Latest / Collierville Radio Network / Harvester Podcast - The Suffering Servant - Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (S6E7)
Transcript
- 0:23Welcome, welcome to the Harvester Podcast.
- 0:26We are happy you have joined us today.
- 0:29As we continue our sixth season, Minoring in the Majors, the Major Prophets, that is.
- 0:35And so with this seventh episode, seventh episode, we are going to consider in Isaiah the suffering servant, the suffering servant of Isaiah chapters 52 and 53.
- 0:47And uh I am your host, Brian Kenyon.
- 0:50Usually Steven and Forest are with me, but due to us being very busy,
- 0:55It's hard to get us three together at the same time, and that continues to be the case, but we do look forward to the next time that we can be together.
- 1:03But in this sixth season, my ma minoring in the majors, major prophets that is, we are just taking select lessons from the major prophets.
- 1:12It would be impossible, of course, to exhaust these books as it would be with any book of the Bible, but we have uh touched on some major themes in Isaiah.
- 1:22And so we will close out our discussion of Isaiah with this episode 7, The Suffering Servant.
- 1:28But before we get into that, of course, Isaiah 53, the main suffering servant passage, is one of the most pivotal uh passages in the Old Testament concerning Christ.
- 1:39If you remember, it was this passage that the eunuch was reading in Acts chapter 8, 26 through 35, when Philip asked him, Do you understand what you read?
- 1:49And the eunuch said, How can I, except some man should guide me?
- 1:53And if you remember, he invited Philip to join him in the chariot, and they went on their way.
- 1:59And of course, the place where the eunuch read was Isaiah, what we know anyway, is Isaiah 53, verses 4 and 5.
- 2:07And uh remember it was at that place that Philip preached unto from that scripture, Philip preached to him Jesus Christ.
- 2:16And then the very next verse we find out that there's water, and the eunuch says, Here's water.
- 2:21What does hinder me from being baptized?
- 2:24And of course we know he was.
- 2:26But again, Isaiah 53 is a major passage in the Old Testament in reference to the suffering servant and the work of Christ.
- 2:35And so this theme of the suffering servant we'll get to in just a moment, but there are some other servant passages in Isaiah that are worthy of mentioning as we lead up.
- 2:46to the suffering servant.
- 2:48In Isaiah forty-two, verses one through nine, the servant here will bring justice from God.
- 2:55This reads, Behold, forty two one, my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights.
- 3:06I have put my spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
- 3:11He will bring justice for truth, he will not fail nor be discouraged.
- 3:16Till he has established justice in the earth, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison
- 3:28house.
- 3:29And so again this servant will bring justice.
- 3:32Again, in Isaiah forty-nine, one through six, the servant here will have a worldwide mission of redemption.
- 3:42Notice
- 3:43It reads Listen O coast lands to me, and take heed you peoples from afar.
- 3:49The Lord has called me from the womb.
- 3:52He has made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he has hidden me, and made me a polished shaft, in his quiver he has hidden me, and he said to me, You are my
- 4:06servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
- 4:10And now the Lord says, Who formed me from the womb to be his servant?
- 4:14To bring back Jacob to him, so that Israel is gathered to him, for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.
- 4:25Indeed he says, It is too small a thing that you should be my servant, to rise up to the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.
- 4:36I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles.
- 4:40That you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.
- 4:44And so in this passage, Isaiah 49, 1 through 6, notice he calls upon the coastlands and the peoples from afar, and he ends that little section, My salvation to the ends of the
- 4:56earth.
- 4:57This indeed is inclusive of the Gentiles in this worldwide mission of redemption.
- 5:02And then in Isaiah 50, verses four through nine, the servant will obey God's word.
- 5:09No matter the expense to himself.
- 5:13We pick up in Isaiah fifty verse four The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak, a word in season to him who is weary.
- 5:25He awakens me morning by morning.
- 5:28He awakens my ear to hear as the learned.
- 5:33The Lord my God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious.
- 5:38Nor did I turn away.
