Suffering Servant Series, Part 1
Isaiah 52:13-15
The Servant Exalted
Tonight
we are beginning a series of studies taking an in depth look at
A) Title the suffering
servant
B) Chapter breaks in the Bible
are helpful helps us all find the right place
C) Sometimes the Chapter breaks seem to be out of place this is one of those times
Ch.53
really should begin in v.13 of
A) Song with 5 stanzas
1. Gods Servant Exalted:
2. Gods Humble Servant:
3. The Suffering Servant:
4. The Silent Servant:
5. Gods Servant Satisfied:
B) This section of scripture
has been called the
MT Everest of the OT Highest ground
C) Depicts in great detail
the suffering of our Savior on the Cross at
Reading
a sermon this week by Joseph Parker who was preaching in the late 1800s
A) He was commenting then
over 100yrs ago how Churches in his day were shrinking back from talking about
the Blood of Christ
B) A
dainty Piety has forced upon us a dainty vocabulary
C) Listen there is nothing Dainty about
1) It is very graphic for a
reason.
D) Lets read the whole
section
Behold
my Servant Many scholars have called this the Echo Homo of the OT
A) Pilate said of Christ
Behold the man
God declares Behold my servant
B) Written by
1)
C) That is important because
there are those who try to get rid of these Chapters
1) Rabbis who have tried to
espionage this from scripture
D) Because it describes so
clearly the suffering of an individual for the sins of the pp.
There
are also those who say this is a picture of
A) It is true in Isaiah
B) But it is always a remnant that is pictured as the servant
1) Where as the nation as a
whole is depicted as suffering in punishment for their rebellion
C) Plus this is clearly in the singular this is talking about an individual
who is being punished not for his own sins but for the sins & iniquities of
others
D) Philip in
1) Reading from
Dd) We have
clearly come to the highest thing that Isaiah has seen higher than Isaiah 6
..
1) See that is the picture
that we would expect to see of Sovereign. God throne high lifted
train
..
E) What we are reading here
is something that is really incomprehensible
1) Beyond our imagination
BEHOLD
MY SERVANT: Look at Gaze upon consider
see clearly.
13 Behold, My
Servant shall deal prudently;
He shall be
exalted and extolled and be very high.
It
is interesting to note how the father starts this song
A) He takes Jesus and He EXALTS HIM [first thing]
Aa) REASON: Only way to even
begin to understand the depths to which he stooped is to get a glimpse of the Heights FROM which he started
B) It is almost as if God is
saying: I want you to understand as you
enter this passage-
1) A passage that will take
you down and pull your heart into depths that are
unimaginable
C) I want you to Know there
is no defeat there!
I want you to see His Heights first
D) Know that in the depths
to which He will stoop He is accomplishing something Behold my servant
Prudently=
dealing in wisdom, dealing with discretion.
A) Dealing with something in
wisdom to the complete end of it to where something is accomplished.
B) Jesus knew why He came
to go to the cross
Who
for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
He shall move prudently
accomplishing the purpose from which He came
He
will be exalted extolled: He will be
lifted up, He will be very High. He will rise up. He will raise Himself up. He will stand even higher.
Scholars have called this:
The commencement:
The continuation: The climax
The commencement: The resurrection it all begins here.
The continuation: The ascension
The climax: Seated at the right hand of the Father, where He sits making
intercession for the saints.
Picture seen
often of Jesus in Scripture:
Behold my Servant He shall
accomplish what He set out to do!
A) He shall be exalted extolled lifted up to the place where there is only under and there is no over.
B) He will be above
everything.
So
the Father sets the stage by Exalting Him- He starts that way because in V.14
He says
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;
Astonished=
Astonyed in the Greek made desolate, made waste, paralyzed.
A) Idea being that what they
saw so staggered them it froze them they were desolate
B) They were laid waste
they were paralyzed by it
C) Note: it doesnt say that
He was marred more than any other human being that has ever lived.
D) No it says his visage: he was a
vision of distortion he was a vision of desolation. He was a vision of
disfigurement.
Last
night I was watching some clips of the passion
A) I like to re watch that
movie when we get close to Easter
B) Graphic but not near as
graphic as the real deal
1) Isaiah 50:6 Beard plucked out still has it in ..film
C) Here Isaiah says Visage
no longer looked man like he didnt look like a
human being
D)
Mel Gibson interviewed: We couldnt be any more graphic because no one would
have been able to stomach it. Couldnt sit thru it
E) Sobering film: Over
silent sobs popcorn untouched
Idea
behind astonished: Laid waste made desolate paralyzed by what they saw!
A) Started with him being
beaten spit upon blindfolded beaten some more.
B)
Scourged with the Roman Flagellum many died before it was over.
C) The Process was one of examination: When The criminal was being scourged if he opened his mouth to
incriminate others who were involved in the crime
They
would lighten up on the beating or stop altogether {Jack Bauer tactic
A) If the criminal stayed
quiet they would lay it on even heavier
B) Jesus was silent as a
lamb before his shearers is silent- he opened not his mouth
1) so they laid it on even
heavier he said nothing which is no doubt what led Pilate to say
BEHOLD THE
MAN!
