Messianic Perspectives

Guest (Male): Shalom, and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinct first-century Jewish point of view. Today, our Bible teacher, Stephen Ger, continues his five-part series on the servant of the Lord. And now with today's teaching, here's Stephen Ger.

Stephen Ger: Shalom, this is Stephen Ger. Welcome to The Servant of the Lord in Messianic Prophecy series. We are up to the diamond of diamonds, the gem of gems, the prince of prophecies: Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12, the famous Isaiah 53 passage.

In this passage, we're going to see that the Messiah, who possesses ordinary, not extraordinary appearance, would suffer and he would be rejected. And although he was innocent, he would be nonetheless executed in the prime of life. And he'd be executed as the means of atonement for Israel's sin.

But the story doesn't end there. He would then be resurrected from the dead. Beginning in 52:13, "Behold, my servant will prosper." Who is speaking? The Lord. Speaking of whom? The servant of the Lord.

"Behold, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, so his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." So his appearance and his form marred.

Verse 15, "Thus he will sprinkle many nations." Well, sprinkle nations—that's a priestly term. "Kings will shut their mouths on account of him. For what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand."

And then 53:1 begins, "Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord—the power of the Lord, in other words—been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground."

Isaiah is now speaking. Remember, asking the questions: who, what, where, when, how, why—very important. We saw the Lord speaking, now this is our message. This is the prophet Isaiah speaking. To whom is the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground.

That reminds me of the prophecy of the netzer, of the branch growing from the stump of the house of David. That reminds me of the language that Isaiah wrote of regarding the Messiah. "He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him."

I read that verse and I always think of the movies of Jesus. I love the movies of Jesus; most of them are pretty terrific. But the one thing that always bugs me a little bit is that they always pick a good-looking guy to play Jesus. Because he had no majesty that we should look upon him or appearance that we should be attracted to him.

In verse 3, "He was despised and forsaken of men." We know he was despised because Isaiah 49 tells us that he was despised, he was abhorred. "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hid their face, he was despised and we did not esteem him."

This describes a man that people were embarrassed to look at. This is a man for whom people were uncomfortable making eye contact with him. So despised was he, so great was his suffering, that all people could do was turn away.

But verse 4, "Surely our griefs he himself bore." Whose our? Isaiah and his people, Israel. "He himself." Who's he? The servant. "Our griefs he himself bore, and our sorrows"—whose sorrows? Israel's sorrows, Isaiah's people's sorrows—"he carried."

Who's he? The servant. "Yet we"—who's we? Isaiah and his people, Israel—"ourselves esteemed him stricken." Whom did they esteem stricken? The servant of the Lord. "Smitten of God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities."

Who was pierced, who was crushed? The servant. Whose iniquities, whose transgressions? Ours. Isaiah and his people. "The chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed."

Verse 6, "All of us"—not some of us, not a few of us, not a couple of us, not most of us—"all of us, without exception, like sheep have gone astray. Each of us"—that's just in case you did not understand what all of us meant, he repeats it by saying "each of us"—"has turned to his own way."

But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon him. So if somehow you missed all of us, if somehow you missed each of us, please understand that the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all—everyone—to fall on him.

So in this passage, we see the Messiah, the servant, as despised, as rejected, as forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, without esteem. The servant of the Lord was to be rejected by the people of the Lord. That was baked into the cake.

That's part of the foundational recipe of what the Messiah is all about, the messianic mission. Let me say it again so that you understand. The servant of the Lord was to be rejected by the people of the Lord. And through the suffering of this Messiah, intercession would be made on behalf of all people.

And this passage stands as a scriptural monument to messianic suffering. Again, I will reiterate, the Messiah would have no attractiveness, no impressive appearance, and Israel is going to look at him and believe that his sufferings, so intensive are his sufferings, they must have been brought about as a consequence of his own sin.

Nobody suffers like this guy is going to suffer without deserving some kind of divine punishment. It must have been brought about as a consequence of his own sin. And the passage tells us that the Messiah will be cruelly pierced through. Not only pierced through, but crushed and chastened and scourged.

Yet through his suffering, he paradoxically heals them, bearing Israel's sorrows. It is for their transgressions and for their iniquities, not for his own, that he willingly will suffer.

And Isaiah 53:5 tells us that the Messiah is not going to merely suffer, he will die. Despite Israel's sin, despite Israel's disobedience, God is going to divert the just punishment for the nation's iniquity toward the Messiah. Although he's innocent of any violence, innocent of rebellion, innocent of any sin, not even a shred of sin.

Nonetheless, the Messiah is going to be killed, crushed, pierced through in the prime of life. Like a perfect, unblemished lamb slain at Passover, the Messiah would shed his blood for the redemption of the chosen nation. The ultimate personification of goodness would bear the ultimate punishment.

But his sacrifice is going to go largely unrecognized by his own people, on whose behalf he suffered. Verse 7 tells us that, "He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb led to slaughter, like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth."

"By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death."

Not the rich man's death, but his death—the Messiah's death, the servant's death. "Because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth." But this sacrifice would be central to the divine master plan.

How do I know this? Because verse 10 tells us, "The Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief." Now, that does not mean that the Lord took some kind of perverse delight in the death of the Messiah. It simply meant that it was the sovereign aim of the Lord for his Messiah to be crushed.

It is the fact that the Messiah is crushed that will enable the servant to do the unprecedented, which is to render himself as the ultimate and final guilt offering. The Messiah is going to die, yet through his sacrifice will make perfect intercession for all sinners by carrying their sins.

We'll continue the last two verses of Isaiah 53 in our next session, and we will see the reward for the Messiah for his suffering, his death, his self-sacrifice. And we will see the impact of Isaiah 53 on the authors of the New Testament. Until then, I'll leave you in suspense.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Steve. And thank you, listening friend, for joining us today. It's always good to have you with us. If you missed part of this series or would like to share it with a friend, you'll be glad to know that it's available on one convenient compact disc for the suggested gift of just six dollars.

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Chris Rodriguez: This is Chris Rodriguez. Join us tomorrow for another edition of The Servant of the Lord, right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Guest (Male): Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries in San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the free-will contribution of our listeners in this area.