The Prophecy that Truly Happened

Father, we confess before you that there are many of us here who haven't read your word in our own personal devotions, Father, maybe in weeks, maybe in months.

Father, we confess before you that there are many of us here who've maybe never read all of your word or never read all of Isaiah.

Father, we confess before you that we often are ignorant of your word and it cannot form us.

We ask, Father, that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Deliver us, Father, from our fear of your word.

Create within us a hunger for your word.

And help us, Father, as we read your word to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest your word so that, gripped by the gospel, we will bear much fruit for your glory in our daily lives.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son, and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, prophecies and predictions.

I'm old compared to a lot of you.

I'm going to talk about ancient history for some of you, 1968 and 1972.

I know that's like ancient history for some of you.

But for those of us who were, I don't know, older than 10 or 11 at that point in time, you know who you are.

We grew up under the shadow of two very, very significant predictions by technocrats and scientists that in many ways shaped us in a whole range of ways.

In 1968, there was a book put out called The Population Bomb.

It was praised by the prestigious scientific journal, The New Scientist, when they did a review of the book.

And they called it In Praise of Prophets.

And in that book, amongst other things, written in 1968, they said that during the 1970s, hundreds of millions of people would die.

That by the 1980s, most of the world's resources would be depleted.

And that in the 80s, that's the 1980s, 65 million Americans would starve to death.

And they predicted that by the year 1999, which is 17 years ago, the population of the United States, due to the population explosion and the depletion of resources, that the population of the United States would be 22.6 million people.

They're only off by about 300 million.

In 1972, a more prestigious book came out.

It was commissioned by a group of very, very rich people and government leaders called The Club of Rome.

They brought together many of the leading scientists and statisticians and mathematicians from around the planet, and they produced this report.

And amongst other things, they predicted in 1972 that there would be no more gold left to be mined by 1981, that there would be no more oil left to find on the ground, that that would run out in 1992, and that all natural gas would be depleted by 1993.

And I could give you a whole long other list of things which they predicted.

Every single one of them was wrong.

Every one was wrong.

In 1865, a major English group of scientists predicted that all coal would run out by 1900 and that the Industrial Revolution would come to an end in England.

I could keep going, and I could keep going.

But the fact of the matter is, is that on one hand, we human beings have a great love of prediction and scientists who can predict and chart how things are moving.

But the fact of the matter is, is, I mean, they might be able to predict what the weather will be like in an hour or two here in Ottawa.

But as it gets farther and farther away from that, there's just too many variables for scientists and technocrats and mathematicians and statisticians to accurately predict things.

But we have a huge hunger for it.

And at the same time that we often have a hunger for scientific predictions and prophecies, we have a hunger for, well, for others that claim to have some type of special knowledge about what's going to happen in the future.

There's a regular parade of people who go to things like seances to consult the dead about what's going to happen in the future.

Or somebody who's channeling, I don't know, an alien or something like that and can predict and tell you what's going to happen in the future.

There are many people who read astrology to know and understand the meaning of their lives and what's going to happen in the future.

We, a few years ago, were fascinated, or many people were fascinated by the Mayan prophecies.

These things are all wrong.

They don't actually work, but we have a great deep hunger for them.

And so here thing is, if you could put up the first point, here's the problem that faces us Christians, at least if you want to have a robust Christian faith.

In a world of failed predictions, prophecies, and promises, the true and living God predicted and promised.

I mean, you know, if any type of skeptic or critic of the Bible, there's no denying that the Bible contains a variety of predictions and promises.

One's made over 3,000 years ago, one that were made on the lips of Jesus.

And so we live in a world where people have a great hunger to know the future.

And whether it's a spiritualist source or a technocrat source through computers and scientific data, we have a huge desire and hunger for it.

And it's funny that human beings, even after the latest thing fails, it seems like another report can happen within a year and people flock to it because there's such a great hunger.

But is the Bible just like the Mayan prophecies?

Obviously, you can't connect it to science, but is it less like the Mayan prophecies or people who believe that they can channel some being that's lived for hundreds of thousands of years

or lives somewhere in another galaxy or in another plane of existence?

Is the Bible like how does the Bible fit in with all of this?

So we're going to look at one prophecy.

There's well over 300 prophecies that if you read the Bible, Christians would claim that over 300 prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus in his birth and life and death.

And you can't obviously look at all of them, but we're going to look at one in detail that makes a significant set of prophecies about Jesus.

