Lord willing, I would like to
bring a message each Sunday night for the next several Sunday nights
out of the prophets. I'd like to bring a message from
each one of the prophets. And well did Peter say to him,
give all the prophets witness. Isaiah was one of those prophets,
and some have called the prophecy of Isaiah, the Gospel of Isaiah. The person and the work of Christ
are so majestically set forth in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah
was a man like me or you, and he was a man who had seen the
Lord. Do you remember when he said
in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord? High and lifted up. And his train did fill the temple. He saw the Lord. And consequently,
he saw himself, because he said in that same chapter, then said
I, after seeing the Lord, then said I, woe is me." And how Isaiah sets forth the
excellency and the glory and the majesty of the person of
Christ. He said, unto us a child is born,
and to us a son is given. That son has always been. And
his name shall be called Wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father. That's who he calls the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and the government shall be upon
his shoulders. Now, if somebody asked me to
go to a chapter in the Old Testament that would explain the New Testament,
the chapter that I would select would be Isaiah chapter 53. And
when I was thinking about trying to preach on this chapter, I
was filled with fear lest I just give the meaning or my view and
not really preach this chapter. Now may God deliver us from that.
This is a very familiar passage of Scripture. But it's very awesome
and very majestic, and I pray that we'll treat it as such. Now, would you turn with me to
Isaiah chapter 53? You know, looking through the
book of Isaiah and trying to select a passage of scripture
to preach from, there's so many, so many. But Isaiah chapter 53,
I think, is the high point in some respects of the Old Testament. It's kind of like the eighth
chapter of Romans in the New Testament. What would the Old
Testament be without Isaiah 53? It would be incomplete. Now,
Isaiah begins with a lament. In Isaiah chapter 53, he says,
Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? As in Isaiah's day, so it is
in ours. We have to make this lament.
seemingly few people who believe. Isaiah said, who has believed
our report? Who has believed our doctrine?
It doesn't seem like anybody does. Isaiah felt like he was
alone. He said in another place, unless
the Lord had left us a very small seed, we'd be just like Sodom
and Gomorrah. Who has believed our report?
But notice what he says next. And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Now, Jesus Christ is the mighty
arm of the Lord. And I'll tell you who's believed
this report. Those that God the Father has revealed the Lord
Jesus Christ to. We're totally dependent upon
revelation to believe. The only way I'm going to believe
this glorious report is if God is pleased to reveal Himself
to me. And oh, that He would do that
even now. Now he says in verse 2, for he,
this is one of 44 times the personal pronoun he, his or him is used
in this chapter. This is obviously about the Lord
Jesus Christ. For he shall grow up before him. You know, the Lord is said, was
said to grow. in wisdom and stature, and in
favor with God and with men. Now, that's just one of those
things you just hear and believe. You can't. How did he grow in
wisdom when he's the son of God? I don't know, but it says he
did. How did he grow in favor with God? I don't know, but it
says that he did. He grew. But look what it says. For he shall grow up before him,
his father, as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. Now, the picture is, think of
dry land with cracks in it and a plant just barely springing
up. It seems so weak. It seems so
vulnerable. It seems so helpless. But what
this is talking about is the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know how weak you are? That's
how weak he was. Physically. He had all the limitations
that you and I have. As a man. Now somebody says,
now wait a minute, how can you say that? He's the son of God.
He could perform miracles. How can you say he was just as
weak as you and me? Well, he was the son of God,
but you need to understand this about all of his miracles. He
never performed one for himself. You know that? He never performed
one for himself. When he was hungry. He never
performed a miracle to make himself food. He had all the limitations
that you and I have. He was a man. Jesus, being wearied
with his journey, set thus on the whale. He was a man. Now, God, yes, the eternal God,
taking on all the limitations of the flesh. That's what that's
a reference to. For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form, nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. There was nothing about
his physical appearance that would have impressed us. the
beauty that the world admires, that we admire, he didn't have. If you would have looked at him
physically, now this is an amazing thing, if you would have looked
at him physically, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, you would
not have been impressed. He was a very normal looking
man, nothing impressive about him. What I thought of was the
tabernacle. What was the covering of the
tabernacle? You remember? Badger skin. Badger skin. I mean, badger.
When's the last time you looked at a badger? It's not a good-looking
animal. It's got... Nobody wants their
fur. It's not something you... Unimpressive. And yet, the tabernacle with
all the dazzling glory underneath it, when you saw it, all you
saw was badger skin. And I've often thought about
the Amalekites and the Hittites and the Hivites and all those
fellows in the Old Testament. They look at the tribes of Israel
over this, around this tabernacle and they think, I don't get it.
