First of all, let's read what
the prophecy has to say, Isaiah 53, 1 through 12, as we read. 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 or calmliness, 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 grief
and carried our sorrows, and yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. but he was wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquity. 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 has 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 the sheep before shearers is dumb, so he opened
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 hath put him to grief. When
thou, or when he, shall 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 I will divide him a
portion with the great. he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he has poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressor. He bared the sin of many and
made intercession for the transgressor." If I might put this in the mind
of the prophet here, I see in my imagination, I see a man. riding in a chariot, having been
to Jerusalem for to worship, and now returning to Ethiopia. And as he rides along in his
chariot, he is reading from the scroll of Isaiah the prophet. And evidently, he is reading
out loud. And he is reading from what we
know as the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. At that time, he is joined by
a Christian evangelist in Acts chapter 8. And he asked the man,
are you understanding what you are reading? Do you know, do
you get the meaning of what it is that you're reading? And the
man answers the Christian evangelist, and says to him, how could I
except some man should guide me, except some man should teach
me? And the place that he was reading
puzzled the man as he read it. And the place that he read, it
was in our Bible marked as Isaiah chapter 53, the last part of
verse 7 and of part 8 that said, he is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened
not his mouth. And the eunuch asked the evangelist,
Of whom is the man speaking? Of himself or of some other man? You'll find that in Acts chapter
8. And we also then read that Philip
the Evangelist used that very same text and the scripture said,
preach unto him Jesus. Acts chapter 8. and verse 35. Thus we know that the greatest
prophecy in the Old Testament speaks of Jesus Christ. There's no doubt about the subject,
the one in this prophecy, it is the Lamb of God the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is that one born of the Jewish
maiden in Bethlehem who grew up or was raised in their home
in Nazareth and that recently had been crucified in Jerusalem. So we say with others, is not
this the Christ? Christ! is the object of the
53rd of Isaiah. Now the man Jesus Christ exactly
matched or fit the prophecy particularly of Isaiah. He fit the promises
or answered them he fit the description of the scripture. This is the
man that was prophesied to do all kind of miracle and healing
and great and mighty works among the human family. This is him
that without effort cast out devil and cast out demon and
even raised the dead out of their deadness. He received testimony
from God. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And yet he was not
well received by the Jewish nation or the Jewish family. He was
ill received even by those who professed a Messiah to come from
God and bless and deliver them. He forever was in the world by
his power and by his providence, for he had created the world
and sustained the world in its creation. Colossians 1 16 and
17 and again in the book of Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 2 and the
gospel of John chapter 1 and verse 1. And then After having
created it in good time, he came into the world by incarnation. And still it knew him not. John 1 and verse 10. They did not even know their
maker. And he came to his own, and his
own received him not. John 1 and verse 11. Now, this
verse is very interesting, because twice we have the words in it,
his own. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. But we're told that the Greek
words there are not exactly the same in both of those expressions. So let me just quote, if I might,
from an old writer, J.C. Ryle, on this verse. Quote, the
first his own, his neuter gender, that means literally his very
own thing, such as his own things, his own house, his own possession,
his own domain, his own inheritance. The second his own, is masculine
gender, and means his own people, that is, his own servants, and
his own subject, and such like. Now note, he was, but the world
knew him not. He came and his own received
him not. He was, but the world did not
know him. He came unto his own and they
did not receive him. Now we cannot dismiss that the
verse declares here the unbelief and the rejection of the Messiah
by the Jew. When by the incarnation he appeared
in them wearing the flesh of the likeness of men. But the
question comes, how were they his own? How is it said that
they were his own? Well, they had the unique privilege
of being a chosen nation, a peculiar people, they were called. They
were given the law of God. They had committed unto them
the oracles of God. He put his name, and he put his
worship, and he put his ordinances among them. and the promise of
Messiah especially pertained unto that nation and people. And when he came, he made his
first appearance among them, that is, among the Jew, and exercised
his ministry chiefly among them. He came to the temple, he came
to Jerusalem, his own thing, his own house, and such like. But years were spent in preparation
for this one appearing in their midst according to the prophecy
of God. And when he come, they reject
him, they hate him, and they crucify the very Son of God and
the very Prince of Light. Now the question is, why would
they do that? How have they done this? How can this be? How can we reconcile
these things? That Christ is the true one,
he was evidently set before them in great proof, and yet they
knew him not, and they did not, for the most part, believe on
him. In other words, his own received
him not. Now in Isaiah chapter 53, it
has the answer to those questions, as the prophet speaks from the
perspective of the people. First, if we look at it, In verse
1, we hear the complaint of the primitive evangelists, of the
declarers of the message and the doctrine of Christ, the heralds
of the word of the Lord and of the Christ, and the word, our,