So if you have your Bibles, it would be a great help if you turn to the reading that Rachel read so well just a few minutes ago, Isaiah chapter 52, verse 13.

Isaiah 52:13

Isaiah 52, 13 until the end of chapter 53.

And we're going to look at this prophecy that was written.

And it was probably written.

We know that Isaiah, if you look at this historic, there's some debate amongst scholars as to when this was written.

But the debate amongst scholars is by the internal evidence.

This was Isaiah prophesied between the year 740 B.C. and 681 B.C.

It means he was born before 740.

He lived a little bit after 681.

I'm just going to say it's 700 years before the birth of Jesus and the death of Jesus.

You know, some people think it was 600 years before, some 500.

But, you know, listen, that's not much of a big difference for our purposes, whether it's 700 and 500.

But I'll say it's about 700 plus years before the birth and death and resurrection of Jesus.

And that's when this is written.

So let's start.

We'll start at verse 13.

Behold, my servant shall act wisely.

He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.

Now, we're just going to pause here.

This is one of the reasons why it's good to read the Bible together.

And it's, in a sense, part of my job is to help you to learn to read.

One of the things that you can pray for me is that I grow in my ability to read the Bible,

to read it attentively, and to try to help all of us be able to read the Bible more attentively.

Now, it sounds very innocuous.

In fact, it sounds very religious, doesn't it?

Behold, my servant shall act wisely.

He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.

But this is Isaiah 52, verse 13.

Isaiah 52:13

And if we don't know something, we don't know that Jesus or Isaiah has just made a shocking claim.

Like, it's something that just go, whoa, one moment.

Whoa, what did he just say?

There's only three places in the book of Isaiah where the phrase high and lifted up is used of someone.

Only three places.

This is one of them.

The first place, if you just turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 6,

the first place that it's used in is Isaiah 6.

Some of you who know your Bibles very well will go, whoa, Isaiah 6.

But the rest of you don't know your Bibles as well.

Here's what it says in Isaiah 6, verse 1.

Isaiah 6:1

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne,

high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

He's seen God.

He's just seen God.

And the word Lord there is the word for Jewish people,

the unspeakable name of God because it's so holy.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, Yahweh,

sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings.

With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet,

and with two he flew, and one called to another and said,

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called.

And the house was filled with smoke.

And I said, Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips.

You know how hard it is to get a baby to cry just when I'm saying, Woe is me?

Once again, this is superior planning by the church of the Messiah.

Verse 5,

And I said, Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips,

and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal

that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips.

Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.

You read this, it's talking about God.

So we look at verse 6 again.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne,

high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

He was exalted.

The only other time in the book of Isaiah that this phrase is used is Isaiah chapter 57, verse 15.

Isaiah 57:15

Isaiah chapter 57, verse 15.

Isaiah 57:15

And it goes like this.

It's another sort of a messianic prediction.

But verse 15 says,

For thus says the one who is high and lifted up,

who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy.

I dwell in the high and holy place,

and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,

to revive the spirit of the lowly,

and to revive the heart of the contrite.

See that?

It's talking about God.

So now let's go back, and we're going to go back to this prophecy.

I know it's not, it's significant for the prophecy.

It's not part of the prophetic thing,

but it's very, very significant for the prophecy.

Go back to Isaiah 52, verse 13.

Isaiah 52:13

The third place where high and lifted up is used.

Only places in the book of Isaiah.

Behold, my servant shall act wisely.

He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.

Now, here's the thing.

There's a big riddle here.

In fact, you know, I've been thinking about it all week.

We don't know how it is that the Jewish people,

originally out of all of their writings,

because if you read the Old Testament,

you'll see that there's other writings that exist.

So how out of all of their writings did they pick these ones

as actually being the words of God?

We know they did it.

We know that Jesus authenticates it,

but we don't know how they chose it.

But this is a profound riddle.

How can there be both one God and two gods at the same time?

Like this, for the Jewish people at this day,

they were always tempted towards believing

that there were a whole host of gods like the pagans,

but it's very, very clear that at the heart of the Jewish faith,

they were just like Muslims.

And so you can imagine somebody in Tehran today

saying there is both one Allah and two Allahs at the same time.

Well, you can imagine it for about five minutes

before they were killed,

and then you couldn't imagine it.

But that's what this is saying.

Look at that again.

Verse 13,

Behold my servant.

So God is speaking.

He's talking about my servant.

He shall act wisely.

He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.

There's this deep riddle

right at the very, very start of the text.

