What does Christianity mean for me today? What good is all of this Christianity for me today? Isaiah 53 tells us that it means everything for our yesterday, today and all of our tomorrows. There is no surer foundation for us to gather around at the start of a new year.
(A) An Astonishing Servant (Isa 52:13-53:3)
Isaiah 52:13 begins with a summons. In this section of Isaiah, God is speaking words of comfort to a people that had disobeyed Him and were also in exile. They are a people that know what it is like to be so far from God and so far from home. They know that they are not home and are yearning for home. Their sins have separated them from God and His hand of judgment is upon them.
Yet, from Isaiah 40-55, God promises repeatedly that He will accomplish a great redemptive work through His Servant. There are 4 Servant songs in these chapters (c.f. Isa 42:1, 49:1, 50:4, 52:13). These show us what the Servant is like and what we can expect of Him.
We see that the servant is upheld, chosen, and delighted by God (Isa 42:1). The Servant has the Spirit and will bring forth justice to the nations (Isa 42:1). This indicates a special choosing and shaping to do the work of God. A similar idea is also expressed in Isaiah 50:4, where we learn that God also teaches and awakens the ear of the servant. This Servant is taught and shaped by God.
Isaiah 49:1 also shows us how this calling and fashioning occured from the beginning. God also enabled Him and the anticipation is building up as we look forward to what this Servant is going to do (Isa 49:2).
The servant shall be high and lifted up, exalted by God (Isa 52:13). In Isaiah 52:13, God doesn’t speak directly to the Servant but we see God act.
The anticipation of this Servant has been built up and Isaiah 53:1 seems to imply that it is almost unbelievable how this Servant is. His is a mighty rule that carries the weak and the young (Isa 40:10-11). God’s arm will deliver from oppression and shelter the weak. God will also bring to bear His righteousness, such that they will receive their reward and recompense.
We also read of the arm of the Lord achieving righteousness and judgment and it cuts God’s enemies in pieces and pierces the dragon (Isa 51:5, 9). God’s arm will judge and vanquish Israel’s enemies (“Rahab”, “dragon” as a picture of the Nile). This is a reference to Exodus when God broke Egypt and crushed Pharaoh to set His people free.
The nations and the ends of the earth will see the salvation of God (Isa 52:10). God’s arm will save and redeem God’s people before a watching world. It is not just a small salvation in a tiny part of the world! God’s salvation is clearly pronounced.
Against this backdrop of the servant’s relationship and the LORD’s might then, the servant’s appearance and experience is unbelievable (Isa 52:14, 53:2, 53:3). We know now that Jesus fulfilled these words but as we read it in Isaiah’s context, we may find it astonishing and unexpected. The arm of the Lord revealed, may not work like how we expect it to. Neither does it immediately look obvious that God is working. God is at work even if it looks like He is not at work!
We know that plants grow from fertile ground; the mighty dress themselves with splendour. One would well expect this servant, the One to whom God’s arm has been revealed, to come with great form and surpassing majesty. Or at the very least, He should come knowing success and gain, not sorrows and grief! He should be celebrated, accepted, and highly esteemed, not despised and rejected by His own people!
It is meant to be surprising the more we think about it! Reading this and thinking about it should cause us to pause and reckon with the Saviour we know! Do we assume that God only works in a certain way? Isaiah 53:1 is an indictment on the listeners as it points out their disbelief. Paul takes it up against people who have ignored what has been said.
What do you think of your Christianity? Did you think that you simply inherited it? Are you here because you’re just used to it, or do you see that there is something precious in beholding this Jesus and treasuring Him? You knowing and believing this Jesus is an unbelievable thing by the world’s standards!
(B) A Substitutionary Salvation (Isa 53:4-9)
In Isaiah 53:4-9, we are told what he suffered, why he suffered, how He suffered, and what we have received as a result. This Servant was stricken, smitten (by God), and afflicted (Isa 53:4b).He was pierced and crushed, chastised and wounded (Isa 53:5). The arm they called to pierce the dragon also pierces the Servant for their transgressions (c.f. Isa 51:9). The LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:6). It was our sins and guilt, and the penalty that we deserved for which He was pierced and crushed.
Why did He suffer? He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isa 53:4a). He suffered for our transgressions, our iniquity (Isa 53:5) as all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–everyone– to his own way (Isa 53:6).
Despite the injustice of his afflictions, he remained silently resolved, even to the point of innocent death (Isa 53:7-9). The original readers would be familiar with the Old Testament system and would know that there would have to be a sacrifice for sin. Sin would be atoned for by an unblemished lamb. They had to lay their hands on the lamb, which signified that this lamb would take their place.
As a result, peace with God and restoration are guaranteed (Isa 53:5b). But, peace with who or whom? Healing from what? This is a peace with God. Sin offends God and God alone. Thus, this peace that is won for us is peace with Him. This healing is also a promise of restoration. All who walk this earth knows that no one can escape death. As it was written earlier in Isaiah 25:7-9, restoration and healing is promised when death is dealt with. The straying heart is also restored, and peace with God can be fully enjoyed.
These verses speak of penal substitutionary atonement. Isaiah helps us to see that:
There is a real penalty for sin.
