Isaiah 52, 53:1-3
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Before we enter into the Holy of Holies lets bow our hearts and go before our Father in prayer.
So as we have been sharing we are at the “high point” of Isaiah. Where see God plainly share His Plan for the redemption of His People.
Like all of Isaiah, the beginning section has some very familiar passages that you will have seen in the NT.
Ch 52
1 Awake, awake!
Put on your strength, O Zion;
Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised and the unclean
Shall no longer come to you.
2 Shake yourself from the dust, arise;
I see here a hint of the resurrection, arise.
Sit down, O Jerusalem!
Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion!
So here we are getting a prophetic picture of the Millennium. The Beautiful Garments remind us of the Righteousness of Christ.
6 But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
And regarding a robe of Righteouness Isaiah writes;
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
You might remember Jesus in His parable of the wedding feast finds a man not dressed in the wedding garments.Jesus says
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
That’s why Peter would say “that there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved.”
Jesus is the only way. His righteousness alone saves.
Isaiah continues;
3 For thus says the LORD:
“You have sold yourselves for nothing,
And you shall be redeemed without money.”
How many lives, really all our lives, have been sold for nothing. The Hebrew word for nothing, chinnam, the word indicates freely, for nothing, without cause, gratis, gratuitously, for nothing, for no purpose, in vain.
When we give ourselves to other gods, that is to things we have put in a higher place than God, we have sold ourselves for nothing.
The converse of that is God’s plan. Redemption - without money.
It is interesting that Silver is the metal of redemption throughout the bible. And that redemption and blood are linked as well. Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver that was called blood money.
The word for redeemed here is ga-al, Kinsman redeemer. It was not money that paid for our sins but Jesus’own blood.
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
We continue;
4 For thus says the Lord GOD:
“My people went down at first
Into Egypt to dwell there;
Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here,” says the LORD,
“That My people are taken away for nothing?
Those who rule over them
Make them wail,” says the LORD,
“And My name is blasphemed continually every day.
6 Therefore My people shall know My name;
Therefore they shall know in that day
That I am He who speaks:
‘Behold, it is I.’ ”
Verse 4 gives us insight that we don’t see elsewhere. In Exodus
we read;
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we;
Stephen in speech in Acts 7
18 till another king arose who did not know Joseph.
In the Greek there are two words for “another”. Allos and Heteros”. Allos being another of the same kind, Heteros meaning another of a different kind. You might say “I want to buy another car?” In English we have to probe deeper to find out what you mean. Greek is more specific.
So in 52:4 we learn that the new Pharaoh was an Assyrian. He was of a different kind, non-Egyptian.
Also, interestingly, the term the Assyrian is an idiom for the AC. Surely the Pharaoh was a type of the AC.
Verse 6 apply to our day today;
6 Therefore My people shall know My name;
Therefore they shall know in that day
That I am He who speaks:
‘Behold, it is I.’ ”
God is speaking loud and clear I pray we are paying attention.
This next section should be familiar;
7 How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
8 Your watchmen shall lift up their voices,
With their voices they shall sing together;
For they shall see eye to eye
When the LORD brings back Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together,
You waste places of Jerusalem!
For the LORD has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has made bare His holy arm
In the eyes of all the nations;
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The salvation of our God.
Paul quotes verse 7 in Rom 10:15
15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
It is interesting how the HS is so careful to be consistent in His use of idioms. In verse 7 we read of the feet of those who preach the Gospel. When you compare this to Eph 6 and Paul’s description of the Christians armour.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
We continue;
11 Depart! Depart! Go out from there,
Touch no unclean thing;
Go out from the midst of her,
Be clean,
You who bear the vessels of the LORD.
12 For you shall not go out with haste,
Nor go by flight;
For the LORD will go before you,
And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
What an awesome picture, God going before us and also being our rear guard! To be in Christ is to have God’s protection at all times.
Just this weekend, we felt Gods tangible presence at our home when we were enjoying our daughters family, Jacquie and Mark and our four Grand Daughters. We had just got out of the pool and got a phone call from my son and at that moment the two year old, “Beanie”, got into the spa with out us noticing.
For some reason, the HS moved Mark to look and he saw Beanies feet in the spa, he just in an grabbed her, she was lifeless, but by the grace of God Mark put her on her tummy pressed down and she revived. Livi her 9 year old big sister told me afterward that she was praying and that we had just witnessed a miracle and reminded me of what I had said on our Sunday morning service.
“blessed are you who have Believed”
Praise the Lord Beanie fine. How good it is to know God has your front and your back!