And so here, if you could put up the second point,

we seek predictions and prophecies to make us more powerful.

God spoke of the future to humble and save us.

This is going to be the very, very first thing

that's going to be very different about reading a prophecy

in the Old Testament or the New Testament

from our cultural and human longing and yearning

to be able to make predictions

and know the future.

That we like these things,

and in different ways,

it can make us feel superior,

that we have a secret knowledge that others don't have,

that we can make plans that others don't have.

Imagine for a moment that somebody could accurately predict,

and you knew for a fact that you could know

what the stock market was going to be

on every different item in a year's time.

In fact, if I was to say that right now,

that was somehow guaranteed,

and you trusted me because I'd done it before,

a whole lot of you would leave the room

and go make some stock purchases right now

to become rich.

Some of you would ask,

how can I borrow money

to make these stock purchases

and so become rich?

And so we human beings,

part of our great desire and hunger

to know the future

is a desire to be more powerful,

to be more special,

to be exalted.

But we're going to see here

that what happens is that

the biblical prophecies always humble us.

It begins with a riddle

that at the time makes absolutely no sense.

There's only one God

and there's two gods.

Makes no sense.

You'd go,

what on earth does that mean?

For 700 years,

what on earth does that mean?

And then the text takes a huge,

huge, huge zag.

We expect it to be linear.

Okay, it's talking about the servant

who's high and lifted up and exalted,

who's going to do high and exalted

and lifted up things.

And, you know,

there's even a phrase in our culture,

it's going to be biblical, right?

And when they say this thing in a movie,

it's going to be biblical,

what does it mean?

It's going to be a really big explosion.

There's going to be unbelievable catastrophes.

There's going to be widespread death.

It's going to be biblical.

I don't know where they get that from,

but that's an expression in our culture, right?

And so we expect it to be biblical.

Whoa, there's going to be something really big.

But what happens in verse 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.

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 had not heard they understand.

Here's the big zag.

How can God die a horrible human death?

That's what verse 14 is talking about,

or at least it's going to look like he's human.

And this marred, some of your translations have crushed,

but it's crushed or marred that leads to death.

How can you do that to God?

I mean, that's a common complaint of Muslims

about the Christians.

Like, if God actually existed,

and this was actually God's son,

how preposterous to imagine

that God would allow his son

to be crushed to the point of death.

It is beneath the dignity and honor of God

to allow anything like that to possibly happen.

It's a very, very standard criticism

of the Christian faith.

And here we see,

we're expecting it to be biblical.

Whoa, just watch his power.

Maybe in glory,

maybe in doing good things,

maybe in doing bad things,

but all of a sudden it goes,

rather than going up here,

it goes way down here.

He's going to be marred and crushed

to the point of death,

beyond human semblance.

That last little puzzling part

at the end of verse 15

means that whatever God is going to do

is going to have a double whammy

on human beings.

The Irish have this expression

that somebody's gobsmacked.

It means the deer in the headlight moment

where you're silenced.

And so if you were translating this into Irish,

it would be the people

are going to be gobsmacked.

And they're going to know something by revelation.

So some of you,

and so here's the thing,

if you come up to the next point,

Rebecca, that would be great.

Through his word,

here's going to be one of the problems

with understanding this prophecy

because, you see,

often what we have with prophecies

with scientists and stuff

is they're just going to tell you

the things that happen in the future.

What does it mean?

We might understand a little bit

why it matters for us,

you know,

that global warming

and it's going to inconvenience our lives

or ruin our lives

or lead to a lot of people being killed,

but it's just,

it's a prediction of what's going to happen.

And often,

if you go to hear astrologers speak

or go to seances,

a lot of it's connected to flattery

of the person, right?

But what we're going to see here

mixed into this prophecy

is that it's,

my point,

through his word,

God tells us what he will do

and the meaning of what he will do.

And that's going to be one of the things

that's going to confuse us.

It will always confuse us

when we're reading the prophecies

in the Bible

is because we just want information,

but God doesn't just give us information,

he gives us interpretation

at the same time,

what it means.

And by the way,

if you're a guest here this morning

and you haven't given your life to Jesus,

you're not sure what to think

of the whole Christian thing,

this is huge.

If God exists,

and I know you haven't necessarily,

you haven't agreed with me on this,

but if the God described in the Bible

actually exists,

it means that there is meaning

to human life.

It means that there is meaning

to human life.

That human life is not one

dang thing after another.

