The Suffering Servant who Saves
Christmas 2019 • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said this regarding Christmas, “And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives.”
Christmas story
Whenever we talk about Christmas stories and Bible passages that stick out, we focus on the Gospel accounts, Old Testament prophecies about His birth/life and occasionally we will focus on what His life and ministry did by looking at something in the Pauline corpus. We do this often times in order to gain a better understanding of His birth and how His coming is in fact a miracle of extraordinary proportions! While this is true, sadly we can miss out on His coming if we exclusively focus on His birth. During the Christmas season, it is imperative for us to tell the whole story of Jesus’ incarnation. His birth, life, death and resurrection should all be in view for Christians during the Christmas season.
Scripture speaks of Jesus Christ being a servant. The King of Kings and Lords of Lords, full God, fully Man, the eternal Son of God coming down to the earth and putting on human flesh. If anyone had the right to be served, it was Christ, yet He came not to be served but to serve others. He came to serve, suffer and to save. We praise Him for that today - let’s read this incredible passage from : the Suffering Servant.
13 Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
14 Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.
15 Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.
13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 52:
1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Isaiah 53:1-3
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
Isaiah 53:4-6
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
Let’s pray
10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
Let’s pray
Let’s pray
Let’s pray
You might not agree with much of John Calvin’s theology - in fact you might not like the guy at all. With that said, he made a wonderful point regarding the awful chapter break that exists between and 53. Calvin noted that it was a “dismemberment” of the Biblical text. The final 3 verses of are clearly talking about the Suffering Servant that all of talks about, because of this the chapter break between the two is extremely confusing. Our understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what His mission was is not something we have to exclusively look for in the New Testament. Rather, we find His mission all the way back in
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
We see from texts like that this Servant will come, He will serve others, He will be crushed and He will save His people!
Christ came to Serve (52:13-53:3)
Christ came to Serve (52:13-53:3)
Whenever we think of someone who serves someone else we naturally think of either a waiter (at a restaurant) or of someone hosting someone in a home. What Scripture shows us is that Christ came and He came to serve sinners. Christ did not come to be a cosmic butler to make us milk and cookies whenever we ask. He did not come to be a genie in a bottle to answer our wishes. Christ came to serve humanity and those whom society deemed worthless. In doing so, notes that Christ was exalted and lifted up. This is a prophecy that has roots in as Jeremiah writes:
5 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land.
This servant will be both a branch and a servant - He will be the Davidic Messianic figure who will fulfill the David Covenant. He will be raised up, lifted up and exalted. In this opening verse we hear an echo of as this child will be exalted on the throne. While we might be quick to note the exaltation of Christ, verses 14-15 show us a fuller picture of what He did on the earth. Christ was humiliated. His appearance was marred so much so that the onlookers would even wonder if He was human. This points to the fact that the Messiah would look so disfigured due to the suffering and torture He experienced before His death. We, again, have the benefit of hindsight to know that this certainly did happen in the hours leading up to His crucifixion. This innocent baby who was born to save the world from sin and death would be put to death and in doing so would not even look human. Aren’t you thankful that Christ came to serve? As Jesus stated in
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Aren’t you thankful for this today, church? Not only did He give us life as a ransom for many, but verse 15 of tells us that His suffering results in sprinkling to all nations. What on earth could this mean? Atonement. talks about the atonement and the need to cleanse sinners of their impurity
14 “Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. 15 “Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.
John, in , writes that Jesus’ blood atones for the sins of people
9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Every tribe, tongue and people and nation. This is being prophesied about 700 years before the fact through the prophet Isaiah! How does this sprinkling occur? By people spreading the news of the Gospel throughout the nations. By people verbally telling others the truth of Scripture! By people telling others what Christmas is truly about! This sprinkling is not a literal sprinkling (Catholics) but is a spiritual one that transpires whenever a lost person sees the truth and responds to it in faith.
This servant, born in a lowly manger in a tiny town will shut the mouths of Kings. Christ can save anyone, anywhere at anytime. Even the most powerful people in the world are speechless at the work of Jesus Christ, the suffering servant, taking their place on the cross.
Again, we rejoice because Christ came to serve and as verse 1-3 tell us that the “Arm of the Lord” has been revealed. What on earth is this arm of the Lord? This shows the frailty of the Son of God. Arms can get broken. Arms can be amputated. Arms by themselves are relatively weak. The Son of Man was killed! Yet, in His “weakness” of dying, He revealed His true strength. While this message is exciting and hopeful, there is a caveat to it, only those who this is revealed to will believe it. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission in the late 19th century, put it like this, “All God’s giants have been weak people, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.” We can share this message on the streets year in and year out and not see a single response, however, for the person who has their eyes opened to salvation through Christ alone, there is no turning back. We must strive to be weak people who do great things for God simply by relying completely on His strength.