Now, the last three verses of Ch 52 should really be in Ch 53. As I have been saying that this is the crescendo the high point of Isaiah as God reveals His plan of redemption for His Servant, the Messiah.
13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently;
He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you,
So His visage was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men;
15 So shall He sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.
As we have discussed the term my servant has been a applies to several individuals, but here, this instance is definitely looking at the Messiah.
The word prudently means with understanding, with comprehension and insight.
Truly that is the Jesus I know. He understands me, He understands you. And he will be extolled and very high. So high that every knee will bow to Him. He has been given a name that is above every name.
Interestingly, the translators who translated the OT into Greek, called the Septuagint, used a word for extolled that carries the meaning of “to be lifted up”. As the Septuagint was the common version of Jesus’s day, Jesus played off that word in His conversation with Nicodemus in John 3.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Verse 14 begins the look at the awful physical beating that Jesus accepted in our place.
So His visage was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men;
The word visage means sight, phenomenon, spectacle, appearance, vision.
The word marred means disfigurement or corruption.
He was beaten so badly that His face and body were disfigured, more than any man, Isaiah says. Many believe that this and His Beard being pulled out were the reason so many could not recognize Him following His resurrection.
In verse 15, the idea of the word “sprinkle” would immediately bring a picture of the HP dipping a Hyssop plant in the blood of the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkling the Priests and the Holy instruments and the people to cover their Sins.
Verse 15 end with
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.
One day the Jews will wake up to the reality of just who Jesus is.
10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
Now lets move into Ch 53.
You may remember Philip who God used to minister to the Ethiopian eunuch.
Philip asked him, do you understand what you are reading? He answered how can I unless someone guide me? Well, he was reading Isaiah 53.
The Eunuch’s question was who is this written about? That is the question we will be considering as well.
Many people are amazed that people – especially Jewish people – can read a chapter like this and miss Jesus. But really it isn’t surprising. When we make up our minds about who Jesus is, it’s easy to become blind and deaf to the plain, simple message of the Word of God. Some Jews of Ascanazi Tradition, sought to remove Ch 53 from the scripture, the Sephartic Jews however kept in. but then the dead sea scrolls were found with a complete scroll of Isaiah of course including Is 53. This very scroll is on display in Israel now,
Is 53 is quoted in all 4 gospels and the book of Acts as well as Peter.
Is 53 not only details Christs suffering but it lays out the Theology behind the purpose of it.
1 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Right out of the gate here, Isaiah is anticipating that many would not believe God’s Plan. Who has believed our report? That the conquering Messiah must be brutally beaten and die?
Again Isaiah gives us detail into the Jesus that we would not know otherwise. He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
This is not say that Jesus is homely but rather that He was rather average in appearance. It wasn’t physical beauty that attracted His followers. on this Alan Redpath writes;
This means that when we try to attract people to Jesus through form or comeliness, or beauty, we are using methods that run counter to the nature of Jesus. “These days it appears that we must dress up the gospel to make it attractive. We have to use the methods of technique which must be smart, well-presented, streamlined. There must be something about the presentation of the gospel that will appeal to people… to what is called ‘the modern mind.’ I wonder if we stop to think that in our efforts to make the gospel message ‘attractive’ we are drawing a curtain across the face of Jesus in His humiliation? The only one who can make Him attractive is the Holy Spirit.” (Redpath)
This shows that men value physical beauty and charisma far more than God does, and when we don’t see it, we can reject the ones God accepts.
Now before we continue into the suffering of Christ here in Ch 53, I wanted to look at a companion passage that add more light. It is important to keep in mind that God’s plan of redemption was not one that was reactionary or created on the fly. This was God’s plan from the the very beginning.
Turn to Ps 22, A picture from Christ perspective on the Cross.
1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthanai - Mat 27- Jesus statement from the cross. The Psalm also end s with His final word “it is finished”.
Why are You so far from helping Me,
And from the words of My groaning?
2 O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;
And in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in You;
They trusted, and You delivered them.
5 They cried to You, and were delivered;
They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.
6 But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me;
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him;
Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother’s womb
You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me,
For trouble is near;
For there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have surrounded Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.
13 They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion.
Some believe as I do that this is speaking to evil principalities and powers coming against Him while on the Cross.
14 I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;Some as
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
16 For dogs (Gentiles) have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked (Jews) has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
David writes about Crucifixion here. It would not be invented for 700 more years. Hebrew capital punishment was by stoning.
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
This what Jesus saw from the Cross.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. 24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:
“They divided My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.”
Therefore the soldiers did these things.
So we can see the precise detail the HS has given us. We are going end here and pick up next time at verse 4 and continue in the Holy of Holies. I hope you can join us.