter 3.18, Christ died for
sin. This is what the cross was all
about. As He died in our place, bearing
our sins, suffering our curse, by the shedding of that blood,
He satisfied the righteous anger of God toward us. He placated
the holy vengeance of God toward us so that the Father is now
propitiated. By the shedding of His blood
on our behalf, He reconciled holy God to sinful man in the
blood of His cross, and He brought us to God through His cross. And by the shedding of His blood,
He went into the slave market of sin, and He shed His blood,
and He purchased the church, and He bought us at the price
of His own life upon the cross. It was in our place. We stood
guilty before holy God, and Christ stood in our place. Have you
come to see the sin-bearing, substitutionary, vicarious death
of Christ for sinners? I want you to see the fourth
stanza. Beginning in verse seven, Please
note his silent submission, his quiet resolve as the suffering
servant. Verse 7 speaks of his trials. He was oppressed and he was afflicted
as he stood six trials that night, three Jewish trials, three Roman
trials, every one of them a travesty of justice as he was oppressed
and as he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. There was no protest. First Peter
2, 23, while being reviled, he did not revile in return. While
suffering, he uttered no threats. He would not die as a hero. He would die with all of the
shame of our sins. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, and yet now Christ is
this lamb, like a sheep that is silent before its shearers
as the lamb goes to the slaughterhouse to be brutalized, to be butchered. So he did not open his mouth. He was not a roaring lion as
he went to the cross. He was a silent lamb. And the reason for this is he
is standing in our place. And when sinners stand before
holy God on the last day, and their names are not in the book
of life, and the books are open, and all of their sin will come
out, Romans 3 verse 19 says, every mouth will be shut. on
the last day. There will be no excuses offered
to God. And so now, as Christ dies in
our place, he too must be silent before God. Verse 8 speaks of the sentence. Verse 7, the trials. Verse 8,
the death sentence. by oppression and judgment, the
judgment of Pilate. He was taken away. He was taken
away to be publicly executed, to be crucified, to be put to
death. as a statement of the Roman Empire
that this man is an insurrectionist, this man is a blasphemer, this
man must be publicly shamed and put to death, and he must carry
his cross through the streets of Jerusalem that all will see
his rebellion. We then see his death. as he
comes to Calvary, as he mounts Golgotha. And as for his generation
who considered that he was cut off, means severed from life,
that he was cut off out of the land of the living, none, virtually
none, such a small group in that generation understood what was
taking place. for the transgression of my people
to whom the stroke was due. He was the just dying for the
unjust. He was the sinless one dying
for sinners. He was the creator dying for
his sinful creatures. Verse 9 speaks of his burial
in the unfolding of this account, his grave was assigned with wicked
men. The Jews intended to have Christ
even further disgraced in his burial, that he would be buried
with the thieves Yet, nevertheless, but instead, yet, he was with
a rich man in his death. God purposed that there would
be an honorable death, a burial for his son who died such an
ignominious death. And here is the reason why, because
he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth. Christ in his silent submission
models for us what true submission to God looks like. As he turns the other cheek,
as he does not retaliate, as he denies himself rather than
demanding his rights, the silent submission, now finally
his successful mission. The final three verses of this
service song, it has now come full circle. It now ends where
it began. It now concludes where chapter
52 verse Verse 13 began with the exaltation and the triumph
of this servant. Here is the last stanza, and
we see the ultimate triumph and the success of his suffering
and substitutionary death. Note verse 10, but the Lord was
pleased to crush him. Who crucified the Lord Jesus
Christ? Yes, there were secondary means.
There were the Jews, there were the Romans, there were the crowd
that cried out, crucify Him, crucify Him, but they were only
secondary means. The primary agent in the crucifixion
was none other than God the Father Himself. The Lord was pleased,
not reluctant, but pleased to crush Him putting Him to grief. We know that it was according
to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. He was
the Lamb of God, slain from before the foundation of the world.
This was the Father's plan of salvation for sinners like you
and me to enter into saving relationship with God that the Father would
crush His Son on our behalf. If he would render himself as
a guilt offering, if Christ would give himself unto death, and
let us remember this, his life was not taken. His life was freely
given. He said in John 10 verse 18,
I have authority to lay my life down, and I have authority to
take it back up again. This commandment I have received
from the Father. His blood was not spilt. His
blood was poured out upon Calvary's cross. He was not a victim. He was a victor at the cross.
