A Prelude to Atonement - Isaiah 52:13-53:3

Introduction

One may rightly label chapters 51 to 55 of Isaiah as the New Exodus chapters of Isaiah, for here the prophet appropriates the language of the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy to recapitulate their events in an eschatological framework. In other words, in Isaiah 51-55 the prophet looks forward to the day when the true and better Moses leads the people of God again out of their bonds of slavery, but this time not slavery to Egypt, but slavery to sin itself.

We saw two weeks ago that Yahweh is preparing His Servant, the true and better Moses, indeed Christ Himself to lead His people home.

Last week, Isaiah sounds the call, much like the Israelites elders must have done on the morning after that first Passover: Awake, awake! It is time to march. We are going to the new Promised Land, to the heavenly Zion, a land flowing eternally with milk and honey! And so Isaiah commands the people, just as Moses did in the first Exodus, to depart and go out from Egypt, touching nothing unclean, purifying yourself of your filth, trusting that just as God led and guarded His people with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, so also He will hem them in behind and before as He leads them in a New Exodus.

As we come to verse 13, Isaiah follows the trail of the Exodus, or perhaps more accurately the Exodus as it should have been. Isaiah skips, as it were, the disobedience at Sinai and the wilderness wanderings, and instead drops us on the trail 6 months down the line in the Jewish calendar at Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement.

If the first 12 verses of chapter 52 evoke images of the book of Exodus, then certainly the last 3 evoke images of the book of the Leviticus, specifically chapter 16.

So with that being said, let’s jump into Isaiah’s prelude to atonement.

Exegesis

Isaiah begins this section with a standard transitional phrase: Behold! We might also say “Look!” Isaiah is refocusing our attention as readers on the Servant.

Imagine with me for a moment, as the Israelites are marching out of Egypt, some 2 million strong. They’ve left their homes, laden with Egyptian gold, and they’re walking, and as they walk, they catch a glimpse of Moses, God’s servant.

That same picture is what Isaiah is painting here. Awake, people of God! It’s time to go to the Promised Land! And as you depart, who are your eyes fixed on? The Servant of Yahweh. Then, it was Moses. For Isaiah and for us, it is Christ.

Isaiah shows us a glorious Christ, one who has prospered or succeeded in His mission and purpose. That word there translated prosper could also be translated succeed. Isaiah is calling us to look to the Servant who has succeeded, who has triumphed, who has emerged victorious.

Just as Moses led the people to victory over Og, king of Bashan, and Sihon, king of Heshbon, so Yahweh’s true and better Servant will lead his people out of bondage and into victory. His people will prosper and succeed and triumph because He will prosper, succeed, and triumph.

And what does this prosperity look like? Isaiah describes it in three ways: He will be high, and lifted up, and greatly exalted.

This is a rich picture for Isaiah, painted with the colors of the entire Old Testament.

He is bringing together two images, two motifs, and melding them into one here, as we will see.

The first image that is of the bronze serpent in the wilderness:

Numbers 21:7–9 LSB

Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you; pray to Yahweh, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses prayed for the people. Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; and it will be that everyone who is bitten and looks at it, will live.” And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it happened, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

The second is that of Yahweh’s throne room:

Isaiah 6:1–3 LSB

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.”

The Servant of Yahweh is glorious, just as Yahweh Himself is in Isaiah 6. But Isaiah couples the Servant’s glory, exaltation, and prosperity, in this bronze serpent motif, with the Servant’s humiliation. You cannot have the glory without first having the humiliation. You cannot be exalted without first suffering. You cannot be lifted up to the throne without first being lifted up on the cross.

Only by suffering will the Servant gain glory.

The Servant will sit in the throne room. The angels will bow before Him and cry Holy, Holy, Holy, but this must be precluded by His humiliation, humiliation to the point of death, even death on a cross.

So Isaiah moves to verse 14, almost in the same breath as verse 13 declaring that in the midst of the Servant’s prosperity, His appearance will be marred, to the point that people are appalled at His appearance.

Isaiah now takes the Exodus pattern in a new direction. Not only is the Servant the shepherd-conqueror, as Moses was, He is now also becoming the atoning sacrifice, the scapegoat of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.

Thus in this way, the Servant becomes the fulfillment not only of the pattern of Moses but also of the pattern of the day of atonement.

