The Gospel Preaching of Isaiah - 1 - John MacArthur

well it seems that in every generation of the church there is one individual whom God raises up strategically to be a standard for other men in the ministry each epoch of history has had such men I believe that the blessing that is ours in these hours tonight and tomorrow is to be able to spend this time with the man whom God has placed his hand upon and given him extraordinary influence in this hour he is dr. John MacArthur he has been the pastor of Grace Community Church for over 42 years it will be 43 years this February he has now completed preaching through the entire New Testament verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book he just completed finishing his 30th commentary to be turned in as he is approaching completing a over 30 volume set covering every verse in every book in the entire New Testament he is the author and the editor of the MacArthur Study Bible there will probably never be again in our lifetime one man who will offer a Study Bible as the result of his preaching ministry you would have to be in one pulpit in one place and continue to preach through other passages of Scripture and this Study Bible has now been translated into some nine languages around the world he is heard on grace to you 1,000 times in English a day and a thousand times in spent his pulpit ministry literally circles the globe he is known for his straightforward no nonsense teaching and preaching of the word of God and he has been for us a model and a standard I can say that no other man has influenced my my preaching and my teaching as well as even my own personal life as God has used John MacArthur in my life and as I look at at sit and see many familiar faces I know as I see your heads nodding how God has used this man in your life how blessed are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good news this man comes to us with very beautiful feet because he brings the Word of God to us again and again and again I think it would be most appropriate as he comes to speak to us in this first session that we give honor to whom honor is due let us greet this brother with a round of applause to John thank you thank you really well there goes my eternal reward right up it's all downhill after I leave here all those things that Steve is kind enough to say about me I could say about him the Lord has knit our hearts together greatly and I have immense respect for him he has become my favorite preacher to listen to and I know that would probably be true of many of you as well I'm always privileged and honored to be on the same program with him anywhere and everywhere whether it's a Grace Church or here or with Ligonier or whoever else invites us and matches us up together we thoroughly enjoy that it's a privilege to be back at Christ Fellowship Church this place is on my heart because Steve is such a close friend that we share so many things and I know the work here and I know many of you who are here in this church and I thank you for your loving support of this gifted man of God and for making his ministry so joyful for him here thank you for that his Joy's become my Joy's because we share so much recently we talked him into becoming the professor of preaching at the Masters seminary and we're delighted with that and he just taught his first class there we had a group of about a hundred wide-eyed new seminary men who spent one week with him it was an unbelievable experience for these guys because the standard was raised as high as it could possibly be raised with regard to the duty and responsibility of being an expository the Word of God in the Shepherd of God's flock I think it scared the daylights out of this these young men who now know they better they better work hard as they go through their seminary training to be prepared for this very elevated demanding task but it was a great great week and the repercussions are going to go on long term in the lives of the men who were there and they've even reverberate 'add through the students who were already in school and the alumni who are all feeling cheated because they weren't in on that class there's going to be more coming up in the future now I do realize that I am downloadable and I am I am I have been I have been amply digitized and I understand that and if you would like to hear a sermon from me feel free and they are free as you well know and they should be so what I want to do with you in the sessions that we have is something Steve asked me to do without sort of giving me the methodology or the the formula for how to do this I want take a chapter in the scripture that has already been identified as Isaiah 53 and I want to take you down into that chapter and I want you to come out understanding that chapter if you have never preached on Isaiah 53 and during the ministry God have mercy on your sin sick shriveled up you will now be prepared in the next two days to to be able to preach on Isaiah 53 I want to read the section of Scripture because reading it is such a monumental experience and I want to start in chapter 52 verse 13 when this text really begins God is the speaker it is in the first person it is Yahweh himself speaking and he is speaking of the future coming of the ebed the slave of Jehovah the servant of Jehovah as chapter 53 begins Israel speaks and they speak all the way down to the middle of verse 11 and then God gives the final words God introduces this 53rd chapter which is proclaimed by the nation Israel and then God adds the postscript affirming that everything that they said in this great confession is in fact true now with that in mind let me read it to you behold my servant will prosper he will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted just as many were astonished at you my people so his appearance was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men thus he will startle many nations Kings will shut their mouths on account of him for what had not been told them they will see and what they had not heard they will understand