The Saving Servant
Isaiah 53:10-12
August 4, 2024
This morning we return to our study of Isaiah’s suffering servant
And come to the conclusion of this wonderful 53rd chapter.
There is so much richness and joy found here that I’m quite certain that next week we could start through it again and still be overwhelmed but the atoning work of Christ.
As we have said, you just can’t overstate the significance of this chapter.
We learn our doctrine on the atonement from the New Testament writers,
But they learned it from Isaiah 53.
This is the passage that made it all make sense.
When a natural man looked at the cross,
All he could see was humiliation, defeat, disappointment, and death.
There was no silver lining to watching a man hanging on a cross.
• The suffering coupled with the embarrassment
• And the certainty of death
• Could not be painted in a positive light.
It is no wonder that even the disciples
Were immediately and instantly grieved by what they saw.
But what human eyes could not perceive,
The Spirit of God could certainly reveal
And that is what this chapter does for us.
It allows us to examine the cross through God’s eyes, not our own.
And through God’s eyes the cross is only glorious.
Just to remind you of where we’ve come.
We started in Isaiah 52:13-15 where we discussed: THE SUCCESSFUL SERVANT
That is how Isaiah began the passage.
Isaiah 52:13 “Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.”
But that statement certainly represented God’s perspective, not man’s.
For from man’s perspective
All that could be discerned was humiliation and death.
Isaiah 52:14 “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.”
Human eyes didn’t see exaltation, human eyes saw horrifying destruction.
And even this past week, while we are at Glorieta with the youth at camp this verse came to mind.
The theme of camp was “In His Image”
• We discussed how man was made in the image of God,
• But how because of sin that image has been distorted or marred.
• And here we find Christ paying the penalty for that sin and the punishment laid
upon Him was that His body was “marred more than any man”.
We marred the spiritual image which God intended for us to bear, and as a punishment Christ had His physical image marred by God in judgment.
He certainly didn’t look like a successful servant of God on the cross.
But that’s exactly what He was.
Isaiah 52:15 “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.”
Through His suffering He will be the savior of nations.
• On the day when God opens the eyes of the blind,
• The nations will flock to Him for salvation.
• He is The Successful Servant.
From there Isaiah began to explain why this chosen servant of God was rejected so severely as to be hung on the cross.
In Isaiah 53:1-3 we saw: THE SCORNED SERVANT
He was rejected and disbelieved because He didn’t have the right personality or the right pedigree.
• He was tender and mild
• And Joseph was nothing but a carpenter.
• He also had “not stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.”
And since He didn’t appear to be the type of Savior we wanted,
We did not esteem Him.
Instead we asked for His crucifixion, and thus He was marred.
Isaiah said He was, “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;”
And as we noted, that is a peculiar title for One who is very nature God.
• We know of God’s ASEITY (self-sufficiency).
• We know He needed nothing outside of Himself.
So why was He filled with sorrow?
Why was He acquainted with grief?
And Isaiah gave us that answer in 53:4-6 were we saw: THE SUBSTITUTIONARY SERVANT
The grief He bore and the sorrow He carried
Was NOT His own grief or sorrow, it was imputed grief and sorrow.
He came in the “likeness of sinful man”.
He bore our pain and our grief.
When He hung on the cross and received the wrath of God,
It was NOT for anything He had done.
“He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;”
God was treating Him like He lived my life.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
As Isaiah said, “The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.”
• He was taking our place.
• He was our substitute.
• God first placed our sin on Him and then crushed Him for it.
And that led us to wonder how Christ felt about that.
• Did Jesus want to die?
• Did He want to bear our sin and the wrath upon it?
• Was He ok with this great injustice poured upon Him?
And the answer is: ABSOLUTELY!
In Isaiah 53:7-9 we saw: THE SILENT SERVANT
He had more than a few opportunities to plead His innocence
Or to beg for mercy and He ignored every one of them.
• He never threatened.
• He never warned.
