A Gift of Peace
Notes
Transcript
Good morning and welcome to Dishman Baptist Church. It is always a blessing to be here and to join with you as we worship our Lord together. This day has personal significance for me as it is the anniversary of the first Sunday that I stood here and brought the Word as the pastor of this church. And what a beautiful time to celebrate and yet also what a challenging time to have an anniversary.
We’ve been looking at the advent season through the lens of a gift this year. The gift of Christmas as promised through the Old Testament and then realized through the coming, the first advent, of Jesus Christ. Chuck showed us the first gift, the gift of hope, taking us through the first promise of the Gospel in Genesis 3 and showing us how even in the curse there is the promise, the gift of hope.
We looked at the gift of faith through the life of Abraham and saw how the gift of faith leads us to salvation, to sanctification and to service.
Last week we looked at the gift of joy through the eyes of David as we saw how redemption, restoration, instruction, endurance and, yes, even guilt can cultivate a spirit of joy within us that is capable of flourishing despite circumstances or environment.
And in each of these we witnessed that it was only through the gift of Christ that any of these other gifts became truly possible. This morning we’re going to look at the gift of peace, again through the lens of an Old Testament passage, that is going to show us that there really is no other way to peace except through Christ.
The year was 1974. A man in a tattered uniform walked out of the Philippine jungle. His name was Hiroo Onoda. In 1944, as the Americans were sweeping into the Philippine islands, orders were given to a young lieutenant to continue to resist and that he would eventually be rescued. And he did - refusing and discounting all efforts to convince him that the war was over as enemy propaganda he continued to fight. For 29 years he continued to fight a war that had ended.
There is a war that is raging today that people continue to seek peace from. And there are those who would seek to offer peace - on their terms. As long as you agree to think like them, to agree with their points of view then there can be peace. But differ with them and there is no peace. They’re like the prophets of Jeremiah’s time who prophesied “peace, peace” but there was no peace. And as much as modern pundits might speak of peace, there is no true peace available on the terms they are offering.
But there has been one who offered peace. Who spoke of peace. After all He was the Prince of Peace as foretold by Isaiah
For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
And as He was preparing to leave His disciples, on the night before He would be crucified, in His great discourse in the upper room Christ promises peace
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.
But what exactly is this peace and how is it attained? The passage we’re going to look at this morning is going to lay out for us in stark detail how this is achieved. Open your Bibles with me to Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53. I know it may seem strange to preach this passage around Christmas time - if you do think this is strange, just wait until Christmas Eve.
Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him.
Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.
We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.
This passage is rich and deep in so many important points for the Christian faith. We’re going to look at the passage with a focus on verse 5 - that punishment for our peace was on him. The questions that this passage answers is who can secure peace, how can peace be secured and finally what does all of this mean? One thing we must also realize is that the chapter breaks that we have in our Bibles sometimes fall in unfortunate places. This chapter is one of them as the servant song that is encapsulated in this chapter actually begins back in verse 13 of chapter 52 - that’s where we will end up for our last point is looking back at verses 13-15 of chapter 52 with a focus on what verse 15 says. First though we need to understand who can secure peace.
Who Can Secure Peace?
Who Can Secure Peace?
Part and parcel with understanding who can secure peace is an understanding of why peace is necessary in the first place. It is the recognition that a state of war exists and has always existed, from the days in the Garden and the pronouncement of the Curse, between God and man. Any true and honest assessment of mankind would be forced to admit that mankind, as a whole, desires nothing to do with God. This may seem odd as most people would agree that their fondest desire is to get to Heaven but when asked about their particular definition of Heaven we would quickly ascertain that while they desire to get to Heaven they just as earnestly desire that God isn’t there when they do.
This state of war is the reason that Paul writes in Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The peace he is referring to here is not a state of mind but rather the cessation of hostilities between two warring parties. Commenting on this verse James Montgomery Boice writes “we have been at war with God and he with us, because of our sin, and that peace has nevertheless been provided for us by God—if we have been justified through faith in Jesus Christ.”
James the brother of Christ writes in his epistle James 4:4 You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. There are many today who would do well to remember that verse as they seek to interact with worldly ideologies and systems. But the point this morning is to demonstrate the condition that we were once in - and maybe some of us still are in - that we were at war with God.
In order for peace to be achieved someone has to secure or propose peace. Yet we are not only incapable of doing so, we don’t want to. But Isaiah tells us who is going to be capable of bridging the gap and extending an offer of peace - the Servant of the Lord. Even in this passage though the revelation is made that this individual will be both truly God and truly man - maybe some of you have heard this referred to as fully God and fully man but I think a better, more correct manner of referring to this is truly God and truly man.
Isaiah writes who has believed what we have heard. Now we want to move quickly past this but we need to slow here for a moment because what he is saying is very important - he is about to remind the Jewish people of what they have already heard. What he is saying is that this is something they should already know - that the Scriptures have been revealing the circumstances that Isaiah is going to lay out in this passage such that the discerning spirit would recognize the truth of the testimony that is about to be given. This is akin to the faith that Abraham demonstrated, that was counted to him for righteousness - it was the truths of this chapter that Abraham, and others like him, looked forward to.