- 5:40I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard.
- 5:45I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.
- 5:50For the Lord will help me, the Lord God will help me, therefore I will not be disgraced.
- 5:56Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.
- 6:02He is near who justifies me, who will contend with me.
- 6:07Let us stand together.
- 6:08Who is my adversary?
- 6:10Let him come near me.
- 6:12Surely the Lord God will help me.
- 6:15Who is he who will condemn me?
- 6:17Indeed they will all grow old like a garment, the moth will eat them up.
- 6:23And that's also repeated in Hebrews chapter one.
- 6:27But this servant will obey God no matter what happens to him.
- 6:31He will be struck, his beard will be plucked, as it were to
- 6:35And he will be subject to shame and spitting.
- 6:38And of course, that is fulfilled in the Christ.
- 6:42And so those servant passages kind of lead up to the suffering servant passage.
- 6:48Now, in these passages, the main idea in Isaiah 52 and 53, the concerning the Messiah, two things emerge.
- 6:56He would come to be king, and then also he would come to be the suffering servant.
- 7:02Who would die for the sins of the world.
- 7:06And so as we examine this, we will turn our Bibles to Isaiah 52, verses 13 through 15, will be the first point of this lesson, this episode, the servant exalted through
- 7:20humiliation.
- 7:21Now, of course, if you're driving down the road, please do not look at your Bible, but look on the road.
- 7:26But I'll be reading from Isaiah 52, 13 through 15.
- 7:30Note it reads, Behold,
- 7:32My servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
- 7:43fourteen just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.
- 7:53So shall he sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut up their mouths at him, for what had not been told them they shall see.
- 8:02And what they had not heard, they shall consider.
- 8:07And so here it shows the major theme of the next chapter, verse 53.
- 8:12He will deal prudently and wisely, and notice this servant will be exalted through humiliation.
- 8:20Now you have three what we'll call progressive terms here in verse 13.
- 8:25He will be exalted, extolled, and then be very high.
- 8:30And while these things are
- 8:32These show different levels of the same type of thing, exalted, extolled, and be very high.
- 8:37Some commentators would connect these, being exalted to the resurrection of Jesus, extolled to the ascension of Jesus, and the word extolled means to be lifted up, and then
- 8:47very high would compare with sitting at the right hand of God.
- 8:52Now, of course, this was written about 700 years before Jesus would come to the earth.
- 8:59And I've always wondered, you know, what um Israelites would think about this passage or what anyone would if we had no knowledge at all about the New Testament.
- 9:08But needless to say, the New Testament does reveal what the Old Testament once concealed, and so this suffering servant through humiliation will be exalted, extolled, and very
- 9:21high.
- 9:22Now the servant exalted as a sufferer, not as a warrior is clear.
- 9:28Notice before he is exalted, he will have to suffer.
- 9:34It talks about his many were astonished at him, his visage or his appearance was marred more than any other, and his form more than the sons of men.
- 9:49And so he would have to suffer, and that would be part of his humiliation.
- 9:54Now Paul would speak about this in Philippians two verses six through nine, speaking of Christ, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but
- 10:07made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became
- 10:19obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross.
- 10:23Therefore God has also highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the mouth of Jesus every knee should bow of those things in heaven and of those
- 10:36things on the earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.
- 10:47Now notice it begins that many were astonished at him.
- 10:52Now why would they be astonished at him?
- 10:55Well he tells us, number one, his visage or his countenance was marred, but also they were astonished because they were not looking for a suffering servant.
- 11:06They expected a physically mighty kingdom, and thus the king would be once you know, one riding, for example, maybe on a white horse, ripped with muscles and guns to either side,
- 11:20by which I mean muscles, of course.
- 11:22Had a conquering sword in one hand and a finger on the political system on the other hand.
- 11:29They were expecting someone who would deliver them physically, but not spiritually.
- 11:37But yet the suffering servant is not, his physical features are not emphasized, but rather his humiliation, his suffering, his shame.
- 11:49Now the result of this astonishment is that kings shall shut their mouths.
