The Victorious Jesus

Today we are going to look at the passage in Isaiah 52:13—53:12.  This section has been referred to as the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament because in it we see the ultimate Truth that lies behind the whole sacrificial system that God gave to Israel.

It is easy for people in the modern world to take “pot shots” at God in regards to the “senseless” killing of so many animals.  Yet, even the Bible itself tells us that God did not take pleasure in the killing of animals.  No, animals are not equivalent to humans.  They were not made in the image of God; with the ability to reflect God’s nature.  However, neither was God pleased by their mere deaths.  We might ask ourselves the question, “If God wanted to communicate with man then what would the problems be?”  Think about it.  It wouldn’t be a problem for us to communicate with God because He is the one who gave mankind languages in the first place.  Even the ones we have created since then, surely pose no problem for the intellect that designed the universe.  The problem lies in the communication from God to us.  He understands human language, but we do not understand God's.  Thus God uses imagery and word pictures to help us understand what he is doing.  The death of Jesus was too precious to risk not communicating.  Thus God showed mankind the act of sacrifice for sins.  To a man it would make sense that when he sacrifices a lamb, he is paying a price.  Yet, it involves a substitution.

So what did God reveal to Isaiah about the coming, great messiah?  The shocking thing is that Isaiah shares a gruesome and unlikely Truth about the coming messiah: He would be rejected and killed by those who said they were waiting for Him.  Let’s look at the passage.

He Was Despised By Men

The first three verses of chapter 53 make it clear that the messiah would not be embraced, but rather despised.  In fact we ought to be careful against despising others.  When we despise others, we put ourselves opposite the life and experience of Jesus; he was the despised one.  Isaiah points out his tender nature in verse 2.  Jesus was tender towards God.  Most of Israel had hardened their hearts toward God.  Even if they outwardly said they were open to God, inside they were like dead stumps that drew no life from Him.  But Jesus was different.  He was a tender plant that grew up before the Lord.  However, in his ministry, we see that Jesus was also tender to people.  The only ones he appears to be hard towards are religious leaders who are living a lie.  But that was out of the necessity to break through their tough exteriors.  If God is hard on us, it is because he is trying to break past those walls we have put up to keep him out.  But his nature is tenderness.  Jesus was pure as the driven snow, but he was tender to sinners as he pointed them back to the Father.  We often harden ourselves towards one another because we are afraid to risk it.  We have been hurt too often.  Yet, Jesus did not protect himself.  He stayed tender.  The world would ridicule it and reason that it led to his death.  But, Jesus had come to show us the heart of God.  Thus men despised him.

Isaiah also reveals that the messiah would be ordinary.  There was nothing about him in the natural that would draw men to him.  He was not the High School stud that had a gang of wannabes trailing behind him.  It is amazing in this age of image that the Church finds itself bowing at that altar far too often.  But by the time Jesus got to the cross very few were following him.  He was not a leader that inspired the flesh.  Thus most walked away from him. 

He was also a man of sorrows.  Because men despised him, they then went on to reject him.  What sorrow Jesus carried as the wonderful thing he was doing was being rejected by most of Israel.  In fact the phrase “well acquainted with grief” is the same term that is used in the husband-wife relationship.  Thus grief wasn’t just an “acquaintance.”  Jesus had deep intimate experience with grief, of which we get a glimpse in the Garden of Gethsemane.

He Was Killed On Our Behalf

Another amazing fact about the messiah was not only his execution, but that the execution would be on our behalf.  When they successfully executed Jesus, the leaders saw it as proof-positive that God was on their side and against Jesus.  To them, Jesus was cursed by God.  But the truth is that you couldn’t get any more blessed of God than Jesus was.  Perhaps we might rethink our own ability to think God is cursing us when things go bad.  A pretty strong case can be made from the Bible that the closer to God you get, the more likely you are to suffer in this life.  In fact, you will have to fight the notion that you are cursed by God.  How can you know you are not cursed by God?  You can only do so by trusting His Word.  Anyone martyred for the faith has to trust God’s Word over the top of the demonic lie that they are cursed by God.