What do they see in this tabernacle covered with badger skin? There's
nothing impressive about it. But they didn't know that the
very Shekinah glory of God shined on the inside. You know, our
Lord at one point on the mountain of transfiguration, remember
when he peeled back his humanity and the scripture says his face
shined as the sun and his raiment was white as light. He let them
see something of his glory at that time, but his glory was
hidden and there was no form nor comeliness in him. And when
we would see him, there was no beauty that we would even desire.
Verse 3, it says, 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. Now, this is how men viewed Him. What is so sad is this is how
I viewed him. You know, the last phrase of
that third verse, I think is one of the saddest verses in
all the scripture. We esteemed him not. I esteemed him not. He was despised and rejected. This is how men viewed him. This
is how brothers and sisters viewed him. I think of this. Can you
imagine growing up in the same home as the Son of God? He had
brothers and sisters, and he never sinned. And they didn't get it. They
didn't see it. They despised him. They despised
his claims. He's despised and rejected of
men. When our Lord walked upon this
earth, when he opened his public ministry, you remember what happened?
Right after that first sermon in Luke chapter 4, when he says,
now is this scripture fulfilled in your ears? And they picked
him up and brought him to the top of the hill, and they were
going to cast him down headlong and kill him. You remember in
John chapter 10, when they picked up stones to stone him, and he
said, many good works have I showed you, my father, for which of
these works do you stone me? And they said, for good works,
stone we thee not, but for blasphemy. For thou being a man, makest
thyself God. They hated his claims, and that's
why they wanted to kill him. Remember when he said, before
Abraham was, I am. I am the eternal God. And then they picked up stones
to stone him. He was despised and rejected of men. A man of
sorrows, intimately acquainted with grief. Oh, I think of his
sorrows. He said, is there any sorrow
like my sorrow? Wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me in the day of his great anger. And I think of the sorrows of
the Lord Jesus Christ when he walked upon this earth. And there's
no way I can understand this. But he was forsaken by God. Now, you and I, we wouldn't even
get it if we were forsaken by God. Because of the sinfulness
of our nature, we can't enter into that. We can't understand
the horror that he went through in being forsaken by God. My
sin became his, and God forsook him, and he was all alone. He
didn't have anybody for him. When he was on the cross, his
disciples left him. He didn't have... When he was
hanging on the cross, he didn't even have the feeling that, well,
it's going to be over within a few hours. He was bearing the
full equivalent of hell. And he didn't have his people
saying, we love you, we're thankful that you're doing this. No, everybody
forsook him. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. Have you ever seen somebody that
You didn't want to establish eye contact with Him. You didn't
even want to see Him because you didn't want to be around
Him. You didn't want to be identified with Him. So maybe you see Him
out in public and you turn your head and walk the other way. That's
the way everybody did the Lord Jesus Christ. We hid, as it were,
our faces from Him. We didn't want to be identified
with Him. And this scripture, we esteemed
Him not. That's our greatest crime. We
esteemed him not. Everybody in this room, we've
been guilty of not esteeming, not highly exalting and glorifying
the Lord Jesus Christ. What it says in verse 4, Surely. Now, the reason he says surely
is because this is for sure to happen because it's part of the
covenant, because God has determined. That's why, surely, it doesn't
just say, he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. It says,
surely, because he determined to do this, he hath borne our
griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. Surely in answer to his purpose
in coming, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. And because he was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, there's
a surely in what he did. Surely! He had borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. He took my sin and my sorrows
and He made it His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. Surely he had borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted." That's all we saw, and we didn't see
it. We didn't see what he was doing. But, verse 5, he was wounded. In spite of all that, he was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. Now, the first thing that comes
to my mind when I read that verse of scripture is who's the our?
Who's the we? He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Not healing is
made available to us, but we are actually healed. Who's he
talking about? He's talking about all of His
elect. He's talking about His people.
Matthew 121, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. If I look at that in any other
way, I make this meaningless. If He did this for everybody,
and some of those people that He did it for wind up in hell,
what He did is meaningless. What He did doesn't save. But
He was wounded for our transgressions. Every believer can say this.
This is my hope of salvation, and Christ died for me. That's
my own help. That Jesus Christ died for me,
that he bore my sin and my sorrow, that he's wounded for my transgressions
and bruised for my iniquities. Now, if you can tell me he can
do all that, and I end up in hell anyway, you've taken away
the only hope that I have. Because the only hope that I
have is that Christ died for me. Period. That's it. Now, the hour is his people. But what did he do for them?
