We're going to Isaiah chapter
50, and we'll read from verse one. Thus saith the Lord, where is
the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? Or which
of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for
your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions
is your mother put away. Wherefore, when I came, was there
no man? When I called, was there none
to answer? Is my hand shortened at all,
that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, at my rebuke, I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a
wilderness. Their fish stinketh, because
there is no water, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens
with blackness and I make sackcloth their covering. The Lord God
hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how
to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth
morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine
ear. and I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me.
Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is
near that justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let
us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him
come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. Who is he that shall condemn
me? Lo, they all shall wax old as
a garment. The moth shall eat them up. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a
fire and that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the
light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled.
This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. Amen. The Lord bless to us this
reading from his word. Today's chapter is another in
which the Lord Jesus Christ is clearly presented as the speaker
to the view and understanding of the prophet. Isaiah knew who
he was speaking about. He wasn't speaking about himself.
He wasn't speaking about another ordinary person. He knew he was
speaking about the coming Messiah. And we make no apology for finding
Christ here in these chapters. The Apostle John tells us in
John chapter 12 verse 41, these things said Isaiah when he saw
his glory and spake of him. Isaiah spoke of the Messiah who
would yet come, who would come to establish his kingdom and
save his people. But Isaiah understood also that
the glory and success of Christ would be revealed not in his
divine majesty. It would be measured not in terms
of an earthly empire, but in spiritual growth. Isaiah understood
that. Isaiah, let us remember, from
the beginning of the book of Isaiah, from the early chapters
of this prophecy. Isaiah had seen the Lord high
and lifted up when his train filled the temple. But he also saw the Lord whipped
and punched and scorned and abused as we discover here in this chapter
and as we will discover in the chapters yet to come. Isaiah
saw both these pictures of the Messiah. He saw the glory of
God and he saw the suffering of the servant. And so Isaiah
knows who he is speaking of. He knows that it is Christ who
is speaking when he says here in verse six of chapter 50, I
gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair. I had not my face from shame
and spitting. Just want to pause on that for
a moment. We know that that happened to
the Lord Jesus Christ because the gospel writers wrote that
down and told us that those very things happened to the Lord Jesus
Christ, that he was scourged, that he was punched, that he
was kicked, that they plucked the very Whiskers from his chin. They plopped the hair out of
his face. How painful that must have been.
You men that shave know what it is to catch a hair. And the Lord Jesus Christ endured
that. He endured the shame. We know
that happened because the Gospel writers told us. The people of
Isaiah's age knew that happened because the prophet told them.
It was still to occur, but they believed it. We were believing
the same Jesus. We were looking to the same Jesus. There's a reason why Isaiah's
prophecy is quoted and alluded to so frequently in the Gospels
and the Epistles. You know what? Some people say
that it is more than 400 times that Isaiah's prophecy is mentioned
or alluded to in the New Testament. The reason is that the apostles,
the writers of the Scriptures, saw Isaiah's prophecy being fulfilled
in the person of Jesus Christ right before their eyes. They
were witnesses. And Isaiah's own age because
we can flip that around and we can say equally that the men
and women of faith in the time of Isaiah, the believing Jews,
the remnant, the elect amongst the Jews to whom Isaiah was writing,
they had Christ evidently set before their own eyes. just as
much as we have today. God's elect have always discerned
the Lord Jesus Christ, whether by type or example in the Old
Testament, in person in the New Testament, or by the things written
concerning him, that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of the living God, and that believing we might have
life through his name. There were only a very, very
few in the broad scope of time, only a very few actually heard
the words of Christ. But all that went before and
all that went after, who are the Lord's elect, have believed
through the things that have been written concerning our Saviour. This chapter, just a little kind
of aside here really or to step on this stone as we're passing
over, but this chapter begins and ends with the Lord declaring
man's guilt and the consequence of sin in the lives of men and
women. It is identified as being separation
from God, that's the Bill of Divorcement, sold under sin,
taken into captivity, And then at the end with a reference to
those who work their own righteousness, who kindle their own fire, and
who live in the light of the sparks that come from that fire. Now I'm not going to dwell on
that today, I've got something else that I want to speak about.
But I just want to, not to ignore this fact about this judgement
of sin because it is the opening and closing of the chapter. So,
I want us to notice it because it's an important point about
culpability and responsibility. God cannot, God will not be blamed
for decreeing man's sin and guilt. God is not the author of sin,
nor is he the instigator of separation. It is our iniquities that separate
us from God. It's man's sin that hides God's
face from us. No one will ever say to the Lord,
I didn't have a chance, you made me to destroy me. The Lord has
every right to do with his creation as he will. But the clear teaching
of the word of God is that judgment and death are the wages of sin
and the soul that sinneth shall die. It is for a man's own sin,
for our own iniquity that we will be judged and condemned
to hell. For your iniquities have ye sold
yourselves and for your transgressions is your mother put away. in this carnal state, in this
God-rebelling state that we are in by nature. Men and women are
content to remain, except the Lord be merciful to us and rouse
us from our sleep of death. By nature, we love darkness. By nature, we want to have our
own righteousness. By nature, We would be in the dark with
this fire that we've kindled for ourselves, that we might
live by the light of the sparks that come from it, because our
deeds are evil. Robert Hawker has a lovely little
phrase, a lovely sentence on this point. Here's what he says.