Isaiah is now revealing to Israel and to us exactly what must take place. The promised Messiah, the seed of the woman, the head-crusher will conquer. He will succeed. He will prosper. He will fulfill what God promised to Eve, and to Noah, and to Abraham, and to David, and to Solomon. But He will not do it as a conquering King. He will do it as a sacrificial Lamb.

The nature of His work will not be glorious as we might conceive of glory. People will be appalled at Him, appalled at what He must suffer to accomplish atonement. His appearance will be marred and disfigured to the point of being unrecognizable. His suffering will be like that of the people of Israel, only to a greater degree, for the marring and disfigurement will be more than any man, and greater than any experienced by the sons of men.

Isaiah makes the implicit reference to the day of atonement explicit in verse 15.

As the Servant suffers, as He is marred and disfigured, it is not arbitrary or random. It has purpose. What is that purpose? According to verse 15 it is to sprinkle the nations.

If you say that the imagery is strange, you would be correct. This word occurs only one other place in the Bible, and thankfully that one place helps us discern exactly what Isaiah means here. The only other time this word occurs in the entire Bible is in Leviticus 16. The sprinkling of the blood of a bull and of a goat is central to the process of the atonement sacrifice on Yom Kippur, the Israelite day of atonement.

So Isaiah’s picture becomes a little clearer: the marring and disfigurement of the Servant is actually the marring and disfigurement of death. Not only will He be beaten and punished beyond recognition, He will be beaten and punished to the point of death, and that death is the death of atonement. Just as the blood of the bull and goat was sprinkled upon the mercy seat to make atonement for the nation of Israel, so the blood of the Servant will be sprinkled upon the nations to make atonement for all of God’s people throughout all nations.

And as the Servant sheds His own blood, sprinkling it on the nations in fulfillment of the ritual of the Leviticult, not only does it shock and appall the watching world in verse 14, in verse 15 it silences the watching world. For in the moment of sacrifice, just as the nation of Israel would have fallen silent at the sacrifice of the bull and goat, so the nations fall silent at the the sacrifice of the Servant of Yahweh.

The Servant thus brings Psalm 2 to a striking resolution:

Psalm 2 LSB

Why do the nations rage And the peoples meditate on a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against Yahweh and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord mocks them. Then He speaks to them in His anger And terrifies them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like a potter’s vessel.’” So now, O kings, show insight; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Serve Yahweh with fear And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

Isaiah thus weaves the themes of Psalm 2 into these verses. But the twist for Isaiah is this: the act of atoning death, that sprinkles the nations with the blood of the Servant, is the very act that silences the vain raging and foolish plotting of the nations.

The greatest act of Servant in His role as king is to offer His own life in His role as priest.

And for Isaiah, as we move into the second part of verse 15, this is a clarifying moment. This is a moment of realization.

Israel and indeed the world expected a conquering king. They expected their Messiah to be a new David in the sense that he would reign wisely as a good and powerful king and he would crush all His enemies and by extension their enemies. But as Israel and nations feared men and kings, they failed to realize what Jesus pointed out in His own ministry in Matthew 10:28

Matthew 10:28 LSB

“And do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

The great problem of the world is that they fear man rather than God, when men can only destroy the body, while God can destroy the entire body and soul for eternity in hell.

The first need of the world is not then a conquering King, though we will certainly get that when all is said and done. The first need of the world is an atoning sacrifice. A substitute to pay the price on our behalf so we might go free. This is the central doctrine of the Christian faith, and with all due respect to Martin Luther, may in fact be the true doctrine upon which the church stands or falls.

This is why the kings and nations cease raging. They behold the Servant of Yahweh, who demonstrates His power as a king by sacrificing himself as a priest. They realize that the true need of all humanity is not what they thought it was. They realize that as the Psalmist said, they must kiss the Son, lest they perish in the way. They realize that trusting in the atoning sacrifice of the Servant is the only way to escape His wrath.

We can observe a very interesting linguistic transition in 53:1, that will likely make sense to those of you who have paid close attention to Paul’s line of reasoning in Romans as we’ve studied it during equipping hour.

Isaiah is placing Israel in verse 1 in contrast with the kings and nations of verse 15. The kings and nations had not heard, but will look upon the Servant and believe. Israel had heard, but did not look upon the Servant and believe.