- 11:55They shall see and understand things which were previously inconceivable.
- 12:01And Paul refers back to this passage in Romans chapter fifteen, twenty and twenty one.
- 12:08And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, says Paul, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation.
- 12:19But as it is written, to whom he was not announced, they shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand.
- 12:30And so this servant would be exalted through humiliation.
- 12:37And again, those two terms seem contradictory, even paradoxical.
- 12:43That is, exaltation and humiliation do not usually go together.
- 12:50But in the case of the suffering servant, they do.
- 12:54And so Jesus, of course, is a fulfillment of this, as we see in the New Testament.
- 12:59All right, so not only would that suffering servant be exalted through humiliation, but he would also be a
- 13:07be acquainted with grief.
- 13:09Now in Isaiah fifty three one three, the prophet writes Who has believed our report?
- 13:15And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
- 13:19He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground.
- 13:25He has no form nor comeliness, and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him.
- 13:32He is despised and rejected by men.
- 13:35A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him, he was despised, and we did not esteem him.
- 13:47And so notice the suffering servant is to be disfigured, despised, and ignored by men.
- 13:56Notice his career is not highly regarded as far as human expectations are concerned.
- 14:03Again, they were expecting somebody different.
- 14:06And so the question who has believed our report?
- 14:11And of course, it's so astonishing that no one would.
- 14:15And we read in John chapter 1, verses 10 through 11, that he was, that is, the Word, Jesus, the Word that became flesh, he was in the world, and the world was made through
- 14:27him, and the world did not know him.
- 14:31He came into his own, but his own did not receive him.
- 14:36Again, who hath believed our report?
- 14:39And then John twelve, thirty-seven through thirty-eight is more explicit.
- 14:44It reads, But although he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has
- 14:56believed our report?
- 14:58And to whom is the arm of the Lord?
- 15:01been revealed.
- 15:03And so the servant would be acquainted with grief.
- 15:07The servant should shall grow up, Isaiah says, he would see no more important, seem no more important than a plant in the wilderness struggling for life.
- 15:17He would be under God's care and protection.
- 15:21As Jesus said in John 8 29, He who sent me is with me.
- 15:26The Father has not left me alone, for I always do the things that please him.
- 15:31But he shall be as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground.
- 15:37Now I remember Homer Haley's commentary in Isaiah, the one with the blue cover on it, had a picture of a stump that had just been cut, and so it was like a flat tree stump, but it
- 15:49had a little tender plant growing out of the middle of it.
- 15:53And that of course represents the remnant that would again flourish in the future and eventually.
- 16:00Make way for the Messianic kingdom.
- 16:03But the point is, is that that tree was cut down.
- 16:07Israel was taken into captivity.
- 16:09But God did not forget about them.
- 16:12He remembered that remnant, and that remnant is what brought the Christ into the world.
- 16:18He also describes does Isaiah a root out of dry ground.
- 16:23Now Jesus came into a corrupt society, and society had given up to the powers of the world.
- 16:30And so it was barren and a wasteland, if you will.
- 16:34And I remember a few years ago I took a picture of a a concrete slab with a crack in it, and there's a beautiful flower growing up out of the crack, a purple and pink flower.
- 16:46And I took a picture of it intending to use it for a PowerPoint slide, never have yet, but I will one day, hopefully.
- 16:52But it depicted a barren, barren, wore out concrete, weathered concrete.
- 17:01With that big old crack, but yet from that came a root out of dry ground, a beautiful plant.
- 17:08And so that's how Jesus, the suffering servant here, would eventually be.
- 17:14And so no beauty is there that we should desire him, unlike physically striking heroes of the past, he will be a meek and humble servant.
- 17:26And then, of course, this text said that he was despised and rejected.
- 17:31A man of sorrow acquainted with grief.
- 17:34So he will be, you know, dealing and dying on behalf of sin sick people.
- 17:41And the fruit of their sin is all around society when Jesus comes on the scene, people will not be able to look at him.
