Welcome to our program. Now,
today I'm continuing to preach through the 53rd chapter of the
Old Testament book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 53. The title
of the message is the same as last week's. This is the second
part. It's entitled, Christ Suffering Unto Victory. Christ Suffering
Unto Victory. Now this chapter of scripture
is familiar to a lot of people because it's quoted in the New
Testament and many people have studied it. But it is a prophecy
of the suffering unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
substitute, the suffering substitute, the servant of the Lord who went
to the cross of Calvary to satisfy the justice of God as the payment
for the sins of his people. who are called his sheep. Christ
said in John chapter 10, he said, the good shepherd lays down his
life for the sheep. And this is a prophecy of that
great and glorious act and event of which the whole Bible points
to. From Genesis to Revelation, the
whole Bible stands on the substitutionary redemptive work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All of salvation was conditioned
on what Christ, the God-man, the second person of the Trinity,
the Son of God incarnate, God in human flesh, what he would
do in his obedience unto death to pay the sin debt of his people
and establish, bring in, actually finish and bring in a righteousness
whereupon God could be both a just God and a Savior, a righteous
judge as well as a loving father. Now there are several prophecies,
well the Old Testament is full of prophecies of the person and
the finished work of Christ but there are times when you see
passages that sort of just beam out with the light of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ and Isaiah 53 is one of them.
Back over in the book of Acts chapter 8 we read where the Ethiopian
eunuch had been to Jerusalem seeking to find some answers
to eternal questions and he found none but he bought a scroll of
the scriptures And he was on his way back home and he was
reading from Isaiah chapter 53 and God sent him Philip the Evangelist
to bring the good news that this passage of scripture was speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, who put away the
sins of his people by the sacrifice of himself. Now, in this Christ
suffering unto victory, I actually began back up in Isaiah chapter
52, the last three verses of that chapter. This is one of
what is known as the servant songs of the prophet Isaiah. And it actually began in verse
12, verse 13 rather, of Isaiah 52, where it speaks of his destiny. The destiny of Christ was a destiny
of glory. He will not fail. He will prosper,
the scripture says. He is both Jesus, the one sent
from God, who shall save his people from their sins, God in
human flesh, and he is Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God
with us. And then we began in verse 1 of Isaiah 53. The first
three verses speak of his life of humiliation. You see, the
first point was his destiny of glory. The second is his life
of humiliation. And that's where we read, as
Isaiah began, as God taught him and gave him the word, he said,
who hath believed our report? Now, our report is the gospel. Our report is the doctrine of
Christ, who he is, what he did, why he did it, where he is now.
And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? That is the power
of God unto salvation. Paul wrote in Romans chapter
1 in verse 16, he said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first, to the Greek or the Gentile also.
Verse 17 says, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, for as it is written, the just, or the
justified. shall live by faith. He shall
grow up, verse 2, 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's no beauty that we should desire
him. He didn't have the charismatic presence that people associate
with what we might say is a powerful preacher or a powerful leader.
Let me tell you something, in this case appearances were totally
deceiving. He is the Son of God. He is the Savior of His people. Verse 3 speaks more of us by
nature in our rebellion and in our sinfulness and in our depravity
as we fell in Adam and born dead in trespasses and sins. As our
view of Him, it says, He is despised and rejected of men. This is
the Son of Glory. This is the Savior of sinners.
He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He knew grief and
sorrow and pain. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from Him. We didn't even want to look at
Him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not. We esteemed Him not.
