The Suffering Servant (Isa 52:13ff) Part 1

At least some people. And yesterday he'd show up and they'd, uh, I hope they spent a lot of human-shaped skeptical people predict. Despite the particular image from the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is from the Great Isaiah Scroll.

This one was formed sometime in the century or so prior to the birth of Christ. So about a time ago. Now it is in our generation. I'm not sure how he could connect that to Isaiah 52 and 53. But for about what?

About 10, 12, 15 years now? I'm not sure how long it's been there. So much for sermon illustrations and let's go to the text. I'm not going to say let's turn to Isaiah 53 because you and I are accustomed to that.

How many times? Three. Turn with me to Isaiah 52, verse 13. As I mentioned last Lord's evening before the Lord's Supper, I read, Fortunate, a pre-sermon in chapter 52. It can be somewhat dangerous because you do know it very well.

So the danger is that the mind can wander because, well, I'm John 3, 16, you don't even have to open your Bible, right? And yet, how well do we really know? Deeply how? I think they fit perfect. Skepticism about someone who says, now theologically we know that God knows the future.

In fact, the whole argument of the book of Isaiah is that one of the things that separates God from the false gods is that the true God not only knows the past and why the past, but he knows the future as well.

And remember what I said, we saw the Dead Sea Scroll that was written about a hundred years ago. And yet the words that the scribe wrote down that we can continue to read to this day had been written at least half a millennium before that.

A conservative Bible scholar, he would say they're written about 700 years by the scroll itself. In the middle of a context and there's discussion about the restoration of the people of Israel, but we just get up through the text and we make automatic connections because we have the bread, the fruit of the vine in front of us and we're going to partake the Lord's Supper.

We just make automatic connections. Read through this section, put yourself there clearly. They're speaking about the future. You see, you and I into time for websites set up such as rapture, who demonstrate some rejected wisdom and, and seemingly thought he know more about the Bible than anyone had ever known.

And the prophetic speculations of one. So his appearance was marred more than any man in his form, more than the sons of men. Thus he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths for what had not been told them they will see and what they had not under shoes and like a root out of parched ground has no statement.

He was despised in the sorrows of their face. He was despised and he did not esteem our grief season. So yeah, we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was pierced through for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. The chasing for our wellbeing fell upon him and by his scourging turned to his own way on him. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he did not open for the sign before it shares.

So he did not open his mouth by oppression and judgment. He was taken away. What was due his grave was assigned with yet he was with because he had done no violence nor was there any deceit in his mouth.

As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied by his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant will justify the many as he will bear their because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

Yet he himself bore the sin of many and intercede. This is very careful because if you did, you may have noticed a number of things. If this is profound, he did this, he did that, but then it goes into a future.

If he will do this, then this will happen. To be a Jewish interpreter, to be looking at these documented interpretations of this text. He said, they interpret this as the nation of Israel. Now actually when you get into a period of time when you have more Jewish writing, rabbinic writing, that is one view and it's very popular today if you share this text with a Jewish person.

Oh, this is the nation of Israel, a suffering servant, Israel is described as a Jewish person, a person who actually follows the Jewish religion, that's a conservative view where they actually believe that the Tanakh, the Torah, the Nevi 'im, the Ketuvim, the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, where they actually believe that these things are divine and probably should be aware of the majority of people.

There are those, so we need to keep that. So some of the rabbis, the affirmation of the Gospel on 1238, we spoke, Lord, who is believed or reported, to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? The church sees this as a fulfillment in Jesus, Romans 10, 16, however, they did not all heed the good news for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report?

So Paul saw in the unbelief that was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, he himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases, this in the ministry of Christ. In fact, if you just look at 1 Peter chapter 2, it's almost a complete exegesis, interpretation of the suffering servant's oracle.

Isaiah 53, he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by his wounds you were healed. Here's his entire sermon here, his entire discussion is based upon this.

Same thing in verse 6, where you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. Isaiah 53, 7, is cited in Acts to slaughter him as the land before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth.

In humiliation, his judgment was taken away, who will relate his generation? For his life is removed from the earth, this being from the Greek Septuagint, and the eunuch or someone else, beginning from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him.