And it's a reference to this, the very last verse. This shall
ye have of my hand that ye shall lie down in sorrow. Hawker says,
what an awful darkness will that be in which men must lie down
forever if they refuse all light to walk by. But of their own
kindling, despising the light of Jesus who is the light and
the life of this world. Don't try to make your own light
in this world. There is one who is the light
of the world and let us seek by God's grace to find that peace
with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah lifted up the
Lord Jesus Christ to his hearers and he warned them of judgment. Not only temporal judgment, but
eternal judgment. Let us be warned too. Some in a day to come will rest
in Abraham's bosom, will rest in the presence of Christ in
everlasting joy. and some will lie down in everlasting
sorrow. Lord, give us grace that we might
be thy people. I want to spend the rest of the
time that we have today on three things given to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Three things that were given
to the Lord Jesus Christ that are spoken about in this chapter
50. Given to him in the covenant
of grace that we've been speaking about by his father. Covenant
gifts, if you like, that came to the Lord Jesus Christ from
His Father. The Father's end of the Covenant. The Father's responsibility in
the Covenant on behalf of His Son. Three things that the Lord
Jesus Christ attests here from this chapter. The first one is
a skill that the Lord Jesus Christ had. The second one is a testimony
that he was given. And the third one is an assurance
that he received. Three promises granted to the
son for fulfilment of his own covenant duties in the work of
redemption and salvation. So we're going to take these
one by one, and I'm just going to say right at the beginning,
they are not divided. I haven't divided my time equally
over all three. The first one is by far the longest. So when I say here's the second
one, don't worry, it's getting close to the end. But here's
the first one. The skill that the Lord Jesus
had as part of the Father's covenant obligations to him. The Lord
Jesus says in verse four, What a wonderful verse that is. What
a beautiful picture that is. The Lord had given me the tongue
of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season
to him that is weary. A wise tongue to speak a word
in season was one of the Father's gifts to the Lord Jesus Christ
in his mediator role in the covenant. And as I thought about that,
I thought, is that not strange? in some respects, that he who
is the eternal word, because that is one of the titles of
the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the eternal word, he is the one
who spoke in the eternal covenant, he is the one by whose voice,
by whose word all things came into being, all things were created. John, in his Gospel, says, in
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He's speaking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. And by whom all things were made
and are upheld by the Word of his power. And then he goes on
to say that he being made flesh and dwelling among us should
be revealed to us. Now, how is it that he who is
the eternal word needed to be given, needed to be gifted the
tongue of the learned? Was wisdom not simply an attribute
of the Lord's divine nature? Where was the Lord Jesus Christ's
own essential wisdom, his omnipotence and omniscience as God? What
need, what need had the omniscient word for the tongue of the learned? And as I thought about that,
I thought, that's the whole point of what Isaiah is doing here.
He is showing us this revelation, this prophecy from Isaiah. He is showing us the distinction
between the divinity of the eternal word and the needs of the God-man
in his humanity. and more in his humiliation.
Yes, the Messiah was the true God, whose glory Isaiah had glimpsed,
seated upon his throne when his train filled the temple. But
the Messiah is also true man. And this grand distinction of
the Godhead of Christ and the manhood of Christ is at the heart
of Isaiah's teaching. which is why, of course, he said
back in those early chapters of the prophecy that his name
would be called Emmanuel, God with us. God in all his glory,
and yet here is that God whose back would be smitten, whose
cheeks would be plucked, who would be punched and kicked by
his enemies. In his human nature, the Lord
Jesus Christ, let us remember, was a true and proper man, in
all points tested as we are, yet without sin. Had he not been
so, had he not been this true man, he could not have been a
true and proper surety for his people. He could not have been
a true and proper representative for his people, and he could
not have been a true and proper substitute. In his human nature,
the Lord Jesus was subject to the created laws of this world that
he had created. The Lord Jesus Christ subjected
himself to the very rules that base the laws of the world in
which we live, its structures and its systems. He was subject
to time. He was subject to space. He was
subject to Mary and Joseph. He learned carpentry. He increased in wisdom and stature. He got tired, he got hungry,
he got thirsty, always without sin. But that aside, a man like
us with limits, with needs, with anxieties that come with our
innate weakness and with our fallen humanity. The Lord was not Superman. The Lord was not even Adam. Where then did this ordinary
man obtain his extraordinary abilities? How could he heal
the sick? How could he perform miracles?
