“It Pleased Him to Crush Him”

Sermon Text

Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Holy and inspired Word, I pray you receive it as such:

Isaiah 52:13–53:12 ESV

13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— 15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. 1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not 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, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of Yahweh to crush him [or as many translation have it “Yahweh was PLEASED to crush him]; he [Yahweh] has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!

Opening Prayer

Sovereign God, our heavenly Father,

LORD, as we reflect on the death of your dearly beloved Son, may we come to love Christ, our humble, yet exultant King, the suffering servant, more and more. Amen.

i. Introduction

Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ,

I must make a confession to you. I’ve always struggled with the name Good Friday.

To me, It almost seems inappropriate. It seems almost irreverent, and blasphemous.

Good? Really?

Have we not just witnessed the story of Christ’s passion. Have we not seen Christ, in agony of spirit, pour out His heart to the Father in existential dread at Gethsemane? Have we not just witnessed His unjust arrest at the betrayal of a friend? Have we not seen His closest friends and allies deny and abandon Him? Have we not seen the false accusations mockery, flogging, and the wholly unjust, kangaroo court trial that our Lord and Saviour had to endure?

And we call that Good?

We describe the only truly innocent person ever to have lived undergoing the torturous and accursed death of crucifixion on a Roman tree with the adjective good? Really?

In fact, so horrifying  is the death of Christ on the cross, that many have tried to deny it altogether. Islam, for example, is so horrified by the idea that a great Prophet of God would die such an accursed death that they reject it outright. Refusing to believe that God would subject a prophet to such a death. Instead, suggesting that while it appeared to the crowd that it was Christ who was crucified, it wasn’t really Him, instead it was Judas Iscariot, that great betrayer of mankind, who was crucified instead. In fact, listen to how Paul describes, the message of the cross:

1 Corinthians 1:23 ESV

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,

Indeed, how can we preach that Christ the exultant King of the Cosmos, died a sinners death? What folly is that? And we call that Good? Yet, that is exactly the message of our text today.

ii. Exegesis

Indeed, when we look at this great prophecy of the prophet Isaiah in Is. 52:13-53:12, we are immediately confronted with this shocking juxtaposition.

Isaiah 52:13–15 ESV

13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— 15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.

In a way, these verses act as a chiastic thesis statement for the rest of the prophecy of the suffering servant. If you look at verse 13 and 15, you get the picture of an exultant King who reigns supreme over all the Kings of the earth, a King of Kings and a Lord of Lords, God’s faithful witness, the ruler of the Kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5).

Yet, right there in the middle of this picture, verse 14, this same exultant King is to undergo the most grievous humiliation. So bad, so dehumanizing will the suffering be, that this suffering servant will be marred beyond human recognition.

Right here, in this provocative text, we see the exultant King as the suffering servant.

Interestingly, enough, the jarring nature of this juxtaposition is not lost on our text. Verse 1 of Chapter 53, [Isaiah 53:1 “1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”] In other words, who can believe such a thing?

Yet, that is exactly what the prophecy goes on to elucidate in verses 2-12 (Isa. 53:2-12).

In these verses, we see the servant of Yahweh, the exultant humble King, described in verse 2 as “a root,” or a shoot, a branch–the Branch– which would come to redeem God’s people the one prophesied throughout the prophetic literature.

This is the very same Branch or root spoken of in Isaiah 11:1–5. Turn back with me:

Isaiah 11:1–5 ESV

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of Yahweh. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

This root of Jesse will, as the text goes on to say, “stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious,” and to Him all God’s elect, from every tribe, tongue and nation, shall flock.

This is the same Branch prophesied in Jeremiah 23:5-6.

Jeremiah 23:5–6 ESV

5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will raise up for David [the Son of Jesse] a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘Yahweh is our righteousness.’

The same Branch who is described as God’s righteous servant in Zech. 3:8 who will establish God’s Temple as as Kingly High Priest Zec. 6:12-15 who will bring to God all His people even those who are afar off.

It is this Servant of Yahweh who Person and Work is described thusly.

(Isa. 53:2) Having No Form or Majesty that anyone would desire Him .

(Isa. 53:3) Despised and Rejected by Men, acquainted with grief, one from whom men hide their face.

(Isa. 53:4) One who was accursed by God, stricken, smitten, and afflicted.

(Isa. 53:5-8) One who was pierced, crushed, a sheep led to slaughter, delivered up for death due to violent oppression.

(Isa. 53:9) An Innocent Man who was accounted a criminal and violently murder.

This is how the Servant is described. Good? Really? YES, Really!

My subjective personal feelings aside, when I read the Scriptures, especially texts, like our homily text today, it becomes evermore clear that Good Friday is exactly how the Scriptures describe this most awful, no good, very bad event in human history.

In fact, and this is truly astonishing, look at verse 10, Isa. 53:10

Isaiah 53:10 LSB

10 Yahweh was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief;

While I recognize that many of your Bibles might read “it was the will of Yahweh to crush him”(Isa. 53:10).

חָפֵץ (ḥā·p̄(f)ē(t)ṣ) The Hebrew word here

Literally means to “take pleasure or delight in, to desire; to be willing or inclined towards”

So, that raises the question which translation is correct? The answer: Both. While I tend to prefer the translation that it pleased Yahweh to crush Him, there need not be any controversy.

