The Passion Narratives - The Suffering Servant

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The Passion Narratives – The Suffering Servant 17/03/2021

Derrick Harrison 17/03/2021

The Passion Narratives No 3 – The Suffering Servant

We continue with The Passion Narratives: a series of talks following Jesus on the Road to the Cross.

We began our journey at Caesarea Philippi where Peter confessed that Jesus is truly the Christ and the Son of God, followed by Jesus’ first reference to His death and His resurrection. Six days later Jesus is transfigured. The two events together speak of His death, resurrection, and exaltation.

We visited Gethsemane, the location of the olive-press where Jesus prayed in agony for Father to remove the cup of God’s judgement against sin from Him, - “if it be possible.” He embraced Father’s will and proceeded to the cross to bear away out sin.

Now we come to the Cross: the agony of Christ’s death prophesied in vivid detail in the Servant Song of Isaiah ch.53.

The Suffering Servant (Isa.52:13 – 53:12) There are several things that you must look out for in this Servant Song • • • • • •

the physical sufferings of the Servant the soul of the Servant Sin, transgressions/iniquities Vicarious (on our behalf) punishment Father’s part in the sufferings of Jesus Jesus’ sufferings – trials, mocking, abuse, death, grave, resurrection, and fruit of salvation

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The fourth Servant Song of Isaiah is in my view the most important chapter for Christology in the Old Testament and along with David’s messianic Psalms must be placed alongside the Gospel accounts of the Messiah’s sufferings in Gethsemane and on the cross. Of course, the theology of the cross extends through-out the New Testament, particularly in the letters of Paul.

The prophecy begins in Ch.52:13. Nevertheless, we will begin by referring to v7, Isaiah describes the beautiful feet of the evangelist as he comes over the mountains to proclaim and to sing the glad tidings of the coming of the Messiah, the proclamation of the gospel, the kingdom of God and the reign of God, “How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isa.52:7).

The link between 52:7 and 53:1 becomes clear when we read the opening question in v1, “Who has believed our report?” Immediately Isaiah goes on to describe the childhood of Jesus. This is the report of the evangelist spoken against a background of unbelief and blasphemy (52:5), but accompanied by the promise from the Lord that, “My people shall know My name” (v6). This promise was fulfilled in Jesus’ coming and in His powerful and authoritative words. Paul takes the prophecy of v7 and applies it to the preaching of the gospel (Rom.10:15).

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The Exaltation of the Servant is followed by Shocked Reaction to His Sufferings and Death, followed by the Worldwide Proclamation of the Gospel 52:13-15 Verse 13 “Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.”

We are instructed to focus our whole attention on the LORD’S Servant (see 42:1) and again in 53:1, “Behold, My Servant …” One characteristic of prophecy must be noted beginning with this verse – it is not necessarily chronological. Narrative is generally chronological because the events of life fit into a time scale that is bounded by the sequence of time. Take this verse – the first statement refers to Christ’s life and His prudence in dealing with people and I believe particularly with how He conducted Himself during the last hours of His life. To act prudently is to act wisely in accomplishing God’s purposes. Jesus acted prudently especially with regarding His conduct during His trials and crucifixion.

The line which immediately follows speaks of exaltation before it speaks of suffering. Chronologically suffering preceded exaltation. The second point to make is that we are dealing with carefully crafted poetry. Needless to say, the contrasts highlight the enigma contained in these verses, the contrast between suffering and exaltation. A similar contrast is evident in Paul’s Christological hymn (Phil.2:8-11).

Alec Motyer in his commentary on Isaiah refers to, “The threefold

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exaltation (raised … lifted up … highly exalted).” 1 One is reminded of Paul’s key Christological passage, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name” (Phi.2:9).

Peter, in his Pentecost sermon proclaims the theological explanation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit when he describes the divine procedure which results in the exalted Christ mediating the promised gift of the Holy Spirit from Father to the expectant disciples, “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:32-33).

The Servant of this song is one who suffers, thus Isaiah proceeds from exaltation to humiliation. The apostles viewed the cross from the glory of Christ’s resurrection, they preached the fact of His death with the joyful knowledge that Jesus was risen indeed! They now viewed the cross from the perspective of His physical and historical resurrection.

The portrayal of the sufferings of the LORD’S Servant is intensely graphic, causing a shock reaction of astonishment and revulsion at the sight of Christ’s disfigured face and body. His appearance was appalling, and He no longer looked human because His face was so disfigured and His body so mutilated,

1

Alec Motyer The Prophecy of Isaiah (Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, 1993) p424.

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“Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (Isa.52:14).

In Paul’s Christological hymn (Phil.2:5-11) he refers to Christ who took human “form” in contrast to the “form” of God in which He existed eternally. Isaiah uses this word in describing how His “form,” referring here to His physical body, was marred more than the sons of men. The intensity of His sufferings went beyond the physical ordeal of crucifixion to the realm of His soul. The spectacle of Christ’s suffering startles (an alternative translation for sprinkle) the many who behold Him, resulting in many nations coming within the sphere of His sprinkling, 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” (v15).

The imagery and the vocabulary of sprinkling is associated with the Mosaic sacrifices, reminding one of the Day of Atonement when the High Priest once a year passed through the vail into the Holy of Holies (Ex.25:17; Lev.ch.16; Rom.3:25; Heb.9:5) and sprinkled sacrificial blood on the lid of the ark which is called the “mercy seat” (the propitiatory – Heb. kapporeth) in order to obtain atonement for the children of Israel. Sprinkling is associated with the elaborate sacrificial system set up by Moses. On the night of the Exodus, Moses had instructed every household to take the blood of the sacrificial lamb and to sprinkle it on the door posts and lintel of their home to protect them from the sword of the destroying angel of death. The sacrificial lamb was killed to New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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provide blood to protection them and meat to eat to give them strength for their journey. When the Children of Israel arrived at Sinai the LORD entered into a covenant with them and gave them His holy Law written in stone with His own finger. On this occasion Moses sprinkled all the people with sacrificial blood, “And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words” (Ex.24:4-8).

Similarly, the blood of Jesus “sprinkles” the nations with salvation provision, thus fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant blessings which extend to all the families of the earth. The LXX Greek translation of the Hebrew OT fixes the meaning of the shed blood of the Messiah by naming the lid of hr Ark as the propitiatory (the “Mercy Seat).” The blood was sprinkled on the propitiatory (the lid of the Ark) on the Day of Atonement. Propitiation is the judgement/wrath of God on sin. The Messiah provided propitiation for our sin by shedding His blood and the truth of this underlies the meaning of Gethsemane and Calvary and the passage before us here in Isaiah. Personal cleansing, - the theology of Christian experience is based on the theology of the truth of Christ’s propitiation.

In the New Testament these images of sprinkling do not refer to ceremonial cleansing but to inward cleansing (Heb.10:22). Ezekiel alludes to the practise of sprinkling with water those who were to be purified, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezek.36:25-26).

David refers to the same practise, (Ps.51:9 cited from Lev.14:17). New Testament writers refer to this passage in Leviticus when they write of the sprinkling of the blood of Christ (1Pet.1:2; Heb.12:24). When the Jews crucified Jesus, they called upon themselves the curse of God when, “all the people said, His blood be on us, and on our children” (Mat.27:25). Similarly, those nations who blaspheme the Name of the LORD will be sprinkled with the blood of God’s judgment. The shed blood of Christ will speak loudly in that day of reckoning against those who crucified Jesus again and again by their repeated rejection of His salvation, “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Heb.10:29). This verse particularly applies to Christians who repeatedly and purposefully sin against the Lord, thus despising the blood of Christ which was shed for them.

The Report about the Humiliated and Sorrowing Servant 53:1-3 Verse 1 “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (53:1).

