The Golden Passional of the Old Testament
Isaiah 53.
No subject more important than the substitutionary death of Christ. Burdened with that thought, the author prepared for "Threshed Wheat" a series of studies in defence of the old interpretation of Isaiah 53, and as an exposition of that Golden Passional. Conscious of the timeliness of these studies, by the courtesy of the Editor, they are here reproduced.
The Hall-mark of Our Saviour. Dr. J. R. Miller tells a story of a Scottish mother who once accidentally wounded her child’s wrist with a knife. To comfort him in his grief, she said: "Never mind, my bonnie bairn; your mither will ken you by that when you are a man." They had been separated for years, and when one day a fine-looking man called on the old woman and announced himself as her son, she was sceptical until he drew up his sleeve, and cried, "Mither, mither, dinna ye ken that?" In a moment the old woman had her boy in her arms. She knew him by the scar.
The scars are the hall-mark of Christ. So though we have never seen Him as we see each other, some day we shall, and then
"We shall know Him By the print of the nails in His hands."
We fail to recognise in much of the preaching of to-day the true Saviour of sinners. Men paint sometimes very sweet and winning pictures of the Christ. They picture the poetry of His actions, the unsullied whiteness of His thoughts, the moral stainlessness of His conduct, the sweetness of His words; but in all their portraits there is no trace of His sacred wounds, no vision of His atoning death. There cannot be a Saviour without the Cross. We fail to recognise the kind of Saviour for the lost many modern preachers proclaim.
Eulogies.
1. Ever since this wonderful chapter we know of as the 53rd of Isaiah was written, it has been considered as peculiarly sacred and pregnant with meaning.
2. "It looks as if it had been written beneath the Cross of Golgotha," writes a great German scholar.
3. As far back as Apostolic days we find it was treasured. Polycarp, the disciple of John, called it "the Golden Passional of the Old Testament."
4. Luther said that every Christian ought to be able to repeat it by heart. (Can the reader do this? If not, will the reader set about to memorise it?)
5. Augustine considered the whole of Isaiah, and, of course, particularly the 53rd chapter, as "not a prophecy but a Gospel."
6. Dr. Culross has suggestively written: "It is a prelude to much that is most distinctive in New Testament doctrine, and is the root from which not a little of the thinking of Christian ages has grown. Its phraseology has entered largely into Christian speech, and it has supplied more texts to the Gospel preacher than any other portion of the Old Testament. There are individual phrases in it resembling peaks, from which we faintly descry vast realms of truth which we cannot yet explore, but which shine with a mystic light whose summit is Divine."
Heart of Consolation.
1. The Rabbis call this second section of Isaiah "The wonderful book of consolations," and
2. Isaiah 53 forms the very centre of that second section, and of course
3. Is the very heart of all true consolation.
History. So realistic is it that, as my old and valued friend, the late David Baron says "Instead of a prophecy uttered centuries in advance, it reads like an historic summary of the Gospel narrative of the sufferings of the Christ and the glory that should follow."
I. ITS JEWISH CRITICS.
Torture. This has been called "The Torture Chamber of the Rabbis," and "the bad conscience of the Synagogue," and no Jew is allowed, on pain of severe penalties, to study it until of age.
Conversion. The fact is that no portion of Scripture has been used more than this in the conversion of Jews.
Puzzle. It certainly was a puzzling chapter to all Jews before and since Christ. The portrait it gives of a suffering Messiah was utterly at variance with the popular conception.
Fact. Yet until nearly in the eleventh century the Messianic interpretation of this chapter was almost universally accepted and adopted by the Jews.
A Sample. Here is a sample of Jewish interpretation as evidence of this. Jonathan ben Uzziel (first century) begins his Targum (i.e., paraphrase or commentary) with, "Behold My Servant Messiah shall prosper" (Isa_52:13).
An Important Date. Rabbi Solomon Yirchaki (or Rashi) 1040-1105, was the first to apply it to the Jewish nation. Right up to his time it was almost universally adopted by Jews that this had to do with the Messiah.
Synagogue. In the Jewish Synagogue on the Day of Atonement, in the Liturgy for that day is the following sentence: "We are shrunk up in our misery, even until now, our Rock hath not come nigh us; Messiah our Righteousness has departed from us. Horror hath seized upon us, and we have none to justify us. He hath borne the yoke of our iniquities and our transgressions, and is wounded because of our transgression. He beareth our sins on His shoulders, that He may find pardon for our iniquities. We shall be healed of our wounds at the time the Eternal will create Him (Messiah) as a new creature."
Other Jewish Interpretations. Several other interpretations and identifications have been given of the Servant, such as Jeremiah; others say Isaiah was meant; and Hezekiah, Joshua, or Job have also been suggested.
II. ITS GENTILE CRITICS.
Past. If for seventeen hundred years the Jews beheld the Messiah in Isaiah’s portrait, so also the Christian Church for eighteen centuries has identified this portrait with Christ.
Present. To the amazement and disgust of loyal Bible students there has arisen a school of Gentile modern thinkers who deny that Isaiah 53 has anything to do with Christ. To our sorrow hosts of ministers of religion take that view. This is alarming!
Seriousness.
1. We see in this modern attack on Isaiah 53 an attempt against the Atonement.
2. Of course the truth of the Atonement does not depend completely on Isaiah 53.
III. WHY WE HOLD TO THE ORTHODOX VIEW.
1. Our Lord Himself recognised and taught that Isaiah 53 was a prophecy concerning Himself (see Luk_22:37. Note "In Me," "Concerning Me).
2. Paul recognised the message of the Servant sent to ignorant nations as the good news concerning Christ. (See how Paul refers to Isa_52:15 in Rom_15:21.)
3. John finds in Israel’s refusal of Jesus the direct fulfilment of the prophet’s heart-broken cry concerning unbelief. (John quotes Isa_53:1, in Joh_12:38.)
4. Matthew recognised in Christ’s healing miracles the Servant who was to carry our sicknesses and to exhaust Himself with our healing. (He quotes Isa_53:4, in Mat_8:17.)
5. Mark recognises in the two robbers the transgressors with whom Isaiah’s Servant was to be catalogued. (Isa_53:12 in Mar_15:28.)
6. Philip, when filled with the Holy Spirit, and speaking under His command, answers the Eunuch’s question on the identity of the Servant by preaching to him Jesus (Act_8:2).
7. Israel is sometimes called the Servant of Jehovah, but never as here in Isa_53:11, "My Righteous Servant" (Isa_41:8; Isa_43:10; Isa_44:1).
8. Note "For the transgression of My people was He stricken"-one Person suffering for a people.
9. This 53rd chapter portrays an innocent Servant suffering for others (Psa_51:9). "He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth." Was this true of the Nation? Were they innocent? What has the first chapter of Isaiah to say about this?
10. The suffering Servant portrayed here in Isaiah 53 is a voluntary sufferer. Read Isa_53:12 : "He hath poured out His soul unto death." Did the Jews go voluntarily into captivity? Were they not dragged into it by force?
11. The suffering Servant portrayed in Isaiah 53 is an unresisting Sufferer. "He opened not His mouth." "He is brought as a lamb." "He opened not His mouth" (Isa_53:7). Was that Jewish Nation an unresisting one? A very hasty glance at their history is quite sufficient to convince us of this.
