The book of the servant - review

[0:00] My suggestion this evening is that we spend some time meditating on the work of the servant.! Not everybody likes going into small groups, so I thought we would not go into small groups this evening and we will do it together.

[0:17] We will still discuss and work through some questions and thoughts together. And we will look at the work of the servant as God helps us.

[0:30] And you may remember we were thinking this morning in these chapters 40 and up to about 55 in the book of Isaiah, we have this strand of thought which sort of interweaves of the servant of the Lord.

[0:46] And the servant of the Lord as Israel, as the people of God, well they were meant to be a light to the Gentiles.

[0:58] They were meant to hear God's word and live under it and be a beautiful, enviable witness. But that is where they conspicuously failed.

[1:11] So we looked at Isaiah 42 verse 18 and we saw this many faceted picture of the failed servant who in Isaiah 42 verse 18 is deaf and blind.

[1:33] The servant who in chapter 42 verse 20 has seen many things but paid no attention, whose ears are open but they hear nothing.

[1:48] And this servant who in chapter 42 verse 22 is plundered and looted, trapped in pits, hidden away in prisons, no one to rescue them, no one to say send them back.

[2:05] So we have the servant of the Lord, deaf and blind, impoverished, trapped, far away, sitting in a prison, in a dark prison.

[2:18] And that is where the servant of the Lord is. Well that's the servant Israel. But we had this other servant who it appears in this sort of intertwining of thoughts is similar to Israel and yet cannot possibly be Israel because he rescues Israel.

[2:40] And that was the beginning of chapter 42 where it was said, here is my servant whom I uphold. He will bring justice to the nations, verse 1, and he in verse 6 will be a covenant for the people, so that's the people of Israel, and a light for the Gentiles, end of verse 6.

[3:05] So he's going to solve the problem for everybody internationally for God's own ancient covenant people and for the Gentiles too.

[3:19] He's going to change the failed servant Israel into what she should be, a light to the Gentiles. And if you think about it, there's themes here that are ripe to be picked up in the New Testament.

[3:30] So the New Testament will say that we, as the people of God, are to be a light to the Gentiles because that's what Israel was supposed to be.

[3:41] But we, as the New Testament people of God, can be that. Paul talks about that, I think, in his own ministry. So that gets picked up in the New Testament.

[3:51] And, of course, the servant himself, as we shall see in a moment, comes clearly into view as the Lord Jesus.

[4:04] So let's look at what was the obstacle for Old Testament Israel. And we'll follow through some texts.

[4:14] And hopefully I haven't put the answer in too many of them. I think I have it this time. So let's follow these texts through. And it would be helpful to have a reader.

[4:25] Have you, Ruth, still got the microphone? Please could you read for us then? So can we have, let's just see, Isaiah chapter 1.

[4:42] Could you read us 18 to 21, please? So Isaiah chapter 1, 18 to 21. So page 686.

[4:56] Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

[5:10] Though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land. But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.

[5:26] For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. See how the faithful city has become a harlot. She once was full of justice. Righteousness used to dwell in her, but now murderers.

[5:42] Thank you. So let's ask this question. What is the problem that is being confronted here?

[5:53] There is a problem with Jerusalem as it then was. It's not a trick question. What is the problem? Could somebody spell out just back to us what the text says is the problem with the city as she is addressed by Isaiah just here?

[6:16] She's become a harlot, and that is in verse 21, isn't it? See how the faithful city has become a harlot. So the faithful city that would purely trust and love the Lord has become like a prostitute who will love, well, love in some superficial sense anybody.

[6:40] For enough money and is tied to nobody in particular. That's what's happened to the city. Yeah, okay. Thank you very much. Any other parts of the text which say what the problem is?

[7:01] Thank you very much. And which verse were you thinking of? 21. Yeah, she used to have righteousness dwelling in her. She was full of justice, but now it's a place of murder.

[7:15] Yep, thank you very much. Any other? Okay.

[7:28] Resistance and rebellion. Yep. Yes, thank you very much. And what is the consequence of resisting and rebelling? Devoured by the sword.

