The Servant Saves Through Suffering

Well, good morning, Christ the King.

It really is a joy to be with you.

I'm making eye contact with very familiar faces to me.

Mike Salvati has been a really significant friend and mentor in my life way back to when

I was a seminary student serving in student ministry at Crossway, and he was the youth

pastor, and I remember when God started to stir his heart about leading a church plant,

and I cannot believe that the bulletin says the 10th anniversary is coming up.

I just rejoice at God's goodness to this church.

So it's fun to be here, to kind of release him to go on sabbatical.

It's fun to see you guys again, but the great privilege of this morning is getting to worship

God together and open scripture together.

So would you please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 52 and verse 13.

We'll start reading there.

If you don't have a Bible with you, there should be Bibles in the pew in front of you, and Isaiah

52 and verse 13 is on page 729.

So I'll give you a moment to get there, and then I will read that, and we'll pray.

Isaiah chapter 52, verse 13.

Isaiah 52:13

Please follow along with me as I read.

Behold, my servant shall act wisely.

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

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 have not heard they understand.

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 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.

And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

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 every one to his own way.

And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

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.

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 living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Let's pray together.

Our Father, we say again what we're just saying, which is show us Christ.

Your Son is the bread of life, the food that our souls need.

He gives living water.

Those who believe in him, never hunger, never thirst, are satisfied forever.

So, what we need above all this morning is for you to give us Christ.

To show him to us again, so that we might believe and live.

And so, God, thank you for your love for your people, and your commitment to your word.

And we pray that you would come and speak.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, we're kind of hopping in midstream in Isaiah.

But if you were to read this book from the beginning, you would encounter again and again this mysterious figure

whom Isaiah calls the servant.

He's the subject of four poems in Isaiah's book.

And we have, Christians have traditionally called them the servant songs.

And in the servant song in chapter 49, Isaiah tells us that the servant, this servant who's coming,

will be called from his mother's womb, set apart from birth for a very specific task.

God was going to use him to gather his people back to himself.

God's people had repeatedly turned away from him.

That's the backdrop of Isaiah.

Though he had been steadfast in his love for them, they had over and over gone astray.

Gone after other gods, after idols.

And so, they had eventually been conquered by Babylon, taken into exile.

Israel had to leave the promised land.

But God was promising, even before it happened in the book of Isaiah,

that God would gather them back to himself.

That he would bring them home.

And he would bring them back to himself through the servant.

And not just that.

He says in chapter 49, just bringing Israel to himself isn't enough.

It's too small a task.

Isaiah said that the servant would be a light for the nations.

That God's salvation would reach to the ends of the earth.

Those who had never even heard of the God of Israel would receive his love and come to know him as Savior.

And the immediate question that raises is how.

How will the servant do that?

How will he gather God's people back to him and reveal salvation to the whole earth?

Through military conquest?

You could imagine the servant as a great warrior.

Raising an army.

Just marching across the earth.

Saving God's people.

And bringing good news to all of them.

That would bring the people back to the land.

But the people's greatest problem isn't geographic.

It's not their physical exile from the land.

It's their spiritual exile from God.

If the servant is going to gather them back to God, he's going to have to do something about their hearts that always go astray.

His work is going to need to go deeper.

They don't just need to be brought home.

They need to be healed of their wayward hearts.

And so do the nations.

And so do we.

Isaiah tells us that the servant doesn't save through power.

Not that kind of power anyway.

How does he save?

Well this passage starts off with a striking paradox.

Look back at chapter 52 verse 13.

He says,

Behold, my servant shall act wisely.

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

God said, my servant is going to succeed.

He's going to triumph.

He's going to be exalted.

And we see the effect of his triumph in verse 15.

So shall he sprinkle many nations.

In the Bible, sprinkling is a way of making something holy.

Of purifying it.

Of cleansing it.

Of setting it apart for God.

Sometimes it's water that's used to sprinkle.

Sometimes oil.

Sometimes it's the blood of a sacrifice.

But sprinkling sets something apart to belong to God.

And Isaiah says, what the servant does is going to sprinkle the nations.

He's going to set the nations.

The nations will belong to God.

And what he does will be so amazing.

It's going to render world leaders speechless.

He says, kings shall shut their mouths because of him.

So what is this great success?

What is this triumph?

What has he done?

Look at 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.

What has he done?

What has he done to triumph?