Ch.53 begins with a question: “Who has believed our report?” Is this the report of the evangelist, or Isaiah, or possibly John Baptist?

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Perhaps we should include all those prophets and evangelists who have heralded the coming of the Messiah and proclaimed the message of the cross. The report is about the Suffering Servant. It is followed by a second question: “And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The arm of the Lord refers to His strength and with regard to the Servant in whom the Lord’s strength is revealed in suffering and weakness – the enigma of the cross. The prophetic word that the Lord spoke to Paul expresses this perfectly, “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2Cor.12:9 cf. 13:4).

Paul says that the truth of the cross, “to the Jews is a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness” (1Cor.1:23), but to us who are being saved, it is the power and the wisdom of God. The power of God corresponds to “the arm of the Lord” (Isa.53:1), and the wisdom of God refers to “My Servant (who) shall deal prudently” (52:13). The first two chapters of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians affirm the teaching of the prophet Isaiah. Paul like the prophet before us is surprised at the few who see the true worth of the Lord’s Servant. He writes, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called” (1Cor.1:26). Paul also makes the same point as Isaiah, - to see the true worth of the Lord’s Servant is a matter of revelation, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1Cor.2:10).

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The arm of the LORD refers to His omnipotent power revealed in the sending of the Messiah to His own people the Jews answering the question regarding the people to whom the revelation came. The eye must be opened to see the worth of the Servant. Simeon declared to the Lord as he held in his arms the Christ Child, “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel” (Lk.2:29-32).

John Baptist was taken aback by the revelation of the Holy Spirit concerning the Person of the Christ. On the second day of Jesus’ presence among the thronging crowds that attended John’s baptisms He approaches John who declared: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn.1:29). The same urgency accompanies the words of John as the words of Isaiah, the same exhortation to focus on Him who is the fulfilment of prophecy and typology, anticipated in the numerous references to the sacrificial lamb which is also central to Isaiah’s portrayal of the lamb in relationship to sacrifice.

Twice John, empresses his wonderment at this revelation; He says “I did not know Him!” (1:31, 33). No doubt John had known Jesus in childhood and they probably played together as cousins, but John had been blind to the truth of Jesus’ Messiahship until by the revelation from God his eyes were opened to see truly that Jesus is the “Lamb of God” which points to the suffering and death of the Christ who is the “Son of God” (v34). The fact that Jesus is the Son of God makes His New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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death to be of eternal worth; because he is the Son of God His salvation extends to all the families of the earth. Jesus’ death as the Son of God makes credible and possible the Great Commission (Mat.ch.28:19-20).

Paul teaches that our eyes also must be opened by the revelation of the Holy Spirit to see the wisdom of God in the crucified Messiah, “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1Cor.2:2). Paul declares that the Christian has received this revelation and demonstrates this by quoting from Isaiah, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1Cor.2:10-11; see also Isa.64:4; 65:17).

That same revelation of the suffering and dying Messiah was understood by Philip the evangelist, who interpreted Isaiah Ch.53 as a prophecy referring to Christ, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him” (Acts 8:35).

The question regarding those to whom the report was addressed is answered by the apostle John in his Gospel. His understanding is clear that despite seeing “the arm of the Lord revealed” in omnipotent power in the miracles of Jesus, nevertheless the Jews, His own people have not believed on Him. Thus, the prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled in their rejection,

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“But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

(Lk.12:37-38 cf. Isa.6:9-12).

The apostle Paul takes this same verse and links it to a verse in the previous chapter of Isaiah where the prophet speaks about the evangelist. You may remember that I also made that same link between the evangelist (Isa.52:7) and the report (53:1). Paul understands the report to be the gospel and repeats Isaiah’s emphasis on the necessity of believing the good news about the incarnate Messiah, “And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who, bring glad tidings of good things!”

(Rom.10:15).

“But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So, then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (vv16-17).

Verse 2, “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” (Isa.53:2).

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This verse refers to the LORD’S Servant in childhood. Father delights in Him as His own begotten child, delighting in the humanity of His Son, observing Jesus’ growth from childhood to adolescence and eventually to full manhood. The only Gospel writer who speaks of this human development is Luke who gives us two verses, “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him” (Lk.2:40) and again, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men” (Lk.2:52). The Hebrews writer captures the thrill and delight of Father at His Son’s begetting, quoting the words of the Messianic psalm, “For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”? (Heb.1:5).

Isaiah captures the delight of Father at His Son’s human development from infancy to manhood, this is shown by the words of the prophecy, “He shall grow up before Him,” (v2). The young tender sapling that grows up out of the parched and cracked earth is a reference to Jesus growing up in the environment of Judaism among His own kin, which is described by John, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (Jn.1:11). That same delight of Father is demonstrated in His affirmation of His Son at His baptism, “and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” (Lk.3:23). Isaiah takes this further and refers to Father’s pleasure expressed in the sufferings of the Messiah (Isa.53:10).

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The second part of v2 takes us by surprise as we struggle to understand this description of the Suffering Servant in the light of our own personal perception of the Messiah, “He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isa.53:2b).

I have purposely referred to “us” and “we” because this is how Isaiah has written these words. To view Christ cannot be a detached or speculative exercise, It must be intensely personal. People who heard Jesus quickly came to a decision about Him. His claims precipitated either outcry or affirmation and His actions were either the works of God or those of Beelzebub. We are placed in the category of those who dismiss Him and find Him offensive to look at. We must not detach this statement from its immediate context by referring to the first part of the verse where we recognized that these words apply to the Suffering Servant – Jesus incarnate God – and we must therefore look at the description here in v2b as also referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask ourselves “when” and “where”? We find our answer in the verse that follows, hence the importance of the context here.

Isaiah is describing the sufferings of the LORD’S Servant that can only be understood in the context of the crucifixion and the Person of Christ Jesus. There is no sentence break as Isaiah continues to describe the Servant’s rejection, 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” (Isa.53:3).

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To behold the Suffering Servant is to see the exposure of Christ’s humanity - to scorn, rejection, betrayal, suffering and pain, to behold His sufferings results in reaction, shock and revulsion by those who are seeing Him being crucified. Isaiah destroys in one sentence the sentimentality and false spirituality associated with the cross. The Gospel writers describe the intensity of Christ’s sufferings, but they leave it there, they do not dramatize them, nor do they go into such detail as Isaiah. The idolatry of the Catholic Church extends even to its depicting of the cross, making it the object of adoration – the opposite perspective to Isaiah. The Italian artists do not paint the crucified Christ as tortured and contorted through pain but sentimentalize His deep sorrow (they also sentimentalize His nativity). It is possible to view this false depiction of the crucifixion without emotion or without having to make a choice, but the Suffering Servant of Isaiah brings a reaction of shock and revulsion due to the extent of His sufferings and the impact on His body and face.

The Crucifixion by the Dutch Mathis Gothart Grünewald (1515), is certainly not sentimental in his portrayal of the crucifixion of Jesus, but he portrays a Christ who has been crucified and is almost or already dead. This is more clearly seen in the Detail on the front cover of this document which has been enlarged from the altarpiece below. Devoid of any sentimentality this painting stands in stark contrast to the Italian masters who were commissioned to paint religious subjects for the Catholic church.

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The German theologian Jűrgen Moltmann, in his book, The Crucified God sought to explain the sufferings of Jesus in the light of the Jewish holocaust. He had been converted in a Prisoner of War camp in Britain at the end of the Second World War and his entire understanding of the cross is summed up in the agonized cry of Jesus, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mk.15:34; Ps.22:1).

Unfortunately, Moltmann failed to see the truth of salvation which was the purpose of Christ’s sufferings to bring salvation through the shedding of Christ’s blood. Horrific as Christ’s sufferings were, we must see the foundation truths which explain the meaning of the cross and Isaiah understands this to be, God’s punishment of sin in Christ, thus providing the means of salvation for us.

