Well, it's been pure joy this month of December to focus on the person of Jesus Christ.
So this is our fourth of four sermons on the person of Jesus.
And I've taken my cue from our confession of faith on who Jesus is.
The last doctrine and focus today is that Jesus is not only truly God, he is also truly man.
And as that perfect mediator, the God-man, we get to see from this amazing Old Testament prophecy,
the work of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I'll read this trusting that it is God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear and sufficient word.
It's his very own word for you and for me.
Isaiah 53.
Who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness.
And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from him.
He was despised and we did not esteem him.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement from our peace was upon him.
And by his stripes we are healed.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray and have turned everyone to his own way.
And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted.
Yet he opened not his mouth.
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent.
So he opened not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment.
And who will declare his generation?
For he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people.
He was stricken and made them.
And they made him a grave with the wicked.
But with the rich at his death.
Because he had no violence.
Nor was any deceit found in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
And he put him to grief.
When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed.
He shall prolong his days.
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied.
By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many.
For he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great.
And he shall divide the spoil with the strong.
Because he poured out his soul unto death.
And he was numbered with the transgressors.
And he bore the sin of many.
And made intercession for the transgressors.
This is the word of the Lord for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Please be seated.
The grass withers.
The flower fades.
But the word of the Lord stands forever.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Oh Lord.
This prophecy that we read.
Fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
Is so glorious.
Our faith is so small Lord.
We depend on your Holy Spirit.
To take your truth.
And help us to grasp it.
We pray that you will do that Lord.
For Christ's sake.
Help us to behold you.
More today.
And to know you more truly we ask.
For your glory.
Amen.
Some of the most important things.
In life.
We cannot fully.
Wrap our heads around.
Let me give you a very simple example.
To begin with.
I can't understand time.
Realistically.
A point of reference in time.
So when I say our nation is 249 years old.
Wrestle with that number for a little bit for yourself.
I try to put markers.
And try to imagine what that is.
But very quickly as that number gets bigger.
I'm just lost.
I have no point of reference.
So when I tell you our nation.
Think of all that's happened.
You can study U.S. history for probably 12 years.
And keep going.
And know it in detail.
And that's just 249 years.
You double that kids.
And we're right around 500 years.
Can you imagine twice as much time passed?
Twice as many events.
Now listen to this.
The passage we read.
Which undeniably.
Prophesized the work of Jesus Christ.
700 years.
Past.
Between when Isaiah wrote down these verses.
And when God the Son.
Veiled himself.
In the flesh.
Truly man.
And accomplished all that God had purposed.
700 years.
And yet we read it now.
About 2025 more years later.
And it's so close.
I mean it's just so near and intimate.
It's like we're there watching this happen before our eyes.
You see how this is such an important truth.
And our minds are limited.
But yet we can grasp it truly.
And if you're able to grasp the work of Christ.
In this glorious passage that we read.
And with God's help that we'll walk through.
You can have assurance.
That this is the Holy Spirit.
For administering his truth to you and to me.
To give us eyes of faith.
And I hope that the sermon today.
Is really a worship experience for all of us.
The application.
Worship the Lord.
As we read through these verses one more time.
Together.
The title of our sermon today.
Is the unexpected arm of the Lord.
The unexpected arm of the Lord.
And I have six or so observations.
I hope to point out to you.
Number one.
The Lord's promise to unsleeve his arm.
Should terrify sinners like you and me.
The Lord's promise to unsleeve.
To pull back the sleeve of his arm.
It should terrify us.
Because you and I are sinners.
And this image of the arm of the Lord.
It comes from the passage itself.
Would you please look at verse one.
To whom has the arm of the Lord.
Been revealed.
Now this is a prophetic idiom.
It's the Holy Spirit filling Isaiah.
And helping him now to convey.
In words in Hebrew.
This glorious vision.
In these words.
That the spirit is breathing out through him.
And through his pen.
What else does all the rest of the scripture say.
About God.
John 1 18 says.
No one has seen God.
At any time.
This is John 1.
Pointing us to Christ.
Who is the full glory of God.
Yet it's also affirming that God.
Is not seeable.
