The Suffering Servant
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: About 700 years before Christ Jesus came into the world to dwell with us the Prophet Isaiah told the story of one who has become known as the Suffering Servant. This figure is beaten, humiliated, and ultimately exalted after suffering for the sins of others.
The interpretation of this passage of Isaiah is completely dependent upon your worldview. The opinion of an Orthodox Jew will be drastically different than that of a Christian. The Orthodox Jew will interpret the Suffering Servant, not as an individual, but as the Nation of Israel and a Christian will interpret the Suffering Servant as Christ Jesus.
Psalm 53
Transitional Sentence: Let’s take a look at the Suffering Servant to see why it is Christ Jesus.
So let’s take a look at Psalm 53 in the light of the New Testament and what it says about the last days of Christ Jesus. So, who was the Suffering Servant?
a. Jewish Interpretation: In general the common interpretation of Isaiah 53 for Jewish scholars and rabbis is that the suffering servant is a collective representation of the Jewish people. This interpretation it is linked to the historical suffering endured by the Jewish people throughout history. It is believed that their suffering atones for the sins of other nations.
b. Christian Interpretation: The common interpretation for Christians is that the passage should be applied to a single individual. A person who would fulfill the role as the Messiah of the Jews. An individual that would fulfill the prophecies of this entire passage. Not representatively but figuratively.
That is where Jesus comes into the picture.
2. So, here is Jesus compared to some of the points of the Suffering Servant. Verses 1-4 says:
a. Isaiah 53:1-4
1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
vs 2 says - He has no stately form or majesty.
The Messiah the Jews were looking for would be a King, impressive in appearance with a big personality to lead the people. Not this guy. Not this peasant.
Jesus was born in a stable to a young woman and a carpenter. Not a king, not some wealthy leader. Just a small baby in a big world.
vs 3 says - He was despised and forsaken of men
In the end the people rose up and called for His crucifixion. He was not esteemed, Jesus was despised and forsaken. Even His disciples scattered and ran.
vs 4 says - He was esteemed as stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
22 “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.
The tree is the cross. Those who are hung on a cross are accursed of God. Jesus was stricken and afflicted by God, not in a good way, but a bad one. Jesus was hung on a tree after being scourged and mistreated. Smitten of God, and afflicted.
Verses 5-8 says:
b. Isaiah 53:5-8
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
6 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.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
vs 5 says He was pierced through for our transgressions - and John 19:34 says:
34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
Generally those condemned to crucifixion were left on the cross until they were dead. On this particular day, the day before the passover the bodies needed to be removed from the crosses before evening fell. It had only been 6 hours since these three were lifted up on their crosses. In order to hasten their deaths their legs were broken so they could no longer support their bodies. However, Jesus was already dead. To be sure of this He was pierced. The soldier drove his spear up into His chest. He was pierced for our transgressions.
vs 7 says - He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Matthew 27:12-14 says:
12 And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer.
13 Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?”
14 And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.
Jesus had the right to defend Himself. He had the right to answer the charges that were being brought against Him. But He didn’t. He kept silent. He let them continue their unrighteous trial. Jesus knew what was going to happen, He knew where this would all end. He was the lamb being led to the slaughter.
vs 8 says - By oppression and judgment He was taken away.
According to Jewish law Jesus was not arrested properly, tried properly or treated properly. He was oppressed and His judgment didn’t follow proper protocol. He was railroaded as we would say now. By oppression and Judgment he was taken away.
vs 8 goes on to say - For the transgression of my people - 1 John 4:10 says:
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
All of this mistreatment and pain Jesus endured for the transgressions of others. He wasn’t hung on cross for His own crimes. Even one of the two thieves hanging beside Him said that there was no reason for Him to be there. But God. God gave His only Son as an exchange as a propitiation. Jesus died on the cross that you and I would be saved, forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God the Father.
Verses 9-12 says:
c. Isaiah 53:9-12
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
vs 9 says - His grave was assigned with wicked men - Mark 15:27-28 says:
27 They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left.
28 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”
Jesus wasn’t crucified alone. He was numbered with transgressors. Two robbers were hanging with Him. One on either side. What happens during this time between Jesus and one of the robbers can test some Christians theology. So if your theology about salvation demands a life time of sanctification or being a good person before Jesus will accept you then you better study this bit of story because it says that Jesus told one of the two that he would be in paradise with Him that very day. Not much time for sanctification there.
vs 9 goes on to say - Yet He was with a rich man in His death - Mark 15:46 says:
46 Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.
