Scripture Reading: Isa. 52:13-15; 53:1-12; Acts 2:33; 5:31a; Matt. 13:54-57; 8:17; 1 Pet. 2:24; Acts 8:32; Matt. 26:63-64; 27:12, 14; Acts 8:33; Matt. 27:26b; John 19:38-42; Acts 13:39; Eph. 4:8-12; Luke 23:32, 34a
In this message we come to Isaiah 53, a chapter that is very familiar to many Christians.
The last three verses of chapter fifty-two, verses 13-15, and the first verse of chapter fifty-three should be put together. This portion of Isaiah's record is very difficult for people to understand. Such a portion was included in the holy Word because people's knowledge concerning Christ differs. Generally speaking, people either do not know Christ, or they know Christ in a natural way as some kind of great person. This kind of knowledge can be found in the Old Testament. There are a number of Old Testament verses that speak concerning the different aspects of Christ's greatness, such as His majesty, His authority, and His power. In the previous message we mentioned three items in Isaiah 51 and 52 concerning the knowledge of Christ. The first item is to know Christ as the arm of Jehovah, which refers to the strength, the might, and the power of Jehovah. Then, the second item is to know Christ as the reigning God. Surely these two are items of Christ's greatness. At the end of Isaiah 52, verse 13 says, "Behold, My Servant will act wisely and will prosper; / He will be exalted and lifted up and very high." We may think that this refers to Christ's acting wisely to do great things. But if we enter into this portion of the Word, we will realize that this is not the meaning here.
First Corinthians 1:22-24 says, "For indeed Jews require signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Thus, in 1 Corinthians wisdom refers to Christ. However, the wisdom mentioned here does not refer to the wisdom exercised in creating the universe. According to the context, the wisdom and power in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 both refer to Christ as the deep things of God, that is, the depths of God. First Corinthians 2:10-11 says that only the Spirit of God can search the depths of God. The depths of God are the deeper items of Christ.
The first deeper item of Christ is Christ's crucifixion, Christ's cross, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:23. No one can understand why Christ, who was God incarnated as a man and who could have called more than twelve legions of angels to protect Him (Matt. 26:53), was willing to be nailed to the cross and to hang there for six hours. This is one item of the depths of God concerning Christ. Then, Christ died on that cross. Who understands fully the meaning, the significance, of Christ's death? The understanding that, because we were sinners, God sent His Son to die for us so that He could save us according to His love is correct, but it is too superficial. The death of Christ has a much deeper significance than this. In its deeper significance, Christ's death not only involved Christ Himself but also included us (Gal. 2:20). Furthermore, Christ's death terminated all the ordinances among mankind concerning the different ways of living (Eph. 2:14-15; Col. 2:14). This too is something deeper concerning the significance of Christ's death. Then, according to John 12:24, Christ's death, like a grain of wheat falling into the ground, released God's divine life. Christ's death also judged the world (John 12:31) and destroyed the one who has the might of death, that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14). These are additional items of the deeper significance of Christ's death.
Another item of the depths of God concerning Christ is Christ's resurrection. Apparently, Christ's resurrection was simply His rising up from death. However, the resurrection of Christ was much more than merely His rising up. According to its deeper significance, the resurrection of Christ was a great birth. In the resurrection of Christ, not only Christ Himself was born (John 16:20-22; Acts 13:33); millions of Christ's believers also were born in His resurrection. First Peter 1:3 tells us that through the resurrection of Christ, we all were regenerated, and Romans 8:29 says that Christ is now God's Firstborn among many brothers. This is a deeper aspect of Christ's resurrection. Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 15:45b says that as the last Adam, Christ became a life-giving Spirit through resurrection. Before His resurrection Christ was a man in the flesh, but through His resurrection He was transferred out of the realm of the flesh and became a life-giving Spirit. This is certainly a matter of great depth. All these deeper things concerning Christ are fully revealed in the New Testament, but it is very difficult to see these things concerning Christ in the Old Testament.
When they come to either the Old Testament or the New Testament, many readers of the Bible hold to their own natural concepts. In a very real sense, the kind of person we are determines the kind of Bible we have. The Bible contains many deep things that are difficult to understand; but thank the Lord that He is the searching Spirit, and He is also the unveiling Spirit, the revealing Spirit. In Acts 8 the Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah 53:7-8, concerning Christ as a lamb brought to the slaughter and as a sheep that was dumb before its shearers. These words are very simple, yet the eunuch did not understand them. He asked Philip, "Concerning whom does the prophet say this? Concerning himself or concerning someone else?" The Bible is full of deep things such as these. Thus, whenever we come to the Bible, we need to forget about what we know, what we have learned, and what we have heard, and pray, "Lord, I look to You for my understanding of Your Word."