In doing this, we know that we will not always be liked. Jesus was despised, rejected and acquainted with grief. The servant was rejected. Someone who came to bring about life, reconciliation and redemption was cast off. As the Jews cried out in
33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
The Messiah was in their very midst, yet they turned their back on Him. He was despised which means to be grossly under-estimated. These Jews said that Jesus was a man. Jesus was the most despised person in history! He was the creator of the universe yet He was rejected by these people.
Church, may we never reject Jesus Christ. Sure, we don’t see Him in the flesh like these Jews did, but we have the Holy Spirit inside of us telling us what to do. We have the Word of God right in front of us, telling us how to live our lives. Yet, often times, we push it aside and reject the servant in order to do what we want to do. May that not be the case this Christmas season. Let us focus on the King and follow His leading.
Christ came to Suffer (53:4-9)
Christ came to Suffer (53:4-9)
Verses 4-6 of are some of the most popular in all of Scripture as they illustrate what Christ did for sinners by taking their place on the cross. 2 weeks ago we spent some time looking at the doctrine of atonement during our Sunday evening doctrinal study and one of the things that stands out about the atonement is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, not only reconciled sinners to God, but He suffered in our place. Christ was the great healer - He healed people day in and day out, but the people still had a severe sinful condition that simply fixing an ailment would not help. You know this to be true if you’ve ever broken a bone. You might be able to have surgery in order to correct the physical ailment, but you know that there will come a time in the future where you will require another surgery in order to fix another issue. We know this to be true because our bodies break down. Because of our sin, we are in constant need of healing and forgiveness. Verse 4 states that Christ has born our griefs. Christ suffered, He was afflicted, He paid the price in full so that we might be made righteous before the Father. To put it differently, Christ suffered in this life so that we would not suffer for eternity. He did nothing wrong, yet He took our place. tells us that we were dead in sins… We deserved the cross. But begins with the best 2 words in Scripture: But God.
We were dead in sin. But God made us alive. We were lost. But God saved us. We were facing the cross. But God sent Jesus. We suffer. But God suffered far worse.
Many preachers and Christians alike love to read and fixate on the physical healings of Jesus’ ministry. Whenever suffering comes many people will say, “by His stripes you are healed.” Did Jesus heal people? You bet He did. Does Jesus heal people today? You bet He does. Was Jesus’ central and primary mission to heal people of their physical ailments? No. Christ’s atonement does not guarantee us physical healing, in fact we should be grateful that it doesn’t! Instead, His suffering and taking our place on the cross guarantees our eternal life. By His suffering, Christians are healed not physically but eternally. We are not healed of our sickness but we are healed of our sinfulness. We still sin, but the consequence of sin exists no longer because all of our sin was placed on Jesus Christ in that very moment on Golgotha!
The innocent baby in Bethlehem would grow up. He would be despised, pierced, crushed and punished not for anything He had done wrong, but for our iniquities. As verse 6 says, we have all gone astray. This is one of the areas where people are a little confused in our culture today. Many people out there think that they are fine. They think that they can mix Jesus with American culture or politics and be fine. This is just another examples of us going astray. Rather than turning to wells that never satisfy, we must return to Jesus Christ. He has paid it all - all to Him we owe. Not all to America, we owe. Not all to my hobby, I owe. Not all to my family, I owe. Not all to my traditions, I owe, because a whole lot of our traditions have nothing to do with Jesus. It’s all all to Jesus Christ, I owe, because He took my place on the cross.
While Christ took our place, He did not open His mouth or defend Himself like we would do in such a situation. Can you imagine if you were to be falsely accused of a crime that warranted the death penalty? You would be extremely vocal about your innocence and plead for your life to be saved! Yet, Jesus did not do this. Jesus was spit on, laughed at, mocked, beat up, screamed at, led up a street for all to see, and given a crown of thorns. He was oppressed and afflicted. This screams injustice, does it not! This is cruel, even if the person committed the crime in question, but Jesus did not such thing! He did no wrong. Yet, even in this injustice, Christ brings about justice as Paul notes in
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
:25-26
In the words of Andrew Davis, “God would rather slaughter his own beloved Son than allow guilty sinners like us into heaven unatoned for! There has never been a greater display of God’s justice in all history, nor of humanity’s injustice.” He did not defend Himself, He took our place, willingly. We know that Christ asked for the cup to be passed from Him, if it be possible, but we also know that if Christ wanted to, He could have called down the heavenly host of angels to rescue Him from the Roman soldiers. Christ went to the cross willingly. Knowing the pain that He would feel. Knowing full and well that He would suffer.