God is spirit.
John 4 34.
Luke 24 39.
Spirit does not have flesh and bones.
Colossians 1 15.
God is invisible.
So when verse one of Isaiah 53 says.
To whom has the arm of the Lord.
Been revealed.
We take all of scripture into account.
To understand his meaning.
And his meaning is that.
An arm.
Of a king.
Is what executes.
The will of the king.
It's God's action.
And the action of God.
Is going to be revealed.
But even the way in which it's revealed.
Will be unexpected.
I believe that gets very closely.
At the meaning in verse one.
Now when God reveals his will.
To this earth.
Is that good news.
Or bad news.
We don't get good news.
Until we first.
Let the bad news.
Push us low.
Look at verse six.
All we.
How many of us.
All we.
Like sheep.
Have gone astray.
We have turned one.
We have turned.
Everyone.
To his own way.
See for all of us.
To know this prophecy.
God will.
Unveil.
His will.
His action.
In human history.
This should be terrifying news.
Because God is just.
He binds himself.
To punish evil.
Because God is just.
And he freely.
Promises blessing.
In a covenant.
He.
He is binding himself.
To also.
Bless righteousness.
Think of the opposite.
It would be unjust.
For God to.
Bless evil.
And it would be unjust.
Of God to.
Overlook.
Or skip over.
Or brush.
Under the rug.
The rug.
That sin.
And not punish it.
So he must punish evil.
And he will.
Bind himself.
Graciously.
To reward.
Righteousness.
The reason.
All we like sheep.
Have turned astray.
And every one of us.
Has turned to our own way.
It's part of a story.
That begins.
Way before.
Any one of us.
It's because.
Adam.
Disobeyed God.
In the garden.
God gave.
Adam.
A promise of.
Life.
For obedience.
And curses.
For disobedience.
And Adam.
Representing.
All of mankind.
The human race.
He sinned.
And he brought us.
All under.
The curses.
That deserve death.
We are cursed.
By being into.
This line.
Of Adam and Eve.
And this curse.
Permeates.
Every aspect.
Of who we are.
We're cursed.
In body.
And soul.
Inner man.
Outer man.
In the inner man.
We're born.
Hating God.
In the outer man.
Our hatred for God.
Comes out.
As sin.
Born out in our flesh.
Through our words.
Through our actions.
We are born.
Loving.
Our sin.
Seeking after.
Our ways.
And not God's way.
And when God.
The holy God.
Reveals himself to us.
We're exposed.
Christ.
This has been.
What the build up.
In all of this.
Wonderful book of Isaiah.
The very first chapter.
Isaiah 1.
5.
And 6.
Describes.
The people of God.
As covenant breakers.
He describes them.
As having a.
Sick head.
And a faint heart.
They're covered.
From head to toe.
In bruises.
And sores.
And raw.
Wounds.
This is the language.
Of Isaiah.
Describing.
Our sin.
A sick head.
And a faint heart.
That's the inner man.
And the outer man.
Like a leper.
Full of sores.
And raw wounds.
We are rotting.
Both internally.
And externally.
Under the curse.
Of sin.
Isaiah 1.
18.
Describes our sin.
As scarlet.
And crimson.
We had a nosebleed.
In the family.
And the carpet.
Not just the rug.
But carpet.
That you can't take up easily.
Is light gray.
So the moment.
That blood.
That dark.
Crimson red.
Hits the gray carpet.
Run and grab.
The hydrogen peroxide.
And squirts them on.
And starts scrubbing.
And it's amazing.
How it bubbles up.
And you scrub.
And it comes out.
You put more on.
And sometimes.
It'll extract out of there.
If you get it quickly.
But in the ancient world.
To dye.
A piece of cloth.
Scarlet.
Or crimson.
It was permanent.
That cloth.
Will always be that color.
You can never wash it out.
Anymore.
It's become part of the fabric.
And that's what our sin is.
Under the curse.
Of Adam.
God cannot overlook.
Our filthy.
Unremovable stains.
Unremovable by our own efforts.
We can scrub and scrub.
Put stuff on it.
It won't come out.
Because God is just.
And almighty.
He must crush.