Isaiah 52:13—53:12 reveals Christ as the Servant of Jehovah not in the Old Testament economy but in the New Testament economy. The Christ who is revealed in these verses is not great or powerful. Isaiah 53:2 says that He grew up like a tender plant and like a root out of dry ground. Isaiah 52:13 says that Christ as the Servant of Jehovah will act wisely and will prosper, implying that He will accomplish great things. However, according to Isaiah's poetic writing in verse 14, many were astonished at Christ because His appearance and His form were marred. They were astonished because they did not expect a servant of God to be a marred one, a disfigured one, as Christ was.
Isaiah 52:13a and 53:10b say that Christ will act wisely and will prosper in the pleasure of Jehovah. From the day that He came out to minister on this earth, the Lord Jesus acted wisely and prospered in God's pleasure.
First, the Father's pleasure was that the Son would go to the cross and die for His chosen people. In Gethsemane the Lord Jesus prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will" (Matt. 26:39). Later, as He was being arrested, He told His disciples, "The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11). Because the Lord Jesus prospered in God's pleasure, God the Father could say, "This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight" (Matt. 3:17).
Christ entered into death and then rose up from death to enter into resurrection. Through this, God the Father begot many sons. This too is the Father's pleasure, and it is also Christ's prosperity in His resurrection. Christ's resurrection was not only a matter of His rising out of death. In Christ's resurrection millions of God's chosen people were born. Although we were not yet born, we all were regenerated two thousand years ago, when Christ resurrected. This is the wisdom by which Christ as the Servant of Jehovah acted wisely. Christ acted wisely not according to the Old Testament economy but according to the New Testament economy. From the first day of His ministry until the day of His resurrection, the Lord Jesus did nothing according to the Old Testament economy. Rather, He did everything according to the New Testament economy.
The second part of Isaiah 52:13 says that Christ as the Servant of Jehovah will be exalted and lifted up and very high. The Bible tells us that Christ has been exalted to the third heavens, to the right hand of God (Phil. 2:9; Heb. 4:14; 7:26; 8:1). Christ was not only exalted but also lifted up. In the history of mankind there has never been one who was as exalted and lifted up as Christ was. The human mind cannot understand the meaning of Christ's being exalted and lifted up, because the "economy" of the human mind is natural. The record in the New Testament is according to the economy of God, which is much higher and much deeper than man's economy.
Isaiah 52:14 says, "Even as many were astonished at Him — / His visage was marred more than that of any man, / And His form more than that of the sons of men." Christ is exalted and lifted up and very high, but when men saw Him, He was different from what they expected Him to be. Hence, many were astonished at Him because His visage was marred, or disfigured, and His form also was marred. In your thought, in your imagination, what kind of Jesus do you have? In Christianity there is a so-called picture of Jesus, portraying Him as a very handsome man. However, we might be astonished to see that instead of being handsome, the Lord was disfigured.
Isaiah 52:15 begins, "So will He surprise many nations; / Kings will shut their mouths because of Him." Just as many great men on this earth were astonished at Jesus (v. 14), so Jesus will also surprise many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of Him. Jesus will surprise many nations because what He is, is altogether different from what they imagined. Many will be shocked, and the kings will shut their mouths because of Him. These kings told their people how great Christ is. But when Christ comes, He is not as great as they thought. Thus, the kings' mouths will be shut because of Him.
Verse 15 continues, "For what had not been recounted to them [as revealed in the next chapter] they will see." The kings will see something that had never been recounted to them. Quite often, even today, when we go to contact sinners to preach the gospel to them, especially to the learned ones such as the professors and the philosophers, they have their concept about Christ. Their concept is that Christ is a great man, a giant in history. However, they are surprised when we read some of the verses in the New Testament telling them that when Christ was on the earth, He was a small man who lived in the despised region of Galilee, in the despised city of Nazareth, and in a poor home. Upon hearing such a word, the thoughtful people would ask, "Why did such a great person in history live in a small house in a despised city in a despised region? And why was such a great person rejected?" This is difficult for the natural mind to understand.