[7:41] Yeah, devoured by the sword. It matches in verse 19. If you're willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land. If you resist and rebel, you will be eaten by the sword.

[7:53] I believe it's the same word in both cases. Is there anything else in what Ruth read that tells us the problem? Like verse 18, for example?

[8:05] Sin. Yeah. Let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow. So sin in the Bible isn't black, it's red.

[8:18] And he says, your sins are as red as red can be. So let's just make sure we've got this baseline. What is the problem? Is it that they need better education?

[8:37] Why not? Oh, thank you. He's given them a lot of education. Yes. Is that the only reason?

[8:50] It's not education. They don't lack education. Is God saying, if I could just teach you a bit better, then we would all be hunky-dory? Is that simply the nature of the problem to be overcome, is education?

[9:08] Okay, they're not willing and obedient, so there's something in their heart there in terms of the attitude of willingness and rebellion. Yep. Thank you very much. Anything else that you couldn't educate away?

[9:22] Sin. Yeah. It's put in terms of a stain, isn't it, here? Your sins are scarlet. They shall be white as snow. Though they're red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

[9:32] I don't think that it would fit at all with this to say the problem was they just didn't know enough. Even if they knew a lot more, the stain would still be there, wouldn't it?

[9:46] Even if they were much better informed, for example, the heart problem would still be there. And I think it's worth being quite clear on this.

[10:01] This is what the Christian gospel says. Christian gospel does not say, if I could get you more education, then our problems would be over.

[10:12] Any more than it says, if you're homeless and I could give you a home, that would solve the problem. Or if you're jobless and I could get you employment, that would solve the problem.

[10:24] All those things are problems and they do need solutions, but that's not the problem here. It's deeper than that, isn't it? It's sin which is scarlet. It's the heart that is resistant and rebellious.

[10:36] It is this, what should I say, it's a faith which doesn't stick with the Lord, but the idea of a harlot being like idolatry, like going and worshipping this idol or that idol or this idol or whatever comes up next, but not being fixed on the Lord.

[11:02] So I just want to emphasize that baseline. That's what the problem is. That's the problem that God is seeking to solve or has before him to solve.

[11:15] Can we look at 27.9? So could Ruth please read for us?

[11:35] Let's have a look. 27. Let's start with 6 and go on to 11.

[11:48] What about that? Isaiah 27, starting at verse 6, going on to 11. In days to come, Jacob will take root.

[11:59] Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit. Has the Lord struck her as he struck down those who struck her?

[12:11] Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her? By warfare and exile you contend with her. With his fierce blast he drives her out as on a day the east wind blows.

[12:28] But by this then will Jacob's guilt be atoned for. And this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin. When he makes all the altar stones to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.

[12:50] The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement forsaken like the desert. There the calves graze.

[13:01] There they lie down. They strip its branches bare. When its twigs are dry, they are broken off. And women come and make fires with them.

[13:12] For this is a people without understanding. So their maker has no compassion on them. And their creator shows them no favor. Thank you very much.

[13:24] The verse that caught my eye was verse 9. Which in my version says, By this then will Jacob's guilt be atoned for. And before I stick my neck out on it, has anybody got a different translation which completely undermines the thought that was in that verse?

[13:44] And is going to put up their hand and say, It doesn't say that in my Bible. Okay. So we will go with it as written. Can we just check? You've got a new NIV.

[13:54] Does it say the same sort of thing? Yeah. Okay. So this verse makes reference to Jacob's guilt. So again, this is a moral shortcoming.

[14:09] It's to do with sin. And in this case, what sin produces in terms of guilt. Sin also produces shame.

[14:19] But this verse talks about guilt. And as we had it read to us, what is the consequence or the reaction for Jacob's guilt?

[14:38] Can anybody like to tell us what was going on in the verses around that, which seems to connect with Jacob's guilt?

[15:04] Thank you. Verse 8, it says, By warfare and exile you contend with her. With his fierce blast he drives her out. So this, well that verse at least, seems to indicate that when God's patience is exhausted, his response to Jacob's guilt is to be in antagonism against his people to, well as it says here, to deal with her in warfare and in exile.