He's been beaten to the point that he is no longer recognizable.

Not just as himself, but as a human.

You see the paradox.

The servant succeeds through failing.

He succeeds, he triumphs through being defeated.

He saves through suffering.

That's what this passage is about.

It's simultaneously one of the most sobering and one of the most magnificent passages in the whole Bible.

It's quoted at least seven times in the New Testament.

On the night before Jesus died, he said, Isaiah 53 explains what I'm about to do.

He says, this is what's going to happen.

And he was numbered with the transgressors.

Isaiah 53 verse 12.

Isaiah 53:12

If you understand what this passage is saying about Jesus, you will understand the heart of Christianity.

And if you believe what this passage teaches about Jesus, you will have a personal assurance of the love of God and a fountain of joy that nothing in this world can touch.

Isaiah highlights three facets of Jesus' suffering.

He tells us that his suffering is submissive, it's substitutionary, and it's saving.

Jesus' suffering.

Jesus' suffering.

Jesus' suffering.

He suffers as a substitute, and he suffers to save.

So first, he suffered submissively.

Jesus' suffering was neither incidental nor accidental.

It was central and willful and purposeful.

It was the mission on which he had been sent, to which he submitted entirely.

It's why he came to earth.

Why he concealed his divine glory in human flesh.

Look at chapter 53 verse 1.

Who has believed what he has heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

The arm of the Lord is God's saving power.

You can look back at chapter 52 verse 10.

Isaiah says,

The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

God rolls up his sleeves, as it were.

He exposes his arm.

He goes to work, and he saves his people.

But the arm of the Lord isn't just God's power disconnected from himself.

An arm isn't just an instrument you use.

Your arm is part of yourself.

Where the arm of the Lord is, the Lord is.

The arm of the Lord is God present in power to save.

And Isaiah tells us that God's arm, God's presence and saving power, is a person.

The servant.

And he asks,

To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Who has recognized him?

And the implied answer is no one.

Almost no one recognized that Jesus of Nazareth was God himself come near to save.

Who would imagine that God would be born as an infant and have to grow up?

Look at verse 2.

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground.

Who would have expected that God would come not as a royal prince, handsome, clothed with majesty,

but as a carpenter's son from a backwater town.

He was nothing special to look at.

Look at verse 2 again.

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

If you passed him on the street in Nazareth,

there is nothing about him that would make you do a double take.

He was nondescript.

And yet he was the image of the invisible God.

He perfectly reflected God's moral purity,

his love,

his truthfulness.

And people hated him for it.

Look at verse 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.

Now, note that he doesn't say,

they esteemed him not.

He says, we esteemed him not.

All of us who now follow him can say,

there was a time when we esteemed him not.

John tells us in his gospel,

he came to his own,

and his own people did not receive him.

When they heard about his miracles,

they said,

isn't this the carpenter's son?

How could he be anything special?

Even his siblings didn't see who he was.

He was God's saving power in human flesh,

and he seemed to almost everyone

like no big deal.

Maybe he seems like no big deal to you.

You know that he taught about religion and morals,

but that may be of no interest to you.

You know that he allegedly did some miracles,

but there are lots of reports like that

from the ancient world.

What makes Jesus different

from any other ancient religious teacher?

Well, Jesus did something that no one else did.

He came to die.

He didn't just encounter rejection,

he came to be rejected.

He didn't just experience suffering,

he came to suffer and die.

Look at verse seven.

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.

When Jesus was taken off to death,

he didn't protest.

He didn't try to get out of it.

It's why he came.

You can read the gospel accounts of Jesus' trial

before the Jewish council

and before the governor, Pilate.

They are amazed.

He doesn't respond to any of the accusations against him.

He doesn't open his mouth, fulfilling this.

And that's not the only way Isaiah's prophecy

was fulfilled in Jesus' death.

If you are unsure what to make of Jesus,

one of the things that you are going to have to decide

is what to do with the fact that Isaiah predicted

details of Jesus' death 700 years before his birth.

Look at verse 8.

By oppression and judgment, he was taken away.

An unjust trial?

Check.

And as for his generation,

who considered that he was cut off

out of the land of the living?

Condemned to death?

Check.

Verse 9.

And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death.

Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man,

laid Jesus' body in his own tomb.

Check.

God foretold the plan seven centuries B.C.

and Jesus submitted to it completely.

He came to die.

Now you might say,

other people have given their lives for a loved one

or for a cause.