who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed for he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground he has no stately form or Majesty that we should look upon him nor appearance that we should be attracted to him he was despised and forsaken of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and like one from whom men hide their face he was despised and we did not esteem him surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken smitten of God and afflicted but he was pierced through for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities chastening for our well-being fell upon him and by his scourging we are healed all of us like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to his own way but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before it's Shearer's so he did not open 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 the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due his grave was assigned with wicked men yet he was with a rich man in his death because he had done no violence nor was there any deceit in his mouth but the Lord was pleased to crush him putting him to grief if he would render himself as a guilt offering he will see his offspring he will prolong his days and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand as a result of the anguish of his soul he will see and be satisfied and then God speaks by his knowledge the righteous one my servant will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities therefore I will allot him a portion with the Great and he will divide the booty with the strong because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors that dear friends is the clearest explanation of the vicarious substitutionary sacrificial death of Jesus Christ in the entire Bible in the entire Bible it has no parallel in the new test is the vicarious substitutionary death of Jesus Christ described in the New Testament of course but not like this not with this depth and breadth as such it is the most important portion of the Old Testament and one could argue of the new in fact if we lost the New Testament and all we had was information that Jesus died and rose again this would explain enough to save a world of sinners it's all here it's all here this is the first gospel Matthew is the second and Mark is the third and Luke is the fourth and John is the fifth stunning complex details concerning the life rejection death resurrection ascension intercession and exaltation of Jesus Christ all in those verses 700 years before he came there is no religion in the world that has two books one of which tells you what will happen in the future and the other gives the record of it happening this chapter may rise to be the greatest defence of the Christian faith because of the detail the complexity of it it is stunning it is not a prophecy it is a gospel in the form of a prophecy some ancient writers called it the golden passional of the Old Testament Martin Luther said every Christian should know it and be able to repeat it by memory German scholars in the 19th century said it looks as if it had been written at the foot of Golgotha another writer said many an israelite has had this chapter melt his heart another commentator says the most central the deepest and the loftiest that Old Testament prophecy outstripping itself has ever achieved the roots of everything we know about the gospel are here Christian vocabulary is here words that are repeated in our testimonies in our preaching in our hymns in our gospel songs are all drawn from here and this chapter has supplied more text to gospel preachers than any other Old Testament portion it is the clearest and the fullest and the richest explanation of the meaning of the death of Jesus Christ in the entire Bible it is the most complete profound unsearchable bottomless exalted explanation of the vicarious death of Christ anywhere on the pages of Holy Scripture it is the highest form and quality of Hebrew poetry it is an epic chapter the Book of Isaiah is split like scripture into two parts the first part has 39 chapters as the Old Testament has 39 books the second part has 27 chapters as the New Testament has twenty-seven books the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are about judgment the last twenty-seven are about salvation very much the way scripture is laid out in the final 27 chapters chapter 42 66 there are three sections of nine nine nine and nine makes 27 the first nine promised salvation from the Babylonian captivity the last nine promised salvation from the curse and the middle nine promised salvation from sin the middle nine promised salvation from sin the middle chapter of the middle nine is 53 the middle verses if you start in 52 13 r he was pierced for our transgressions crushed for our iniquities etc the Holy Spirit has just driven us down into the very center of this entire section of Isaiah and we're right down into verse 5 and 6 it's master-planned by God it's an incredible portion of Scripture words frankly collapse under the weight of this section and by the way this section also begins where the New Testament begins where does the New Testament begin with what character does the account of the New Testament begin with what prophet does that help John the Baptist that's how the New Testament opens with the Ministry of John the Baptist and that's exactly how this section of Isaiah opens chapter 40 a voice is calling clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness how does the New Testament end new testament ends in chapter 21 and 22 of Revelation with the new heaven and the new earth how does this section of Isaiah and it ends in 65 and 60 with the promise of the new heaven in the new earth I mean this is master plant in stunning ways the scope is staggering the section that I just read you starts with the Lord Jesus Christ eternal relationship with the father it starts in the exalted state of his eternal glory it progresses down through his humiliation and incarnation rejection and execution up through the empty tomb on Resurrection Day having accomplished