The Successful Servant
Isaiah 52:13-15
July 14, 2024
This morning we begin our look at the 4th and final
SUFFERING SERVANT passage of Isaiah.
We’ve already seen the first 3:
Isaiah 42:1-9 where we learned that “a bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish.”
Isaiah 39:1-13 where we learned that “it is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations.”
Isaiah 50:4-11 where we learned that “I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.”
We’ve looked at those.
But this morning we come to the most famous.
It is Isaiah 53 (which really begins in 52:13).
This chapter is really the pinnacle of the Old Testament.
There are 8 direct quotations of this segment in the New Testament
And some have said that it is alluded to somewhere around 85 times.
All of those references you see in the New Testament about
• Christ bearing our sin
• Or how He was silent when on trial
• Or how we are like sheep
• Or how Christ was numbered with the transgressors.
All of those phrases have their foundation and their root here in Isaiah 53.
You cannot overstate the profound impact of this chapter
On the apostles as they clarified the gospel
And penned the New Testament.
Those men were eye-witnesses
Of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus,
But they never would have understood its significance
Were it not for the 53rd chapter of Isaiah.
We read in Luke’s gospel:
Luke 24:45 “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,”
And of all the Old Testament passages they understood for the first time,
It would seem that none captivated their interest as much as Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53 answers so many questions that the crucifixion created:
• Why was Christ rejected?
• If He was righteous, why did God crush Him?
• Who did He die for?
• Why didn’t Jesus defend Himself? (Pilate really wanted to know this)
• Why was He dishonored in death, but honored in burial?
• What was the reward for such a sacrifice?
All of those were things the apostles could not have understood
Simply by watching the crucifixion.
But when Christ opened their mind to understand Isaiah 53,
It all made sense and they took their message to the world.
This is such an important chapter.
FROM ISAIAH’S VANTAGE POINT
This is THE CLIMAX of the explanation as to why Israel was sent away.
This segment explains WHY they rejected Christ
And in rejecting Christ WHAT they actually lost.
• Israel did not esteem God’s Holy Arm.
• They rejected God’s righteous Servant.
• And in rejecting Christ they missed out on the salvation He purchased there.
AND TO THIS DAY ISRAEL FAILS TO SEE IT.
IN ISRAEL TODAY
You see the same confusion that even the disciples would have had
Before Christ opened their eyes.
Surely the disciples had read Isaiah 53, but it is obvious
They did not understand that it was about Christ.
In Matthew 16 when Jesus proclaims His own death,
• Peter actually pulls Him aside and says, “God forbid it Lord! This shall
never happen to You.”
When the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8 was found by Philip he was reading Isaiah 53 and he did not understand it.
Acts 8:30-31 “Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”
And after reading Isaiah 53, the Eunuch answered;
Acts 8:34 “The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?”
Apart from the illumination of the Spirit of God
These men could not understand this wonderful chapter.
• But once Christ sent the Holy Spirit,
• Once Christ opened the eyes of those who believe,
• It became apparent who this chapter was about
• And for the first time we understood the cross.
This actually explains the blindness of Israel down to this very day.
They rejected Christ, therefore they do not have the Holy Spirit,
And therefore they do not understand Isaiah 53 or the cross.
2 Corinthians 3:14-15 “But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;”
In fact, if you go on Google and look up a Jewish explanation of Isaiah 53 here is what you will find.
• They will tell you that the suffering servant is Israel.
• They will tell you that the speaker in Isaiah 53 is a Gentile who has finally
recognized how badly they treated Israel.
Where we read that Christ was “wounded for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities”,
They translate it differently
And read it as though Gentiles are lamenting about Israel
• And saying that Israel was “wounded FROM our transgressions”
• And that Israel was “crushed FROM our iniquities”
In other words they interpret Isaiah 53 to be about
How they suffered because of the sin of the Gentiles.
They say that it is Israel who righteously bore the sin of the world
And yet remained faithful to God who will reward them for it.
It is a ridiculously arrogant and ignorant exposition,
But it makes the point.
Apart from a God-given explanation of Isaiah 53
You can’t understand the significance of the cross.
We need this chapter and we need God’s Holy Spirit to explain it to us.
1 Corinthians 2:11-13 “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”
And that is what we will lean on over the next few weeks.
• We will lean on the Holy Spirit to open our minds to understand the Scriptures
• So that we also may rightly understand the eternal and glorious significance of the cross of Jesus Christ.
This passage is broken down into 5 segments, each containing 3 verses.
The passage begins the same way it ends,
With the exaltation of the Christ.
Isaiah 52:13 says, “Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.”