12. The sufferings of the Servant ended in death Isa_53:8, "cut off" (see 9). Have the sufferings of the Jewish nation ended in the death of that nation? The nation, in spite of centuries of persecution, is very much alive.
13. "Oh," says the critics, "nowhere else in Scripture have we suffering associated with the Messiah, hence this chapter is out of harmony with all previous conceptions of the Messiah, and cannot be accepted as applicable to Christ. An individual with such features has no analogy in Hebrew prophecy" But that is not true. What about Genesis and Psalms.
14. "Is it not impossible," says some, "or at least improbably inconsistent, for the same prophet first to have identified the servant with the Nation, and then to present Him to us as an individual?" Our reply is "No."
15. The Experimental Argument. We know the orthodox view is the correct one because it has brought salvation to us. We found the Atoning Saviour here, and that brought salvation to us. Now we can say: "Surely He hath borne my griefs, and carried my sorrows. He was wounded for my transgressions; He was bruised for my iniquities. With His stripes I am healed. Alleluia!"
IV. ITS STYLE. Jewels are best appreciated when in a suitable setting. The Golden Passional of the Old Testament is more valued when its setting, style, and outline are noted.
Differs.
1. It differs in style from all the rest of Isaiah.
2. It is "broken, sobbing, and recurrent," whereas the rest of Isaiah runs smoothly with "formed flowing sentences."
3. This peculiarity is so pronounced that, "added to the fact that, if it be omitted, the prophecies on either side readily flow together, have led some critics to suppose it to be an insertion, borrowed from an earlier writer."
4. But that is no argument. Principal G. A. Smith, who is favourable to Higher Criticism, sensibly exclaims, "Surely both style and words are fully accounted for by the novel and tragic nature of the subject."
Pronouns. It is important to notice the personal pronouns. Much of the meaning of the poem depends on the use of the pronouns "we" and "he."
Mysterious. A student has drawn attention to the element of mystery in this Passional: "Most wonderful and mysterious of all is the spectral fashion in which the prophecy presents its Hero. He is named only in the first line: elsewhere He is spoken of as He. We never hear or see Himself. But all the more solemnly is He there."
V. ITS SETTING. It is necessary to observe the structure of the Book in order that we might see clearly its setting.
Isaiah.
1. At first sight the book of Isaiah falls into two great divisions-1st, chapters 1 to 39; 2nd, chapters 40 to 66. On closer inspection it can more readily be divided into three:
a. Denunciatory-1-35. Prophetic.
b. Deliverance-36-39. Historic.
c. Consolatory-40-66. Messianic.
2. This third section falls into three sections:
a. Comfort-40-48.
b. Servant-49-57.
c. Future Glory-58-66.
3. In this poem of the broken heart there are 15 verses.
4. It is the middle chapter of the middle section of the third book.
5. It has been pointed out how remarkable is the structure of the book of Isaiah when compared with the Bible:
a. Bible has 66 books, Isaiah 66 chapters.
b. As the Bible has two great divisions (Old and New Testaments) so Isaiah.
c. There are 39 books in the first division of the Bible- that is the Old Testament-and there are 39 chapters in the first division of Isaiah. There are 27 books in the New Testament; 27 chapters in second section of Isaiah.
d. The prevailing note in the Old Testament is Law, and prevailing note in first section of Isaiah is Judgment; prevailing note of the New Testament is Grace, and of second section of Isaiah, Comfort.
VI. ITS OUTLINE.
Stanzas.
1. There are 15 verses in the Poem. The Poem begins at 52:13.
2. These fall into five sections or stanzas of three verses each.
3. In the Hebrew the strophes appear, not of equal (as in A.V. or R.V.) but of increasing length.
1st, 9 lines.
2nd, 10 lines.
3rd, 11 lines.
4th, 13 lines.
5th, 14 lines.
4. Each strophe begins with one word or two words, which summarise the meaning of the whole strophe, and forms a title for it:
a. Behold-Servant.
b. Who hath believed-Faith.
c. Surely He hath borne-our Substitute.
d. He was oppressed-His oppression.
e. And it pleased the Lord-Lord’s pleasure.
The Outline.
1. Study the chart on the next page.
2. Note its first stanza:
a. We have God’s Ecce Homo.
b. The Servant would gain success through His prudence.
c. This first stanza is really a summary of the whole of the poem, and contains in brief the whole story of Messiah’s suffering and the glory that should follow.
Analysis of Isa_52:13-15; and Isa 53
Stanza Section Speaker Gist Subject
First Isa_52:13-15 "MY servant" (13) GOD. 1st To us (13) 2nd To Jesus (14) 3rd To us His prosperity God’s proclamation, explanation, and vindication of the Sufferer.
Second Isa_53:1-3 Penitent people of God in the present. (1) Query (1) (2) Statement (2) (3) Confession (2 and 3) "our," "we" Unbelief Reason for rejection of Him
Third Isa_53:4-6 Penitent people of God in the future. (1) Assumption (4) (2) Confession (4) (3) Declaration (4 to 6) Substitution Results of receiving Him
Fourth Isa_53:7-9 God His Innocency The humility and Innocence of the Sufferer
Fifth Isa_53:10-12 The Prophet speaking for God. (1) To us (10) (2) To God (10) (3) To us (11) (4) For God (12) God’s Holy Will The Surrender of the Sufferer to the Will of God and His triumphant success
VII. THE MYSTERY OF CONTRADICTION. Have you noticed the bundle of apparent contradictions in this Golden Passional? Calmet points out: "The Old Testament plainly foretold that the Messiah would be God and man: exalted and debased: master and servant, priest and victim; prince and subject; involved in death and yet a victor over death; rich and poor, a King, a conqueror glorious, a man of griefs; exposed to infirmities, unknown, and in a state of abjection and humiliation." But how bewildering all this must seem!
Look at Isaiah 53.
1. Root out of a dry ground (Isa_53:2)-Yet fruitful (Isa_53:10).
2. No form or beauty (Isa_53:2)-Yet God’s Servant (Isa_53:11).
3. Despised and rejected (Isa_53:3)-Yet the appointed Messiah.
4. Suffering unto death (Isa_53:8)-Yet ever living (Isa_53:10).
5. Without generation (Isa_53:8)-Yet numerous seed (Isa_53:10).
6. Rejected and beaten (Isa_53:4)-Yet prospered (Isa_53:10).
7. Cut off (Isa_53:8)-Yet prolonging His days (Isa_53:10).
8. Growing up (Isa_53:2)-Yet Eternal Son.
9. A tender Exotic (Isa_53:2)-Yet bearing and enduring an awful storm.
10. No beauty to lead us to desire Him (Isa_53:2)-Yet the desire of all nations.
11. Wounded to death-Yet those wounds that led to death are life to us.
12. Jehovah laid upon Him (Isa_53:6)-Yet He was Jehovah Himself.
13. Helpless in the hands of His persecutors. Yet omnipotent and delivering others from their oppressors (7).
14. Dying-Yet dividing the spoil (Isa_53:12).
Harmonise.