That human life is not about

whoever dies with the most toys wins.

That human life is not all about

just clutch whatever meaning

or happiness we can get at the moment

because that's all there is.

That if in fact,

God can tell us

what he's going to do in the future

and the meaning and significance

of what it is that he's going to do,

it means that there is meaning

for human life

that can be discovered

and entered into.

It's absolutely huge

if this is true.

Let's continue.

Some of you might say,

okay, George,

all you've said right now,

it's just all like

philosophical speculation.

You haven't actually really talked

about much prophecy whatsoever.

Okay, so let's go.

We get to the prophecy.

It gets into it.

Okay, there's a context

to the prophecy

that's going to be significant

by the end.

Let's look at verses 1 to 3

of chapter 53.

Who has believed

what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm

of the Lord been revealed?

And by the way,

the arm of the Lord

been revealed,

the idea behind it

in the original language

is that God's strength

is personally present.

That's what it means.

The arm of the Lord

being revealed.

It's like when we have

the piano up here

for some services

and it has to be pushed

around the corner

up there

and in there.

It's not good enough

to know that there's

a lot of strong young guys

who had attended

the service earlier

or gals.

What you need is

the arm of the Lord

to be right there

at the end

to push the dang thing

up that hill

and back there.

And that's the language here.

It's the God's strength

is personally present.

Who has believed

what he has heard from us?

And to whom has the arm

of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him

like a young,

sorry,

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.

He was despised

and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows

and acquainted with grief.

Now remember,

all of this is still

part of that shocking thing

that they're describing

this servant

who's God.

But now we see

a little bit

about some of the prophecies

involved here

specifically

in who this servant

is going to be.

prophecies

that can be taken

to be either true

or false.

We've already seen

that this person's

going to die

a terrible death.

He's going to be crushed.

We see that this servant,

there's going to be

nothing special

or remarkable about him.

He's not as good looking

as George Clooney

or Brad Pitt

or I don't know,

pick your pick

of who's good looking.

He's not famous

like Prince Charles

from a royal family.

He's not somebody

who has a PhD

from Cambridge

or Oxford

and now teaches there

and there's nothing

particularly special

or remarkable

about him.

If you saw a crowd

and he was there,

you wouldn't notice him.

That's what it's saying here.

And you're also seeing

that he's going to be

rejected by human beings,

that when he comes

to the attention

of human beings,

he's going to be rejected.

That's what the prophecy here

is telling us.

That even though

he actually is

the strength of God

personally present,

there's nothing remarkable

about him

and he will,

in fact,

be rejected.

Now,

the next thing

is a bit of another

zag in the prophecy.

And by the way,

just one story,

I really,

you know,

I always feel funny

saying this.

There are grammar geeks

in the room.

You know who you are.

Okay?

So the rest of you

don't fall asleep.

Grammar geek moment.

This poem is really cool

if you're a grammar geek.

There are 15 verses,

but really what it is,

it's organized

in five sections.

And the sections,

the first section,

have nine lines of poetry,

the second,

10,

the third,

11,

the fourth,

12,

and the final one,

13,

because it's building

to a climax.

And within it,

I'm not going to mention it,

in some of them,

the order within

how the lines of poetry

are developed,

because within each stanza,

there's the groups.

And sometimes they go up

to bring you

to a high point,

and some of them,

they go down.

Like,

whoever wrote this

has been a long time

in the poetry.

Okay,

hopefully come back awake,

non-geek,

grammar geek people.

But I just,

I had to tell you that.

I'm sorry.

I'm not really

a grammar geek,

but sometimes,

you know,

I get to study,

I get paid

to read the Bible.

And sometimes,

I come home

to my poor,

long-suffering wife,

and I say,

Louise,

this is so cool

at a grammatical level.

You wouldn't believe

how cool this is.

And I usually

don't inflict it on you.

Anyway,

so here,

we've gone through

the two sections,

and we come to

the third section,

the very,

very center section.

And by the way,

from a grammatical point of view,

the way this poem

is structured

is the whole meaning

of the entire 15 things,

the five stanzas

and 15 verses,

the entire,

the way it's structured,

these verses 4, 5, and 6

are the meaning

of the whole thing.

Just from a grammatical

point of view,

that's how it works.

But it's not a prophecy,

but it's something that

I regularly

have people

leave the church over.

I regularly

have people

leave the church over

because it's,

people don't think it,

they don't like it.