Acts chapter 8, you would think we would want to preach Jesus, that same text is alluded to in Matthew 26, 63, Mark 14, 61, John 19, 19, and 1 Peter 2, 23. Verses cited in verse 6, did no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.

See in verse 7, something that was real, you would observe these events, and yet even given the most liberal understanding of them, the events of his life, the joys in his soul, the Lord suffered, he gave, and since he is the Lord of history, it's fascinating to me, because see, one of my great, would accuse us, thinking like, have been so completely soaked in a secular, worldly viewpoint, that the idea that there is a transcendent meaning to marriage, or a God that can say, this is right, this is wrong, seems foolishness, and it seems just as foolish to them, to think that a book, actually a series of books, writings, letters, epistles, put together to that, for us today, let alone can tell us anything about, has no stately form, nor appearance, who was despised and forsaken of men, is this someone in the future, is this someone in the past, they look, and they believe, and what the word, to shadow the doubt, give accurate, thorough revelation about a future event, for the benefit of his people, is that not the repeated message we have in the New Testament, does not Paul say, why were these things written for us, they were written for our edification, for our encouragement, that's why God has preserved the scriptures, he has a purpose for them, amongst his people, his church, and he gave us these prophecies, he gave us these things, and I know there have been people who have abused that, it's been amazing to watch these people, there are people who just are imbalanced, newspaper, the internet, to identify this person as that person, and they just have this insatiable desire to know about tomorrow, you know what a Christian should know about tomorrow, Jesus will be Lord then too, serve him, period, end of discussion, Christians should be concerned about tomorrow, these same scriptures, the same scriptures that were set up in Christ, these aren't the only ones, of course we read this one, 2nd Psalm, 2nd, this one is so long, and so complete, and so in depth, why then would we believe, Paul says about what you and I, Carol Camping did, you see we can take these as a stepping stone, to get into some of the objections of people, a brief start on it, it will prosper, sometimes you'll be told that there are some verses in Isaiah 53 that use a plural, and so this is the people of Israel, the only places where plurals are used, is when for example it talks about death and blood and things like that, that's a Hebrew idiom that has nothing to do with there's more than one servant here, it's a Hebrew idiom, who is the servant, the servant of Yahweh, is the nation of Yahweh, yes, will there be any reason to think that Israel is the servant here, the answer will be no, there will be numerous objections to the idea that the nation itself is an American standard, there might be some differences, before there's any mention of suffering, there is a brief mention of, could this be the case elsewhere in the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, you have that statement, a son will be given natural normal human language, a son will begin to encompass the glory of this one who is coming, this one who is the God-man, really exalted, aside of the glory that was his, because remember, John himself is going to quote from Isaiah chapter 6, from the same book of prophecy, to say that the one that Isaiah saw sitting upon the throne, lofty and lifted up, exalted, who was it, it was Jesus Christ, and so he pre-existed, he had an exalted existence, then verse 14, the standard says, my people, and my people is in italics, this is a possible way of understanding, the writer is saying, just as many were astonished at you, etc, etc, and there's this great humiliation that comes along, so, in the same way, his appearance was marred more than any man in his form, more than the sons of men, so it could be that the writer is saying, yes, the nations, but even more so at my servant, whose appearance was marred more than any man in his form, more than the sons of men, that is one possible interpretation, because when it says at you, astonished at you, that is the second person, who would say, no, this is actually being addressed to the servant, and just as we would switch between second and third, that's what's going on here as well, so in other words, just as many were astonished at you, that servant, so his appearance was marred more than any man in his form, more than the sons of men, we can take it, the point is, there is an astonishment, there is something happening, his appearance in his form, more than the sons of men, what's going to happen to him, thus he will, think about it, see you and I, and there is going to be this blessing upon the nation, this blessing is going to come through him somehow, the nation is going to do, will allow him to, for what they had not, for what had not been told them, they will see, this exalted servant, because, that they had not been, it's going to impact the nations, 700 has gone across, but you see these words, transcend just the Jewish people, were true, and wisdom of the heavenly father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you that your decree forms the very fabric of time itself, so that as you can reveal to your prophets, as you can reveal in the scriptures, what is true about what's currently going on, you likewise, we thank you for fulfilling the scripture, we thank you for this suffering servant passing, may indeed, that yes, may we do so.