• He never begged or cursed or even complained.
He came to bear our sins on the cross
And He saw it through to the end.
As the old hymn says:
“Humbled for a season to receive a name from the lips of sinners unto whom he came, faithfully he bore it spotless to the last, brought it back victorious when from death He passed;”
Isaiah 53:7 “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 its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.”
• We saw His cruel arrest.
• We saw His corrupt trial.
• We saw His crucifixion on the cross.
But we also saw that God vindicated Him in His burial.
Isaiah 53:9 “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.”
He died in reproach, but He was buried in honor
Because God was pleased with Him.
And certainly if you were here LAST WEEK,
We can easily throw in the sermon Cody preached from Psalms 22
• Where David looked ahead 1,000 years and quoted Christ on the cross saying,
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
As Cody pointed out,
• David saw that crimson worm attached to the tree,
• Covering His offspring with His own shed blood
• And revealed to us that when Christ called to God for help God heard Him.
Christ was clearly vindicated by the Father in death.
You even saw that last week in Psalm 22.
Well that brings us to OUR FINAL QUESTION
And thus our final segment here in Isaiah 53.
We ask the question:
If God was pleased with Him that He would vindicate Him in burial, why was God so pleased to first crush Him?
That is what we read here in Isaiah 53:10
Isaiah 53:10a “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief…”
If God was so pleased with Him so as to honor Him in burial, why was God so pleased to first crush Him in grief?
And of course the answer is
Because of what Jesus was accomplishing through His crushing death;
• Which was nothing less than the appeasement of God’s wrath
• And the salvation of sinners.
That answer is given to us here in the final 3 verses as we now examine: THE SAVING SERVANT
We’ll break this final segment down into 3 points.
#1 GOD’S SATISFACTION
Isaiah 53:10a
You will notice as we work our way through these final 3 verses that “Satisfaction” is really the closing theme of the chapter.
And so it certainly must first be discussed, as it is mentioned here,
That the work of the cross totally and perfectly satisfied God.
(10a) “But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering…”
Isaiah says a mouthful here when He calls what Christ did on the cross
“a guilt offering”.
The “guilt offering” was a specific type of atoning sacrifice prescribed by God and revealed to us in Leviticus 5 and 6.
It was certainly an atoning sacrifice.
• It was certainly a blood offering given to God for the forgiveness of sins.
Some of the specific sins listed that it was required for were:
• If someone is a dishonest or unreliable witness. (Lev. 5:1)
• If someone touched an unclean animal. (Lev. 5:2)
• If someone touched human uncleanness. (Lev. 5:3)
• If someone makes a thoughtless oath to God. (Lev. 5:4)
• If someone acts unfaithfully to any holy thing. (Lev. 5:15)
• If someone commits any sin at all. (Lev. 5:17)
• If someone deceives or cheats their neighbor. (Lev. 6:2-3)
All of those sins would require that the sinner then present to God
The “guilt offering” for the forgiveness of that sin.
The segment closes with this clarifying statement:
Leviticus 5:19 “It is a guilt offering; he was certainly guilty before the LORD.”
It was an offering in which the animal had to die
And its blood was sprinkled on the altar.
Isaiah takes that well-known atoning ordinance
And tells His audience to look at this suffering servant.
That is what He is doing.
He is the “guilt offering”.
He is being offered to God as a blood sacrifice
For the forgiveness of the sins of His people.
And here we find that God was pleased to accept it.
That word “pleased” in the Hebrew
Can also be translated, “desire” or “delight”.
In short, God really wanted this.
• God desired this.
• God delighted in this.
• It pleased Him to see Christ on the cross bearing our sin.
It points us back to the love of God who delights in mercy and forgiveness.
It points us to the desire of God to forgive sinners.
And so when Christ offers His body on the tree
As an offering for sin and guilt, God is pleased to accept it.
He crushed Christ.
He heaped grief upon Him.
Christ was providing Himself as the means
Through which God could and would save His children.