One of the things

they don't like

about the Christian faith,

but friends,

this is the heart

of the Christian faith.

4, 5, and 6.

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows.

Yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God

and afflicted.

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.

All we like sheep

have gone astray.

We have turned everyone

to his own way.

And the Lord

has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

So,

the,

from a final

grammar geek moment,

this is,

this is one,

it's not obvious

in English

because of the way,

the way they've set up

the poetry,

but it's,

it's four lines,

four lines,

three lines

because the last line,

they automatically,

he goes,

in Hebrew,

it goes too long.

And it shows

this descending idea

and,

but more in particular,

the long line

means that you really

have this emphasis

on the Lord

has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

And the image

behind the word

iniquity

is bent double.

And so,

it's trying to present

the idea that

we understand

that human beings,

when they're completely

healthy and whole,

that we stand

relatively straight

like this.

And the image here

is that human beings,

by having iniquity,

the image is bent double.

The image is

that we human beings,

without realizing it,

are walking around

every day like this.

And when sociologists

and psychologists

describe what is natural,

what they're describing

is what is

modal characteristics

or means

or medians

of human experience,

but all they're doing

is measuring human beings

who walk around

like this,

saying,

I am God,

I am God,

I am God,

but that's a separate matter.

And that's the image

behind iniquity.

And just before,

I'm just going to say

a few words about this,

but could you put up

the next point, please?

If you think about it

for a second,

just think about it

for a second.

You don't have to necessarily

accept these words,

but just think about it

for a second.

If there is,

only the God

who creates

and sustains

all things

would know

what is needed

to make right

his bent creatures

and the entire

created order.

If there is a God

who exists,

who's created all things

and sustained all things,

if you grant

that that happens,

is real,

then surely

only he

would know

what is needed

to make human beings

like ourselves

who are bent

and who will die

make us right

with himself.

Only he would know it.

Only the God

who creates

and sustains

all things

would know

what is needed

to make right

his bent creatures

in creation.

And so what we see here

is that in this prophecy

of the servant

who's described

in the very, very

opening stanza

as God,

but then increasingly

we see that he's going

to be human

and he's going

to be born,

he's going to grow,

he's going to be despised,

he's going to be rejected.

And then you have

this other deep riddle

and I think it's

the final riddle

I'm going to mention

in this.

There's others,

but the final riddle

I'll mention.

How can a man

or how can God

be a sacrificial lamb?

How can a man

or how can God

be a sacrificial lamb?

This is all sacrificial language.

Surely he has borne

our griefs.

These are a variety

of different images

to try to help us

to understand

the human condition

and our separation

and alienation

from God.

He has borne

our griefs,

carried our sorrows.

We esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God.

We thought that

just like sometimes,

you know,

when something bad

happens to us,

many people wonder

why is God punishing me?

And so by implication

when bad things happen

to other people,

we wonder why is God

punishing that other person?

And when people

would look at Jesus,

many people,

not his enemies particularly,

would say,

why is God punishing

that man to die

such a horrible death

of crucifixion,

to be rejected

by his friends,

to be rejected

by his people?

Why is God

doing that to him?

Verse 5,

but he was pierced

for our transgressions.

And the word here,

pierced,

means pierced

until you die.

It doesn't mean

having like piercings

in your ear

or your nose

or your lips

or your tongue

or I'll stop

mentioning body parts there.

It means

pierced until you die.

But he was pierced

until he died

for our transgressions.

He was crushed

until he died

for our bent-overness.

Upon him

was the chastisement

that brought us peace.

And with his wounds

we are healed.

All we,

like sheep,

have gone astray.

We have turned

everyone to his own way.

And the Lord

has laid on him

the iniquity,

all that causes us

to be bent over

and separated from God,

our human condition,

our alienation,

our sadness,

our shame,

the evil we do,

the good that we fail to do.

This is the profound,

it's the,

it's,

it's,

and it's all just riddled

with language

and imagery

that goes back

to the book of Leviticus

that describes sacrifices.

If you go to the

going deeper section,

I give you one of them

in particular.

And this is all

the language

of sacrifice.

Only it's not

the sacrifice

of a lamb

or a bull

or a goat

or a ram.

It's the sacrifice

of a human being.

And at the heart

of all of those things,

if you go back

and read the book

of Leviticus

mindful of this,

there's this profound idea

that there can be,

that there's this,

that an animal,

that,

that the innocency

and the purity

of the animal,

that it can be

a substitute for us,

for all that separates

us from God.

