We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Now, let's read together from Isaiah 53 and then we'll think about it for a time together.
So Isaiah 53 from the beginning, but we'll think about verses 10 to 12.
Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering.
Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed.
We all like sheep have gone astray.
Each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away, yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living.
For the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer.
And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.
By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great and he will divide the spoils with the strong because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
So we've been thinking for the last two Sundays now this one about the gospel, the good news that there is in the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.
And we come here to part three and we're going to focus on the resurrection of the servant as we think about Easter Sunday.
But I want to begin with the story of a man from Cameroon called Francis Ngannou.
And maybe you've heard of him. I suspect most of you haven't. I certainly hadn't until last week.
If you're interested, he is an ultimate fighter. He's in the UFC, mixed martial arts.
I don't follow it, but I always like to read those sort of personal interest stories, those interviews that reveal sort of glimpses into the sort of the backstory of athletes.
And Francis's story is a story of being a refugee from Cameroon to becoming a rising star within the MMA.
So I was reading and listening to him talk about being like many thousands from Africa, leaving that continent on migrant boats in order to sail to France.
And then he spent months homeless and penniless in Paris until eventually he found a gym and then he began to train.
And now he's on this path towards success in the MMA.
And so I read that in the morning. And then later that day, I discovered that he had a championship fight, which he won.
And he is now crowned as heavyweight champion in the world of UFC.
And it's sort of now in my head, those two stories of agony and struggle and victory, they belong together.
When I think about Francis and Gannou.
And isn't that true when we think of the story of Easter and the story of Jesus?
Here we have Isaiah 700 years before the arrival of Jesus.
And what he's done in the first verses that we've looked at, he's taken us into the agony, to the depths of the suffering and the death of Jesus, the obedient suffering servant of the Lord.
And today, in verses 10 to 12, we're going to see how the agony and the victory of the resurrection are then woven together as essential elements in the gospel.
They are two sides of the same coin.
So that hopefully we will recognise that we are called to respond to the Jesus of Isaiah 53.
The Jesus who is both crucified for us and risen in glory.
So the question is, will we worship this Jesus or will we walk away from him?
So we're going to think about the resurrection of the servant of the Lord and see how that connects with the Lord's will.
And then think about what that says about the satisfaction of the servant and the triumph of the servant as we move through this text.
So let's begin with the resurrection and the Lord's will.
Verse 10.
Look how it begins.
Yet it takes us right to the heart of the crucial question.
Who killed Jesus?
And it takes us beyond the religious leaders who plotted and planned against Jesus.
It takes us past the Roman soldiers who conspired with the Jews to put Jesus to death.
Ultimately, we see it was the father who planned to kill Jesus.
Notice it begins, verse 10 begins with a yet.
It's saying, although we have seen all this truth, although we have seen the servant despised, abused, rejected, killed, buried by those who hated him and opposed him.
Yet as the curtain is pulled back, beyond human actions, we see it is the Lord's will and the Lord's pleasure to do what?
This is a remarkable statement, isn't it?
Look at verse 10.
It was the Lord's will.
It's the Lord's pleasure to crush his servant.
To cause his servant to suffer.
To make his servant's life an offering for sin, a guilt offering.
Now remember, the servant is Jesus, the sinless Son of God.
The dearly loved Son of God.
So the question is that, how do we make sense of this?
How can the Father delight in the death of his Son?
And the answer must lie in what the death of his Son, the Lord Jesus, achieves.
Now to just take a step back for a moment.
Imagine the Bible, not as a book, but as a symphony.
And if the Bible was a symphony, we'd hear over and over again the great melody of salvation ringing out.
God is a God who delights to save sinners.
But within this symphony, we'd have interweaving themes that come and go throughout the whole Bible.
And two dominant themes are, one, that God is passionate for his glory and his honour.
So he cannot turn a blind eye to sin and he cannot just brush sin under the carpet.
He must be just and he must maintain his holiness.
So God's passion for his glory and honour.
But also, the other theme that we see is God's electing love.
He is passionate to do good to sinners who rob him of glory, who deny him the honour he deserves.
And what we see and what the Father delights in is that Jesus, in his death and resurrection, he brings those two themes together.