- 17:49They can't stand his face to look at him.
- 17:52They will hide their faces from him, and they will not esteem him.
- 17:57Even among those who once zealously followed him,
- 18:01Once they learned of what following him would cost, when Jesus gave in John chapter six that teaching about eating his blood and or eating his flesh and drinking his blood, he
- 18:13certainly was not talking about cannibalism, but he was saying that if you're going to follow me, you are going to have to take me in like you would food, that I may permeate
- 18:24through every, not just some, but every aspect of your being.
- 18:30But they did not like that, it was a hard saying, the text says, and of course in John six sixty six, the text reads, From that time many of his disciples went back and walked no
- 18:42more with him.
- 18:44And then in Matthew twenty six fifty six, at the crucifixion, it said all his disciples forsook him and fled.
- 18:56And then Matthew does state, but all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.
- 19:03And there he's talking about not just one prophet, but the prophets collectively talked about this sacrifice and the reaction people would have to it.
- 19:13But the suffering servant, not only would he be exalted through humiliation, but he would also be acquainted with grief.
- 19:22And the grief that he was acquainted with was because of our sins.
- 19:26He died for our sins, to make us whole, to heal us not from physical ailments like broken legs and such, but to heal us from the consequences of sin, and that of course he did.
- 19:41And so the third thing that we want to mention here about the suffering servant is found in Isaiah fifty three, four through six, and that is that he died vicariously, that is he
- 19:53died on behalf of the
- 19:55of other people.
- 19:57The text reads beginning in verse four, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
- 20:08But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.
- 20:13The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.
- 20:20All we like sheep have gone astray.
- 20:23We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- 20:31Now notice in these passages the word our He bore our griefs, he carried our sorrows, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised or crushed for our iniquities, and the
- 20:49chastisement of our peace was upon him.
- 20:53And of course, chastisement there means punishment.
- 20:57But notice he did this for us, not for his own self.
- 21:02He had no transgressions, he had no iniquities, he did not need to be punished, but he did this for us.
- 21:10He died for us.
- 21:13And with his stripes we are healed.
- 21:17Now, again, there are many denominations that we use this passage to.
- 21:21justify or whatever that their claims that they can heal people.
- 21:26And when they say heal people, they're talking about fixing broken legs and upset stomachs and all that kind of stuff.
- 21:32But he's not talking about physical healing here.
- 21:36He's talking about sin sick healing.
- 21:40And yes, sometimes healing accompanied miracles, but yet that healing was to prove that the speaker was or the message was from God.
- 21:52And so he does heal us, but he heals us from the effects of sin.
- 21:57In Ephesians chapter two, verses fourteen through eighteen, Paul writes, For he that is Jesus, Jesus Himself is our peace, who is made both one.
- 22:09Now the both are the Jew and the Gentile, he is made both one and has broken down the middle wall of s of separation.
- 22:18having abolished in his flesh the enity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.
- 22:32And again the one new man, he he took Jew and Gentile, brought them together into one, one man or one body as it is, verse sixteen, that he might reconcile them both to God by one
- 22:45body through the cross
- 22:48Thereby putting to death the enity.
- 22:52And he came and preached peace to you who are far off, the Gentiles, and to those who are near, the Jews.
- 23:00For through him we both, Jew and Gentile, have access by one spirit to the Father.
- 23:08And so through Jesus' death he broke down that middle wall of partition.
- 23:13And in Colossians two, fourteen, he would call that he nailed it to the cross.
- 23:18That which separated Jew and Gentile, which was the law, was nailed to the cross, it died with Jesus.
- 23:26In 2 Corinthians 5 21, Paul said, For he made him that is Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin or a sin offering for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
- 23:44And so this suffering servant.
- 23:47Died on behalf of us.
- 23:51His death was vicarious.
- 23:54He became sin, the sin offering for us, even though he did not deserve it, and he did not know sin.
- 24:02You see, sin separates us from God.
- 24:05Again, Isaiah 59, one and two, the Lord Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear.