This is corroborated and expanded upon by Paul in Romans 9:30-33

Romans 9:30–33 LSB

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, laid hold of righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not attain that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “BEHOLD, I AM LAYING IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND THE ONE WHO BELIEVES UPON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.”

The folly of Israel was their lack of faith. The glory of the Gentiles is their abundance of faith. What Israel had heard for so many years, but failed to believe, is not being delivered to the Gentiles, who receive it in faith and obedience.

And who is the Servant-Arm of Yahweh? We have seen Him before, and Isaiah continues to weave together a robust tapestry of Servantology as His character and works become increasingly evident.

It’s important to note another literary transition here. Isaiah is now speaking in the past tense. He describes the Servant in “was” language. This is significant. Isaiah is prophesying about the end of time. He is prophesying about the end of the existence of the nation of Israel as we know it, as they finally see with clear eyes their Messiah. They ought to have looked forward to His coming, and by prophesies and types and shadows, known Him and loved Him when He made His dwelling among them. But they did not do what they ought to have done.

They should have believed Him. But they beat Him.

They should have followed Him. But they flogged Him.

They should have come to Him. But they crucified Him.

God would be right to reject Israel entirely, and to tell them they’ve lost their chance, and that His covenant will now be with the Gentiles alone. But God is not only just, He is also merciful. And Isaiah has a vision of that mercy being made real in the heart of Israel at the end of all things. They did not look forward to the Messiah. They did not see Him when He came. But praise God that in His mercy, Israel will one day see the Servant for who He is. They will one day behold Him as Isaiah calls them to in verse 13. Isaiah 53 is therefore a song of repentance. A song of corporate, national repentance, ordained by God in His mercy and seen by Isaiah in chapter 53.

Yes, Isaiah 53 teaches us about Christ. Yes it teaches us about atonement. Yes it teaches us about salvation. But Isaiah 53 is ultimately about hope. Hope for Israel, and hope for all who, though perhaps living for years in rejection, eventually believe the report, see the revelation, look upon the Servant, and receive salvation in Him.

Having dealt with his audience, Isaiah now turns to the Servant-Arm of Yahweh. In this prophetic future in which Isaiah speaks, as Israel looks back upon the Messiah, what do they see?

They see the tender shoot, the root growing out of parched ground.

Isaiah takes us to the wasteland of Yahweh’s judgment first described in Isaiah 1:30-31

Isaiah 1:30–31 LSB

For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers away Or as a garden that has no water. And the strong man will become tinder, His work also a spark. Thus they shall both burn together, And there will be none to quench them.

Israel, intended to be the New Eden, the perfect Garden of God, flowing and overflowing with all the good that comes from being in the presence of the Lord, is now a waterless garden. A withered tree. The garden of delight has become the garden of decay.

Isaiah elaborates further in Isaiah 5:1-7

Isaiah 5:1–7 LSB

Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He hoped for it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones. “So now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Please judge between Me and My vineyard. “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I hoped for it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall, and it will become trampled ground. “I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also command the clouds to rain no rain on it.” For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He hoped for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.

The garden is a wasteland.

I grew up near Cortez, Colorado, which is perhaps most well-known as the home of Mesa Verde National Park. There are many great things about Mesa Verde, but one of the best is the drive up to the plateau, literally the mesa verde, the green table. Sagebrush, pinion pine, and yucca plants build a bridge between the Sonoran Desert to the south and the Rocky Mountains to the north. When the area receives 5 or 6 feet of snowfall in the winter, the table turns green, or as the Spanish explorers would have said, la mesa se vuelve verde. But when I was in middle school, a fire ravaged the Mesa Verde plateau. The green table became a blackened, ravaged wasteland.

Come here with me in your mind.

Blue skies have turned gray with ash.

Where clouds once hovered over the land, wisps of smoke now rise.

The landscape, so green with life, is now dead, lifeless, charred and black.

Where you might once have inhaled deeply, taking in the pinion and the yucca and the sage, you now cover your face, coughing and wheezing, trying to expel the smoke from your lungs.

This garden, now turned to a wasteland, is where the Servant-Arm of Yahweh appears. And how does He appear? In the midst of the smoky, ashy, burned waste, a shoot springs forth from the stem of Jesse. It gets a little water, and it grows. Perhaps it is planted beside still waters, slowly being nourished and nurtured. Like a branch from the root, it yields fruit in it’s season, and it’s leaf does not wither. In all that this tree does, it prospers. This shoot becomes the Vine, and HIs people become the branches, and as they abide in Him they bear much fruit.

