A Resurrection Long Foretold

Lead Vocalist (Kelly/Joel)

Welcome & Announcements (Hopson)

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME to the gathering of Poquoson Baptist Church!

My name is Hopson and I’m one of the pastors here.

We’re so glad you’re here today.

If you’re new, let me briefly share WHAT TO EXPECT today.

PBC is a church that is serious about the Bible. We believe it is the Word of God!

So in our service we read the Word, pray the Word, sing the Word, preach the Word, and call one another to respond to the Word.

We’re also a church that is serious about relationships. We don’t just attend together, we seek to grow together as a spiritual family. So before you leave today, we’d encourage you to meet someone you don’t know.

If you are new here, we would love to get to know you. You can fill out a Welcome Card and drop it in the offering plate later in the service. And if you’d like to learn more about the church, we invite you to join our Discover Class, beginning next Sunday at 9:15 AM.

A couple quick PRACTICAL NOTES that may help you better enjoy your time with us this morning:

If you need a restroom at any point in the service, you’ll find one to my left, but we recommend you and your little ones try to use the restroom during the parts of the service where everyone is already standing so it’s less of a distraction to those around you.

All children are welcome to be in the service with us, but if you would like your kiddos aged 5 and under to be in childcare, head back to the welcome table and someone will direct you where to go.

If you would like to talk to a pastor after the service, I will be in the parking lot along with our other pastors.

If you would like to purchase great Christian resources available at cost, please visit the connections room to my left.

Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Luke 24:1-6a)

Prayer of Praise (Brannan Holdren)

Rise My Soul, the Lord is Risen

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Prayer of Confession (Joel Whitcomb), Unbelief

Assurance of Pardon (1 Peter 1:3)

In Christ Alone

Living Hope

Scripture Reading (Isaiah 53:3-12)—page 729 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Hopson)

Lord Jesus Christ,

you have overcome death and have risen from the grave,

proving You have all authority—over nature, sickness, death, time, demons, world rulers, and every human heart.

Help us to live like we believe that’s true.

Help us to fight indwelling sin with the confidence of those who were once dead, but are now alive in Christ.

Help us to proclaim the Good News with the boldness of those who know that, by Your Spirit, the dead are made alive through Your Word.

And we don’t just pray for ourselves. We pray for the Kingdom Partners we support through our giving.

For our missionaries in the UAE, Belgium, Egypt, and Africa—give them courage to proclaim that death has been defeated.

For our sister churches in the Pillar Network—fill them with joy as they proclaim that Jesus is alive!

For those proclaiming the Good News on college campuses, among veterans, in our public schools, and to little children in need all around the world—may the same power that rose Jesus from the dead cause many to come to new life in Christ.

And for the vulnerable—the hungry, single moms, and the unborn—may they not grow weary in well doing, knowing that the resurrected King is coming again to make all things new.

And we pray for our nation.

We see so many things in our nation that grieve us.

Loneliness, anger, confusion, rebellion, violence, and hatred abound.

So many people are looking for purpose in all the wrong places.

Would you forgive us for looking everywhere but to you?

And would you please, bring revival to this nation, so that many more may bow before the Risen King.

And we pray for the nations—

for language groups all over the world that have never heard the name of the One who defeated death.

Raise up missionaries and Bible translators to go to the most difficult places.

Until all have heard.

And now, as we turn to your Word, would you please speak to us now?

May the living Word of God point us to the living Son of God so that we might truly live before You, O Lord.

Holy Spirit, please preach louder than I can preach and do what I cannot do and preach to the heart.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

SERMON

Long ago, when the West was still wild, there was a traveling gunman who stopped in a small village to rest his horse. While he sat in the shade, he noticed the side of a large barn nearby. And he couldn’t believe his eyes. The entire side of the barn was covered with bullseyes. Dozens of them. And in the dead center of every single circle was a bullet hole.

The gunman stood up in amazement. He had to meet this incredible sharpshooter who never missed! So he walked over to the farmhouse and knocked on the door. When someone answered, he asked, “Who is the marksman responsible for all those bullseyes on the barn?”

The farmer smiled, then brought out a barefoot twelve-year-old boy. “This is him,” the farmer said. “Our village sharpshooter.”

The gunman was puzzled. He looked at the boy and said, “Son, how do you manage to hit the bullseye every single time?”

The boy shrugged and said, “Oh, it’s easy. I just shoot at the side of the barn… and then afterward I take a piece of chalk and draw the circle around wherever the bullet landed.”

That’s what people call the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy. [1]

You fire the shots first—and then afterward you draw the target around them so it looks like you hit the bullseye all along.

And that’s how many skeptics imagine Christianity works. They assume the early Christians looked back at the life of Jesus and then drew a target around the person they wanted Him to be.