If he would render himself as a guilt offering. What will be
the result? What will be the effect? Notice
the lineup here in this parallelism of Hebrew literature. Number
one, he will see his offspring. Who is this offspring? It is
you and me who have been birthed into his kingdom by his sovereign
grace, those for whom Christ has died. He will see his offspring. And by the way, this speaks of
a resurrection, does it not? For one who is dead cannot see,
only one who is alive, who has been raised from the dead can
see his offspring. Oh, he came out of that tomb,
a risen, living, victorious Savior. Oh, for the joy that was set
before him, he endured the cross. Note second, he will prolong
his days. reference to the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will live forever. He will
see life after death. The Lord will prolong His days
throughout all of the ages to come. and the good pleasure of
the Lord, referring to God the Father, will prosper in his hand. That word prosper was used in
chapter 52, verse 13, the very first line of this servant song. Behold, my servant will prosper.
And now it comes full circle. At the end, the good pleasure
of the Lord will prosper in his hand. The Father will reward
him. with untold blessing and the
spoils of victory. Verse 11, as a result of the
anguish of his soul, as a result of the painful suffering of Christ
in his work upon the cross, he will see it and be satisfied
because it will be a triumphant death. Not a drop of blood will
be spilt in defeat. He will purchase the church with
His own blood, and He will be satisfied with the accomplishment
of His labor upon the cross. By His knowledge, the righteous
one, My servant, will justify the many. as already has been
said in this conference by his active obedience and his passive
obedience to the will of the Father and to the law of God. He has secured righteousness. This righteous one has secured
righteousness for the many and all for whom He died upon that
cross, He will at the appointed time of their entrance into the
kingdom, He will justify the many. The Father will look upon
Him and justify us. The many who believe, the many
who are justified are the many for whom He died. as He will bear their iniquities."
Verse 11, as He will bear their iniquities, He will carry them
as a heavy load, as He will bear not only their sin, but the punishment
for that sin and the guilt for that sin. Verse 12, it concludes, as a result of His substitution
in our place upon the cross. I, God the Father, is now the
speaker, will allot Him, God the Son, a portion with the great. He will be greatly rewarded as
a conquering king. He will have a king's inheritance. And He will divide the booty
with the strong. The spoils of victory belong
to Him. And He will now disperse His
grace, and His forgiveness, and His righteousness, and His pardon,
and His redemption, and His reconciliation. He will disperse it to us as
the spoils of His victory. Here is why. Here is why. He poured out himself to death. Like a drink offering. Poured
out upon the altar. He poured out himself to death
and was numbered with the transgressors. He identified with us as sinners
upon that cross. He was numbered among us as he
bore our sins. Yet he himself bore the sin of
many and interceded for the transgressors. One who intercedes stands between
two parties who have had a falling out. One who intercedes acts
as a mediator One who intercedes must be impartial to both sides,
or it will not be a fair mediation, else he will represent one side
to the expense of the other side. In our last lecture, we so wonderfully
heard why the God-man. If Jesus is to be our mediator
and to stand between God and stand between man and intercede
and bring the two parties together in mediation, He must be fully
God in order to represent God to man, but He must be fully
man in order to represent man to God. He was fully God, yet
fully man, not 50% God, not 50% man, but 100% God, 100% man.
Only Jesus could have done what He did for us upon that cross. And we give glory to His name.
Not only was He the only one, the only one who could have entered
into this intercession and represented God to us and us to God, but
He was willing to do so. And He gave Himself unto death
on our behalf. I want to say it again as I did
last night, there is salvation in no other name. For there is
no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. We must be under the blood in
order to be under the blessing of God. And there is one God and one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. who gave
Himself. Did you hear that? Who gave Himself.
His life was not taken. He gave Himself as a ransom for
many upon that cross. Have you come to believe in Him?
Have you come to entrust your life to Him? Have you been converted
to the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, I plead with you, if you
have never been converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, turn from
your sin. You need a mediator. You need
an intercessor. You need one to represent you
before God. He is our advocate. He is the
friend of sinners. And I want you to know that He
has never lost a case. and all who will put their trust
and their faith in Him. He will represent us before the
Father, and through the perfection of His substitutionary death
on our behalf, we are clothed in His righteousness, and we
find acceptance before Holy God, and we are received before the
throne of grace, and there we shall be forever and ever and
ever, all because of the triumph of His death as our substitute upon the cross. Let us give glory. Let us give glory. Let the redeemed say so. Let us give glory to our Savior. For He has done it, and He has
won the victory for His people forever and ever and ever. Amen.