Let's turn right there where
Mark was reading, Isaiah chapter 52 and 53. And this morning I want to talk
to you a little bit about the suffering of our Savior. The suffering of our Savior. About 700 or about 100 years
before the actual event took place, Prophet Isaiah had prophesied
that the nation of Judah, as you know, at this time, the kingdom
of Israel was divided into the northern kingdom, which called
Israel, and then the southern kingdom called Judah. At this
time, the time of the writing of this prophecy, the northern
kingdom had already been destroyed and scattered by the Assyrian
Empire, which Isaiah spoke of earlier. But about 100 years
before this actual event, Isaiah prophesied that the southern
kingdom would be destroyed and taken into captivity in Babylon. But he also, about 700 years
before the actual event took place, prophesied of what we
might say Israel's hope. And he let them know that their
hope was not in themselves, in the nation, or in any human being,
but that their hope was in a coming Messiah, who is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's when this prophecy
here took place, as Isaiah prophesied in Jerusalem, about 700 years
before Christ. But there is no doubt that this
is speaking of and describing only the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Messiah. Now some Jewish scholars say
that the suffering servant here, who is described, is Israel. But it's clear that the suffering
servant here is an innocent sufferer. And that certainly doesn't describe
Israel. Read chapter one. A people laden
with iniquity. That doesn't sound innocent to
me. Some say that Isaiah is talking about himself. And Isaiah did
suffer. But he wasn't an innocent sufferer.
Read Isaiah chapter six. When he saw the Lord high and
lifted up, holy, holy, holy, what did he say? He said, I'm
a man of unclean lips. I'm cut off, he said. Doesn't
sound like an innocent sufferer. The only one he could be speaking
of is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this portion of Isaiah's
prophecy that begins in verse 13 of chapter 52 and carries
on through verse 12 of chapter 53 speaks of Christ, the Messiah,
who in God's appointed time would come into the world by miracle
conception and miracle birth and fulfill all the conditions
of the covenant of salvation, the covenant of grace, the covenant
of redemption. As he is the surety of that covenant,
he would fulfill it as the substitute and the redeemer of all whom
the father had given him before the foundation of the world.
Galatians 4.4 says, but when the fullness of the time was
come, God sent forth his son, that's his deity, second person
of the Trinity, God the Son. He was made of a woman. That's
his humanity. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God
manifest in the flesh. He was made of a woman, Mary's
son. He was made under the law. That
means he was obligated to obey the law, not for himself, but
for his people, whom the Father had given him before the foundation
of the world. And in doing that, verse five
says, he would redeem them that were under the law that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And this prophecy, as I said,
it actually begins in Isaiah 52 and verse 13. and then carries
on, but now these first, the first 12 verses of Isaiah 52,
I won't go into all of these, that speaks of the revelation
of the good news of salvation from God, whereby he sets his
people free. God's gonna set his people free.
There is a temporal, a physical application to Israel, as Isaiah's
telling, they're gonna be delivered from that captivity, which was
gonna take place 100 years later. They were in captivity in Babylon
for 70 years. Jeremiah told them the exact
number of years they'd be in captivity. Jeremiah was about
100 years after several, give or take, after Isaiah. But he
says, the Lord's not gonna leave you there. He's gonna bring you
back because he has a purpose. And what was the purpose that
the Lord had for Judah, for the tribe of Judah, the nation of
Judah? It was to bring Christ through that nation according
to the flesh. not just to save Israel, but
to save spiritual Israel, God's people out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. And so it speaks of the revelation
of freedom for God's people. We can view this whole passage,
this whole prophecy in five sections, three verses each. And what I'm
going to do is in the month of September, since we have a five
Sunday month, and as you know, at the end of the month, on the
last Sunday, we'll take the Lord's Supper, that would be a fitting
way to conclude these messages. I'm gonna take three verses each
on each Sunday and deal with the suffering of our Savior.
