Man Of Sorrows
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 11th February service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isa 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Man Of Sorrows
Our studies in Isaiah now bring us to Chapter 53, surely the Mt Everest of Old Testament Christology. Isaiah has been comforting the Lord’s remnant people with views of deliverance by the Messiah. Here, the representative nature and saving purpose of Jesus’ death to redeem His people from the captivity of sin is plainly laid out. Our Old Testament brothers and sisters are shown the circumstances of Christ’s passion, the meaning of His suffering and the glory that should follow. These verses might have been written by an eyewitness.
A restricted revelation
The Lord Jesus told His followers ‘strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it’. Isaiah was aware of this phenomenon. The fewness of spiritual hearers was a feature the prophet found notable. How few believe the gospel! Neither the hearers of his own day, nor those of the Lord’s day, would give ear or attention to the words of truth. Such is the pride and prejudice of our fallen nature that without divine enabling we shall have nothing to do with God’s Son.
The Arm of the Lord
Christ is the arm of God’s strength to save His people yet beyond the angelic witness at His birth nothing gave outward appearance of Jesus’ majesty or power. The Jews entertained ideas of kingly greatness for the coming Messiah despite Isaiah’s direction here and elsewhere. Christ would be like a little shoot in dry ground, a small branch, mean and insignificant; not a conquering king but a suffering servant. There would be no indication that the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily.
Of sickness and infirmity
In His life the Lord Jesus was a man widely despised as irrelevant and dispensable. He was accused, falsely, of all kinds of sin and endured physically all manner of suffering. The pains Jesus experienced were more extensive than we know. Christ not only assumed a true human nature, capable of sorrow and grief, but did really suffer the pain, shame and distress of all our natural sicknesses, too. This He did so that, having borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, He might better be able to empathise and sympathise with His people, being in all points touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
Any sorrow like unto my sorrow?
Christ’s sufferings were aggravated by being rejected by His own nation, forsaken by His disciples, denied by His friends and betrayed by one of His own number. All His life He lived among sinful people, knowing their hearts; the holy and pure Son of God. However, it was in His soul that His greatest pains were felt and here Isaiah shows the Lord Jesus to be not merely a private person but rather, as He should always be considered, the public head and representative of His church and people. His wounds were incurred for our sins, His bruises for our iniquities. He died in our place.
Healed by His stripes
But the wonder of covenant grace shines forth. Isaiah tells the remnant church, ‘the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all’. The Messiah in suffering and dying served God’s purpose and fulfilled God’s will. It pleased the LORD to bruise and punish the Saviour for our sins, in our stead. By suffering and dying as our representative Christ secured our salvation. He accomplished redemption, appeased divine anger, reconciled us to God and purged our sins by bearing them in His own body.
Obedience that justifies
Yet, there is more. God’s suffering servant, being Himself perfectly righteous and becoming sin for His people, did prosper them eternally by His obedience unto death. Christ justified and declared righteous all for whom He travailed in soul. He acquitted His people before the bar of divine justice and delivered the elect from all condemnation, making them righteous in God’s sight. These are God’s people in whom His heart took pleasure, having loved them everlastingly. God was satisfied with Christ’s sacrifice. Christ was satisfied with His Bride.
The Lamb’s wife
The suffering for sin of the Lord Jesus Christ in His human body, soul, and spirit, was more than anyone ever suffered. The prize He won was greater still. It satisfied the Lord Jesus to secured the redemption and salvation of the people He loved and gave Himself for. On the cross, in the depths of His deep tribulation, the Saviour was comforted to see you and me who trust in Him. We are the portion God promised to Christ in the covenant of peace, we are the precious seed, the sheaves for which He suffered, the fruit of His death.
Amen
Our hymns are below.
Hymn 1
Gadsby selection 67
The Elect Ransomed. Isa. 53. 6, 7; 2 Cor. 5. 21
J. Adams 8.8.6.
1
Our Jesus loves his dear elect;
With glory they shall all be decked
Before his Father’s face.
Not one of them for whom he bled,
But shall with joy behold their Head,
In heaven their dwelling-place.
2
They are the travail of his soul;
His sweetest thoughts on them did roll
From all eternity.
And, as the jewels of his crown,
He’ll give them honour, peace, renown,
And full felicity.
3
Their sins upon him all were laid,
And he the dreadful debt has paid,
(A debt no more to pay;)
Their Surety in their law-place stood,
Appeased stern Justice with his blood,
And bore their sins away.
Hymn 2
Gadsby selection 97
Finished Redemption. John 19. 30; Isa. 53. 10, 11
C. Wesley L.M.
1
’Tis finished! the Messiah dies!
Cut off for sins, but not his own;
Accomplished is the sacrifice;
The great redeeming work is done.
2
Finished our vile transgression is,
And purged the guilt of all our sin;
And everlasting righteousness
Is brought, for all his people, in.
3
’Tis finished, all my guilt and pain.
I want no sacrifice beside.
For me, for me the Lamb was slain,
And I’m for ever justified.
4
Sin, death, and hell are now subdued;
All grace is now to sinners given;
And lo! I plead the atoning blood,
For pardon, holiness, and heaven.
The Lord Jesus Christ was the Representative of His church and Substitute for His people when He died on the cross. He suffered for our sins, justifies our souls and intercedes for us everlastingly before His Father. All we are and have is because of what He accomplished for us in His death.
11 February 2024