- 24:15But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, your sins have hid his face from you.
- 24:21And so sin separates us from God.
- 24:24And the wages of sin therefore is death, and all have sin and come short of the glory of God, Romans six twenty three and Romans three twenty three.
- 24:33And so we all individually we stray from God.
- 24:38We reject God's ways for our own way or for the ways of the world.
- 24:45And so, but we must not forget the sacrifice the suffering servant of Isaiah made for us vicariously.
- 24:53And so this servant was exalted through humiliation.
- 24:57He was acquainted with grief and sorrow.
- 25:01He died on our behalf vicariously.
- 25:05And then notice the fourth aspect of this suffering servant is that he was totally and would be totally submissive to God.
- 25:15No matter the price to himself.
- 25:19In Isaiah fifty three seven through nine we read He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
- 25:30He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
- 25:40He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare his generation?
- 25:45For he was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgressions of my people he was stricken.
- 25:52And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
- 26:05Notice he is innocent, yet he accepts this vicarious death.
- 26:12Now it says of him that he did not retaliate.
- 26:16He was like a lamb who waits the same way, whether that lamb is going to the shearer or whether he's going to the slaughter.
- 26:25He waits the same.
- 26:28Now Jesus was accused, of course, throughout his mockery of a trial.
- 26:34He was accused by the chief priests, he was questioned by Pilate, Matthew twenty seven, one through fourteen.
- 26:42He was even questioned by Herod in Luke twenty three verse nine.
- 26:46It says there that Herod questioned him with many words, but Jesus answered him nothing.
- 26:54And if you remember this, Herod just wanted to see Jesus for entertainment.
- 26:58He wanted to be entertained by some miracles or something.
- 27:02But yet Jesus would not answer him.
- 27:05As a matter of fact, whenever false accusations were leveled against him, he would not answer.
- 27:11But when true things were said about him, he did answer.
- 27:15For example, when Pilate said, Are you a king?
- 27:18He said, Thou sayest, To this end was I born, and to this end came I into the world.
- 27:23John chapter 18.
- 27:25And so Jesus was you know totally submissive to God.
- 27:31Remember when John the Baptist saw him, John 121, he said, Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world.
- 27:41That was the mission, that was the job of Jesus to come.
- 27:44And to die for our sins.
- 27:46Now he faced, of course, unfair judicial treatment, but yet he was submissive to God.
- 27:55Pilate three times.
- 27:57John 18, 38, John 19, 4 and 6, Pilate said, I find no fault in him.
- 28:06But yet Pilate would not have the backbone to release Jesus, but rather he
- 28:13Sacrifice Jesus to Pilate.
- 28:16Jesus was the scapegoat.
- 28:18Remember, Pilate, when they first brought Jesus to him, didn't want anything to do with it because that wasn't his jurisdiction.
- 28:25He doesn't rule over matters of Jewish law.
- 28:29But when somebody said, Hey, if you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend.
- 28:35And of course, that's what struck Pilate, and it made him think he had to act.
- 28:40And then he did everything he could to try to get the people to want Jesus released.
- 28:44But their answer, time and time again, was crucify him, crucify him.
- 28:50And so Pilate eventually delivered Jesus to the Jews to be crucified.
- 28:58John 19 16.
- 29:00Then Pilate delivered him to them to be crucified.
- 29:04So they took Jesus and led him away.
- 29:08Now the text would say that he was cut off from the land of the living.
- 29:14That is, he died.
- 29:15He was put to death.
- 29:17In the prime, we might say, of his physical life, he was taken down, slaughtered, as a lamb is for sacrifice.
- 29:28And so who can speak of his generation?
- 29:31It was said, who will declare his generation?
- 29:34His generation would not understand the significance of his death.
- 29:38And he was not able to leave any physical children prosperity or posterity posterity because he had no no children, which of course is probably a good thing.
- 29:51He's got a bunch of spiritual children, but no blood, earthly uh children.
- 29:57Jesus was not married, though he does have the bride, the church.
- 30:02But who can speak of his generation?