This is the tender shoot springing up in the wasteland. This is the root coming up out of the parched ground. In the midst of the wasteland of His own judgment, having allowed the garden to be destroyed, Yahweh now begins again. He plants a new seed, which turns into a new shoot, which turns into a new vine, who does not wither, but who prospers in all that He does. The new vine is the chief vine in Yahweh’s vineyard, the first tree in Yahweh’s garden. He is the firstfruits of the New Eden, the central tree in the New Paradise of God. But in the Old Garden, eating from the tree resulted in certain death. In the New Garden, the true and better Vine of John 15, the true and better Tree of Psalm 1, beckons us to come and eat of His body and blood, which is true food and true drink, and therein find not death, but life.

Isaiah describes a wasteland garden, in the midst of which begins to grow a tree, a vine, full of new life, unquenchable life, and that life is now the light of Men.

But the Light came into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light lest His deeds be exposed.

John 19:6–7 LSB

So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

They despised Him.

John 18:25–27 LSB

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.” One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.

They forsook Him.

Luke 22:44 LSB

And being in agony He was praying very fervently, and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

Matthew 26:31 LSB

Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.’

Matthew 26:47 LSB

And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up, and with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people.

Matthew 26:50 LSB

And Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you have come for.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him.

Matthew 26:55–56 LSB

At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me. “But all this has taken place in order that the Scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left Him and fled.

He was one from whom men turned away and hid their faces.

He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

Isaiah has established the prelude to atonement, the introduction to the one passage that perhaps teaches us more about the nature of Christ’s death than any other passage.

Even in this short introduction to Isaiah 53, there is much here for us. I want us to look at what Isaiah teaches us here about Christ and about salvation, and I want us to behold Christ in both His suffering and His glory, so that we might walk away changed.

What does Isaiah teach us about Christ? I see 8 doctrines in this text. Let’s examine them briefly.

Christ is the Shepherd who leads His people in the New Exodus.

Isaiah’s call to behold, to look to the Shepherd who is leading His people out of slavery and into freedom is a call for us to look to Christ as our Shepherd. As Israel looked to Moses for leadership, do we look to Christ for leadership? Do we look upon Him as the exalted King of glory and worship and follow Him? He is leading us out of the Egypt of our sin and into the land of the New Eden. I urge you today, look to Him. Trust Him. He will lead you safely home.

Christ’s humiliation is the means of His exaltation.

Isaiah couples the lofty and exalted state of the Servant with His humility, with His marring. In the midst of His glory and majesty the people are appalled by Him. Isaiah intends to teach us that the only way for Jesus to be truly glorified is for Him to suffer first. As our ancient creed says, He suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, and on the third day rose again, appearing to many brethren, ascended to heaven, and is now seated there at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from where He will return to judge the living and the dead. Christ cannot rule as king if He does not first suffer as priest. I can put it no more eloquently than the great Apostle:

Philippians 2:5–11 LSB

Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that EVERY TONGUE WILL CONFESS that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

Christ’s death accomplished atonement for His people.

Just as the blood of bulls and goats sprinkled the people in the ancient nation of Israel, so Christ’s blood sprinkles His people, providing atonement. It’s important that we understand what atonement and why it is important. Biblically speaking, Paul is clear: he delivered to the Corinthians as of first importance the truth that Christ died for sins. As important as Christ’s life is, and as important as active obedience is, it His atoning death that is of first importance. If it was of first importance for Paul it must also be for us.

Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 2: Man and Christ Chapter 49: Christ’s Priestly Work, Part 2: Penal Substitution for the Satisfaction of God’s Justice

Tom Schreiner says, “Penal substitution is the heart and soul of an evangelical view of the atonement.”

Joel Beeke defines penal substitutionary atonement as Christ’s priestly sacrifice unto God whereby He offered Himself in the place of His people under God’s law and judgment. He says that it is substitutionary because Christ lived and died as the representative or vicarious substitute of His people before God. He further says that it is penal because the substitution pertained to God’s legal judgment or penalty for sin.

Beeke summarizes the teaching of the Bible this way:

Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 2: Man and Christ Priestly Atonement for the Satisfaction of God

Out of his great love, God sent Christ to satisfy his justice as the substitute for his people under the law, voluntarily receiving on himself the violent penalty for their sins, according to the eternal covenant of the triune God, by which the Son was appointed to become a man and act as their surety.

