ISAIAH 52-53 52:13-53:122008 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 52-53 52:13-53:12

Isaiah chapter 52 this evening. We do appreciate you keeping that in prayer though, really. It's been something weighing on our hearts for a couple weeks now. Well, as we continue our study in the book of Isaiah, we have been looking at the latter portion of Isaiah dealing with

The Messiah. Talking sometimes about the first coming of Jesus, sometimes talking about the second coming of Jesus. The second coming, the millennial kingdom, when he comes and establishes his kingdom for a thousand years here on the earth. We've seen many prophecies about that. The wonderful glory is yet to come for the nation of Israel. The things that have yet to take place.

But this evening, as we look at finishing off chapter 52 and looking at chapter 53, we're looking at the first coming of Jesus Christ. It's a prophecy of the Messiah. And it's amazing because this scripture was written way before Jesus ever walked the earth. Isaiah ministered around, well, in about 700 B.C. or so.

And this is at least 600 years before Jesus Christ was even born.

And yet, these verses that we read, these things that we'll be studying this evening, are so clear and prophetic. They're so clear in description and detail, it really could be included in the Gospels and looking after the fact, and that's the way that God works in prophecy. He is not a stranger from what is going to happen. He's not curious and wondering, I wonder how things are going to work out 600 years from now. No.

No, these things are definitely spoken of by God in prophetic terms because, well, he knows the beginning from the end and he's able to give great detail. And so we find some good insights about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, his death, and what he did for us even here in the Old Testament as Isaiah looks forward to this Messiah that would come.

And so we start off in verse 13 of Isaiah chapter 52. It says,

So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at him. For what had not been told them, they shall see. And what they had not heard, they shall consider it.

Here the last part of chapter 52 ties into, goes right into chapter 53 as we're looking at this person called My Servant. God is speaking and He says, My Servant. It's a name that He applied to the Messiah, the one who was to come that would save His people from their sins. The anointed one that He had been promising since really time began.

And this anointed one, this Messiah, of course, we know to be Jesus Christ. And so God says, behold, my servant. Behold, take a look, stop, and pay attention, God says, to my servant. He calls Jesus his servant. Now, we've been studying through the book of Hebrews on Sunday morning. And we've seen throughout the book of Hebrews, as well as the rest of the scriptures, that Jesus Christ is no mere man.

That He indeed is God. That He being God became a man, which is a miraculous thing that He has done for us. But we understand that He is worthy of all glory and honor. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And yet God refers to this Messiah, to Jesus Christ, as My Servant. My Servant. The Creator. The Creator.

becomes a servant. Philippians chapter 2, Paul gives us a little encouragement in regards to this, telling us to have the same mind of Christ in this. And that although He is in the form of God, He didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God, but He made Himself of no reputation. And He took the form of a bondservant. Jesus Christ, although He is God, He humbles Himself

and becomes a servant. He says, "...behold, my servant shall deal prudently..." there in verse 13, "...and then he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high." On the one hand, he is humbled. He has humbled himself and become a servant. "...he shall deal prudently," God says, "...but then also he shall be exalted and extolled..." Very high. He's going to be lifted up and glorified. Very high, God says. "...and then he shall be exalted and extolled..."

Because this is the law of God. This is just like you reap what you sow. This is a law of God in that whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew chapter 23 verse 12 says, Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. This is a principle of God that will always be true forever.

In every case, in every instance, no matter what. This is the way God works. And He works no other way. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. Jesus humbled Himself and came in the form of a servant. He humbled Himself more than any other person, more than any other creature. Because He, being God...

became a servant, became a bond servant, became obedient even to the point of death, even the death upon the cross. He humbled himself. He is the one who has humbled himself more than anyone else. And so therefore, he is exalted more than anyone else. To a very high place, God says, he shall be exalted and extolled. He is glorified because he has humbled himself beyond anyone else.

He humbled himself, but not just to come and be a servant. And we look at John chapter 13 and we marvel that Jesus would wash his disciples' feet. But he also humbled himself, well, to endure a great deal of pain, of agony. He humbled himself to endure what...

Verse 14 says, just as many were astonished at you, so his visage, or his appearance, was marred more than any man in his form, more than the sons of men. Jesus Christ, being God, he became a man, not just to wash feet and help the sick and heal the lame and give sight to the blind. He didn't just come to do those things, but he also came and

Well, he was beaten. His appearance was marred more than any man, it says. Jesus Christ endured great suffering, great trial, great agony, great pain, excruciating pain.