All the great teachers, such as Confucius and Socrates, spoke great words, but Jesus always tried to speak small words. For instance, in John 4 the Lord Jesus asked an immoral Samaritan woman to give Him some water to drink (v. 7). This does not seem to be fitting in a classical writing such as the Bible. Is this the divine economy, or is this the human economy? Many thoughtful people would reject such a small Jesus. Thus, what the New Testament records is absolutely different from our human thought.
Verse 15 concludes, "And what they had not heard of [as reported in the next chapter] they will contemplate." There are many things concerning Christ that the kings have never heard. For example, the Bible tells us that Christ died, and we died with Him (1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:14; Col. 3:3a). According to human logic, since Christ died for us, it is not necessary for us to die. It is very difficult for the natural human mind to understand such things.
Isaiah 53:1 says, "Who has believed our report? / And to whom has the arm of Jehovah been revealed?" The first half of this verse speaks of a report, and the other half speaks of a revelation. The revelation equals the recounting in the preceding verse, 52:15. Isaiah's word in 53:1 indicates that the prophets preached the New Testament gospel in the New Testament economy, but no one believed their report. Their report was based upon God's revelation. God revealed to them the arm of Jehovah, who is Jesus. Jesus is the real arm of Jehovah. However, when Jesus comes to us, we might say, "Is this the arm of Jehovah? I cannot believe that such a small Nazarene could be the arm of Jehovah." Not many people would believe the prophets' report concerning Jesus as the arm of Jehovah. Thus, the prophet asked, "To whom has the arm of Jehovah been revealed?"
In a sense, to preach the gospel is an easy thing; actually, however, it is the most difficult thing on this earth. To convince people to believe what we preach concerning Jesus is very difficult. When we go to speak to people concerning Jesus, we often feel that it is difficult to present such a One to them. The preaching of Jesus is in the New Testament economy; it is altogether in God's way. Hence, there is the need of the power of the Holy Spirit.
This report and this revelation are concerning Christ, the Servant of Jehovah (vv. 2-12).
First, this report and this revelation reveals Christ as the incarnated Savior, who lived a suffering and sorrowful life (vv. 2-3).
Apparently, Isaiah 53 says nothing about incarnation. However, the first part of verse 2 says, "For He grew up like a tender plant before Him, / And like a root out of dry ground." In the New Testament economy, it was unveiled and reported concerning Christ that He was like a tender plant, like a root out of dry ground. This certainly is a reference to Christ's incarnation. Just these few words indicate that Christ is the incarnated One. As such a One, He grew up before God like a tender plant.
The second part of verse 2 says, "He has no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, / Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him." Very few people would pay any particular attention to a tender plant. In one sense, the Lord Jesus is beautiful. There are a number of hymns in our hymnal concerning His beauty (Hymns, #170-178). However, in another sense, Jesus is not beautiful. He has no beautiful appearance that we should desire Him.
Verse 3 says, "He was despised and forsaken of men, / A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; / And like one from whom men hide their faces, / He was despised; and we did not esteem Him." According to the account in the four Gospels, the Lord Jesus was continually despised, was forsaken of men, and was a man of sorrows who knew nothing but grief. Furthermore, He was like one from whom men hide their faces. Men did not like to see Him, and they did not esteem or regard Him (Matt. 13:54-57). Based on this account we would not consider such a One as a great man, nor would we consider ourselves inferior to such a One.
Second, in the report of the prophets and the revelation of Jehovah, Christ was revealed as the crucified Redeemer. As our Redeemer, Christ sacrificed Himself for our trespasses, or, for our sin, for the accomplishing of Jehovah's eternal redemption (Isa. 53:4-10a). It is difficult to understand how one who is great could be crucified. Those who are crucified are usually very low and mean. Nevertheless, our Redeemer was crucified, sacrificing Himself for our trespasses for the accomplishing of God's eternal redemption. All these things concerning Christ are revealed in a heavenly language. Today we call this the gospel, the glad tidings, the good news. Actually, however, according to our natural human thought, we might wonder how such words could be considered as glad tidings.
When they go out to tell people about Jesus, many Christians do not speak of Jesus in this way. They dare not tell people that Jesus was a tender plant, that He was like a root out of dry ground, and that He has no beauty, attracting form, or majesty. Perhaps you have never told people that your Jesus was like a tender plant growing up before God and that He was like a root out of dry ground, growing with difficulty because there was no water. We prefer to know Christ and to present Christ as a great person in the Old Testament economy. Thus, we need the Lord's grace to bring us into the New Testament economy.
