We will read, this evening, the fifty-third chapter of «the Gospel according to Isaiah,» as we may very properly call it.
Isaiah 53:1. Who hath believed our report?
All the prophets reported that which had been revealed to them concerning Christ, they testified what they knew with regard to Jesus of Nazareth, the suffering Saviour; yet how few, comparatively, of the Jewish people, how few, indeed, of any people, compared with the great mass of mankind, accepted their testimony, and believed their report? No blessing can come through that report if it be not believed, and this is the sorrow of the Lord's servants in every age, that so many refuse to believe it. «Who hath believed our report?»
Isaiah 53:1. And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
For God's power both produces and accompanies faith. No man believes in Christ except as the arm of the Lord is revealed, or made bare, so as to work faith in him. This is the great grief of God's ministers today, that so often we have to go back to our homes, and cry, «Who hath believed our report?» It is not a doubtful report, it is not an incredible message, it is not a matter of indifference to our hearers; but it is an all-important declaration the accuracy of which is guaranteed by the God of truth, yet who hath believed it? Oh, that the arm of the Lord were made bare in the hearts of multitudes of men! What was the reason of this unbelief in the case of the Jews to whom the prophet spoke, and of those to whom the Messiah afterwards came? It was the lowly estate of Christ that caused them to stumble, and they asked, in contempt, «Is not this the carpenter's son?» They looked for external pomp and martial prowess, so they could not perceive the internal beauty and majestic holiness of the Lord Jesus.
Isaiah 53:2. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Christ hath both form and comeliness to the spiritual eye; but, to the carnal, he seems only like ordinary men, except that his visage is more marred than that of other men, and his form than that of any of the sons of men. «He hath no form nor comeliness.» The ungodly look for something that can excite their admiration, or create mirth for them; and they see nothing of this in the Christ of God. But little can we blame them, for, not very long ago, many of us were ourselves just as blind as they now are. Do you not feel, beloved, that you can smite upon your breasts with deepest regret for the length of time in which you were blind to the beauties of your Redeemer? Alas! that the prophet's words were ever true of us, «When we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.»
Isaiah 53:3. 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.
It was not only Christ's humiliation, but his sorrow, which became a stumbling-block in the way of the unbelieving Jews. How could they, who were looking for an earthly deliverer to come in regal splendor, believe in a weeping Messiah? How could they delight in him from whom men hid their faces, when they were expecting a mighty leader before whom, all would submit themselves? Ah, friends, there was a time when we did not esteem the Lord, when we despised him! We also cared not for the Man of sorrows; though all his sorrows were borne on our account, we passed him by with utter indifference. O wretched heart! Well might I wish to tear thee from my bosom as I think that ever thou shouldst have been callous to thy Lord, the Well-beloved! It was a death indeed which thou didst call life, when thou didst live without thy Lord: «We hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.»
Isaiah 53:4. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:
What a discovery this truth seems to be! How it bursts upon the prophet and his hearers and amazes them! «Surely,» they say, «can it be really so that ‘ he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows'?» Yes, it is indeed so; there is no accounting for the sufferings of the perfect Christ except by this explanation, that he was bearing our griefs, and carrying the sorrows that we ought to have carried for our own sin.
Isaiah 53:4-5. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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.
If this does not teach the doctrine of a vicarious atonement, what does it teach? If Christ's sufferings were not endured in our room, and place, and stead, what do these words mean?
Isaiah 53:6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
All sinning, but each one sinning in his own particular fashion. It is well to acknowledge the common guilt of all men, but it is the token of true repentance that it dwells mainly on its own special offense. Brethren, we have no occasion to find fault with one another, for «all we like sheep have gone astray.» But we have great reason for each man to find special fault with himself, for «we have turned every one to his own way.»
Isaiah 53:6. And the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
What a mercy it is that every sort of sin the sin of the mass, and the sin of the particular sinner, has been laid by Jehovah himself upon his Only-begotten Son! «Jehovah hath made to meet on him the iniquity of us all.» Mark you, not merely «the chastisement» of which the previous verse spoke, but «the iniquity» itself; and albeit there are some who say that this cannot be, and that iniquity cannot be shifted from one person to another, it has been done, and there is an end of it.
Isaiah 53:7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth:
The sin laid upon him was none of his, and he might have repudiated it; but he did not; and even when the bitter result of sin came to him, and «He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.»
Isaiah 53:7. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
O friends, what infinite patience is here, patience which endured woes unknown to us, for our Lord's griefs and agonies were deeper than we shall ever be able to fathom! Yet to the end he bore all without a struggle. I went to see a friend, the other day, who has had a great number of sore afflictions, yet I found her singularly cheerful and content; and when I was speaking with her about the matter, she said, «I have for years enjoyed perfect submission to the divine will, and it was through what I heard you say.» So I asked her, «What did I say?» She replied, «Why, you told us that you had seen a sheep that was in the hands of the shearers, and that, although all the wool was clipped off its back, the shears never cut into its flesh; and you said that the reason was because the sheep was lying perfectly still. You said, ‘Lie still, and the shears will not cut you; but if you kick and struggle, you will not only be shorn, for God has resolved to do that, but you will be wounded into the bargain.'» O beloved, it is a blessed thing to lie still under the shears, so still as not even to bleat! «As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.» May the perfect example of the Lamb of God teach us a holy submissiveness to the will of God!
Isaiah 53:8. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation?
Are there none to speak up for Christ, none to bear testimony to the purity of his life and the sinlessness of his character?
Isaiah 53:8. For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Oh, dwell on that great truth! The doctrine of Christ's substitution for his people is the brightest star in the galaxy of Revelation. No more cheering light ever falls upon a tearful eye than this, «for the transgression of my people was he stricken.»
Isaiah 53:9. 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.
He died, and was buried, because he had done no violence. Most men who have perished by judicial sentence have had to die because they have done violence, and because deceit was in their mouth; but here is One who is found guilty of nothing but excess of love, loving sinners so much that he must give his life sooner than that they should perish.
Isaiah 53:10. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt 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.
Death, in our Lord's case, was the way to the extension of life. He dies that he may see his seed, as he himself said to his disciples, «Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.» For Christ, the path to prosperity was by way of adversity. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand because it pleased the Father to bruise him. And, oftentimes, it shall be with the servant as it was with the Master; it shall please the Lord to bruise you, and put you to grief, that in after days the pleasure of the Lord may prosper in your hand.
Isaiah 53:11. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:
This is a clear proof that he shall live, and he shall triumph. All his griefs shall come to an end; and even the death-pangs of his soul shall be the travail by which multitudes shall be born unto him, so that his infinite heart shall be satisfied.
Isaiah 53:11. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
By their knowledge of him, by their so knowing him as to trust him, they shall find justification; and «many» shall find it.
Isaiah 53:11. For he shall bear their iniquities.
We are told that the doctrine of substitution is a theory by which we explain the fact of Christ's death, but that it is only a theory. It is not so, for it is of the very essence of the fact. It is by no means our explanation, it is God's own declaration: «He shall bear their iniquities.»
Isaiah 53:12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
That is his Father's gift.
Isaiah 53:12. And he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
That is the result of his own conquest.
Isaiah 53:12. Because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
For ever blessed be his dear name! Amen.