Hopefully you received as you came in this evening a little piece of paper that says, Consider Him Who Endured. And these are parts of some notes that I had from a message that I taught back in 2007. And it goes through, and so I gave it to you to consider Him.

Jesus Christ, to behold God's servant on your own time as the Lord gives you opportunity, as He reminds you, to take some time and meditate on these things. It goes through beginning in the Garden of Gethsemane with His arrest. And these are the several hours leading up to His crucifixion when He is betrayed by Judas Iscariot. When He's there in the Garden praying and in such great agony that He begins to

sweat, great drops of blood. Then going into his trials, he was tried by the Jews and beaten by them. He was tried by the Romans, beaten and mocked, the crown of thorns, and you're familiar with those things. He was scourged. There's some

Nice gory details if you want to get into it in regards to all of the things that Jesus experienced leading up to the cross.

Romans would play this game, the game of the kings, and they would play this game and kind of like tic-tac-toe a little bit, and whoever would win would get to pick the prisoner, and that prisoner they would mock and pretend he was the king and pretend to, you know, to revere him and honor him, but all the time they were abusing him, and then they would strip him of everything and mercilessly put him to death. This is what took place with Jesus.

as they put upon him the purple robe and the crown of thorns. And then, of course, he was led away to be crucified, bearing his own cross, his hands and feet pierced, fastening him to the cross for the agonizing death upon the cross. His visage was marred more than any man. Jesus endured more than you and I can really fully understand. In many senses, in many ways, in reality, he was tortured.

But the torture wasn't just physical, and we won't get into the details here, but there He cried out upon the cross, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? The spiritual separation between Him and the Father that had never happened in all of eternity was far greater than any physical torment and pain that He could experience.

Consider what Jesus endured. And that's what Isaiah 52 and 53 is all about. Considering what He has endured. And as we go through tonight, I would ask you to pay special attention. The author here, Isaiah, as God is speaking through him, he several times, over and over again, talks about how our sins are upon the Savior. He is born again.

Our sins and our sorrows. He's carried our sorrows. Our iniquity was laid upon Him. And so on and so forth. Over and over again. This is all about that you and I would reflect and remember for them, as Isaiah was prophesying these things, it was looking forward to what the Messiah would do.

But for us, it's a reminder, it's a call to look back and remember what it is that Jesus Christ has done for us. As we see what Jesus endured, we understand it's because of His love that He did these things. And we'll see that at the end of chapter 53 this evening. And it should solicit a response of love within our own hearts. Let's not be callous to these things that Jesus endured.

Let's not be callous to what he went through in order to bring us into right relationship with God, but let's respond with great love and passion for him, giving our lives as a sacrifice, as Romans chapter 12 encourages us and exhorts us and commands us to do. Consider what Jesus endured. In verse 15 it says, So shall he sprinkle many nations. And the idea here is the cleansing of all nations.

Remember back in chapter 49, verse 6, God says of the Messiah, it's too small a thing that you just be a savior to the Jews. I'm going to put you as a light for all the Gentiles, for all the world. Jesus Christ died to cleanse, to sprinkle, to wash every person, every human being, past, present, and future.

that they would have an opportunity to spend eternity with Him. Chapter 53, verse 1. 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. Here as we start off in chapter 53, we get to see a little bit further revelation of to what extent Jesus humbled himself. He humbled himself to the point that Isaiah could say, Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Now, you would think, people say this all the time, right? I would believe in God, you know, if he would just show himself to be real. If he would pull back the heavens and announce himself, if he would appear before us, if he would reveal himself in that way, well then, I would believe in God. But since he doesn't do that, I don't know why he doesn't do that. I don't believe in God, people will say. Jesus humbled himself to the point that this could be said, who has believed our report?

He didn't come as God in what we would expect of a God. He came in such a way that, well, who has believed our report? Who has heard and listened to this man, Jesus Christ? Who has responded to his call and his teachings? That's a question that can be asked because Jesus came in great humility. In verse 2, For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. Jesus didn't come as,

As God in all His glory, riding down on a cloud, announcing Himself, He came as a little baby. And He grew up. Talk about humbling yourself. Can you imagine? Just you, and you're not even close to being God. But if you would be able to humble yourself to become a baby and grow up again. If you would be willing to subject yourself...

to that type of humility. The Creator of the universe being changed by His mother Mary. Being instructed by Joseph and Mary. Being raised up as a child. Jesus came in great humility. He grew up before Him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground, out of barrenness, out of nothing. He didn't come in great glory. He didn't come into palaces. He came into nothing. Nothing.