Verse 4 says, "Surely He has borne our sicknesses, / And carried our sorrows; / Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, / Smitten of God and afflicted." People thought that Christ must have been wrong in something; otherwise, why would He be stricken, smitten of God and afflicted? They did not understand that Christ bore our sicknesses and carried our sorrows (Matt. 8:17).
Isaiah 53:5 says, "But He was wounded because of our transgressions; / He was crushed because of our iniquities; / And the chastening for our peace was upon Him, / And by His stripes we have been healed." This indicates that Christ's suffering was altogether vicarious; He suffered everything in our place. He was stricken, smitten, afflicted, wounded, crushed, and chastened in our place that we may be healed (1 Pet. 2:24b), that we may be saved.
Isaiah 53:6 says, "We all like sheep have gone astray; / Each of us has turned to his own way, / And Jehovah has caused the iniquity of us all / To fall upon Him." It was when God was judging Jesus on the cross that He caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon Jesus. On the cross the Lord Jesus cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). God the Father forsook the Son because at that juncture God caused all our sins to fall upon Him. For a short time, while Jesus was hanging on the cross, in God's eyes He was the unique sinner. Today, if a sinner hears this, he will be astonished. This is the report, the revelation, in the New Testament economy.
Isaiah 53:7 says, "He was oppressed, and it was He who was afflicted, / Yet He did not open His mouth; / Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter / And like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers, / So He did not open His mouth." The Lord Jesus experienced all these things according to the New Testament economy (Acts 8:32; Matt. 26:63-64; 27:12, 14). This may seem to be a strange recounting, but we need to consider this the good news. This is absolutely extraordinary and altogether uncommon. Thus, when this is recounted, people are surprised. It is by being reported, recounted, and revealed in such a way that Christ surprises many nations (Isa. 52:15).
Isaiah 53:8 says, "By oppression and by judgment He was taken away; / And as for His generation, who among them had the thought / That He was cut off out of the land of the living / For the transgression of my [the prophet's] people to whom the stroke was due?" In being arrested, judged, and crucified, Christ was oppressed and judged. He was judged in an unjust way by the high priest and by Pilate. Through that kind of judgment He was taken away and brought to Calvary and put on the cross. And as for His generation, who among those at His time had the thought that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of the prophet's people, the Jews, to whom the stroke was due? (Acts 8:33; Matt. 27:26b). The stroke should have fallen upon the Jewish people, but Christ as the Servant of Jehovah suffered the stroke for them.
Isaiah 53:9 says, "And they assigned His grave with the wicked, / But with a rich man in His death, / Although He had done no violence, / Nor was there any deceit in His mouth." Although Christ had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth, the Jews intended to bury Him with the wicked people; but under God's sovereignty, He was buried in a rich man's tomb.
Isaiah 53:10a says, "But Jehovah was pleased to crush Him, to afflict Him with grief." God was pleased to do this.
Third, the prophets' report and Jehovah's revelation unveil Christ as the resurrected Life-giver. Isaiah 53:10b-11 says, "When He makes Himself an offering for sin, / He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand. / He will see the issue of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied; / By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant will make the many righteous, / And He will bear their iniquities." Although the term life-giver is not used in these verses, the thought of a life-giver is implied in the seed mentioned in verse 10. That seed surely is produced by life. Thus, Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is the Life-giver so that He can produce a seed for the building up of His Body as His continuation for Jehovah's pleasure and for His satisfaction. The Father is pleased and Christ is satisfied with the Body of Christ, which is constituted of the seed brought forth by Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
According to verse 10b, Christ made His soul an offering for sin. Sin is a common title that includes trespasses, iniquities, wrongdoings, and every wrong or evil thing. Christ's making His soul an offering for sin indicates that He was willing and volunteered to sacrifice Himself as an offering for sin. By doing this, Christ entered into resurrection, in which He produced a seed. This was His satisfaction, and this was also the Father's pleasure.
The seed produced by Christ in His resurrection is His believers for the building up of His Body as His continuation, with which He will extend His days. Christ extended His days by producing a seed — the believers — to build up the Body of Christ, and this Body of Christ is still extending. As the Body of Christ is extending, the days of Christ also are extending.
