I Am Series: I Am the Suffering Servant

April 2, 2017                                             NOTES NOT EDITED
Easter: Pt1, I Am the Suffering Servant

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Series in a Sentence:  The salvation of mankind hangs from the thread of the identity of Jesus Christ.

Sermon-in-a-Sentence:  The Word declares that Jesus is the Suffering Servant and without His sffering, there can be no salvation

All the weight of eternal salvation for mankind hangs upon the thread of the identity of Jesus Christ—and there are only three possible interpretations in this regard.  One, Jesus was a bad man, a liar.  Two, Jesus was a good man, but a deluded lunatic for saying what He said, and then dying horribly for saying it.  Third, Jesus is Who He said He is, “The Lord of all Creation.”

C.S. Lewis, the great Christian apologist, called this the “trilemma” (a dilemma plus one).  In the preface of his book, Mere Christianity, Lewis writes:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.  You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”

The entire plan of salvation hinges upon the identity of Jesus Christ.  In fact, the entire existence and sustenance of all creation rests upon the foundation of the identity of Jesus Christ.  Paul wrote this,

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth,the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions

or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together (Col. 1:15-17)

So serious is this issue of the identity of Jesus Christ and the very possibility of eternal salvation, let alone the actual reality of it, that Jesus Himself said plainly, and probably forcefully, to a predominantly Jewish crowd,

²⁴ Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (Jn. 8:24)

The pronoun, “He,” in the predicate of the statement of being, “I am He,” does not appear in the original Greek text.  This is for a very important reason.  Literally Jesus said, “I Am.”  It is an emphatic form in Greek to draw attention to what He was saying.  It is also intended to point the Jewish people—who were relying on their good works of righteousness to save them—back to what God declared His name to be in Exodus 3:13-14:

¹³ Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what should I tell them?” ¹⁴ God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.  This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.”

Now, there is some really neat linguistic plays on words going on in the Exodus and John passage, but the key to understanding what Jesus meant is to recognize the force of what He said.  Jesus literally said, “I Am,” meaning, “I Am God.”  At first, the crowd did not truly get what Jesus was saying. A few moments later Jesus declares once again,

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I Am!” (Jn. 8:58).

This time, the Jews completely grasped that Jesus was taking the “Name of God,” for Himself.  So, the next verse says, “At this, they picked up stones to stone Him,” (v. 59), which was the penalty for blasphemy—or, declaring oneself to be God.

The entire story of redemption rests upon the identity of Jesus Christ.  He had to be fully God and fully man, in order for His suffering and death to be a satisfactory sacrifice, sufficient to pay for the sins of mankind.

The ONLY Savior had to be a Suffering Servant, God’s Messiah.

Let me take an extended space of time to give you a foundation for understanding Jesus, the Messiah, as the Suffering Servant.  Then we will look at for aspects of the Messiah’s life and ministry in regard to His work on the cross as He died for our sins.

Most of you are aware that Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah promised by prophets in the Old Testament.  In fact, the Jews of Jesus’ day were His arch enemies.  If not for the Jews, Jesus would never have been crucified.  If you remember, the Roman leader, Pontius Pilate—the only one that could pronounce the death penalty—declared, “I find no fault in Jesus.”

The reason that the Jews did not accept Jesus as the coming Messiah is that they did not have a Jewish concept of a Messiah that would “suffer and die” for the sins of mankind.  The Hebrew word, “Messiah,” does not mean, “Savior.”  ‘Mashiach’ in Hebrew means “anointed.”  It is the term associated with the coronation of a King.  The Old Testament contains both descriptions of Jesus as a Suffering Servant and Triumphant King.  The Jews completely miss the part about the Messiah being a Suffering Servant.  It is not that they “cannot” see it, it is that they “will not” see it.

I understand that the idea that God would suffer and die to pay the price for man’s sins does seem a bit extreme.  If God is all powerful, then He could have simply declared man to be forgiven and that would be that.  While that might seem to make sense, it completely misses the point of what the Bible describes as “sin.”  Sin is not a mistake, like running a red light, or spilling a cup of coffee.  Sin is a horrible offense against a holy God.  Let me say that again, “sin is a horrible offense to a holy God.”