If Jesus had not been sinless, suffering and taking our place on the cross would have done humanity absolutely no good. If Jesus had been born in Bethlehem as we celebrate during Christmas but He had not died for us on the cross, His coming would have been cool, but He would not be our Savior. We must be faithful to see the incarnation in the lens of His mission: to die on the cross and reconcile sinners to God with His atoning sacrifice once and for all. His primary mission was not to heal, teach, do miracles, or lead, rather His primary mission was to die. Everything must be viewed in light of that fact.
Christ came to Save (53:10-12)
Christ came to Save (53:10-12)
Whenever we think of babies being born, we think of the love and the connection between mother, father, and child. This connection is deep and genuine. Whenever we see a parent do something like harm their child we think that they are a monster, and understandably so! Yet, here in we see that it was the will of the Lord to crush the Son. This seems harsh and bizarre. After all, how could a loving God bring about suffering. We don’t like to think in these terms, do we? We like to say that God causes good things to happen and that God never wills bad things to happen. Yet, here Isaiah writes that it was the will of God to crush the Son. Sometimes, friends, God’s will is hard. His will brings about suffering so that something good can come out of it. The preacher of Hebrews writes that,
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The delight of the Father is not crushing His Son, but rather the end result of what crushing the Son will bring about: salvation for every nation, tribe and tongue! The suffering and torture of Jesus was painful beyond measure and God reacted accordingly as the earth shook and the skies turned dark when the Son died. Yet, the result of this agony, was pleasure and joy. Just as the child-birthing process is one characterized with agony, the result is pure joy. Think of the process of Jesus’ life and death. Agony that led to pure joy for mankind. God’s Word declares that His soul makes a guilt offering. This speaks of some form of compensation (as Leviticus talks about in depth) to God for the damages done against Him by mankind - sin. Jesus suffered and in doing so, He saved mankind. This started all the way back in Bethlehem, as His coming marked an invasion on Satan’s turf by the Son of God. During the coming years these two would wage war (as the Gospels attest to) and the demonic activity during His ministry is frequent and powerful, yet we know how the story ends: Jesus wins. Jesus saves. Jesus reigns supreme!
Out of the anguish, knowledge and righteousness of Christ, many will be made righteous. Many will be saved. Not all will be saved, but many will. Even though the Son served others and suffered immensely, He will be exalted for the result of His life, death and resurrection. Salvation and spoil being spread out with many. Christ was innocent, righteous, yet He did not object to suffering. He died and was buried because of the sins of others. He is our savior and that is what we celebrate during this time of the year: Immanuel, God with us, has come. The darkness has been pierced by the bright light of glory. The forces of evil are being invaded and obliterated by the forces of good. Christ has come and the world will never be the same as a result. Where we fall short, the servant wins us the victory as God turned death into exaltation because the penalty of sin was paid in full by the Messiah.
Conclusion
Conclusion
During Christmas we like talking about the innocence of baby Jesus in the manger and the people who came to visit Him in Bethlehem and the gifts they brought along the way. While this is important and certainly a part of Christmas, it is not the main part. Movies talk about the Christmas joy and happiness associated with this time of the year, however they pale in comparison to true Christian joy. True Christian joy is not found on the Hallmark channel. It’s not found underneath the Christmas tree. It’s not found on Amazon or on Disney+. It’s found in a person: Jesus Christ.
The story of Jesus includes a manger, but it cannot stop there. His story continues and gets even better. The manger is incredible, but don’t stop the Christmas story at the manger, friends! It continues to the cross and the cross is even greater than the manger. A manger meant to feed animals leads to a cross that was meant to kill but was turned into our victory. So when you tell your family and friends about Christmas and about the Gospel message, tell them that the cross is at the heart, not the manger. We can talk about the manger, but we must then go straight to the cross.
We should find eternal security in these verses, for God made a plan for our salvation before the foundation of the world and predicted it clearly through Isaiah. Jesus achieved it two thousand years ago. And Jesus is at the right hand of God, interceding for us until we are at last with him in heaven.
We thank God for that today. We rejoice that Christ came, lived and died. We trust in God’s plan that was thought out out long before the manger. We trust in this plan that was thought out long before our existence on this planet. We continue to trust in His plan today. God’s Word is clear that He is coming back again one day. His Word is clear that we are to share that message to a lost and dying world. His Word is clear that we are give, not just financially, but give our time and gifts to minister to those around us - what better time to do that than the Christmas season?
So, the next time you’re struggling and even suffering, know that Christ suffered the greatest injustice of all so that you and I could be made a part of the family of God. This whole process started not in a palace or with the local leaders, but in a stable with a carpenter and a virgin. Trust in Him today!