We believe the reason why Father turned His back on His Son was because He was truly the Lamb of God, now fulfilling John Baptist’s prophecy on the day of His baptism, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn.1:29, 36). In Jesus’ last words from the cross, He declared His total trust in His God, “And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having said this, He breathed His last” (Lk.23:46).

The cross was also central in Paul’s teaching as demonstrated in the first two chapters of Corinthians. The centrality of the cross in his preaching and the significance of the cross in the context of Christian experience were clearly taught. In Ch.15 he lists several postresurrection appearances of Jesus to His disciples and strongly argues for the return of Christ based on the historicity of the resurrection.

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What was in dispute at Corinth was the return of Christ and Paul answers this matter by linking the return of Jesus to the fact of His resurrection, which inevitably takes us back to the historicity of His death as it was graphically described and foretold by Isaiah.

The precise detail requires more examination. Linking the second half of v2 with the following verse requires us to interpret our strange revulsion to the Suffering Servant in the context of His sufferings. The marred “form” takes us back to 52:14 where we find a reference to the destructive impact of the crucifixion on His face and body. One inevitably reflects on Paul’s reference to Christ in his most important hymn which expresses the breath-taking stoop of Jesus who eternally existed in the “form” of God as Spirit, a form of being unknown to us.

Paul contrasts the former state of Jesus Christ who existed eternally in the form of God with the incarnate Christ who chose the form of a servant to live and die among men and women. As the Suffering Servant described by Paul, His servanthood took Him, “even (to) the death of the cross” (Phil.2:8).

This strange revulsion stands in total contrast to the saints of all ages who have found God irresistibly attractive. This is a great blow to the mystic tradition, who takes for themselves such Scriptures as expressed in the Song of Songs. When the seeking Lover is forced to seek her Beloved in the streets of Jerusalem, those who taunt her ask mockingly, “What is your beloved more than another beloved?” (5:9), she responds by giving a comprehensive description of his personal features and sums up by saying, “Yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend” (v16). We strive to present a loving and commendable, “seeker friendly” Jesus, but the Suffering Servant of New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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Isaiah and Paul is a scandalon (σκανδαλον) to the Jew and to the Greeks foolishness (1Cor.1:23; Gal.5:11). The message of the crucified God has always scandalised humanity, but Paul says that this is the gospel He has been called to preach. It is important to note that Paul links the preaching and the content of the gospel in one word, ευαγγελιϚεσθαι. Many of the Corinthian Christians had experienced spiritual birth directly through the preaching of the apostle (1Cor.4:15). The gospel and the preaching for the apostle are one – ευαγγελιϚεσθαι. He writes to the Corinthians, “I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you” (1Cor.9:19-23).

Acknowledging that preaching will take many forms in the context of today’s multi-media technology we must affirm that the content of the gospel is timeless. At the heart of the gospel is the message of the crucified Messiah/Christ. Paul, at the beginning of his letter to the Corinthians writes, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1Cor.1:17-18). A few verses on he writes, “but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (vv23-24).

Paul continues in ch.2 with the same priority of the cross, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (2:2). Finally, he says “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (2:7, 8). The central paradigm of Paul’s preaching was the cross of Jesus Christ, just as it was for the evangelist who was described by Isaiah, who came with the report of the Servant of the LORD and his sufferings. The core message of the cross was the same for Isaiah and Paul.

There is clear evidence in the Gospels that the death of Jesus, a spectacle of human weakness and vulnerability in the face of encroaching death, caused the onlookers to despise Him, to mock and to reject Him. We believe that God is intimately involved in all human pain and suffering. We also believe that the broken-hearted Intercessor’s prayers are fuelled by their vulnerabilities, weaknesses, imperfections and failures due to their humanity. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses “feeling of our infirmities” (Heb.4:15). We have a feeling and empathetic Saviour who Himself encountered human infirmities in His own person just as we do, who New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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had strong passions of love and anger as we do. God created us humans with an emotional nature. In actual fact we read that the Suffering Servant has, “borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” (53:4). In the second part of v3 we read that the Suffering Servant is a “Man of Sorrows.” The hymn writer Philip P. Bliss has made these words a title for Jesus, Man of Sorrows! what a name For the Son of God, Who came Ruined sinners to reclaim.

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

I believe that he is correct in making this a title for Jesus. This designation is true of Him because He is “acquainted with grief.” A literal paraphrase would suggest that Jesus was acquainted with every aspect and dimension of our suffering. He often says to His children, – “I understand what you are going through, I have been through exactly the same!” No two people have been through the exact same suffering and usually a comment like that does not help! If you are suffering you instinctively know that your pain is unique, and you will also recognize those Christians who truly feel with you in your pain. The Hebrews writer considers that God’s empathy with the human condition results from Jesus’ humanity and what He suffered as a man living among us.

The humanity of Christ gave access for suffering to enter deeply into Father’s heart also. One cannot consider the sufferings of Jesus Christ without Father’s engagement with His pain and anguish. One is reminded of Abraham and Isaac and the suffering of the father to implement God’s will which involved the death of his own son. Father’s “pleasure” in the Son’s sacrifice was due to His acquiescence in

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obedience to Father’s will. The sorrows of God’s Son found a unique expression in the prophet Jeremiah who has been described as “the weeping prophet” - so deep were his feelings that they spilled over into a second little book entitled “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” which contains a verse that eloquently describes the sorrows of God, experienced by the tender heart of the prophet, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which has been brought on me, which the LORD has inflicted in the day of His fierce anger” (Lam.1:12).

The Servant’s acquaintance with “grief” can be literally translated “sickness” (see the marginal note in your Bible). E. W. Hengstenberg Christology of the Old Testament2 translates v3 as the Man of sorrows who is, “familiar with disease.” “Disease, here and in the following verse, is a figurative designation of severe sufferings of body and soul.”

“The image is taken from leprosy, which was not only one of the most terrible diseases, but was also, in a special manner regarded as a Divine punishment.” The leper was considered an outcast and still is in many Asian countries, leprosy is feared due to contagion and therefore the leper is shunned by family and society. Just so, is the rejection of the LORD’S Servant described so graphically here, “he was a hiding of the face before him,” i.e., as a thing or person before whom a man covers his face, because he cannot bear the disgusting site” (Hengstenberg). By taking on our sin the Suffering Servant endures the

2

E. W. Hengstenberg Christology of the Old Testament (Kregel Publications. 1970) p251.

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curse of God and the wrath of God due to man’s rebellion against Him (2Cor.5:21; Gal.3:13).

Isaiah not only describes the sufferings of the LORD’S Servant, but he also gives to suffering a cause in the purposes of God. He teaches the theology of the cross, giving to the sufferings of the Messiah a cause and purpose which includes an understanding of sins consequences.

No other Old Testament prophet received this revelation with such clarity and Isaiah precedes the full revelation of the meaning of the cross in the theology of Paul.

Thankfully, Isaiah describes attitudes, reactions and judgments that belong to the past for you and me. No longer is our heart alienated by the sufferings of Jesus whose, “appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind” (Isa.52:14; ESV). The KJV translates the Hebrew noun mar’eh as “visage” better translated as “marred countenance,” Paul describes the countenance of the Messiah and uses the Greek word προσωπον meaning face, For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Cor.4:6).

The cross has become the most sacred place on earth to us and the dying of Christ has drawn us irresistibly to God rather than driving us away from Him which fulfils the promise of Jesus, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (Jn.12:32).

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The Sufferings of the Smitten Servant provide Propitiation/Expiation for our Sins and Healing for our Sicknesses Verses 4-6 Verse 4“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isa.53:4).