He must pulverize.
His enemies.
You and me.
Who are born hating him.
And he's an eternal.
Holy God.
That's the only just response.
To creatures like us.
So when sinners like us.
Hear.
That God.
The holy God.
The creator.
Is unsleeving his arms.
We should be in terror.
We should expect his wrath.
Amen.
Well here's the second observation.
The Lord tells us.
That the revelation.
And life.
Of his arm.
Will be unexpected.
It'll be unexpected.
For several reasons.
First.
Where the arm of the Lord.
Will spring up from.
Is unexpected.
Look at verse two.
As a root.
Out of dry ground.
You picture dry ground.
In the Middle East.
In the deserts.
Nothing is going to spring up.
From that.
On its own.
Dry ground.
Refers to.
Parched desert land.
Where nothing.
Should be able to grow.
Even with a lot of human help.
And it's just going to spring up.
The word root.
It's.
It's a plant.
That's going to now.
Have deep roots.
Gaining substance.
In a place where there's no substance.
To be gained.
It highlights the supernatural work.
Of God.
To bring forth Jesus Christ.
Into humanity.
To sustain him.
Just like a root.
Out of dry ground.
Against all odds.
Our Savior will.
Grow.
And survive.
And fulfill all righteousness.
Under these conditions.
Within fallen creation.
Think of how our Lord Jesus.
Was born into a poor family.
A weak nation.
His parents are sinners.
His.
You know.
His adoptive father Joseph.
All around him.
A nation whose worship.
Has been corrupted.
Who've lost sight of God's word.
And yet.
He fulfilled.
All righteousness.
Against all odds.
A second way.
In which.
The springing up.
Of this arm of the Lord.
Is unexpected.
Is in the form.
The form in which.
He will enter creation.
Verse 2 says.
For he.
This is the arm of the Lord.
Will grow up.
Before him.
As a tender.
Plant.
In a botanical sense.
It refers to a young.
Green.
Suckling shoot.
That draws its life.
From the main trunk.
It suggests something.
Extreme.
Extremely vulnerable.
And dependent.
See.
The arm of the Lord.
Could have come.
As a great cedar.
Already established.
And mighty.
Providing shade.
For all the nations.
But look at the humility.
Of our Lord Jesus.
He came into this earth.
Like a fragile twig.
In the desert.
That could have easily.
Been trampled on.
And snapped.
As a tender suckling.
God the son.
And the person.
Of Jesus Christ.
Grew.
Through the natural.
Weak stages.
Of human development.
We have many.
Many children.
And parents.
Grandparents.
Aunts and uncles.
Older siblings.
You know what it's like.
To take care of a little child.
And we also know.
How your little sibling.
Is a sinner.
Such a sinner.
Right?
Well this is why.
Our Lord Jesus.
Had to.
He came to fulfill.
All righteousness.
Through every stage.
Through every stage of life.
His righteousness.
As a child.
Covers my sin.
As a child.
His righteousness.
As a teenager.
With all the changes.
And the hormones.
And that hard stage.
His righteousness.
Covers all.
My sins.
As a teenager.
And so it goes.
Through every stage.
Our Lord Jesus.
So loves his people.
And his righteousness.
To cover us.
Is so complete.
The arm of the Lord.
Assumed a true human nature.
He's described as a man.
Of sorrows.
He assumed all of our common.
Infirmities.
I'd make you raise your hand.
But every hand would go up.
If you've had an infirmity.
In the last month.
We've got shoulders.
Backs.
Noses.
Fever.
We've got so many infirmities.
So many issues.
And according to his human nature.
Jesus suffered.
Everything we have experienced.
He is acquainted.
With grief.
Our Lord Jesus.
Was not insulated.
From the troubles.
Of this life.
Psychological.
Physical.
Tolls.
Of living in a fallen world.
Being sinned against.
Feeling the limitations.
According to his human nature.
That we feel.
And he possessed.
A true.
Human.
Soul.
See a person.
His body.
And soul.
And according to his human nature.
Jesus Christ.
Had a true human body.
And also a true human soul.
The inner man.
The inner life.
And all the trouble.
That we know from this.
And even in his inner being.