This morning, it's gonna kind of be an overview, but it's really
gonna deal with these first three verses, Isaiah 52, 13 through
15. And so what we see here in these
three verses, first of all, it speaks of the success of the
kingdom of God in the salvation of his chosen people which is
dependent upon one person who is God, who is man, and who cannot
fail, and who cannot be discouraged. And that's none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, the savior of his
people. So in his prophecy, here's what
we see. Look at verse 13. We see first
of all the calls the suffering of Christ. Why did he have to
suffer? Think about that. It says in verse 14, it describes
his physical suffering but look at verse 13, this is the cause
of his suffering. Behold my servant. Now who is that? That's speaking
of the Lord of glory. You mean he's a servant? Yes,
he is. In fact, you can look at it this way. Jesus Christ
is the king of kings and the servant of Jehovah. He's the
king's servant. You know, a good king is the
servant of his people. And that's what Christ is for
his people. He's the king's servant. If you'll look with me over in
Isaiah chapter 42, just back a few pages, listen to this.
This is another prophecy of Christ. In verse one of Isaiah 42. Behold
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect. That's talking about Christ.
In whom my soul delighted. That's not talking about any
human being. We're sinners. God said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Now how does
he bring forth judgment? The gospel. is a gospel of judgment. It's a gospel of mercy. It's
a gospel of grace. It's a gospel of love from God
to his people, but not without justice, not without truth. It speaks of how God can be both
a just God as well as a savior. And upon what ground God will
save, bless, receive, and accept his people. And that ground is
none other than the merits of the suffering savior. The merit
of the king's servant, who serves the Lord, who is the servant
of Jehovah. That's what he's called. He's
the servant of the covenant. All the stipulations, all the
conditions, all the requirements of the covenant of salvation,
which would ensure the salvation of his people, all whom the father
gave him before the foundation of the world, called his sheep.
who are known by God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, all
of those requirements were placed upon his shoulder. Jeremiah said
it later on. He said, the government shall
be upon his shoulder. The government of what? The government
of God's grace, the government of God's kingdom, the salvation
of his people placed squarely upon the shoulders of the suffering
king's servant, Jesus Christ. And he says in verse two of Isaiah
42, he shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be
heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break
and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth
judgment unto truth. Verse four, look at, he shall
not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth
and the isles shall wait for the law. And one of the main
things that the thrust of that prophecy in Isaiah 42 is that
These people whom the king's servant, the suffering Messiah,
would save includes Gentiles. You know what? That got Isaiah
in a lot of trouble. That was the main thrust of the
persecution that he went through as a prophet. God doesn't save
nations. God saves sinners out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation by his grace. Christ is the servant. Look over at Philippians chapter
two. I'm gonna deal with this passage
in Philippians more when I deal with his humiliation next week.
But listen to what the Lord says here concerning concern as the
Holy Spirit reveals this concerning Christ. He says in Philippians
two and verse five, let this mind be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus. who being in the form of God,
which is language that actually means he's equal with God, so
he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. When man lifts
himself up and calls himself equal with God, that's robbery.
That's robbing God of his glory. But when Christ claimed to be
the I am, when he claimed to be God before Abraham was I am,
it wasn't robbery because he is God. That's who Christ is. He's God manifest in the flesh. Every bit God, every bit man
without sin. And it says here in verse seven,
but made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form
of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. Why did
he do that? Being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Behold my servant. Behold him in the glory of his
person. Who is Jesus Christ? I'll tell you who he is. He's
God manifest in the flesh. That's who he is. And any who
deny that, they're not beholding God's servant, they're beholding
a false counterfeit servant. He's the representative of his
people whom the father gave to him. He said in John 6, 37, all
that the father gave to me, hath given to me, shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. He said, this is the will of
him that gave them to me, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.
Behold the servant who is my representative, If you're in
Christ, as known by God-given faith in Him, He's your representative. He stands before God in your
place. The worst thing that can happen to any sinner is to appear
before God at His judgment seat on your own. Did you know that? That's the worst thing that could
happen. Appearing before God on our own, without a substitute,
without a surety, without a representative, without the suffering Savior.
Standing there naked and not even knowing it, thinking that
we have something to recommend us unto God, but we have nothing.