How did he know men's hearts? How did he speak? as never man
spoke by the enabling and by the equipping
of his father, who granted to him, under his covenant obligations,
the spirit without measure. Do you remember what John the
Baptist said of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's in John chapter
3 verse 34. For he whom God hath sent, they
were asking him, they were asking John the Baptist if he was the
Messiah. And John says, for he whom God hath sent, listen, speaketh
the words of God. Christ didn't speak his own words. Christ was a mouthpiece for the
Father. The man, Christ Jesus, was a
mouthpiece for the Father. He speaketh the words of God. And then he goes on to give that
little reference, for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto
him. The Lord's abilities, the Lord's skills,
the Lord's miraculous powers were not his own, but were given
to him in his manhood by his father. Christ's wise tongue
to speak a word in season was an enabling to speak the message
of God, the message that God had sent him to proclaim. The
message to be revealed by Christ on earth. And in this sense,
the Lord Jesus Christ was a prophet sent from God. We speak about
him in these covenant roles of prophet, priest, and king. He
was the priest when he went to the cross. He was the king over
the kingdom that he established and grew. But he was a prophet
as well, speaking the words of God, revealing God to men. Without denying his divinity,
And it was in this covenant role that he fulfilled all of these
tasks. Being equipped in that role as
a man with gifts, graces, and indeed the very words to speak
by his father. Which is why the Lord Jesus Christ
can say in his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, I
have given unto them the words which thou gavest me. and they
have received them. See, this is what the Lord is
talking about. The Lord God has given me the
tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season
to him that is weary. And he goes on to say that he
fulfilled that task in his high priestly prayer. I have given
them the words which thou gavest me. And it won't come as a surprise
to any of us, I trust, to learn that the message which Christ
spoke was the gospel, was the gospel, the gospel of God. Paul calls it the gospel of God
concerning his son, Jesus Christ. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
preach? He preached the gospel of God concerning his son, Jesus
Christ. And Mark tells us, Mark chapter
one, verse 14, Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus
came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God
and saying, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand,
repent ye and believe the gospel. Believe the gospel of God concerning
his son Jesus Christ. So the father gave the son a
wise tongue to speak. A wise tongue to speak. Listen,
a word in season. What a beautiful thought that
is. There's something in this reference. A word in season. A word in season
is an appropriate word. It's a word for the moment. It's a word applied to a particular
need. It's personal, it's individual. And this skill, or this gift,
the Lord Jesus Christ received of his father, it enabled him
to speak to Nicodemus, the leader of the Jews, with an exquisite
wisdom, speaking of heavenly things. It enabled him to speak to the
woman at the well about her particular and personal needs. It enabled
him to confound the Pharisees and the Sadducees when they tried
to trap him in their little schemes, their little trick questions.
And it left Pilate floundering in a dilemma of indecision. Christ's enemies could say, never
man speak like this man. And it's an ability he still
has because the Lord speaks to his people, a word in season. He speaks to us. in the gospel,
he speaks to us in the scriptures, he speaks to us in the preaching
of the word, he knows our frames and he gives a word in season
to his people according to our need. Perhaps it's a word to
chasten us and rebuke and convict us in our conscience when he
speaks to us about our sin. Perhaps it's a word of encouragement
when we feel cast down. Perhaps it's a word of comfort
when we mourn. Perhaps it's a word of wisdom
to use in a difficult situation. My prayer as a preacher is that
the Lord will give me a word in season to pass on as a word
in season to those who have ears to hear. And the wonder of the scriptures
is that this is a living word applied by the Holy Spirit as
a word in season to reveal to us the ways of God, the work
of Christ, the identity of Christ, who he is, what he has done,
to reveal to us the gospel of God concerning his son Jesus
Christ, what happened on the cross, who this man was and what
he has done, and to draw us to himself, to bring us under conviction
of sin, bring us to peace with God, bring us to faith, equip
us to witness, to praise, to serve with a holy wisdom and
in turn, that we might speak with the tongue of the learned
also. So that's the first point that
I wanted to make, that here we have the Lord Jesus Christ saying
that he received from his father A wise tongue to speak a word
in season. Okay, remember what I said about
not panicking. The second one is this, a testimony. The Lord Jesus Christ received
a skill and he received a testimony. And the testimony was this, an
ear that was bored to testify of a husband's love. Okay, what's
an ear that's bored? Well, it's that little lobe in
our ear that is pierced. That's probably what it's talking
about. And this was another gift that
the father gave to his son in the covenant role. It was a knowledge
of his calling and commitment to his task. The Lord Jesus,
the man Christ Jesus, from being a little boy, to being a teenager,
to being in his twenties, all the way up to his thirties when