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Was acquainted.
He experientially knew.
He was familiar with.
The full spectrum.
Of human sufferings.
Truly a man.
Of true sorrow.
Well acquainted with grief.
The word grief.
Can be translated as.
Sickness or malady.
Of the inner person.
So our confession of faith.
Rightly expresses.
God the son.
He says.
God the son.
Took upon himself.
Man's nature.
With all the essential properties.
And common.
Infirmities.
Thereof.
See how unexpected.
This arm of the Lord is.
And how he's revealed.
And how he comes.
To be God's.
Savior.
He will enter.
This earth on a mission.
But in the most humble.
And vulnerable.
Way.
Imagine.
Beyond that.
It's beyond anything.
We could imagine.
Or expect.
Except he did it.
The Lord tells us.
That the revelation.
And the life of his arm.
Will be unexpected.
Number three.
The Lord also tells us.
That Israel.
And the world's reception.
Of his arm.
Will be unexpected.
The Lord also tells us.
That Israel.
And the world's reception.
How they received him.
Was unexpected.
Israel is the people.
Of the book.
Israel knows the promise.
From Genesis 3.15.
From the seed of woman.
I will send.
My servant.
To crush the serpent's head.
And all the prophecies.
That are piled up.
In the Davidic covenant.
He will come like.
Like a king.
Like David.
To rule.
And to subdue the enemies.
And he will sit on the throne.
Forever and ever and ever.
So that's the expectations.
Of the coming Messiah.
But it should have not been.
Such a surprise.
Because we also have.
Verses like 2 and 3.
Of Isaiah 53.
There is no beauty.
That we should desire him.
And he will be despised.
To despise something.
Is to.
To hate it.
It's not just.
To dislike it.
But to deem him worthless.
And of no account.
It's considering a thing.
To be nothing.
That's the reception.
That the arm of the Lord.
Would get.
He would be rejected.
By men.
The word rejected.
It means to be left off.
Or to cease.
Peace.
Someone who people will.
Cease to interact with.
Completely.
Abandon and walk away.
Yet we esteemed him stricken.
Smitten by God.
And afflicted.
Israel.
The world.
And each of us.
If we're left on our own.
Without the Holy Spirit.
Giving us faith.
We are blind.
To the glory of Christ.
Christ.
We don't see.
The wickedness of our sin.
We don't see.
The righteousness.
That God requires of us.
Unless the spirit.
Causes us.
To humbly.
Behold that.
And when we do.
We see the glory of.
Jesus Christ.
Who we rejected.
Who we esteemed not.
Revelation 22.16.
upholds the Jesus Christ.
That we know by faith.
Who completed his mission.
Jesus said.
I am.
The root.
And the offspring of David.
I am.
The bright.
And morning star.
I am.
That shoot.
In the desert.
The root.
And offspring.
Of David.
Truly man.
And yet.
Somehow.
I am.
God himself.
The bright.
Morning star.
No beginning.
No end.
God himself.
This is the glorious.
Jesus Christ.
He is the heavenly branch.
Joined.
On earth now.
In his human nature.
This language.
That we are given.
In Isaiah 53.
Describing.
You know.
Agricultural images.
We can.
We can take it to a point.
I don't want to read more into it.
But.
It is a metaphor.
Given in this passage.
For us.
And when a gardener.
Graphs a branch.
Into another stalk.
The two pieces of.
Of this tree.
Remain distinct.
The wood of the branch.
Does not become the wood.
Of the root.
Yet they share one.
Life.
Our confession of faith.
Says that.
The divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Was not turned into flesh.
Nor was his humanity.
Swallowed up.
By his Godhead.
To whom has.
The arm of the Lord.
Jesus Christ.
God man.
To whom has he been revealed.
If you look to Jesus today.
Look again.
And look again.
He's been revealed to you.
The Lord has.
Unsleeved.
His act.
His will.
His arm.
And it's Jesus Christ.
You and I.
Who can behold him.
By faith.
We've had our eyes.
Opened.
And now.
Veiled in flesh.
The Godhead.
We see.
And his spirit.
Causes us.
Stirs us up.
To hail him.
The incarnate.