As a man condemned to die on the cross Jesus should have been buried with the others. With those who were buried in unmarked common graves. But this Joseph of Arimathea changed that. He was a member of the ruling council. The ones who just put Jesus through the mockery of a trial and demanded that Pilate crucify Him. But Joseph was a disciple of Christ Jesus. He believed, so he got Jesus’ body and laid Him in his own tomb. Numbered with transgressors but buried with the rich.
This isn’t a complete and exhaustive comparison of the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection with Isaiah 53. We can point to something in every verse and even most of the words and see how Jesus is the Suffering Servant. But to make it a bit stronger I’m going to jump to the point of the story. The three important points.
3. These points are what this story means for us.
a. verse 10 says - If He would render Himself as a guilt offering. Leviticus 6:7 says:
7 and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.”
The entire sacrifice system of the Jewish law was built around the atonement of sin.
ATONEMENT is the means of reconciliation between God and people. The blood and the death of the atonement, the lamb, is accepted by God and brings one back into reconciliation with God. However, the blood of bulls, lambs and goats do not take away sins and they have to be continually presented to the Lord.
This is what happened to Jesus. He was the lamb of the world, the atonement for all those who would call upon His name. He was the perfect sacrifice that brought about reconciliation of all those who believe. But there is another part to the story.
The atonement for sin according to Levitical law includes a Scapegoat. Leviticus 16:10 says:
10 “But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.
When we talk about the atonement for our sins we only talk about Jesus. We never talk about the scapegoat. For this offering two animals were brought before the Lord. One would die, the other would live and carry the sins of the people into the wilderness. For this sacrifice the scapegoat was a man named Barabbas. He was released. He was the first person to live because Jesus died.
To fulfill the law the two animals needed to be the same, goats. In this case they were both sons of the father. Jesus was the Son of God and Barabbas - well, Bar, means Son of - and Abba, means - father - Son of the Father. And the lot - Pilate asked the people which one he should release to them and the lot fell on Barabbas to be the scapegoat. So Jesus would hang on the cross and die for everyone’s sins. He became the atonement for our sins, and the scapegoat, he disappeared into the wilderness and was never heard from again, except as the one who got away.
Next we have:
b. verse 11 which says - My Servant, will Justify the many. Romans 5:9 says:
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
But what is justification?
Justification is a legal term related to the idea of acquittal, justification refers to the divine act whereby God makes humans, who are sinful and therefore worthy of condemnation, acceptable before a God who is holy and righteous. More appropriately described as “justification by grace through faith,” this key doctrine of the Reformation asserts that a sinner is justified (pardoned from the punishment and condemnation of sin) and brought into relationship with God by faith in God’s grace alone.
Jesus having defeated sin and death through His resurrection from the dead has become our Advocate. He sits at the right hand of God the Father to plead our case. Think of it this way. If you were standing before a judge in a court of law would you want to be there alone or would you want a lawyer there to defend you? Well that’s Jesus. When we go before God for judgment Jesus will be there beside us to plead our case. 1 John 2:1
1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
Jesus justifies us through grace because of the blood He shed. Jesus reconciles us to God so that we will not incur God’s wrath.
There is one last point to the story.
d. verse 12 says - He himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors. 1 Timothy 2:5 says
5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
But what is a mediator?
A mediator is an intermediary who intervenes between two separated or alienated parties, with the aim of achieving reconciliation and fellowship. Scripture declares that Jesus Christ is the only true mediator between God and humanity.
As an advocate Jesus will plead our case before the Father and justify us so that we may stand before God as righteous. When Jesus hung on the cross He intervened between God and mankind. He hung suspended between heaven and earth to bring two alienated parties together and reconciled the two through His blood.
Jesus as the mediator brought reconciliation, or restoration of fellowship between God and humanity and the resulting restoration of human relationships. The reconciliation of the world to God is only possible on the basis of the work of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Exit: As the Suffering Servant He died for the forgiveness of sins by bearing our sins away. And then He defeated sin and death and rose again from the grave. That is the point of the resurrection story. The tomb is empty. Christ Jesus rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God the Father. Through His blood He became the mediator of a new covenant. A covenant of grace. A covenant of reconciliation between all those who believe and God. And He justifies all those who believe in Him by faith.
Don’t miss the point of the story. Jesus is the point. Jesus is the only name by which salvation from sin and death may be found. If you don’t believe in Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior then today is the day. He and what He did is the point of the story.
Read about the mystery of the RESHEET.
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