In other words, they fabricated the stories about Jesus to make Him appear to be someone that He really wasn’t.

Sure, Jesus was a good man and a good teacher. But did He really rise from the dead? Was He really the Son of God?

Skeptics often assume the answer is simple: the early Christians fired their shots first—and then drew the target afterward.

But that theory runs into a serious problem.

Because there is a source that described the life, death, and resurrection of the Messiah long before Jesus was ever born.

About seven hundred years before the first Easter, the prophet Isaiah wrote a passage that sounds remarkably like someone standing at the foot of the cross.

He describes a Man He calls a “servant” who was despised and rejected… pierced for the sins of others… silent before His accusers… killed with criminals… buried with the rich… and yet somehow alive afterwards to see the results of His suffering.

The circle wasn’t drawn after the shot. The target was already there.

The Big Idea I hope to show you from Isaiah 53:3-12 this morning is simple: The death and resurrection of Jesus was always part of God’s plan.

From our text I want you to notice Three Truths about Jesus that were prophesied long in advance:

First, the prophet Isaiah tells us that...

1) Jesus is the Suffering SERVANT

Look at all the detail in this chapter that describes how Jesus would die...

Isaiah 53:3—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.

The gospels tell us Jesus was, indeed, despised and rejected by men.

One of His own disciples betrayed Him. The other eleven ran away. His best friend swore three times He didn’t even know who Jesus was.

The religious leaders hated Him, so they arranged to have Him arrested and brought on trial in the middle of the night. They falsely accused Him and sentenced Him to death. But they didn’t have the authority to execute the death penalty, so they brought Jesus before Pontius Pilate.

Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, but he ordered the Roman soldiers to flog Him in hopes of appeasing the religious leaders.

But the religious leaders were not appeased. Because they absolutely despised Jesus, they stirred up the crowd to beg for His crucifixion.

Then Isaiah uses language to describe the death of Jesus that aligns perfectly with what actually happened...

Isaiah 53:5a—But he was pierced for our transgressions,…

The word “pierced” refers to a fatal wound caused by penetrating the body with a sharp object.

In Isaiah’s day that might have meant a sword or a spear.

But the word fits perfectly with what happened to Jesus when nails were driven through His hands and feet and a spear was thrust into His side.

Jesus didn’t die of old age. He wasn’t burned at a stake or killed by wild beasts. He wasn’t a victim of some disease. He died on a cross.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down;

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown? [2]

It’s no accident that Isaiah uses the word “pierced.” Jesus’ crucifixion was all part of the plan.

And so too was the way Jesus responded to all this suffering...

Isaiah 53:7—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.

Now of course, this doesn’t mean Jesus literally didn’t open His mouth during His suffering.

He opened His mouth to breathe, to drink, and to speak seven powerful statements from the cross.

But He didn’t speak a single word to defend Himself.

The gospel of Matthew puts it like this...

Matthew 27:12–14—But when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He gave no answer. Then Pilate said to Him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” But He gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

Jesus remained silent—not because He was guilty, but because the cross was always the plan.

Before we move on, I want you to reflect for just a moment about how unprepared the Jewish people were for a Messiah like this.

They loved Jesus when He healed their sick and gave them food.

They wanted Him to overthrow the Romans and rescue them from their oppression.

They didn’t really want a suffering servant.

And neither do many people in our world today.

Most people don’t want a Messiah who suffers.

We want a Messiah who solves our problems, fixes our circumstances, and makes our lives easier.

But the reason the Messiah had to suffer is because our greatest problem isn’t political oppression or difficult circumstances.

Our greatest problem is sin.

And that leads us to the second truth Isaiah reveals about the Messiah.

2) Jesus is the Substitutionary SACRIFICE

It’s one thing for Isaiah to prophesy how Jesus would die 700 years in advance, but perhaps even more shocking is that Isaiah tells us why.

In fact, he tells us over and over again.

Ten times he prophesies that the Messiah is going to die as a substitutionary sacrifice. In other words, He’s going to die in our place.

Verse 4—“Surely he has borne our griefs...”

Verse 4—“...and carried our sorrows...”

Verse 5—“...He was pierced for our transgressions...”

Verse 5—“...He was crushed for our iniquities...”

Verse 5—“...upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace...”

Verse 5—“... with His wounds we are healed.”

Verse 6—“… the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Verse 8—He was “… stricken for the transgression of my people”

Verse 10—“… His soul makes an offering for guilt…”

Verse 12—“… He bore the sin of many…” [3]

There are three massively important truths embedded in each of these ten phrases.

First, we have all sinned.

Whether we use the words transgression, iniquity, guilt, or sin, they all mean the same thing: we have rebelled against God.

If you feel like you haven’t done anything that bad, it’s probably because you’re measuring yourself against other people instead of measuring yourself against God’s law.

