Isaiah 53 - The Suffering Servant

Introduction

Introduce yourself as the other “Braydon” (the better one)

Tell the Joke about Braden’s big head

Main Passage: Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12

Secondary Passages: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Romans 10:9-15

We will be discussing the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what it means for our lives

What is Atonement?

Atonement is a reparation for a wrong doing

The Cause of the Atonement: The Sinfulness of Man along with the Love & Justice of God

Adam and Eve’s sin was the first transgression that would be passed down to all men.

The legal guilt for that sin is given to us by Adam is called Inherited Sin.

This legal guilt passed down to us could be compared to your parents passing down their physical traits to you.

Because man is inherently sinful there was a need for Atonement because of God’s love and Justice.

Because God loved man, He decided to provide atonement for sins.

John 3:16 (NASB95)

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

God’s Justice requires that sin be payed for

Could God simply snap his fingers and declare all sins forgiven? No, because he would then be unjust. God would essentially be breaking His own rules.

Imagine if someone were to murder all your children. This would be horrible right? Now imagine that they were to get caught for their crimes and brought before a judge.

Now imagine if the judge were to simply say “I as Judge of this court have decided that you will not face punishment for your sins.”

This is not justice right? Sin has to be punished.

In the same way, in God’s economy, God would be unjust if He were to not punish sins.

Sins cannot be forgiven without atonement

Was God Required to Provide Atonement?

No, God was not required to save anyone. The fact that He chose to save anyone is a wonderful act of mercy and grace.

God sent the angels straight to hell when they sinned.

However, because God decided to save, Atonement became necessary

The Passage

The Exalted Servant: Isaiah 52:13-53:1

Isaiah 52:13–15 NASB95

13 Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. 14 Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men. 15 Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.

Verse 13: The Father’s servant is Christ, who will be highly lifted up and greatly exalted for something.

Verse 14: The Christ’s appearance will be “marred” or disfigured (Christ on the Cross).

Verse 15: He will “sprinkle” many nations.

This is a reference to the sprinkling of the blood onto the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. Blood would be sprinkled on the ark as a sign of forgiveness and covenant.

The sprinkling of blood on people also occured in Exodus 24. The people made a commitment to God’s law and the blood was the sign of the covenant that was being made.

Believers are spiritually sprinkled with the blood of Christ by the Holy Spirit. The covenant that purchased our salvation is completed and perfected with the shed blood of Christ.

Isaiah 53:1 NASB95

1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Verse 1: What this is referring to is about who has heard the good news. Who has heard about the sacrifice of Christ?

Active Obedience: What made Christ the perfect sacrifice?

Isaiah 53:2–3 NASB95

2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Verse 2: Christ grew up out of what was called “parched ground” and He had no kingly looking form that we ought to esteem Him as something wonderful.

Christ grew up with a normal persons upbringing. By all means He seemed and appeared normal for the most part.

Verse 3: Christ went through much suffering and persecution in His life because He did not seem like any great hero or anything like that. At the time the Jews were expecting the messiah to be a great warrior king who would run the Romans out of Jerusalem.

Active Obedience: The Active obedience of Christ is Christ’s obedience in that He followed God’s law perfectly.

Christ succeeded where Adam failed

Romans 5:18–19 NASB95

18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

Crushed For Us: Verses 4-6

Isaiah 53:4–6 NASB95

4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

Verse 4-5: There was not only physical pain on the cross but there was also the Spiritual pain that Christ would have recieved when our sins were laid upon Him

Upon the cross, God the Father saw Christ as the most vile and disgusting thing in existence.

Before eternity began God the Father and God the Son had enjoyed perfect fellowship together, so when God turned His back on Christ at the cross, Christ felt the worst pain possible.

This suffering that Christ went through during His life and on the cross is what we call His Passive Obedience.

Verse 5: “By His wounds we are healed”.

Christ’s perfect sacrifice appeased God’s wrath against sin perfectly and completely. Christ received the punishment that we should have received.

Verse 6: The Iniquity of us all has fallen on Christ.

Many times we feel like God is punishing us for something we have done (sin). However, let me remind you that Christ was already punished in our place for all our sins. So let me tell you that God is not punishing you because all His wrath against your sin has already been satisfied.

However, God does discipline us at times, because God disciplines those He loves.

Punished because of us: Verses 7-9

Isaiah 53:7–9 (NASB95)

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open 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 For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

God was pleased to Crush Him for us: Verses 10-12

Isaiah 53:10–12 NASB95

10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

Verse 10: God loves us so much that He was pleased to crush His one and only son for us.

Verse 11: Christ went through immense suffering but He received the greatest glory because of it

Verse 12: Believers are a gift to Christ. He has earned our salvation through the shedding of His own blood, and not a single drop was wasted.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Remember that you are worth more than Gold and Diamonds. Christ could have agreed to come down and die to receive every piece of wealth on earth but instead He came down and suffered to purchase you!

The Purpose of the Atonement: Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We need to Bring the Gospel to Others

Romans 10:9–15 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”