Jesus is not the only person who chose to die.

Now, listen.

Many people have chosen when to die

or how to die,

but they didn't choose to die.

They were going to die sometime.

Only Jesus chose to die

because only Jesus didn't deserve death.

Death came into the world as the wages,

the payment for human sin,

and Jesus alone has never sinned.

Look at the end of verse 9.

Although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth,

Jesus died innocently.

He had not just done nothing deserving execution.

He'd done nothing deserving death.

Jesus came to die.

He volunteered.

He did not seek to get out of it,

but submitted to it.

Why?

Well, the second facet of his suffering

is that he suffered as a substitute.

Look at verse 4.

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows.

He was a man of sorrows

and acquainted with grief,

but the sorrows and the grief were ours.

Now, even that is remarkable.

We will have several opportunities this morning

to marvel at the love of God,

but let's not miss this one.

Jesus came from the presence of his Father

where there is no grief,

and there is no sorrow,

and he freely entered into ours.

He experienced the whole range of trouble

that comes with human life here on earth.

Suffering Christian,

your Savior understands what it is to suffer.

He knows grief and sorrow.

You have a sympathetic high priest.

But this is describing much more than sympathy.

When Isaiah says in verse 4,

he has borne our sorrows,

he doesn't just mean he has felt them.

The word borne means he has lifted them off of us.

So you imagine a father and son

on a backpacking trip,

and over the course of the day,

the son's pack has felt heavier and heavier,

and finally he can't go on.

So his father reaches down

and takes the pack

and puts it on himself.

He takes,

Jesus has taken on himself

our griefs and our sorrows.

And Jesus was so marked by grief and sorrow

that he seemed to those around him

not a man blessed by God,

but a man cursed.

Verse 4 again,

we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God,

and afflicted.

And of course,

on the cross,

that's exactly what he was.

So this passage,

this song,

from 52.13 to 53.12,

it has five stanzas

with three verses in each stanza.

So if you find the center stanza,

and you find the center verse

of the center stanza,

you will find the very heart

of this song.

And the very heart of this song

is verse 5.

And it's not just the center of the song,

but of Christianity

and of human history

and of all reality.

Look at verse 5.

There are two parties here.

There's he

and we.

There's the one

and the many.

So whose transgression

is in view?

It's ours.

Right?

Transgression describes

our rebellion against God,

our breaking of his law.

Whose iniquity

is in view?

It's ours.

Iniquity is our inner bentness,

that thing in us

that always makes us go

astray.

The transgression

is ours.

The iniquity is ours.

But who gets pierced?

He does.

Who gets crushed?

He does.

He gets chastised.

He gets disciplined.

He gets wounded.

But who gets the peace?

We do.

Who gets healed?

We do.

He suffered as a substitute.

The one in place

of the many.

The heart of Christianity

is nothing but this.

Christ died

for our sins.

He suffered

as a substitute.

Because we're the ones

who go astray,

aren't we?

Verse 6.

All we like sheep

have gone astray.

We have turned

everyone,

everyone

to his own way.

Isn't that right?

Don't we choose

our own way?

God has purposes

for everything

he's given us.

Our time,

our money,

our words,

our kids,

our sexuality.

But we choose

our way.

We might go

his way

when it's the way

we want to go anyway

or when it doesn't

cost us very much

or when we might

get seen doing it

and admired.

But when it's hard,

when we're tested,

apart from his help,

we so quickly

go astray.

even if only

in our hearts

and our imaginations.

Prone to wander,

Lord,

I feel it.

Prone to leave

the God I love.

Isaiah says,

we wander off

like sheep.

And what happens

to sheep

when they stray off

from the shepherd

who feeds them

and protects them

and heals them

when they're injured?

Sheep that go astray

die.

And yet here,

it's the shepherd

laying down his life

for the sheep.

Look at the end

of verse 6.

And the Lord

has laid on him

the iniquity

of us all.

If you've read

the Old Testament,

you might remember

the annual

Day of Atonement

described in

Leviticus 16,

the day when

God would graciously

forgive and cleanse

his people

of all their sins.

And on the Day

of Atonement,

the high priest

takes two goats.

And one goat

he kills

and takes the blood

and sprinkles it

on the mercy seat

over the Ark

of the Covenant

in the most holy place

and the other goat

he takes

and he confesses

over it

the sins of the people.