And that when we

put our hands,

that the priest

puts his hands

on the head

of the lamb,

in a sense,

what's happening

is all that,

all of my bentness,

all of my shame,

all of my wounds,

all of my death,

all of my evil

is being placed

on the head

of the innocent one.

And the innocency

of the lamb

is being given

to me.

And,

and that's what's

being described here.

But it's saying

that God is the lamb.

It's saying

that there is this,

the servant,

who's also God

and a man,

that he is the lamb.

You see,

brothers and sisters,

friends and guests,

at the very,

very heart

of the Christmas,

Christian message,

is that when Jesus

dies upon the cross,

that he is dying

as that lamb.

I haven't proved it

to you yet,

but that's,

obviously,

this is where

all of the New Testament

is coming from.

And here's the profound

message for us,

that a lamb

or a sheep

is a very,

very temporary thing.

And there's a very

profound sense

within anybody

who would do it

that obviously

a human being

is worth more

than the sheep

and that in some ways

it's a very imperfect

and inadequate sacrifice.

But that when we

reach out to Jesus

and,

of course,

there's an infinite gap

between us

and God

and so when we

put our hands

out to Jesus,

when we put our

hearts out to Jesus,

God himself

has to cross

that infinite distance

of being,

that infinite time.

And so he comes to us

but we put our hands out

and when we put our hands

in him,

in a sense,

we are putting our hands

on the head

of the Lamb of God

who comes to take away

the sin of the world

and we just come,

like when I first came

to Jesus,

it was because I knew

that there was a profound

emptiness in my life

and I worried

that my life

had no meaning

and I had a sense

that if I gave my life

to Jesus,

that there would be

a type of fullness

and meaning

that would come to my life.

That is all I understood

when I gave my life

to Jesus.

But God

is so shameless

in his mercy

that even if we have

a very,

very imperfect knowledge

of who Jesus is,

when we put our hands

out to him

and ask him

to be our savior,

what we are doing

is we are putting

our hands

on the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world

and from the moment

of my conception

to the moment

of my death,

everything about me

that is bent double,

everything about me

that is broken,

everything about me

that I feel ashamed about,

every accusation

made against me

by other people,

every single thing

that I should have done

that I did not do,

all of those things,

even though I don't

entirely know it,

when I call upon him

as savior,

they go on him.

He is the perfect substitute,

fully God

and fully human

and they go on him

and his innocence

and standing

and being right

with the father,

come on me.

That is what the gospel is

and if you come here

and you didn't know

that happened

when you put your hands

in the hands of Jesus,

I am here to tell you

that's what happened.

And if you are wondering

whether to give your life

to Jesus,

that's what will happen

because he turns

no one away.

And this is the center

of the poem.

And so you can say,

well, George,

why believe this?

Where's the prophecy?

It just sounds like words.

It sounds like beautiful words

and wonderful words,

but they're just words.

So let's just summarize.

Up until now,

the prophecy has said

that there will be one

who will die

a terrible death.

There's nothing special

about him

that will be rejected.

Verse 7 to 9

gets far more deeply

into the actual prophecy

part of it.

Verse 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 it shears

is silent.

So he opened not his mouth.

When it was said

he was oppressed,

he would suffer

an unjust trial.

He would be oppressed

by oppressors,

by an oppressive

imperial power

of Rome.

He would be unjustly

accused

by his own people.

And that he would

go into this crowd

just as we read

just a few moments ago,

silent to the charges.

Silent to the charges.

Verse 8.

Oh, and the other thing

about it here,

and this,

you have to read

all of the Gospels

to realize this.

You know,

it's so cool.

I can't remember

which one of the Gospels

it is.

I don't know

if you've ever seen

some charismatic things

where people get slain

in the Spirit.

And I know a whole pile

of Reformed and Evangelical people,

they get their knickers

in a twist over it

and they have problems

with it,

but there's a thing

in the Bible,

it's Jesus.

There's one of the Gospel accounts

and Jesus just says

who he is

and all the soldiers

just fall down like that.

Just,

they fall down.

I have a good,

good friend

who was a very Reformed

Evangelical type,

completely and utterly

did not believe

in any of this stuff.

He went to one

of these services

and he said,

you know what,

some of these people

they just want to fall down,

but I was going up

to get prayed about

because I was going

to show people

that I wouldn't fall down.

And I was 20 feet away

and the guy put his hand

up to me

and I went down.

I just went down.

I know it sounds

really weird,

but you know

platypuses are weird.