We are introduced in this verse to the vicarious (on our behalf) sufferings of Christ - He is suffering for us. Firstly, He has carried away our “griefs,” if you look in your margin you will find that it gives an alternative rendering – literally, “sicknesses.” The marginal reading also gives an alternative meaning for “sorrows” which is literally “pain.” I believe the cross has dimensions of salvation that not only brings to us forgiveness from God and reconciliation with God but also embraces the whole condition of man corrupted by sin. The ravages of sin that debilitate and destroy our humanity, also includes our physical body, and our sinful corrupt heart (mind, emotions, will etc.). Also include all that came to us from our earliest childhood, everything that has been fed into our hearts and minds, the abuse, the broken relationship, the trials and our bereavements, - above all our perverse rebellion against God. These are all remedied in the death of Jesus. He took them all upon Himself and bore them to Calvary. The total forgiveness and restoration of the entire creation results from the cross (Rom.8:19-23). How tragic it is that men and women reject the salvation Jesus offers through the cross. We see that Jesus this clearly spelled out His ministry to needy souls in His synagogue manifesto at Nazareth at the commencement of His ministry,

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“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Lk.4:18).

One word in the Gospels define the extent and depths of God’s salvation, the word “wholeness.” Jesus made people whole. The actions of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels demonstrate that God’s salvation concerns the whole man (Mk.3:4). Indeed, the word is used most frequently in the Gospels with reference to the healing of disease. I love the many examples where this word is applied in the context of people’s lives that were instantly changed by Jesus’ healing touch – blind Bartimaeus was “saved” (Mk.10:52), the Samaritan leper cleansed (Lk.17:19), the man with the withered hand, “and his hand was restored whole as the other” (Mk.3:4-5) and many others. The demoniac, Legion, was delivered from demons, “Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid” (Mk.5:15).

We read of the Servant that, “He was smitten by God and afflicted” (v4), which brings us to the centre of Isaiah’s understanding of the cross. It means that in some way God is responsible for the cross and that He is accountable for Christ’s suffering and death. There are two realities being worked out in the death of Jesus. There are the historical realities – Jesus’ captivity, His trials and the miscarriages of justice, His cruel and violent abuse at the hands of Roman soldiers.

There is the physical torture of His crucifixion and the dying of the man Jesus. The apostle Peter in his Pentecost sermon acknowledges the New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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purpose of God in His crucifixion, nevertheless he pointed the finger at the Jews, making them entirely accountable for Jesus’ death, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:22-24).

There is also the reality of the spiritual conflict – the Suffering Servant is smitten by God and dies for sin and transgression resulting in His justification and by virtue of His justification the justification of the many who believe the report of the gospel. The sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham prefigures the sacrifice of Christ. Observe the significant wording of Scripture, how “they went both of them together” to the place of the altar where Isaac submitted to be killed by his father. Such Scriptures do not formulate our doctrine, but they illustrate the truth of the Bible’s theology of salvation through the cross. They are no less important in the unfolding of Biblical truth than those verses of Scripture that define our theology as the verses before us in Isaiah.

Three times Isaiah points to the LORD’S part in the crucifixion of Jesus.

We have read how He was “smitten by God and afflicted” (v4b), and again we read, “And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (v6).

The final verse which reveals the LORD’S part in Christ’s crucifixion is in v10, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him” (v10). Jesus’ cry of New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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dereliction as the central issue of the crucifixion. He is right about that decisive moment of Jesus’ heart cry. No one would deny the significance of Jesus’ cry of dereliction, “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mk.15:34; Mat.27:46).

Father is accountable for the sufferings of Jesus but the suggestion that there was a breakdown in relationship between Father and Son is a denial of Jesus’ earlier statement, “I and My Father are one” (Jn.10:30). If this were true, we would be speaking of the melt-down of the triune relationship, the death of God and the end of all Christian hope. In the final discourse in John’s Gospel, Jesus anticipating the final desertion by the disciples says: “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone, “And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (Jn.16:32). This verse also represents a part of what was happening to the Father-Son relationship on the cross. We must take into account the final saying of Jesus on the cross, which is an affirmation of full trust in Father, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having said this, He breathed His last” (Lk.23:46 in fulfilment of Messianic prophecy, Ps.31:5).

The sufferings of Jesus cannot be understood apart from the fact that the Messiah was suffering on our behalf because of our sin. This statement demands that we introduce the crucial word “substitution,” - He died on our behalf, He died for us. Paul expressed his incredulity New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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and amazement that the Son of God should die on his behalf! “The Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me!” (Gal.2:20b). This sheer wonderment of the apostle finds a similar response in our own hearts as it did in the heart of Charles Wesley, "Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

The cry of dereliction is the agonizing cry of the Servant as He takes upon Himself the burden of sin. Nevertheless, Jesus’ cry demonstrates the awful sense of separation felt so deeply in the soul of Jesus. The crisis of Christ’s being alone is not due to suffering, or desertion, but to sin. This awareness of alienation and separation is the Father separating Himself from the Sin-bearer due to His total identification with our sin. The Father not only separates Himself from the sin-bearer but the Father judge’s sin in His Son and therefore inflicts on Him the judgement of sin.

We often say that our sin separates us from God, but it is equally true to say that God separates himself from our sin – not only sin, but also the sinner who persists in sinning. The turning away of Father’s face is accompanied by the words, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Mat.7:22). This awareness of eternal separation from God follows the pronouncement of God’s judgment against the unrepentant sinner. Condemned and judged by Father we hear Christ’s loud agonized cry of dereliction. Eternity without Christ is the ultimate God forsakenness. Surely, Jesus felt this in this cry of

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dereliction which was wrung from His deepest soul on the cross – its echo sounds still. It will haunt the lost forever and ever.

Salvation’s worth and its justification of the sinner will be tested and proved at the Judgment Seat of Christ. He is the one who died for us and provided for us full salvation in anticipation of this Day of Judgment. He is our Saviour from sin, and He is our Saviour on the Day of Judgment. Paul writes, “In the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ” ((Rom.2:16). We rejoice in God’s declaration of our justification here and now which is tested in the crucible of life’s trials (Rom.5:1-3), but the ultimate test and proof will be on the Day of Judgment when we are declared righteous in Christ by Christ Himself.

Salvation through the cross demonstrates the truth of our eternal justification in Christ. This has been settled forever in the eternal purposes of God Himself through the cross and is the inheritance of all His children (Gen.15:8; Heb.11:4, 7; Rom.4:3; 5:1). Let me show you the following verse where Isaiah lists some of the results of Christ’s sacrifice, Verse 11b, “By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall JUSTIFY many, For He shall bear their iniquities” (v11b). Our justification clearly took place in the cross where Christ bore away our iniquities.

The Servant’s trust in Father’s integrity is tested due to His intense is suffering and the weight of sin He is bearing. Isaiah makes it very clear that it was Father who inflicted the suffering and that the suffering was on account of sin. At the heart of Isaiah’s prophecy is the revelation that the cause of the Servant’s suffering is our sin. As P. T. Forsyth said, “It is not the fact of the Cross, it is the interpretation of the Cross, the prime theology of the Cross, what God meant by the cross, that is New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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everything.”3 Paul expressed this most powerfully when he declared to the Corinthians, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1Cor.2:2).

The physical sufferings mirror the inward sufferings of Jesus’ soul.

Salvation was not accomplished through the physical sufferings of Jesus alone nor by His physical death. Christ’s physical sufferings and death was an essential part of our redemption, but they point to a more profound and inward crucifixion. Martin Luther argues along the following lines: 1.

2.

3.

Jesus Christ was crucified.

Jesus Christ is God. Therefore, God was crucified.

