Isaiah 53:2 - The Beauties of Jesus

SERMON TEXT:

Let’s open our Bibles together again to the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah.

I will read from the 13th verse of the 52nd chapter through the third verse of the 53rd.

In looking at this chapter together, I have been struck over and over again with the number of references in the New Testament there are to this one, pivotal chapter of Isaiah.

I don’t think there is a more quoted twelve verses in the entire Old Testament than this one chapter - almost every verse is quoted in some way by the writers of the New Testament.

It is no exaggeration to say this is the heart of the gospel presentation in the Old Testament,

And it points like an arrow to the one Person, Jesus Christ.

[READ Isaiah 52:13-53:3]

If you were with us last week, you might remember that we began looking at the things Isaiah is telling us in verses 1-3 about the Messiah, the Christ of God, who was to come.

Perhaps you remember also that I said there were six things I would like to look at in this passage.

And if you remember that, you will no doubt remember that we only made it through the first one.

On page 6 of your bulletin, I have filled in that blank for you:

He was born like an ordinary man.

Please understand, I am trying to be brief in the statement because I did not say Jesus is ordinary, a mere man.

We talked last week that He grew up in a rather ordinary way, fully man while at the same time being fully divine.

But we need to move forward to the other five points.

And if I don’t want to spend the next five weeks in a mini-series, I will need to just give you the topics and the barest of explanations for each.

The second thing about the Messiah is that He was not born to royalty.

Isaiah says it this way: like a root out of dry ground.

The Magi came looking for the royal baby, and they came to the court of Jerusalem.

But on the throne they found, not a descendant of David, but a descendant of Esau, Herod.

The last king of Israel had been the tragic Zedekiah.

And in the almost 600 years since he was deposed by Nebuchadnezzar, the line of David had disappeared into obscurity.

So when Joseph, who was of the house and lineage of David, comes on the scene, he’s not a politician or ruler;

He’s a carpenter.

From Nazareth.

Betrothed to a Jewish girl who is also from Nazareth, Mary.

For 450 years, since the last remarkable descendant of David, Zerubbabel, returned with the Jews to rebuild the temple, the line of David had lain dormant.

Waiting for the fulness of time when God would fulfill His promise to David:

2 Samuel 7:12–16 “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring [the word is singular] after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ””

Without taking too long on this, let me just point out that this promise of God is toward Jesus Christ through Solomon.

Solomon, as a shadow of the fulness of the promise, would build the first earthly temple;

Jesus Christ would establish the permanent, eternal house, temple, throne, and kingdom.

The next thing we will look at is that His majesty was from God’s truth.

he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

What Isaiah is telling us here is not that Jesus wouldn’t be physically attractive.

We have literally no idea what He looked like, although I can tell you all those Jesus portraits that float around are NOT what He looked like.

What the prophet is saying is that nothing about the Christ’s look or manner would be more attractive than other men.

There are a lot of people in our day who talk about how admirable Jesus was.

But then, in the same breath, talk only about the forgiveness and love of God, never His holiness or justice.

Many is the atheist who supports “religion” because of the ideals of Jesus.

If only everyone lived the way Jesus taught, there would be no sorrow or war or injustice.

YEAH???

Of course not.

The things they talk about, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, are the requirements of the Law.

IF everyone lived by those things, we would be in a paradise of sorts.

But that’s the point: WE CAN’T LIVE BY THAT.

Even we who are followers of Jesus struggle and fail and fall all the time in relation to the Law of God.

We can say “IF we could...” as much as we want;

The point is we can’t.

So when Jesus talks about the Law of God, understand He isn’t trying to win us over to Himself.

He didn’t come with polished speech and manipulative words to talk us into the kingdom of God.

He came and He offended us.

He offended us in our self-righteousness, telling us over and over that we will NEVER make ourselves good enough for heaven.

He offended our pride, telling us we must follow Him rather than our own ideas.

He offended our little-g gods, telling us we had to love Him and be devoted to Him above all things.

He took the best efforts of His disciples, and He showed them how far they had to go, even though they had been chosen to be forever in Him.

Jesus didn’t come to secure your vote, or even, really, to receive your love.

He came to save your life.

He came to convert your from a child of wrath to a child of God.

That’s why they crucified this man who preached peace and love, who healed people and raised people from the dead.

Because He came to win the war against THEIR father, the devil.

Every one of us loved the darkness rather than the light.

And if we are honest, the darkness of sin still holds many temptations for us.

He didn’t come to make us live at peace with the darkness;

He came to win the war against it.