He came, as we often note in the Christmas story, He was born in a manger. I guess He was placed in a manger. It wasn't necessarily born in the manger. Slight technicality there. He was born in a barn in the back of a house or an inn. He was born in a cave. He humbled Himself and came 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.

Now you would think if God is coming, He would come as the best looking man that ever walked the face of the earth. I mean like, He would be, there would just be this incredible, we couldn't even describe it,

He didn't have, you know, as he was coming into town, he didn't have the ladies lined up down the street, you know, with signs, will you marry me, you know, that kind of thing. He was not the main attraction. He wasn't, ooh, look at that guy. He wasn't good looking. He doesn't necessarily mean that he was ugly, but he didn't have this great appearance that you would expect from a God coming to earth. He came...

As a simple man, there was no beauty that we would desire Him. There would be nothing really about Him physically that would set Him apart from the rest of the people. He came in great humility. In verse 3, 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. Jesus came in such humility that He allowed us

He allowed Himself to be rejected. He allowed for people to despise Him. Now, one day, every one of us will stand before the Father. We'll stand before His throne. And no one will reject Him or despise Him at that time. No one will reject God. No one will despise God. No one will just, eh, nothing to Him. No, every knee will bow. Everyone will exclaim and acknowledge the Father.

Everyone will one day stand before Jesus Christ and at that time every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But Jesus didn't come in that way yet. And at this coming, the first coming as He became a man, He didn't come in that way that men would have no other choice as they see Him and recognize who He is that they would have to kneel before Him and confess that He is Lord. He humbled Himself. He humbled Himself.

And came in such a way that people would reject him or could have the opportunity to reject him. That he could be despised. That he could be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was a man of sorrows. Now, Jesus had great joy. He had peace. He had the abundant life, the spiritual life that he promises us. But just like us, he had sorrows.

I like something David Guzik points out. He says, Most of our sorrow is really just self-pity. It's feeling sorry for our own selves, but Jesus never once felt sorry for himself. His sorrow was for others, for the fallen, for the desperate condition of humanity.

He was a man who was acquainted with grief. He knew grief. It wasn't a foreign or a strange thought to him. I wonder what it's like to grieve. He knew. And have you ever grieved? Have you felt what that does to your heart, to your life, to the way it impacts you? Jesus experienced that. He was familiar with that. He lived in that. He's God. And yet he humbled himself.

to be despised, to be rejected, to be 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. Isaiah says we, even though it hasn't happened yet, but we can as well say we. Because even though it wasn't literally us there when Jesus was despised and rejected there as he walked the earth. I always like to pick on Harvey. I mean, he was there, but...

The rest of us, you know, we weren't literally there. He's not here to defend himself. You can tell him I picked on him later. We weren't literally there. But understand, as he says we, as he says we, understand that those who were there represented us. We're included with them. It would have been the same if we were there. You understand it wouldn't have happened any differently. We're no better than those who lived in Jesus' day.

He would have still been despised and rejected if it was us, our generation that was there when he was crucified. We did not esteem him. Now we look at the Gospels and we look at the amazing ministry of Jesus and we see, man, he did incredible things all around Israel. He did miraculous works and crowds would gather around him and they'd follow after him.

You remember when Jesus was there on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and the crowd's pressing against Him, so He tells Peter, let me borrow your boat. He gets out a little bit away because there was too much crowd and He couldn't minister to them in that way. And so He had to get out on the lake a little bit so He could share with them and not be crowded by Him. We see the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. And then we consider, well, 5,000 men, maybe 2,000.

10,000 if you count some women and children, maybe, you know, 10 to 15,000 people that were fed on that day. And we think, wow, what a great miracle. But don't let that distract from, well, the population of the world in that time is estimated to be 250, maybe 300 million. And there's 10,000 there to see Him?