Luther has no hesitation in using the phrase “the crucified God” (nor has Paul any hesitation in speaking about the crucified Christ) as Luther speaks of the manner in which God shares in the sufferings of the crucified Christ.4 Indeed, this can be the only exposition that gives full meaning to the statement: “He was smitten by God” (v4). Note the similar sounding word “stricken,” – “Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.” The word stricken is used 60 times in Leviticus Ch.13-14, with reference to leprosy; not to the disease itself, but to the accompanying “blow” of it. I recall visiting a 110 years old Leprosy Mission Hospital in India and seeing first-hand the stigma 3

P. T. Forsyth The Work of Christ (The Independent Press, London 1938) p48 Alister E. McGrath Christian Theology: An Introduction (Blackwell, Oxford. 2001) p275 4

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associated with this disease. Even now some people with leprosy are dumped outside the hospital gates and they will never again see their families.5 “Smitten by God and afflicted empress the objective and the subjective sides of His suffering: the divine agent and the personal experience of being brought low, humbled, humiliated” (Motyer, p430). The unexplainable paradox that the immortal God should die on the cross is expressed in the hymn of Charles Wesley, “And can it be?” which includes the following lines, And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Saviour’s blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain— For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? ’Tis mystery all: th’ Immortal dies: Who can explore His strange design?

In vain the firstborn seraph tries To sound the depths of love divine. ’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore, Let angel minds inquire no more.

5

http://67.227.227.84/~st1a2013/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1 82&Itemid=176

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’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; Let angel minds inquire no more.

In one of the earliest known Christian sermons by Melito the second century Bishop of Sardis (preached between A.D. 160-70) he proclaims, “Listen and see, all families of the nations! An unprecedented murder has come to pass in the midst of Jerusalem … And who has been killed? … But listen, as you tremble in the face of Him on whose account the earth trembled, He who hung the earth in place is hanged. He who fixed the heaven in place is fixed in place. He who made all things fast is made fast on the tree. The Master is insulted. God is murdered.”6 These words translated into verse are from the “Pascal Homily” of Melito (about 190 A.D.) in Sardis. He is deeply concerned with guilt for the sin of killing Christ.

“The one who hung the earth in space, is himself hanged; The one who fixed the heavens in place, is himself impaled; The one who firmly fixed all things, is himself firmly fixed to the tree.”

Verse 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.53:5).

6

Melito of Sardis A Homily on the Passover http://www.reformedfellowship.net/articles/dennison_melito_sardis_apr03_v53_n0 4.htm

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Look at the importance of the emphatic pronouns in v5. In this verse I have emphasised in bold letters the pronouns which refer to the Servant, thus demonstrating His pivotal role in our salvation and emphasising that He is our unique and only Saviour, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1Cor.15:30).

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

These verses are at the heart of the chapter and they provide the core of the gospel. The Servant Song not only describes the physical and soul sufferings of the Servant but also gives a theological understanding of the cross. I have no hesitation about this interpretation because we have Biblical warrant for such an interpretation from the evangelist Philip when he was questioned by the Ethiopian Eunuch about the meaning of this passage - Isaiah’s words (53:7-8) are quoted in the text with Philip’s explanation, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him” (Acts 8:35).

V5, requires a recognition of the four parts that make up the verse: (1) “He was wounded for our transgressions,” (2) “He was bruised for our iniquities,” (3) “the chastisement of our peace was upon Him,” and (4) “with His stripes we are healed.”

1) “He was wounded (pierced) for our transgressions”

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The word “pierced” is found only in Isa.51:9, where it is used of the death wound to the dragon Rahab. The sword thrust of the soldier who pierced the side of Jesus was not a mortal wound because He was already dead. Jesus determined the moment of His own death - He committed His spirit to Father and thus released His spirit from His body. At this point as a man, he died, and His head inclined sideways and was cushioned on the wooden vertical beam of the cross. He had fought pain, mocking, rejection and had ultimately fought sin, satan and death and conquered all. His body was nailed by His hands and feet to the cross, He hung by nails which took the weight of his entire body which was racked with pain. From the beginning of His crucifixion, He had to fight for breath, - every breath he breathed was painful and yet in His dying He revealed the suffering love of the triune God. Throughout His ordeal He prayed in a ceaseless travail for the souls of men and women. Yes, He conducted Himself prudently despite His painful sufferings, but thankfully they were hidden from the view of His loved ones because they were endured in darkness. His body was rent, His skin torn and shredded. His body was in shock and bleeding profusely from the time of His flogging. Remember the words of Jesus when He shared the Passover Feast with His disciples, “This is my body which is broken for you …” He was crucified in weakness but was strengthened and enabled to endure as seeing Him who is invisible. In the three hours of darkness, Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God, fought and destroyed the powers of satan, He endured the wrath of God and paid the price of our sin. Golgotha was shrouded in darkness so that Jesus’ loved ones could not behold the Man of Sorrows dying in such agony for you and me.

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The very fact that the Hebrews writer refers to “this MAN” emphasises the point to Christ’s humanity as necessary to the sacrifice of Himself as an offering for sin (Heb.10:5, 10). Further references to His “body” and his “flesh” also emphasise this, “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me” (Heb.10:5).

“But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool” (Heb.10:12-13).

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us[a] to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1Pet.3:18).

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin (1Pet.4:1).

I am not suggesting that our salvation was accomplished through the physical sufferings and death of Jesus as a man, but these Scripture make it clear that Christ’s humanity was necessary to His gaining salvation. Alongside the verse in Hebrews read, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb.9:14).

2) “He was bruised for our iniquities”

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The word “iniquities” refer to the root/origin and the cause of our sin(s) which points to our sinful nature. Our nature is to sin because it is constituted sinful. The NIV translates “flesh” as “sinful nature” (the NLT translation also translates 7:5 as “sinful nature”),7 “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Rom.7:18).

“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin” (7:25).

Paul contrasts Adam and Christ in a key section of his letter to the Romans (5:12-21), In v19 he writes, “For as by one man's disobedience many were made (constituted) sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made (constituted) righteous” (v19).

No evangelical Christian would deny the consequence of sin as stated

by Paul here, which is the sad reality of a nature constituted sinful. In the cross Jesus did not only dies for our sins, but He also died for our sin nature.

Carefully examine this chapter and you find no reference to personal sin with regards to the Lord’s suffering Servant, - I am referring specifically to the period of His intense sufferings on the cross. His 7

The New Living Translation has 25 references to “sinful nature.” The KJV, NASB, NKJV and the ESV have no reference to “sinful nature.”

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temptations on the cross far exceeded anything He had encountered during his lifetime of service. He did not suffer due to His own sin because He had not sinned, rather he had fulfilled all righteousness. I read that His sufferings were for our sin. The sin bearer must be sinless in order to suffer vicarious suffering and death (on our behalf), for sinful men and women. Speaking of a sin bearer points to linking His suffering death with our sins and therefore we speak of penal suffering and death. The Messiah paid the price for our sin. He suffered the wrath of God’s justice against sin. His death for sin is thus the basis on which we are forgiven and justified before God. Peace with God is the result of God’s pronouncement of our justification and the Holy Spirit witnesses in our conscience to this fact.

Although the holiness of the Lord’s Servant is not stated it is implied due to the fact that He takes upon Himself the judgment of God on our behalf. Certainly, His qualities of character are demonstrated in His passive submission to Father and His active obedience in embracing the cross as Father’s only means of gaining our salvation.

Peter points to the sinlessness of Jesus with regard to His sufferings on the cross by quoting Isa.53:9 and v7 (1Pet.2:22-25). He views the cross through the eyes of Isaiah, fully endorsing his theology of the cross, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as

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sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1Pet.2:22-25).