Deity.
Our Lord Jesus.
So his reception.
Was unexpected.
And even more unexpected.
Is the grace we receive.
When the spirit.
Causes us to behold him.
By faith.
Number four.
The Lord tells us.
That by his arm.
A most unexpected.
Exchange.
Will take place.
By this arm of the Lord.
Who's been revealed.
To those.
Who he gives.
He gives faith.
You're going to be able to now.
Behold.
In the person of Jesus.
An exchange.
That is.
Most unexpected.
I want you to listen.
In these next several verses.
For these words.
He'll say.
He.
And then he'll say.
For our.
And then he'll say.
Our.
And he'll say.
Upon him.
So listen for that.
And what's being referred to.
As something that was ours.
Put on to him.
Something that is his.
Put on to us.
Him bearing what was ours.
And us receiving what was his.
And the term for.
What's happening in these verses.
Is to impute.
To impute means to.
Throw on.
Throw one thing.
On to another.
To put.
Or to.
To charge.
If you want to use an accounting term.
So look with me at verse four.
Surely he.
He.
Has born.
Our.
Griefs.
And carried.
Our.
Sorrows.
Yet.
We esteemed him.
Stricken.
Smitten by God.
And afflicted.
Verse five.
He.
Was wounded.
For.
Our.
Transgressions.
A transgression.
Means to be.
To be breaking the law.
It means that.
You've.
You've violated.
What God has command.
You've.
You've made yourself.
Unholy.
Profaned.
Defiled.
And he was bruised.
For our.
Iniquities.
See the two things that happened to him.
Which we deserve.
Are to be wounded.
And to be bruised.
In verse five.
To be wounded is to be pierced through.
To be bored through.
To be bruised literally means to be crushed.
Pulverized.
Or crumbled into dust.
That's what you and me deserve.
Pulver.
Describes the action of grinding.
Grain into flour.
Or crushing heavy stones.
Stones down into sand.
It implies a weight.
So heavy.
That the person beneath it.
Beneath that weight.
Will be completely shattered.
And this arm of the Lord.
Was wounded.
And bruised.
And crushed.
For us.
Because of our great sin.
Our iniquity.
Our transgression.
And by his stripes.
We are healed.
Do you need healing today?
It's by his stripes.
And his stripes alone.
That we can be healed.
Verse six says.
The Lord.
So God.
Has laid upon him.
The arm of the Lord.
The iniquity.
Of us all.
To lay on him.
Means.
Means cause to strike him.
It paints a picture.
Of our crookedness.
Being gathered up.
And smashed.
At Jesus Christ.
To violent.
Violently collide.
Into him.
It's the language.
Of a lightning strike.
Hitting its.
Its target.
With impact.
The Lord.
Laid on him.
The iniquity.
Of us all.
And what was his.
That he gives to us.
Verse nine.
Tells us in.
Simple terms.
He's blameless.
He's perfect.
He's holy.
He did no violence.
Nor was any deceit.
Found in his mouth.
He did no violence.
His outer man.
Never sinned.
Nor was deceit.
Found in his mouth.
And out of the overflow.
The mouth.
The heart speaks.
His inner man.
His soul.
Was perfect.
And spotless.
Loved God perfectly.
What was ours.
Was thrown on.
To Christ.
Verse four.
Says it was our griefs.
That he bore.
Our sorrows.
That he carried.
Verse five.
It was our transgression.
Not just little mistakes.
But our rebellion.
Against God.
See we know the law.
That God requires.
Yet we break it.
We disobey God.
With a clenched fist.
Toward his authority.
In our iniquities.
It's a perverse crookedness.
It's the internal bent.
Of our human nature.
That makes us.
Prone to wander away from God.
What we deserve is.
Chastisement.
And sickness.
And God's justice requires.
Specific.
Judicial.
Penalty.
For what we have done.
See the work of the Lord.
In this most.
Unexpected.
Exchange.
Charles Spurgeon.
Worshipped.
Marveling at this.
Glorious exchange.
He wrote.
Behold.
The arm of the Lord.
Bared in the person.
Of Jesus.
He does not come.
To scrub.
The old nature.