- 30:05He was receiv he did receive an honorable berry.
- 30:08Burial, he was buried with the rich at his death, even though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.
- 30:17And he was buried in that tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, who seemed to be a wealthy person, and it was very important that that tomb was brand new.
- 30:26Nobody had laid in that tomb, because the way the ancients would do this is the person would die, and then they would put his his body in that tomb.
- 30:37In that tomb, in that stone uh tomb, and sealed with a rock, and he would lay there until the next person passed away.
- 30:46And then when that person passed away, they would remove the remains and put the new remains there until the next person died, so forth and so on.
- 30:56And of course, the Old Testament expression, uh, he slept with his father's, has that imagery uh behind it.
- 31:03And so he was a suffering servant.
- 31:07he was exalted through humiliation.
- 31:10He was acquainted with grief.
- 31:14He suffered on vicariously on our behalf, and he was totally submissive to his father.
- 31:22And then the final point that Isaiah reveals about this suffering servant in Isaiah fifty three, ten through twelve is his victory and reward.
- 31:33The text reads verse ten yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he has put him to grief.
- 31:41When you make his soul an offering for sin,
- 31:44He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
- 31:52He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied.
- 31:56By his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
- 32:03Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death and
- 32:13And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
- 32:21Through verse twelve.
- 32:23And so here it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
- 32:27Now the suffering was not pleasant, of course.
- 32:31When Jesus hung on the cross in Matthew twenty seven, forty six, he said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
- 32:38Now much has been said about that phrase.
- 32:42And we'll have to save it for another time, the full details of it.
- 32:47But it seems this is his human nature, the human side of him, is saying this because he's suffering so bad, it feels as if, think, it seems as if God has forsaken him.
- 32:59But yet would God would not would God literally forsake him?
- 33:03Now this goes back to Psalm twenty two, and David wrote that Psalm, and he felt that God had forsaken him, but the truth of the matter is God had not forsaken him.
- 33:13And the Psalm goes on to say that.
- 33:15And so if David could cry out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, even though the Lord did not forsake him in a literal way, why could not Jesus cry the same thing?
- 33:25And besides all that, when Jesus says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
- 33:31the Jews there would automatically go to Matthew, or excuse me, go to Psalm twenty two, and they would realize that he is claiming that that Psalm, and rightly so,
- 33:41He is claiming that Psalm is being fulfilled right there at that very moment.
- 33:47But again, we'll have to talk more about that on another episode some other time.
- 33:51But it pleased the Lord that he could provide an adequate sacrifice to take away the sins of the world.
- 34:02In Acts 2 23, Peter and his sermon, the first sermon following the resurrection of Jesus.
- 34:09Said him that is Jesus being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death.
- 34:23And so notice that phrase by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.
- 34:29The sacrifice of Jesus was no afterthought, it was not a plan B, it was not an audible that.
- 34:37was called at the line of scrimmage when the defense was seen arranged differently than what was expected, no not at all.
- 34:45This was the very determined purpose that Jesus would come, to provide a sacrifice, an adequate sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
- 34:58The Hebrews writer put it this way in Hebrews nine, eleven through fourteen, but Christ came as a high priest of good things to come.
- 35:07With the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, he entered
- 35:18the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
- 35:24For if the blood of goats and bulls, or bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh,
- 35:35How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
- 35:48And so Jesus came purposely by the will of God to be a sacrifice for our sins.
- 35:55Now that sacrifice of Jesus resulted in three things for him.
- 36:01And of course this is all prophetic, but fulfilled in Jesus.
- 36:05Number one, he shall see his seed.
- 36:09Isaiah fifty three here, well, Isaiah fifty three fifty-four and verse three, the very next chapter uh talks about that.
- 36:19But in Romans chapter two, verse twenty eight, Paul says, For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.
- 36:30But he is a Jew which is one inwardly.
- 36:33And circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God.
- 36:44And so the seed that would that he would see would be, of course, ultimately the Messianic kingdom or the church.