He lays on the goat

the iniquities

of the nation

and he sends it off

into the wilderness

and the goat

bears their iniquities

away,

never to be seen

again.

In the same way,

we've all gone astray

but the Lord

has laid on Jesus

our iniquity

and he bears it

all away.

He suffered

as a substitute.

He was,

as Isaiah says

in verse 10,

an offering

for guilt.

Every person

here

is going to have

to decide

what you are going

to do

with your guilt.

Not just your sense

of feeling guilty

but your awareness

that you have done

actual wrongs.

And I can imagine

three options.

One,

you can deny

that there is even

such a thing

as guilt

by denying

that there are

moral absolutes

you have to obey.

If there are no rules,

there can be no guilt

from breaking the rules.

But are there

really no rules?

We all recognize

that some things

are just wrong.

Not wrong

for some people

in some places

under some circumstances

but wrong

for all people

at all times

in all circumstances.

Murder,

child abuse,

racism.

There are moral laws

and they come

from somewhere.

Some moral lawgiver.

You can't evade guilt

just by evading

moral reality.

Or second,

you can acknowledge

that moral laws exist

and guilt is possible

but deny that you're guilty

because you've done

basically everything right.

But that delusion

is only possible

until you have

a relationship

with another human being

and they will let you know

right away

that you're not perfect.

Which leaves

the third option.

You can have your guilt

taken away.

Someone outside you

can take the guilt

from you.

A substitute.

Someone who has

no guilt of their own

so they can suffer

the punishment

your guilt deserves.

Behold the servant.

This is why Jesus came

to live a morally

perfect life

so he could die

for our transgressions

and our iniquities.

Do you see his love?

Not just that he died.

Although that is astounding.

But how he died.

He chose a violent death.

A criminal's death.

A punitive death.

He died in a way

that showed

how terrible sin is.

How serious.

How deserving

we all are

of being pierced

and crushed

and wounded.

His death showed

the full evil of sin

but also the full extent

of his love

for sinners.

Paul says in Romans 5, 8

that God shows

his love for us

and that while we were

still sinners

Christ died for us.

John says

in this is love

not that we have

loved God

but that he loved us

and sent his son

to be the propitiation

the sacrifice

for our sins.

He means us

to see his love.

If you try to discern

whether God loves you

by looking at the

circumstances

of your life

you will despair.

Think if Jesus

had done that

or Joseph

or David

or Job

or Peter.

Don't look there.

Look at the cross.

Where God suffered

out of love for us

where he substituted

himself for us.

He suffered

as a substitute.

And what did he accomplish?

The third facet

of his suffering

is that he suffered

to save.

In verse 9

the servant

has been laid

in the grave.

He is dead

and gone.

Which makes

verse 10

extraordinary.

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.

Did you see that?

After

he gives his life

as a sacrifice

he sees his offspring.

He is reunited

with those

he died to save.

He prolongs

his days.

He lives.

After suffering

Jesus rose

victorious

over death

and he shares

the spoils

of his victory

with all who trust

in him.

Look at verse 12.

Therefore I will

divide him

a portion

with the many

and he shall

divide the spoil

with the strong.

So what spoils

does he share?

What has he won

that he freely gives?

Well he shares

his righteousness.

Look at the middle

of verse 11.

By his knowledge

shall the righteous one

my servant

make many

to be accounted

righteous.

So just as our sins

were accounted

to him

so his perfect

obedience

is accounted

to us.

We are made

right with God.

He sees us

as though we had

always obeyed

with the perfection

of his son.

Don't you want

a clear conscience?

We have all

done things

we look back

on with shame.

And God

never minimizes

sin

but he forgives

it.

And he covers

it with the

righteousness

of his son.

All who trust

in Christ

have his righteousness

and because of

that we have

look back

at verse 5.

It says

upon him

was the chastisement

that brought us

peace.

Because of what

he's done

we have peace

with God.

We have assurance

that there is

no longer

any anger

in God's heart

towards us.

No hostility

that keeps us

at arm's length.

Nothing that can

ever separate us

from his love.

He is for us.

He is a father

and a friend.

We have peace

with him.

In verse 5

again

by his wounds

we are healed.

Not just forgiven

but healed.

Made whole.

Made well.

Throughout this book

Isaiah has

repeatedly looked

ahead to a future

for God's people

in a perfected

creation

in which

everything wrong

has been made

right.

Has been healed.

