Isaiah - Revealing Jesus
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Why hello there everyone, you guys doing good? I have a question for all of you, who likes stories? Whether it is from books or someone telling you a story? Ok, a fair amount of you, i’ll be honest with you, I love stories but I don’t like sitting down to read something. I dont have the attention span to stay consistent and diligent to read a book. But im chilling with my grandma and grandpa and they are sharing stories about their lives, and our family history, i'm all ears because that stuff fascinates me. As well, if it something like history, i'm all in. I love learning about things that show us from where we came from. I’m a huge history nerd, so anything that is in that is in that realm, i’ll listen. But there are always those times where it sounds almost fake, like there is no way that could have actually happened.
And i don't feel like i am alone on this. We all have those moments when someone is telling us something that we just can’t believe to be true. And i’ll be honest with you, even stuff in the bible that is almost hard to believe because we can’t comprehend what that would have been like. Like an alter in that was burned and everything on it such as, the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the ground around the altar. It also dried up the water in the ditch. There was nothing left. There was nothing left. Or in where Moses is leading the israelites out of Egypt when God separates the Red Sea and they walk on dry ground where it was like that no water had ever been on it. Or when Peter walks on water on . As I look at this and think of it all, i just can’t get past the fact of how powerful our God is. But speaking of all of this there is also another part of the bible that predicts the future.
You know, there is this part in the bible where there is this guy called Isaiah, and he was one of the greatest prophets of God in history. It is suspected that throughout his writings, he would have been in or at least around Israel around the years of 739 B.C and 701 B.C. Through these times there were many hardships and times of distress in the country of Israel. The Assyrians were pushing south through all the countries now known as Syria and Israel to achieve their main goal of getting to Egypt. So, while this was going on people were talking and asking questions on what might happen. They slowly started to lose faith that God could help them. They were asking stuff like, “does god want to deliver us from exile?” Or more importantly, “Can he even deliver us from exile?” So, when Isaiah heard this, he knew he had to do something about it. He writes down a prophecy of how God would restore his people. And this prophecy takes place in Chapter 53 of Isaiah. And in this chapter, if any of you were to look into the passage you would see that there are some topics that hold certain verses together. So the first of these are verses 1-3, and those say,
You know, there is this part in the bible where there is this guy called Isaiah, and he was one of the greatest prophets of God in history. It is suspected that throughout his writings, he would have been in or at least around Israel around the years of 739 B.C and 701 B.C. Through these times there were many hardships and times of distress in the country of Israel. The Assyrians were pushing south through all the countries now known as Syria and Israel to achieve their main goal of getting to Egypt. So, while this was going on people were talking and asking questions on what might happen. They slowly started to lose faith that God could help them. They were asking stuff like, “does god want to deliver us from exile?” Or more importantly, “Can he even deliver us from exile?” So, when Isaiah heard this, he knew he had to do something about it. He writes down a prophecy of how God would restore his people. And this prophecy takes place in Chapter 53 of Isaiah. And in this chapter, if any of you were to look into the passage you would see that there are some topics that hold certain verses together. So the first of these are verses 1-3, and those say,
The New International Version Chapter 53
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
When Isaiah asked who the arm of the Lord was revealed to, he was reflecting on the past to when God had brought them out of slavery in Egypt and when they were under the control of the Babylonians. Isaiah is trying to bring the people of Israel back to the foundations of their belief and to remind them of the power of God. He also states that the “He” is referring to grew up like a tender shoot and this is again looking back but this time it is looking back at what Isaiah had written when he said that,
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
But through that Isaiah also explains that “He” grew up like a root of dry ground. And if anyone knows anything about planting, a strong and nourished plant cannot come out of the ground where there is no water around. And if this does happen the plant will look rather rough and unappealing such as a cactus in the desert. So this is seen that this Servant that is being written about will not come from a place of wealth or beauty but will grow up rough, with little beauty so this will put most off because they wont expect much from such person. Seeing as he grew up in a rough circumstance and was no desirable, why would anyone see this person as important? As this section continues Isaiah keeps going on this idea that the Servant was not desirable to others, in fact he expands on it. He says that the Servant is rejected and despised by men. So he is saying that through what the servant does people will reject him and what he says because he is “nothing” . And then he also says that the servant will be familiar with pain. What kind of pain you ask? Great question, it is thought that when he said this there was implacations that he was talking about physical and mental. And this wasn’t just a one and done experience, it happened over and over and over again. Now lets move over to verses 4-6 and they say,