our report, our message, our teaching, our doctrine. Now,
it respects the poor reception and the sparsity of believers
from among them on the Lord Jesus Christ. Confirmed by John chapter
12 and verse 37 and 38 that the preaching of Christ the Messiah
And again, Paul references that, Isaiah 53-1, in Romans chapter
10 and verse 16, that what Isaiah said has come true in the preaching
of the gospel. In that, it was not goodly or
widely received, not even by the Jew, for the larger mass
or body of Israel did not believe. And that actually confirmed the
prophecy of Isaiah. And also, it teaches us that
hearing alone will not convert. that the merely hearing orally
or with the ears will not in itself convert. But now the question,
why, if Jesus of Nazareth is the promised, is the true Messiah,
is the anointed one, is the Christ, Why, then, did his nation so
fully reject him? His own did not receive him,
though they had set an expectation of that for centuries. I think
that the answer can be viewed from two aspects, and when we
think about it. Number one, of course, the sovereignty
of God directed all of these matters because, after all, a
remnant of them were elect only and not all, and the rest were
hardened, Romans 11, 5 through 7. And in Romans 9 and verse
6, they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, because they are
a Jew did not make them a child of Abraham or an elect of God. But secondly, Why did it happen? Jesus of Nazareth, as we read
here, did not meet their expectation of the Messiah. When he came,
when they saw him, when they heard him, and when they watched
him, he did not meet their expectation as Messiah. And in verse 2 through
verse 6 of Isaiah chapter 53, let's look, and all of the personal
pronouns that we see here. In the second verse, we see we,
twice that word is in that verse. Then in verse 3, we have we,
own, and we, O-W-N. Verse 4, our griefs, our sorrow,
we esteemed him not. Then in verse 5, Our transgression,
our iniquity, our peace, we are healed. Verse 6, we like sheep,
we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord laid on
him the iniquity of us all. I agree with John Brown. These
describe Jesus. No, rather, these describe Jews
who at first stumble at the Christ as its appearance, of his origin,
and such like, but then were enlightened to the true nature
not only of him, but also the true nature of his misery, of
his grief, and of his suffering. Brown calls this their, quote,
penitential confession And it seems sure that these are to
be regarded as persons who first and once were skeptical and unbelieving
But then we're given faith, enlightened, and a new mind. So look here
and see the first three verses of Isaiah chapter 53 as to why
the greater part of Israel rejected the true Messiah when he came. Let's run through it. First of
all, in verse 1, who hath believed I report. Who believed our message,
our doctrine? Why, if this is the Jewish Messiah,
have so few from Israel believed on him? Now, we ought to consider
the aspect, consider from this aspect, that why almost none
of the leaders and almost none of the heads and the rulers and
the high priests believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
called the upper class. His followers, for the most part,
were common, ordinary people, fishermen, publicans, harlots,
and that sort, ordinary people. It was asked in John 7 and verse
48, when they had been sent to arrest him, and they came back
without him, said, never a man speak like this man. And the
court demanded of the officer, have any of the scribes and the
Pharisees believed upon him? Why did not most of them believe
upon our Lord? There were few in comparison
to the number of Israels who believed upon our Lord. And then the second half of the
question in Isaiah 53 and verse 1, to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Mere hearing is
not enough. The arm of the Lord must also
be exercised to open the heart and the understanding and make
it effectual unto a person. that they receive the word of
truth, that they do hear and also do believe by the arm of
the power of our Lord. And they that did not believe
are either one of two. They are either a reprimand or
they are yet unregenerate in their hearing. Secondly, let's
look at verse 2 of Isaiah 53. Another cause of their initial
unbelief and rejection of Messiah in the second verse of that chapter
was his lowly origin and common appearance. Notice what the prophet
has written. For, in the beginning, a connecting
word may offer a confirmation why so few believe the report
of him. For he grew up like a tender
plant, like a shoot out of a dry ground. A sucker branch, we call
it in our day. A sucker coming up off of the
lower part or the root of a stalk or of a plant. This is a lively
image if you've ever been around growing stuff. No expectation
that it come to much. No expectation that it produced
anything or that it come to anything, let alone survive. It looks like
it won't even survive. This tree out front here puts
up thousands of suckers. until they're mowed down, and
they come to nothing. They're just sapping the strength
of the tree. So the Lord Jesus Christ, who
came in a lowly fashion and in a lowly appearance, and sprang
from the lowly house of David when it was at its lowest ebb,
and as to his nativity, He was born of a poor, common, young
Jewish maiden. He was born in a stable, not
in luxury. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes
in that manger. And the manifestation of his
being was first revealed, not to the court and the high priest,
but to the shepherds in the field keeping their flock. And the
mighty servant of Jehovah made his initial appearance in the
world as a babe in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. And the
second part of Isaiah 53 and verse 2, his appearance outward
was not what one might expect in incarnate deity. His outward
appearance was not the expectation of incarnate deity. What would
we expect if it were left to us? Saith the prophet, he hath
no form, he hath no comeliness, and when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. See this again, if you will,
no form, no comeliness, and no beauty, to awaken a desire for
him, nothing in him or about him. And if I may repeat, not
what one might expect, of deity come in the flesh because there
was no halo about the head of our Lord as he walked around.