[15:40] Those are not friendly things. Anything else in what was read to us that would either add to that or mitigate it?

[15:51] Thank you very much. Which verse were you thinking of? Yep.

[16:05] Thank you. The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement forsaken like the desert. And you said they're brought to rock bottom. And you could say they're even brought, if there is such a thing as below rock bottom, they're brought to that.

[16:20] Because God is against them. Anybody like to add to that? Any other? Yes.

[16:33] Thank you. So the Asherah poles were the instruments of idolatry. I think perhaps they were like totem poles or like idols that you sometimes see in other countries.

[16:50] And God is going to wipe that out. So he's getting rid of all of that. Yep. Anything else?

[17:01] Anything? I mean, I was struck by one of the verses. I don't know if anybody else was struck by it towards the end. That's what it says. The Lord has no compassion on them.

[17:14] Their creator shows them no favor. That is really... I mean, you couldn't get more rock bottom than that, could you? If our maker has become so exasperated and so run out of patience that he says, that's it.

[17:33] I'm not going to show you compassion any longer. I'm not going to show you favor. I'm going to relate to you in another way than that. So, again, let's just be clear what's at stake here.

[17:51] Unless we've very severely got the wrong end of the stick, it's saying that there is this reaction within God in which he is so provoked and his patience has so run out or has so been tested that now his reaction is to be against the objects of those people, to have no compassion on them and no favor towards them.

[18:23] Now, I would say that that comes under the heading of God's judgment and it comes under the heading of God's wrath and it comes under that heading without mixing into it anything of compassion or favor or anything like that.

[18:43] It is just undiluted wrath and judgment. That seems to me what that passage is saying. Anybody like to say, I've got the wrong end of the stick?

[18:56] I think that's pretty clear what that's saying. So, we're asking ourselves how possibly can we get from this situation of the people being under God's judgment and wrath to a situation where they're now in the clear and as it says, it uses that word in verse 9, atoned for.

[19:22] But it's not at all clear how that, well, it's not made explicit, how that produces atonement. So, let's look at some of the references which talk about the removing of sin.

[19:38] So, let's go back to chapter 1. As I'm asking us now, what does Isaiah say about the way that this situation is turned round?

[19:51] So, please could Ruth read for us chapter 1, verses 24 to 27.

[20:07] Therefore, the Lord, sorry, therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty, the mighty one of Israel declares, I will get from my foes and avenge myself on my enemies.

[20:27] I will turn, I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.

[20:38] I will restore your judges as in days of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterwards, you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.

[20:51] Zion will be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness. Thank you very much. So, this envisages the change from being a faithful city, sorry, a faithless city to a faithful city.

[21:10] So, when we get to verse 26, you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. And in the middle there is a description of the process that happens to get from being the harlot city to the faithful city.

[21:27] Anybody like to risk telling us which verse or what words are used to describe that transition? Purge, which is in verse 25.

[21:42] Yes. And I look this up and I think it means to smelt. So, it's purging in the... So, it is a sort of metallurgical word.

[21:55] Smelting is when you have an ore mixed up with whatever it's, rock or something like that.

[22:07] You heat it up a very great deal until it's really, really hot and you get rid of the dross and what you're left with is the pure thing.

[22:18] It's a pretty robust process. I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove your impurities.

[22:28] I don't think there's anything else... I don't think that's repeated. I think that's the single idea there.

[22:40] So, I'm asking the question, how do we get from the situation where there is a faithless city to a faithful city? And what we're told here is a sort of smelting process, a fiery smelting heating process.

[22:53] We're not told much more about it than that, I don't think. Let's look at chapter 4, verses 2, or we could read 2 to 6.

[23:05] Lovely little, very tightly packed gem of verses here. So, this is chapter 4, verses 2 to 6. I'm going to ask the same question. We're going to get from faithless to faithful.

[23:16] What happens in between to get there? And please, could Ruth read us then Isaiah 4, 2 through to 6? In that day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.

[23:41] Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem.

[23:51] The Lord will wash away the filth of the woman of Zion. He will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.

[24:04] Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night.

[24:17] Over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.

