Sermon Tone Analysis

Isaiah 53:10-12

 

! Introduction

            When I watched “The Passion Of The Christ,” I was always wondering how the film would end.

I was afraid that it might say too much and so not call for faith or that it would not say enough and ignore the resurrection.

I was pleased with the way that it ended.

There was enough of a hint of the resurrection in it to make you realize that Christ had risen, but not too much so that you still had to respond in faith.

This is very much like the gospel of Mark which, if we accept the shorter reading, also gives us just a hint that Christ has risen and invites us to faith.

When you read the Bible, it is not the gospels that give us the clearest, theologically defended presentation of the resurrection, it is the letters, especially I Corinthians 15.

After years of reflection and living in the resurrection, it was possible to make a clear and powerful theological statement about the good news that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and what that meant.

Although we have a hint of the resurrection in the gospels and a full theological treatise of the resurrection victory in I Corinthians 15, the message that the Christ would have victory by rising from the grave is already declared in the Old Testament.

On Friday, we examined the suffering of His soul as we looked at the beginning part of Isaiah 53.

Today, we will look at the message of the victory which God enacted through the death and resurrection of Christ.

Our text will be Isaiah 53:10-12.

Read Isaiah 53:10-12

            In this passage, there are five statements which more than hint at victory.

Based on the sacrificial, willing death of Christ, these statements go beyond the sacrifice of Christ to the result of his sacrifice.

These five statements encourage us with the fact and the meaning of the resurrection.

May we rejoice and be encouraged in hope as we reflect on these truths.

Let us meditate on what Christ’s resurrection victory means to us.

!

I.

There Is A Future

A few months ago when I took my grandson to see my grandmother and we took a 5 generation picture, I thought about generations.

Five generations is fairly rare, but it does happen.

The occasion was a time of celebrating that the people who were there had lived long enough to see their children, their grandchildren, great-grandchildren and even great-great grandchildren.

Such an event speaks of long life.

On Friday, we read in Isaiah 53:8, “who can speak of his descendants for he was cut off from the land of the living.”

The prophecy speaks about the servant, whom we identify as Jesus, who was going to experience death.

The way in which the poetry speaks about it is that he would not see his descendents for he would die before he was able to do so.

One writer helps us understand how bad this was when he indicates that “In Jewish tradition to die without children was tragic,” so such a statement is sad and speaks of an ending.

But that is not the whole story.

“A letter came from Health and Human Services to a resident of Greenville County, South Carolina: ‘Your food stamps will be stopped, effective March 1992, because we received notice that you passed away.

May God bless you.

You may reapply if your circumstances change.’"

- S. Bowen Matthews

            Well for Jesus, we discover that his circumstances did change.

In Isaiah 53:8 it said, “who can speak of his descendants” but in Isaiah 53:10 we read, “he will see his offspring.”

As we examine verse 10, we learn that “though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering” that is not the end of the story.

There is the hint of victory here, the promise that there is a future, that the Messiah will see future generations.

Other Scriptures declare the same truth.

John 12:24 says, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.

But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

That is the life story and the victory of Jesus.

Because he laid down his life and was raised again from the dead, He has many who are his offspring.

In fact, we are that offspring.

We experience the blessing of relationship with Jesus today, the confidence that He is interceding for us and the hope that we will see Him face to face one day.

He will see His offspring and that is a great victory.

!

II.

God’s Will Is Accomplished

            It is always great to make a plan and see it accomplished.

Whether it is a plan to take a trip, build something, crop your fields or organize an event, when we make the plan, work towards it and then accomplish it, there is great joy in that process.

God had a plan.

Even before the world was established and before people walked away from God in sin, God’s was working on a plan.

What was the plan or we might say the will of God?

Many Scripture passages speak about this, let us look at a few.

In Ephesians 1:9,10, we learn that it is God’s will to have one ruler over all creation.

We read, “And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”

Another statement of the will of God is declared by Jesus in John 6:37-39, “this is my Father’s will that I lose none of those whom he has given me.”

In Ephesians 1:5, God’s will is revealed as the desire to create a family which will be His family and which will love and follow Him.

We read, “he predestined us to be adopted as his sons…in accordance with his will.”

The victory which comes because of the voluntary death of the servant of the Lord is that, “the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand” as it says in Isaiah 53:10.

When Christ died and rose, that happened.

The accomplishment of the will of the Lord came about through Christ.

When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the different gospels record some of the words Jesus spoke.

On Friday, we noticed that he recognized the awful separation from his Father when he cried out, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

In John 19:10 we have another of the words of Jesus recorded as he died.

He said, “ “it is finished.”

This did not mean “I’m dead and it’s over,” rather, it means, “the will of God has prospered in my hand.”

I have done what I came to do.

Paul Hovey has written, “The simplest meaning of Easter is that we are living in a world in which God has the last word.”

This is victory!

!

III.

Resurrection Is Promised

            Up until this point in Isaiah 53, we have had hints of resurrection, but in verse 11, we have a declaration of resurrection when it says, “he will see the light of life.”

When the women and the other disciples stood at the foot of the cross, they were quite convinced that they would never see Jesus again.

They saw him laid into the darkness of the tomb and the whole earth was covered in darkness.

With him, all hope died - all hope for Israel, all hope for themselves, all hope for the human race.

But as the promise in Isaiah declared, “He will see the light of life.”

when they saw Him again - the women, Peter and John, the twelve and others - they knew that everything had changed, that victory had been gained.

The gospels report his resurrection and the rest of the New Testament also speaks of His resurrection.

Acts 2:24 says, “God raised him from the dead.”

Romans 6:9 assures us, “Christ was raised from the dead.”

And Revelation 1:18 encourages, “I am the Living One I was dead and behold I am alive forever.”

James Kennedy writes, “For many centuries the men and women in Europe looked out upon the western sea, what we call the Atlantic Ocean, and they saw the sun coruscating upon the glittering surface of the waters and they wondered.

They wondered if there was anything beyond.

Scholars said that you could sail off the edge of the world--there was nothing out there at all.

In fact, inscribed on the escutcheons of the coat of arms of the nation of Spain was its national motto, Ne Plus Ultra, meaning, "There is nothing beyond."

“One day Columbus went westering on the shiny waters.

He sailed off into the sunset as people waited expectantly, and finally after a long time the sails reappeared and the crowds were exultant.

They shouted with joy, and Columbus announced that there was a land beyond the sea that was rich beyond their dreams.

It was a glorious paradise.

The king of Spain changed the motto of that land until it reads as it does today, Plus Ultra, meaning, "There is more beyond."

“For many centuries innumerable people stood beside the dark hole that we call a grave and watched the remains of their loved ones lowered into the earth, and they wondered: Beyond the dark waters of death, is there anything beyond?

“Then one day, a young explorer went westering into the setting sun and descended into the blackness of the pit.

He sailed off the edge of the world.

People waited expectantly.

Finally on this Resurrection morning, as the sun arose in the east, the Son of God stepped forth from a grave and declared, "There is something beyond.

There is a paradise beyond your greatest expectations.

And there awaits a heavenly Father, waiting with outstretched arms to wipe away every tear from your cheek."

- D. James Kennedy, "Message from an Empty Tomb," Preaching Today, Tape No. 66.

The promise of resurrection described in the statement “he will see the light of life” encourages us with the message of the resurrection, but the statement goes on to say, “and be satisfied.”