This Servant bears the penalty in our place.
Therefore, we find reconciliation with God.
We cannot take sin lightly. This is the judgment sin deserves. As the verse in “Stricken, Smitten, and afflicted” goes:
Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed;
See who bears the awful load;
'Tis the Word, the Lord's Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.
Do you take sin lightly?
Look at the lyrics of “Man of Sorrows”. What sort of a Christian pens such words? Who writes these words?
Philip Paul Bliss was the author of “Man of Sorrows”. And he was as regular a good Christian boy as they come. Philip grew up poor but content. His father's singing and praying and reading the Scriptures, his mother's daily lessons, with the contact of the grand scenery around his home, the mountains, valleys, forests and streams of which were ever dear to him, made up, for the most part, the influences that were brought to bear upon his first ten years of life. He early developed a passion for music, and would sit and listen with delight to his father singing, when but a child, and very early sang with him. He would readily catch up a tune, and whistle it or play it upon some rude musical instrument of his own manufacture. In 1850, at the age of 12, he at that time made his first public confession for Christ.
His own recollection of his Christian experience has always been that he never had any marked period of conversion; that he could never remember the time when he did not love the Saviour — when he was not sorry for his sins, and when he did not pray. He undoubtedly experienced regeneration in answer to the prayers of a godly father at a very early age, and all through life manifested that he was a child of God.
He was an ordinary Christian. What sort of an ordinary Christian would write words like these? What sort of good Christian boy pens words of his own wretchedness and helplessness? Only those who have truly reckoned and recognised the surpassing holiness of God and His great great worth, will think of themselves in those terms. Transgression against the God of greatest worth demands penalty of the greatest degree. This is why such penalty is warranted and required.
We are aware of our sin. All the day long we live without regard for Him, in disobedience. Thus, the most astonishing thing is not how sinful we really are, but how great His salvation is! The Servant who comes to deliver God’s people will come to deliver them from their greatest enemy — sin. Israel, the first recipients of this message, was being primed for greater expectations: Don’t merely expect to be returned back to your land; Expect to be returned back to God!
The same can be said for us. Expect a greater deliverance than life-as-usual and comforts-well-restored. Expect deliverance from sin, to God, for God’s servant has come to pay the greatest price.
Because of this Servant’s life and death, we have peace with God Himself. And we have healing. Are you tired and weary of your sin? Are you done with the pride that turns you inward all the day? Are you tired of your heart’s desire? Do you long to be reconciled to the God who created you? There is real healing promised to us.
Consider the practical outworking of peace with God, joy from God, and the love of God. Read Romans 5:1-11. Think about how Paul writes about the peace, joy and love that comes from this Servant. Peace, joy and love are the things we pursue all the day. Our pursuit and lack of these things cause us so much anxiety and temporal happiness, and causes us to sacrifice so much.
And don’t just stop at our own lives. How will it change your weekly gathering with God’s people? How does it change your relationship with the church, if you view them as those that God has suffered for in such a way? How would your relationship with those you can’t stand — your enemies — change? How will you speak of and to them? How will your mind think of them?
(C) A Prosperous Satisfaction (ISa 53:10-12)
Notice that the will of the LORD is that he would be “crushed, put to grief, making an offering for guilt”, and yet it is that same will that will prosper in the Servant’s hands (Isa 53:10). What does this mean? Here, we see how this is God’s way of achieving salvation and deliverance from sin.
Why? For the Servant will be satisfied by…seeing his offspring, making many to be accounted righteous, bearing their iniquities. Here, God’s will and the Servant’s willingness melds together.
Isaiah 53:10b also implies resurrection. He must suffer, He must die, and He must be raised to life! Not just a moving sacrifice, but a mighty prosperous victory. Remember: it is for joy set before Him that our Saviour endured the Cross. It is the perfect, and perfectly unified, will of the Lord to save sinners! Jesus therefore, didn’t just die a generic death for sin in general. As He hung on the cross, He bore the sins of the Church, the Bride of Christ. He knows those who are His. He died to ransom us. He did it with great delight.
What does Jesus think when He thinks about the church? We know that the Church is struggling and perhaps we too are wounded and hurt. If we take His suffering seriously, we should also take His satisfaction seriously. God sees the people for whom He died and is satisfied. We love the Church because Jesus loves the Church. Think about this as you head back to your church this Sunday — these are the people from whom He died. One day, He will present teh Church with great joy. How will your Christianity change if you know that God delights in this substitutionary act of Christ?
We began with the question: What does Christianity mean for us today? We do not know how tomorrow will pan out. Neither can we guarantee that our lives will be comfortable and smooth. Friends, the Christian does not live his/her life chasing the Singaporean dream. Live with the end in mind. We can live with the end in mind knowing that this triumph of the resurrected living Christ also guarantees our end. No one can tell us how our lives and this world will pan out. But in Christ our lives are secure.
When He comes, our glorious King,
all His ransomed home to bring,
then anew this song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
We live with the end in mind, knowing that we have peace with God and He will return one day for those He has ransomed and redeemed with great joy. We must live our life in light of this.
How do you relate to this Man of Sorrows? What do you make of His satisfaction to bring sinners home?