And you know why? By nature, we do not esteem the
Lord Jesus Christ and what He accomplished at Calvary. It's
because we highly esteem ourselves too much and our works. We think
too highly of ourselves and our own works. Now, beginning at
verse 4, it speaks of His suffering for sin. Now Christ is the substitute
of His people. He bore their sins, bore our
sins in His own body upon the tree. And these next few verses
speak of His suffering for sin. It says in verse 4, Surely He
hath borne our griefs. That grief there has to do with
the burden of sin that is upon His people. It's the burden of our fallen
Adam. It's the burden of our own transgressions
and our own sins. It's the burden of what we, by
nature and by practice, even our best efforts deserve, which
is nothing but death. The soul that sinneth must die,
so surely he hath borne our griefs. When Christ went to the cross,
he grieved and sorrowed and suffered, but it was for the sins of his
people. the sins of his sheep. He said,
I laid down my life for the sheep. It was not for his own sins that
he died, suffered, bled and died. It was not for any sin that was
infused or imparted or implanted into his mind, his affections,
his will, his soul. It was for the sins and the griefs
of his people that were legally accounted, charged to him. He became responsible for the
sins of his people, God's elect, his church. He knew no sin, and he did not
commit any sin. The Bible says, for he was made
sin, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. God, the Father, made him sin. He was actually made sin. That was no fiction. I hear preachers
talking about, well, you say it's just a legal fiction. Oh,
no. It's a legal act, but it is no fiction at all. It resulted
in the pain and the suffering for sin and the sorrow and even
the death of the Son of God incarnate. So it was no fiction. It says
here in verse 4, He carried our sorrows, the sorrows that we
earned, the sorrows that we incurred, you see, not His own, but ours. And it says, yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Now this goes
again to talk about how we in our sinfulness and our self-righteous
view of things looked upon the Lord of glory. He was suffering
on the cross for sins that he had no part in committing, for
sins that he was not responsible for in the committing of those
sins. But yet, we looked upon Him as
He's getting what He deserved for His own sins. That's the
way we looked upon Him. That's the way humankind, fallen
humanity, looked upon the Son of God. When we put Him on that
cross, we hanged Him there as a malefactor. That term is used
in the Scripture. Remember it talks about the two
thieves? They were malefactors. What does
that mean? It means they're criminals. We looked upon Him as a blasphemer,
but He was no criminal. He was no malefactor, even Pilate,
unbelieving, idolatrous Pilate, made this statement three times
that he found no fault in this man, Jesus of Nazareth. He was
an innocent sacrifice within himself. But then he did bear
the guilt of his people. By imputation, it was legally
accounted to him. And so it says, as we esteemed
him, this is our estimation of him, stricken and smitten of
God and afflicted. But look at verse 5, but he wasn't
there for his own sins. It says he was wounded or he
was tormented for our transgressions. That is, he was wounded and tormented
for the transgressions of his sheep. of his people. He was
bruised for our iniquities. You remember back in Genesis
chapter 3 and verse 15, it was told that Satan's head would
be bruised. Satan would be delivered the
death blow. The Messiah's heel would be bruised.
What he's saying there is that the Messiah would suffer unto
death, but he wouldn't stay dead. We'll see that in just a moment.
but his death was a victory, his suffering was a victory and
so he was bruised for our iniquities and it says the chastisement
of our peace was upon him that is the punishment that was due
unto me for my sins that would bring peace between God and me
was upon him there's no punishment that I could experience that
would bring peace between God and myself But when the Son of
God incarnate stands in my place, when He stood in my place on
the cross of Calvary, and He took my punishment, then peace
was made. So the chastisement of my peace
was upon Him. And then it says, and with His
stripes we are healed. Now the healing there is not
referring to physical healing. I hear a lot of preachers today
when they talk about men being healed of physical diseases.
they attribute that to Christ's cross work, His suffering on
the cross. But He wasn't hanging on that
cross. He did not go to that cross to
bring about physical healing. He went to that cross to bring
about spiritual, eternal healing for His people. The healing that
we need that we need and needed and need is the healing of our
sins the sin problem the disease of sin that that goes through
all of our being not only did we fall in Adam and were brought
under the curse of death and condemnation the curse of the
law but we are born sin we have a heart of sin and that sin has
to be healed it has to be destroyed eventually and that's what Christ
was on that cross to do His shedding of His blood, His stripes, His
suffering unto death was for the healing of His people in
a spiritual, eternal way. He saved us from our sins, the
Scripture says. Now who did He save? All who
believe in Him. All who trust in Him and rest
in Him. And so He says here in verse
6, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every
one to his own way. and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all." Did you notice the language there?