The Son of God, the Creator of the universe, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Ten thousand show up to see Him, to hear Him, to listen to Him. That's it. I mean, He is the Creator. He is the one who created them. He is the one who created us. And yet we did not esteem Him. Where's the hundreds of thousands? Where's the millions that should gather, that would rightly gather to hear from their Creator?

Although we see the 10,000, we think, wow, that's so awesome, what a great crowd. In reality, it's not what was rightfully due to the Son of God. When He spoke, the whole world should be listening. In John chapter 1, the Apostle John, beginning his gospel, reflects on this same thought. He says, He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

He came to his own and yet we did not esteem him. We did not receive him. Jesus humbled himself to come in such a way that, well, he was despised and rejected. He was acquainted with sorrows, acquainted with grief, and only a few followed him. Remember the time when Jesus was teaching and the crowd started to walk away. Oh, this is hard things. Who can follow this? And

He looks at the twelve, "Do you also want to turn away?" And Peter says, "No, where else would we go? You alone have the words of eternal life." And we say, "Yeah, Peter, that's awesome." But then we also understand, so there was just the twelve. There was various people and crowds here and there, but it was really just the few that followed Him. The Creator of the universe spends His last three years of life on earth primarily with twelve people or so.

I mean, we get a CEO or someone in town and it's masses of people, there's conferences and someone's successful and so he writes books and thousands upon thousands of people want to hear them. Here's the Son of God, the Creator, and yet he humbled himself so that, well, there's just a few who would pay attention to him. There's just a few who would listen to him. Let's go on to verse 4. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

How did Jesus, the servant, humble himself?

Not only did he become despised and rejected, but he humbled himself and bore our sin. He bore our sin. He starts out saying that he has borne our griefs. He has carried our sorrows. Have you ever had griefs? Have you ever had sorrows? Jesus bore those. He carried those griefs.

See, part of the result of the fall, on the one hand, we have the result of the fall is our sinful nature. And because we sin, there's the right and just judgment and penalty for that sin. And Jesus Christ came and dealt with that. And we'll see that in just a minute. But the other aspect of the fall is, well, even if I don't,

sin in a particular way, even though I don't sin in a particular area, that doesn't mean that I am excluded from grief and sorrow. It doesn't mean that I don't experience those things. No, because of the fall, we all experience trial and trouble. We all experience suffering and pain. We all experience grief. It's a result of sin in this life, in this world. It's not...

Simply because we cause our own grief and sorrow. No, it just exists. Bad things happen. Terrible things happen. Because of sin. The sin that exists in the world, whether it be our own or not. And so when Jesus came, He humbled Himself and He's come to deliver us from the effects of the fall. Not just our own personal sin and the judgment that's rightly due for that, but also just...

Well, the normal things in life that we experience, the griefs and the sorrows, the pains that come as a result of sin in this world, He bore it. He carried it. That's why Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5, 7, to cast all your care upon Him for He cares for you. You don't have to carry your grief and your sorrow. You don't have to let it burden you. He bore it. So cast it upon Him because He's already carried it. He's

He's accomplished that. He humbled Himself to bear our grief, to carry our sorrows. He is a man of sorrow and He is acquainted with grief of His own. But that's not the only grief that He carried. That's not the only sorrow that He was acquainted with. He felt your pain, your heartache, those tears, those wounds, those things upon your heart that weigh so heavy. He bore our griefs. He carried our sorrows.

Then verse 5, He was also wounded for our transgressions. So here's the other aspect of it. Our own sin. Our rebellion against God. He was wounded. Or that word wounded could better be translated pierced. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement for our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed. He was abused for my sin. He was pierced.

for my transgression. He was put upon the cross for my sin, for my iniquities. The chastisement that was necessary for us to be able to have peace with God, He received that chastisement. He received the punishment, the penalty that was due. It was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed. Now there's been much debate

Throughout the years, by His stripes we are healed. Does this mean physical healing or does this mean spiritual healing? We see it applied in Scripture in both ways. Because ultimately both are true. Although it doesn't mean that every Christian will always be healthy if they're right with God. That, of course, is completely debunked by Jesus Himself. He was perfectly right with God and look what He endured.

So that's not the point. But the point is, again, Jesus is dealing with the effects of the fall. And this body that experiences sickness, we're going to be delivered from it by his stripes. By his stripes, you and I have the hope of a glorified body. By his stripes, you and I have the hope of a body that can enter into eternity where there's no more tears and no more sorrow and no more pain.