[24:30] Thank you very much. A whole lot of detail there, some of which think, oh, wonder what that means. But if we could just focus on that question, we go from being the unholy city to a beautiful, glorious city with many aspects of glory.

[24:51] What happened to get from A to B? What does it say? Okay, the branch of the Lord comes. So this we learn in other places to be the king who's the son of David.

[25:10] Yeah, okay, so the branch of the Lord is there. Yeah, thank you. Anything else happen? Washing. Thank you very much. Verse 4, the Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion.

[25:22] So we're told washing. And what is the nature of the washing according to the text? Cleansing by the spirit of judgment. Thank you. Cleansing by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.

[25:37] So again, what we have here, it's not in all worked out detail, but the general picture of it is it's a washing. But it's not a washing with water and a sort of gentle shower, shower gel, conditioner, sort of way, but in a very vigorous, you know, almost unbelievably strong way, a spirit of judgment, a spirit of fire.

[26:04] So we've got another fire thing going on. And 6 verse 6. So Isaiah chapter 6 is such a brilliant chapter, but let's just take Isaiah 6, 5 to 8.

[26:27] Please. Woe to me, I cried. I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.

[26:43] Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live call in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it, he touched my mouth and said, See, this has touched your lips.

[26:59] Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?

[27:12] Thank you very much indeed. Isaiah's experience is not completely different from the experience of his people. So here he becomes aware of his sin.

[27:25] Same problem as with the people. I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean lips. He ends up willing to go for the Lord and be a light to whoever God sends him to.

[27:40] But in between, what moves him from being a man of unclean lips to be a man able to be sent to serve the Lord? What happens in between? His sin is atoned for, says Mark, yes, and how is his sin atoned for?

[28:00] That's what it seems to be. It seems to be to do with fire. These are alive coal, so it's a bit from the barbecue, which is nice and hot, ready to, you know, barbecue the sausages.

[28:13] And that touches his lips. And as we're told here, his guilt is taken away, his sin is atoned for. So there's, again, something to do with fire. I don't think it's fully explained, but it's a fire thing that goes on here.

[28:28] Let's look at 40 verses 1 and 2. I think it's quite tempting to see the exile as being a journey into fire.

[28:50] Hold that thought. You might think, I've completely made that up, rabbit out of a hat. But let's just hold that thought and see whether it has the possibility of working. When we get to Isaiah chapter 40, this is thinking after the exile, and this is what we're told in chapter 40 verses 1 and 2.

[29:12] Thank you, Ruth. Thank you very much.

[29:36] Let's just do with the double because that seems to be disproportionate. So is it saying that her sin was X but her punishment was 2X?

[29:47] I don't think it's saying that. I think it's saying that her sin was X and the punishment was also X. It's the double, you know, like having somebody who looks just like you.

[29:59] Your double. Yes. In the Reader's Digest of 1958, I remember reading a digest of a story called I Was Monty's Double and it was somebody who looked like Field Marshal Montgomery and he was sent to wander around and wave at people and the enemy thought he was General Montgomery and they all sent their snipers and et cetera following the one who was the double.

[30:29] I don't know why I bothered to tell you that because, anyway, I think this is the double. It means the exact match for her sin. Now, let's think, what was it that was the exact match for her sin as we're told here?

[30:48] In what way might we think that her sin has been paid for? What has occurred? Okay, thank you.

[31:01] The Lord speaks tenderly. Thank you very much. He says this in a tender way. Yeah? Her hard service has been completed.

[31:13] Yes? In what way has her hard service been completed? And in what way has her sin been paid for? And what was it that was the double for her sins?

[31:27] Well, I think so, the exile because the judgment fell on Jerusalem. She got flattened in judgment. The people got taken away and God says, you know, I've exhausted, that's it.

[31:43] I've done that and I've finished now and your hard service has ended. Your sin has been paid for in that very dramatic way and I'm bringing you back.

[31:58] And I'd like to suggest there's a linkage that the fire that they went through was this fire of judgment and they now come back sort of out of the fire in some sense ready to receive God's blessings.

[32:13] Something like that. Let's look at 43.2. So 43 verses 1 up to 4.