The continued submissive obedience of the Servant to the sufferings of crucifixion called for all the resources of His nature. We often confuse passive submission with passivity of nature. No one could remain passive when confronted with the atrocities of the cross. Submission to God calls for all the resources of our nature. To bow the knee to Jesus is to deny all human passivity and to actively repent and obey the divine summons to follow Him. To understand the dangers of passivity with regard to Christian experience I suggest you read Mrs Jessie PennLewis War on the Saints.

Isaiah links the suffering of the Lord’s Servant with our transgressions and our iniquities. He was pierced for our transgressions. This verse says He was pierced and crushed on account of our sins which He had taken on Himself, causing Him to suffer such a cruel death.

Transgressions is the wilful and rebelliousness of sin, the deliberate flouting of the LORD and His law. Iniquities reflect the bentness or perverseness of human nature … the result of the ever-flowing fount of sin. Our transgressions have to do with the Law, and are defined by the apostle John as sin, “Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1Jn.3:4 KJV).

Iniquities are the tangible outcome of our sinful nature. The Hebrew word means, “to bend, bend double,” and quotes David’s graphic picture of sin (Ps.38:6-7), as reflecting, “the bentness or perverseness

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of human nature. But by His death the Servant bore our punishment.”

The punishment necessary to restore our peace with God. 3) “the chastisement (punishment) of our peace was upon Him” The punishment whereby peace and salvation were procured for us, and our reconciliation with God was accomplished. “Peace with God” means that God is now reconciled to us and we are now reconciled to Him, “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom.5:10).

“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2Cor.5:1819).

4) “with His stripes we are healed” Isaiah is giving to the Servant’s suffering a meaning that applies directly to salvation. He has spoken of iniquities, transgressions, of penal and vicarious suffering and he has spoken of peace and reconciliation. This statement must be understood in the same line of teaching as it is revealed here. The first application of this healing has to do with sin and the havoc it has caused in human lives. Healing has been accomplished and achieved for us on the cross; it is not

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something to be attained, it is God’s free gift by grace. It is through His “wounds” or blows inflicted and the lacerations which resulted from his beatings that healing has been accomplished for us. Through His physical brokenness we have healing. His broken body releases the power of God and we are inwardly healed by touching the hem of His garment. This inner healing of the soul and the physical healing of our body is surely understood by the Gospel word “wholeness.” Jesus healed people totally – the healing of the person, restoring fulness and completeness is the mark of the Messiah’s ministry. Physical healing is surely included in the salvation of God, however, Paul urged men to repent and to be reconciled to God but I do not recall that he urged men to be healed! Wherever the gospel was preached in apostolic times it was accompanied by signs and wonders – healings and deliverances, but the greatest gift of all is the love for Jesus poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Verse 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.”

Isaiah returns to the perverse nature of our hearts, “we” have all turned to his own way; not only did Adam disobey God, but each one of us has sinned wilfully against God: “and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (v6).

There is no break in the sentence - there is the statement of man’s wilful disobedience against God linked by the word “and” to the action of Father in laying on His Servant the iniquity of us all. Earlier we read of the Servant who carried our sorrows who was “smitten by God.” This statement regarding Father’s active judgment of sin brings us to New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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the heart of Messiah’s sufferings which were intensely personal. The LORD laid on Him our sin and thus judged sin in the flesh of the Messiah, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom.8:3). The emphatic emphasis is on the LORD who has laid on Christ our iniquity. This was the crucial and decisive action of God - the judgment of the Father and the submission of the Son, uniting together as one to judge sin and to gain salvation through the cross.

The LORD’S judgment of sin required the submission of the suffering Servant, causing awful pain and death. The writer to the Hebrews writes, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb.2:9-10).

The Hebrews writer speaks of the perfecting of the Messiah through suffering. If suffering has such an impact on Christ’s humanity, we should rethink our theology of sanctification in line with 2Cor.ch.11-12.

In new birth we are truly constituted holy by the regeneration of our heart/nature. The gift of God’s holiness gains perfection through our responsiveness to suffering.

Returning to the text of Isaiah we see the heart of evangelical theology regarding salvation. The Servant has taken, “all our iniquity” on Himself New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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– every individual sin we ever committed has deepened the wounds of our dying Messiah. He bore all this for me! It is my sin that put Him there. Paul said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief” (1Tim.1:15). This verse shows how deeply he felt about Christ’s death on his behalf. He realized how deep was Jesus’ love for him personally, shown to him especially through Christ’s sufferings, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal.2:20).

The offering up of the Servant was not a spontaneous act of love but it was a considered choice of the will of Jesus to give Himself in sacrificial love by offering Himself up to God as the divine provision in the plan of God to meet our need. Motyer writes of God, “who himself superintends the priestly task (Lev.16:21) of transferring the guilt of the guilty to the head of the servant, giving notice that this is indeed his considered and acceptable satisfaction for sin.”

The dying Servant endures in silence and submits to injustice, abuse, and death “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 opened not His mouth. 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. And He made his grave with the wicked and with the New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth” (v7-9; see also Acts 8:26-35).

The Broad Outline Events of the Crucifixion Verses 7-9 V8a, (1) the abuse and injustice of His trials, “He was taken from prison and judgment,” V7b, (2) His journey along the Via Dolorosa, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter” V8b, (3) He was crucified and died, “He was cut off out of the land of the living,” V9a, (4) He was crucified between two wicked thieves, “they made his grave with the wicked,” V9a, (5) He was buried in the garden tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, “but with the rich in His death.”

Christ’s submission and resignation to enforced and abusive treatment are evident throughout His arrest, trial, and crucifixion and finally in His dying. Surely, death is the ultimate and final submission to sovereign Lord. For each one of us death is the crowning act of a lifetime of obedience and surrender to the will of God – Lord prepare me and help me to die well! These acts of continual submission are expressed and executed by silence throughout, “He did not open His mouth,” except at key points when His words were remembered and became an integral part of the Gospel accounts of His crucifixion.

New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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Christ’s continued submissive silence throughout is testimony to His submission to Father’s will and is pictured by Isaiah as “a lamb being led to the slaughter.” This was an apt description in the light of O.T. typology with reference to the lamb. John in the Revelation writes, “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a (little) Lamb as though it had been (freshly) slain” (Rev.5:6). Jesus’ resignation to unjust trials, the hostile verbal and physical abuse of His enemies was forced upon Him but His response to that was voluntary, - he chose how He would respond, and He responded with silence to Pilates’s insistent questions.

As Jesus said, “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?

(Mat.26:63). All the resources of heaven were at His disposal but He chose to die as a man without heavenly assistance. Angels had originally expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and Christ would suffer outside of God’s paradise, “outside the gate” to gain man’s repossession of Eden.

Resignation in the face of oppression and affliction meant that He did not defend Himself against injustice and illegalities. However, He managed Himself prudently, He controlled His tongue and He actively suffered and submitted Himself to the atrocities of the cross. Study the seven words He spoke from the cross in order to gaining insight into His thinking.8 Paul writes, in the most famous Christological statement 8

The seven sayings of Jesus in order, spoken from the cross, 1. Luke 23:34: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

2. Luke 23:43: Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

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in the N.T., “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil.2:8). There are two sides to this: part of His sufferings was due to His helplessness – He was hanging, nailed to the cross, losing blood and He was dying. Jesus had no control over this. He struggled to retain consciousness and would have struggled continually to get His next breath. Over these things Jesus had no control. The other side of the crucifixion is that Jesus was enabled by the resources of the Holy Spirit to endure and to prevail. I am viewing these sufferings in the context in which Paul made His statement in Philippians, “and being found in appearance as a man.” As a man Jesus was anointed to fulfil the role of Messiah as the LORD’S suffering and dying Servant. The purpose of the anointing in the Jordon was to fulfil the work of salvation as portrayed in Isa.ch.53. Yes, He healed by the Spirit’s power and for this He was also anointed, but the fact is that healing does not bring salvation. One day He performed His last miracle on earth and then He went to the cross to suffer and die to gain salvation for lost men and women.