But listen, standing before God washed in the blood and clothed
in the righteousness of Christ, God's servant, There's no greater
glory or no greater peace and comfort and surety. That's it. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
this is all my righteousness. Behold my servant, God says,
he's the surety of his people. Now what does that mean, he's
the surety? That means all of their sin debt has been laid
upon him. has been charged to him. Let me show you a couple of verses
here if you want to turn to them. The first one is in Luke chapter
24. Now what we're talking about
is the cause of his suffering. Why did Jesus Christ have to
suffer? Because he's the representative
and the surety of his people. The sin debt of God's chosen
people was laid, charged, imputed to Christ. That's what the Bible
says when it says Christ was made sin. It means the sins of
His sheep, His church, were charged, accounted, imputed to Him. He
took my debt. He became my surety. That's what
that means. If somebody's your surety, that
means they're responsible for your debt. Well, Christ is the
surety of the covenant. As a servant, He's the surety
of the covenant. Luke chapter 24, and look at
verse 46. He's talking to his disciples
just before he ascended unto the Father. This is after his
death, burial, and resurrection. And it says in verse 46, Christ
teaching them how to preach the Old Testament. And he says, and
said unto them, said unto his disciples, thus it is written,
and thus it behooved Christ to suffer. and to rise from the
dead the third day. It behooved him. Now that's a
word that means he was under an obligation. You see, once
he was made the surety of his people, and that took place before
the foundation of the world, and he took responsibility for
their sin debt, he obligated himself to come and pay the penalty,
which was suffering unto death. That's the penalty. Wages of
sin is death. Now, the passage that I read
over in Hebrews chapter two, look at it. In verse 17, it says,
wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of his people, the
people, for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted
and is able to succor them that are tempted. It behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren. Now that's a different Greek
word than the one used in Luke 24. But it carries the same weight. And what the word in Hebrews
2.17, that's the Greek word for debt. He was indebted to be made
like unto his brethren. He had to be humbled and take
the form of a servant. He had to be the word made flesh
dwelling among us, to do what? To pay the debt. Our sins imputed to Christ. And therefore, look back at Isaiah
53. This is what is stated in verse
four, for example. Look at this, Isaiah 53, four.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, carried our sorrows, Yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, but he
was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity. You
see, we're the sinners. He's the surety. And he had to
be our substitute, being the servant of God. He not only was
our representative and our surety in order to pay the debt, he
was our substitute. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. But look on, he says, the chastisement
of our peace was upon him. In other words, if there's gonna
be peace between me and God, I'm a sinner, God is holy and
I'm not. God is righteous and I'm not.
And in order for me to have any blessing from God, any communion
with God, any fellowship with God, any salvation from God,
there's got to be a way that a sinner can be declared righteous
in God's sight and no fake way. It's a real way. And how's that
going to happen? Well, the chastisement of our
peace, peace between me and God was upon Christ. The Bible says
he made peace by the blood of his cross. He satisfied justice. He brought in everlasting righteousness. With his stripes we are healed.
Verse six says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned
everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Who is the all there? That's
his sheep. That's what he's talking about.
What does it mean laid the iniquity of us? It means imputed our sins
to him. What do we have in return? His
righteousness imputed to us, charged to us. That's why he
had to suffer. And he's the redeemer of his
people. He paid the price in full. Look back at Isaiah 52
verse 13. Listen to this. Behold, my servant
shall deal prudently. Now, literally what that would
be is prosperously. Prosper. Whatever the servant
does, It says he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
What happened after the death of Christ? Did he lay in the
grave? Three days. Did he stay there? No. You know what? I think at one of the travesties
and I think a shame in what is known as Christendom today. which is mainly false Christianity,
is how people have made things, relics, icons. And just like
this, you know, people say, well, we're going to go, we're going
to worship at the tomb of Jesus. Well, first of all, they don't
even know where his tomb was. But I would tell you, if you're
intent on visiting his grave, I would tell you like the angel
told the women. He's not here. We don't worship a tomb. We don't
worship a dead martyr. We don't want his grave clothes.