This is what brings the Father delight.
That Jesus is passionate for the glory of God and Jesus is passionate in his desire to save sinners.
And so Jesus becomes our guilt offering.
And Jesus' guilt offering is a suitable offering.
He is perfect.
He is blameless, as the law demands.
Jesus, coming as our substitute, he meets the demands of God's justice against sin, as every sacrifice did.
And Jesus also meets the needs for sinners like ourselves.
We cannot make ourselves good enough for God.
We need the sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus.
And in his becoming our guilt offering, he brings God glory and he saves sinners and God is pleased.
Of course, that's not the end of the story.
The story doesn't end with Jesus' death.
Verse 10 continues.
He will see his offspring and prolong his days.
And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
Beyond agony, there is victory.
The will of the Lord prospers in his hand, Isaiah says.
What does that mean?
It means that beyond the death of Jesus, there is life.
And in his risen life, Jesus continues the Lord's will.
God's purpose and plan is worked out in and through the Lord Jesus.
And what is his plan?
What is the will and the pleasure of God?
Well, again, to go back to verse 10, Jesus will see his offspring.
Jesus, in his dying and rising, purchases a spiritual family that belong to God,
who with Jesus share in his resurrection life.
And so we are invited by Isaiah and in the good news of the gospel to look to the cross
and to see there at the cross both the Lord's plan and the Lord's passion.
His desire to uphold his glory and honour and his desire to save ungodly rebel sinners
by laying our sin on Jesus, by Jesus enduring our shame so that we might receive his honour.
So we are not ashamed to say Christianity is a rescue religion.
The great song of the Bible is the song of salvation.
And we want to sing that joyfully.
Nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross of Jesus I cling.
So we look to the cross, but we also look to the risen Jesus,
the one who accomplishes the Lord's will as he becomes that guilt offering,
the one who accomplishes the Lord's will as he establishes that family of faith that enjoys eternal life.
As that family covers the globe, the global church, the church through history,
Jesus accomplishing the Lord's will.
The death and resurrection of Jesus enthrones him as victorious king.
So this was the Lord's will for Jesus.
I wonder how often we think about the Lord's will, the Lord's desire for you and for me.
Paul, as he writes to Timothy in his first letter to Timothy chapter 2,
says that God desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
What is that?
What is that truth?
That in Jesus we can be part of the family of God rather than being enemies estranged from God.
That we can receive eternal life and not eternal death.
That we can enjoy forgiveness.
That we don't have to live with guilt.
That's the gift that God desires to give.
Now of course, we can resist that.
We can say no to that.
But why would we?
Do we know Jesus as Saviour?
Do we worship him because of all that he has done?
There's the resurrection and the Lord's will.
Verse 11 moves from there to think about the resurrection and the servant's satisfaction.
The satisfaction of Jesus, the servant of the Lord.
Perhaps you are familiar with performance assessments.
I know boys and girls that that's something you sometimes have to do in school.
Maybe in a workplace you have end of year reviews or end of a project reviews.
It's part of life for many of us.
Asking questions like, you know, am I happy with how things went?
What would I have done differently?
Could things have been done better?
Could things have turned out better?
Now Isaiah here pictures, anticipates the servant of the Lord giving his assessment of the cross as he looks back on it as a finished work.
And the servant is totally satisfied.
He would change nothing because he has performed, he has achieved the Lord's will.
And of course the Lord's will is the will of the servant because Jesus is the Son of God.
So he is totally satisfied with what his performance has achieved.
Let's see that in verse 11.
Look at the beginning with me.
After or literally because he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.
Here is a reward anticipated satisfaction that will be experienced because of this suffering that has been gone through.
So the flow of the first part of the verse is because Jesus has suffered and died and Isaiah has laid that out in verses 3 to 9.
Because he was despised and rejected, because he suffered, because he took up our pain and suffering,
because he was pierced for our transgressions,
because the punishment that brought us peace was on him as he was oppressed and afflicted but bore that silently.
Now as he was cut off from the land of the living and assigned a grave with the wicked,
after that comes resurrection.
He will see the light of life and he knows the satisfaction of the plan of salvation being completed.