justification for the many and then it follows him in his ascension intercession at the Father's right hand to the glorious return and the establishing of his final and everlasting kingdom it's all here there is no wonder then that New Testament writers refer to almost every single line in this section it is quoted in Matthew Mark Luke acts Romans first Corinthians second Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Timothy Titus Hebrew first Peter and first John they understood the import of it and the richness of it Isaiah was given the privilege of seeing further into the profound depths of Calvary and the cross than anyone else had ever been privileged to see 700 years before it happened he wrote the details of the meaning of the death of Christ and by the way in the history of Israel when Isaiah receives this prophecy this is new revelation did they know about a sacrifice they did know about a sacrifice because of the sacrificial system but it was only implied in the sacrificial system it was not explicit it becomes explicit here yes there will be a sacrifice and the actual sacrifice itself is described into the very details and the meaning of that sacrifice theologically is described as well here's the clear and first revelation of the suffering servant of Yahweh of Jehovah and by the way the the servant of Jehovah were the slave of Jehovah Jehovah the word Abed his prophesied throughout this section chapter 42 is a servant song chapter 49 is a servant song chapter 50 is a servant song a portion of it but here he is the suffering servant the suffering servant the reason I emphasize that is because that was a very difficult thing for the Jews to understand that the Messiah was a suffering servant the other aspect of him being the servant of Jehovah who would judge and reign and bring a righteous Kingdom and punish evildoers that much they could understand but it was his suffering that they were so vague about thus the amazing clarity of this chapter in fact it is so clearly referring to Jesus Christ that it has been called the torture chamber of rabbis it's like a rack in which their bodies are twisted and stretched it has also been called the guilty conscience of the Jews it is so clearly speaking of Christ moving from the historical for for just a moment as you think about this chapter I want to talk about the personal now for a religion to have any appeal it has to answer the most important question it has to answer the most important question the Bible does answer the most important question and it answers it right here in fact as much as any text in scripture this one chapter answers completely the most important I'm going to stack this up because I want to make the point the most important the most crucial the most significant the most essential the most vital the most weighty the most paramount and you can add your own question of all questions has nothing to do with health nothing to do with wealth nothing to do with success education morality philosophy sociology politics it transcends all other questions it transcends all other categories it is the most important compelling question of all questions yet it is non-existent as an issue for the vast majority of people the most important and the most avoided question here is the question this is the question that religion must answer how can a sinner become acceptable to God so as to escape eternal hell and enter eternal heaven that's the question if your religion can't deliver the truth on that then I'm not interested in your religion how can a sinner become acceptable to God so as to escape eternal hell and enter eternal heaven that's the question and this chapter answers that question it is at at one point the greatest defense of biblical authority because it predicts things in detail that actually came to pass at the same time it is the most important spiritual chapter because it answers the most compelling question religion has to answer that question or it's a damning false religion and it has to answer it correctly correctly what this chapter basically says is that people need a savior to die in their place why don't the Jews believe this chapter why did they reject it why have they rejected it for so long well it all goes down to one thing really modern Judaism of course about 11% of them believe the Old Testament was written by God so almost 90% of them don't believe the Old Testament written by God they're traditional Jews to one level or another the vast majority of Jews never heard of Isaiah don't know anything about Isaiah 53 and couldn't care less but the real issue through history has been this they don't think they need a Savior they don't think they need a Savior that's always been their problem they should know they need to Savior go back to Isaiah 1 the vision of Isaiah verse to listen o heavens and hear o earth the Lord speak sons I have reared and brought up but they have revolted against me an ox knows its owner a donkey its master's manger but Israel doesn't know my people don't understand the last sinful nation weighed down with iniquity offspring of evildoers sons who act corruptly they've abandoned the Lord despised the Holy One of Israel turned away from him where will you be stricken again as you continue in your rebellion the whole head is sick the whole heart is faint from the sole of the foot to the head there's nothing sound in it only bruises welts raw wounds not pressed out or Bendis not softened with all your land is desolate your cities are burned with fire and it just goes on like this bring your worthless offerings verse 11 no longer your incense is an abomination to me I can endure iniquity and solemn assembly I hate your new moon festivals appointed feast I'm weary of bearing them when you spread out your hands verse 15 in prayer I'll hide my eyes from you wash yourselves verse 16 make yourselves clean remove the evil of your deeds from my sight cease to do evil learn to do good verse 18 come now let us reason together says the Lord though your sins are as scarlet they will be as white as snow though