Isaiah 53:10-12 "The Prosperity of the Son"

Introduction

On Good Friday we saw that Jesus Christ is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

Isaiah ministered about 700 years before Christ. Isaiah 53 is so accurate that at one time some of the liberal types of theologians believed it was written after the fact and inserted into later text.

Then the Dead Sea Scrolls contained nearly the whole of Isaiah and dated prior to the time of Jesus on earth. That ruined everything.

Isaiah is not a problem because the eternal God was speaking about what He would do through His suffering servant at a future time. It was all the planned intention of God to work His redemptive plan through Christ. Look at your text to verse 10:

I. The Intention (10).

It was the will of the Lord to crush Jesus Christ upon the Cross and to cause Him to suffer. This means that there was a divine intent behind the death of Christ upon the Cross.

Sinful men may have thought that they had conquered one who was a threat to their empires and prominence in the world but they were sadly mistaken.

Peter’s prayer recorded in Acts 4 :27-28 “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

And if that was it and God just desired the Son of God to suffer that would be problematic. Because that would be sadistic of God. Atheist and agnostics love to raise this issue when it comes to the Son suffering at the divine intent of the Father.

What they fail to realize is that the Father’s intent in regards to the suffering of the Son of God goes far beyond suffering for sufferings sake. There is a purpose connected to it.

The suffering and death of the Son of God had a redemptive plan behind it and to extend that to the covenant people of God. This redemptive work of Christ is the will of God that prospers in His hands.

Once Christ offered His blood for a guilt offering on our behalf he secured us for Himself and prolonged His days. Now how could this be if He was our guilt offering and He died in our place?

I mean OT sacrifices didn’t get up and walk off the altar once they died. So how does this happen in the legal and theological sense? Well because satisfaction was accomplished. Look at verse 11:

II. The Satisfaction (11).

The Son in the midst of the suffering knew full well that there was a purpose that in the end made it all worth it.

Christ knew that as the righteous one of God many would be accounted as righteous because He bore their iniquities.

I could never have died for my sins and atoned for them in order to be accounted righteous by God. Nor could you have atoned for yourself.

Someone would have to be as righteous as God in order to compensate for the offense of sin against the Holiness of God. In order to compensate divine Holiness and righteousness it would take a sacrifice of divine Holiness and righteousness.

We are dealing with an offense against an infinite Holy God and there is no compensation that could satisfy the debt except for a payment that is infinitely Holy.

This is why final judgement is infinitely eternal because there is no end to the compensation. If you buy pure gold from me and you attempt to use counterfeit money to purchase it that is a false means of compensation.

The money would have to have the same market value as the value of the Gold. If not the exchange would be deceptive.

This is why it is a fools errand to attempt to think that you could compensate the Holiness of God which is pure Gold with the sinfully tainted works of human efforts. If that was all that Jesus had to offer we wouldn’t be here today celebrating the resurrection.

Because sinfully tainted works offered with the best of intentions could never compensate the righteous Holiness of God. And therefore could never justify a single sinner in the eyes of God.

But when Jesus Christ, who was fully God made flesh, came into the world He was a suitable sacrifice. The eternal Son of God, righteous and Holy, just like the Father. Therefore He could compensate on our behalf. Pure Gold for Pure Gold on our behalf when all we had was dirt in our hands.

In this act of compensation of Him offering up His blood on our behalf, God’s wrath and the standard of His holiness was upheld. Death was defeated because death came into the world through sin. Once sin was paid in full then there was no longer a legal claim that death had on Him.

The proof of this was on the third day. Christ came out of the tomb triumphant over death and the grave. No, none of the OT animal sacrifices got up off of the altar because the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. All they could do was to illustrate what was coming.

This is why the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead has always been front and center in the claims of Christianity. Without that truth all the claims of Christianity are pointless and absurd.

His payment has secured us to Himself and it solidifies our hope in eternal life because He is victorious over the grave! But it is not just eternal life but also there are the distribution of rewards to come. Look at verse 12:

III. The Distribution (12).

His portion is an inheritance. All the nations are His, the redeemed are His and they are given to God. Our inheritance is because of our identity in connection to Christ.

No one in heaven gets an inheritance based on their own merit. It doesn’t happen in heaven, it only happens in hell, in the lake of fire. It is the justice of God that demands compensation and you can’t buy pure gold by trying to obtain it with counterfeit money.

No matter how sincere you may be. God sets the standard and the value of the terms of His plan of redemption. Not us as individuals nor as a collective group.

If we set the standards, we will always manipulate the lines and definitions to fit our perception in order to be self-affirming. That is why to this day people manipulate the gospel as not to offend the consciences of fallen men.

Conclusion:

Unbeliever you can’t pay you debt with dirt. You need Gold for Gold and you can only get such compensation through the finished work of Christ on your behalf.

And you may ask how I know that what Christ has done will measure up? Because Jesus Christ is alive and is making intercession for us at this very moment. None of Isaiah 53: 10-12 could be fulfilled without a living and triumphant Christ.

700 years before Jesus Christ walked on the earth, it was prophesied that he would come into the world and die in the place of sinners and be raised from the dead. Gold for Gold as payment for our sin. Believe the gospel.

Someone once told me that they were over-joyed when they finally paid their house off and they were debt free.

That is probably a wonderful feeling. But tell me Christian, how does it feel to be debt free before God? And to know that it is for all eternity?

Grace is a wonderful thing? Confess your sin and know you are paid in full and His grace continues to abound to us.

Let’s pray!