- 36:51For Galatians five, fifteen through sixteen, Paul wrote, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
- 37:03And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
- 37:12And so the Israel of God is the church, and of course in Galatians three, verse sixteen, the seed is one seed, and that seed is Christ.
- 37:23And through Christ we are a new creation, and when we walk according to that rule or according to that pattern,
- 37:31We are the Israel of God, the chosen people of God.
- 37:35So the first result of the Lord's sacrifice of the suffering servant would be he shall see his seed.
- 37:42The second result is that he shall prolong his days.
- 37:45Now of course the Lord would be crucified, but up from the grave he would arise.
- 37:53And so in Revelation one, seventeen and eighteen, after John sees that awesomely magnificent.
- 38:00Magnificent Vision of Jesus.
- 38:05The text says, When I saw him I fell at his feet as dead.
- 38:11But he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, Do not be afraid.
- 38:16I am the first and the last.
- 38:19I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen.
- 38:26And I have the keys of Hades and
- 38:29and of death.
- 38:31And so even though they crucified this suffering servant, they crucified the Lord, he rose again from the dead, never to die again.
- 38:41And so his days were indeed prolonged even into eternity.
- 38:46And then a third result of this beautiful sacrifice of the suffering servant is that the pleasure of God will prosper in his hands.
- 38:56That is God's will, God's pleasure
- 38:59will be through this suffering servant.
- 39:03In fact, Paul would say in Colossians one nineteen and twenty that all fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily.
- 39:11Chapter two verse nine as well.
- 39:13Revelation nineteen sixteen, among other places, says that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords.
- 39:21In Ephesians one twenty two, the Lord has put all things under his feet and
- 39:26And gave Jesus to be the head over all things to the church.
- 39:30And then in Revelation 12, 11, those who overcome, all of us can overcome.
- 39:37And that verse says, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death.
- 39:49And so through Christ we can, through Christ the blood of the Lamb, we can.
- 39:54and will overcome if we stick with him.
- 39:58And so it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
- 40:02But yet also, the lat in verse thirteen, by his knowledge we shall be justified.
- 40:09Well actually, I'm referring to uh not verse thirteen of Isaiah fifty three, but in Isaiah fifty four, verse thirteen, the text there says, All your children shall be taught by the
- 40:23Lord
- 40:24And great shall be the peace of your children.
- 40:27And so by his knowledge many will be justified.
- 40:31And again, if you remember, in the old covenant, they were born, and then the men were circumcised, the males were circumcised on the eighth day, and then as they grew they
- 40:42learned about God.
- 40:43But in the new covenant, they'll have to know about God first, and then they'll continue to grow once they enter into the covenant.
- 40:51John reminded them of this in John six forty four and forty five No one can come to me unless the Father who has sent me draws him, and I will raise him at the last day.
- 41:03It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught by God.
- 41:08Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
- 41:14And so we must again learn about Jesus first before we come to him and become a Christian.
- 41:21For remember, Paul said in Romans 10 17 that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
- 41:29So we cannot have biblical faith unless it's based on the truth of God's word.
- 41:36And so it's very important that we study and learn about God's Word.
- 41:42And so also the reward of his victory is stated in Isaiah 53, 10-12.
- 41:48We know that Christ is stronger than Satan.
- 41:52And Jesus brought this point out in Luke eleven, twenty one through twenty two, when he said, How can one enter into a strong man's house unless he's stronger?
- 42:00And of course by implication Jesus was teaching there that he was stronger than Satan, and this was proven because he cast out demons, and Satan surely wouldn't cast out demons,
- 42:12because a house divided against itself cannot stand.
- 42:16Now the servant will be will deliver many from Satan.
- 42:20John twelve thirty one, the record says Now is the judgment of this world, now the ruler of this world will be cast out, and he'll be cast out through obedience to the gospel, of
- 42:32course, because Jesus, you know, he died to save or to release us from the fear of death.
- 42:39Hebrews two, fourteen and fifteen.
- 42:42Insomuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself, that is Jesus, likewise shared in the same.