Light is weird.

Talk to Dick

or somebody

about quantum mechanics.

You want to talk

about weird.

That is weird.

Really weird.

And God does,

but Jesus,

in all of the Hebrew language

here,

everything about it

is that the person

is not compelled,

but it's voluntary.

It's voluntary

what he does.

It's not our plan,

it's God's plan.

And the servant

does it voluntarily.

Continue in reading

verse 8.

By oppression

and judgment

he was taken away.

And as for his generation

who considered

that he was cut off,

cut off out of the land

of the living,

another image of death,

he will die,

stricken for the transgression

of my people.

Then look at verse 9.

And they made his grave

with the wicked

and with the rich man

in his death.

In the Hebrew,

wicked is plural.

He will die

with multiple criminals.

And he will be buried

and rich man

is singular

in Hebrew.

He will be buried

in a rich man's grave.

Although he had done

no violence,

in other words,

what did

Pilate's wife

send to him?

This man is innocent,

have nothing to do with him.

You read the accounts,

people couldn't come up

with a charge

that would stick

against Jesus.

They knew he was innocent.

They had to trump up

charges against him.

And he was killed

by Pilate

for political expediency.

This man will die

with more than one criminal.

He will end up,

though,

not like the other criminals

who will just go

to whatever happens to them.

He will die singular

and be buried

in a singular man's tomb.

Although he had done

no violence

and there was no deceit

in his mouth.

We get right

to the prophetic aspect.

And some of you

might say,

well, you know,

maybe if you troll

through all of history,

you could find

some other people

who, you know,

they didn't look like

they were important.

They died with

several criminals

and they got buried

in a rich man's tomb.

And you would be right.

Maybe you'd be right.

I don't know.

Maybe it's just coincidence,

statistically coincidence.

But then you get to verses 10 to 12,

the end of the poem,

which is really crucial.

Look at verse 10.

Yet it was the will of the Lord

to crush him.

Notice this.

Remember,

this thing,

verses 4 to 6,

human beings didn't cook up

this plan.

We didn't demand this of God.

This is God's plan.

And the servant

enters into it willingly.

And he does it for us,

not for himself.

Yet it was the will of the Lord

to crush him.

That is,

to crush him

until the point of death.

He has put him to grief.

When his soul

makes an offering for guilt.

Remember I said to you

that we all have

a basic sense

that even with this

Old Testament image

that a lamb's death

can't possibly really

substitute for mine.

This,

his soul,

makes an offering of death.

His life.

This is the servant.

This is God himself

making an offering for us.

Surely,

that can count

not just for me,

but for every human being

who is born,

who puts their faith

and trust in Jesus.

He is the one

perfect sacrifice,

the one

perfect substitute

who can bring

one perfect

completed salvation

for people

who put their trust

in him.

because he is God.

When it says earlier

that he was pierced

for our transgressions,

we can easily understand

that every single

wrong thing

that George has ever done

and every good thing

that George should have done

that he did not do

and every shameful thing

and everything about George

that just isn't right,

every one of them

individually

is a piercing

in the heart

of God

and every one

of yours as well.

All pierced him.

All born

by him.

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

and now the zag,

he shall see

his offspring,

he shall prolong

his days,

the will of the Lord

shall prosper

in his hand.

It's not as obvious

here in English.

It's there,

but it's very,

very powerful

in the Hebrew.

In the Hebrew,

every time,

it talks about

in the Old Testament,

they believed

that people lived

after death.

And so there's

Old Testament passages

where it might talk

about Jacob

seeing his children.

But in all of those cases,

the way it's structured

in the Hebrew,

it's as if,

you know,

it's sort of as if

there's a separate world

right here

and there's Jacob

and he's died,

but now Jacob

can watch us

and there's Abraham

and he's died

and Abraham

can watch us.

But he can't do anything,

he can just watch.

But here,

the Hebrew changes

and it's that

the servant

is alive amongst us

seeing us,

that he's present

and can affect things.

So here's the powerful thing.

Could you put up

the next point, please?

What do we know

about death?

Death,

death,

thrones.

How important,

how many executive decisions

does Steve Jobs

make right now?

And,

I mean,

Harper,

he's not even dead.

How many decisions

does he make

that matter?

Death,

dethrones.

But what happens here,

the next point,

please?

Jesus dies

and is not dethroned.

He is exalted

and alive.

That's what the text

is saying here.