While God certainly is all powerful, He is also righteous and just.  Sin sets in motion eternal consequences and Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden upset the entire balance of Creation.  Sin is such a grave offense it cannot be overlooked.  Sin’s consequences must be “satisfied.”  There are only two ways sin’s offense could be satisfied.  One, is man could pay the penalty.  The penalty for sin is “eternal death.”  If man does not accept God’s solution to satisfy his sin, he must pay the price himself—he (or she) must die eternally.  The consequences of sin our eternal, so the payment must be eternal.  For a man or woman to pay for the eternal consequences for their sin, they must suffer and die every day for all eternity.  The eternal debt will never be satisfied.

God, however, in His infinite mercy had a plan that would satisfy both His holiness and His justice.  Since the price for sin is “eternal death,” the once for all death of Eternal God, who is absolutely holy would satisfy the requirements of God’s holiness and restore man to a place of righteous standing.  The Bible says it this way,

2Cor. 5:21: He made the One who did not know sin  to be sin  for us,  so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. So, instead of us dying every day for all eternity in hell, the Eternal One died once for all.  Jesus, satisfied the eternal consequences because He was both man and God.  He suffered and died as a man because the debt owed was man’s.  He paid the ransom to satisfy our debt as God, because only God could pay the debt.

So, there was no other way for mankind’s eternal debt to be paid, and the eternal offense to God expiated, or satisfied, than for God, Himself, through Jesus Christ to suffer and die.

One of the most important concepts for a Christian to grasp is the concept of Jesus as the Suffering Servant.  When we understand “why” Jesus, who deserved no suffering, suffered and died, then we can begin to get a hold of our own suffering.  It also helps us comprehend the entire idea of “sacrifice”—which means to “willingly embrace suffering that we do not deserve so that others may see the work of God in our lives.”  This is a very deep, concept that is not easily grasped.  I am not talking about “suffering” we deserve for the foolish, rebellious decisions in life.  I am talking about suffering that moves us into a deeper fellowship with Jesus Christ and demonstrates our devotion to Christ to the world.

Isaiah took an entire chapter to paint a picture of Jesus as the Suffering Servant so that would could comprehend Who Jesus was as He walked on earth, and what His work on the cross really means.  Apart from the portrait of Jesus as the Suffering Servant, one cannot grasp the idea of sacrifice which forms the foundation for what God did for us, and what following Him requires of us.

I’ve taken a great deal of time introducing the idea of “suffering,” particularly the idea of a Suffering Servant, so that Isaiah’s portrait of the Suffering Servant could be more easily grasped.

It is important to notice as we glean the fruit of Isaiah 53, that the Suffering Servant is not a “helpless victim of circumstance, but One who in His submissiveness & innocence fulfills the greater purposes of God. Thus in the end He will prosper & be victorious, for His vicarious suffering is God’s plan to accomplish His purpose” (Quote).

Now, let us briefly outline four significant aspects of Jesus as the Suffering Servant here in Isaiah 53.  I only have time to briefly highlight significant points in Isaiah’s portrait.

1.  The Suffering Servant’s REVELATION (52:13-15)

¹³ See, My Servant  ^j will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted. ¹⁴ Just as many were appalled at You —

His appearance was so disfigured that He did not look like a man,

and His form did not resemble a human being— ¹⁵ so He will sprinkle  ^o many nations.  Kings will shut their mouths because of Him, For they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.

If you are taking notes, write this statement down:  Jesus was not a helpless victim when He died on the cross.   Someone has said, “the Suffering Servant is not a “helpless victim of circumstance, but One who in His submissiveness & innocence fulfills the greater purposes of God. Thus in the end He will prosper & be victorious, for His vicarious suffering is God’s plan to accomplish His purpose” (Quote).

Suffering is an inescapable aspect of the human experience.  It is universal.  We must recognize that “suffering does not complicate or hinder God’s plan—it is an fundamental part of His plan.” 
We tend to see suffering as indicative of “things going horribly wrong.”  It may be that suffering indicates “things are going perfectly right!” 