His face did not glow and shine except on the Mount of Transfiguration. And if I may quote Matthew Henry,
quote, it might be expected. that he would have an uncommon
beauty in his face or person, which would charm the eye and
attract the heart and raise the expectation of any that saw him,"
unquote. I guess that's what the carnal
mind might think about him. But it was not the case. Not
that he was deformed in body as some of the earlier teachers
thought. Not that he was extraordinarily
handsome and beautiful as some of the later ones have imagined. But then thirdly, look at the
third verse. Another reason is given why the
Jews did doubt their Messiah, and that was his inordinate sufferings
and misery, that he was a man of sorrow. And again, as John
Brown wrote, the Jews expected a prosperous and a happy prince
for their messiah." He was expected that he would enjoy a happy life
and a free life of care, fully enjoy the life living in the
flesh. In the third verse we read, he
was despised and rejected, a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief. And we hid our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. Again, not what one would expect
to see in incarnate deity. Now, this should not befall a
godly person, is what the men have in their mind, much less
a messiah. Sorrows in messiah, grief and
outcast from his very own people and nation. Well, not so unusual
when we remember Job's three, quote, friends, unquote. When did the righteous ever suffer
like this? They said unto Job chapter 4
verse 7 and verse 8. And Eliphaz said unto him, remember,
I pray you, friend Job, whoever perished being innocent. whoever perished in their innocence. Where were the righteous ever
cut off? He reasons with Job. Even as
I have seen, he continues, they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness
reap exactly the same. Job's friend looked at him and
they said, Some sin is in your life. The displeasure of God
is upon you for that reason. But in the end of verse 3, Isaiah
53, we hid our faces from Him. We esteemed Him not. We looked away in disgust and
did not place a high estimation upon him. So let's draw a conclusion,
if we might, from these verses in their ignorance, in their
blindness, all the things about him which the Jews thought disqualified
him from being the Messiah actually were substantiating proof that
he was indeed the Messiah, for he fit exactly the prophecy of
Isaiah. And what they took as evidences
against him were actually evidences for him. But now coming to verse
4, Isaiah 53, and here there is a definite turn about in their
sentiment about the suffering one and the reason for his suffering
and the nature of his suffering. Those given faith are now able
to see and confess how wrong it was of them to despise and
to disparage the man Christ Jesus on account of his great suffering,
his misery, his agony, and such like. Who they took his suffering
to be on his account. They were mistaken that he was
suffering on his account. And they turned away their faces. Now they see, being believers,
His sufferings were in behalf of others. His sufferings were
endured in behalf of others. The very thing that stumbled
them, Christ crucified, is the very thing that Christ came to
do, to give his life a ransom for many. And they assumed, like
Job's friend, that God was punishing him, or was punishing sin in
him. And you have that here in chapter
4 and the last part. We did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflict him. Indeed, as we saw from Zechariah
13, and verse 7 recently, the Lord God did send the sword of
His justice to smite the shepherd that justice might be done. But where they erred was in the
cause, in the design, and the nature of the suffering of this
one Jesus of Nazareth. So look at verse 5, but Now, the end of verse four said,
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he
was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And by his stripes, we are healed. And if you would, look at the
words used to describe it. Therefore, wounded. bruised,
chastised stripes endured by our blessed Lord. Verse 6 is
a good summation of the two facts of the matter. If you look at
them, number one, the strayed sheep, the lost sheep. And number
two, the bearing their sin by the great shepherd as the Lord
lay their iniquity upon him. First of all, let's look at the
strayed flock. And you'll notice in that verse
two things. All we and then everyone. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to our
own way. What the prophet describes here
is what Hincksenberg called the miserable state of mankind, estranged
from God, and sunk in sin and error, unquote. Alienated, enemies
in their mind by wicked works, Colossians 1 and 21, subject
to death, carried away out into sin. Not only that, but a lost
sheep, in this sense, never returns by its own inclination. It never finds its way back upon