In His deepest sufferings, His silence is observed with surprise, “he did not open His mouth.” We have made no reference to the spiritual travail of soul in seeking the prize of our redemption, “for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Heb.11:27). The ultimate issues of the cross were directly related to, “the LORD and His Christ” (Acts 4:26).

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

John 19:26–27: Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother Matthew 27:46 & Mark 15:34 My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

John 19:28: I thirst.

John 19:30: It is finished. (From the Greek "tetelestai" which is also translated "It is accomplished", or "It is complete").

Luke 23:46: Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.

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The physical death of Jesus meant that he could also die for our sin.

The judgment of God was unobservable to those who watched the Messiah die. They saw only physical agony but behind the visible suffering there was the central issue which precipitated His agonized prayer and bleeding drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane – it was the issue of the holy Messiah drinking the lethal cup of sin and suffering as a consequence the wrath of Almighty God against sin. It was this that caused Jesus to hesitate and to shrink from its awful consequences when He prayed in Gethsemane for Father to remove the cup from Him, if it was at all possible.

Isaiah reaches into the deeper recesses of Christ’s real sufferings when He writes, “You make His soul an offering for sin” (v10), and “He shall see the travail of His soul and be satisfied” (v11 KJV). Paul speaks also of Christ being made sin for us, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2Cor.5:21). In the margin of your Bible, you will find an alternative translation which says that He was made a sin offering on our behalf (as in CSV translation). Almost without exception the several translations keep to the KJV text. Just before Paul made this statement about the spiritual significance of Messiah’s death, he wrote, “that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2Cor.5:19). This key verse declares that God was actively involved “in Christ” to reconcile the world to Himself.

The Messiah dies, “He was cut off from the land of the living.” These were stark words, but death was inevitable once Pilate had delivered Him up to be crucified, New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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'Tis finished! the Messiah dies, cut off for sins, but not his own.

Accomplished is the sacrifice, the great redeeming work is done.

The veil is rent; in Christ alone the living way to heaven is seen; the middle wall is broken down, and all the world may enter in.

'Tis finished! All my guilt and pain, I want no sacrifice beside; for me, for me the Lamb is slain; 'tis finished! I am justified .

The reign of sin and death is o'er, and all may live from sin set free; Satan hath lost his mortal power; 'tis swallowed up in victory.

Charles Wesley 1762

“Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1Cor.15:3).

The Meaning and the Effects of the Servant’s Death V10 Verse 10, “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when You shall 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” (v10).

Isaiah returns for the third time to speak of Father’s role in Messiah’s crucifixion explaining its meaning and its effects (v10), “Yet it pleased New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: (v10a). Previously in v4b, the Messiah was, “smitten by God,” and in v6b, we read, “and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” The third statement is the most difficult to grasp – how could Messiah’s bruising at the hands of Father bring pleasure to the LORD? Before we comment on this difficult verse, we must read the verses that follow because they continue without a break to move from anguish to pleasure. As Father is instrumental in afflicting Him, we read of a further pleasure of the LORD, “the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand” (v10b).

The key idea in v10 is what the LORD has done to His Servant. His soul represents the essential life of the offering laid down in death (Lev.17:11), “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (Jn.10:11, 15). He delights in His Servant as the only one who fully meets the need and requirements of His own holiness. He also delights in His obedience and submission. The reference to His soul emphasises the part played by the Servant in being the reparation and providing the offering by giving His own life. Thus, we see how both LORD and Servant give their united commitment to making provision for our salvation. An earlier Messianic prophesy sums up the Servant’s determination to accomplish Father’s will, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore, shall I not be confounded: therefore, have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifies me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me” (50:6-8).

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This prophecy places these words into the mouth of the LORD’S Servant and declares His active submission to acts of atrocity and His strong resolve to embark on His final and eventful journey to Jerusalem (Lk.9:51). The LORD’S justification took place in Messiah’s dying but it was demonstrated His resurrection. The Servant must be justified in His death before He can justify others resulting from His own justification. The Servant’s justification by Father means that He has accomplished salvation through His dying. Justification is Father’s vindication of His Son and the acknowledgment that He has provided a necessary justification for the many who will find salvation in Christ, the risen and exalted Messiah. The full satisfaction of the LORD’S holiness, due to Christ taking on Himself our sin not only satisfies His righteous demands but also delights His heart because His righteous Servant has proved His total allegiance by enduring the cross for Father’s will.

Justification is an essential dimension of salvation but must be viewed in the context the full dimension of Paul’s teaching in Romans.

Synonymous with justification is spiritual birth. The clear objective of Christ in dying was that He anticipated through his death He would birth children, “He shall see his seed” (v10) – and He shall, “justify the many” (v11). Zion asked, “Who bore me these?” (49:21), and here we have the answer (see 54:1-3, 13). The agonies of the cross may be equated with a woman’s travail in childbirth, “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things?

Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” (Isa.66:8).

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When someone recovers from a life-threatening illness we may speak of the prolonging of earthly life. Isaiah speaks of the Servant in similar terms, “He shall prolong His days.” Isaiah is speaking of a life that continues beyond death. What is stated regarding the Servant is more than the perpetuity of life after death, what is said of Him sets Him apart from others who live on after death. Motyer writes, “death ushers him into sovereign dignity and power, with his own hand administering the saving purposes of the Lord, and as victor taking the spoil (v12).” The exaltation of the Servant is an act that followed after death. The apostolic preaching viewed the cross in the light of the resurrection. Isaiah wrote before the cross had taken place.

The Lord’s Testimony to His Servant Vv11-12

Verses 11, 12, “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and (He) shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. 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 (He) made intercession for the transgressors” (vv11-12).

These two verses focus on the sufferings of the Servant (v11a), the satisfaction that follows (v11b), His knowledge and righteousness before God (v11c), and the rewards which followed His death which is described fully in terms of sin and transgression (v12).

Isaiah 53:11 is one of the fullest statements of atonement theology ever penned. There are 11 actions of “My righteous Servant” (the New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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LORD is speaking of His Christ), compared to 1 action of the LORD (Father). The emphatic pronoun “He” underlines His personal commitment to this role. Although Isaiah has described the sufferings of the Servant, in these final verses he returns again to this central theme: His sufferings but also His resulting satisfaction due to accomplishing His task. Wesley’s hymn emphasising Christ’s finished work, 'Tis finished! All my guilt and pain, I want no sacrifice beside; for me, for me the Lamb is slain; 'tis finished! I am justified.

The reign of sin and death is o'er, and all may live from sin set free; Satan hath lost his mortal power; 'tis swallowed up in victory 1762

Charles Wesley

The Servant not only sees the outcome of His travail, but He lives on to administer and execute the will of Father, “For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Heb.2:10). The Hebrews writer has linked together the sufferings of Christ with the gathering together of His spiritual children.

We all owe our spiritual birth to the Messiah who died for us. Paul said, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Gal.4:19). The travail of the LORD’S Servant resulted in our spiritual birth.

New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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Following on from the Servant’s personal suffering we read that He shall see the glorious fruit of His own soul’s travail, bringing to Him great satisfaction. The LORD speaks in these two verses about His Servant and the focus is directly on Him. The immediate fruit of His death and resurrection is the promise that the knowledge of the Servant’s bearing of iniquity to the cross will result in men and women being promised justification. These are “the seed” that experience spiritual birth as a direct result of Messiah’s death. He has paid the price; He has suffered the judgment of their iniquity. This is the fulfilment of the promise made earlier to Israel, “In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory” (45:25).