He shall,

when his soul

makes an offering

for guilt,

he shall see

his offspring,

he shall prolong

his days.

In other words,

he's living forever.

It's poetic Hebrew language

which is very concrete

for living forever.

And the will of the Lord

shall prosper in his hand.

In other words,

he's alive,

he's exalted,

he's,

everything he does,

it's,

he's the,

he's the golden boy,

the golden child.

Everything he touches

is now just going

and flourishing.

And then it continues

out of the anguish

of his soul

and it just goes on.

He's alive.

You see,

here's the thing.

Here's the reason

you should believe

the prophecy.

There is good

historical evidence

that Jesus rose

from the dead.

In fact,

I would say

that the only thing

that accounts

for the explosion

of belief

in Jerusalem

that Jesus was alive

was the fact

that the grave

is empty

and he really was alive.

They could never

produce the body.

He is alive.

There's good reasons

for it.

Explosive growth

of the Christian faith.

Not because of military power.

Far from it.

Jesus had no military power.

People flocked to Muhammad.

Why?

Because he was able

to successfully win battles.

Jesus won only one battle.

And the one battle

that he won,

he won not for his own glory

but for his own sake

but for yours.

He defeated death.

He defeated that

which causes death

which is our rebellion

and alienation from God

and he does it for you

and you,

ordinary people in me

can share in that

when we put our faith

and trust in Jesus.

Jesus predicted

he would die.

He predicted

he would rise from the dead.

The Old Testament

predicts

Jesus' coming

and his death

and his resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus

vindicates who he is

and what he did.

Could you put up

the almost final point

please?

Remember

at the beginning

of the service

I said

the world

have failed

predictions,

prophecies and promises

the true and living God

predicted and promised

and now we see

that he kept his word

in the person

and work of Jesus.

Three things

very briefly

you're going to have

to put them up quickly.

The first one

know him as your

savior and your lord.

There is no better time

than now

to reach out your hands

to Jesus

that he would be

your savior and lord.

Know him as your savior

and your lord.

He died for you.

He knows you.

He loves you.

He died for you.

The second thing

put it up please.

Christians

know his word written.

Trust it

and seek to obey him.

Know his word written.

Trust it

and seek to obey him.

Read your Bibles

brothers and sisters.

Read them cover to cover.

When you have questions

ask others

but know it.

And finally

many of us

like to know

what God's will

is for our lives.

700 years

between this prophecy

and its fulfillment.

700 years.

Seek God's will

for your life

but remember

the Lord

is always playing

the long game.

This will take away

a lot of anxiety

that we feel.

Why am I going

through this?

Well I don't know.

You know I don't know

why you're going

through this

because you know what

maybe you're going

through this

because you're going

to say something

to little Liam

in five years

about what you're

going through

and little Liam

will tell somebody else

or do something else

and he'll do something else

and in 300 years

if Jesus comes back

it's the new Billy Graham

and in heaven

God will show you

how he was playing

the long game.

and even with your will

you know we want

to know what to do

tomorrow

and he will give us

guidance about

what to do tomorrow

but he's always

playing the long game.

He has your eternal

happiness

in mind.

Please stand.

Let's bow our heads

in prayer.

Father, many people

make us promises

and they don't keep them.

Father, we confess

that we make promises

and we don't keep them.

And Father, many people

claim to be able

to predict the future

but they're almost

always wrong.

And many people

claim to have

special connections

or special interior knowledge

and they're just wrong.

Father, we give you

thanks and praise

that in a world

where we want to know

the future

we want to know

if there's meaning

to our lives

that you spoke

and you talked

about the future

and you kept

your promises

you kept your word

and you kept

your promises

in a word

and your word

in a shocking way

in a way

that both humbles us

but provides

the means by which

we can be reconciled

to you

and where we can

now begin to live

as your adopted children

knowing that we will

live with you forever.

That death is not

the final word

about us

that death will be

just us being

in your presence

until you make

the new heaven

and the new earth

where we will continue

in your presence forever.

Father, fan into flame

within us

a longing and yearning

to see you.

Fan into flame

within us

a longing and yearning

for the new heaven

and the new earth.

Make us disciples

of Jesus

who are gripped

by the gospel

who are living

for your glory.

And Father,

if there are any here

who have not yet

given their lives

to Jesus,

pour out your Holy Spirit

upon them.

Help them, Father,

to throw out

their hands to you,

throw out their hands

to Jesus,

that he might be

their Savior

and their Lord.

All this we ask

in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.