1. No wonder the Jews were embarrassed when they abandoned the old view.
2. In the Lord Jesus they harmonise.
THE SERVANT AND HIS SERVICE.
Isa_52:13.
I. "BEHOLD." At once our attention is invited and arrested. The "Beholds" of Scripture are all impressive and important, and without exception, challenge and merit our most careful attention. This "Behold" excels all others, for it is the herald drawing attention to the only Begotten of the Father.
God the Father is not ashamed to draw attention to His Son. "Hast thou considered My servant Job?" God proudly drew Satan’s attention to the patriarch; "there is none like him;" and right nobly did Job bear up under his crushing sorrows. He did not let God down. There yet was sin and also much imperfection in this honoured and much tried servant. The fiery trial brought to the surface the sin of self-righteousness Job never dreamt was present in him. There is no such fear in our examination of the Lord Jesus. No one ever detected a flaw or blemish in His spotless character. The fiery trial only brought out all the clearer His perfections, as the fire from the Altar in Tabernacle and Temple only revealed more than ever the wonderful fragrance of the sacred incense.
There are four specially attractive "Beholds" connected with the Lord Jesus, and they wondrously harmonise with the predominant message of the four Gospels.
1. "Behold thy King" (Zec_9:9), agreeing with the Gospel of Matthew wherein is drawn for us the portrait of the Lord Jesus as the King.
2. "Behold My Servant" (Isa_52:13) agreeing with the portrait drawn of our Lord in Mark’s Gospel.
3. "Behold the Man" (Zec_6:12) agreeing with Luke’s portrait of the Saviour, wherein the humanity of the Lord is emphasised over and over again.
4. "Behold your God" (Isa_40:9) where attention is drawn to the Deity of the Servant, as in John’s Gospel.
II. THE SERVANT. It is well to observe that God the Father is not ashamed to direct the attention of the Universe to His only begotten Son as "the Servant." There is nothing derogatory in this. In distant parts of the earth, in the habitations of paganism, idolatry, and cruelty, a gentleman is one who never works, and as a proof of this, allows the finger nails to grow to great length, and is arrayed in lengthy and costly robes. But the very glory of Christ is that He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. On the eve of His Passion, fully conscious of His Deity and glory, like a common Eastern slave He girded Himself with a towel, and washed the feet of His disciples. He could even say, "I am among you as one that serveth." There is a great deal of miserable cant in even these so-called democratic days. For why should a domestic servant be considered worthy of less respect and honour than another girl in office or professional labour? Even the King and Queen upon the Throne are but the servants of their subjects. The Lord Jesus, by becoming a servant, has for ever sanctified and dignified that humble word.
Here in this Golden Passional the great service rendered by the Divine servant is that of atoning for the world’s sin. The Hebrew word for servant means a person at the disposal of another, to carry out that person’s will, to do that person’s work, to represent his interests, and to fulfil a mission. This also is the New Testament definition of a servant. In those days a servant and a slave were synonymous terms. The Lord Jesus placed Himself entirely at the disposal of the Father.
In the Scriptures various individuals are referred to as God’s servants.
1. Worshippers (Psa_134:1) are called God’s servants. How important worship is to be sure, and what an important service it is.
2. Trusting Ones (Psa_34:22) are honoured by that designation. To place and exercise faith in God is delightful and important service.
3. The Jewish Nation (Isa_41:8) is so designated. It would have been well if they had more constantly remembered this, and lived up to this great honour.
4. Certain Individuals are so marked, as for example; David (Isa_37:35); Isaiah the Prophet (Isa_20:3); and Nebuchadnezzar (Jer_25:9). But the greatest and most glorious of all the servants of the Most High was the Lord Jesus (Isa_42:1-7).
III. THE QUALITY OF HIS SERVICE.
1. Filial Service, the Service of the Son. There is a tremendous difference between a mere servant and a sonservant. That is, between a mere hireling and one who, because of a recognised and proud relationship, renders the service more whole-heartedly and more devotedly. It is well to notice He was first Son, then servant, or may we put it-God’s servant because He was God’s beloved Son. Before we can become God’s servants labouring in His vineyard, we must become His children through faith in Christ Jesus.
2. Compulsory Service, the Compulsion of Love. "The love of Christ constraineth us," was the testimony of St. Paul, and was the secret of his incessant and abundant labours in the Gospel. Love was the great constraining force in the life of Christ. It was because He loved the Father that He was so ready to place Himself at the Father’s disposal; it was because He loved mankind that He so readily came to render the service of the Cross. Love should be the great dominating force in our lives.
3. Heart Service, not the Service of the Eye. How significant is the phrase used by St. Paul with regard to service. "Not with eye service as men pleasers." Our blessed Lord’s service was a real heart service, and so should ours be.
4. Chosen Service, a Service by Wondrous Grace.
"My servant whom I have chosen" (Isa_43:10). Undoubtedly our gracious Master is referred to here. He was the chosen one of the Father. But how significant when we can place side by side with this, that amazing verse in John 15, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." We, too, are His chosen ones. He has some special work that we alone can do, for which His choice has fallen upon us.
5. Commissioned Service, not an Unrenewed Commission. "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." He came for a definite and specific work, and He has some definite and distinct work for us to do. It is the highest wisdom for all young Christians to place themselves entirely and unreservedly in the hands of the Redeemer,
6. Powerful Service, Energised by the Holy Ghost. "For He spoke with authority, and not as the Scribes," There was wonderful unction in all His addresses. Not one of His words fell to the ground. God save us preachers and speakers and Sunday School teachers from becoming as sounding brass and tinkling cymbal, a mere sound. But may there ever be recognised a definite power behind all that we say.
7. Sustained Service, Upheld by Wondrous Grace. Isa_42:1 clearly shows this. Is that not a significant phrase found in Rev_2:1, "He that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand," indicating the seven leaders of the seven churches in Asia upon whom so great a responsibility rested had special supporting grace given to them. He will sustain us. We, too, will always be held up by wondrous grace.
THE SERVANT’S PRUDENCE.
"Behold My Servant shall deal prudently" (Isa_52:13)
In this introductory stanza to the Golden Passional we have God’s "Ecce Homo." Let us never forget that this was a prophecy uttered many years before Bethlehem and Calvary. Have you ever thought of the goodness of the Father in not only prophesying of the sufferings of Christ, but also of the glory that was to follow? "He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high." These are expressions confined by Isaiah to the Godhead (consult Isa_6:1; Isa_57:15). Therefore we here not only have prosperity foretold, but much more than that: surely this means nothing less than the exaltation and enthronement of Deity. Unlike mere mortal and finite men, the Man of Sorrows knew exactly all that awaited Him-the betrayal, the failure of His followers, the cruel scourgings, and the awful death. But how often, as He reflected on all these sad accompaniments of His death, His heart must have been cheered by this bright and attractive forecast.
That prosperity should follow prudence is to be expected. "My Servant shall deal prudently-He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high." Sometimes prudence fails in man, but never in the Man Jesus Christ.