And the beauty of what we learn in all of Isaiah 53, not just verse 10,
IS THAT THE OFFERING WORKED.
• God was pleased.
• God was satisfied.
The New Testament word we use here is: PROPITIATION
Romans 3:23-25a “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.”
1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Hebrews 2:17 “Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
The word itself means “appeasement” or “satisfaction”
It is such a strong word that
It cannot be defined as anything partial or potential.
It is total, it is effective, it is complete, it permanent.
All of the wrath which God had toward the sin of His people
Was totally and permanently eradicated by Christ on the cross.
God’s wrath was appeased.
God’s anger was settled.
God’s justice was satisfied.
Romans 8:1-3 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,”
And this satisfaction means the world to us.
• We are no longer counted as enemies, we are now counted as sons.
• We are pleasing to the Father through Christ’s atoning work.
• We are loved, we are accepted, we are welcomed.
God holds no wrath for those who are in Christ Jesus,
HE IS SATISFIED WITH JESUS.
God’s Satisfaction
#2 CHRIST’S SATISFACTION
Isaiah 53:10b-12a
This is really the main thrust of these final 3 verses.
Namely that Christ also was totally satisfied by what He accomplished.
Hebrews 12:2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
We are taught that Christ “despised the shame”.
• That doesn’t mean He hated it.
• It means He thought little of it.
It was a small price to pay in order to achieve what He achieved.
And let me just say,
If you are not totally captivated by the love Christ has for you,
You most certainly should be.
He looked at the cross with all of its EARTHLY HUMILIATION.
• He contemplated the arrest
• He contemplated the trial
• He contemplated the false accusations
• He contemplated the beatings
• He contemplated the embarrassment
• He contemplated the reproach
But He thought that an acceptable price if it meant saving you.
He certainly considered the cross with all of its DIVINE WRATH.
• He prayed about that cup of wrath in the garden
• He sweat drops of blood under the weight of sin
• He anticipated the day of the Lord that would soon fall on Him
Even that He thought an acceptable price if through it He could save you.
Let me show you His satisfaction here.
And it’s easiest to understand His satisfaction if we break it down a little further into 3 areas.
1) SATISFACTION IN DEATH (10b)
“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.”
There are certainly a lot of atoning applications that can be made here,
But I want you to follow the point of Isaiah.
• Christ was a man on a mission.
• Christ was a man who came to accomplish a purpose.
As our youth learned at every worship service at camp:
1 Timothy 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
But think about a man on a mission for a moment.
• Think about a man who came to deliver captives or set prisoners free.
• Think about a man on a liberation mission to rescue those in bondage.
• He leaves his home base and travels into enemy territory.
• He identifies the captives and hatches a plan to deliver them.
But the next thing you see is
The would-be hero hanging dead before the people.
To earthly and human eyes, what does that mean?
IT MEANS HE LOST.
He’ll never see those captives delivered.
He’ll never see any more of life at all.
Solomon painted a very accurate earthly picture of death for us:
Ecclesiastes 9:2-6 “It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as the swearer is, so is the one who is afraid to swear. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead. For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten. Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun.”
I remember my dad laying in a hospice bed, and he got all emotional one day and said, “My grandkids won’t even remember me.”
That was a grief and sting of death.
• You won’t see your kids or grandkids grow up.
• You won’t experience their great moments in the future.
• In fact you won’t see anything else, your days are over.
And we don’t even have to talk about the success of your mission.
If you die, the mission is over.
It is defeat.
That is what death always looks like.
That is what death always feels like.
Even Christ’s disciples thought this to be the case when Jesus died.
Luke 24:21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.”
“He had a good run, but now He’s dead and everything has fallen apart.”
But that is NOT what Isaiah says.
• Isaiah says that even though He died on that cross, “He will see His offspring”
• Even though they buried Him in a tomb, “He will prolong His days”
• Even though His followers saw only failure, “the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.”
BUT HOW?
• How could Christ die and still see His offspring?