So Jesus can look on the cross and be satisfied,
knowing it is both the Lord's delight in upholding his glory and his delight in saving sinners.
Jesus knows satisfaction as his offering purchases offspring for God's family.
He dies so we might live.
To use the language of the book of Hebrews from a different section,
Hebrews chapter 12, speaks of Jesus who for the joy set before him,
so this is looking forward to the cross,
who for the joy set before him endured the cross.
Now what was the joy anticipated by Jesus?
The joy of completing the Father's plan,
of upholding the Father's glory and bringing salvation to sinners.
And now here in Isaiah, he's looking back and seeing that same joy.
Now the second part of the verse is interesting.
Take a look at that verse, the second part.
By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities.
Now our instinct might be to read that to say that knowing Jesus is the key to being justified in God's sight.
If we are to be declared perfectly acceptable, we can't do that on our own strength or merit.
We need to know the Lord Jesus.
And that of course is true.
But the focus here isn't what do I know about Jesus?
The focus is what does Jesus the servant know?
And what Jesus the servant knows, and he alone knows, and knows fully,
he knows the Lord's will.
The Lord's will to uphold his honour.
The Lord's will to save sinners.
Jesus, as he comes, as he suffers and dies, he knows that.
Jesus knows what the Lord requires.
For us as sinful people to be acceptable, Jesus must, to use the language of verse 11,
he must bear our iniquities.
He must suffer the judgment of God for us.
He must go under the curse for us.
Jesus must become, as it were, unacceptable, that we might be made acceptable in God's sight there at the cross.
What we discover in verse 11 is that our hope rests in Jesus.
Jesus, who is God's righteous servant.
And that word righteous is so important.
That he is righteous is good news for us.
Because the only way for his offering to be accepted is if he is righteous and blameless.
Just like in the Old Testament, the animals had to be pure and blameless.
It was a picture of the sacrifice God requires to deal with our sin has to be a righteous one.
That's Jesus, the righteous servant.
And the only way his righteousness can be extended to us is if we receive it as a gift.
God can only be satisfied with us because he is satisfied with his son and we are in Christ.
By faith we are united to Christ so that when God looks at us, he sees us perfect in the Lord Jesus.
And it brought Jesus satisfaction to do that for God's glory and for the church.
That's an amazing thing to think about considering the events of Easter.
When Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones sang and we still hear it,
I can't get no satisfaction.
I expect then they were voiced in the feelings of many.
And I think now we still have that sense of discontent.
Perhaps in this last year especially, feeling a sense of discontent.
Perhaps we're not sure where we look for satisfaction.
Maybe we've tried various things to give our life a sense of meaning and purpose and identity.
And as the foundations of life have been shaken, we find that we're not sure where to turn.
Well, the Bible says the one source of true and lasting satisfaction is in Jesus.
So we look to Jesus and we consider what brought Jesus satisfaction.
Here in Isaiah, we're reminded that the sinless Son of God took on himself the sin of the world,
the judgment that we deserve so that we could be justified,
so that we could stand in God's presence and not be condemned,
so we could be declared righteous in God's eyes.
And that brings Jesus satisfaction.
There's love, isn't it?
Jesus both has satisfied the requirements of the law by becoming our blameless substitute,
and Jesus is satisfied that the plan of salvation is complete,
that the price has been paid, that the gift has been offered
to a needy, hurting, broken world, to you and me today.
Your longings for love, for purpose, for security, for hope, for forgiveness,
they are found in the risen Lord Jesus.
Look to him, turn from sin and turn towards God
and to put your trust in Jesus as saviour.
And you will find your heart's desire in him.
And now let's have a look at verse 12
and the resurrection and the servant's triumph.
Now I want to suggest there's a picture here
as we read verse 12 and we'll read it in a second.
And the picture is of a victory podium.
You imagine perhaps a medal ceremony
and there's a gold medalist on the top of the podium
and he's receiving, she's receiving glory.
Now the question,
who is it that receives glory and victory in Isaiah's prophecy?
Now in the translation we have here,
first half of verse 12,
therefore I will give him a portion among the great
and he will divide the spoils with the strong.