I. THE NATURE OF HIS PRUDENCE. What is prudence? Prudence and wisdom are not one and the same thing. "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent"-here they are referred to as separate and distinct, though closely related. Prudence is wisdom in action. The prudent are not only the possessors of wisdom. They are those who use that wisdom wisely and well. It is possible to be wise and yet not prudent. In other words, for wisdom to dwell alone. But prudence always dwells with wisdom, as is pointed out in Pro_8:12 : "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence." Prudence and wisdom are twin sisters.
II. THE FACT OF HIS PRUDENCE. Our Blessed Lord Jesus was greater in wisdom and prudence than Solomon. Indeed He was, and is, the source of all wisdom and prudence. The greatest and grandest example is found in Him. This declaration in the Golden Passional is, of course, a prophecy. His own life is its fulfilment.
III. THE EXERCISE OF HIS PRUDENCE. A very devoted and eminent preacher of the Gospel of our own time has pointed out how our Lord so wonderfully exercised prudence in His life, and manifested it also in His death.
1. In Not Prematurely Surrendering His Life. Time and again His enemies sought to slay Him, but our Lord and Saviour took every precaution. Till He knew His work was done He would not allow His life to be squandered,
2. His Insight into Character. All who came into touch with Him became conscious of the fact that He knew them through and through, better than they knew themselves. They were aware, time and again, of the fact that He could read their thoughts; and He acted toward all with unerring wisdom.
3. In the Adroitness of His Replies. Christian workers cannot do better as a preparation for missionary work, whether at home or abroad, than to study our Lord’s methods with individuals. Both as a preacher and as a teacher He manifested amazing skill-was calm, never flurried, had always an apt reply, ever hitting the nail on the head. Over and over again we simply marvel at His replies.
4. In His Concessions to the Limitations of His Hearers. That He was the All-Wise One, and the All-Knowing One, possessing and exercising in His human life all the attributes of Deity is a fact, yet He never talked or preached above the heads of His hearers. As as example of this He stooped to parabolic teaching, conveying the most abstruse thoughts in simple language. Hence "The common people heard Him gladly," as well as the learned scholars of His time. Many a public teacher is destroyed through lack of prudence.
5. In His Encouragement of all Good Living and Well-intentioned Folk. Time and again, in dealing with individuals, He recognised and complimented them where He could. As for example: "Thou art not far from the kingdom." How encouraging this must have been. "Ye search the Scriptures" (R.V.). There He admitted their diligence in ascertaining the mind and will of God in the written Word.
6. In His Work of Salvation. He ever recognised that man’s greatest need is not teaching, but disposition, not merely a code of morals, but a clean heart. Nicodemus right away opened the interview by acknowledging our Lord Jesus as a peerless teacher, assuming that all that was required for the regeneration of mankind was better teaching, but this our Lord at once countered by a firm declaration that man’s chief need was a new life. "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."
7. In His Wondrous Scheme of Redemption. Study Eph_1:8. It is in the redemptive work of our Lord that we have the greatest example of His prudence. So marvellous is the scheme that Satan with all his skill has never yet been able to find fault with it, and we may add, he never will. Every Divine attribute is in perfect and harmonious operation in this wondrous plan of salvation. There at the Cross mercy and truth met together, there, righteousness and peace kissed each other.
IV. THE REWARD OF HIS PRUDENCE.
1. Exalted to the highest pitch of honour. Study Eph_1:21.
2. Extolled. Study Php_2:9-11.
3. Glorified.
V. THE EXAMPLE OF HIS PRUDENCE. These records of His wonderful prudence are given to us not merely for our admiration, but also for our emulation Heavenly wisdom is exceedingly practical, as is pointed out in Jam_3:17. Prudence is much to be coveted and desired in our daily lives and service, and "who is sufficient for these things?" Christ is. The marvel of our redemption is that not only did our Lord Jesus suffer on the Cross in our stead, but after we have accepted that great fact and received Him, He comes to dwell within us and to live out His own wondrous life. The Prudent One will be prudence to us. Oh, that He might fill us with His own gracious presence!
CHRIST, THE STARTLING ONE.
"So shall He startle many nations" (Isa_52:15, R.V., margin.)
(This study appears in the author’s "Cameos of Our Lord," but is here reproduced with additional thoughts, to complete the series of studies.)
During the last few years the nations of the world have been startled as never before. The greatest war of all time sobered and alarmed them, and post-war happenings have continued to agitate and unsettle. But if this short inspired utterance means anything, it announces another and a greater startling, and that by the Lord Jesus Christ. Many scholars object to the A.V. reading of Isa_52:15. Without doubt the original has proved a sore trial to translators, for it is not the usual word for "sprinkling," and therefore ceremonial cleansing is not meant. One learned authority affirms, "It is simply treason against the Hebrew language to render it ‘sprinkle.’" On the other hand, the late David Baron defends the A.V. rendering in a learned fashion. Bishop Chandler says: "That to sprinkle is used for to surprise, to astonish, as people are that have water thrown upon them." So we can combine both views, and say what is meant here is that nations would be startled as a man is when cold water is suddenly and altogether unexpectedly dashed upon his face.
I. THE ONE WHO STARTLES. As one closely studies this great stanza of the Golden Passional in order to answer the question-who is the one who will startle many nations?-only one reply is possible-the Servant of Jehovah, the Saviour Himself.
II. THE TIME OF THE STARTLING. In a measure, this was true of Him in the past. It has been truly remarked that "there was something amazing, portentous, sensational about Him. He set all Palestine in a ferment. He "troubled" Herod and all Jerusalem at His birth. And He continued to startle the people up to His death on the Cross. There was something electric, explosive, volcanic, in the very air while Jesus lived amongst men." And yet He never made any attempt at the sensational.
He startled the world:
1. By His Birth. He was born of a Virgin. That is to say, He had no human father. This was something altogether new. The so-called Incarnations in Pagan faiths bear no comparison whatever with the birth of Jesus Christ the Lord. It was startling to find Deity in humanity and the frail bush not consumed.
2. By His Lowliness. He was born in a cattle-shed, was brought up in a peasant’s home, and not a Royal Palace. He came as a servant. Considering His lofty claims His lowly condition was startling.
3. By His Teaching. His teaching and preaching altogether differed from that of His day. "They were astonished at His doctrine, for He taught as one having authority and not as the scribes." His teaching was accompanied by miracles, and these performed without strain or effort were startling.
4. By His Death. There is a great difference and a swift and altogether startling change between Isa_52:13 and Isa_52:14. In the former we have His exaltation, in the latter, His degradation. From the picture of His enthronement we find Him confronted by a ring of shocked and horrified spectators (read Luk_23:48). Isa_52:14 must be considered in the light of a parenthesis. And that is quite fitting. In the reading of a narrative, we usually lower the voice on reading a sentence in parenthesis, and Isa_52:14 should be read in a subdued and reverent manner. Dr. C. I. Scofield declares that the literal rendering is terrible: "So marred from the form of man was His aspect that His appearance was not that of a son of man," i.e., not human, the effect of the brutalities described in Mat_26:67-68; Mat_27:27-30.