It should have been you and me hanging on that cross. But it wasn’t. Jesus took it all on Himself, as our substitute, and in the most magnificent marriage of mercy and justice ever seen, God looked upon Christ’s sacrifice and said “That is enough. Justice has been satisfied.”

As Jordan Kauflin so beautifully put it:

And I beheld God’s love displayed

You suffered in my place

You bore the wrath reserved for me,

Now all I know is grace.

Or Keith Getty:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied

My every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live

Christ’s death silences His opposition.

Isaiah says that kings shut their mouths on account of Him. The reality of Christ’s sacrifice is so shocking and so humiliating, that a sinless person would offer his life for the sinful person, that you cannot help but be silent and take notice. You can rant and rave and rail against God all you want, but when it comes down to it, when you consider the weight of what Jesus did, you have to pause. You have to take notice. Jesus does not allow Himself to be ignored or talked over. His sacrifice stops the noise, even if for a brief moment, and causes even the most rage-filled king of this earth to stop and cry out “What wondrous love is this, that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul?”

Christ’s gospel will be rejected by many.

Who has believed our report? Who has seen God’s revelation? He came to His own and His own received Him not. They did not all heed the good news.

This truth is one part heartbreaking and one part encouraging. It breaks our hearts to know that some people are so hardened toward the gospel that God will give them over in His judgment to their folly and wickedness. But it simultaneously encouraging because as we share the gospel, we can face rejection with courage, knowing that reject us and our message because they rejected Christ and His message.

We cannot lose heart in our evangelism efforts even though we face rejection, for Christ faced it too.

Christ’s gospel may yet be received by those who first rejected it.

In light of number 5, this sixth doctrine is of great encouragement. Isaiah sees a day when the people who once rejected Christ now look upon Him in faith. They behold with clarity what they did not see before. This is a testimony to the great power of God to change even the hardest hearts. By a miracle of new life, hearts of stone can yet be made into hearts of flesh.

So we continue to pray. We continue to proclaim the gospel. If God can call wayward Israel back to the beauty and glory of the Messiah, he can call our wayward friends, our wayward children, our wayward coworkers, back to the Messiah.

Christ is the true Tree of the New Eden.

Isaiah tells us that the Servant is the shoot from the root of Jesse, that He is the tree in the New Garden of Eden, that He is the true vine. What this means is that He is the source of all life. He contains life in Himself. Do we come to him for that life? Do we come to Him for sustenance? Do we abide in Him? In Him is life, and life abundantly. So come to Him. Abide in Him. Dwell with Him. Walk with Him. In Him alone do we find life.

Christ defies human wisdom.

Finally, Christ defies human wisdom. He has no form or majesty that we should look upon Him.

Think about it. In human terms, Jesus was the product of an unplanned pregnancy. He was born in a barn. He was raised in the ghetto of Israel, in Nazareth. He was a rough-handed tradesman. He spent little to no time with the rich or powerful, instead choosing to spend time with day laborers, prostitutes, and members of the mob.

By human standards, Jesus was not an impressive guy. But God uses what we perceive as weak, ugly and foolish, to accomplish His purposes, and in the midst of that, demonstrates Himself to be all in all. For in weakness God demonstrates strength, in ugliness He demonstrates beauty, and in folly He demonstrates wisdom.

1 Corinthians 1:18–31 LSB

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, “I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased, through the foolishness of the message preached, to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may abolish the things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”

Behold then, the Servant of the Lord. Worship Him in His glory. Trust Him in His suffering. Follow Him in His obedience. He alone is worthy of your worship. He alone is worthy of your trust. He alone is worthy of your life.

Christ, our great high priest, who stands forever, pleading the merits of your blood, we commit ourselves to your atoning work. We trust that your wounds have healed us, that your stripes have brought us peace. We rest and rejoice in Your love, love that compelled you to step down from the throne of heaven and dwell among us, suffer for us, and rise again so that we might carry within us the hope of eternal life. We ask that you, by your Spirit, grant us grace to walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called.

Thank you for worshiping with us today. If you have any spiritual need, our elders are ready to meet with you and pray with you. I encourage you to spend some time before you leave, greeting one another and encouraging one another, and to take every opportunity this week to go to your world and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 LSB

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.