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Literally
that means this, all of God's elect people chosen from the
foundation of the world in Christ, at that very moment in time God
the Father made all the iniquities of all his people meet on the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was legally accounted sin. And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 and verse 21 that as He was legally accounted made
sin for us, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be legally
accounted righteous in Him. So that as this is the greatest
change of the substitute for His people. He took my sin and
He gave me in exchange His righteousness so that I might stand accepted
eternally in the sight of a holy God. God is enabled to be both
a just God and a Savior because of Christ's suffering for sin.
Now the next three verses, verses 7 through 9, speak of His submission
of love, the submission of Christ. Now Christ was set up before
the foundation of the world to be the Savior of His people.
And when he came to this earth, when he was made incarnate, he
grew in wisdom and stature, and then when he embarked upon his
public ministry, he continually told his hearers that the very
reason that he came into this world was to go to the cross
and die for the sins of his people. And he set his face like a flint
unto that task. And this speaks of his willingness
to do and submit to the task that he had to do. It says in
verse 7, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth. He didn't complain, he didn't
cry, he didn't sorrow in the sense of not wanting to do the
work that he was given to do. It said he's brought as a lamb
to the slaughter, just like a meek, quiet lamb going to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his
mouth. He knew what he had to do, and
he had that joy set before him that Hebrews chapter 12 speaks
of, which is the glory of his Father, the salvation of his
people, and his own exaltation. It says in verse 8, he was taken
from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? How in the world could it be
said that there could be anything positive or victorious come from
the death of Jesus Christ? Well, man cannot see that by
nature, but he knew, and his father knew, and his people know
now. And he says, for he was cut off
out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people
was he stricken, that is, the stroke of God's justice was upon
him because of the transgression of God's people. Again, not for
his own sins, but for the sins of his people. And then verse
9, it says, and he made his grave with the wicked. In other words,
when Christ died, he died for the wicked. He died for those
whom God justifies. And God justifies the ungodly
based on the blood and righteousness of Christ. And it says, and with
the rich in his death. That is, in the death that he
suffered, he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich.
You know, it was a rich man who gave the tomb that Christ was
to be laid in. And then it says, because he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
You see, Christ was a substitute. He was a suffering substitute.
His submission was not because he earned by his works and his
thoughts and his deeds that death. His submission was one of love.
Over in John chapter 10 and verse 17, he made this statement. He
said, therefore does my father love me because I laid down my
life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, he
said, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father." So he did it. The Bible says in John 13 and
verse 1 that he loved his own, his own people until the end,
that is until the finishing of the work. So it was a voluntary
submission of love. I've often said this, that in
the suffering unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see how
God's love provided what His holy law and justice demanded. Now the last three verses of
Isaiah 53 speak of His reward of victory, and I want you to
pay close attention to this. Here's the result of His death,
and I want you to notice here now Jesus Christ did not die
on the cross for any person who ends up going to hell. He'll
have no stillborn children. Everyone for whom he died shall
be saved. That's what these verses teach.
It says in verse 10, now look at the perspective here. This
is the reward of his victory. It says, yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. Now sinful men Sinful humankind,
we'll say, fallen humanity, represented, took Christ and put Him on that
cross, accused Him falsely. But what we see in the whole
realm of Scripture by the revelation of God, that is, this is ultimately
the work of the Father upon the Son for the purposes of salvation,
so that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. How could it please
a father to bruise his son? Well, what it's talking about
is the salvation of his people by the son. It pleased the father
not because he takes delight in pain and suffering. He's not
some kind of a sadist. He's not some kind of a monster.
It pleased the father because it satisfied the requirements
of the salvation of his people. It satisfied his holiness. It
satisfied His justice, but it also satisfied His love, His
mercy, and His grace. Again, in the person and work
of Christ, God's love provided what His justice demanded. He's
both a righteous judge as well as a loving Father. So yes, it
did please the Lord to bruise Him. God was satisfied with the
offering of the sinless Christ for the sins of His people. And
then it says, He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin. You see, this is what Christ
was. He was an offering for sin. Sin demands death. Righteousness
demands life. In order for me to be saved,
my sins have to be put away and I have to have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law. Well, the only way that
that could happen is for Christ to be put to grief and made an
offering. in his very soul for my sin. And so he shall see his seed."