As the spectators watched Him on the Cross, many thoughts would enter their minds with startling effect.
a. The fact that One so good and useful should suffer. That, of course, was an old and familiar problem. All along in the history of the world the sufferer has been an astonishment and stumbling-block. Did not the sufferings of Jesus prove His guilt? And yet the governor declared he could find no fault in Him!
b. The fact that the powerful Jesus was now so weak. A few days before He acted and spake with power and authority. But now He seemed weak and powerless, suffering an entire eclipse.
c. The marring of His visage and form. This has been entitled "The Marvellous Marring." Observe "His visage," i.e., His face; "His form," i.e., His body. "More than other men." This must not be considered as exaggerated language, but to be taken literally. What mars? Suffering mars the visage, sometimes almost beyond the possibility of recognition. If the face and body of the Son of God were marred more than any man, it certainly was because He suffered more than any man. And we must remember that His keenest sufferings were not physical. It is perfectly certain that the accompaniments of crucifixion caused untold and unimagined bodily suffering. But the spiritual and mental agony of forsakenness, and the natural shrinking of a pure soul from contact with a world’s sin, were ingredients in His cup of suffering we cannot comprehend or assess.
Of course there is a possibility of unduly magnifying the incidents and surroundings of His death. After all, the death was the all important fact. Yet are we Protestants not in danger of ignoring or minimising the incidents surrounding His death? It is by reflecting upon these incidents that we travel along one way of understanding and grasping the awful cost of our redemption.
III. THE CAUSE OF THE STARTLING. But the greatest startling is yet future. Note the value of observing Mat_27:14 as a parenthesis, and the force and power of the wee word "so." Certainly His sufferings startled, but He will be the cause of a greater startling in the future. In Mat_27:13 we have a word-picture of enthroned Deity-"Exalted. . . extolled, and be very high," are expressions confined by Isaiah to the Godhead (study Isa_6:1; Isa_57:15) so we have here something more than a mere prophecy of prosperity. What will startle His own nation, and "many nations," will be that the One who stooped so low should rise so high. What will His enemies say when they behold, seated on the Throne of the Universe, the One they nailed to the Tree. Will not our exaltation also startle those who despise us? He has promised that we should sit with Him in His Throne.
IV. THE RESULT OF THE STARTLING. "Kings shall shut their mouths at Him." Tongues will be silenced in amazement. If the silence of amazement be the first result of the startling, surely the second result will be cleansing. "He will cleanse many nations" is another rendering. The Jewish nation will be born anew in a day in consequence of their startling, and no doubt many Gentiles will share their blessing as in the Exodus of the past. The third result will be refreshing. "So shall He cause to leap or spring up for joy," as another renders this sentence. After the awakening and cleansing, will come a great joy.
REASONS FOR REJECTING HIM.
Isa_53:1-3.
What rapid changes we have in this Passional. In former studies we saw a group of horrified spectators, then another large group of nations and kings speechless with wonderment and astonishment. Now our attention is directed to a further group-the godly remnant confessing their astonishment at the unbelief of the chosen people. In this second stanza we have reasons for rejecting Him:
1. Unbelief (Isa_53:1).
2. Lowly origin and mysterious growth (Isa_53:2).
3. Lack of beauty (Isa_53:2).
4. Despised.
5. Treated as a leper.
Has it ever occurred to you how abruptly this wonderful chapter opens? It is as if the thought of the rejection of the message overcame the prophet: "Who hath believed our report?" This challenging question is twice quoted in the New Testament Scriptures- Joh_12:38, as an explanation why all did not believe in the days of His flesh prior to Calvary; Rom_10:16, as an explanation why all the Jewish nation had not believed the Gospel preached by the Apostles and disciples. To whom, in the first instance, is this question presented? Here the person is not mentioned, but by the two quotations we see it was the Lord. It is good to take all failures to Him. It is well if the Lord’s servants to-day would now and again apply this question to themselves. The great object of our ministry, either by speech or pen, is to get a verdict for Christ. We have a report to give. Are there any reasons in us why it is not believed? Is it simply what we have heard? "Who have believed that which we have heard" (R.V., margin). Of course, it is right and proper that we should pass on what we have heard or read, but only when it has become part and parcel of ourselves. We must firmly believe it ourselves. And further, we must exemplify and illustrate it ourselves.
I. THE ARM OF THE LORD. This is one of Isaiah’s favourite expressions. What is meant by this term? God is pure Spirit, and therefore "without body, parts, or passions." It is a figure of speech. The arm is that by which we execute a purpose. It is used in Scripture as an emblem of power. It is a natural symbol of the active energy of Jehovah. The reference to the arm made bare is an Eastern figure, as a warrior would throw back his loose robes when he would strike, or as the workman would pull up or tie his loose flowing sleeves in order to do his work. As we carefully ponder the references to the arm of the Lord, we seem to note here and there hints respecting the personification of the arm. Two Persons in the blessed Trinity form the Executive-the Lord Jesus is, as it were, the outstretched Arm of Jehovah, and certainly the Holy Spirit is also.
1. Where Seen. The Arm of the Lord is seen in:
a. Creation (Jer_27:5; Jer_32:17).
b. Redemption (Exo_6:6; Psa_77:15). Creation is spoken of as the work of His fingers (Psa_8:3), but redemption required His arm, i.e., more difficult to redeem than to create.
c. Salvation (Isa_59:16).
d. Providence (Isa_51:5).
e. Eternal Preservation (Isa_40:11).
2. Its Character. The Arm of the Lord is:
a. Almighty in strength and might.
b. Guided by unerring wisdom.
c. Controlled by unfailing love.
d. Paralysed by unbelief (Isa_51:9, with Mat_13:58).
II. CHRIST WAS NOT THE PRODUCT OF HIS AGE is one of the most startling facts connected with His birth and growth, and to this our attention is drawn in Rom_10:2. This is at the very threshold of the statement clearly declared.
1. The Fact of His Growth. "He shall grow up." Read Luk_2:52. There certainly was physical growth, for His wee baby form grew to boyhood, youth, and manhood. There was also growth in wisdom and knowledge. Yet He was, and is, the All-Knowing, and the All-Wise One. Have you ever pondered over Psa_22:9? If this verse means anything, it certainly declares that, as a babe on His mother’s breast, He possessed self-consciousness, mental alertness, spiritual longing and hope, that is, a God-given conviction respecting future things. Only one babe ever had that experience, and that was the Babe of Bethlehem. What a wonderful mystery is the Incarnation!
2. The Delight in His Growth. "Before Him." In His development the Father took special delight. Does this not also convey that He grew up ever conscious of the Father’s presence?
3. The Protection of the Growth. "As a tender plant." Tender-oh, so tender! Yet guarded and kept by the Father’s love.
4. The Royalty of that Growth. "As a root-sprout." The tree is in prophecy an emblem of royalty (see Isa_11:1). Royal descent is here referred to, but from a royal house fallen on evil days.
5. The Mystery in that Growth. "A root out of the dry ground." Born in a stable, He grew up in a tiny village among the hills of Galilee and opened out as He grew the wondrous blossom of a perfect humanity, such as had never before been evolved from any root, nor grown on the most sedulously cultivated plant. Brought up in a tiny village, how was it he was entirely free from provincialism? Reared in a peasant’s home, how was it He was fit to grace an earthly monarch’s presence, and was well-mannered and of kingly presence? The only education He had was in a humble village school, yet He manifested marvellous wisdom and knowledge, outshining all the greatest authorities of that and all subsequent time. And what is the explanation? Only this is sufficient, the Lord Jesus does not represent so much the ascent of man as the descent of God; not so much the climbing of the human into the Divine as the condescension of the Divine to the human; that His birth was not a mere birth but an incarnation.