Isaiah 53:12 says, “Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong;”
THIS MORNING we are going to look at that first segment
Which I have called, “The Successful Servant”
It reveals to us God’s decree of the success of Christ.
AND WE SEE HOW SHOCKING IT IS.
In fact, when you look at these 3 verses you see several statements that indicate shock or amazement.
• The very first word of verse 13 is, “Behold”
• Even down in verse 14 we read that “many were astonished at you”
• In verse 15 we see that “Kings will shut their mouths”
• Even the word “sprinkle” in verse 15 can actually be translated “startle”
It is a passage that addresses
The dumbfounded and stupefied amazement of humanity
As they behold the death and glorification of Messiah.
And to that we’ll just say at the outset that
THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS WAS MEANT TO ASTONISH YOU.
The reality of what occurred there is meant to shock you and amaze you
And to close your mouth in awestruck wonder.
So, let’s begin this morning.
Let’s look at this Successful Servant
#1 THE SERVANT’S PROMISED EXALTATION
Isaiah 52:13
The verse we read here, even from a Jewish perspective
Honestly DOES NOT contain anything all that surprising or astonishing.
It is simply the promise of God that His servant “will prosper,”
• It is simply a promise from God that the Messiah will be successful and victorious in all that He sets out to accomplish.
He says, “He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.”
There is actually a progression going on there.
• “high” is a word that means “raised up”
• “lifted up” is a word that means “to be carried”
• “greatly exalted” means just that.
If you want sort of an imagery or an analogy to follow,
• Think of Mordecai in the book of Esther.
• Haman had conspired to have Mordecai hanged,
• But the king learned that Mordecai saved his life.
Esther 6:6-10 “So Haman came in and the king said to him, “What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?” Then Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king desires to honor, let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed; and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble princes and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.’ ” Then the king said to Haman, “Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said.”
Mordecai there is a picture of one who is
“high and lifted up and greatly exalted.”
There is nothing radical about God saying that He will exalt His servant.
Psalms 2:6-8 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.”
Psalms 89:19-29 “Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. “I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him, With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him. “The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. “But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him. “My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted. “I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers. “He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. “My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him. “So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven.”
Isaiah has been very clear about the exaltation of the coming Messiah.
Isaiah 9:7 “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”
Isaiah 11:1-5 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.”
Isaiah 42:1-4 “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. “He will not cry out or raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street. “A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. “He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
AND CERTAINLY YOU GET THE POINT.
God has said for years that His Servant would be “greatly exalted”.
In verse 13 God merely reiterates that.
That is NOT the shocking part.
The shocking part comes in verse 14 when we find out
Some detail regarding who this exalted Servant is.
#2 THE SERVANT’S PECULIAR EXALTATION
Isaiah 52:14
I’ll help you out here a little.
You notice those words “My people” are italicized
• Which means they are not in the Hebrew,
• But rather added by a translator who sought to give his understanding of what is being said.
• But it will be helpful to you if you just mark those words out.
Because the astonishment that is being spoken of here
Is NOT how the world was astonished at Israel.
The astonishment being spoken of is that
God would promise to exalt One who was so clearly rejected.
THE POINT BEING MADE HERE IS THAT
It is shocking that God would say that His servant “will prosper”
And “be high and lifted up and greatly exalted”
Because this same Servant’s “appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.”
THAT IS TO SAY, we expected that God would exalt One to be His Messiah, but we certainly did not expect it to be Him!
You see pictures of this in Scripture too.
• Think of the selection of David.
• He was the youngest of his brothers and the least obvious.
1 Samuel 16:11 “And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the children?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.”
Or we think about God’s selection of Joseph.
Genesis 37:9-10 “Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?”
And certainly, even in His earthly ministry,
WE SAW THIS TREATMENT OF JESUS.
John 6:42 “They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”
John 7:3-5 “Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. “For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For not even His brothers were believing in Him.”
When Jesus confessed before the Sanhedrin that they would see Him
“sitting at the right hand of power” (Matthew 26:64)
They immediately tore their robes and accused Him of blasphemy.
• It wasn’t that they didn’t expect a Messiah who would come from heaven.
• It wasn’t that they didn’t expect a Messiah who would do miraculous works.
• It wasn’t that they didn’t expect a Messiah who would be seated in power.
They expected all of those things.
They just didn’t expect that it would be Jesus.
And that was true just from His humble appearance.
Isaiah 53:2 “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.”
It also didn’t help that He was from Nazareth,
Since “nothing good comes from Nazareth”.
It didn’t help that He ministered in Galilee,
Since “no prophet arises out of Galilee” they said. (John 7:52)
It wasn’t surprising that God would promise the exaltation of His Servant,
The surprising thing is that Jesus would be that Servant.