At the end of verse 10 we are told that Christ will prosper in the pleasure of Jehovah. In the past two thousand years Christ has been very prosperous. He has been the most successful One. Although He encountered all kinds of attacks, all kinds of opposition, and all kinds of troubles, no one has been able to defeat Him. Instead, He has prospered. The Lord has prospered in spreading His recovery to America, and now He is preparing to spread to Russia. That too will be Christ's prospering. This is also the prolonging of His days. Christ still lives on this earth. Since we are here, Christ is here.
In 52:13 we were told only that Christ will prosper, but we were not told in what He will prosper. Now, in 53:10 we are told clearly that He will prosper in the pleasure of Jehovah. The pleasure of Jehovah is to reveal Himself into us, to make us the seed of Christ, to make us a part of Christ, to make us the sons of God. This is God's pleasure.
Isaiah 53:11 says, "He will see the issue of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied; / By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant will make the many righteous, / And He will bear their iniquities." The issue of the travail of Christ's soul refers to the many who are justified (made righteous) by knowing Christ, for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ. Acts 13:39 says, "And from all the things from which you were not able to be justified by the law of Moses, in this One everyone who believes is justified." All the justified ones will also be regenerated. They will all become Christ's seed; they will all become the members of His Body to build up the Body as His organism.
Fourth, the prophets' report and Jehovah's revelation unveil Christ as the ascended Victor. Christ is the incarnated Savior, the crucified Redeemer, the resurrected Life-giver, and the ascended Victor.
Isaiah 53:12a says, "Therefore, I will divide to Him a portion with the Great, / And He will divide the spoil with the Strong." The mentioning of spoil, or prey, here indicates Christ's victory. In His ascension, Christ shared the captured ones with the Great and the Strong. In the whole universe, only God is great and only God is strong. God is also the real Victor; He has gained all the spoil. He and this ascended Victor, Christ, shared the captured ones as the spoil. Ephesians 4:8-12 tells us that when Christ ascended to the height, He led captive those who were taken captive by Satan. We were sinners captured by Satan, but through His death and resurrection, Christ overcame Satan, and He captured all those who were held captive by Satan. These captives eventually became Christ's captives, and they are the prey, the spoil. Christ brought all these captured captives to the heavens and presented them to the Father. Then the Father shared this spoil with Christ, the ascended Victor.
Isaiah 53:12 says, "Therefore, I [Jehovah] will divide to Him [Jehovah's Servant] a portion with the Great [God], / And He [Jehovah's Servant] will divide the spoil with the Strong [God]; / Because He poured out His life unto death / And was numbered with the transgressors, / Yet He bore the sin of many / And interceded for the transgressors." The first part of this verse says that Jehovah will divide to His Servant a portion with the Great, that is, with God, and Jehovah's Servant will divide the spoil with the Strong, that is, with God. The second part of the verse gives the reason why God would do this: because He, Jehovah's Servant, poured out His life unto death, volunteering to die to be such an offering, and was numbered with the transgressors, yet He alone bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors. Because Christ did all these things, He is now qualified to share the spoil. The victory was gained by God through Christ's volunteering to die, through Christ's being willing to be numbered among the transgressors. When Christ was crucified, on His left and on His right two criminals were crucified with Him (Luke 23:32-33). Thus, He was numbered among these wicked ones. That was a shame to Him. Christ suffered all this, and He also bore the sin of many. On the cross, Christ bore our sins (1 Pet. 2:24a). Because of all these things God counted Him worthy to share the spoil of the spiritual war on this earth. God counted Him as the Victor.
All the recounting, all the reporting, and all the revelation in this portion of the Word are in the New Testament economy. In Isaiah 53 Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is unveiled in the New Testament way. When we read the Old Testament through without reading Isaiah 53, we receive the impression of the Old Testament economy. But when we come to Isaiah 53 and read it, the flavor, the taste, is altogether of the New Testament, not the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, Isaiah 53 is the unique chapter that bears the color, the taste, and the atmosphere of the New Testament.
I trust in the Lord that He will cause us all to understand these things, not in a natural way but in the unveiled, revealed way, that we may know Christ as such a One. The view of Christ in Isaiah 53 is absolutely different from the human view. We all need to believe Isaiah's report concerning Christ. We need to be enlightened so that we may have the right view and receive the revelation to know Jesus Christ in the God-ordained economy, that is, the New Testament economy.