- 42:51That through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
- 43:03And so the death of Christ, the death of that suffering servant, freed us from the fear of death.
- 43:12And the foundation of this suffering servant and his deliverance is the victory that he gained.
- 43:20over sin.
- 43:22Now again that that victory, that foundation is deliberate.
- 43:26In John 10, 17 through 18, therefore my father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again.
- 43:35No one takes it from me, but I lay it down fr of my of myself, I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
- 43:47This command I have received
- 43:50From my Father.
- 43:52And so he was victorious.
- 43:56He deliberately laid his life down.
- 44:00And of course he can raise it again.
- 44:02And incidentally, you know, the Father is said to raise up the Son, Romans six, verse four.
- 44:08The Holy Spirit is said to raise up the Son, Romans eight, eleven and twelve.
- 44:12And here Jesus says in John ten eighteen that I lay it down and I have the power to take it up again.
- 44:19So all three members of the Godhead are involved in the resurrection of Jesus.
- 44:25Well, the foundation of this victory again is is its deliberateness.
- 44:29Also, he was numbered with the human race, with the transgressors.
- 44:35He was numbered with the human race.
- 44:38He joined them.
- 44:40And he represented them and he saved them.
- 44:43He shed his blood.
- 44:44You know, he truly
- 44:47Showed that he was made in the image and likeness of God.
- 44:52And so Jesus was numbered with the human race.
- 44:56In fact, uh some have said that when uh Jesus demanded to be baptized by John the Baptist rule, remember in Matthew chapter 3 and Luke 3, in parallels to that, remember, John did
- 45:10not want to baptize him.
- 45:11If anything, John needed to be baptized by him.
- 45:15But the synoptic gospels say that John went ahead and baptized Jesus to fulfill all righteousness.
- 45:23And some have suggested that perhaps the part of that righteousness that was fulfilled is that he was numbered with the human race.
- 45:32Humans were being baptized by John, and so Jesus would identify with that and be baptized with them.
- 45:38Of course, we realize that.
- 45:40Jesus was not baptized for the same reason in the sense that John or Jesus had no sin.
- 45:45He did not have to repent, whereas the others did, but he was baptized to fulfill all righteousness.
- 45:52Now of course John chapter 1, verse 31, particularly in verse 34, well that whole context, 31 through 34, says that John baptized Jesus so that Jesus would be made known not just to
- 46:05John the Baptist, but also to Israel.
- 46:08So he baptized him.
- 46:10To make that manifest, and of course, when Jesus came up out of the water, the dove descended, or the spirit descended like a dove upon him.
- 46:18Jesus came up out of the water, and the voice from heaven said, This is my beloved son.
- 46:23And so we do see all three members of the Godhead.
- 46:25And then finally, the foundation of this victory, not only is it deliberate numbered with the human race, but he maketh intercession for us.
- 46:35Again, as the verse states.
- 46:38He made at the end of verse twelve, he made intercession for the transgressors.
- 46:45And so Hebrews seven twenty five does confirm, therefore he that is Jesus is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives and makes
- 47:02intercession for them.
- 47:06And so we serve a wonderful practice.
- 47:08Wonderful servant, a suffering servant, and this servant was exalted through humiliation, Isaiah fifty two, thirteen through fifteen.
- 47:20He was acquainted with grief, this suffering servant, Isaiah fifty three, one through three.
- 47:26He was totally submissive, this suffering servant, fifty three through or fifty three seven through nine.
- 47:38He was vicariously suffering for us, Isaiah fifty three, four through six, and he has a victory and reward Isaiah fifty three, ten through twelve.
- 47:53And so what a tremendous God we serve who gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
- 48:02And so let us live, let us interact with others, let us teach others.
- 48:08about this suffering servant, and let us live for him, for he died for us.
- 48:15Well, we appreciate you joining us today and we'll begin with Jeremiah in our next episodes as we continue the sixth season of Minoring in the Majors, the major prophets
- 48:27that is.
- 48:28We look forward to being with you soon.