Now that can sound like and perhaps suggest
that if this is a podium,
then the whole team are on the platform together,
sharing in honour.
Now perhaps Jesus is captain,
but he is first among equals.
That might be the impression we get,
but it's better to think of it this way.
There is only one who stands on that podium.
Only one who receives this glory and honour
anticipated in Isaiah 53 in the first instance,
and that's the servant,
Jesus,
our risen Lord.
And that we then appreciate that our victory
is totally dependent on that of Jesus.
Jesus is for us,
our champion.
Think back to the Old Testament,
David against Goliath.
Rather than having Israel and the Philistines
as whole armies battle it out,
champions were chosen.
And whichever one was victorious,
their army would share in the victory.
So Jesus,
as our champion,
wins the battle against sin
and the devil and death and the grave.
He pays the price that we owe
because we have broken God's law
and in him and only in him
are we conquerors.
So that all the glory
and all the honour
must return to Jesus
even as we share in his victory.
To him be the glory.
Look at the verse 12 again.
Therefore,
in light of
having perfectly completed his task,
there is now a victory,
there is now reward.
Therefore,
I will give him a portion
among the great,
among the many.
This is a picture of Jesus
receiving all the redeemed people of God
as his reward.
What is the reward for Jesus
after his death and resurrection?
It's the church.
Don't ever devalue the church.
It's Christ's reward.
It's the people he died to save
and to love
and to bring into fellowship with him.
And then verse 12,
the second line in verse 12,
slightly different note,
he will divide the spoils
with the strong.
It's a picture of the spoils of war.
You know,
to the victor belong the spoils.
Well,
the spoils of war here
are actually
the strong.
It's a reference to those
nations and kings
in the book of Isaiah
who resist
God's will.
Those who resist
Jesus
ultimately
will be defeated.
Decisive action
of judgment
will be taken
against those
who oppose
Jesus as Lord.
Here is total triumph
in other words.
Here is the risen Jesus
in joy and glory,
saving his people,
bringing judgment
on those who oppose him.
And how does that victory,
how does the reward come?
Read with me in verse 12.
Because
he poured out
his life unto death.
So because of his death
and
because he was numbered
with the transgressors,
because he identifies,
self-identifies
with sinners,
and because
he bore
the sin of many.
Jesus
in love
was willing
to be regarded
as a rebel.
Jesus
out of love
and mercy
was willing
to take on himself
and be punished
for those thoughts
that you have,
those actions
you have committed,
those words
that you have spoken
that cause you deep shame
and you would love
to hide
and to bury him
for no one else to see.
Jesus
died
for those,
identified with those
and bore
those.
And here
is the triumph
and the victory
of salvation.
Through the cross
and the resurrection
there is
reward,
there is honour
for Jesus.
But how does
reward and honour
and good news
come to us
because he does
it for us.
And notice
in particular
this last phrase,
Jesus made
intercession
for the transgressors.
Here is Jesus
standing as
go-between.
You know
in friendships
when people are
sort of face-to-face
but then there's
a falling out
and people then
turn their backs
on one another.
Jesus comes
as mediator,
he comes as that
party looking
to reconcile.
And Jesus
is the perfect
mediator because
between God
and man,
Jesus is both
God and
man.
And Jesus
stands and he
takes that
sin that
separates.
He takes the
anger of God
that is against
us so that we
might be reconciled
through faith
in him.
And it's important
that we understand
that the intercession
of Jesus
wasn't a one-time
thing there at
the cross.
Jesus continues
to make intercession.
Again to go to
Hebrews,
Hebrews chapter 7
and verse 25,
Jesus ever lives
we're told to
make intercession.
Jesus in other
words is constantly
claiming his
finished work
as the basis
for his people
to be accepted
and welcomed.
He is pleading
before the
father on the
basis of
those wounds
that he received
on the cross.
The reality
that he has
suffered and
died in our
place for our
sins that justice
has been done
so that by faith
in Jesus we
can be welcome
and accepted.
We are a
people who
long for
security.
It's been
profoundly
unsettling times.
There is
complete security
for now and
eternity in
knowing the
risen Lord
Jesus.
we have his
power in
us.
We have his
presence with
us and we
have him in
heaven and he
is praying
for us.