they are red like crimson they'll be as wool I'm willing to forgive you that is the diagnosis that Israel has permanently rejected they rejected it in Jesus when Jesus showed up and looked for in the in his hometown synagogue where he grown up as a boy and they all knew him hometown boy had a reputation came back went into the synagogue preached from Isaiah and said this has been fulfilled in your ears that I've come to preach the gospel to the poor prisoners blind and oppressed and he indicted them and he said you are the until you recognize that you are spiritually poor spiritually blind spiritually in bondage and that you are under divine judgment you are the poor prisoners blind and oppressed until you realize that there will be no salvation for you you're no better off than your forefathers God couldn't minister to them either and he had to go to a border terrorist named naman and he couldn't minister to them so he had to help a widow who lived in bales country because you've been so rebellious and under that indictment they picked up stones to kill him throw him off a cliff and stone him to death after one sermon in his hometown that's how they resisted that diagnosis of their depravity and sinfulness here is the difference between the jews and christians and i know everybody likes to talk about the jews and christians getting together here's the difference jews don't need a savior to save them from hell they don't need a savior to save them from god's wrath they have the same problem that jesus identified when he came he said i have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance they want to deliverer from their enemies they have always wanted to deliver from their negative circumstances they want somebody to rescue them from the things they don't like they want the pluses that were promised to Abraham and David and the prophets they don't need a savior so here's the question to ask a Jew when you're talking to one in a gospel conversation do you recognize personally how much you need a Savior to take your place and die under the judgement of God for your sins do you recognize that that is alien to everything in that system but that in fact is the primary moral issue of all human existence how can a sinner be made right with God so as to escape eternal hell and enter eternal heaven that's the question if you want to do some personal evangelism just frame that question and you can find a great answer to that question in Isaiah 53 when you're dealing with a Jew you can do it what Philip did in acts 8 when he ran into the eunuch who was reading Isaiah 53 and what did he do he said who's this talking about here and you remember Philip joined him in the chariot and went to Isaiah 53 and preached Jesus this is a great place to preach Jesus to a Jew it's inescapable it is a torture chamber for the rejector now having said all that this chapter is not primarily a prophecy of the death of Jesus it is not primarily a prophecy of the life death resurrection exaltation of Jesus it isn't you say you're just contradicting what you've been saying no it is not primarily a prophecy of the death of Christ listen to me carefully it is a prophecy of the future and final salvation of Israel say what do you mean that's exactly what you see in this chapter this is a prophecy of the future day in God's redemptive purpose when Israel looks back on the cross and believes now you got to stay with me on this Ezekiel 36 promises a new covenant to Israel right they're going to be washed and cleansed then given the Holy Spirit Jeremiah 31:31 234 that's to Israel new covenant salvation to Israel Romans 11:25 227 so all Israel will be saved but maybe one we could take a minute to look at his Zecharia this is very very important to interpret this chapter in Zechariah chapter 12 there's a picture of the final great effort of the world against Jerusalem that eschatological event when the Antichrist forces come against the Israel and they're about to destroy Jerusalem Zechariah 12 9 and then in verse 10 it says this and this is the sovereign work of God I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication so that they will look on me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him isn't that interesting switch they look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him here God is interchangeable with his son as one mourns for an only son and they will weep bitterly over him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn great mourning verse 12 the land will mourn people will mourn husbands families wives chapter 13 verse 1 in that day in that day when they mourn a fountain will be open for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for impurity that's Zechariah's prophecy there will come a day in the future when they look on him whom they have pierced and they pierced him in his head with a crown in his hands with nails in his feet and with a sword when that day comes listen Isaiah 53 will be what the Jews say this is their confession this chapter is a prophecy of the future salvation of Israel when they look back on Jesus and see how wrong they were that's why starting in verse one all the pronouns are plural listen and all the verbs are you ready for this are past tense did you get that it doesn't say he will bear our griefs he will bear our sorrows he will be pierced for our transgressions he will be crushed for our iniquities doesn't say that it doesn't say he will be oppressed he will be afflicted he won't open his mouth he will be oppressed and taken away in judgment he will be cut off they're all past tense this is looking across history past the cross past the resurrection past the ascension to the time when Israel looks on the one they've pierced and God opens a fountain of cleansing and when that comes this is what they will say this is their great confession and that is consistent with the purpose of Isaiah in this book because he is pronouncing judgment in thirty-nine chapters and now he's pronouncing salvation and it's an eschatological salvation all the way through to the 