Isaiah 52:13 - 53:3 - God's Servant

SERMON TEXT:

Let’s open together our Bibles this morning to the 52nd chapter of the Book of Isaiah.

While you are turning there, let me take this time to remind you that the chapters and verse divisions of the Bible are not part of the inspired elements of the Scriptures.

They were added to assist in memorization, recall, and use of the Scriptures in our lives, and they are very helpful.

But in this case, the men who divided this chapter, I think, missed.

What we know as the 53rd chapter of Isaiah looks like it should have begun where we will read today, in the 13th verse of the 52nd chapter.

The traditional chapter division cuts this pivotal song in half, making one half the end of chapter 52 and the other the beginning of chapter 53.

So if I talk of the 53rd chapter, understand I am including the last 3 verses of 52 in that chapter;

I am just simplifying the general reference for us.

So we will read this morning beginning in 52:13 and reading through 53:3 to see the whole of this vital song of the Messiah.

[READ ISAIAH 52:13 - 53:3]

Outside of the chapters containing the Ten Commandments, the 53rd chapter of Isaiah is one of the most-referenced Old Testament chapters by the writers in the New Testament.

It’s not hard to see why.

There is no denying, in any serious way at all, that our passage this morning points to only one man - Jesus of Nazareth.

We might quibble over the earlier prophecies of Isaiah, speculating that there may have been a temporal fulfilment in ancient times and a final fulfilment in Jesus Christ;

But of this passage - there is NO ONE ELSE who is being described in this chapter.

Even Jewish scholars of old saw this as no one other than the Messiah, although they confessed the message is hard to understand.

John Gill, that great Baptist preacher and commentator, tells us that many Jewish people have been converted after wrestling with this chapter in light of the record of Jesus Christ in the gospels.

With the great importance of this chapter, it will probably come as no surprise to anyone here that I plan to spend at least a few weeks together exploring and understanding the truths here.

And even then, I assure you that we will make little more than a rough start in mining the depths of the riches of this great revelation of God.

Every single word, particularly in our passage today, has tremendous importance, and we will do well if we cover the greatest few ideas here.

Let’s begin this morning, then, by looking at our text as a whole before we begin to focus on particular ideas or phrases.

Perhaps one of the most confusing things we hit first when we read through this are the verb tenses.

Verse 13 begins in the future tense - Isaiah 52:13 “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.”

All things that are, for Isaiah, in the future.

But then verse 14 looks back - Isaiah 52:14 “As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—”

This, and the past tenses to follow are called “proleptic” - speaking of things in the future as if they have already happened.

We see this throughout the rest of the 53rd chapter - all these things about Jesus spoken as if they had already occurred.

Following the past tense in v. 14, we come back again to the future tense in v. 15 - Isaiah 52:15 “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.”

And then verses 1-3 of chapter 53 move back to that proleptic pattern.

The beautiful thing about all this for us is this: everything Isaiah is talking about here is in the PAST for us.

He longed for the day of the Messiah’s coming;

You can almost hear him weeping in the first verse of 53: “Who has believed what he has heard from us?”

Who is paying attention to this momentous event - God becoming flesh and saving His people through His blood?

There’s a desperation here on behalf of God’s prophet here;

He is almost screaming: “Pay attention!”

I am not telling you about some esoteric event in history;

I am declaring to you the POINT of history.

This is where the first promise by God - the promise of the seed of the woman who will crush the Serpent’s head - this is where that promise is fulfilled.

Not renewed; not just restated.

Not divine hold music.

This is where God is WITH us - Immanuel.

This is where His kingdom comes!

Please allow me to say it again: the kingdom of Christ has come.

Jesus Christ is reigning NOW.

Yes, it was future to Isaiah;

But we live in the reign of our Lord;

He sits enthroned, reigning sovereignly over everyone.

Fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah 9:7 “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

It is the present reign of our Lord that gives us victory over sin.

It is the present reign of Christ that guarantees the gospel, the good news of God’s grace through Jesus Christ, can be proclaimed.

Isaiah had to seek a promise;

You can know the Lord.

The kingdom of Christ has come.

Jesus preached, in Matthew 3:2, ““Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””

The kingdom of heaven is RIGHT HERE.

He has ALREADY sprinkled the nations (v. 15).

How has He done so?

The verb “sprinkle” is used all the way through the Law of God, specifically Leviticus and Numbers, to indicate sprinkling with blood or water to make something holy, set apart to God.

Exodus 29:21 “Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons’ garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.”

Leviticus 5:9 “and he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a sin offering.”

Leviticus 8:11 “And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils and the basin and its stand, to consecrate them.”

The promise through Isaiah is not that these geopolitical units we call nations will be “Christianized”,

The promise is that from all these tribes and tongues and locations, God will call His people to Himself by the gospel.

Ephesians 2:12–14 “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility”

Hebrews 12:24 “and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

1 Peter 1:1–2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.”

Do there remain promises for us?