So we have
seen the
agony and
the victory
of the
servant and
we see it
in the
story of
Easter.
Here is
Isaiah led
by the
spirit anticipating
700 years
later the
agony of
the suffering
of the
being forsaken
of the
death of
the
resurrection
triumph of
Jesus.
How do we
respond?
Well I think
about the
story of
Francis Ngannou
knowing all
he'd gone
through it
made me
root for
him to
have
success.
It made
me feel a
sense of
happiness that
he would
have victory
beyond his
struggles.
How much
more should
we have
joy in
the victory
of Jesus?
How much
more should
we delight
in Jesus
knowing that
the agonies
he went
through he
went through
for us?
It's
Jesus who
delighted in
carrying out
God's plan
of salvation
who is
satisfied in
justifying
ungodly
people like
us who
intercedes
for us so
that we
might share
his resurrection
life and
victory.
That's the
good news of
Easter.
That's the
heart of
the message
of the
gospel.
I wonder
if that's
the story
that's central
to your
heart
bringing you
joy today.
If it is
then worship
Jesus,
enjoy him,
trust him
and if not
turn to
him as
your Lord
and Saviour.
Let's pray
together.
Lord,
there is so
much mystery
surrounding
Easter.
It is a
mystery that
you could be
pleased in
sending your
son to be
the sin
bearer so
that people
like us
might be
forgiven and
redeemed and
justified and
adopted and
have the hope
of glory.
But yet we
know it's
true.
Lord, we
are amazed
at the
satisfaction
that Jesus
felt in
completing your
plan and in
saving people
like us.
In seeing
your love
for the
church.
Help us to
know that
this is
true.
Father, help
us to see
in a fresh
way the
glory, the
triumph, the
victory of
the Lord
Jesus, to
know that in
him we have
security and
hope for now
and for
eternity, that
we would live
as a people
with hope and
joy.
We pray in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
aram
Leifa
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me old again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my pardon, this I see
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my cleansing, this my plea.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing can force in the tone
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Not of good that I have done
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow.
Oh, precious is the flow
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
This is all my righteousness
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Oh, precious is the blood of Jesus
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow
No other fount I know.
Oh, precious is the flow
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Now by this I'll overcome
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Now by this I'll reach my home
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Now by this I'll reach my home
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
And oh, precious is the flow
Oh, precious is the flow
The flow that makes me white as snow
No other found I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Crown Him with many crowns
The Lamb upon His throne
While heaven's eternal anthem
Drowns all music but its own
Awake my soul and sing
Of Him who died to be
Your Savior and your matchless King
Through all eternity
Crown Him the Lord of life
Triumphant from the grave
Who rose victorious from the strife
For those He came to save
His glories now we sing
Who died and rings on high
Who died eternal life to bring
And lives that death may die
Crown Him the Lord of love
Who shows His hands and side
Those wounds yet visible above
And beauty glorified
No angel in the sky
Can't fully bear the sight
But downward bends His burning eye
Crying high at mystery so bright
Crown Him the Lord of peace
His kingdom is at hand
From pole to pole
From pole to pole let warfare cease
And Christ rule every land
A city stands on high
His glory it displays
And there the nations
Holy cry in joyful hymn of praise
Praise
Crown Him the Lord of years
The potent saint of time
Creator of the rolling spheres
In majesty sublime
All hail, Redeemer, hail
For You have died for me
Your praise shall never, never fail
Through all eternity
All hail, Redeemer, hail
For You have died for me
Your praise shall never, never fail
Through all eternity
I'll praise the Lord my God
Whose counsel guides my choice
And even in the night
My heart recalls instructions' voice
Before me constantly
I set the Lord alone
Because He is at my right hand
I'll not be overthrown
Therefore my heart is glad
My tongue with joy will sing
My body too will rest secure
In hope unwavering
For You will not allow
My soul in death to stay
Nor will You leave Your Holy One
To see the tombs decay
You have made known to me
The path of life divine
Bliss shall I know
At Your right hand
Joy from Your face will shine
Anytime
To see the tombs till there
You have made known to be
And for the mind
Of The
Caitlin
And the journkas