BUT HERE, Isaiah doesn’t even mention any of those obstacles.
Isaiah mentions the one that really caused people to doubt
That Jesus was God’s Messiah more than any other.
Isaiah mentions the one event that sealed the deal for every skeptic
That there is no way that Jesus could be God’s exalted one.
THAT EVENT WAS THE CRUCIFIXION.
In verse 14 we have one of the most descriptive statements regarding the horror of the crucifixion mentioned anywhere in Scripture.
“His appearance” would be His face
Which Isaiah says “was marred more than any man”
“His form” would be His body
Which Isaiah says was marred “more than the sons of men.”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
It means that the beating He took
At the hand of God and at the hands of men
Totally disfigured Him to the point that He no longer looked human.
I don’t know what your visual image is of Christ on the cross.
• I know you’ve seen a lot of pictures and paintings.
• I know you’ve probably watched movies, even like “The Passion of the Christ”
But what Isaiah says is that none of those visual images you’ve seen,
Not even that movie actually went far enough
In depicting the suffering of Christ on the cross.
“His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.”
• He lost human recognition.
• He lost human likeness.
• He was beaten beyond comprehension.
Psalms 22:14-17 “I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me;”
• We know they beat Him with their fists.
• We know they hit Him in the head with reeds.
• We know they pulled out pieces of His beard.
• We know they pushed a crown of thorns down on His head.
• We know Pilate had Him flogged.
Certainly a Roman crucifixion was a terrible thing.
• It was designed to inflict maximum pain for a maximum time period.
• After flogging, they nailed you to the cross, dropped it in a hole and it pulled your shoulders out of socket so that you died of suffocation.
• You literally had to pull against the nails to get a breath.
• And so they pit your fight for life against the agony of extreme pain.
• Some people lived for days on the cross.
But even that was not the real issue of Christ’s affliction.
For at noon the sky went dark
And for 3 hours Jesus endured the wrath of God.
We’ve talked before about it, but darkness was one of the chief characteristics of “The Day of the LORD” in the Old Testament.
• Over and over that day is described as “a day of darkness and deep
darkness”.
For 3 hours on the cross God was pouring out His wrath on Christ.
That is why Christ, from the cross, cried out:
Matthew 27:46 “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”
Christ was expressing that the darkness and punishment of the cross
WAS COMING FROM GOD AND IT WAS LANDING ON HIM.
On the cross Jesus bore all the wrath
For all the sin of all the elect for all time.
We could not expunge one sin, even by suffering for all eternity in hell.
Jesus bore all our sin, and all believers sin,
And the eternal punishment for all that sin,
All in a manner of a few hours.
And the effect it had on Him was that “His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.”
If a person went to hell, spent a week there, and then was granted by God to return to earth, what would you expect them to look like?
And that is just bearing their sin for one week.
Christ bore it all for all who believe in a matter of a few hours.
• He was totally disfigured.
• He was totally marred.
• He no longer looked human.
God crushed Him on the cross.
He drank the full cup of the wrath of God.
Do you remember what the Centurian said when the light finally came back on the cross?
Matthew 27:54 “Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
How many crucifixions had that man seen and even participated in?
• He had seen many a man dying on the cross.
• He had seen many a man beaten and suffering.
• He had seen many a man enduring agony.
But he had never seen anything like this.
What was going on here was more than human punishment,
This was a divine judgment.
GOD CRUSHED CHRIST.
• Never had anyone died such a horrific death.
• Never had anyone suffered such extreme torment at the hands of God.
• Never had anyone been so disfigured under God’s wrath.
AND NOW YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT HE IS THE ONE
WHOM GOD WILL GREATLY EXALT?
Now you are telling me that Jesus, the One whom God crushed,
Is the One whom God will exalt?
That “He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted”?
Incidentally many see that progression there
As a reference to Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and coronation.
• “He will be high” can actually mean “raised”
• “and lifted up” is a word that means carried, like into heaven.
• “and greatly exalted” like at God’s right hand.
It was totally shocking to all who heard it that Jesus Christ,
The One who suffered so severely at the hands of God and men,
Would be the One whom God promised to exalt.
And the world sort of lives right there right now.
I told you earlier that Jews today think Isaiah 53 is about them, not Jesus.
• One of their arguments is that Isaiah 53 can’t be about Jesus because He was killed at a young age and Isaiah 53 promises eternal glory for the Servant.
They just can’t see it.
And that goes for most of the world.
• They do not see the glory of Christ,
• They do not grasp the significance of the cross.