[32:36] But now this is what the Lord says, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name, you are mine.

[32:54] When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze.

[33:09] For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead, since you are precious and honoured in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.

[33:33] Thank you very much. So this is half a thought here. Is this fire that is spoken of in this text, the same fire that burned up the dross, but through which the gold or the precious metal came unscathed?

[33:54] Is he saying to the redeemed people, I bring you through the fire, and I bring you through pure? Is that what he's saying?

[34:05] What's the song that we sing, when through the deep waters I call you to go, the rivers of woe shall not sanctify?

[34:19] So I missed out a bit about fire. When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be your supply. I don't know, that's half a thought on that.

[34:33] So, so far we have got the idea that God genuinely that the problem is genuinely sin, that God's reaction to sin is genuinely judgment, and that there is some way, which we're a bit puzzled about, I think, to be honest, of how this judgment can result in them coming through unscathed.

[35:00] How on earth does that work? How can they walk through the fire and come out? that's where we get to so far, but when we come to Isaiah 52, I think a whole new perspective is opened because Isaiah 52 and 53 talks about sin being removed, it talks about, well, what does it talk about?

[35:36] It talks about, let's just see what it does say, so, for example, 53, verse 4, he took up our infirmities, he carried our sorrows, verse 5, he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, by his wounds we are healed, we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all, so, up to this point we've been talking about fire, which is an inanimate object, we've been talking about dross, purging, and things like that, but here we get a new perspective, would anybody like to point out to us what very new thought comes in here in terms of dealing with sin or removing sin?

[36:49] A person, yep, and you Sid? There is a person there is a person who does pay, because it's a him, so we're not talking about fire, not talking about flames, we're talking about a him, a person, H-I-M, him, and Julia is saying there's a substitution or a transfer that goes on, so the sinner does not receive the punishment, the person, the him, receives it instead.

[37:28] So it seems to me that we have had a huge sort of, the light has been switched on in a room which was rather dark before, because all we had before was fire and that sort of thing, but here it becomes this, this is how he does it, this someone, this servant, he bears our infirmities, our iniquities, he is pierced for our transgressions, that's how it happens.

[38:03] So it doesn't take away, let me just phrase this properly, it does not soften the idea of judgment, it doesn't say, ah, when I said fire and judgment I didn't really mean that, it's just a gentle warming, ten minutes in the microwave, that's all it was really, it doesn't say that, it really is judgment and it really is a fiery thing, but we see here how it focuses down on this person who in himself, in his single self, bears all of that that was to be born by the people of God, he bears it in himself, he takes whatever it says, he was crushed for our iniquities, so let's just, I read it all to begin with so we won't read it again but perhaps one or two people could pick out for us what goes on, who is involved and what follows, so any of those things, what goes on, who's involved and what follows,

[39:18] I've sort of answered some of them already, so let's take it, take Maria to hear, yeah, in Isaiah 53, yeah, yes, yes, thank yes thank you it's been exchanged from us to him and it isn't a completely symmetrical exchange because he bears the sin and stops bearing he bears it and deals with it so there comes a point when he has to deal with it no longer but what he does for us is he justifies many and that stays like that do you see what I mean it isn't that it hops momentarily and then hops back again he bears our sin and then deals with it we are made righteous not just made righteous and then stop being made righteous we're made righteous forever so that's important to think about that okay so this is what happens afterwards could you spell that out again yeah fantastic yeah okay so let me at risk of straining your patients let me just go back to that exchange again so if I were to what shall I exchange if I were to exchange my

[41:46] I would exchange that through your scarf okay so I've got the scarf she's got the please please please stop stop you keep reading and say please I keep stop that's not quite like it is with Jesus because let's look at that again if that's sin this is the righteousness that Jesus gives like that he takes the sin and he doesn't feed the threads he takes it excuse me deals with it finished I got it that's right isn't it it isn't

[42:49] I'm not sure that we can put that through let's look at a couple of New Testament references let's try the Matthew 8 17 just to confirm to us that the New Testament has this thought bubbling away all the way through that the right understanding of Jesus is that he's the servant and it it it bubbles around underneath the thinking of the New Testament so we had Matthew 8 17 please Ruth could you read us

[43:50] Matthew 8 14 to 17 page 972 when Jesus came into Peter's house he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever he touched her hand and the fever left her and she got up and began to wait on him when evening came many who were demon possessed were brought to him and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed the sick this was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah he took up our infirmities and carried our diseases!