Especially, when you stop to think for a second. Question: Is Yahweh pleased to bring to pass His eternal, divine decree according to His good pleasure? The obvious answer is: YES!!!

But, perhaps, some might object to the idea that the crucifixion was even apart of God’s eternal decree. To them, I say, let’s turn to Book of Acts.

Acts 2:23 , The Apostle Peter says this about Crhist’s crucifixon, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you [the first century Jews] crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

That’s not the only place listen to the prayers of the saints in Acts 4:24–28:

Acts 4:24–28 ESV

24 And when they heard [of the release of Peter and John], they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— 27 for truly in this city [Jerusalem] there were gathered together against your holy (what?) servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

This raise a most-profound question: How can this be? How can, objectively, the worst thing to happen in human history, and, subjectively, the most indescribable agony and toil of soul and that any human has ever experienced, how can this moment be commemorated each and every year with be well-pleasing to God? In what way can we call the crucifixion good?

This is the most profound paradox. There’s only one way, from one vantage point, that we can call the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ good and that is from a normative or covenantal perspective.

It is from this vantage point that the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ was not only good, but the greatest event to ever have happened in all of human history.

It is when we consider the cross from this perspective we can see why it “pleased” Yahweh to crush him. For look at what this suffering servant accomplished in His death.

(Isa. 52:13) Through being lifted High upon the Cross, the Suffering Servant will become the exulted King, high and lifted up.

(Isa. 52:15) With His blood, this King will sprinkle the nations clean.

(Isa. 53:4) He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

(Isa. 53:5, 9) One who was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and the chastisement that we deserved because of our sin was laid upon Him. Stricken for the transgressions of God’s people.

(Isa. 53:10) In His hand the will of Yahweh was accomplished. Through Him he brought many sons and daughters to God.

(Isa 53:11) Through Him many will be “accounted righteous.”

(Isa. 53:12) As the exulted Priestly King he makes intercession for the sins of God’s elect.

As the book of Hebrews describes, this same High-Priestly King is also the Lamb of God without blemish, slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8), who came to remove the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29-36; Rev 5). Hebrews 9:11–14

Hebrews 9:11–14 ESV

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

NOW THAT IS GOOD NEWS OF EXCEEDING JOY!!!

And lest anyone entertain the ridiculous notion that this is somehow an instnace of “divine child abuse,” that, some how Christ went to the cross unwillingly.It couldn’t be further from the truth. Indeed, for Hebrews 12:2, tells us that…

Hebrews 12:2 ESV

2 Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame

Indeed, beloved, It pleased Yahweh, that in the fullness of time, He should bring forth the “seed of the woman” to crush the head of the serpent even though it meant the suffering of His Anointed Servant (Gen. 3:15). It pleased God the Father, to send His only-begotten Son, the Son of Promise, up the mountain carrying his own wood, his cross, to be the true Ram whose head was crowned with thrones, that He might die in our stead (Gen. 22:1-18). All of which took place in fulfillment of His covenant promises to the offspring of Abraham through faith, that He will take the curse of the covenant upon Himself (Gen. 15:17-21). And it pleased the Son, to do the Father’s will, through perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience. And though His holy soul was troubled at the thought of it, it pleased the Son to drink the bitter cup of God’s wrath, that many might be made partakers in the new covenant in His blood.

iii. Conclusion

Beloved, on that Roman cross nearly 2000 years ago, God‘s wrath against sin, met His love and grace and mercy towards us, His people. In the sacrificial death of our Lord Jesus Christ, God redeemed a people to himself according to His eternal, unchangeable decree. At Golgotha, the place of the Skull, Jesus Christ won the most decisive victory ever, the victory over sin and death. So that, all those who believe in Him, “shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). In this the Love of God was made manifest, “not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins”(1 Jn. 4:10). By the way of the cross, Christos is Victor, He is our chief Exemplar, the One who ransomed us from sin and death and hell, but most importantly, He is our Substitutionary Sacrifice who made atonement for our sins. The One who, through His passive obedience died the death that we deserve, and through His active obedience lived the life that, due to our sin both original and actual, we are unable to live, that we, through faith, may be united with Him, that we too might be the righteousness of God.

It is from this vantage point, the vantage point of God’s eternal covenantal decree according to His good purposes, that the crucifixion is truly good news, Indeed.

So, as we commemorate the death of Christ this Good Friday, do not lose hope, for death is not the end of the story.

Closing Prayer

Oh LORD,

Thank you for the death of death in the death of Christ!

LORD, that, in humility our exultant King would be numbered with the transgressors, and on account of His victorious, sacrificial atonement, He would divide the portion of His spoils with the many, interceding on our behalf as both the High-Priestly King and the sacrificial Lamb of God.

Thank you, Father, that, while the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, to us who are being saved it is the very power of God. LORD, thank you that, in Your wisdom, it has pleased you to confound the wise, and disarm the strong, strengthening the weak and lowly, and revealing your wisdom to babes.

LORD, thank you that, according to your eternal salvific decree, You all that you had set forth to accomplish through Jesus Christ, Your Son, and that You applied that redemption through the regenerating Power of the Holy Spirit. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.