its own. And lost sinners left to themselves. will never make their way back
to God of themselves or without divine guidance. Nor can they
make an atonement for their soul. They will never return to the
Great Shepherd unless he comes and brings them into the flock
or the foe. And if you look at the last part
of verse 6 again, the Lord has made to fall on him That is,
on Jehovah's servant, on the great shepherd of the sheep,
the iniquity of us all. He has made it to fall, to light,
to assault Him, and that sin is laid upon Him. He's God's
fellow. He's God's beloved. and eternal
Son, but is made to light upon Him, made to meet upon Him the
sin of us all." We might say it like this, all of the cumulated
sins of the elect. have been laid upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, have been made to meet upon him, to gather upon
him. Gill put it this way, made one
bundle and then made to light upon the Lord Jesus Christ for
which he died. Now I think the New Testament
equivalent of this great verse might be 2 Corinthians chapter
5 and verse 21. He hath made him to be sin who
knew no sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Now God made him sin but not
sinful. God made His Son to be sin for
us, but He did not make Him sinful. It was not an infusion of depravity. It was an imputation of our sin
unto Him as the Lord God lay them upon Him and required of
Him the full debt. and justice for our sin. The sinless for the sinful. The just for the unjust is how
the New Testament expresses it. The innocent for the guilty is
what happened at the cross. Wherein is the justice of this? How is it that a perfectly innocent
one may have the sins of others imputed to him and require that
he answer for them and pay the debt. How is it that the spotless,
sinless, innocent Lamb of God is made to bear our sin and bear
our criminal punishment? How is it that an innocent can
be put in the place of the criminal? and required of him the dead. You know, if that happened in
our courts of law, we would count it a great miscarriage of justice,
and indeed it would be. But the answer, in large part,
is the surety ship of our blessed Jesus. Jesus became the surety. He bound himself as our surety
in the covenant of grace before the world. Hebrews 7.22, Jesus
is the surety of the covenant. And you have an example of it
back in Genesis in chapter 43 and verse 9. Judah, surety for
Benjamin. You have it again in chapter
44, 32 through 34, where Judah reasoned with Joseph as the sovereign
of the land. Look, man. Look, I'm surety for
him. If I don't bring him back, I
bear the blame forever before the Father. But let's keep the
words of verse 6 in our mind when we come to verse 7, 8, and
9. The Lord has laid upon him the
iniquity of us all. And of course, other mentions
of his suffering. But then the prophet in 53 of
Isaiah, verse 7 through 9, gives us an account of the violent
death, which our Lord died at the hand of the wicked, owing
to him being made a sin-bearer for his people." Also giving
in verse 7, how the Lord drank the cup which the Father had
given him to drink. John Brown said it, he bore it
with entire resignation. and uncomplaining patience that
which the Lord required of him." He meekly submitted, becoming
obedient to the death of the cross. Philippians 2 and verse
8, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse
2. We all know that our Lord might
have freed himself. He had on other occasion. We
all know that he might have killed his tormentors with a word out
of his mouth. He might have called 12 legions
of angels to fight in his behalf and deliver him. No man took
the life of our Lord away. He lay it down, as we read in
John chapter 10. And he complained not. Not one
time did he complain that it was a great injustice that was
being done to him. Did he cry out, don't, I am innocent. Then in verse 8 of Isaiah 53,
it speaks of the violent manner of his death to endure the sins
of his people. And in verse 8 and verse 9, they're
difficult for us to understand and interpret For I know they're
difficult with the scholars since I've read them. This is seen
by their different opinions of what is meant by the words. But notice, his life was taken
in a violent way. He had not common, ordinary justice
done unto him. by the unmitigated wickedness
of the wicked hand and of that generation. For their fathers
persecuted the prophet, but they filled the cup of iniquity by
killing the very prince of life." Notice. By oppression, by judgment,
he was taken away out of the land of the living. By a wicked
hand, he was crucified and slain. And I'd like to read verse 9
again. And he made his grave with the
wicked, with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. Now this
verse, very clearly, has to do with this burial. He died, but
he was also buried. But it is difficult, as it stands