[45:06] thought now correct correct me if I'm wrong it's in verse 4 isn't it chapter 53 Isaiah 53 verse 4 yep Isaiah 53 verse 4 and around there now the Isaiah 53 around there has got a whole cluster of statements which say punishment sin penalty all of that which was on us he takes it and we get set free so that's what Isaiah 53 is actually that's the main line of thought there and Matthew seems to pick up the wording of it that he carries our sorrows he carries our infirmities he carries our diseases and he sees in the healing ministry of Jesus a sort of what shall I say an indication of the deeper work that he does in the atoning it's interesting that he says this is the fulfillment of that or that work which you know about in

[46:20] Isaiah you can see even echoes of it in the fact that Jesus heals people I we pick up on that even in the way that he takes away disease and how much more what the text actually saying that he takes away our sins I think that's the way that it's going anybody like to I'm sure somebody could explain that better than I have yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah there we go if I might venture to say I'm not saying it takes things too far but it takes things too soon because

[47:23] God does want us all to be well he wants us all to be well and sinless and the very people that God made us to be he wants us to be in perfect relationship with him he wants all of sin and sorrow and sighing and death and corruption to be gone but not yet I think the problem with interpreting the text that it is now is that it's too soon because his atoning work yeah it does cover all of that covers everything doesn't it taking away our sin restoring everything restoring so there's no more disease but it's not all done yet so I'd say probably too soon if I may put it that way amen amen to that yes there's some things that we only learn through being in trial one of those trials might be being ill and it might be quite seriously ill

[48:49] I remember hearing Dr. Jim Packer referring to Johnny Erickson Johnny Erickson the lady who quite at an early age in a diving accident became paralysed from I don't know waist down chest down neck down was it really and this accident this tragedy really had been the thing that the Lord used to speak to her to deal with her in a very profound way I remember Jim Packer referring to this lady Johnny as she addressed a conference as a Christian giving a testimony and so on and he said do you know she was the healthiest woman in that whole conference because spiritually she was well it is well with my soul I won't stop on those other verses but I simply want to give us some words to describe what we have looked at this evening so

[50:01] I put vicarious atonement by penal substitution and you might have heard those words put together like that but they're simply saying what we have looked at this evening so penal means punishment as in penalty what happened when Jesus died on the cross was a penalty was paid that's why I tried to labor that point about judgment and fire because that is not softened the gospel says God is a judge he is a righteous judge and he is a fearful judge and what Jesus went through was a fearful judgment it was a penal activity a punishment activity and I put in the word substitution which is what you said exchange isn't it and the heart of the matter is not just fire or just washing the heart of the matter is he was wounded by his wounds

[51:15] I am healed something happened to him which ought to have happened to me and I go free so there's a substitution there and I labour this point because not all Christians understand this what Jesus did for us he didn't just love us he did love us but he didn't just love us he died in our place he was the substitute under the penalty of God's judgment and I put vicarious atonement I think I got those words right the vicarious means somebody else does it for you can anybody think of vicarious being used in a sentence okay thank you very much indeed that's really helpful and I don't I'm not even sure whether I've got the word in the right place here but there is something vicarious about about about the atonement

[52:18] I get the benefit of what Jesus did for me it isn't that he just sets me an example so I do what he does he did something for me I could never do it's vicarious he did it for me and then I have that word atonement because the atonement means that the relationship is fully restored so at onement is where it comes from and through what the servant did through what Jesus did bearing the heat of God's judgment himself he brings me through amazingly he brings me through that cleansed renewed forgiven redeemed ransomed!

[53:09] Healed! Restored! Forgiven! All those things that the hymn says who like me his praise should sing I think it's brilliant really we've sung all our songs and we've used all our time as well actually can we do do!