• To them Jesus died as a rejected man, as a phony, and a blasphemer.
1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:22-23 “For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,”
1 Corinthians 2:7-8 “but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”
John 12:37-40 “But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?” For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, “HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, SO THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM.”
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
That is the world.
That is Israel to this day.
It is unthinkable to them that Jesus could be the exalted Messiah
Because no one ever suffered under the hand of God like He did.
The world rejects Him because of the cross.
To them it is astounding (literally stupefying)
That Christ would be God’s Messiah.
The Servants Promised Exaltation
The Servants Peculiar Exaltation
#3 THE SERVANT’S PUBLIC EXALTATION
Isaiah 52:15
Here the answer is given to the skepticism of the masses.
I KNOW THAT
• To you it appears that there is no way that Christ could be God’s Messiah.
• The horror of the cross in your mind nullifies His chance to be God’s exalted One.
But that is only because you don’t understand the cross.
You don’t know what was happening there.
• He was bearing God’s wrath, but not for His sin.
• He was bearing God’s wrath for the sin of others.
And that is what verse 15 explains.
“Thus He will sprinkle many nations…”
I told you earlier that MacArthur and some others like to translate the word “sprinkle” as “startle” and they speak that Christ’s exaltation will be startling to them.
That’s not actually a bad way to translate it or to read this segment.
However, the Hebrew word there is used 24 times in the Old Testament
• Every single time it means “sprinkle”,
• Rather of water on someone to be ceremonially cleansed
• Or of the blood of the sacrifice being sprinkled for atonement.
It seems to me that consistency requires us to see it the same way here.
Exodus 24:8 “So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Ezekiel 36:24-25 “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.”
And even in the New Testament:
Hebrews 9:19-22 “For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT WHICH GOD COMMANDED YOU.” And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
This is what Christ was doing on the cross.
He was atoning for the sin of “many”.
Even Isaiah 53 will speak of “many” as opposed to all.
Here His atonement even reached to Gentile “nations”
• He was purchasing the pardon of sinners.
• He was purchasing the forgiveness of His elect.
The world does not understand that now, BUT ONE DAY THEY WILL.
And when they do:
“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.”
When it says that “Kings will shut their mouths” it means they will stop their arguing and blaspheming.
Remember Psalms 2?
Psalms 2:1-3 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!”
RIGHT NOW the nations resist the true King.
But there is coming a day when they will “shut their mouths”
It will come on the day when His gospel is finally understood
And His exaltation is finally seen.
RIGHT NOW THEY DON’T GET IT.
Paul even quoted the end of verse 15 to talk about missions.
Romans 15:20-21 “And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; but as it is written, “THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND.”
• Paul knew that the problem of the world is that they didn’t see Christ and they
hadn’t heard the gospel.
• His mission was to go and proclaim and explain the cross to as many people
as he could that they might see and hear and thus exalt Christ.
Right now men don’t get it.
Right now they don’t see and they don’t hear.
BUT THEY WILL.
Jesus said:
Matthew 24:30 “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.
And it will happen!
Revelation 1:7 “BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”
Zechariah 12:10-11 “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, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. “In that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.”
Christ’s ministry WAS SUCCESSFUL and HE IS EXALTED.
Men don’t see it now, but they will.
And when they do finally see it, there will no longer be any debate
As to whether or not Christ is God’s exalted.
On that day they will know it.
Incidentally, we saw a small glimpse of this at Pentecost when Peter told this very truth.
Acts 2:32-36 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.” ’ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
They had never seen that.
They had never heard that.
But on this day God opened their eyes and their ears to understand that this Jesus, whom they crucified, is indeed the exalted one.
Do you remember the response to such a revelation?
Acts 2:37-39 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
AND THERE IS YOUR ANSWER THIS MORNING.
• It may not look like it to the world.
• It may not even look like it to you.
• But rest assured that Jesus is God’s anointed King.
And if you don’t see it today,
Rest assured you will see it on the day of your death or His return.
If you do see it today, perhaps even for the first time, and you wonder what to do?
• “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ”
That means you need to confess Jesus as your Lord.
• You must believe in Him.
• You must trust in His work.
• You must yield your life to Him.
• And Peter tells those Jews that this confession needs to be a public one.
• They crucified Christ publicly, they needed to confess Him publicly.
In short, you need to stop rejecting Christ and submit to Him.
You need to trust Him.
Psalm 2, where those Kings were mocking, ENDS LIKE THIS:
Psalms 2:10-12 “Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”
Don’t let the suffering of Christ on the cross fool you.
• What He did there, He did for you.
• You need to repent of your sin and believe in Him
• Because He is exalted Messiah of God.