Now because it pleased the Lord to bruise him, because God was
satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ, and because he was
put to grief and his soul was made 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. Now what
he's saying here is this. based on the death of Christ,
His suffering unto death, based upon the completion of His work,
the satisfaction to law and justice that He brought forth in His
death. It says here that He shall see
His seed. Now what is His seed? That's
His people. That's all whom He represented
in His obedience unto death on the cross. That's all the sinners
for whom he lived and died, was buried, and rose again the third
day. That's his sheep. He said he
laid down his life for the sheep. He told his disciples that he
had some Gentile sheep. He said, other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them I also must bring. He said that my sheep
hear my voice and they follow me. And he said, no man will
pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one,
he said in John 10. His righteousness demands the
eternal salvation and final glory of his whole seed. Back over
in the book of John, and I believe it's chapter 6, but he spoke
to his disciples of his death in this way. He said, except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it will bring
forth much fruit. In other words, that seed of
wheat has to be planted in the ground and literally die in order
to bring up the fruit of wheat. And that's what he's saying about
his death. He said, I must be lifted up that I might draw all
men unto me, all his people. It says he shall prolong his
days. He's not going to stay dead.
He arose from the dead the third day. We speak and preach of the
risen Christ. And because he arose, he rose
as the firstfruits of them that sleep, all his people will follow. And the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. What God was satisfied with will
prosper in the hands of Christ. He said, he prayed in his high
priestly prayer, Father, glorify thou me with the glory which
I had before the world was. And he said that I might give
eternal life unto as many as thou hast given me. Verse 11,
it says he shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.
Like a woman in childbirth who bears that child for eight to
nine months and then at the end she has a healthy child. That's
what it's like with Christ in his death, like the travail of
his death, the pain of his death, of his soul. He's going to be
satisfied. All for whom he died shall be
saved. It says, By his knowledge shall
my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. They're justified in Christ. They're declared not guilty and
righteous before God. Why? Because he bore their iniquities. And then it says in verse 12,
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great. He's going to
be exalted. He's going to have a name which is above every name.
Every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. It says, and he shall divide
the spoil with the strong. Now, the strong there refers
to those who are strong in the Lord, not strong in themselves.
We're weak and sinful. We can't save ourselves. We can't
even keep ourselves. But because of the work of Christ
on the cross as the suffering servant who suffered unto victory,
we have the spoils of that victory that he gained. And what are
the spoils? All blessedness. and eternal
life in him." And he goes on to say, "...because he hath poured
out his soul unto death." In other words, the reason we get
the victory and we get the spoils and the benefits and the blessings
that is his people now, all who believe in him, is because he
poured out his soul unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors. He identified with his people
in our name and in our nature, human nature, without sin. That
is, He's the God-man, and He bear the sin of many. Christ
bore the sin of many. How many? However many come to
see and believe and trust and rest in Him. Do you believe in
Him? Do you rest in Him and His blood for the forgiveness of
all your sins, His righteousness for your entire salvation and
complete justification before God? And then it says, "...and
made intercession for the transgressors." Now, his intercessory work, you
know, he rose from the dead, he ascended unto the Father,
and he's now seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living
to make intercession for his people. He is the one mediator
between God and men. He is our advocate, so that when
we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous, who is the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sins.
so that not only did He save us from our sin, He keeps us
in His grace and He'll bring us to glory. That's His victory. And our victory is His victory.
Our victory is not in a psychological advancement in our minds and
positive thinking. Our victory is the victory of
Christ. Now, I hope this message has
helped you to understand this Old Testament passage. If you'd
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as he gives you the details. The title of this message is
Christ's Suffering Unto Victory. This is the second and final
part of two messages, Christ's Suffering Unto Victory. And I
hope you'll join us next week for another message from God's
Word.