I don't care, shroud of Turin, whatever it is. We want him. We want the servant. We worship
Christ, the Lord our righteousness. And that's what it said. He was
extolled. That means he was raised up. He arose from the dead. Why?
Because he satisfied justice. He put away sin. He made an end
of sin and finished the transgression and he brought in everlasting
righteousness. You know how the Bible says in
Romans 1 17 that the gospel is the revelation of the righteousness
of God. Here he is. Jesus Christ, He
is the righteousness of God. That's the merits of His obedience
unto death. You have to be righteous to appear
before God. How are you going to do that?
Your works won't make it. Only in Christ, the Redeemer
of His people. But then look at verse 14. Here's
the second thing. Here's the nature of His suffering.
It was severe. Verse 14, as many as were astonished,
or as Mark read, and this is the correct reading, astonished
at thee. His death was an astonishment.
His visage, the way he looked, the way we see him, was so marred
more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. His
death was a real physical and mental suffering. And it's indescribable. It was
the agony of his soul. Look over at verse 10 of chapter
53. It says, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. That word bruise,
it literally means crush. Jesus Christ, as the servant
of his father, and the servant of his people, as our substitute,
as our surety, was crushed by his father, it says. It pleased
the Lord to do. You say, well, I thought men
did it. Well, they were instrumental and we meant it for evil. God
meant it for good. He was crushed. He had put him
to grief. Remember his grief in the Garden
of Gethsemane? I'm gonna deal with that in these
messages later. When thou shalt make his sow
an offering for sin, he was our sin bearer, he shall see his
seed. Look at verse 11. He shall see
of the travail of his sow. That word travail is a word commonly
used like a woman in childbirth having a baby. A travail. Oh, it was a severe travail.
But out of his travail, he prospered. There were no stillborn children
here. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied like a woman who has a healthy child.
She sees all that she suffered for and she's satisfied. She's
got a healthy child, a healthy boy, a healthy girl. What a marvelous thing that is.
Well, Christ is the same way in his suffering, his travail
under birth. The Bible tells us he was actually,
now get this, he was actually forsaken by his father. Matthew
27, what is it, verse 46? Remember when he said, Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthanah? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And why did the father forsake
the son? Because of sin that was charged
to him. That's why. And there was a legal
separation. There was a spiritual separation.
I can't explain that, and I don't care to try. But it just shows
you something of the suffering of our Savior. A man told me
one time, he was talking about 2 Corinthians 5.21, Christ was
made sin. And he said, well, that's more
than imputation. No, it's not. Our sins were legally imputed
to Him. That was real. How do you know it was real?
I'll tell you how. Look at verse 14. As many as were staunted
at thee, that his visage was so marred more than any man,
and his form more than any of the sons of men. He had to suffer
because of it. Untold agony. The Bible says
that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us. He was under the curse of the
law based on my sins charged to him. And so it's written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And why is there suffering and
death? You know, people ask the question about suffering today.
There's so much suffering in the world. Why do people suffer? I'll tell you why. It's very
simple. It's a little word. It's called
sin. A Jewish rabbi wrote a book called,
Why Do Good People Suffer? God wrote a book and he said,
there's none good, no, not one. That's what he said. But hear the servant of Jehovah,
Christ. You know, the Bible says he had
no sin. The Bible says he knew no sin. All of his life, think about
it, going through life as a human being, but no thoughts of sin,
no evil thoughts, no sinful desires, no sinful goals. That's Christ. That's not me. That's not you. But that is Christ. And yet he
suffered, as described here and later on in Isaiah 53, with untold
agony for sin. Now how is that possible? That's where that doctrine of
imputation really comes in, doesn't it? Learn what it means. There was no sin infused into
him. There was no sin imparted into
him. as he was hanging on that cross.
