A Look Back At The Gospel In Isaiah 52:13-53:12

 

 

 

Harvest Bible Chapel

Through a hastily planned change of my work schedule, I was assigned to work on various carpentry projects in downtown Chicago at the Harvest Bible Chapel "Cathedral Campus" yesterday.  This is a beautiful building donated to our church on the corner of Walton and Dearborn Streets.  The last time I had been here, was days before it opened in September 2012.  For about 125 years, this building has been a beautifully crafted temple of doom. Teaching in the building has been man centered, and without real hope for all its existence as a unity church in the very early years, and as a Masonic Scottish Rite Cathedral in the most recent hundred.  This church is now a powerful beacon of hope and light of the Gospel in this area of America's city of big shoulders.

 

Moody Church

Situated just over a mile to the north is another great beacon of light, the Moody Church--so named for the 19th century evangelist D.L. Moody who founded it.  Preachers here have been faithfully teaching the Word of God here since 1925.  Here, the power of the Gospel has been faithfully proclaimed.  Here I ventured after I was finished with my work to hear another faithful preacher teach this powerful truth, "the Gospel".   This was the final message in an annual Bible Conference called Founders Week, jointly hosted by the Moody Church and  the Moody Bible Institute.  The preacher on this Friday evening (2/8/13) was Pastor John MacArthur, someone whose teaching has been a great source of understanding and spiritual growth for me for over the last three decades.

 

Knowing the Jesus Christ of "The Gospel" was central to everything that took place during the evening meetings, including the music, the prayer, the testimony.  Pastor MacArthur began his remarks by speaking of the most significant chapter in the whole Bible; one which he challenged us to meditate on and to memorize.  This chapter, he said, is the first Gospel account, and the most comprehensive account of the Gospel.  My mind raced to consider which chapter he spoke of.  I thought first of John 1 which introduces the full humanity and deity of Jesus Christ.  Or, John 3 where Jesus presents Himself as the object of belief  in the Gospel leading to eternal life.  But then he said that this chapter also included details of Jesus' death, resurrection and burial.  Hmmm.  Perhaps Acts 7, when Stephen--Christianity's first martyr--faithfully preached the Gospel.  All these chapters I refer to are written as historical accounts of the real events and teaching that occurred during Jesus final three years on earth, about 1,980 years ago. 

 

But then Pastor MacArthur said that the chapter to which he referred to was the same one the Ethiopian traveller was reading aloud in his chariot as recorded in Acts 8 to whom the Holy Spirit sent Philip,

 

And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.  (Acts 8:34-35)

 

What these two men read and discussed was in part Isaiah 53:7-8,  the powerful Gospel account given more than 700 years before Jesus was born!  Pastor MacArthur then, walked us through the whole passage of Scripture, Isaiah 52:13-53:12 - 

 

¹³ Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 
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—
¹⁵ 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.  Isaiah 52:13-15 is written from the voice of God referring to His servant.  This is the future Messiah.  In verse 13, He will (1) act wisely, that is live correctly, or successfully.  This indicates that what is to follow is part of the calling of this Servant; (2) He will also be God.  He is called "high and lifted up" and "exalted".  These are the exact terms Isaiah uses to describe God as seen on His throne in Isaiah 6.

 

Verse 14 indicates that while He is God, and doing the wise things, (3) His form will become terribly marred even to the point of gross disfigurement, the first reference to Jesus' death by crucifixion.  Yet, verse 15 shows what verse 13 first pointed out:  In this "marring", the Servant acts wisely, and (4) sprinkles many nations.  He impacts the world! and in due time (5) kings and leaders will recognize who He is.

 

53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?  And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  The speaker in the text changes in v. 53:1 from God announcing the Servant to Israel if the future looking back at this Servant.   The "us" is the future repentant Israel bemoaning the fact that generations of Israelites rejected what they now see.

² 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.  Jesus came among the Israelites like a simple plant or root, unnoticed by the nation at large.  He did not come with great pomp and circumstance.  He wasn't desired by the people of Israel.
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.  Jesus was despised and rejected by the men He came to save.   He was associated with sorrow and grief, and the Israelites failed to esteem Him.  Notice again the "we" esteemed Him not.   But remember, all this was part of the plan (52:13). 

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.   While Jesus came to bear the sins of Israel, "we" esteemed Him to be someone that was rejected by God, when the opposite was actually true. 
⁵ 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.   The Servant would be pierced for the sins of His people.  He would be crushed for us.  On Him would be laid the punishment we should get, resulting in peace-with-God; by His marring wounds, we are granted spiritual healing. 
⁶ 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.   "We" went astray, turned to "our" own way while "our" sin was laid on Him.

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 its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?  Verse 7 and 8 were quoted as part of what the Ethiopian read when Philip came to him in Acts 8.  Here, Jesus' unjust trial, and His quiet sheep-like response is described.  He was sheep-like in His not retaliating and fighting, but also in the sacrificial nature of His death.  For what purpose?  Again, "for the transgression of my people".
⁹ 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.  Jesus, the Servant of God, died with the "wicked", He was crucified between the thieves, while He was innocent of any crime, neither violent or deceitful.

¹⁰ 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.  Just like prescribed in Leviticus 4-7, Jesus was made a guilt offering.  Yet unlike the typical guilt offering, His was "prolonged" and "prospered" to where He would have and see offspring.  A reference to His resurrection.  God would accept the sacrifice of His Servant.
¹¹ 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.  Though the crushing of Jesus was painful to the Father, His guilt offering was satisfied.  The righteousness of the Servant would be imputed to "many" as He bears our sin; definitely 2 Corinthians 5:21 in view.
¹² 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.  So the Servant would share in the victory over death with the "many" and with the "strong" through His death.  In His death, He was numbered as a sinner because He bore the sin of us all.  And His resurrection role is further intercession for the sinners He is saving!

 

 All this put together provides a powerful testimony of the Gospel, the "good news" that Jesus bore our sin in His own body, was crushed as our guilt offering, was accepted as our satisfactory sacrifice, and was brought back to life by the will and power of God that He would share in the Work that He has accomplished.

 

What's left then to consider regarding this Gospel:  What will be your response?

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