he began his ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ had a knowledge
of his calling and he had a knowledge of his commitment to the task
that was set before him. The Lord Jesus Christ knew why
he had come. And we read in verse five of
chapter 50 here, the Lord God hath opened mine ear and I was
not rebellious, neither turned away back. Now this reference
is not to being able to hear something. It's a reference to
literally having our ears split. And it's a practice, it refers
to a practice in ancient Israel where a servant who had served
the years that he had to under the terms of and conditions of
his contract and was entitled to leave the employment of his
master could nevertheless say, I'm content where I am. I love my master, I love my wife,
and I love my children, and I will not go out free. These are the
words of scripture under the terms of this opening of the
ear. And what would happen was that the master would then publicly
acknowledge the words of the servant by piercing the servant's
ear with an awl, with a needle, and he would be bound to serve
him forever. He could no longer go out from
his employment. So that for the selfsame reason,
the Lord Jesus Christ here is bound to serve his master. His master, not because he was
subordinate to God, but because he was in that subordinate role
within the covenant duties that he undertook. He humbled himself
and was bound to serve his master forever, refusing to go back,
refusing to go out from the service. Why? For the love of his master,
for the love of his wife, which is his church, and for the love
of his children, which were the elect that had been given to
him to redeem. And though this duty as a servant
required bearing our punishment according to the will of the
Father, yet the Saviour did not renege or turn back, saying,
I set my face like a flint. I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. The Lord could have hidden the
darkness of the Garden of Gethsemane. He did not. He stepped out and
he said, who are you seeking? The Lord could have prevented
himself from being scourged, but he was determined to follow
through the obligations that he had undertaken. And this speaks
of none else but the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, in obedience
to the love that he had for his Father, the love that he has
for his people, the Lord Jesus Christ came and fulfilled every
demand of his covenant duty. It was a declared and public
testimony made in the covenant, witnessed and attested because
the all had been pierced to the ear and an acknowledgement and
a statement had been made. And finally, here's our last
point. The Lord Jesus Christ was given
the gift of learned tongue, he was given the reassurance or the testimony
of the board ear and he was given the assurance of the father's
help to carry his burden and face his foes. Verses 7 to 9
show us that the Lord Jesus was confident that through all his
tests, all his trials and his troubles, he would be upheld
by his Father and strengthened to the task that he had undertaken. And for his own encouragement,
for the encouragement of the man Christ Jesus, He repeats it to himself frequently. He says, behold, the Lord God
will help me. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. This is the man who went out
in the night and went into the mountain and knelt down and prayed
to his father. This is the man who sought in
prayer often the help of his God. and he testifies here. He has the assurance given to
him that the Lord God will help him. And that was what gave the
Lord his boldness. That was what made him brave
to meet his foes. He looked his adversaries in
the face. He called out those who would
do him harm and do us harm. Our Saviour faced Caiaphas the
high priest. face-to-face, eye-to-eye. He
faced Herod, the king. He faced Pilate, the governor
of Rome's military might. He faced Satan. He faced hell. He faced the wear of the law.
He faced the horror of sin. In his spotless soul he endured
the horrors of that cup of wrath as our substitute and as our
propitiation. Let our hearts be filled with
admiration for the Lord Jesus. Let us consider Him who was just
like us, yet suffered so much in our place. And let us thank
God for the help and support and encouragement that our Saviour
received from His Father. when, for example, we read in
Mark chapter 14 and verse 50, and they all forsook him and
fled. We often repeat, all the promises
of God in Christ are yea and in him, amen. God's promises
to Christ are his promises to Christ's people. God's promises
to Christ are his promises to Christ's people. so that we who
are weak and frail and troubled and weary may also, like the
Lord, draw daily help from the comfort that the Father gives. Just as Christ drew daily comfort
from his Father, so may we. We have to, on occasion, walk
in darkness. We will endure loneliness and
trials and doubts and fears. Every believer experiences such
things. Yet the Lord has prayed for us
to his Father, saying about you and about me, about you and me,
let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Imagine the Lord Jesus Christ
has prayed to his Father that you might trust in the name of
the Lord and upon your God. If the Lord prays this for us,
if the Lord prays this for us, will the Father deny that prayer? Shall he not rather with him
also freely give us all things? Brothers and sisters, let us
be brave and bold. Let us be encouraged and comforted. Let us be dedicated and committed,
as becomes those who seek to follow their master and be like
their Lord. and let us know that all the
helps that were afforded to our Saviour in His covenant role
will also be our portion from the Father who hears the intercessory
prayers of His Son and delights to grant them all. May the Lord
bless these thoughts to us. Amen.