The Gospel of Isaiah 09-01-2024
Text: Isaiah 10
Jesus is the One who unifies all sixty-six books of the Bible. After his resurrection, Luke writes in 24:27: "And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Peter tells us in the book of Acts that all the prophets witness to Jesus and so do all the patriarchs and apostles, as well. Isaiah, the prince of the prophets, preached the Gospel of Jesus and Isaiah 53 is a pinnacle gospel proclamation of Scripture. It's known as a messianic prophecy because it points to Jesus. Even though it was written 750 years before Christ, it's as if Isaiah himself is standing at the foot of the cross. Our text is Isaiah chapter 53 that says: "(1) Who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? (2 )For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. (3) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. (4) Surely, He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. (5) But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (7) He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opens not His mouth. (8) He was taken from prison and from judgment and all who shall declare His generation, for He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of My people was He stricken. (9) And He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. (10)Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief; when You shall make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His Hand."
In verses 1-3 we learn of the incarnation, meaning that God will become a man. Isaiah described Jesus as a Messiah who would come as a tender root in a dry ground. Typically, nothing grows in dry ground. But this is metaphor explaining how God will conceive His only begotten Son through a virgin. Isaiah is showing us the humility of our Lord's birth and of His life because we're told that He had no form or majesty, splendor or stature about Him personally that would have made anyone think of Him as someone special. In fact, He was despised and rejected. The problem back then was Jesus and today the problem still is Jesus. We can talk about religion, spirituality, and church all we want; but when we start talking about the message of the Jesus and the cross, we can see that problems develop with friends and family. Jesus is still despised and rejected for who He claimed to be.
People want to know what Jesus looked like. Maybe from Sunday School as a child we remember pictures of Jesus or perhaps our Bibles have pictures of Him. There are many medieval paintings of Him. But in truth, He was a carpenter by trade and as such, He likely had rough hands that were extraordinarily strong. There were no physical characteristics about Him that would appear to entice people to follow Him back then or even by today's standards. The appeal of Jesus back then as it is today, was His character and His compassion. The Jewish people didn't recognize Him as the Messiah because they were expecting a religious zealot, someone who would overthrow the tyranny of their Roman oppressors. But Jesus didn't come as a sovereign deliverer, He came as a spiritual deliverer and healer. He came as the Savior to die as the suffering Servant. He was a man of sorrows. He wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, and Luke 13:34 tells us that Jesus cried over the people's rejection of Him when he said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, and stones them who are sent unto you; how often I have gathered your children together, as a hen does gather her brood under her wings, and you would not!"
The primary theme of our text is the crucifixion. The problem of our sin and a holy God who loves us is now resolved in the person of Christ. This is the plan of God revealed through Isaiah. Verse 5 tells us He was crushed for our iniquities. Jesus took all our sin on His back at the cross. It was a bloody, violent mess. Many never even survived the beating, much less the crucifixion. But with Jesus, bleeding and dying for you and for me on the cross, Isaiah tells us that it was the will of God to crush Him. The disease of sin is now cured; God is satisfied with this sacrifice. He stood in our sin so that we can now stand in His salvation and righteousness. We are justified, meaning that our standing before a holy God is counted as righteousness before Him. That, my friends, is the Gospel of Isaiah!
Finally, in verses 8-10 Isaiah saw the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus. He is risen! He is our Redeemer because only He can save us. He's our Healer because only God heals. He's our Sustainer because when we pray in His name we're strengthened. We call upon His name because He intercedes for the transgressor. He's the link between a holy God and sinful man. He has taken way the sting of sin and death.
We can laugh at death because Jesus holds the keys to life, and His nail-scarred hands opened the doors of grace and the gates of glory for all who choose to accept Him! Peter said in I Peter 2:24 that He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness . By His wounds we have been healed. Our response to the Gospel of Isaiah is to receive and believe it by faith, to worship Jesus for the rest of our days on earth, and to contemplate and live a cross-centered life. The question for us this morning is the one Isaiah asked in verse 1: Who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Can you answer saying "I believe the Lord's report and I believe in Jesus?"
As we celebrate the communion service this morning, we should look to see how we truly are able to answer this question and then search our hearts to see what changes need to be made so that we can openly and honestly show the world that Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
Until we meet again, may God bless and keep you, may He shine His light on you, show you grace, and give you peace in all the days ahead.