Think about this. Now, if I were up there hanging
on a cross, I hope you couldn't see my thoughts. I'd say, Lord,
get me down from here and kill every one of them. That's what
I'd say. That's sin. With Christ on that cross, he
had no sinful thoughts. no sinful desires, he remained
holy and harmless and undefiled within himself, yet he was justly
condemned by the Father. Righteously condemned. because
of the sins of his sheep charged to his account. That's how real
imputation is. And think about this. We are
sinful people who know Christ. We've been born again by the
Spirit. We've been brought into the kingdom of God. We have fellowship
with God. We're the participants of an
inheritance that is pure and whole and cannot be taken away
because of his righteousness imputed to us. We didn't earn
it and deserve it, we still don't. I've been, the Lord saved me,
I don't know exact day and I don't care, but it's been over 30 years
ago and I've been preaching this gospel for over 30 years and
I'm telling you, not one moment of my life could I look up and
say, Lord, now I've deserved what I've gotten and I've earned
it. Because I don't. Not even today. It's all of grace. which reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So everything he suffered
was due to our sins imputed to him. But our sins being imputed
to him was not all that he experienced. That's not all that went on.
His visage was so marred more than any man. They put a crown
of thorns on his head. They beat him. They spat upon
him. to where he wasn't even recognizable. That's what that means. So that fellow who told me about
2 Corinthians 5.21, he said, that's more than imputation.
No, it's not. But, you see, everything that Christ went through was
more than imputation. because he had to suffer. He
had to die. This is suffering unto death
because that's what sin deserves. And our sins were charged, accounted,
laid to his... They were laid on him. The Lord
laid on him the iniquity of us all, all of his people. You know what? He got the job
done. He finished it. John 19.30 on
the cross, he said, it's finished. Well, I'll tell you, there's
no greater words are there to a sinner who needs salvation.
It's finished. See, the gospel is not the preaching
of something yet to be done by you or me. The gospel is the
preaching of a finished work, which we enter into by God-given
faith. And you know what he says? We
just rest. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden. Are you labored and heavy laden
by religion? Do you know that religion, false
religion, puts more labor and heavy burdens on people? You
gotta do this, you gotta do that, you gotta keep on doing this,
keep on doing that or else you'll lose it. Are you tired and heavy
laden with that junk? He said, I'll give you rest.
He's our Sabbath, did you know that? Christ is my Sabbath. That's
what Hebrews 4 teaches. Well, look here in verse 15,
here's the last thing, the end of Christ's suffering, the result
of it. And it was successful to save
all his people. 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. He'll sprinkle many nations.
You know, when you think of that word sprinkle, we think of the
sprinkling of the blood. sprinkling of the blood of Christ
by the Holy Spirit on the hearts of his people. We think of the
sprinkling of the water, which I believe is indicative of the
Spirit himself. Remember when John the Baptist
was baptizing with water, he told him, he said, now I can
baptize you with water, but there's coming one who can baptize you
with the Holy Spirit. That's Christ. And he'll sprinkle
many nations, not just the Jews, Now God doesn't save nations.
The Bible tells us that. But he saves a people out of
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, and that's the import
of this. What's he saying? He's gonna sprinkle you. He's
gonna bring you under the preaching of the gospel, and the Holy Spirit's
gonna do his work. He's gonna give you a new heart,
eyes to see, ears to hear. He's gonna sprinkle that conscience
with the blood of the Son. He makes an application. of the
merits of what Christ has already accomplished so that he'll bring
you into the kingdom looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. That's what he's gonna do. And
the king shall shut all the opposition against him. In our hearts, we'll
stop. That doesn't mean we're not gonna
be sinners still. We're still sinners saved by
grace, and we still have the nature of sin which opposes,
and we have to fight that. But he's gonna give us a heart
of faith. And things that we had been told that we didn't
really hear, we're gonna hear. That's what he told his disciples.
He said, blessed are your ears for they hear. He who hath an
ear to hear, let him hear. He's gonna show us things that
we didn't see before. We're gonna see the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the results of everything
that he suffered for. By his suffering unto death,
Christ opened the way to God and secured the salvation of
every sinner for whom he died and was buried and arose again. He saved his people from their
sins. He who did no sin, neither was
guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose
stripes. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit.
That's the result. Remember he said in John chapter
12, he said, if I be lifted up, if I go to the cross and die,
I'll draw all unto me. All for whom he died will be
drawn to him through the preaching of the gospel and the power of
the Holy Spirit.