He comes to offer.
A substitutionary.
Death.
The wrath.
That should have burned.
You and me.
Burned him.
His blood.
Alone.
Has the power.
To make.
Your scarlet.
White as snow.
God's arm.
That might have crushed you.
Was instead.
Crushed.
For you.
That's the end of Charles Spurgeon's quote.
Amen.
How unexpected.
And how glorious.
If we receive this.
As true for you and me.
It's our sin.
That he bore.
Therefore.
It's his righteousness.
That we receive.
Number five.
The Lord tells us.
That his arm.
Will suffer.
Something.
Most unexpected.
Verse seven.
He was oppressed.
And he was afflicted.
Yet he opened.
Not his mouth.
He was led.
Like a lamb.
To the slaughter.
And as a sheep.
Before the shears.
Is silent.
So he opened.
Not.
His mouth.
In our Bible study.
This morning.
Mrs. Hartley pointed out.
How we are called sheep.
Who went astray.
In our human nature.
And Jesus now.
In verse seven.
Identifies himself.
With us.
The sheep.
Opened not his mouth.
And was led.
Like a lamb.
To the slaughter.
He was taken.
As a prisoner.
For judgment.
And who could have guessed.
What his future.
Would have been.
Verse eight.
Is difficult.
That's my best.
Paraphrase of it.
Verse nine.
And they made his grave.
With the wicked.
But the rich.
At his death.
See the arm of the Lord.
Not only took on.
Flesh for us.
And lived for us.
And let our sin.
Be thrown.
Upon him.
But then he also.
Suffered.
For us.
On the cross.
He died.
And was buried.
For us.
The wages.
Of our sin.
Is death.
And this is the most.
Unexpected thing.
That the arm of the Lord.
Underwent for us.
According to his.
Human nature.
He died.
Verse 10 says.
God made.
Christ's soul.
An offering.
For sin.
What type of offering.
The point of reference.
In Isaiah.
Is the ceremonial law.
The sacrificial system.
The soul.
Of Jesus Christ.
A sin offering.
Another name for it.
Is a guilt.
Offering.
Under the old covenant.
Levitical law.
Full.
Restoration.
Was needed.
For this type of sin.
To be forgiven.
And our Lord Jesus Christ.
Fully.
Satisfied.
God's justice.
He didn't merely.
Cover over our sin.
He paid.
The debt.
In full.
Including the punishment.
Due.
Unto us.
Verse 5.
As it was.
The chastisement.
That we deserved.
Was now.
Completed by Christ.
So that we could receive.
His peace.
We can have that pronouncement.
From God.
The just God.
Go.
In peace.
Your sins.
Are fully.
Satisfied.
God.
Our confession of faith holds this up.
Christ, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself,
has fully satisfied the justice of God.
So when God's law exposes our sin,
and when we're so aware that our sin stirs up God's wrath as it should,
like the electricity in the dark clouds,
remember when the giving of the law at Mount Sinai came with thunder and pews of lightning.
It was terrifying.
We need to remember that Jesus Christ has received that discharge, that wrath.
He was receiving in his body as our substitute,
the full justice of God in our place.
The Lord himself in Jesus Christ stood on the cross as a lightning rod.
By his sacrifice of himself,
the storm of God's wrath against the sin of God's people has been fully discharged.
The force of God's wrath against you and me who are in Christ has been spent.
It would be unjust of God to pour out wrath on his people.
It's been completely received and buried by Jesus Christ.
There's nothing left for those who are in Christ but peace,
blue skies,
the shining face of the Lord.
The sixth observation is that the Lord tells us the end for which his arm will work so unexpectedly.
The end for which the arm of the Lord will do all this glorious work so unexpectedly.
What's it all for?
Look at verse 10.
It pleased the Lord.
It was a delight for God to accomplish his will,
his eternal decree in the person of Jesus Christ.
What's the end of it?
Well, God will prolong his days.
This is a whisper that we can see now.
This is referring to the resurrection.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead and he lives forevermore.
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Just as it was the pleasure of the Lord to accomplish his decree and his will
and save a people to himself,
all authority is put in the hand of Jesus Christ.