in our English version, as in the words, he made his grave
with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Because we
know from the New Testament account that he died between two criminals,
not rich, but two criminals, that he was buried by a rich
man in a grave never before having contained a corpse. But is that
what verse 9 of Isaiah 53 is telling us here or referring
to? For by scripture, we know, the
Lord was not buried among the wicked, nor was he with the rich
in his death, but with malefactors, or criminal. So what have we
here as we look? Have you considered? Have you
ever thought? Has it ever entered into your
mind? How or where? and in what manner crucified
bodies were disposed of. Those who were crucified on Calvary. Have you ever thought, what happened
to their bodies? Did loved ones or family claim
them? Or what happened under their
body? For example, what happened to
the bodies of the two thieves that were crucified, one on each
side of the Lord? Were they dumped like trash in
the valley outside of Jerusalem? Likely. Were they given proper
Christian burial and funerals? Not very likely at all. Now, hear this statement. Had
it not been for the providence of God, and had it not been for
the desire of two, quote, secret disciples, unquote, to give the
Lord an honorable burial, those two things meeting together,
would the Romans have made the same disposal of the body of
our Lord as they did with the thieves that were crucified with
him, perhaps thrown in the garbage dump, burned, thrown out merely
as trash. But the scripture must be fulfilled. The Jews wouldn't care what happened
to the body of our Lord. Just so the bodies were down
by that Sabbath day so they could go on in their sanctimonious
religious observances, would probably approve of it and have
no complaint against it at all. And that would shame and discredit
the Lord even the more to have his body numbered among the criminals
and those with no family and those that had died for their
crime. But the action of Joseph and
of Nicodemus frustrated the Jew. Watch the last part of the verse.
Because he had done no violence, Neither was deceit in his mouth. He was honorably buried by two
secret disciples. Now quickly, in verse 10 through
12, it contains the closing proclamation of this prophetic jewel, beginning
with the declaration in the 10th verse that Jehovah appointed
him to these sufferings. It pleased Jehovah to bruise
him. Jehovah had put him to grief. He hath therefore been highly
exalted because he was obedient unto the Father. And he shall
possess in great delight the travail of his soul by imparting
to some the spiritual knowledge of himself and of his work. and
of his salvation. And verse 12, he shall triumph
over his foe, he shall have a spiritual posterity by virtue of being
their sin-bearer and be highly exalted. So let me give us a
partial summation of Old Testament prophecy that met in Christ and
then make a closing statement for today. Now the Redeemer was
to be the seed of the woman, Genesis chapter 3. He was to
send through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was to be an everlasting
priest. He was to be of the tribe of
Judah, of the house of David. A virgin was to bear his humanity,
that he should be a Galilean, that have a unique forerunner,
John the Baptist, have power to work miracles, that he would
enter into Jerusalem riding upon a donkey, that he would be hated
by the nation, that he would be betrayed by a friend who would
sell him for 30 pieces of silver that would be used to buy the
potter's field. that they would cash lots for
his garment, that his hands and his feet would be a nail or pierced
but not a bone broken, that he would say he thirsted and would
be given gall to drink, that he would be pierced, that he
would be numbered with criminals, that he would be encompassed
about with the bulls of Bashan, that he would be buried with
the rich, that he would rise again without seeing corruption
and then be exalted to the right hand of God. Now, none of these
met in any person except the Lord Jesus Christ. And here is
the closing statement, partly from John Brown. These things
were not accident. and they were not coincidences.
That all these circumstances and all these events should come
together in any one individual is very improbable. It is beyond
the power of human contrivance to secure or human reason to
design. None other can be the Christ. None other fit the scripture
like the Christ did. The non-messianic interpretation
of Isaiah chapter 53 is indefensible. It is a plain denial of the scripture. So from chapter 53, We preach
the Lord Jesus Christ, our great sin bearer and God's great servant,
who gave himself that we might have forgiveness of sin. Only Jesus fit these prophecy
and others. No other ever did. No other ever
will. Jesus is the object of Isaiah
53.