Jesus, the Suffering Servant        Isaiah 53

We all want saving from something, don’t we? Let’s face it, it’s the truth. We work so we are saved from the bank taking our house, or the land-lord kicking us out, or to pay staff or a business debt. We work to save our kids from starving or save them from a bad education. We compromise and consider our husband or our wife so we are saved from a poor marriage or even divorce. We want saving from a half-lived life – so we travel or try a number of relationships. I can’t stand poor communication or gossip – I know it kills churches, the church needs saving from itself, so it doesn’t implode with gossip or explode with divisions or factions. Businesses need saving from poor financial statements, so they pour millions into marketing, advertising, research and employee relations. Political parties need saving from poor policy decisions, mismanagement of the economy and internal factions. Some would say even the earth needs saving – man’s footprints are killing the planet – save the sky, the trees, the seas. Salvation! A deliverer, A Saviour, A Messiah! Surely a Saviour needs to be mighty, a conqueror, a deliverer!

Someone like Cyrus – I liked him, as Isaiah spoke about last week. There’s a Saviour! That’s what I call a leader, a real Messiah – set people free from bondage, allowed them to go home, helped them build a home, a place to worship their god. A protector, a Shepherd, a Deliverer. He was everything Isaiah said he would be – for many people groups, not just the Jews. Everyone. He was truly anointed by God! Could there ever be a Saviour, a Messiah like him? One would say not. Not really – and the world hasn’t really seen anyone like Cyrus since.

So, who is this? Isaiah has written 4 servant songs and this is the 4th. A suffering servant, more…a battered, a bruised, a beaten and crushed servant. Surely a defeated servant – looking at these passages. (Isaiah 53:3) I mean people don’t even like this guy. Worse than that – this guy is cursed (verse 4), “smitten by God” and (verse 10) “it was the will of the Lord to crush Him.” God doesn’t even like Him. He is cursed by God. He probably wasn’t a very nice person anyway because verse 9 says, “they made His grave with the wicked,” probably deserved everything He got, if that’s the case. Some who were reading this for the first time might have been asking – is this the same person King David spoke about when he said in Psalm 22:13-18, “they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet--- I can count all my bones--- they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” And this would be a good question. A worshiper returning home to Ethiopia after being in Jerusalem asked the question.

The Ethiopian Eunuch, as he read this very passage in Isaiah not knowing the recent events in Jerusalem at the time, asked Philip – one who just appeared on the road on which he was travelling in Acts 8: “Who is the prophet talking about, himself i.e. Isaiah or somebody else? This wasn’t a silly comment because Isaiah, tradition tells us, was sawn in two – paid the ultimate price as a prophet. Isaiah would be a suffering servant. Was Isaiah prophesying about himself? Is he the servant? And Philip, no doubt, told him – could Isaiah’s sacrifice make an offering for guilt? (verse 10) Or what about in verse 12, could he bear the sin of any, let alone many? Surely only God Himself could do that. Philip said no – you haven’t heard the news, how could you miss it?! Jesus Christ was firstly scourged by the Roman; ‘by His stripes we are healed.’ (verse 5) Roman scourging. (verse 7) Jesus, before Pilate, didn’t make a defence for Himself. (verse 8) By oppression and judgement….the crowd yelled out crucify, crucify. (verse 9) crucified between two thieves, but a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, buried Him in his newly cut tomb. We agree with John, one of His disciples, He was full of grace and truth as Isaiah said He would be. (verse 9b) This is really important when we tell people about Jesus.

To the Eunuch, Philip would have said, “you have just come from worshipping God – you have offered your sacrifices on the altar – but are you sinless, are you righteous before God?”  Isaiah said, in verse 11, it is only the sacrifice of this righteous servant that he accounts people as righteous! This is how he bears the sin of many; this is how He makes intercession for you. Philip explained this to the Ethiopian – he accepted Christ and was baptised.

Christ had the opportunity to be like a Cyrus – He rejected it, because He knew they needed saving from something far worse than the Romans. What are you trying to save yourself from this morning? Mortgage, an average or bad marriage, poor health, a wasted life? We have just celebrated Easter and the historical fulfillment of these words of Isaiah, but how can you understand the sacrifice if you don’t understand the problem and the justice needed? The greatest thing we need saving from is our sin – this natural bias to go our own way. (1 Peter 2:22-25) “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” The Ethiopian understood this after he had Isaiah 53 explained.

The ultimate payment – Isaiah 53:11, 12 “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” God the Father’s justice is satisfied. The payment has been made. “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow!”

What happened to Jesus after the payment for His people? “Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.” Christ gets a portion, the greater portion, the spoils of heaven and eternity are his. As the sin bearer he makes intercession for those forgiven of sin. That’s us!

He was numbered with the transgressors. Is there a roll-call taken for transgressors? Jesus said, ‘Put My name down with them.’ We would be shocked if a godly woman looked at a list of prostitutes and said, “Put my name down among them;” or what if a godly man looked at a list of murderers and said, “Number me among them;” but that is what Jesus did for us, only to an even greater degree. What a Saviour!

Can anyone ignore so great a salvation?! Surely you can’t. Today’s the day of your salvation! Just like the Ethiopian unbeliever who read this passage and acknowledged it could only be Jesus. He genuinely became interested in who Jesus really was. What about you this morning? While there are real situations we would like saving from in this life: a mortgage, health issue or relational strain, Jesus says there is ‘one thing needful;’ most here have accepted that message. For those who haven’t, why not now?

Pray for the One for Israel ministry.