By His stripes we're healed, not necessarily right here and right now, although God sometimes chooses to do that. I was talking with a brother today who was sharing with me just an incredible testimony of miraculous healing right before his eyes that took place in his family this last week. God does it. He works miracles. It's awesome. But ultimately, all of us will experience healing by His stripes because He was whipped by

He was beaten and bloodied so that I could experience eternity. The mortal cannot inherit immortality. The corrupt cannot inherit eternity. That's me and that's my body. Yet Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, this mortal must be swallowed up by immortality. That not all of us will sleep, but we will all be changed. That we have the promise of a new body.

Again, where we can enter eternity, where there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears. By His stripes we are healed. In verse 6 He says, All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way. Every one of us who have gone astray. Often when we talk about sin and the definition of sin, we describe it as missing the mark. Right? You've probably heard that. Missing the mark. Sin is just to miss the mark. There's some sin that's intentional, that's purposeful. We do it. We know it.

And we do it anyways. But then there's also some sin where we're trying, we just, we miss the mark. And you and I as human beings, that happens quite a lot. We try real hard, and yet we all turn. Every one of us, we've gone astray. We try to walk with the Lord. We try to go and do what's right. We try to be obedient, and there we are, wandering off. God constantly and continually asks us, Hey, where are you going? Come on, come back into the fold.

Every one of us, we've gone our own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And here's where the analogy of the picture of sin comes in. So missing the mark. Often when talking about sin and how it's missing the mark, we think of the picture of an archer. Someone who's trying to hit the bullseye, trying to hit the center of the target. They're trying, but they miss the mark. That's what sin is. Even when we try, we can't hit the mark. We can't be perfect. We miss the mark.

Well, here it says, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. But if you notice, there's a notation there, if you have the New King James Version, and it says literally, the Lord has caused to land on him the iniquity of us all. See, we missed the mark. We shoot for the target. We're trying to do it. We're trying to make it right. We're trying to... But we missed the mark. And what God does is He takes that arrow that we shot, the mark that we miss, and He...

Well, that arrow, God causes it to land on Jesus. He received the piercing for my sin. God has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. When I miss the mark, it lands on Him. Jesus humbled Himself in such a way that He becomes the target. He has become the one for whom that God laid all of your sin and my sin and the sin of the world upon.

Upon him. He's the creator. He doesn't have to put up with this. He doesn't have to go through that. He doesn't have to experience that. And yet he humbled himself. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions. It's by his stripes that we're healed. And even though we've gone astray, the Lord has laid upon him all of our iniquity. Verse 7. 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 shearer as a 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. Verse 9. And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death. Because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Here,

God's servant, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humbled himself even further to be tried and executed. Not only did he get beaten and pierced, not only was my sin laid upon him, but he refused to defend himself. He was oppressed and afflicted, and yet he opened not his mouth.

He didn't defend himself. He was as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. Repeats the point. It's also repeated for us several times in the Gospels. In the account of Jesus as he stands before the Jewish courts. Silent. He didn't deserve to be there. He'd done nothing wrong. Never sinned in his life. Yet he was silent. False accusation. False accusations.

Ridiculous accusations, blasphemous accusations. And yet He was silent. So many times we want to put people in their place, don't we? I'm sure Jesus could have. But He was silent. The Word was silent. The Word that brought forth creation, that brought forth the Word that is living and active, that's powerful and sharper than any double-edged sword. The Word, Jesus Christ, was silent.

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. He was imprisoned. He was tried. He was bound. He went through six different trials. Three Jewish, three Roman. Standing before different groups of men, different particular men. Questioned, abused. And yet he humbled himself and was silent. Not defending himself. Not putting him in their place.

He went from prison. He went to judgment. He received the judgment of the courts of Pontius Pilate. And now who will declare his generation? He has no offspring and his life has been cut short. He's been cut off from the land of the living. He was put to death. And Isaiah says there, for the transgressions of my people he was stricken. He humbled himself to be silent, to be put to death for the transgressions of us.

