Isaiah 53
A report that seems far too good to be true… Can it be that the sinless Servant of the Lord would stand in for me and pay my debt? Can it be that His character and goodness would be counted as mine by God? This is the message of the gospel and it is the good report that comes to us from a straight-forward reading of the Bible. But who will believe this report? If it is true that this is the message of the Bible, how will this news be fulfilled that seems too good to be true? It will happen through a suffering that seems so wrong. Who could believe that God would let His Servant suffer on the cross so much in order that we would not have to suffer forever? This final song of the four Servant Songs is so clearly about Christ that, even if we did not have the many New Testament citation of this passage that confirm that point, it would be plain just from reading the chapter itself. What does this chapter reveal about the Servant of the Lord who has now come and has already accomplished His mission?
The Servant was nothing to look at, but don’t imagine that He was received with some bland neutrality. His status was less than neutral. He was despised. He was a man of sorrows. We did not esteem Him. At the height of His suffering people would have wanted to look away from Him. That moment of His deepest affliction was also the moment of His greatest service for us as weak sinners. He did something for us. He was standing in our place. We had the grief, but He carried it for us. We had the transgressions, but He took the wounds that they deserved. We had the iniquities, but He took the weight of the Lord’s crushing justice for us. We needed peace, so he took the punishment. We wandered away from God, so the Lord laid on Him our iniquity.
That last idea needs to be considered carefully. This was a plan that involved the Father and the Son. The suffering that the Servant of the Lord faced was from the Father. It was the just penalty for our sins that He bore. That penalty was not owed to the devil or to any other creature. That penalty was a debt that was owed to God – the God who had said from the beginning that justice demanded consequences for sin. The God who said from the beginning, “You will surely die,” now administered the sentence of death upon the One with whom He was singularly well-pleased. This is the love of God for you in the cross of Jesus Christ.
How would He face this terrible divine wrath that stood against us? He would face it in silence. Though He went to the cross with complete awareness of what would happen to Him and what His work would accomplish, He would accept His cross-work with the peace of a lamb about to be slaughtered who does not understand what will happen next. This silent willingness to submit to the Lord’s will came after His fervent plea to His Father for another way, if it were possible. Even in His urgent request He was still completely submissive to His Father’s will.
This all seems so unjust. He had not done one thing wrong, but He would face oppression, the corrupt judgment of men, his death, and finally the grave. Yet the Lord, who could never be the author of any injustice, was working out His sovereign and holy will. “It was the will of the LORD to crush Him.” These words are horrible even to say, but they are most surely not the end of the story for Jesus of Nazareth. Born of a woman in a very low condition, living under the Law during the time of preparation for a Jewish Messiah, undergoing the miseries of this life, He would now face the eternal justice of God, as the Lord’s wrath would come to this one focal point for the elect in His cursed death upon the cross. But beyond the grave there would be only the greatest exaltation for the God-Man whose name is above every name.
The Lord’s plan for Jesus Christ was a plan not only of great suffering, but also of great prosperity. The death that He died was powerful. We call it a substitutionary atonement. The sinless God-Man dies and elect sinners live, for the Holy Servant of the Lord intercedes, “Forgive them Lord, they do not know what they are doing.” This great act of obedience would be like a massive explosion of blessing and grace that would yield blessing upon blessing and grace upon grace as the centuries moved forward.
You may think that He had no children, but Isaiah 53 promises that He shall see His offspring, and all of us who are united to Him in faith are surely the blessed fruit of this Savior. You may think that He died way ahead of His time, but do not forget that the Lord has prolonged His days into the most wonderful eternal life, not only for Him, but for all who call upon His name. You may only see the anguish of His soul, but do you know that He will be satisfied forever with the glory that was set before Him. He has brought about the will of God. He has made many righteous.
His reward is great and we are bound to Him forever as fellow heirs. What He did was the most wonderful thing ever done. He poured out His own life to death. He faced the indignity of being numbered with transgressors, not only thieves on His right and left, but in His representation of us He stands in our place as a transgressor though He has never been and will never be a sinner. He was merely bearing the sins of many, and then interceding for the transgressors. We receive the benefits of His prayers for us with great appreciation and expectation, and we will never forget what He has done for us. More than that, God will not forget what His Son has done for Him. Suffering must give way to glory. The cross is finished. The crown is forever.
posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home