66th chapter when the people of God will embrace the glories of the new heaven and the new earth so I say this is not primarily a prophecy of the cross and the meaning of the cross this is a prophecy of the salvation of Israel when they look back and get it right stunning staggering these will be the words of their confession they will say who believed the message given to us who saw the arm of the Lord being revealed in him he grew up like a tender shoot like a root out of parched ground he had no stately form or Majesty that we should look upon him nor appearance that we should be attracted him he was despised and forsaken of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and like one from whom men hide their face he was despised and we didn't esteem him do you hear it surely our griefs he himself bore our sorrows he carried and we thought he was being smitten by God for his own sins how wrong we were and when they look back on that one they pierced this is their confession and by the way this is the confession of every Jew or Gentile who is saved a right understanding of the death of Christ as I said it opens and closes with God introducing it and concluding it he introduces the career of his servant and then gives a final commentary on his saving work now all that just kind of gets us here there are five stanzas and I think I might have time to take a look at one or two the this is going to be necessary because getting through this believe it or not in three messages is very difficult I did a series on this in my church and it took me ten Sundays and I checked and I felt like I cheated so that's like it stands in number one the startling servant the startling servant God introduces the first person it's a shocking introduction startling amazing starts with an astonishing revelation behold behold that's to get your full attention as you well know behold my eyebath my slave who has no will but the will of him who sent him right he said that here is the one Israelite the one Israelite whom God can use to affect the redemption of his people from their sins behold my servant in Zechariah 6:12 we read behold the man and Joel nine nine behold the king Isaiah 40 verse nine behold your God servant man King God and those be holds are picked up by the writers of the gospel powerful quartet of titles Matthew as king mark as servant Luke as man and John as God behold look at my servant look at my servant whose food is to do the will of him who sent me finished his work I always do the things that are pleasing to him he said in John 829 my servant will prosper you know Greek is very specific language there are lots of words it's a very rich and nuanced vocabulary you can find a word for every kind of shade of meaning Hebrew is not that way fewer words with broader possibilities of meaning and so you have to look at context very often this actually could be translated my servant acts intelligently or my servant acts wisely or my servant acts successfully successfully it's using jeremiah 23:5 it's used in Joshua 1:8 this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth but you shall do everything that is written in it then you you'll make your way prosperous and have good success that's the same word you'll you'll you'll act intelligently and wisely and successfully and effectively my servant my servant will do the job as the idea of an expanding increasing success never is this word applied to any effort to any success rather without an effort an effort he will not fail you remember in john 17:4 he said to the father and that high priestly prayer have accomplished the work you've given me to do and not only that that work but of course he will accomplish the fullness of the work that God has given him to do so God introduces his servant and he says he will succeed he will succeed this is where again if you've once come to understand the sovereignty of God as we see it in reformed theology you see it absolutely everywhere the end is declared here he will succeed he will accomplish the purpose God intends and then he's introduced this is staggering this is staggering revelation he will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted you say well a scanner is that redundant no that's like high higher highest in Hebrew it's a statement of fact and it's a comparative than it's a superlative high higher highest some suggest high looks at his resurrection higher looks at his ascension highest looks at his exaltation but I see something else here I think you could look at the resurrection and the Ascension and the coronation there but in chasing down this phrase high and lifted up and greatly exalted there's only one other place where those three verbs are used in combination in Isaiah and it's in chapter 6 verse 1 it's in chapter 6 verse 1 Isaiah had a vision of God I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up with a train of his robe filling the temple lofty and exalted high and lifted up and say why make that comparison because this is vital listen to the 12th chapter of John and verse 41 these things Isaiah said because he saw his glory and spoke of him what do you mean back up to verse 40 he has blinded their eyes hardened their heart so they wouldn't see with their eyes perceive with their heart be converted and I healed them that is from Isaiah 6 these things Isaiah said because he saw his glory and he spoke of him John says Isaiah 6 was a picture of Christ so he is high and lifted up what is this to say that my servant will be God this is astonishing my servant will be God himself high and lifted up Hebrews 1:3 says that right the Express image of his person the astonishing revelation of the servant is that he is Yahweh himself he is the very god that Isaiah saw in his vision chapter 6 so Yahweh introduces his servant and says he will succeed and he will be me he will be God and then there's an astonishing humiliation and this is where the Jews have always struggled just as many were astonished at you and there were many who were astonished at the humiliation of Israel once so powerful and