The Servant's Reward

THE SERVANT'S REWARD Spring Valley Mennonite; March 5, 2023; Isaiah 53:9-12 For the past several weeks we have been considering the incredibly detailed description of the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ as prophesied in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. This description began back in chapter 52, where Isaiah begins at the result of God's incredible plan. Speaking of Jesus, as verse 23 states, "Behold My Servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted." But before the reward will come the work; before the exaltation would come the suffering and humiliation; before the redemption of mankind would come the cross of Calvary. In chapter 53 Isaiah details the process which would result in the reward, the fulfillment of God's incredible plan of redemption. The plan of God REQUIRED that He send His only begotten Son to be the sacrificial Lamb Who would take away the sin of the world. The first three verses of chapter 53 speak of the life of Jesus, and how His early life was much like everyone else, its "ordinariness." By appearance, Jesus did not stand out in a crowd. Yet, when He spoke, people listened: some in belief, but many responded with growing anger. Jesus ruffled feathers. He challenged the status quo. Nobody listened to Jesus and quietly took it in, for His words demand a response, as they do today. Verses 4-6 speak of the purpose of His death: He was taking our place. This is called "substitutionary atonement." The blows He received, WE deserved. The griefs and sorrows He bore were those WE deserved. The crushing and piercing were not for anything He did, but He took the punishment we deserved for our sins. The death He experienced was the fate each one of us earned because of our sins. The sin and iniquity of every person fell upon Jesus. Verse 6 summarizes the fact: "All of us like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way; BUT the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." Isaiah foresaw the trial, death, and burial of God's Servant in verses 7-8. Jesus was condemned and crucified for one single reason: He was the Son of God, the Messiah. The Jews condemned Jesus solely for the crime of blasphemy, claiming He was God. He was not guilty of this charge because in fact He was God. The Romans found Him not guilty of any crime, yet they carried out the execution. But lest anyone say, "The Jews killed Jesus," it was the Gentiles who nailed Him to the cross. Both Jew and Gentile are equally guilty. Jesus' crime? Read the placard on the cross: "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." To all other false charges, Jesus was silent, like a lamb led to slaughter. When asked if He was God's Son, He answered unequivocally, "Yes, it is as you say." Verse 9, which speaks of the burial of Jesus, is somewhat a "hinge" verse. We read this chapter almost with unbelief, agreeing with Isaiah's words in verse 1, "Who has believed our message?" The story of God becoming man, taking on the sins of the world, and subjecting Himself to unbelievable pain and suffering-who could imagine! The incredible depths of the magnitude of God's love and mercy! In Verse 9, Isaiah begins to speak of the other side of the equation, of the honor the Son would receive. Apparently, the body of our Lord would have been buried in a simple grave with other criminals, but surprisingly, a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea, one who had not gone alone with the other members in condemning Jesus; this Joseph stepped forward with courage and asked for the body of Jesus. Being a man of means, Joseph had a new tomb which was for future family use. It was in this tomb, among the tombs of rich men that Jesus' body was laid. This was the beginning of the honor Jesus would so richly deserve. We come to these last three verses in this amazing chapter and move past the suffering and death and into the resulting rewards of the Servant's obedience. Read vv. 9-12. The first reward was that which comes from being fully in God's will. I. FULFILLING GOD'S WILL Listen to Hebrews 10:5-7,10 (Read) As Jesus fulfilled the will of the Father, WE become partakers of salvation. John 6:38 states: "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." Doing the Father's will was to Jesus like eating food to survive: John 4:34: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." Incredibly, it was the Father's will for Jesus to die; we learn this from Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane, "Not My will, but Thine be done." So, we read the words in Isaiah, "But the Lord was pleased to crush Him..." One of the most difficult tasks for we believers is in understanding how the bad things that happen in life can possibly be God's will. Don't we all struggle with this concept? How do pain and suffering fit into God's plan for our lives? Since God is all powerful, why does He not prevent all pain and suffering? This question becomes like an enormous landslide in the road of life, a barrier which often brings forward progress to a standstill. Many people, both believers and unbelievers, become angry at God for allowing tragedy to strike. Many ask, "Why doesn't