Justification by faith depends wholly upon the evangelical truths revealed in this chapter. Isaiah has understood the true meaning of Messiah’s sufferings and death on our behalf. The Evangelist, the messenger to Zion, who came leaping upon the mountains with the report of Messiah’s coming, His glorification and humiliation and His worldwide impact on the nations has now returned to Father with all the fruits of His sufferings, having attained salvation for us. Before Messiah ascended, He commissioned His evangelists to go into the entire world with the gospel of Isaiah who declared that Messiah had the iniquity of us all laid on Him. Nowhere does Isaiah see that He died for a favoured and select few privileged people. One of his key themes is the many (52:14-15; 53:11-12 see also Mat.20:28; Mk.10:45). I have to agree with the large-hearted theology of Charles Wesley, O for a trumpet voice, On all the world to call!

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To bid their hearts rejoice In him who died for all; For all my Lord was crucified, For all, for all my Saviour died!

This does not mean of course that all will be saved! But it does mean that the possibility of salvation is there for all who will believe the report of the evangelist concerning the crucified Messiah.

The LORD Speaks of His Servant’s Knowledge and Righteousness, V11 “by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities” (v11).

On the first occasion of Christ (the Messiah, Mat.16:16, 20), instructing His disciples about His suffering and death He said that “the Son of Man must suffer many things … and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Mat.16:21). These are facts about Jesus’ impending death and resurrection, but He does not teach a theology of Christ’s death as we have found in Isaiah. Jesus said later to the disciples, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” (Jn.16:12). The issue is not regarding the extent to which Christ had full knowledge of the theology of the cross but the extent to which His disciples could comprehend His teaching. A crucified Messiah was anathema to them, hence Peter’s rebuke when he first heard about Jesus’ proposed death (Mat.16:22).

New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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The knowledge which Isaiah speaks about is specifically the knowledge which had been revealed to him as the LORD’S prophet and was the same knowledge imparted to Jesus by the great revelator of truth – the Spirit of revelation. Jesus, risen from the grave, walked with two disillusioned and grieving disciples.

“Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Lk.24:25-27).

Jesus affirms the authenticity of O.T. Messianic prophecy from Moses onwards and applies them to Himself as the suffering Messiah. Jesus was informed through O.T. Messianic prophecy to the extent that He applied them to Himself when He considered that His actions or words were the fulfilment of prophecy. The Gospel writers also, following Jesus’ cue applied O.T. Messianic prophecy to specific events in Jesus’ life. This was only possible because Jesus lived and spoke by the leading and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, thus there was an exact correspondence between the Spirit of revelation and the Spirit led walk of Jesus Christ. Jesus was experientially the Messiah, not only by His actions and pronouncements but by His communion with Father and His continual obedience to Him. Isaiah is speaking of a knowledge and righteousness which is associated with the person of the Servant – it is His righteousness which provides the foundation for our salvation. Righteousness qualifies Him to suffer and to pay the ransom price for our salvation.

New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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The lamb’s sacrificed in the O.T. had to be “without blemish and spot,” pointing to the sinless Lamb of God. The One who was without guile or guilt, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1Pet.2:22). Righteousness is applied holiness. Jesus taught a living and practical holiness as demonstrated in the Sermon on the Mount. This practical righteousness He called perfection (Mat.5:48). As a man, Jesus translated the holiness of God’s triune nature into the ethics of our humanity; by ethics I mean his behaviour in relation to men and women in everyday living. The Messiah lived a fully human life among men and women, His behaviour was impeccable before men and His life was perfect before God. There is a consistency that runs through the narrative of Jesus Christ, beginning with His conception and birth; continued throughout His life and culminating in His behaviour as He was crucified. Righteousness demonstrates His absolute perfection during the days of His flesh. A sin in thought, word or action would have disqualified Him from offering a sacrifice in perfect righteousness which was acceptable to holy LORD. The result is a complete and perfect salvation. This salvation lifts us – not only into the heavenly places but into God himself! This is outlined by Jesus in His highpriestly prayer of Jn.ch.17). Motyer puts the matter succinctly by saying, “The emphasis laid on the Servant’s righteousness is deliberate.

First, it prepares for the reference on sin-bearing in v11d by underlining His moral fitness for the task. Secondly, and immediately, we learn that this righteousness is something He extends to others: He will justify many” will provide righteousness for the many.” (p441). “In a context where the Servant’s personal righteousness receives such emphasis, the phrase “to provide righteousness for the many” can mean only that there are those (“the many”) whom He clothes in His New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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righteousness, sharing with them His own acceptability before God” (p442).

Verse 12, the ESV translation says, “Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.”

The LORD apportions to His Servant “the many and the strong” – allocated to Him as spoil.9 The many are the entire company of those who have been redeemed through the Servant, and the kings introduced at the beginning are the spoil resulting from His conquest.

Total supremacy is assured but not yet won, “You have put all things in subjection under His feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But now we do not yet see all things put under Him” (Heb.2:8).

The work of redemption is now completed, and the gospel is heralded throughout the nations. Ch.54 begins with the universal proclamation of good news for the whole world. The ground on which the Servant has received “the many” as His portion and the strong as His spoil is because of His death. He voluntarily gave His life - He said to His disciples, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (Jn.10:18; see also Phil.2:7). “He poured out His life (soul) unto death,” (cf. Job 30:16). This is a vivid and powerful expression describing Christ’s yielding up His entire life to Father in dying and in death.

9

The rewards of battle and conquest.

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Verse 12, says that “He was numbered with the transgressors” During Jesus’ lifetime He infuriated the religious Jews because of His social table habits - eating with publicans and sinners - He was numbered as one of their company. Far more serious was His identification with rebels in His death, keeping this kind of company cost Him His life. This identification was only possible due to His incarnation when He became fully human and because He chose to associate with outcasts and sinners. It meant however, that He acted as their substitute in taking away their wrongdoing on the cross. He paid the full price for their rebellion. By taking upon Himself their sin He suffered the wrath of Almighty for the sins of all humankind. On one occasion He faced an adulterous woman who He refused to judge but having forgiven her – He commanded her to go and sin no more!

To forgive sinners, apart from their justification based on the cross would represent a moral compromise on the part of God. Forgiveness results from Christ’s death for sinners (Rom.3:23-26; 5:6-8). The Servant is therefore a go-between, a mediator between rebels and Father. He answered the cry of Job for a mediator or umpire between himself and God (Job 9:1, 33; 31:33-37). Paul the apostle, writing to Timothy says that we have “one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (2Tim.2:15). Similarly, John the apostle writes, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1Jn.2:1). Christhood and manhood have combined together to procure our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He has gained the ear of God on our behalf and we have found acceptance and reconciliation with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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The efficacy of His sacrifice extends to all those sinners who avail themselves of Christ’s salvation.

Isaiah closes in v12, with a little-known fact about the death of Jesus, – He died interceding for lost sinners, “and (He) made intercession for the transgressors” (53:12).

In the 3 synoptic Gospels we have an account of Jesus’ intercessions in the Garden of Gethsemane and we also have the unique account of Jesus’ intercessions recorded by the Hebrews writer, “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplication, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear …” (Heb.5:7-9).

These verses have always seemed to me to be incredibly important.

This verse records the fact that Jesus’ intercessions were answered, He was heard because of His godly fear …” Exactly, what did the Suffering Servant fear? He feared that during the long period of His suffering that He might fail God. He knew that if the Spirit of God did not come to His aid then He would fail, but He chose to believe God. The verse in Hebrews tells us how Jesus prayed, - with strong crying and tears (Rom.8:26), and what He prayed. He prayed “to Him who was able to save Him from death” (Heb.5:7). But there is a lesson for us from Jesus’ life which was characterized by constant prayer to Father, “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplication,” showing to us the need for continued prayer. Our salvation was won

by Jesus’ intercessory prayers and His sacrificial love for you and me.

New Life Radio – Talk No 23

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