He moves on to describe the divine nature of the servant - to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a young plant. Stop there. The arm of the Lord is a direct reference to Christ. Look back a few verses to Isaiah 52:10. The Lord has displayed His holy arm in the sight of the nations - He is going to move in an unmistakeable way. The people of Israel knew the power of God and how His arm could move. The most formative event in the lives of the hearers of Isaiah continued to be the events surrounding the Exodus, the supernatural rescue effort of the Lord on behalf of the nation of Israel - so they knew what a move of the arm of the Lord looked like. But the action that God has taken in history through Christ is the most clear, most powerful action that He has ever undertaken. Paul would refer to this in Romans 3
God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.
God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
This arm of the Lord was no ordinary mortal instead He was the divine Son of God. Yet he had to grow and mature. The text tells us that he grew up before him - there are only two subjects in this passage so far - the person who characterizes the arm of the Lord and the Lord. He grew up before him tells us that his childhood was supernaturally superintended by the Holy Spirit as this arm of the Lord grew “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people” as Luke writes in his Gospel.
But a solely divine servant could never suffice to secure the peace so this man had to be truly human as well. He grew like a root out of dry ground. This is poetic speech that details the barren state of humanity in its ability to produce any meaningful fruit on its own. Devoid of any water, dry, cracked ground will not provide the succor that a root needs to grow. Yet this servant will grow and flourish because of the Spirit’s influence in Him. This reference to a root brings to recollection the prophecy in Isaiah 11:1 “Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” And then in 11:10 “On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will look to him for guidance and his resting place will be glorious.”
Yet Isaiah’s continued description of this servant leaves much to be desired from a human standpoint. He wont be impressive or majestic. His appearance wont be that of a man with blue eyes and flowing brown hair but instead he will have no appearance that we should desire Him. He will be despised and rejected, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He would be someone that people would turn away from. John would write in his Gospel
He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Who can secure peace in this war? Only one who is God could endure the payment that will be exacted, yet only one who is man could identify with those in need of saving. Only the arm of the Lord could exhibit His salvation to the nations and only one who was grew up out of the same parched, dry ground that man comes from could, as the writer of Hebrews says, sympathize with our weaknesses and be tempted in every way as we are - and yet still remain sinless.
Isaiah demonstrates for us that the true nature of this suffering servant is both divine and human - that He will be truly God and truly man. And this is a beautiful truth - but what he is about to reveal is not only beautiful, it is the crux of the issue when it comes to our salvation - the how of this peace being offered.
How Can Peace be Secured?
How Can Peace be Secured?
In most cases when hostilities are being mediated and peace is being brokered it is the victor that dictates the terms to the vanquished. A great lesson in this principle came at the defeat of Forts Henry and Fort Donelson by General U. S. Grant. When negotiations were opened for surrender by General Buckner, a friend of Grant’s before the war who had loaned Grant money, with the expectation that some cordiality might be observed Grant’s reply was decisive and surprising. “No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.” The victor dictates the terms to the vanquished. But that is not the picture that is given in Isaiah’s passage. In fact it is so unlike human nature that it is almost hard to believe.
Notice the language that is used here, notice the singular character of this passage. Yet He himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains…but He was pierced because of our rebellion, (He was) crushed because of our iniquities, punishment for our peace was on Him and we are healed by His wounds. This demonstrates the unilateral nature of this servant’s suffering. Just as God unilaterally accepts responsibility for the ratification and completion of the covenant that He made with Abraham, this servant will unilaterally suffice the righteous requirements of God. This passage is steeped heavily in the doctrine of substitution and penal substitution at that. You cannot read it without seeing it.
Right from the start - Isaiah writes “Yet He himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pain.” This is a picture of the scapegoat in Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16:21-22 says
Aaron will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the Israelites’ iniquities and rebellious acts—all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the man appointed for the task.
The goat will carry all their iniquities into a desolate land, and the man will release it there.
This goat was led away into the wilderness to carry off the sins of the people of Israel. And we in turn regarded Him as stricken, as cursed by God - and show this in the way that He was treated as He was hung on a cross, hung on a tree as Deuteronomy 21:23 says that everyone hung on a tree is cursed by God.
Isaiah drives home the point that it is only this man who can make this sacrifice - repeatedly he uses the singular word “he” meaning that only this man could do this - only this man could be pierced for transgressions, only this man could be crushed for iniquities, only this man could bear the punishment required for peace.
Puritan John Howe said “The wrong that man had done to the Divine Majesty should be expiated by none but man, and could be by none but God. Behold then the wonderful conjunction of both in the one Immanuel!” Immanuel, God with us, Immanuel - the babe born in the manger, Immanuel - the promised prince of peace, Lord of Lords, Immanuel - the truly God and truly man that Isaiah speaks of is the one who pays the price for sinners. It is by His wounds that we are healed. It is He who purchases our peace through His punishment - the punishment that we alone deserve but that He takes on our behalf. This is the promised gift of peace that is delivered at Christmas - that this infant born and laid in a manger will pay our punishment and secure our peace.