6. The Beauty of that Growth. "He hath no form or comeliness… no beauty." What is the meaning of this? Surely this cannot mean He was ugly!
Charles Kingsley was overheard in his last illness murmuring quietly to himself: "How beautiful God is! How beautiful God is!" Augustine cried: "O beauty, so old, and yet so new; too late I loved Thee!" Only a beautiful mind could have produced so beautiful a world! Let us never forget that God is the Author and Giver of all the colour, fragrance, glory, and song. Only a beautiful mind could have created such beautiful things. And the Son of God was beautiful. He had:
1. Physical Beauty, a perfectly formed and beautifully fashioned body.
2. Mental Beauty, for only a beautiful mind could have conceived the Sermon on the Mount.
3. Moral Beauty most certainly was His, as also
4. Beauty of Disposition, and
5. Beauty of Action.
And yet because there was an absence of martial glory the leaders of His nation were blinded by prejudice and unbelief to His moral glories. There was nothing in His appearance that the carnal or worldly-minded could be attracted by, so different was He to the popular expectancy.
III. AN ILIAD OF WOES. No value was set on Him. "We esteemed Him not." "He was despised." All rejected are not despised-He was both. The rejection followed the despising. Another rendering reads, "He was despised like one hiding his presence from us," just as a leper hid his face and presence. So they treated Him as a leprous person. But pray take note of the tenses. He was despised-that is past history. But pray observe, "He is." Is He still the despised and rejected One? Yes, by many. God grant not by you, dear reader!
THE BURDENED SERVANT.
Isa_53:4-6.
Is it possible in a short sentence to present our faith? That question has been asked of late. We might point to that wonderful compendium of faith as expressed in the Apostle’s Creed, but then it occupies more space than a sentence. When Robert Taylor asked Spurgeon, in his last illness, if he could state his faith in a sentence, without hesitation he gave it in four words: "Jesus died for me." Dr. Fullerton tells of a Church sister who, in visiting a hospital was asked by one of the nurses to speak to a dying boy, who was as much a heathen in Central London as if he had been born in Central Africa. Evidently guided by the Holy Spirit, she said: "Sonny, God made you; God loves you; God came down from Heaven and died for you; and now He is going to take you home to be with Him for ever." "Say it again, lady," he pleaded, so she said it again twice over: "Sonny, God made you; God loves you; God came down from Heaven and died for you, and now He is going to take you home to be with Him for ever." Pulling himself up by the rope hanging over the bed, the boy, who seemed to have gained new vitality, said: "Then thank Him for me," but before she could respond he fell back lifeless, and proved it all for himself, and gave his own thanks face to face with the Eternal. Any preaching or teaching that does not centre on, and radiate from, the substitutionary death of Christ, is doomed to failure, and has no Gospel in it. Is it possible in a short sentence to present our faith? Most certainly. Here is the inspired word: "The Gospel- Christ died for our sins" (1Co_15:1-3).
In the third stanza of the Golden Passional which is before us at this moment we have presented to us the Burdened Servant. The speakers are the penitent people of God in the future. In outline we have:
1. An Assumption. "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" (Isa_53:4).
2. A Confession. "Yet we did esteem Him stricken," etc. (Isa_53:4).
3. A Declaration. "But He was wounded," etc (Isa_53:5 and Isa_53:6). We find ourselves contrasting His burden with ours, as shown in Psa_68:19.
4. God Burdening His People with Blessings. "Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits." Here in the Golden Passional God’s Servant is seen with a load of sins laid upon Him by God.
5. God Sharing His People’s Burdens. "Blessed be the Lord, who daily beareth our burden" (R.V.). But in the Golden Passional He had to bear His crushing load alone.
Examining very closely this third stanza, we find two burdens.
I. THE BURDEN OF SYMPATHY. The Bleeding Sympathy of the Servant. On the surface of these verses we have a declaration of Christ’s true sympathy. "And Jesus, moved with compassion." That last word is an exceedingly strong one. "Passion"- that is a word descriptive of the sorest of suffering. "Come" -together, a suffering with another, a sharing of the sorrow because of the most intimate and closest affinity. Two harps, if perfectly tuned together, though at either end of a room, if one be struck the other will respond. We have not a High Priest who is not touched with the feeling of our infirmity. His manhood was, and is, so perfectly attuned to ours, that when we suffer, He suffers with us. A truly sympathetic sick-visitor will, when in the sick room beholding the gasping sufferer, involuntarily have the same sensation, and for the moment feel as if he or she were struggling for breath. Our Lord’s sympathy is a heart sympathy. He not only speaks the consoling word, but shoulders our burdens, getting right under our sorrows. True sympathy always means this. Let all Christian workers pray for grace to retain their tender and sympathetic touch, and to be preserved from those dulling and hardening effects of daily routine and constant contact with suffering.
But there is infinitely more suggested here than the sympathetic identification with the sorrows of others: we have
II. THE BURDEN OF SIN.
The Vicarious Suffering of the Servant. That is to say, we have here declared an active bearing of those consequences of sins which He had not committed. It is here we part from much, very much of the preaching and teaching of to-day. So-called "Modernism" sees only in the death of Christ the bleeding sympathy of Jesus with us. We, too, see that-but we go very much further. If words mean anything at all, Psa_68:5 and Psa_68:6, do clearly and emphatically declare the Saviour’s death as substitutionary.
There is a close connection between Psa_68:3 and Psa_68:4. They supposed He was suffering on account of some great sin of His own. But they had erred. It was for sin-but not His own actual transgressions. It was our sin imputed unto Him, and in that sense, and only in that way, made His own. This third stanza is an acknowledgment that they had erred.
Of course this is prophecy yet to be fulfilled so far as the Jewish nation is concerned. Even up to the present day they persist in their cruel and erroneous mistake. To-day, the orthodox Jew considers our Lord suffered for His own sins, and He is called Poshe-the Transgressor. "In the Talmud Jesus of Nazareth is placed in hell alongside of Titus and Balaam, and as undergoing not only the severest, but the most degrading form of punishment." But they will alter their view. May that day be hastened!
A very eminent Jewish authority, himself a converted Jew, known and beloved by me in my own Mildmay days, but now with his Lord in the Glory, on Psa_68:4-6, declared that no plainer or stronger words could be used to express the thought of vicarious suffering than those employed in the original of this verse. The verb "to bear," is continually used in Leviticus of the expiation effected by the appointed sacrifices, as, for instance, Lev_16:22. Both the verbs used in Isa_53:4, "borne," "carried," are to be understood in the sense of an expiatory bearing, and not merely of taking away. "The meaning is not merely that the Servant of God entered into the fellowship of our sufferings, but that He took upon Himself the suffering which we had to bear, and deserved to bear, and bore them in His own person, that He might deliver us from them."
DECLARING HIS GENERATION.
Isa_53:7-9.