He came to free us from it.

He came to DESTROY the works of the devil in us.

And there is nothing lovely about that to a man who has not been converted from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God’s Son.

The next thing we will see is that He would not exact revenge.

He was despised and rejected by men...

The most natural thing for us when we are despised and rejected is to despise and reject right back.

We love the “Eye for an eye and tooth for tooth” bit.

We’re a little less sure about:

Matthew 5:38–45 ““You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

How many Christians have I heard who read this with the Pharisee’s eye, and say:

Well, we only have two cheeks.

He only talks about two miles.

He only speaks of two pieces of clothing.

So, we think, if I get hit, I will give them a warning;

Then, if they do it again, I can clobber them with a good conscience.

Brothers and sisters: Jesus was not LIMITING our mercy and forgiveness;

He was demonstrating it.

“How many times should I forgive someone who wrongs me? Seven times?”

“No: Seventy times seven.”

And, may God forgive us, there are still some of us who will lash out on the 491st time.

Jesus spoke the truth, but He never took vengeance on His opponents.

Luke 9:51–56 is a good example of this:

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.”

I truly believe this is one of the reasons Jesus called James and John “the Sons of Thunder”.

Of all the opposition Jesus encountered, He never took vengeance.

He didn’t undermine the Pharisees;

He didn’t depose the scribes.

He didn’t go the Roman authorities when the people tried to stone Him.

He continued His God-decreed mission relentlessly: gather His sheep and bring them into His kingdom.

So what if He was despised;

His trust was in the vindication of God.

John 15:18 ““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”

There is nothing in there telling us to violently oppose those who would oppose us.

There is nothing there about winning a victory over those who persecute.

There is nothing in there about pressing our rights and seeking victory at law.

And there is nothing there about making pagans, enemies of God, LOOK and act more like Christians.

Our mission is not to make people act like Christians;

It is to do everything we can so the Holy Spirit can MAKE them Christians.

Even if we have to turn the other cheek over and over again.

Even if people take advantage of us sometimes.

We must, of course, be wise, but we should never let our enemy tell us that covetousness is the same as wisdom.

Most of the times I have been ungenerous, it was not because I was choosing the wiser course;

Most of those times, I was just being selfish.

Do people despitefully use you?

Do people take your kindness and return offense?

Do people accept your gifts ungratefully?

Pray for them - that God would bring their hearts and lives to Him.

Pray that He will have mercy on them.

And then model the mercy of God to them.

The fifth thing is that He would become sorrowful.

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief...

I think we are supposed to ask at this point:

Why would the Messiah of God be sorrowful?

He is the conquering king.

He is the holy one of God.

He is chosen by God and anointed to His task.

Now, I don’t believe He was always dour and depressed;

There are many things He says that you can take as humorous

(Log in your eye, anyone?)

But He was often sorrowful; He was acquainted with grief.

We see Him weeping at the graveside of Lazarus;

He laments over Jerusalem as the city comes into view.

We see His compassion even for those, like the rich young man, who reject Him and walk away.

We see Him serious with the Pharisees and scribes, even severe.

But we see the compassion He feels for the bleeding woman, and the children, and the lost all around Him.

The mission He had is a serious one, not frivolous.

But we also see Him looking forward to the day when He will sit down with His purified bride and feast in laughter with His church then.

The final thing we see is that He would be undervalued by His own people.

WE esteemed Him not.

Everything else Isaiah says above is focusing on Jesus, but here, he begins to bring US into the picture.

And the picture isn’t flattering.

We don’t value Him like we ought.

This is WE.

Not “them” - WE

HE was despised and WE esteemed Him not.

Brothers and sisters, this is the heart of our real pains and difficulties in this world.

We don’t trust Him like we should.

We don’t obey Him like we should.

We look at His goodness and think “I don’t want to be THAT good.”

I can get away with being less good.

He doesn’t REALLY expect me to be that good.

We look at His goodness, and we don’t think it is worth it to be like Him.

We tell ourselves we can always be forgiven.

Actually, the tempter tells us that.

And we presume on the forgiveness of God over and over again.

All the while, He has forgiven us.

He has equipped us with His word.

He has filled us with His Holy Spirit.

All to make His people a holy people.

1 Peter 2:9–10 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

How Isaiah must have written this with tears, as he continued to the next section, describing everything God has done for His people.

Pierced for OUR transgressions - the same transgressions we often think so little of.

Is there anything MORE beautiful than the gospel of Jesus Christ, our great Savior?