And the pleasure of the Lord will continue to prosper in his good hand.
Verse 11 says,
He, Jesus Christ, the arm of the Lord,
shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is satisfied to have you and me as his own.
And it's described as a labor of his soul.
That word labor, it's like the agonizing toil of childbirth.
See, that toil of Christ's soul on the cross as he prays for his people,
it's bringing forth an everlasting inheritance.
His spiritual seed, his children, his nation that he will adopt.
The confession mentions that the seed, the spiritual offspring,
it's all those who put their faith in Jesus and receive his work freely
because it cost him so much.
And that's what we get at the rest of verse 11.
It's by knowledge of the righteous servant that we receive this,
that we are justified.
By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify how many?
Many, a great multitude,
more than the stars of the sky.
Yet it's not all.
It's those who know him.
It's those who have a knowledge of the servant.
It's those he purchased.
For he shall bear their iniquities.
All those who know God are justified.
Why?
Because Jesus Christ bore their iniquities.
Verse 12 says,
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.
Notice the language here.
God is satisfied with the work of Jesus.
It's God's good pleasure to bless Jesus Christ,
to give him the spoil of his conquest,
to put the people, the reward that he purchased,
into his own hands.
And who can pluck anyone out of the powerful hands
of the arm of the Lord?
Verse 12 tells us all that he did that secures us.
And just hear this to encourage you,
to give you your assurance of salvation
if Jesus is your Lord.
Number one,
you are his because Jesus Christ
poured out his soul unto death.
To pour out your soul that way,
it's to make naked,
to empty,
or to be stripped and made bare.
He poured all of himself out in prayer
to the Lord unto death.
It's like turning a jar completely upside down
until the very last drop is gone.
And so he emptied himself
according to his human nature of all life.
Number two,
he was numbered with the transgressors.
He says,
I, as the arm of the Lord,
as God himself,
I will become their sheep,
their substitute.
Number three,
he bore the sin of many.
Number four,
he made intercession for the transgressors.
It's Jesus interposing himself,
standing in between,
pleading,
and offering his life,
Lord,
look at my righteousness
and account it to my people
and take their sin
and pour it out on me.
Verse 10 tells us
it was Jesus Christ's
great joy to do this.
He shall see his seed.
This is the great end of his work.
It's so that his people
will be with him
and he can delight
and be satisfied in seeing us.
Not only having us,
you know,
in the fields far away,
but delighting in us,
his people,
seeing us.
Brothers and sisters,
maybe some for the first time today,
the unsleeving of the arm of the Lord,
it should have been our worst nightmare.
The coming of Jesus Christ
should have been terrifying.
Instead,
he came in the most unexpected way.
He veiled himself
in humility,
in weakness,
to show us the love
and faithfulness
of our covenant-keeping God.
Instead of bringing God's wrath
and judgment to earth
like he has every right to do,
Jesus Christ came
and revealed
the grace of God
for all who will come to him.
He is our only hope.
In Jesus Christ,
we put all our faith.
We are his reward.
Believe this.
We are the spiritual seed
of Jesus Christ.
Let yourself trust this.
You are God's joy.
Let this reality
stir our hearts for him.
We'd never dream to expect this,
would we?
But by faith,
we trust the promise.
It's the Lord's great pleasure
to redeem you in me
and then to prepare you and me
for himself
and then to see
and enjoy you and me
in glory soon.
Don't you long for that day?
Let's pray and thank him.
Oh Lord, we praise you
for who you are
and how you've revealed yourself
to us,
the person and work
of Jesus Christ.
we worship you,
Lord.
Oh Lord,
our words
can never come close
to giving you
all the glory
that you do.
What we can't say
in our words,
Lord,
we simply breathe it out
from our souls
by the help
of your spirit.
We pray that you
please receive this,
Lord,
as worship
from your church,
from your people,
as a fragrant offering,
Lord,
going up to you
by faith
because of our mediator,
Jesus Christ,
the only man
and the only divine mediator.
We praise you.
Please apply this truth,
Lord,
to our lives
this hour,
this day,
this week,
and this year,
we ask
by your power
counting on your help
as we abide in you.
Amen.