with a God who delivered them from Egypt just as many were astonished at you so his appearance was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men this is just an amazing change dramatic you have an astonishing revelation that the servant when he comes will be God you have an equally astonishing revelation of his humiliation or even mutilation if you will marred marred in face and form more than any man more than the sons of men what does that language mean you can barely discern that he's human but he's also a man he's God in verse 13 high and lifted up and exalted he's a man in verse 14 humiliated desecrated marred so that he is barely recognizable as human his face and body totally disfigured distorted the Hebrew would be literally away from men that's the language or beyond men he's outside the pale of what would be deemed human he is so distorted that it destroys his resemblance to being human what could do that some early views saw Jesus as ugly and even repulsive when he walked on earth that's silly he had to be snobol handsome man who ever lived because he was untouched by sin sinless ideal of God's creation beautiful and every feature and not deformed at all but marred attacked utterly disfigured mutilated distorted you know the Old Testament saw that but not like the clarity here Psalm 22 talks about that doesn't it Psalm 22 makes reference to some of the horrible things that would be done to the Lord Psalm 22 describes the crucifixion I'm poured out like water verse 14 all my bones are out of joint which is what happens in crucifixion my heart is like wax melted within me strength is dried up like a broken piece of pottery my tongue Cleaves to my jaws you lay me in the dust of death dogs have surrounded me a band of evildoers encompassed me they pierced my hands and my feet I can count all my bones they divided my garments among them for my clothing they cast lots amazing detail amazing and even back a couple chapters in Isaiah 50 verse 5 I gave my verse 6 I gave my back to those who strike me in my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard and I didn't cover my face from humiliation and spitting you know so much about all those details don't you from the New Testament how stunning that they're all here we understand that he was scourge that he was kept sleepless that he was weak that he was crowned with thorns that he was slapped punched spit on torture and then you have the disfigured face of a man bearing sin beyond human recognition all the Agony's of sin in a sense distort his appearance he is disfigured this is their Messiah this is the Savior it's an accurate presentation and then verse 15 lifts us to an astonishing exaltation God gives us a brief look at the career of Jesus God becomes man is distorted disfigured and then exalted that's how God introduces this chapter verse 15 thus he will sprinkle many nations Kings will shut their mouths on account of him for what had not been told them they will see and what they had not heard they will understand the tone changes the scene changes another jolting shock here kings and their whole nations are astonished at his surpassing glory I don't know what the translation you have of the Bible but that verb that's translated sprinkle in the NA s gets all kinds of translations that that is a common way to translate that verb and it can be translated that way and some have suggested that this means that he acts as a priest and he cleanses the nations by providing salvation but that's not the best handling of that it's better to translate it startle the whole thing here is is to show the startling servant he is startling in his deity he is startling in his humanity and disfigurement and he is startling in his final exaltation why would I say that it's better to to see it as startling because of the word thus there thus or so is a parallel astonishment to the previous astonishment so his he's astonishing in his humiliation and thus he's astonishing to many nations in his exaltation is parallel in effect and Yassa the verb can mean to spurt to spurt or to sprinkle it can literally mean to leap up with emotion Kyle dalish to spring up and by the way whole nations can't be cleansed but whole nations can and will be amazed Matthew 24 and 25 revelation the whole world is going to be amazed at his coming they're going to be electrified Psalm 2 right when he takes this rod of iron against the nation's the world is going to be stunned when he appears in his glory Kings will shut their mouths on account of him this is the involuntary effect of amazement extreme amazement when rulers who are known because they never stopped talking that's how they very often gain their power are all of a sudden speechless and they're going to see things they've never seen and hear things they never imagined so is our Lord's inhuman disfigurement astonishes those in the first century of Israel who saw him his exaltation will generate a far wider astonishment as the whole world from the Kings all the way down through the ranks will be amazed and stunned at the exalted Christ when he comes in glory there's the career of Jesus in three phases given by the mouth of God an astonishing revelation of God in human flesh rejected and disfigured and then finally exalted there's an implication there between the disfiguring and the exaltation something happened the distortion was so bad that they actually killed him how does one go from being a corpse with barely the appearance of a human being to being the exalted monarch there has to be a resurrection Psalm 16 he will not allow his Holy One to what to see corruption that will show him the path of life and by the way Paul the Apostle quotes verse 15 in Romans 1521 connecting it to Jesus Christ when the hour of salvation finally comes to Israel and they look back they're going to look back on the one they disfigured the one they pierced and they're going to mourn what are they going to say let me just have you look at the first couple of verses here in 53 let's call this the scorned servant we talked about the startling