In our study of this Golden Passional we come to the most difficult portion. No words in the Hebrew Bible have been so variously rendered as those which constitute in the original language Isa_53:8. Translators have been puzzled how to adequately translate them.
I. THE SILENCE OF THE LORD JESUS (7). Of all animals, only one is silent when handled roughly by man, and that is the sheep. Rarely is a bleat heard in a shearer’s shed or slaughter-house. The prophet points to this unusual animal characteristic as a figure and prophecy of the attitude of the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, toward and under His suffering. What a picture we have in Isa_53:7 of the unresisting endurance of the Servant! Surely here we have the most perfect, pathetic, and majestic picture of meek endurance!
There is a danger of forgetting the need and value of silence in this fussy and noisy age. There are moments when prolonged and unbroken silence is golden, and more expressive and fitting than words. Hannah Moore, in one of her essays, remarks, "That silence is one of the great arts of conversation is allowed by Cicero himself, who says there is not only an art, but even an eloquence in it." But silence never shows itself to so great an advantage as when it is made the reply to calumny and defamation. The prophecy of Isa_53:7 was literally fulfilled in our Lord’s silence under gross injustice. "He opened not His mouth." Jesus’ lips were opened in witness, but never in complaint or remonstrance. What a majestic silence!
Now let us consider Isa_53:8.
II. THE DIFFERENT RENDERINGS of Verses.
1. "He was taken from prison and from judgment" (A.V.), i.e., His death was a judicial murder.
2. "By oppression and judgment. He was taken away" (R.V.), i.e., the violence meted out to Him, and the suddenness of His death.
3. "By tyranny and law was He taken" (Smith), i.e., by a form of law that was a tyranny.
4. "Without restraint, and without a sentence was He taken away" (a Rabbi), i.e., the swiftness, suddenness, and unseemly haste of His murderers.
5. "And who shall declare His generation" (A.V.).
6. "And as for His generation, who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living" (R.V.) i.e., the indifference of public opinion.
7. "And of His life, who shall recount, for He was cut off" (R.V., margin).
8. "And of His age, who reflected" (Smith).
9. "And among His contemporaries who was concerned" (Von Orelli).
10. "Who shall declare His life," i.e., the mystery of His being.
11. "Who can declare the number of His generation" (Hengstenburg), i.e., of those inspired by His Spirit, or filled with His life.
12. "Who can declare the length of His life hereafter" (Luther, Calvin, and Vitringer).
13. "Who can declare His posterity" (Kimchi).
III. PRISON AND JUDGMENT. "He was taken from prison." He was not imprisoned for long. At the longest but an hour or so. He was arrested at 1 a.m. and crucified at 9 a. m., and in between a great deal took place. The following time-table has been suggested:
1. Arrested and taken before Annas (Joh_18:13), 1:05 to 1:46 a.m.
2. Trial before Caiaphas (Joh_18:19), 1:46 to 2 a.m.
3. Taken before Sanhedrin (Mat_26:59), about 2 a.m.
4. Trial before Sanhedrin (Luk_22:66-71), 5:06 a.m. to 5:50 a.m.
5. Taken before Pilate (Luk_23:1), 5:51 a.m.
6. Taken before Herod (Luk_23:7), 6 a.m.
7. Condemned and scourged (Mat_27:26), after 6 a.m.
8. Crucified, 9 a.m.
IV. DECLARING HIS GENERATION. What a problem this has been to generations of Bible readers and students. This expression ceases to puzzle one when an old custom is remembered. In those olden days, under the Jewish law, it came to be the custom that every condemned man should receive forty day’s grace before his execution, during which period an official, somewhat of the character of our old town-crier, passed to and fro through the town, city, or neighbourhood, and "cried" the offence and sentence of the man, together with his tribe, family, and branch of the family, and announcing that any of his generation (i.e., family or tribe) who could adduce evidence of innocence could appeal before the end of the forty days for a new trial.
But Jesus had no forty days’ grace, and no one declared His generation. Thus no opportunity was given for a new trial. What unseemly haste!
V. THE BURIAL. The A.V. rendering, "He made His grave," etc., suggests that He had the power to select His grave, and, of course, He had, yet that is not the truth here. The R.V. clears up that point: "They appointed."
Those who know the Hebrew well are startled to find that it is deaths, not death. Assuming that a man can have but one death, critics have fixed upon the plural here as either supporting the application of this Golden Passional to the Jewish nation, and not an individual; or to the extreme violence of that death, the very pain of which made it like dying again and again. But in a surprising fashion, the plural here fits in with the actual facts of the case. For there were two deaths on the cross, spiritual first, then physical. On the Cross Jesus died before He died. What is the death of the soul but separation from God, and the Redeemer "tasted death" during the three hours’ darkness (Mat_27:45-46) when He declared He was forsaken! What an awful "taste" that was! It was then He tasted spiritual death. But it soon passed. Afterward He experienced physical death.
Respecting the death of criminals, Josephus states the Jewish law thus: "He that blasphemed God, let him be stoned, and let him hang upon a tree all the day, and let him be buried in an ignominious and obscure manner," usually in an unclean place. Thus even after death, shame followed the criminal.
The Jewish leaders, not content with the humiliation and sufferings heaped upon Him, nor with the cruel and shameful death inflicted, followed Him with hatred to the grave, for "They appointed His grave with the wicked," intending His mortal remains to be interred in an unclean place. But that was an appointment never kept. He died at 3 p.m. Joseph of Arimathaea, a member of the Jewish Council, boldly went and requested the body of Jesus which was granted, and with the help of Nicodemus and others, he took it from the Cross, wrapped it in one cwt. of spices to prevent corruption, and placed it in his own rock-hewn tomb, this burial taking place between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. And thus "that body, reverently bedewed with tears, wrapped in fine linen, clean and white, softly laid down by loving hands, watched by love stronger than death, lay in fitting repose as the corpse of a king, till He came forth as a conqueror." He was buried in a rich man’s tomb.
And what is the force of this? The fact that the authorities permitted His friends to have the body of Jesus was a proof that they did not consider Him guilty, that although slain as a criminal, He was not a criminal! What a vindication of His innocency and honour!
A CLUSTER OF SPIRITUAL PARADOXES.
Isa_53:10-12.
A paradox is a statement seemingly absurd yet true. There are quite a number in this" Golden Passional, and there are a cluster of them in this last stanza. Observe that the speaker is the prophet speaking for God, and the main subject, the glory that should follow the suffering.
I. THE PLEASURE OF THE LORD. The opening sentence of this last stanza found in Isa_53:10 is at first sight startling. It has a grim repulsiveness about it. He who has no pleasure in the death of the wicked was pleased to put His Righteous Servant to grief. Surely the God of the Bible does not resemble the many gods of the heathen in being a lover of blood and agony!
The explanation of this problem is found in other two statements concerning the pleasure of the Lord, in Psa_149:4, "He taketh pleasure in His people;" and Psa_35:27, "He taketh pleasure in the prosperity of His people." The pleasure He takes in His people themselves, and in their prosperity, urged Him to take pleasure in the sufferings of His beloved Son, for, without that atoning death they could never have become His people, and they could never have prospered.
II. THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST DIVINELY INFLICTED. It is distinctly stated that it was the Lord who bruised Him. This might be objected to: was not His death due to the hatred and plottings of wicked men? Study Act_2:23, where it is shown that whilst the murderers of Christ were acting in fulfilment of a Divine decree, their deeds were really and absolutely their own. It was the Divine counsels that used the enemies of Christ as His instruments. Now in the recognition of this great fact lies the secret of composure. The secret of a happy life is the recognition that nothing can come to us without God’s consent. This is the thought and fact that makes pain tolerable, and lights up the profound mystery of suffering. We can always find good shelter behind either His actual or His permissive will.
III. THE SOUL AN OFFERING (Isa_53:10). This sentence is impressive. It was His soul and not merely His body, or should we not say, it was His soul plus His body, or through His body, that was the offering for sin. "The prophet lays no particular emphasis upon Christ’s bodily sufferings, because, though visible, it was not the main part of His atoning sufferings. Mental pain is harder to bear than bodily pain. The soul, with its larger capacities, finer sensibilities, and chief place as governor of the body, is more sensitive."
IV. HE SHALL PROLONG HIS DAYS (Isa_53:10). Note the second occurrence of this sentence, "the pleasure of the Lord." Is it not remarkable that the prophet says nothing about the Saviour’s activity on earth till after death! When He is dead He begins to work! Having died He prolongs His days, sees His offspring, and carries into effect the Divine purposes! What a cluster of paradoxes!
V. THE SERVANT’S TRAVAIL (Isa_53:11). The word travail, coined to describe the toil and agony attendant on motherhood, is also used in Scripture for painful toil and exhausting labour for Christ. There is a place for travail in Christian service. Toil without God is, in Ecc_1:13 and Ecc_3:10, described as a travail. But Paul also uses the word in 1Th_2:9; 2Th_3:8 to describe the exhausting nature of his labours for his blessed Master. Do we know anything of soul-travail in our missionary labours, or are we "easy going?" What about your prayer-life? Is there ever any travail in it?
VI. THE SERVANT’S SATISFACTION. Many an one is not satisfied with the fruit of his labour-not so the Saviour. As creation ended with the rest and satisfaction of the Creator, so the redemptive work of our Saviour has and will end with the Redeemer’s satisfaction. For He will be satisfied with:
1. The Number of the redeemed (Rev_7:9): "A great multitude which no man could number."
2. The Variety of the redeemed: "Of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues."
3. The Character and attainments of the redeemed. "I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness." And He cannot be satisfied with anything else.
4. The Prospects of the Redeemed (Joh_17:24).
5. The Praises of the Redeemed (Read Rev_5:9, Rev_5:11-14; Rev_7:10; Rev_14:1-3; Rev_19:1-7).
6. The Service of the Redeemed.
VII. THE SERVANT’S KNOWLEDGE AND OUR JUSTIFICATION. How perplexing is 2Th_3:11. What has knowledge to do with our justification? Are we not justified by faith? Then whose knowledge-the Divine Servant’s, or our own? There are three explanations.
1. The Punctuation Explanation. A Biblical scholar thus renders and punctuates: "Satisfied by His knowledge, My righteous Servant shall justify many." That is to say, His knowledge of the vast numbers who will be justified through His sufferings, brought satisfaction.
2. Instruction Explanation. Another thus renders the sentence: "By His instructions, My Servant will make many righteous." He is One under authority, and has acted under instruction.
3. The Objective Explanation. David Baron declares that the phrase in the original cannot be understood definitely to be in either a subjective or objective sense, as grammatically it can be rendered either way. But he points out that all the commentators who understand by the Servant our Lord Jesus Christ, prefer the latter, viz., by the knowledge of Him on the part of others. He also points out that the Hebrew "Yada" stands in the Bible for experimental knowledge-a practical experimental knowledge. That is to say, it is not His knowledge of me, but my knowledge of Him which leads to my justification. And even that knowledge, the knowledge of His death and resurrection, of His atonement, of the conditions of justification, we have gained by His grace.
VIII. THE SUFFERING SAVIOUR A GREAT CONQUEROR. There is a singular contrast in 2Th_3:12 to the rest of the prophecy. In the former we have the lowliness and the suffering-the minor key; here we have the rapture and the triumph, the major key. Here the once suffering Servant is depicted as a Conqueror, leading back from His conquest a long train of captives, a rich booty. "He shall divide the spoil." This sentence is taken from the custom of distributing the spoils of victory after a battle. In ancient time, one convincing proof of a victory was the securing of captives and booty. Note:
1. The Time of the Victory. Here is a striking fact, another paradox, the victorious campaign and glorious conquest is achieved after the Servant is dead. This is never so in the case of mere man.
2. The Allies in the Victory. Note the singular blending of God’s power and the Servant’s own activity: "Therefore will I"-"He shall divide."
3. The Condition of Victory. Note "Because"-that is an important word. The Cross was the condition of the Servant’s victory.
4. Evidences of Victory. Great spoil.
5. Recompense Accompanying Victory. Viewing the spoils, He will feel amply recompensed for all the toils and perils of the battle.
"Numbered with the transgressors." He, the Sinless, was counted sin that we sinners might be counted righteous (2 Cor. 5 21). He was numbered with the transgressors that we might be numbered with the redeemed. His name was placed on the roll of transgressors that I might have my name written in the Book of life. "He bare the sins of many." This may seem to teach a limited atonement for a select few. But that is not so. Hebrew scholars say the stress should be placed on the article "the many." It might be rendered "The masses," "an indefinite expression, which, if not declaring universality, approaches very near to it." Thank God for 1Jn_2:2 : "And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
IX. THE INTERCESSOR. The Golden Passional closes with a sentence which summarises the whole. In the A.V. we have the past tense-"Made" intercession; in the R.V. we have the present tense-"Maketh intercession." It takes both the past and the present tense to describe His work. He made intercession by His death. Observe the close connection between His death and intercession in the verse. But He "maketh" intercession now in the Father’s presence in the glory.
"Why don’t you beg?" exclaimed a passer-by to a ragged man. "Beg?" he replied, "why, every rag on my body begs with a loud voice!" In the glory Jesus Christ bears the marks of the crucifixion in His glorified body. Every one of those marks prays and intercedes for us with a loud and prevailing voice. Thus His very presence is a mighty and overwhelming plea on our account. (Note Heb_7:25.) Glory to His Name!
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
1. God is Righteous (Joh_17:25). So is the Lord Jesus (1Jn_2:1).
2. Man is Incapable of Righteousness (Isa_64:6; Rom_3:10). Sin is any want of conformity to the character of God, whether it be in act, disposition, or state.
3. Yet there have been some Men and Women who were Righteous (Luk_1:6). Indeed it is one of the names of the true Christian.
4. How is this Possible?
a. God alone can make this possible (Rom_5:17).
b. And then, only through Christ (Rom_3:21-22).
c. It first is imputed (Rom_3:22; 1Co_1:30).
d. Then imparted, indeed is one characteristic of the New Birth (Rom_8:4; 1Jn_2:29).
e. Promises for those who hunger and seek after it (Mat_5:6; Mat_6:33).
Autor: James Smith