God do something to fix the brokenness we see?" God did do something: He sent Jesus to die to defeat sin and death and to give new life. And His grace makes it possible to endure suffering. While verse 10 may not satisfy all our questions, it does clearly state that the pain, suffering, and death of Jesus were according to God's will. The very strong statement of this version translates the Hebrew to say that the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Jesus to grief. This tells us something about God's great love for us, but also about the absolute sovereignty of God: ultimately, everything is under His control. He is absolutely, totally in control. Somehow in the ultimate mysteries of God, all the pain and suffering allowed in the lives of His children serve a purpose. Perhaps the suffering and pain we experience in this life make us even more grateful for the sure promise of heaven. I am not saying we will always understand God's will, but we can accept it, and in acceptance lies peace. We can struggle with the inequalities and inequities of life-like why some people have healthy bodies and some do not, or why troubles plague some people and not others-we can struggle to understand, but ultimately, does it do any good? God allowed His own Son to be subjected to the most horrible torture ever endured, both physical and emotional pain, yet it had a glorious purpose and reward. That purpose was the redemption of mankind. God likewise has His purposes for the unpleasant things He allows in our lives. Hebrews tells us that we are to see Jesus as our example, and we are to fix our eyes on Him. For the goal, the reward, set before Him He endured the cross and the shame. He knew there was a purpose. I believe as we individually trust God-even, or especially through the tough times-He will accomplish His purpose in our lives. Many have come to faith through watching a child of God joyfully and patiently endure grief and suffering in a graceful manner. As we continue to look at the results of Jesus' obedience to God's will, we also see in verse 10: II. THE PROMISE OF HIS RESURRECTION Because Jesus was laid in the tomb of a rich man, the tomb could be made completely secure. Any lesser type of burial would not have lent itself to the stringent security measures of the garden tomb, measures which add to the proof of a miraculous resurrection. A huge stone disk was rolled in front of the tomb opening, a stone which took several men to move, and which, would, by the way, take many more to roll it back once it had settled into the deep indentation in front of the tomb. Remember the concern of the women on the way to the tomb on Sunday morning? The tomb had been sealed and guarded. Yet Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would "see His offspring, or seed," would "prolong His days," and would "prosper under the good pleasure of God." Question: How would such things be possible for one who had become the sacrificial lamb whose blood was poured out; one who was laid in a tomb of a rich man-UNLESS HE WOULD BE RAISED FROM THE DEAD? Isaiah was predicting the resurrection of the Messiah! On the third day after His death, Jesus was raised from the dead, proving with mighty power that sin and death had been once and for all time defeated. After he had appeared after the resurrection, His disciples remembered Jesus' words that on the third day He would rise again. Examine with me in a bit more detail these rewards of Jesus' obedience in these verses: III. THE REWARDS OF JESUS' OBEDIENCE The revelation of God's plan and the reasons for the death of His Son become clearer as we look at the results. First, Isaiah says that "He will see His offspring." John 1:12 tells us that all who receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord become "the children of God." You can put your name right there in verse 10 if you know Jesus as Savior! God's purpose was to make possible an eternal family relationship with God. Jesus' payment for our sin removed the barrier which separated man from God. When an individual personally takes the blood and applies it to the doorway of his life, like the ancient Israelite did at the first Passover; when we claim the forgiveness of sins based upon and made possible by the blood of Jesus; when we give our lives to the Lord Jesus, then we are born again into God's family; we become His offspring. Hebrews 2:10: "For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings." The second reward is that God would "prolong His days." Jesus was crucified after a short 33 years, yet He rose to live eternally. Of eternal consequence to believers is that we too shall share in this blessing. We learn this from 1 Corinthians 15:20-22: "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." In John 5:24 Jesus said, "Truly, truly I say unto you, he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." Verse 10 also states that because Christ offered Himself up as a guilt offering, "The good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand." The Father was pleased at the Son's submission to His will, and expressed it several times in Jesus' ministry. We read that God spoke audibly