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The New International Version Chapter 53
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
This is the first time that we are seeing that the pain is connected to our pain and how the Servant took on and bore those pains on himself. The consequences that we rightfully deserve, He took off of us and bore it himself. In verse 5 when it says the words” crushed, punishment, and wounds” it shows the agony that the Servant would have to undergo because of the sins of all of us. Through this serious pain and affliction that the Servant would go through it is thought that this servant would die through the trauma He would have to go through. When we look at verse 5, there are some pretty strong wording about what is going to happen to the servant. It explains that he will be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. And I know those are some pretty hefty words that we may not understand, so I will break it down. The word transgressions, it means that one is in violation of the law or in sin. When it says iniquity, it is saying that one is acting in an immoral fashion. So as a whole, Isaiah is saying that the servant is taking the blow that we all deserve because of our own actions and behaviours. And through that we obtain peace and we are healed. He then continues to say that we are all like sheep that have gone astray. When he says this, he is going off the fact that we all like to do our own thing, we all like to go our own way.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
This next verse has very strong ties to and & 36 because of this idea of the lamb and the Lamb of God. He goes through the fact that the lamb was led to the slaughter. The one submissive and loyal sheep was the one that was killed even though the rest had gone astray from their shepherd. But Isaiah also goes back to a point from earlier where he explains that though he was going through this oppression, he did not open his mouth of fight back. The servant accepted his destiny and did not raise his voice in protest of what was happening. As we keep going and looking at verse 8, this servant was taken away from everyone. He was thrown into a place where he would be discommunicated and would not have any impactful human interaction. As well this servant was given a sinners death instead of royalty since he had done no evil, we was perfect.
When people look at this chapter, they focus so much on the death of the servant and forget of the prosperity that follows the event. The last three verses say,
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
The New American Commentary: Isaiah 40–66 Final Exaltation of the Servant (53:10–12)
Although earlier verses indicated that men despised, pierced, and cut off the Servant, 53:6b indicates that behind the scenes it was God who caused the iniquities of us all to fall on him. In spite of this, God’s plan was to exalt and prosper his righteous Servant because he was willing to bear the sins of many. These verses demonstrate that the death of the Servant was not a tragic mistake; his death will justify many and will bring the Servant honor. This positive ending to the story of the Servant can come to pass only if there is the possibility of some exaltation after death
As I was reading a commentary on these three verses, the author said something quite profound about this topic and he said,
Although earlier verses indicated that men despised, pierced, and cut off the Servant, 53:6 indicates that behind the scenes it was God who caused the iniquities of us all to fall on him. In spite of this, God’s plan was to exalt and prosper his righteous Servant because he was willing to bear the sins of many. These verses demonstrate that the death of the Servant was not a tragic mistake; his death will justify many and will bring the Servant honor. This positive ending to the story of the Servant can come to pass only if there is the possibility of some exaltation after death.
As we have been going through all of this, I hope that you have been trying to connect the dots with something. I have a secret to tell you, this prophecy is about Jesus. I know, right, shocking. This prophecy was written over 700 years before Jesus was born so this shows that God had this redemption plan for his people for a decent amount of time. And there was a prophecy that happened even earlier than that about Jesus and what he would come to do. If we look all the way back in and this is God speaking to the serpent right after Eve was deceived to eat the fruit in the garden of Eden and it says,
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
God planned from the beginning of time the redemption story of his people. Cause when God says that he will put an enmity between the serpent and the woman and the serpents offspring, or more commonly known as, demons, and her offspring. God will put something in the middle to help God’s people fight evil and overcome evil. And the offspring of the woman will crush the serpent's head without problem. So then if we fast forward thousands of years, that is exactly what Jesus did on the cross. He defeated death and sin itself because he took all our sin with him.
So as i invite the worship team back up and they lead us in a couple more songs, I just ask you guys that you reflect on what Jesus went through for all of us. He was pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities.