Isaiah 53:3-6

“The Suffering Servant”

At this time, we shift gears in our service. We have sung about the “Hosannas”, but now we begin to remember what happened that week. We remember how Jesus came in and turned over the money-changers tables. How he began to denounce the religious leaders. He preached prophetic things to the people in the Temple, calling them to a radical obedience to God. Each day you could feel the tension rising within the city, until on Thursday, you could cut it with a knife. That night, Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples. He then went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and it was there that he was arrested. He was taken to trial at night and then he was taken to Pontius Pilot to be sentenced to death the next day. And then finally, on Friday, he carried his own cross, making his way to Calvary, where he was crucified. This is what we refer to as “the Passion of Christ”.

During the Season of Lent, we have been in the midst of a sermon series dealing with Isaiah the Prophet. Because, when the Early Christians wanted to make sense of the death and resurrection of Jesus, they turned to the Book of Isaiah. And it is at this point, in the passage we have before us today, that Isaiah captures the essence of what we understand Jesus’ passion to be all about, as Isaiah tells us about a “Suffering Servant”.

In the passage that was just read to us, we have the most important passage in the entire Old Testament for our understanding the ministry and mission of Jesus Christ. And it is the most important passage in the Old Testament for understanding our faith as Christians. No other Old Testament passage is quoted more in the New Testament than this. For, when you study Jesus’ life, it is clear that Jesus understood this passage to be his mission. This is why Jesus came. He came as a servant of the Lord, who would suffer and bear upon himself the sins of the world.

And these passages are referred to by scholars as “The Suffering Servant Songs”. The passage we have before us today is one of four different “Servant Songs” that we find in chapters 40 – 66. And each one of these talks about a Servant of the Lord who will be bring righteousness, justice, and light to the nations, and ultimately save God’s people.

Today, we are going to focus on this climactic Servant Song that we find in Isaiah chapters 52-53. And we are going to try to answer three questions today. The first is, “Who is the Suffering Servant talked about in these passages?” The second is, “Why did he have to suffer?” And the third question is, “What does his suffering mean for us today?”

Now, if you’ve been with us during this sermon series, you will remember that when you read the Book of Isaiah, you have to read at three different levels. On the first level, you read the Book of Isaiah asking the question, “What did these words mean to the first hearers?” And in order to understand what these words meant to their first hearers, you have to know something about their historical circumstances. We’ll talk more about this in just a moment.

The second question you ask when you read the Book of Isaiah is, “What did these words mean to Jesus and the Disciples?” Because, to begin with, they didn’t have the New Testament or the Gospels. The book that they had was the Book of Isaiah. And they saw Jesus on nearly every page. So, how did they understand these passages?

Then finally, we ask the question, “What do the words of Isaiah mean for our lives today?” Hopefully, we will know the answer to all of these questions before we leave today, as well.

So, let’s talk a little bit about the historical context of these Servant Songs. Earlier in this series, I tried to help you to understand the historical context of what was going on in Isaiah. Remember that we learned that the Book of Isaiah is divided into two parts. Chapters 1-39 deal with the rise and fall of Judah and they are filled with prophesies of God warning the people that if they didn’t repent, judgment would come. The people were doing evil in the sight of God and they refused to listen, so judgment did come at the hands of the Babylonians.

Chapters 40-66 then deal with the Jews’ life in exile. The Babylonians totally destroy Jerusalem and the Temple, and carry off all the remaining Jews into slavery and exile them in Babylon. They are living in exile now and there is no hope for them to ever be able to go back to their homeland. So, to these people who are living in great darkness, the second part of Isaiah seeks to offer them hope and light. Handel’s Messiah immortalized the words that begin this section in Isaiah 40, “Comfort ye, comfort my people,’ says your God. ‘Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, for her sins have been paid for.’” And then they go on to promise words of redemption and reconciliation.

Now, these words in chapters 40-66 made no sense to the people at first. For, they saw no way that these prophesies could come to pass. But Isaiah kept saying, “Yes there is hope. God has not forsaken you. God will deliver you.” And it is in this second half of Isaiah that we find these Servant Songs

In 539 B.C. Cyrus the Persian invades Babylon and destroys the Babylonians. And then in 538 B.C. Cyrus issues a decree that all those who have been exiled under the Babylonians can return to their homeland. He even gives them money to rebuild their cities and their temples. As the Jews returned to their Promised Land, they realized that Isaiah’s words had come true. The passage that we have before us today, Isaiah 40, must be understood in the light of that setting.

And this leads us to the question: Who was the Suffering Servant? When the people of Isaiah’s day heard those words: “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” What did they understand this to mean?

When we hear those words as Christians, we have no doubt who the Suffering Servant is. This is talking about Jesus. When we read these passages, we see Jesus in every verse. But if you were to ask your Jewish friends about this or a Jewish Rabbi, they see this differently. When they read these words, they don’t see Jesus … they see the Nation of Israel. They believe that the Nation of Israel is personified as a human being in these passages and the Nation of Israel is seen as the Suffering Servant of God. To the people living in exile, it is saying that the price for your sins has been paid for by your forbearers who were living in Judah when it was destroyed. They paid the price and now you are being forgiven and set free.

And you may say, “How could they really think that? How could they think that the Suffering Servant talked about here as an individual could be referring to a whole nation?” Well, if you have your Bibles, turn to Isaiah 41:8-9. Notice what it says:

“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off.’”

Several times, we find that “Jacob” or “Israel” is called “the Servant of the Lord”. And so, the Jews would point this out, saying that “Israel has suffered many times in history and when she suffers, it is so that the rest of the world can understand who God is and see God at work. Israel suffers for the sins of the world.” And if we lived in 550 B.C., that might have been what we would have thought. In its cultural and historical context, that may have been what it was hinting at.

But when Jesus and his Disciples, and the Early Christians looked at the Book of Isaiah, they understood that these were not just prophesies about what would happen in the 6^th century before Christ, but whatever God was doing among the Israelites back then, was just a foreshadowing of other things God had in store. And this is how we as Christians have read the Book of Isaiah. When Isaiah talks about how “A virgin would conceive a son and his name would be called ‘Emmanuel,’” we see how that was partially fulfilled in 700 B.C., but it didn’t receive its complete fulfillment until the time of Christ.

When we look at the Suffering Servant image, we can see how the people of 550 B.C. would have thought that this had to do with their own forbearers. But when you read through these passages in Isaiah 52 & 53 carefully, you have to ask the question: “Could Israel ever have fulfilled all of these passages?”

I mean, when you read these passages you read how the Suffering Servant was “innocent and thus bore the guilt of other people”. But Israel was not innocent. Only Jesus was completely innocent.

It talks about how the Suffering Servant “went before his captors silently”. We remember how Jesus stood before Pilate and the Sanhedrin in silence … but Israel didn’t go into captivity in silence.

When we read about how the Suffering Servant “died among the wicked” … we remember how Jesus was crucified with criminals on either side of him. But Israel was not carried away into slavery among the wicked.

When we read about how the Suffering Servant “was to be laid in the grave of a wealthy person” … we remember how Jesus was laid to rest in Nicodemus’ borrowed tomb. But Israel wasn’t laid in a tomb among the wealthy when they were carried off into exile.

So, the people of Jesus’ day realized that this was about something more than just the Israelites being taken into captivity. Even before Jesus was born, there were Rabbis and ordinary Jewish people who understood these passages to be about a coming Messiah. Most looked for a Messiah that would come and overthrow the Romans. But some read these words of Isaiah and looked for a Messiah that would come as a Suffering Servant.

Jesus was among those who believed this. Jesus understood these passages as being his marching orders. The Gospel of Luke tells us that at one point Jesus sets his face resolutely towards Jerusalem, knowing that he would be crucified there. He began to foretell his death to his disciples, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be put to death.” Jesus clearly understood himself to be the Suffering Servant.

And this leads us to the next question: “Why did he suffer?” And it is important that we understand this, because many who look at the Christian faith see this as confusing. When they hear that God came to earth; walked in human flesh among us; and the climax of his life was to be put to death on a Cross like a common criminal … many find this hard to understand. So, why did he suffer?

In order to understand this, we have to understand something about the human condition. Chapters 1-39 of Isaiah try to help us see what we are really like. It tells us about the sins that we commit and how we turn away from God’s design and will for our lives. And we see ourselves in those sins. Sins of hypocrisy, arrogance, pride, unrighteousness, idolatry, materialism, all kinds of addictions, and a whole host of other things. As human beings, we struggle with sin. We remember the words of the Apostle Paul, “The things that I should do, I don’t do. And the things that I know I should not do, I find myself being drawn to do. Wretched sinner am I!” This is how we are.

A couple of years ago, Marie and I got the opportunity to travel to Greece and Turkey and retrace the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul. And while there, I was trying to take pictures of the various sites, so that I could use them in my sermons and Bible Studies after I returned.

While there, we went to several museums, and we were at this one museum that had several artifacts and pictures from the time of when Paul was actually there. It was fascinating! And they had these signs everywhere saying, “No pictures or videos.” But I was thinking about how neat it would be to have some pictures that I could show you when I returned. And so … this is terrible … but I looked around and didn’t see anybody looking … so I raised my camera and took a quick picture. I didn’t use a flash, so I didn’t think anyone would notice. But they must have been watching us on video … because this guy comes over to me, grabs my arm, and says, “No cameras! No pictures!” And I thought, “Why did I do that? I mean, I’m a pastor! I’m not supposed to break the rules. I’m supposed to be an example. Why did I do this? Wretched sinner am I!” Yet, this is how we are, isn’t it? We are drawn to do things that we know we shouldn’t do.

Sometimes our sins are more serious than that and we rationalize our sin, thinking that we won’t be affected by it, only to find ourselves caught in a trap or an addiction that we can’t get out of. And then we feel guilty about it. We try to pray, but we can’t. We stop coming to church, because we can’t face God and others. Sin has control over our lives and it has separated us from God, and we are powerless to do anything about it.

This is our human condition. And we have to understand this, before the rest of the Gospel makes any sense. Because the rest of the Gospel is talking about how we need a Savior. We need someone who will deliver us. We need someone who can atone for our sins and forgive us … someone who can pull us out of the muck and mire of our sin and give us a new beginning. And this is precisely what we find in Isaiah 53 … the image of Christ suffering for us, to save us and set us free.

And what we have here is the idea of “Atonement”. That’s a word that we don’t use very often, so let me give you three very simple definitions of what atonement does. Atonement is, first of all, making amends to the person you have injured. If you have done something wrong. If you have sinned against someone else or hurt them. Atonement is trying to make restitution or to make things right. It is apologizing, saying, “I’m sorry” or its doing something to make things right.

Secondly, atonement paying some kind of price, so that you know that you have addressed the issue and you feel forgiven. You see, unless we do something to address the wrong and pay some kind of price for it, e really won’t experience forgiveness. We will just wallow around in our guilt and shame and separation will continue. So, we do something to make things right,by paying some kind of price.

And the last part of atonement is learning from it, so that we don’t go back and do it again. In other words, the cost that we pay is enough to make us say, “I don’t ever want to do that again.”

This is the idea behind “atonement”. It is being reconciled to the person you’ve wronged. It is being able to receive forgiveness yourself. And it is learning from it, so that we don’t go back and do it again.

It’s like when the police officer pulls you over for speeding. I don’t know what you do, but when I roll down the window, say to the police officer, “I am so sorry.” And I really feel that way. I’m embarrassed that I was speeding. I’m sorry that I did it. And the police officer says, “That’s okay … I’m going to give you a way of atoning for your sin.” And he hands me a little piece of paper. And on the piece of paper is an address where I can send my atonement and pay for my sin. You see how this works?

When I do that, I know that justice has been rendered. I am cleansed of my sin and I can receive forgiveness … that is until the Insurance Company finds out about it. But after I pay the price for that sin, I say to myself, “Man, I don’t want to go through that again.” And hopefully, I’ve learned my lesson.

Now, we understand that there are times when our act of atonement can never fully pay for the sin that we’ve committed. In the case of the Enron CEO’s who were sentenced to prison, but how do you pay back all those people who lost all their retirement, their hopes and dreams for the future? Or what about the rapist or murderer who gets sentenced to death or life-imprisonment? How does that begin to fully atone for those sins? So, we recognize that there are times in our own lives that we do things that we can’t adequately atone for with actions that we take. We can only come close.

In the Hebrew Bible there were 613 laws given to the Israelites to follow. But God recognized that the people would probably not be able to keep all of these laws perfectly, so he gave them provisions to atone for their sins. God recognized that sometimes we sin accidentally and sometimes on purpose. Sometimes we sin by doing the things that we do and sometimes we sin by not doing the things that we are supposed to do. The Law says, “If you put out the eye of another person, your eye is to be put out.” “If you knock out the teeth of another person, your teeth need to be knocked out.” This is how the Israelites understood atonement: “An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.” This is how justice was accomplished.

But they also understood, that when you sinned against another person, you were also sinning against God, because that was not God’s will. So, atonement needed to be made with God, as well. If you have your Bible, turn to Leviticus 5:15. This is an example of how people back then understood atonement with God. “When any of you commit a trespass and sin unintentionally in any of the holy things of the LORD, you shall bring, as your guilt offering to the LORD, a ram without blemish from the flock, convertible into silver by the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering. And you shall make restitution for the holy thing in which you were remiss, and shall add one-fifth to it and give it to the priest. The priest shall make atonement on your behalf with the ram of the guilt offering, and you shall be forgiven.”

So regularly, people are bringing animals from their flocks as a way of saying, “God, I am sorry for the sins that I have committed and I need to be forgiven.” They would watch as the priest would slit the throat of the animal. And they understood that their forgiveness had come at the price of a life. All of this was designed to move them to the place where they would not commit those same sins again.

Now, all of this leads us to Jesus. When we read the prophesies of Isaiah, he says that the day would come when God would place upon the Suffering Servant all the sins of the people. There would be no need to offer lambs as a sacrifice for our sins, because there would be one sacrifice that would atone for our sins.

You remember how when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” You remember how at the Last Supper, Jesus said, “This my blood of the new covenant poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of your sins.” This is why Jesus came … to be our atoning sacrifice. This is why the Apostle Paul says in Romans 5:6-10, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.”

Jesus came to be our offering of atonement.

This idea of atonement through Jesus Christ is something that is often difficult to understand. But there are times when it is crystal clear. I remember when a young woman came to me and confessed that she had gone too far with her boyfriend on a date. She had forgotten her rules and things went too far. She said, “I feel like I lost something that I can never have back.” She said, “I feel ashamed and I feel guilty. I feel like I can’t even come to church … and I wonder if God still loves me.” She said, “I’ve prayed and prayed. I’ve taken showers, thinking that maybe I can wash myself clean. But nothing seems to work. How can I be forgiven? Can I be new again?”

Well, the answer is found in the Cross. This is what the Cross means for us. Jesus paid the price, so that we could be new again. Jesus came to do what we could not do for ourselves.  So, when we look at the Cross, it reminds us that we need what Jesus offers us. The Cross reminds us of the depth of God’s love for us. God loved you before you were born. While you were a sinner, God loved you. And God did everything necessary to save you. And our only response is to say, “Jesus, I need what you offer me. Jesus, please save me.” And then, we live our lives in response … in gratitude for the salvation that he has given us. This is the Christian Gospel and this is what Isaiah was foretelling.

You know, sometimes I walk past the Cross and I don’t really think about its significance. I have crosses all over the place. We wear crosses around our necks. But sometimes we forget that there was a man who died in agony upon that Cross … for me. We sometimes forget that there was a man beaten, stripped naked, spit upon, and nailed to that cross. Sometimes we forget, that our forgiveness came at a great price. Part of the purpose of the horror of the Cross, was so that when we looked at the price that was paid, we would feel the weight of that and we would not want to sin again.

The most vivid reminder of Christ Passion in our modern times was captured by Mel Gibson’s, “The Passion of the Christ”. I asked one of our members here if he could take that movie and reduce it down to a minute that could be shown to any age, so that we could all remember Christ suffering. Please give your attention to the video screen. (Movie Clip)

500 years before he was born, Isaiah spoke these words:

“He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Let us pray. With your heads bowed, I give you this invitation. Perhaps you are like me and you walk past the cross regularly. You wear it around your neck. You see it on the church buildings, but you don’t really think about the one who suffered there for you. Today would be a good day to thank him for being your Savior. To remember the price that was paid so that you might have life, so that you might know God’s grace and mercy, and so that you won’t have to live in fear and shame and guilt … but in joy and hope.

Maybe you are here today and you have been struggling with sin in your life. The reality of sin in your life has you trapped or has brought great pain and you need someone to deliver you … someone who can make you clean and new again. For all of us, it is so simple. It’s just a matter of saying “yes” to the Savior. That’s all he asks. So, if this is your need today, I’m going to lead you in a simple prayer or you can pray your own prayer, where we, once again, receive Jesus, as our Savior.

Thank you, Lord, for sending Jesus. Thank you for loving us and caring for us. Thank you for coming and paying the price to save us. Jesus save me. Save me from my sins. Wash me clean and make me new. And help me to follow you. I commit my life to you. Amen.