The law of God is summarized for us in the 10 Commandments. So let’s just take a few minutes and examine ourselves by that standard.

The fifth commandment says to honor your parents. Every time you dishonored or disobeyed your parents you are guilty.

The sixth commandment says don’t murder. Most of us probably haven’t physically murdered someone, but Jesus says we’re guilty of committing murder in our hearts when we hate and mistreat one another.

The seventh commandment says don’t commit adultery. Even if you’ve been physically faithful to your spouse, Jesus says we’re guilty of violating the heart of this commandment every time we lust after another person.

The eighth commandment says don’t steal. Have you ever stolen time from your employers? Cheated on a project for school? Plagiarized work that wasn’t yours? Taken something from your mom’s purse when you were a kid? If so, you’re guilty.

The ninth commandments says don’t lie. Every time you speak something that’s untrue, every time you exaggerate, every time you deceive, you’re guilty.

Brother, sister, friend: do you see why the Bible says we all fall short? We’ve only considered half of the ten commandments, and if we’re honest all of us are rebellious, adulterous, lying, thieving, murderers at heart. Happy Easter!

Now think about this: imagine you only sin two times per hour.

Honestly, that seems pretty gracious since we can sin by doing the wrong things, doing the right things in the wrong way, doing the right things for the wrong reasons, feeling the wrong things, thinking the wrong things, and believing the wrong things!

If you sin two times per hour and are awake for 17 hours a day, that’s 34 sins a day, 238 sins a week, over 1000 sins a month, and 12,376 sins a year.

For every ten years of your life, you have committed over 120,000 sins! [4]

Many of us are far too comfortable with sin because we rarely (if ever) stop to think about how often we do it.

But God knows. And Isaiah 53 suggests that our sin has serious consequences.

Look at the words that are used in this chapter to describe what happened to Jesus.

He was despised, rejected, stricken, smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed, chastise[d], oppressed, afflicted, slaughter[ed], judge[d], cut off, put to grief, and He poured out His soul to death.

Why did Jesus endure such horrible suffering? Because that’s the suffering our sins deserve.

And WHY do our sins deserve such horrible punishment? Because of the inestimable value of the One we’re sinning against.

If you scratch a totaled car in a junkyard, nobody will care.

If you scratch your neighbor’s new Ford truck, you’ll probably have to pay to get it fixed.

But if you scratch a 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, which sold for $143 million a few years ago, you will pay a far, far greater price.

The same act—scratching a vehicle—can have different consequences based on the vehicle’s value.

When we sin, we are offending the most valuable Being in the universe. And we haven’t done it once, or twice, but hundreds of thousands of times.

That’s why every single one of us deserves to be separated from God forever in a place of suffering called hell.

But I have Good news for you today, friend. Good news that was prophesied long before it happened.

Jesus suffered in our place.

Jesus sacrificed Himself as our substitute.

He lived a sinless life to earn the righteousness that none of us can earn on our own.

And then He died a sinner’s death in our place to take away the penalty we deserve.

That’s why we read in…

Isaiah 53:10—… it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; …

Jesus didn’t die on accident. He didn’t die because things spiraled out of control. His death was all part of the plan.

In eternity past, God the Father planned for Jesus to die in our place. He would be crushed by the wrath of God, as if He had committed all the millions of sins that we committed.

But the story doesn’t end there. Consider with me the final truth Isaiah reveals about the Messiah.

3) Jesus is the Risen SAVIOR

The British philosopher and agnostic C.E.M. Joad was once asked if he could meet anyone in history, who would it be and what would he ask. He replied, “I would meet Jesus Christ and ask him the most important question in all the world—‘Did you or did you not rise from the dead?’” [5]

Similarly, the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said: "The central question of humanity is whether or not Jesus rose again on Easter morning. How we understand that question determines how we will answer every other question."

But if you’re skeptical, you might imagine that the earliest Christians simply wanted to believe Jesus rose from the dead so they concocted stories after the fact to argue for something that never happened.

Like the boy drawing bullseyes after he fires his gun.

Isaiah’s prophecy simply doesn’t allow us to believe that. 700 years before Jesus was buried in a tomb, Isaiah predicted He would walk out of it.

Although He doesn’t use the word “resurrection,” the idea is clearly here.

The Messiah will die, but death will not be the end for Him.

There are at least five predictions of the resurrection of Jesus in the final three verses of Isaiah 53...

Isaiah 53:10b—… when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring;…

Now I realize it’s tempting to adopt a sort of chronological snobbery that imagines that people in Bible times were uncouth primitives who simply didn’t know the sort of things that we sophisticated modern people understand.

But they knew how death worked. I would suspect people like Isaiah encountered more death in a month than most of us do in a decade. Isaiah knew that dead people don’t see.