servant let's call this the scorned servant this is where repentance always begins it always begins with looking back and having a true view of the Cross during the Ministry of Jesus the evidence of his deity was incontrovertible irrefutable but they didn't believe they don't believe now they refuse to believe now but some day this is what they're going to say who has believed the message given to us the Hebrew here refers not to the message we gave though it was Jews who gave the message wasn't it Moses on it was Jews prophets apostles John the Baptist Jesus gospel and New Testament writers but the language here refers to the message we heard and they're going to say who believed it passive participle literally that which was heard by us we didn't believe it listen virtually every Jew since Jesus came has consciously rejected him they all know the story they don't believe they don't know Isaiah but they know they don't believe in Jesus that has been passed down who believed testimony of prophets testimony of angels testimony of God this is my beloved son listen to him testimony of Jesus himself the apostles who believed very few very few and they're going to say and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed who understood that we were seeing the arm of the Lord what is that that's an old testament expression referring to the forearm Isaiah 51 9 52 10 which speaks of divine power we didn't see it that that he was the power of God Messiah the servant of Jehovah was the arm of Jehovah and he demonstrated it in his power over demons power over disease power over death power over nature we didn't believe it you came into his own his own received him not I didn't believe catastrophic unbelief still is just catastrophic in the twelfth chapter of John Jesus said in verse 32 if I'm lifted up from the earth I'll draw him into myself he was saying this indicating the kind of death by which he was to die in the crowds that we've heard out of the law that the Christ is to remain forever and how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up who is this son of man we don't anything about a messiah who's gonna die but though he performed so many signs before them yet they were not believing in him he was the arm of the Lord he was the right arm of God unburied who believes that they say it's such a beautiful open confession isn't it it's going to happen someday may mazing truths of Isaiah 53 no place in Jewish thinking no place there like the people to whom Ezekiel spoke when he said as for them whether they listener not their rebellious if you tell them something their rebellious if you don't tell them their rebellious remember Matthew 11 where Jesus say we tried it every way we played a flute and we're going to have a happy party and then we played a funeral dirge and you didn't want to play happy and you didn't want to play sad you just didn't want to play in Luke 16 it remember the the rich man says you know send somebody send Lazarus back tell my brothers and jesus's look if they don't believe moses and the prophets they're not going to believe though somebody rose from the dead they don't believe this is the epic moment in the future when israel admits we didn't believe it we didn't believe it in the words of the apostle paul the whole thing was foolishness a stumbling block and they give you three reasons here in that day this is what they'll say he had a contemptible origin why should we believe him he grew up before before him before God like a tender shoot like a root out of parched ground he this looks at the beginning of his life meaning in full view of God he grew up God saw everything about him but from our perspective he was a sucker branch that's what that means in Hebrew what are you with a sucker branch well you can cut it off or just ignore it unnecessary unimpressive irrelevant small insignificant random it's the Hebrew word eunuch sucker branches pop up without cultivation they're not planted they're not cared for we a saw him as a sucker branch an absolute nobody he was like a root out of parched ground like a root sticking out of parched soil irrelevant insignificant he was from an insignificant family he was from an insignificant town he had an insignificant mother and father he was born in a stable he was attended by shepherds he ran off to Egypt he lived in that dump called Nazareth no social status no royal birth no formal education come on 30 years of carpenter no connections didn't know anybody important he wasn't planted he wasn't cultivated he wasn't watered he wasn't tended he wasn't cared for it's like a sucker branch he's like a root sticking out of parched ground indifferent unwanted unneccesary life unimpressive no value dry dead ugly root miserable beginning can anything good come out of Nazareth he gained nothing of esteem from his family origin he gained nothing from his social station none of his followers were brilliant educated mighty powerful influential none of them they're a ragtag bunch of fishermen nobodies nothing and no one came from the system to elevate him nothing that's how we saw him mark 6 - they said where did this man get these things what is this wisdom given to him such miracles as these performed by his hands it's not this the carpenter the son of Mary and brother of James and Joseph sand Judas and Simon and are not his sister's here with us and they took offense at him he's a nobody it was those contemptible origins and then it was his contemptible appearance also in verse 2 he has no stately form or majesty no nothing royal about him nothing regal about him in fact when Pilate put over his head on the cross King of the Jews it was a joke because there was nothing about him that appeared regal or royal though he displayed divine power and wisdom and truth and grace and holiness he wasn't like Saul in their minds he didn't have any majestic bearing he didn't carry himself like a king where was his entourage hah look at him 7 out of the 12 might have been fishermen now I was a contemptible contemptible life of a contemptible man and then look