This is the peace promised by the angels on the night of His birth as they sang “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors.” God receives the most glory out of providing peace for His people - and this through the suffering of His Son on our behalf. That is the anti-thetical peace plan that is advanced to us - that through His suffering we are redeemed. Yet it is even more glorious - this is God’s all time plan.
Isaiah writes that we have gone astray, just like sheep we have all turned to our own way. Even now we have a tendency to do that - we may be saved, we may have our eyes and our minds opened to the Spirit’s leading but how often are we tempted, and how often do we give in to that temptation to go our own way. And yet what does Isaiah say?
The Lord has punished Him. He used evil, sinful men to do it but it was by the Lord’s sovereign design that He was punished for the iniquity of us all. What great promise this holds for us - that our arms can be laid down, that peace has been secured. And yes - there is a measure in which it is unconditional surrender but, unlike those soldiers who were marched off to prison camps, unlike Germany at the end of World War 1, unlike numerous other vanquished foes in the history of mankind where total devastation was their lot - there is so much more promised for us.
What Does this Mean?
What Does this Mean?
We have to back up a bit to see what this all means for us, what this promise is for us. Look back with me at Isaiah 52:13-15.
See, my servant will be successful; he will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Just as many were appalled at you— his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being—
so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.
The servant will be successful - what God has commissioned Him to do He will accomplish. Doesn’t that just ease your mind - that when Christ said on the cross “It is finished” that it actually was. That our efforts at self-righteousness are futile and unnecessary. That we can rest. That the peace that passes understanding - both the forensic, militant peace of cessation of hostilities between us and God and the mental peace that says we can rest in the finished work of Christ, that promised peace that Paul writes of in Philippians 4 is ours.
The words He will be raised, lifted up and greatly exalted provides two pictures. First it is fulfilled in Christ’s statement that He must be raised up like the serpent in the wilderness and that all men that look upon Him will be saved. It is also a picture of Christ’s resurrection, ascension and exaltation by the Father. Even now Christ sits exalted at the Father’s right hand having secured our peace, He now waits for the command to return and bring to completion the peace that He purchased. Because while it is secure, while it is finished - we still fall victim to that old nature from time to time that just wears us out and we give in to temptation. Doesn’t it just get exhausting.
So the servant will be successful - but even here we see that it wont be in the way we might expect. He wont ride in on a white charger and lead the nation to prominence - instead He will be so disfigured that not only will he not look like a man, people will wonder if he is even human. My dad told me a story of when he went to see the movie the Passion of the Christ. He sat behind a doctor who made the statement that no human being could survive losing the amount of blood that Christ would have lost just during the scourging process. They whipped Him with whips that were barbed with bits of metal and bone - meant to rip the flesh away. Often, during the process, organs would be visible through the shredded flesh and muscle. And here is Isaiah prophesying several hundred years before Christ that this suffering servant, who would suffer on our behalf, would be so disfigured by the process that he wouldn’t even resemble a human being. And why would this be?
So that He will sprinkle the nations - again this is a picture of atonement and the Day of Atonement. Look again at Leviticus 16.
He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse and set it apart from the Israelites’ impurities.
“When he has finished making atonement for the most holy place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he is to present the live male goat.
Just as the High Priest was to sprinkle the altar to atone for the sins of the nation of Israel, so our High Priest will sprinkle the nations - not with the blood of bulls or goats but with His own blood to atone for the sins of those who would be His, of those who would put their faith in Him. And this has been done.
But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation),
he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
And why is this? So that Kings will have their mouths shut as they see what has not been told to them, and they will understand what they had not heard. That the truths that have been hidden for those before, that this mystery that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 3 might now be revealed through the Spirit.
Conclusion
Conclusion
What a beautiful promise this peace is. But it does not come cheaply. But it is final. But here’s the thing - often we are like Hiroo Onoda. WE have been offered peace but we refuse to believe. We refuse to lay down our weapons and to surrender. We are continuing to hide in the jungles of our own personal lives, wearing the tattered rags of our own righteous deeds and shaking our puny fists at God. Yet there is the promise of peace.
Just like Mr. Onoda found when he left the jungles - he received a full pardon for all that he had done while continuing his fight - we can find a full pardon. And more than simply a full pardon. As we found out last week through David’s writings in Psalm 32 - not only are our sins covered but they are completely removed through the substitutionary atonement provided in Christ. We can have peace that not only are our sins covered - they can never be charged against us by anyone, anywhere. We are completely free. And we are more than free - when we surrender our lives, receive Christ’s peace we do not return to our homes but instead we are accepted into a new family - the family of God. We are no longer viewed as enemies, as hostile combatants, but instead we are seen as sons and daughters of the Most High God. That is the gift of peace that is offered to each of us this Christmas season.