saying, "This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased." Colossians 1 tells us that it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness of God to dwell in Christ. As a young boy, scripture tells us that Jesus grew in favor with God. As Jesus died, God was pleased in His obedience unto death. But OH, the pleasure that God now enjoys and will throughout eternity because of His Son's obedience! The idea of prospering includes that of increase; though for a brief moment in time God's holiness demanded He turn His eyes from the Son, the pleasure of the Father and Son was multiplied countless times because Jesus was obedient unto death. The good pleasure of God is multiplied because you and I and all other believers have now and will have eternal fellowship with Him. As our children have left home and have families of their own, we cherish the times when we are blessed with their visits. We take great pleasure in being with our grandchildren and enjoying them. What pleasure we take in their presence! As the perfect parent, God takes great pleasure, an incredible delight when we enter into His holy presence through worship and prayer, and even more when we cross that veil into His very presence, when we arrive safe to our eternal home. The fourth reward is a shared benefit with God and ourselves: verse 11 says that because of the anguish of Jesus' soul, God will be satisfied. 1 John 2:2: "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. The meaning of propitiation is satisfaction. When someone is found guilty of a crime and the sentence is passed, we say there is a debt to society to be paid. In addition to incarceration, often there is a monetary fine assessed which must be "satisfied" before freedom is restored. Our debt for sin is so great that we cannot pay it for ourselves. We have sinned against God, first and foremost. But as the hymn so clearly puts it, "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe; sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow." Jesus' death satisfied the justice demanded by God's holiness. Do we realize what this means? There is no more punishment for sin! Romans 8:1: "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." We will never as believers face the wrath and punishment for our sin! While there are consequences when we sin, and God does discipline His children, all punishment for sin was borne by Jesus on the Cross. Because our debt has been paid, we who were prisoners of sin now go free. The shackles of sin have been broken. There is no longer any charge against us. We have been forgiven. And since God states that He is satisfied, should we not be also? I must point out that though God is the One who is offended by sin, you would think by the response of some believers that it was us who were offended! I have seen that often we believers are less likely to forgive sins than is God. What God has forgiven, we must forgive; especially we must forgive ourselves and others. It is not our right, prerogative, or task to punish people for sin for which God is satisfied; it should be all right with us. When people associate with us, or when they come into church, if they feel any guilt, let it be solely the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. Further blessings are mentioned: we are justified or declared righteous: "My Servant will justify the many." Justification is a judicial act of God by which He declares as righteous all persons who come to Him trusting Christ's death for the payment for their sins. This is the promise for believers seen in Romans 3:24: "...justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus..." A Question: how does God look at a person who has trusted Christ? What does He see? Does He see a miserable sinner with a thin coat of respectability? NO! The moment we believe the gospel, God sees us as absolutely perfect! 2 Corinthians 5:21: "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." That is what being justified means: we now have righteousness credited to our account. It is like a homeless, penniless person who suddenly has a trillion dollars deposited in an account with his name on it. Righteousness has been credited to us. This also is a reward both to us and to God, for He is enriched by us. Because of what Jesus did, He is exalted to a position above all other powers. Consider verse 12. To "have a portion and divide the spoils" pictures a victorious general, after winning a battle, sharing the goods taken from the enemy. Philippians 2:9-11: "Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Christ is exalted and allows us to share in the benefits of that exaltation. Christ is the conqueror, and we are allowed to stand with Him and share in that victory. Jesus promises us that He came to give us life, and life more abundantly. We have no reason to bow before the attacks of Satan. The flesh no longer has power over us unless we allow it to. The world system need not dictate and force us into its molds, for we are more than conquerors through Christ. God richly exalted the Son for fulfilling the will of the Father. We share in the richness of these blessings, both in the present days, but even more in heaven. Hallelujah! What a Savior! 2