He was wounded. for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and by his stripes were healed. Healed. Made whole. Now this is what the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ did. made me whole, lacking nothing. God looks at me and he sees me
as without sin. Right there, now, every believer,
every believer, when God looks at you, he sees somebody who
has no sin. You've been by his stripes. We
are healed. My sin has been put away. Now here is a confession, verse
6. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. Every time we sin, we go astray,
wandering away from Him. David said, I've gone astray
like a lost sheep. How often do you go astray? Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal
it. Seal it from thy courts above. And if this was all that we said,
all we like sheep had gone astray, you almost had pity for a lost
sheep. But there's a willful wickedness to this. He says,
all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. Look at Isaiah 1 for a moment. Isaiah chapter 1. Beginning in verse 4, Isaiah says, Ah, sinful nation. A people laden with iniquity,
a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. They have
forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel unto anger. They are gone away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart is pain. From the sole of the foot even
to the head, there's no soundness in it. But wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores that have not been closed, neither bound
up, neither mollified with ointment. And this is Verse 7, your country
is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, your land strangers
devoured in your presence, and its desolate is overthrown by
strangers, and the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage and
a vineyard, as a lodge and a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Now except the Lord of hosts hath left unto us a very small
remnant, we should have been a Sodom, and we would have been
just like Gomorrah. Now here's what all that means. 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. Now, I don't have the authority
to take my sin and place it upon Christ, do I? But God does. God took my iniquity and placed
it upon Christ. And he bore it. And here's what
happened because he bore it. Here's what happened because
it was all laid upon him. Verse 7, he was oppressed and
he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He didn't defend himself. He
is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears
is done, so he openeth not his mouth." Now, if I didn't do something,
and I'm accused of it, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going
to defend myself. I'm going to defend myself all
the way to the end. If I didn't do it, and I'm accused
of it, I'm going to defend myself. I'm going to justify myself.
I'm going to say this is wrong. But the Lord didn't defend Himself.
He didn't open His mouth. Why didn't He defend Himself?
Because He was guilty. Because my sin became His and
He didn't have anything to say. He stood before the law guilty
as charged. He did not defend Himself because
my sin became His. Verse 8, He was taken from prison
and from judgment. 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 my marginal reading says
he was taken away by oppression and judgment. He was cut off
because of this substitutionary death, stricken for the transgression
of his people. Verse 9, and he made his grave. with the wicked. He was numbered
with the transgressors and with the rich in his death. He was
buried in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb, a rich man. Because he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth,
yet, verse 10, and this is one of the most remarkable verses
in all the word of God, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Now that word, please, It means to desire, to take delight
in, to find pleasure in. It pleased the Lord. He took
delight in this. He took pleasure in bruising
his only begotten son. He is the one who put him to
grief. Now, if I killed my son, One of two things are true. If
I had a son and I killed him, one of two things are true. Either
I'm a very wicked, evil person, or there must have been altogether
glorious reasons for me to do it. One of those two things are true.
If I killed my son, it says, it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He put him to grief. He's the one who pressed down
upon him, and it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Now, remember,
whatever God does, he's pleased to do. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he, in earth and sea and in all deep places. Psalm
115.3 says, Our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever
he is pleased. So whatever God does, it's what he's pleased
to do. Now, why did it please the Lord
to bruise his son? Now you think that this is the
son of his love, this is the one who never sinned in his person,
yet the scripture says it pleased God found pleasure in crushing
and inflicting wrath upon his son. What in the world does that
mean? First, it pleased him because
it was his eternal purpose. God is pleased to do his will.
And he always purposed to bruise his son. Christ is called the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have
taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain. In Acts
chapter 4, it says everything they did, they did according
to God's purpose and God's counsel. Everything that happened to the
Lord Jesus Christ in His death was according to God's purpose.
So it pleased Him that His purpose was being fulfilled. Secondly,
it pleased Him because His justice demanded it. Jesus Christ on Calvary Street. When the Lord laid upon him the
iniquity of us all, he became loathsome in God's sight. He was guilty, and the very justice
of God demanded his death. He was killed because He, in
His person, by virtue of His people's sins becoming His, my
sin becoming His, He deserved to be brought under God's wrath. The very justice of God demanded
it. It pleased God because it was
His eternal purpose. It pleased God because His justice
demanded it. But it pleased Him in the sense
that He satisfied God. He satisfied God, and God was
satisfied with what He did. To this point, what our Lord
did was so effectual, it was so powerful, it was so complete
in putting away sins. God was satisfied with Him. God
was satisfied with what He did. He proved that when He raised
Him from the dead. But here's the clincher on this. This makes
God satisfied with me. God looks at me, and He says, There's nothing else I could
desire out of him. All I require, I find. And this is why it pleased God
to bruise him, because God found complete satisfaction in what
the Lord did. Justice was satisfied. The law
was honored. Everything God required was satisfied. So it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. And it pleased the Lord to bruise
him because It saved His beloved people. Now, I have a hard time getting a
hold of this. God could not be satisfied. Christ could not be satisfied
without me. And when I'm saying this, I'm
saying this of all of God's people. I'm not talking about myself.