It
was really miraculous that Jesus was still alive after that beating
A) When they saw Him beaten
so they were paralyzed made desolate by what they saw
B) Ch. 53:3 We turned our
faces from Him
C) What they saw at
The
OT tired to depict that!
A) When the worshipper came
to worship you brought an OX or a Lamb
B) And the lamb was always inspected for blemishes it had to be without blemish
C) So the lamb was inspected
the Worshipper was never inspected it was just taken for granted from the beginning that the worshipper
was sinful
D) The lamb had to be
spotless and when the lamb was declared spotless by the priest you would take your hand
head identification
transfer
E) Given Knife slit the
throat- you would feel it stagger and wrestle as the blood was collected in a
golden bowl
F) YOU would feel the animal
finally collapse
And
you would know that a sinless animal had just died in your place.
A) The animal was then
skinned and the head was taken off laid by itself
B) The kidneys and entrails
were taken out- and laid around the head
1) Then the legs were take
off and piled on top
C) What you had was a
monstrosity! It no longer looked like a
lamb that was the
POINT
1) Because the greater
monstrosity would be at Calvary at
D) His visage so marred that
he didnt even look like a man anymore
Even
worse the Sin of all humanity was placed upon Him- a monstrosity beyond
imagination
A) From the Heights to
unimaginable depths
B) Crucified from before the
foundation of the world for my Sin - I put him there
{Jews / Romans
1) Mel in the film hand of
the Soldier driving the spike it was me
C) When a person comes to
grasp that reality it is really sobering life changing
1) It was my sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For
He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.
Sinless Jesus became Sin
filled that that Sin filled people could become Sin Free
Robert Murray McChenye God heaped upon His son all of our sins until there was
nothing but sin to be seen. He appeared all sin; so that nothing of His own
beauty appeared.
Every tyrant
evil thought etc gossip/ lust
Behold
my servant: He shall deal wisely, strongly, completely, to the completion of
the thing that He was set forth to do!
He then will
be exalted, He will be extolled, He will be lifted up above all,
Because those who saw Him
were staggered by what was before their eyes. Because He was mauled and
Brutalized beyond any semblance of a human being
He was a vision
of distortion he was a vision of desolation. He was a vision of disfigurement.
V.15 So
because of this: His brutalized frame and His death He
shall sprinkle many nations
A) Because of His sacrifice
He shall sprinkle many nations
B)
Idea of sprinkling we find at least 3 times in the OT
C) Sprinkling of blood upon
the head of the worshipper sins were forgiven
D) Jesus is doing the
Sprinkling He is both the sacrifice and the Sacrificer
1) He is the offering and He
is the Priest
E) How can that be? There is
no disparity in that!
The
disparity is between the His exaltation and His humiliation
A) Between the Ht of who He
was and to the depths to which He went to save us that is the disparity
B) There is no disparity in
scripture between Him being the sacrifice for our
sins and the High Priest who is at the right hand
lives to make
intercession
C) No confusion there No
what is incomprehensible is the Who He was and the degree to which He stooped
because of His love for us.
D) He shall sprinkle many nations He shall cleanse
many nations Sacrifice for ALL pp ALL races
1) All nationalities
stretching to every part of the globe
V.15b
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For
what had not been told them they shall see,
And
what they had not heard they shall consider.
A) Kings and Political
leaders silenced
B) ACLU silenced Today not
politically correct to call someone is a sinner ruin
their self esteem
C) Lie from the pit of Hell
No
we have to be honest You are a Sinner I am a sinner We are deplorable /
twisted / messed up
A) But God valued you and
loved you so much as an individual that He sent his son to pay the price
B) Wages of sin is death -
Jesus came to die in your place and my place
C) So that we might be
sprinkled by his blood cleansed by his blood forgiven made new
D)
That my friends is awesome incredible
1) To know that we are that
loved doesnt wreck your self esteem
World leaders will be
stunned by Him Psalm 72
8 He shall have
dominion also from sea to sea,
And from the
River to the ends of the earth.
9 Those who
dwell in the wilderness will bow before Him,
And His enemies will lick the dust.
10
The kings of Tarshish and of the isles
Will
bring presents; The kings of
Will
offer gifts. 11 Yes, all kings shall
fall down before Him; All nations shall serve Him.
Behold my servant: What do
we do with this?
A) I know I need to
understand better the Love of Christ
B) In the ages to come God
will still be revealing the exceeding riches of His grace to us in Christ
C) Paul said
that I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death,
Listen our destination is
not just a place it is an image conformed to the
image of His death
D) Realize Less Rob //
More of Jesus is the answer
When
I see His love in His death the depths to which He stooped for me I am
embarrassed because my love for Him doesnt compare
A) Lazy Areas of apathy
struggle with my flesh
B) I know the only hope for
me is by His Grace
What then
shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He
who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He
not with Him also freely give us all things?
Key word in that verse is
freely The Christian life is about God freely showing dispensing the riches
of His grace to us who are in Christ