how the whole deal ended his origin was contemptible his appearance was contemptible and his end was contemptible verse 3 look how it ended he was despised and forsaken the whole nation forsook him he was a man of sorrows he was acquainted with grief he was the kind of person you hide your face from because it's embarrassing to look at him so you see they looked at his death and they didn't see a savior because he didn't need a savior so instead of seeing Jesus suffering and death as the culmination of God's mercy in the provision of a sacrifice this was the final proof that he was anything but the Messiah the whole nation rejected him he was despised strong term used twice same term that Esau speaking of Esau who despised his birthright he was treated by the populace with disdain that goes on today still Yeshua Yeshua we love that name the Jews have changed that in their literature to Yeshua Yeshua is an acrostic meaning let his name be blotted out he is called the transgressor historically by the Jews he is called Tolui the Hanged one curses everyone who's hanged on a tree he is also called Ben stata ben pandera that's a very popular Jewish designation for Jesus blasphemies this is what the Talmud says the real story of Jesus is the story of Yeshu let his name be blotted out ben pandera and miriam been stood ah his mother the hairdresser who's adulterous affair with joseph ben pandera a roman mercenary produced Yeshu who learned magical arts in egypt and lead men astray that's the Talmud that's on record rabbis called his gospel Avon gila Java the sinful writing the scorn caused him to be forsaken by men strong descriptive by the way the word for men here is not been a Adam which is the generic word for men but Ben ish which means leaders rulers authorities so he's rejected by the authorities and that was that was enough clue for the people to reject it literally it means persons of rank John 748 says none of the rulers and Pharisees believed in him none you only have one Pharisee converted in the in the Bible in the Gospels shows up at the end and then the Apostle Paul none of the power elite were close to him none of them supported him none of them believed in him nobody of rank was impressed with him Dale it says the chief men of his nation who towered above the multitudes the great men of this world drew back from him he had none of the men of distinction on his side it's still true today among the Jews and most mostly among the Gentiles in fact what did the Jews conclude that his works were done by the power of whom Satan his followers were persecuted and some were martyred Christians were called apostates worse than heathen and the Jews came up with a prayer goes like this a daily prayer may all Christians be suddenly destroyed without hope and blotted out of the book of life that's a daily prayer such was the rejection and such was the scorn he was a man of sorrows follow along there in verse 3 literally pains sorrow of heart in all forms in Hebrew he suffered and suffered and suffered and suffered his career ended in painful agonizing rejection and physical suffering he was acquainted with grief the Hebrew his grief of soul deep sadness and if you look at the account of Jesus where does he laugh in the New Testament nowhere never never says he laughed or smiled says he wept the Jews are repulsed by the end of his life he's a suffering sad grieving nobody their final verdict is we will not have this man to reign over us and the fact that his suffering in death that finally was at the hands of the Romans makes him totally objectionable as a candidate for being Messiah he is so despicable that he's like one from whom men hide their face so hideous so repulsive didn't want to look at him like you would turn your head from somebody who's grossly disfigured because you wouldn't want to see them you wouldn't want them to see you even looking at them and so they sum it up at the end of verse three we didn't esteem him he was despised it's a very benign English phrase we didn't esteem him in Hebrew it says he was absolutely nothing to us he was non-existent that's what that means the ultimate scorn he was nobody nobody so in that day in the future when they look on him whom they've pierced this is what they will say we didn't believe we didn't know it was the revelation of the arm of the Lord we looked at his origin we looked at his appearance we looked at his end and he was nothing this is the Jewish confession of their hatred and scorn and rejection of Messiah but throughout all of history since that Jew and Gentile have come to this same confession you came there didn't you every Jew who's ever been saved made this confession the good news is one day the nation will make it and this is what they will say this is where their brokenhearted confession will begin and they begin with their own wretchedness and then they read his death they thought will see this tomorrow he was smitten by God for his own sins but they will come to realize what you and I realize that he was smitten by God for our sins more tomorrow pray with me father we thank you for the richness the profound magnificence of this portion of Holy Scripture we we want we don't want to let it go I don't want to let it go but there's more to come how it strengthens our confidence in Holy Scripture that all this is known 700 years before it ever happened Lord we love your word but we love you supremely the one revealed in it we love the Lord Jesus Christ we want to love him with all our heart soul mind and strength and we move in that direction as we see his glory revealed and we've seen that and shall continue to see it in this chapter may the end be a greater love for him who loved us and gave himself for us amen

Channel: The OneDollarApologist

Views: 111,056

Rating: 4.7236695 out of 5

Keywords: John, MacArthur, Bible, Expositor, Exposition, Debate, Defense, Scripture, Gospel, Christian, Christianity, Jesus, God, Grace, Faith, Heaven, Hell

Id: aeY-M97J46I

Length: 77min 55sec (4675 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 02 2012