The messiah was dying for our stuff.  Notice in verses 4-5 all the “ours:” our griefs, our sorrows, our transgressions, our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace.  The first two words allow us to retain a modicum of dignity.  But then it gets into the moral stuff.  Jesus wasn’t just dying four our grief and sorrows.  He was dying for our sins.  In fact it is sin that is the source of grief and sorrow in this world, both my sin and the sins of others.

Isaiah also reveals that Israel would be like a sheep that had left the shepherd.  Everyone was going the way that seemed right in their own eyes.  The problem is that they were being picked off both literally and spiritually by the wolves.  Tragically, the Good Shepherd is laying down his life for sheep who left him in the first place, and for the purpose of fixing the problem they made.

Thus, Israel needed a sacrificial lamb that could cover their sins.  This picture is demonstrated in the Old Testament when God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Clearly God did not want this to happen, but he needed later generations to understand what He would do later at the cross.  When Isaac asks his father where the lamb is, his father responds, “God will provide a lamb.”  It is interesting that eventually it is a ram that they find stuck in the thicket.  The passage begs us to ask the question, “wasn’t it supposed to be a lamb?”  The answer is , yes.  Centuries later John the Baptist would declare, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 

Jesus Was Victorious

Up to verse 10 the messiah doesn’t sound victorious at all.  It sounds like he will be an utter failure.  However, at verse 10 the tone changes.  The messiah would please God.  Something that Israel had failed to do.  The tender, ordinary, sorrowful Jesus would please God, especially as he dies on the cross.  Why?  He pleased the Father because he perfectly revealed the heart of God in that moment.  This was a victory that was over the top of his own flesh, over the top of Satan’s lies and temptations, and over the top of the taunts of the wicked.

Thus, Isaiah refers to the labor of the messiah.  He will see the labor of his soul.  Jesus was not just doing a physical labor.  It was the labor of his soul.  He put everything he had into revealing the heart of the Father, not just to Israel, but to the whole world.  In fact, Isaiah begins to reveal a twist.  It is clear that he has prophesied the execution of the messiah.  But then he says that “he will see his seed,” and “he shall prolong his days.”  Thus, though he dies, yet he will live and though he will not have physical offspring, he will see spiritual offspring brought forth from his sacrifice.

Lastly, verse 12 shares that the Father will reward the Son and that the Son will share that reward with the great and the strong.  If we interpret “great and strong” as defined by this world, then it doesn’t make sense.  However, he shares the reward with those who are great and strong in faith.  They are generally small and weak in the eyes of the world and by the measures of the flesh.  But their faith in Jesus overcomes the despising, persecutions, and rejections of this world.

Final Thoughts

Remember the resurrection of Jesus was a real event.  This was not a mythology.  No Greek ever knew an eye witness of the battle between Zeus and the Titans.  These were myths.  But all of Israel knew Jesus and over 500 gave testimony that he was resurrected.  You can disbelieve the resurrection.  But don’t insult your own intelligence by trying to say it is a myth on the same order of the Greek mythologies.

Secondly, those who put their trust in Jesus are not making a blind leap of faith into the dark.  Rather, they have a convinced faith from the facts at hand.  Yes, it is faith.  Not every question is answered.  However, this is exactly how all of life is.  We put our faith in something.  Believing in Jesus has many facts and evidences behind it.  Thus it is not irrational.

Lastly, none of the “counter-stories” make sense or are plausible.  The idea that the fishermen disciples overpowered the guards and stole the body is simply implausible.  Nor was it the testimony of the guards.  The idea that Jesus didn’t die but merely swooned is implausible as well.  It requires us to believe that Roman soldiers somehow failed in their duty to execute Jesus on the cross; a well honed art by this time.  It also requires us to believe that the "ruse" was held to by men as they were put to death.  Though it doesn’t seem plausible to our scientific minds that Jesus came back to life, we are left without any serious alternatives.  And we are required to discount the eye witness testimony of over 500 people.  This kind of resistance to evidence would not be tolerated by any judge in our country today.  Jesus is resurrected!