He humbled himself so that they made his grave with the wicked. If he was a king, he would have received a glorious burial. But apparently being the son of God and the creator of the universe doesn't get you much. They put him to death. They made his grave with the wicked. Crucifixion was a method of execution for criminals. In fact, Jesus' crucifixion, you remember, he wasn't by himself there.

at Golgotha. There was the two others with him, one on his right, one on his left. And they're called the two thieves. He was crucified with criminals. They made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death. And this is an interesting and incredible prophecy. Joseph of Arimathea, a very wealthy man, the scripture tells us, asks Pontius Pilate for the body of Jesus and takes his body and lays it in a tomb that had never been used in a garden. And he says,

Pretty incredible. I pray that one day you can go visit that garden because it's a tremendous experience. But he had done no violence and nor was deceit found in his mouth. He was perfect. He was sinless. We sin. We miss the mark. And God has laid upon him our sin. But he who knew no sin became sin. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 tells us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.

Let me just read that again and consider that.

Here we have this incredible ending to an otherwise horrifying story. The Creator of the universe coming, humbling Himself, becoming a man, becoming a servant, becoming...

Humble to the point that he is despised and rejected and put on trial and put to death and crucified and beat mercilessly. I mean, this is a terrible story. This is not a good story. Until we get here now to the end. And of course, we already know the end, so we know it's not a terrible story. We know the purpose of it and it's by this wonderful act of Jesus that we have eternal life. And so in verse 10, we can understand, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Not that...

Not that as Jesus was being beaten and crucified, anything was pleasurable. Any of that was pleasurable to the Lord. But it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Why? Because when you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. Understand that God is responsible for the death of Jesus Christ.

It's God who so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son. You can't blame the Romans. You can't blame the Jews. God is responsible. It pleased God. He's the one who decided to do it. He's the one who thought this is a great idea. This is the way that it has to be. This is a good plan, God said. And why? Because He shall see His seed. The reason why it pleased God for Jesus to be crucified was so that...

You and I, by faith in Jesus Christ, could be His seed. As many as received Him, He gave the power to become sons of God, children of God, His seed. Because of what Jesus has done, He shall see His seed. It pleased God to bruise Him because now you and I, we get to be with Jesus. We get to be with God. Jesus endured all of this. The whole point of all of this was so that

You and I could spend eternity with Him. Verse 11, He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied. Jesus, looking back, He'll see the labor of His soul. He'll see the reward for what He has done and be satisfied. And He'll say, it was all worth it. It was all worth it. Because Maria is going to be there with me. And Solomon is going to be there with me. And Richard is going to be there in eternity. It's worth it. The motivation for Jesus Christ...

It's you and I. He humbled himself so that we, well, that we could spend eternity with him. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many. Those who know him, justified. Made as if they had not sinned so that they could spend eternity with God. He shall bear their iniquities. He takes our sin upon him. And so on the one hand, it's a sobering thought. It's a thought that brings pain to our hearts because...

Well, we don't want to be responsible for our iniquity being laid upon Him. That's a hard thought. But on the other hand, there's great joy because it's because of me that He went through that, that He did that. It's because of me that God was pleased to bruise Him. It's because of me, because He loved me, because He loved you, because He wanted to spend eternity with you. He willingly, He thought, this is a good idea, this is a great plan, this is going to...

to be satisfying because I'll get to spend eternity with them because there is no other way for us to. And so God says, therefore I will divide him a portion with the great. He shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul into death. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors. He took our place. He intercedes before us on our behalf. And so he's given the name that's above every name that at the name of Jesus every tongue should confess that he is Lord Jesus.

Jesus Christ, for the joy that was set before Him, that joy is you and I, that thought of eternity with you. He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Therefore, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. We have before us a great example. Paul says, let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.

Whoever humbles himself will be exalted is the law of God. We see the example of Jesus Christ. We see what he's done for us. And now we have the opportunity to demonstrate that we really believe in Jesus Christ by humbling our own selves, by following the model, the example of Jesus, laying down our lives to serve and minister to the people around us. The worship team is going to come up now and lead us in a couple songs. And I want to encourage you as

as they do, first of all, as they lead us in this first song, let's just consider to contemplate and meditate. And then as we go into the next portion, as we're encouraged to minister to one another, then follow the example of Jesus. Humble yourself. Humble yourself. And reach out and minister to someone around you. Follow the example of Jesus. Demonstrate that you believe in what He has done for us. But first, during this first song, let's just continue to consider to contemplate

The amazing thing that He has done for us. And this wonderful position that we have, that we're so important to Him, that for the joy that was set before Him, for us, He endured the cross. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.