The Coming King Conquers
Notes
Transcript
13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
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—
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.
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
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.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
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.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
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.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
INTRODUCTION: EXAMPLES OF KINGS CONQUERING
INTRODUCTION: EXAMPLES OF KINGS CONQUERING
Last week, we spent time asking the question what should we expect from the coming King’s Kingdom? And we answered that question from the perspective of a prophet who spoke of the savior more than 7 centuries before He ever arrived on earth.
The Coming King’s Kingdom would come from humble beginnings.
The Coming King’s Kingdom would actually be a kingdom where true justice reigns.
The Coming King’s Kingdom would actually be a kingdom where true peace was known throughout all its inhabitants.
The Coming King’s Kingdom would be a Kingdom whose advancement and spread never ceased until every corner of creation was covered.
This week, we want to answer another question? How does the Coming King bring His Kingdom?
CENTRAL QUESTION: How Does This King Conquer?
The Coming King Conquers With A Wisdom Not Of This World
The Coming King Conquers With A Wisdom Not Of This World
13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
He acts wisely not because it's painless. The servant in this text is getting credit for acting wisely but as we are about to read, the path doesn’t appear very wise. The path is a path of suffering and it’s not normally considered wise to run towards your impending suffering.
So He is declared to be acting wisely not because he acts in a way that leaves Him unscathed and protected. He is deemed wise even though his actions place Him in harm’s way…
He acts wisely and His wisdom will lead to HIs exaltation. Again, what we are about to read concerning the servant is not very wise to us but it leads to his exaltation! This commitment to walk through suffering for something greater is how we get to wisdom in this scenario. The servant sees past the suffering to the victory. God’s wisdom doesn’t always appear very wise on the surface to the rest of the world.
So how is that wisdom manifested?
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—
Pay attention to the suffering on display...APPEARANCE SO MARRED…
In verse 14 we hear of King being beaten so brutally and viciously that he is no longer recognizable.
HE’s BEYOND HUMAN SEMBLANCE and BEYOND that of the children of mankind...meaning that He was beaten to the point of no longer resembling a HUMAN.
Under any other circumstance, this appearance would be the look of defeat, but listen to what is said of this battered King…
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.
His conquering shall be ASTONISHING. As many were astonished at his suffering shall be astonished at the reign that follows his suffering…
His conquering shall be UNIVERSAL...Nations will impacted...Kings will shut their mouths…
HIs conquering shall be REDEMPTIVE
This is the wisdom of God...that a servant would suffer and bring redemption for the world through His suffering. That a servant would suffer beyond recognition and in so doing be exalted, high, and lifted up.
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
God’s wisdom appears like foolishness to everyone else because no one else knows the end that God is accomplishing but Him.
Another thing about the Coming King’s Conquering Wisdom Should Be Automatically Evident based on what we’ve read so far and it is this…
It’s so out of the box that it’s going to be difficult to be accepted (believed)...
Beginning at verse 1 of chapter 53 God speaks through the prophet Isaiah and turns His voice from declaration to inquiry…
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
What He is describing concerning this servant is so out of the ordinary and so out of the box that the question must be asked...WHO HAS BELIEVED WHAT HE HAS HEARD!?
The prophet also asks another question one in which he is probably more anticipating than anything? TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED!?
The questions are posed due to the unbelievable nature of this conquering! The Arm of the Lord can be understood as the power the Lord wills in accomplishing His will and defeating His enemies. The power He wills in expanding and establishing His Kingdom. So the question here in verse 2 is a good one…
How on earth is this servant a demonstration of that power?
Verses 2-3 revisit the earlier points made about this servant’s undesirable appearance and status among those in his presence…
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
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.
He is beaten beyond recognition and human resemblance…
He possesses no desirable attributes to gaze into…
He has no regality about Him...no royal appearance to Him…
He carried very little favor among men…
He knew the experience of suffering more than the experience of prosperity
And yet this was the one whom the power of God to bring down Kingdoms and rescue the world was working through??? WHO HAS BELIEVED WHAT HE HAS HEARD????
Application: You know that there are layers to the faith walk correct? We all know that at the fundamental level we are trusting that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World and Lord of all things, but underneath that there are some other layers that we would do well to explore. For example, what we see underneath this declaration of faith is the call to believe HIS WISDOM IS ACTUALLY WISE.
In other words, what’s being asked here in Isaiah 53 is not just, “IS HE KING?” but also “IS THIS TRULY HOW TO ESTABLISH A KINGDOM?”
