#1027 Isaiah 53 Part 11 Speechless

 

Who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been 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 or comeliness;

And when we see Him,

There is no beauty that we should desire Him.

3 He is despised and rejected by men,

A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;

He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

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.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,

And who will declare His generation?

For He was cut off from the land of the living;

For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

9 And they made His grave with the wicked—

But with the rich at His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;

He has put Him to grief.

When You 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.

11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.

By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,

For He shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,

And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,

Because He poured out His soul unto death,

And He was numbered with the transgressors,

And He bore the sin of many,

And made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53 NKJV

Isaiah 53: 7

…62So the high priest stood up and asked Him, “Have You no answer? What are these men testifying against You?” 63But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to Him, “I charge You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God. 64“You have said it yourself,” Jesus answered. “But I say to all of you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”… Matthew 26: 62-64

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth - This generation may not be able to relate to oppression, since we think that's when a police officer gives you a speeding ticket when you were speeding, or a teacher fails you on a paper that you didn't turn in, or your boss expects you to show up to work on time, and then has the audacity to make you work for your pay at a place called work. His brothers weren't receptive of Him, the town He grew up in chased Him out. People wanted to stone Him, people called Him possessed, a devil, and there were so many times, but overall, what we can't begin to contemplate, was the oppression of being here. Remember, "He, Who knew no sin, became sin for us." Every person on this planet lives in offense to His deity, to God, and He walked with them, healed many of them of their temporal diseases in their temporal bodies, and yet He wept over their unbelief. Surely His trial was oppressive, yes, being mocked, spit on, beaten, and slapped by wicked men, my ego can't take the least insult, but I can't claim unfair in the way that He could. Imagine, stepping from eternity, peace, and authority, humbling yourself to be born a man, knowing that when you entered into this slice of time and space, from the cradle to your Palm Sunday, riding on a donkey, all of this is in the shadow of the cross. All of this is for men and women who will ask, "why, I don't get it, did I ask You to do that for me?" 

…12And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He gave no answer. 13Then Pilate asked Him, “ Do You not hear how many charges they are bringing against You? 14But Jesus gave no answer, not even to a single charge, much to the governor’s amazement.… Matthew 27: 12-14

He was oppressed. He was afflicted. He did not open His mouth. It is past-tense perspective because all that is said here about the death of Jesus Christ is said not looking forward from Isaiah’s viewpoint but looking backward from the future conversion of Israel when they look on the One whom they have pierced, as Zechariah 12:10-14+ says, and mourn for Him as an only Son. It is the perspective of the future redeemed nation of Israel, yet to happen in human history when they look back and realize that He was oppressed and afflicted, He was led as a lamb to slaughter, He was silent, and He did it all for their transgressions, as Isaiah 53:8 puts it. So you have a most marvelous perspective in this chapter. While it is a prophecy of the Cross, it is only secondly a prophecy of the Cross. Primarily it is a prophecy of the future conversion of Israel, and this is what they will say when they make a true confession and repent of their rejection of Jesus Christ and affirm their faith in Him as their Savior and Redeemer. This is what they will say. These words in Isaiah 53 are their confession. So it is an amazing prophecy that looks beyond the cross and then back to the cross (SEE DIAGRAM), describing not only the future confession of Israel, the future salvation of Israel and the very words they will say, but secondarily, giving us details about the Cross which they will confess and which for all of us who are believers we have already come to confess. That which Israel will one day affirm as a true perspective on Christ, we who are believers in this generation, both Jew and Gentile, have already affirmed. We are saved because we believe He was pierced for our transgressions, Isa 53:5. We are saved because we believe He was crushed for our iniquities, that the punishment that came on Him was for our well-being and that by His scourging, we are healed. We are saved because in Isa 53:6 we believe the Lord caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. We are saved because of Isa 53:8. We believe He was cut off for our transgressions. We believe, verse 10, that the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief so that He would become a guilt offering for our sins. We believe, in Isa 53:11, that He justified many by bearing their iniquities. At the end of Isa 53:12, we believe that He bore the sins of many and interceded for the transgressors.To become a Christian, one must believe in the vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on our behalf on the cross. But some day the whole nation of Israel will believe. - J Mac

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter - I watch a lot of documentaries, animal and travel shows, and it always amazes me to watch the ability of cattlemen and shepherds. On multiple shows they have had what they call a Judas goat, and he is trained by these shepherds to lead a herd of sheep to the slaughter or to be sheared. Now this goat gets to live, nothing bad ever happens to him, but the sheep don't know that, and they follow thinking it must be ok since he is eagerly heading that way. They don't protest, and for older sheep, that have followed him before to be sheared, well that actually felt good. Imagine having your whole body covered in long, matted tangles of muddy, bug ridden hair, and then someone cuts it all off, what a load off, a relief. They don't protest because they don't know what's coming.

…22“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.” 23 When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. 24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”… 1 Peter 2: 22-24

So He opened not His mouth - He had a Judas, but that's not why He was here. Judas went off an hung himself, and Christ knew him to be a traitor. Jesus came to do the will of His Father, and He went to the cross without screaming unfair, this was a kangaroo court after all, a violation of the law, but He didn't ask for another trial, nor did He request a mediator. He was the mediator, the One Job asked for, the One God promised in Genesis. He didn't, after looking at this blood thirsty mob, seeing not one worthy soul, call down angels to put a stop to this. If He did, then all of human history would have ended right there, God would have allowed sin to have gone on for too long, and every promise ever made to redeem sinful men, would be forfeit. The integrity of God's word, which He has put up with His name, the righteousness of God, the sovereignty of God, all of it hangs on this moment in history. In order for God to be Holy, Holy, Holy, then everything related to Adam's race should have come to an end at the fall, or God would have to provide a lamb, and a way of escape. He would have to be God to satisfy God in His infinite attributes, and He would have to be man because men created the breach by sin. Men would build towers like Babel, religious systems based upon human effort and self righteousness, but God builds a bridge between heaven and earth. 

…6I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle. 7Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.8The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me!… Isaiah 50: 6-8

28All this happened at Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is He of whom I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’… John 1: 28-30