I'm talking about all of God's people. God could not be satisfied
without me. Do I understand that? Not at
all. I want you to think about that.
God couldn't be satisfied without you. And he was pleased to bruise
his son in order to save you. Now that goes beyond comprehension,
but it suffered. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. It pleased Him because it glorified
every attribute of God. The cross is the whole counsel
of God. The cross is the glory of God.
When the Lord bruised, when the Lord crushed, when the Lord killed
His Son, every attribute of God, all that God is, was magnified
and glorified and made known. God's whole character that He's
pleased to make known is seen in the bruising of His Son. How
holy is God? You look at the cross and you
find out He will not let sin go unpunished. How just is God?
You look at the cross. He will not let sin go unpunished. How much does God love sinners? Look at the cross and you'll
see how much God loves sinners. How wise is God? He's made a
way to be just and yet justify me through the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. How powerful is God that he can
put away sin? How powerful is God that the
impotent man can die in the first place? Talking about mysterious,
that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, He's the God-man, and He
died. I've heard people say, well,
the God part didn't die, but the man part did. He's the God-man. I don't understand how that happened,
but He did. He died. That's mysterious. And He raised Himself from the
dead. Can you see why it pleased the Lord to bruise His blessed
Son? It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. And how pleased he is with the
obedience of his son. He said to his son, let him mail
you to a cross in obedience to my command. And he said, yes,
father. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. Talking about the ultimate act
of faith. the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. Verse 10, When thou shalt make
his soul an offering for sin. Now that word, offering for sin,
is translated by two other words in the Old Testament. when thou
shalt make his soul guiltiness." Guiltiness. And it's also translated
by this word, when thou shalt make his soul sin. In answer to what Paul said in
2 Corinthians 5.21, for he hath made him to be sin for us, who
knew no sin, that we might be made He had made him to be sin,
that one who knew no sin. He never sinned in his person.
He never committed a sin. Yet God made him sin that we
might be made the very righteousness of God in him. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
all the elect. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He, the
Lord Jesus Christ, shall see the travail of his soul, his
bloody death on the cross, and all the horror he experienced,
and he shall be satisfied." Have you ever done something and you
weren't satisfied with the outcome? Sure you have. It never happened
with him. He shall see the travail of his
soul. and have complete satisfaction. And here's why. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many. Now here's the satisfaction. In the travail of his soul, he
justified many. All the elect, all who believe,
he made them so they're not guilty. And he looks at me He looks at
every believer, and he sees someone who is justified, who has never
sinned, who has no guilt. That's what the blood of Christ
actually does. He shall see the travail of the
soul, and he'll be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. My iniquities became his, and
his righteousness becomes mine. I'm justified. Therefore, verse
12, Well, I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong. Now, who are these great strong
people? Therefore, I'll divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the portion with
the strong. Who are these great strong people? Every believer. This is how God
views every believer. And how God views every believer
is how every believer truly is. Now, we don't view ourselves
that way. Not on your life. Strong? The only time I'm strong
is when I'm weak. When I'm weak, then am I strong. But God views every believer.
I'm looking at some people. God would say, you're great. You're strong. Now how can God
say that about us when it seems so contrary to our experience?
How can God actually say that? We'll go on reading. Verse 12. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the small with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors. And he bare the sins of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. And when we consider
the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's his work
on the cross, when he intercedes, understand this. He doesn't, when we sin, say,
Father, forgive them. And we sin again, and he says,
Father, let him go again. And we sin again, and he says,
Father, forgive him again. No, he stands before the Father
with his wounds. And the Father looks at him,
and he sees all of his people, and he says, They're without
sin. They're strong. They're great. Now, that's how powerful the
work of Christ is. The work of Christ makes it so
everybody he died for is strong and great. The writer of the Hebrews said,
Wherefore, he is able to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. Now, as we observe the Lord's
Table, we're doing this in remembrance
of Him, what He accomplished. Now, remember this. I remember
when I was young, I used to dread the Lord's Table because it talked
about eating and drinking unworthily. And I always thought if there
was anybody that's unworthy to eat and drink, it was me. And
I can remember even missing services when the Lord's table was being
passed out because I just felt like it was not something I was
afraid of. Eat and drink damnation to myself.
The scripture warns us about that. Now, what is it to eat
and drink unworthily? If you think you're worthy, to
eat and drink, if you can look at your life and say, well, I
cut the grade. You know, I may not be perfect,
but I can look at my life and think I'm worthy to take the
Lord's table. You're disqualified. Don't dare
take it. If you feel that way, you're
eating and drinking damnation to yourself. But if you see in
the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, all
your salvation. Then the table is for you. It's for all who believe. Period. That's who's to take
the Lord's table. Do you believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ is salvation? in the Lord's table is for you. Let's pass out the bread and
wine.