• How could Christ be buried and still prolong His days?
• How could Christ in such circumstances still cause God’s plan to succeed?
You know the answer: RESURRECTION!
• He died, but He didn’t stay dead.
• He was buried, but He wasn’t there long.
• His followers grieved, but it was very quickly turned to joy.
In short, this grief and sorrow and suffering
Was not permanent and it was not ineffective.
What He did there was not a defeat, it was a victory!
He didn’t fail in His mission, He succeeded in it!
God’s plan was perfectly executed by Christ through death.
Acts 3:18 “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.”
Christ was satisfied even in death
2) SATISFACTION IN ANGUISH (11)
“As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”
We know people who experience victory even through suffering.
• We’ve heard of soldiers who suffered greatly yet still won the battle.
• We think of cancer patients who endure difficult treatments but beat the disease.
But while such people certainly celebrate the victory,
It is very rare for any of them
To actually have fondness about the battle itself.
They see the battle as a necessary evil, but an evil none the less.
And that is perhaps what we would expect from Christ.
That maybe He was glad that He accomplished God’s purpose
But that He would have nothing but disdain
For the cross on which He suffered.
But that is NOT what we learn here.
We learn that Christ was satisfied with the anguish of the cross.
“As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied;”
Literally it reads, “He will see satisfaction”
The word “satisfied” there is interesting too.
The Hebrew word means “to be full” or “to be satiated”,
It can even speak of a glutton full of food. (Like you after Thanksgiving dinner)
Have you ever been so satisfied with something?
I work with wood as a hobby and I’ve told people that:
• I don’t like going to get lumber
• I also don’t like unloading lumber
• I don’t enjoy cutting up or ripping lumber
• I don’t enjoy much of the process of building
• I really hate finishing it and moving it
To which you might ask why I do it?
• I like to look at it when I’m done.
• There is a satisfaction to me in what is accomplished.
Here we find that Christ looked past the anguish of His soul
To the satisfaction of what He was accomplishing.
What was this satisfaction?
“By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”
The word “knowledge” there means “perception or discernment”
That is to say that while He was suffering
• He knew what He was accomplishing
• And even in the midst of His anguish
• He was fully satisfied with that.
Perhaps you’ve heard the song that states,
“When He was on the cross, I was on His mind.”
That is the idea here.
• He knew why He was there.
• He knew why the Romans were crucifying Him.
• He knew why God was afflicting Him.
HE KNEW
• He was being punished so that those whom He loved might go free.
• He was being crushed so that those whom He loved might have peace.
• He was dying so that those whom He loved might live.
And the understanding He had
That He was successful in His mission
Was totally satisfying to Him.
This again is why we believe in an ABSOLUTE ATONEMENT.
It is unthinkable to us that Jesus could have been bearing such anguish on the cross and not know whether or not anyone would ever believe.
It is unthinkable to us that Jesus could be bearing God’s wrath on the cross with no certainty at all that it would actually save anyone.
No, “My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.”
He knew exactly who He was dying for,
He knew that because He was dying for them that they would live.
Every single one of them.
He was satisfied in death, He was satisfied in anguish
3) SATISFACTION IN ETERNITY (12a)
“Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong;”
To the victor goes the spoils and Christ Jesus is the victor!
And even while dying in anguish on the cross
He was satisfied for He knew what was coming.
God’s plan was being fulfilled.
His children were being delivered.
And He was obtaining an incomparable future glory.
Hebrews 12:2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Philippians 2:9-11 “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Revelation 5:9-12 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
Christ knew the glory that was His.
• He was fulfilling God’s plan
• He saving His children
• And He knew that He would soon be with those He saved in glory.
“How I long to breathe the air of Heaven, Where pain is gone and mercy fills the streets; To look upon the One who bled to save me, And walk with Him for all eternity.