But the Messiah will see His offspring after sacrificing His life for our guilt. How? Because death will not defeat Him! He will rise on the third day and see His twelve disciples, and He will return on the last day and see all of His disciples.

The second prediction of the resurrection is in...

Isaiah 53:10c—… he shall prolong his days;…

When you say somebody’s days are numbered, what do you mean? That they’re done! They’re toast! They’re about to kick the bucket! Death is near.

But Isaiah tells us that after His death, the Messiah’s days would be prolonged. How?

God the Father will not allow His Son to stay dead.

As King David wrote in...

Psalm 16:10—For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let Your Holy One see corruption.

God allowed His Son to die. He allowed His dead body to be placed into a grave. But He would not leave Him there. On the third day He would rise!

The third prediction of the resurrection is in...

Isaiah 53:11a—… Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

A few months ago I worked with a friend to replace a bathtub. It was a long, tedious project, especially for someone like me who has very little skill in fixing things. But when we finally finished the job and looked at the end result there was a deep kind of satisfaction that only comes with that kind of work. I am so grateful that I lived long enough to experience it.

Because a dead person cannot experience that kind of satisfaction. Dead men don’t see results. They don’t experience fulfillment. And yet Isaiah says that after suffering and dying, the Messiah will see and be satisfied.

Which means the Messiah must live again. The cross was not the end of His story. The Servant rises to see the fruit of His suffering—and He is satisfied with what He sees.

The fourth prediction of the resurrection is in...

Isaiah 53:11b—… he shall bear their iniquities.

Isaiah 53:12b—… he . . . makes intercession for the transgressors.

Imagine a football team up by four touchdowns with 90 seconds left in the championship game. On the sidelines, the team is already celebrating their victory, even though technically it hasn’t happened yet. But everyone knows the outcome is certain, so they talk about it as if it’s already happened.

Like many of the prophets, Isaiah writes about future events using the past tense to emphasize the certainty of the events being foretold.

Almost everywhere in this chapter, Isaiah speaks in the past tense. But not with these two phrases in verses 11 and 12.

Isaiah says the Messiah shall bear our iniquities. He makes intercession for transgressors.

Why the change here? I believe this isn’t referring to Jesus’ work on the cross. It’s referring to His work for His people right now.

Romans 8:34—Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Jesus didn’t stop working for us when He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.

He is even now working for us as our Great High Priest, praying for us and interceding for us before the Father.

When you commit iniquity, Christian, Jesus is bearing those sins before the Father. He’s showing the Father His scars and reminding Him that you’re forgiven. And when you need help, Christian, Jesus is interceding on your behalf. Even though you still commit transgression, Jesus still prays for you.

Now again, this should go without saying, but you can’t work or pray or carry or intercede if you’re dead.

Isaiah prophesies Jesus’ ongoing priestly work after His death because Jesus’ death wasn’t the end!

The death and resurrection of Jesus was always part of God’s plan.

I’ve been telling you all morning that Jesus’ death and resurrection were prophesied long in advance.

But there’s one more objection we need to answer before we conclude.

Remember the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy? Fire first, then draw the bullseye?

What if the early church did that to the book of Isaiah? What if they edited the Old Testament after Jesus died so the prophecies would appear to point to Him?

In 1947 a young Bedouin shepherd was searching for a lost goat near the Dead Sea. When he threw a rock into a cave, he heard the sound of breaking pottery. Inside those jars were ancient scrolls that had been hidden for nearly two thousand years. Among them was a complete copy of the book of Isaiah. And here’s what’s amazing: modern scholarship—using radiocarbon dating and the study of ancient handwriting—has confirmed that this scroll was written centuries before Jesus ever lived.

SHOW ISAIAH SCROLL

And when scholars unrolled that scroll, Isaiah 53 was already there—unchanged from the passage we’ve studied this morning.

In that ancient scroll, Isaiah tells us Messiah would suffer, He would die for our sins, and He would rise again.

The target wasn’t drawn after the shot. The target had been drawn long before Jesus came.

And on Easter morning, Jesus hit every mark.

Which means the question now is not whether the prophecy was edited afterward. The question is whether you will trust the Savior who fulfilled it.

Many of you are here this morning because you already believe this. I hope God’s Word will fill you with joy in the truth that Jesus really is risen. I hope it will strengthen your faith.

If you can trust that God had a plan for Jesus’ death and resurrection 700 years before it happened, you can trust He has a plan for your life too.

But if you’re here and you don’t yet believe, I would invite you today to put your faith in Jesus.

Your sins can be forgiven. Your guilt can be removed. Your future can be changed forever.

Not because you hit the bullseye of a perfect life — but because Jesus did it in your place.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Benediction (Hebrews 13:20-21)