Jesus from the very beginning of His ministry shows up and begins to reorient our ideas of what KINGDOM REIGN looks like…
Take for example the Beatitudes:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The Wealthy and Powerful inherit Kingdoms...
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The STRONG inherit EVERYTHING, not meek people...
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. MERCIFUL people will only get stepped on and over...
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. NICE GUYS finish last...
These are the terms for the Expansion of Jesus’ Kingdom, but all of these terms are absolutely opposite of the terms that we understand are required to expand KINGDOMS…
Illustration: How many times have you watched someone demonstrate a Kingdom value...forgive a deep hurt by a family member, respond graciously to someone treating you harshly on the job, going out of the way to show someone love without love being returned?
How many times have you watched something like this and then responded…”Well, there’s no way I could do that…”
How many times have you watched something like this and then responded…”Well, I would never do that…”
It is in these moments that we aren’t just struggling with the question: “IS HE KING?”; We are struggling with the question “IS THIS TRULY HOW A KING SHOULD ESTABLISH A KINGDOM?”
In other words, it’s almost as if we are saying...You I know He is King but he sure doesn’t seem to know how to establish a Kingdom...
To this I would say again...God’s wisdom appears like foolishness to us because we don’t see what He sees.
Nothing articulates this point more than His establishment of the Kingdom through HIS CRUCIFIXION.
How do we get a Kingdom out of this??? In order to understand better, we have to understand what the CRUCIFIXION solves which leads to our next point…
The COMING King Conquers By Taking Our Place
The COMING King Conquers By Taking Our Place
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
WHY WAS JESUS A MAN OF SORROW??? A MAN FAMILIAR WITH ALL MANNER OF PAIN AND SUFFERING
WHY WAS JESUS A MAN ACQUAINTED WITH GRIEF???
Because He was a man who came to actually bear it…Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…
Early on in the Old Testament, we come to learn that God is a perfect God. A Holy God. And due to His holiness and perfections, no sin can stay in his presence. And so from the very beginning, there are sacrifices made to absorb the punishment…
On the day of atonement Aaron is given the following as a priestly duty to perform on behalf of the people…
20 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
The goat was intended to carry the iniquity of the people away. And every time this day came about, atonement was to be made...until this servant arrives…
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
Why was this servant beaten to nothing...because he was sent to absorb our punishment.
Why was this King pierced in his side...because he was sent to bear our sin and shame.
Bearing the sorrow of sin and shame...Absorbing the grief connected to our fallen and broken world...this is how He conquers…
Let me also be clear that physical healing is not the point of this text...That is a more recent translation of this Scripture but it is not one that has been historically held.
The entire context of Isaiah 52-53 is about atonement…
The entire context of the other Scripture where it is mentioned is about atonement...1 Peter
21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
What are the wounds in need of healing? The wounds that cause us to stray like sheep...the transgressions...the iniquities...the wounds that separate us from God…
Now that’s not to say, God doesn’t heal. He calls the elders to anoint the sick with oil and to lay hands on them and the prayer of faith will raise them up…
We are to pray and trust God with healing, but we are not to demand healing based on promises that were intended to secure our salvation not our physical health...
The biggest reason why this feels like a let down is the same reason why we are blind to this demonstration being the way that Jesus conquers the world, saves the Nations, and establishes the Kingdom is because we are so unfamiliar with just how devastating our sin is and just how hopeless it places us before a Holy God.
The Bible says that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin...JUSTICE for TRANSGRESSION IS REQUIRED and family our TRANSGRESSION IS MANY.
Every careless word. Every wayward act. Every entertained idea that undermines the law of God is worthy of judgment. Is worthy of RIGHTEOUS JUSTICE. Is worthy of punishment…And we all are guilty
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
So How does He Conquer the Kingdoms of the World? By dying for the people in the World…
Also note that the King Conquered by Dying...not because He deserved to die but because we deserved to die…
Verse 7-9 speak to the innocence of this Savior...
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.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
I find it fascinating, as Christians, how much we feel like we have to get the last word in...when we disagree, when we argue, when we fight…
How desperately we feel like we have to vindicate ourselves over the most minor of offenses...
How viciously we fight to have our way in the most routine of disagreements…
Yet here we read of the Savior...marching to the Cross on our behalf, not muttering a word of descent.
They murdered him like a guilty convict...they buried him like a wicked man even though you couldn’t even find guilt in his speech…
This is how the King conquers…
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Verse 10...how could it please God to crush his son...because in so doing…
He was saving us (John 3:16)
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.
He was establishing His glory (Hebrews 12:1-2)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
He was CONQUERING...
Verse 12...spoils go to the conquerers…
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.