So you could

think of chapter

11

in verse 6.

The wolf

shall dwell

with the lamb

and the leopard

shall lie down

with the young goat

and the calf

and the lion

and the fattened

calf together

and a little child

shall lead them.

The nursing child

shall play over

the hole of the cobra

and the weaned child

shall put his hand

on the adder's den.

They shall not hurt

or destroy

in all my holy mountain

for the earth

shall be full

of the knowledge

of the Lord

as the waters

cover the sea.

Or amen.

Or chapter 25

verses 6 to 8.

On this mountain

the Lord of hosts

will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food

a feast of well-aged wine

of rich food

full of marrow

of aged wine

well refined

and he will swallow

up on this mountain

the covering

that is cast

over all peoples

the veil

that is spread

over all nations

he will swallow

up death

forever

and the Lord God

will wipe away

tears

from all faces.

We need healing

of the bentness

of our hearts

of the infirmity

of our bodies

this world

needs healing

of its brokenness

of tears

of death

and because of what

Jesus has done

on the cross

that healing

will come.

Paul says

in Colossians 1

God was pleased

to reconcile

to himself

all things

whether on earth

or in heaven

making peace

by the blood

of the cross

sin

death

tears

tragedy

all of it

came into the world

because of the sin

of Adam

and all of it

will ultimately

leave the world

through the salvation

of Christ.

There will be

true healing.

Now I don't want

to deny

that a degree

of real healing

is possible now.

For those

who have trusted

in Christ

God really does

heal patterns

of sin

he helps

us to walk

in new freedom

at times

he really does

heal bodies

in ways that

medicine can't

explain

but the fullness

of healing

awaits Jesus'

return

and the new

creation.

He will share

it freely

with all those

who trust in him.

When Isaiah

says in verse 11

out of the anguish

of his soul

he shall see

and be satisfied

he means that

as Jesus

suffered the horrors

of the cross

he looked ahead

he looked beyond

to the future

I've just described

a future

with his people

with us

in a new creation

in which all is right

and all is healed

and all is well

he looked

out of the anguish

of his soul

ahead to that future

and he was satisfied.

He considered

the cross

worth it

for that

to bring us

complete salvation.

Jesus

suffered

to save.

So how should we

respond?

What is this passage

calling us to?

Isaiah is calling us

to behold

and believe

in Jesus Christ

who saves

his people

by suffering

for their sins.

God tells us

what he wants us

to do right

in chapter 52

verse 13

where the passage

begins

he says

behold.

He wants us

to look.

he wants us

to consider

he wants us

to meditate

on what this passage

tells us

about Jesus.

The arm

of the Lord

the Son

of God

has humbled

himself

to death

for us

and been

exalted

on high.

What he has

done

is amazing.

It leaves

even kings

speechless.

Understanding

what Jesus

has accomplished

through his death

and resurrection

gives us

assurance

of God's love

for us.

It gives us

hope

for the future.

It gives us

joy

even in the

sufferings

of this life.

Don't look

away from it.

Don't neglect

it.

Behold him.

Behold him

in this book

as you read

it and hear

it proclaimed.

Behold him

in the words

that we sing

as we gather

on Sundays.

Behold him

in his work

in and through

his body

the church.

Behold him.

And as you

behold him

believe

verse 1

who has

believed

what he has

heard from us.

If you have

seen that

Jesus

is the arm

of the Lord

that he's

God's saving

power

then believe

in him.

Trust him.

Trust that

he loved

you

and gave

himself

for you.

Trust that

his righteousness

is yours

and that

you have

complete

peace

with God.

Trust him

and in

trusting

follow him

forever.

Let's pray.

Our Lord

Jesus

we

are

amazed

at what

you have

done.

At the

greatness

of your

love.

At the

greatness

of your

humility.

At the

greatness

of your

perseverance.

That you

chose

the cross.

That you

chose

the thorns.

That you

chose

the scourge.

Out of

love for us

amazes us.

And we

worship you

and we

trust you

and we

pray that

you would

so shape

our lives

by your

grace

and by your

salvation

salvation

that in

us

others

would

encounter

you

as

well.

I pray

your

blessing

on

this

church.

I pray

your

blessing

on

Mike

and

Jenny

and

Mary

as

they

travel.

God

use

Christ

the

King

church

for

your

glory

in

this

city.

I

pray

in

Jesus

name.

Amen.