Of course.

The foremost is the glorious Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Last Day.

The day when all God’s people will be physically resurrected to eternal life,

And the day when all will be judged by the Holy Law of God.

The day when those who are not found in Christ will be condemned to everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

And those who are in Christ will receive the reward, the completion, of their faith - eternal life in Jesus Christ.

But just because there are some promises that remain, and some enemies, like death, who are still not destroyed, we must not think it means our Lord is not reigning right now.

His kingdom is established.

We aren’t even BUILDING His kingdom;

We are living in it.

Christian, what in this world do you have to fear?

What in this world should make you anxious?

Your Lord reigns.

Romans 8:35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”

Jesus is Lord;

It is He who is high and lifted up, exalted (v. 13).

He is the heart of God’s astonishing gospel:

Isaiah 52:14 “As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—”

I love Isaiah: he is so efficient with his words.

You might say, “Hmmph - 66 chapters isn’t THAT efficient, is it?”

But when you are describing the glories of the Lord, I assure you it is really economical.

This 14th verse is an example.

It means two different things, both true, at the same time.

The first is often taken as a picture of the crucifixion, the entire story.

It anticipates the beatings with rods,

The scourging with whips,

The crown of thorns,

And the giant nails that pierced the hands and feet of the Lord of Glory, not the Lamb of God.

The marring of His flesh, the disfigurement from the abuse - they astonished, they horrified anyone who saw.

It’s easy to see, particularly with the rest of chapter 53, that the Messiah of God would suffer in this way.

The blood that flowed from His many wounds was the blood that promised to pay for our sins, the sin of all who believed.

It is in that blood we are sprinkled, that blood into which we are baptized.

And that blood that will proclaim our renewed innocence on the day of judgment.

The second way to understand it, though, is, I think, just as important.

Isaiah 52:14 “As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—”

To understand this second way to read it, I would ask you: What was the appearance of Jesus BEFORE Bethlehem?

He dwelt eternally in glory, not subject to the frailty of the body in any way.

Before the day that the eternal Son became flesh,

He never hungered or thirsted.

He never grew weary.

He never knew pain.

He never knew limitations.

The eternal Son of God, from eternity past, existed only in glory.

Galatians 4:4 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,”

Philippians 2:6–7 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

I would suggest to you this morning that the transformation from eternal glory to this fleshly tent was a greater disfigurement than the crucifixion.

At the very least, because without this “emptying”, the crucifixion wouldn’t have been possible.

The glorious Son, in His form prior to being joined to human flesh - it is unthinkable and impossible He could die, much less die FOR US.

And it is no less astonishing - because what our Lord gave up should cause us to be speechless.

The Lord of Glory, the Eternal Son, who existed from all eternity past clothed in glory alone,

Now has been made flesh.

And there is no single second from the moment of the Incarnation forward that Jesus Christ will ever cease to BE flesh and blood.

Have you considered that?

He who dwelt in divine glory now, for our sakes, has PERMANENTLY taken on flesh and blood.

He didn’t ascend from the earth to the sky as a Spirit only;

He doesn’t stand disembodied before the Father bringing our petitions before Him.

He stands before the Father clothed in glorified flesh, the scars and wounds eternally visible even in His glorified body.

It wasn’t just for the time between Bethlehem and Calvary that He took on flesh to save us;

He took on flesh FOREVER to save us FOREVER.

So we can be with Him and in Him FOREVER.

And even marred as His glorious presence was, it was still beyond human semblance, beyond all other men.

Because He is fully God and fully man.

Son of God and Son of man.

And it is exactly this truth that allows Him to save you and me.

He alone can save OTHERS with His obedience.

We will see it as we proceed through chapter 53 - Isaiah 53:11 “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.”

Hebrews 7:25–26 “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.”

That is why Paul urges the Philippians to Philippians 2:5 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,”

The sufferings of Christ on the cross, while severe, were not unique.

Many faithful believers have been tortured and slain by evil men for naming the name of Jesus Christ.

Many of our brothers and sisters in our day suffer for the sake of the gospel;

They should, therefore, never be out of our prayers.

But there is no man ever who will know the violence, the depth of humiliation, our Lord voluntarily took on Himself to become flesh to save us.

How can one count the infinite space He crossed, and the glory He forfeited, to save us unworthy balls of mud?

We have trouble, in many cases, surrendering our most trivial rights or expectations:

He gave up the most glorious part of His nature FOREVER to save us.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, will never again be a glorious Spirit alone;

He became flesh so that 2 Peter 1:4 “by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

He became flesh to save us from our sin.

He did not lose His divine nature - never think that!

But as fully God, He poured Himself into flesh so He could glorify that flesh in Him as well.

Romans 8:3–4 “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

And it is in His glorification, His beautification, His resurrection of flesh that we have eternal hope in Him:

Romans 8:11 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”