There will be a day when all will bow before Him. There will be a day when death will be no more. Standing face to face with He who died and rose again; Holy, holy is the Lord
And on that day, we join the resurrection, And stand beside the heroes of the faith; With one voice, a thousand generations, Sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain”
Christ saw that day coming.
And even while in anguish on the cross He was satisfied.
He did what He came to do and He was satisfied!
• He fulfilled God’s plan.
• He saved sinners.
• He earned eternal glory.
God’s Satisfaction, Christ’s Satisfaction
#3 OUR SATISFACTION
Isaiah 53:12b
The final 4 lines here of Isaiah 53 give us a great summary
Of the great work of Christ on our behalf.
Let’s start with His HUMILIATION
“Because He poured out Himself to death,”
Philippians 2:6-8 “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
We think of His humiliation to become human.
• He was made in human likeness.
• He bore our sorrow and our grief.
• He bore our sin and carried all the way to judgment on the cross.
Every part of that was beneath Him.
Every aspect of that was a humiliation to Him.
He deserved so much more and He received so much less.
He humbled Himself to death, “even death on a cross”.
From there certainly we discuss His IDENTIFICATION
“And was numbered with the transgressor;”
Every gospel writer alludes to it, but Mark states it explicitly.
Mark 15:27-28 “They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”
We call it identification.
That Christ identified with us.
He stood in our place.
He put on our sinful robe to take the punishment we deserve.
And so we also talk about His SUBSTITUTION
“Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,”
It wasn’t His sin He bore, it was our sin He bore.
He wasn’t the One who deserved wrath, that was our fate.
But in humiliation and identification, He hung on that cross in our place.
Last week Cody told you that in the story we are Barabbas and that is true.
The murderer set free while Christ hangs on his cross.
Christ stood as a criminal.
Christ was mocked, condemned, crucified, and crushed as a sinner.
Because that is what we deserved.
And we also see His role as HIGH PRIEST
“And interceded for the transgressors.”
From the cross Christ cried, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”
• And that is a prayer He has echoed countless times on our behalf since that day.
He came in humiliation to identify with you,
To die as your substitute,
And to become a faithful high priest on your behalf.
Because of what He did,
• We will never bear the wrath of God.
• We will never know what it is to be forsaken of God.
• We will never be without atonement or intercession.
• We will never be rejected.
All we will ever know from God is pure and perfect love
Because Christ came in our place to save us.
So here is the question:
ARE YOU SATISFIED?
God was satisfied with the offering of Christ.
Christ was satisfied with the anguish required in order to save.
ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH WHAT HE DID?
Or do you still want the world instead?
Isaac Watts said:
“Where the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
Can you sing that with him?
Sovereign Grace Music wrote the song:
“Lord, forgive us for our love Of the things we wish to own. We forsake the feast above For all the crumbs below. Though You’ve made us sons and daughters, We do not the world disown. May we find our greatest treasure Is in You alone.”
Is that true in your life?
Rhea Miller wrote this famous one:
“I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold; I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I’d rather be led by His nail pierced hand.
I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause; I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause; I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. I’d rather be true to His holy name.
Than to be the king of a vast domain, Or be held in sin’s dread sway. I’d rather have Jesus than anything This world affords today.”
How about that one?
Jesus Christ left heaven to be humiliated and die in your place
And He was satisfied in doing so.
And now He asks you
To be so satisfied in Him that you
Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him.
And yet so many love this world too much to do it.
How can it be that God was satisfied with the sacrifice of Jesus but so many sinners are not?
• Idolatry is the sin of not being satisfied with Jesus.
• Lack of priority is the sin of not being satisfied with Jesus.
• Stinginess or coveting is the sin of not being satisfied with Jesus.
• And the list could go on and on and on…
We refuse to leave our sin and follow Jesus
Because we are not satisfied with Him.
If we’ve learned anything from Isaiah 53 it is that Jesus is enough!
• And He deserves my devotion.
• He deserves my praise.
• He deserves my commitment.
• He deserves my contentment.
He deserves, my soul, my life, my all.