When Adam sinned and brought pain and suffering into the world, it grieved God’s heart, but it did not surprise Him.  When Adam sinned, God did not run around the Garden with His hands in the air shouting, “Oh, no!  What am I going to do now?  I’ve got to come up with another plan.”

No, the Bible tells us this:  Rev. 13:8  And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.

As Isaiah reveals the Messiah as a suffering servant—seven hundred years before Jesus would be born—Isaiah does not paint a portrait of some helpless victim, but Isaiah reveals the Suffering Servant as a man of victory, not mankind’s victim.

The language in verses 13-15, is somewhat ambiguous in the original.  The sense seems to be clear however.  Isaiah is making a comparison between how “appalled, astonished, or amazed” people were at how weak and defeated Jesus appeared on the cross, the entire world will be “astonished” at what God does in and through Jesus Christ.

The word translated, “sprinkled,” can mean “to amaze or astonish.”  It seems this translation would best fit the context.  The New Living Translation makes this clear:

¹⁴ But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man. ¹⁵ And he will startle* many.

Notice the comparison between verse 14 and verse 15.  “Many were amazed . . . He will amaze (startle, sprinkle, astonish) many.”

The revelation of Jesus as the Suffering Servant is not the revelation of a “victim,” but a “victor.”  Look now at the aspect of

2.  the Suffering Servant’s REJECTION (53:1-3)

¹ Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? ² My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. ³ He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.

Nothing in the gospel story of Jesus as the Messiah is impressive by human standards.  He was born in the stable of animals.  He grew up until He was 30 having done nothing worthy to write about.  He never received the high degree of formal education which Romans highly valued.  The three years we do have a record of His life, He lives as an itinerant preacher, not even owning even a humble residence.

There were moments that the crowds cheered Him for His teaching and His miracles, but that same crowd would become the mob shouting “crucify Him!  Crucify Him!”

Here’s my point—actually it is a point made by the Lord Himself—obedience to God is not a path to easy living.  It is not a bridge to fame and fortune.  Jesus was rejected.  He was despised.  The Lord points out (Jn 15:18):

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first

3.  Notice, in the face of rejection, Jesus showed RESOLVE (4-7).

⁴ Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows* that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! ⁵ But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. ⁶ All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. ⁷ He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,

he did not open his mouth.

Underline those words, “He did not open his mouth.”  This is not a sign of weakness, but a demonstration of courageous resolve, or bold determination.  The Apostle Peter gives us insight into the strength demonstrated by the Lord’s silence.  The NLT gives us this translation: 

²³ He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.

What is the natural, human response to suffering?  We complain.  We blame.  We cry.  We curse. We object.  We whine!  Many even “curse God.”  Why is this so often our reaction?  Because, we don’t “leave the matter in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.”

Jesus shows righteous resolve in the face of unrighteous rejection because He trusted in His Righteous Father.  I heard a great preacher say this once, “God never wastes a pain!” 

So many times when we face difficulty and suffering we need to be reminded of the example of the Lord Jesus Christ:  he didn’t whine because He knew He was going to win!  That brings us to the final aspect of the portrait of the Suffering Servant penned by Isaiah:

4.  The Suffering Servant’s RESTORATION (10-12)

¹⁰ But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.

Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. ¹¹ When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. ¹² I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

Here’s why we should embrace sacrifice, even suffering, for the sake of the Kingdom of God.  It brings us the “honors of a victorious soldier.”  One of the big problems of the modern church—especially in the West—is that we want a “victory without a battle!”  This is why the “health and wealth, prosperity message” draws such big crowds. 

Pleasure sells.  Pain smells.  A life of true devotion is like that of the shepherds who tended the sacrificial sheep.  Everything about sacrifice stinks.  Sheep stink.  Their pens stink.  You will stink when you care for sheep. 

There will be no victory without a battle.  War is hell.  It is messy.  It is dangerous.  It is deadly.  But, the only way to know a soldier’s victory, is to enter a soldier’s battle.

Whatever you lose in this battle of life, God will restore with eternal honor a hundred-fold, a thousand-fold—no God will restore us “eternally.”

Jesus suffered.  If we follow Him, we will suffer.  Jesus sacrificed all.  If we follow Him, we must sacrifice all.  Jesus gained eternal glory.  If we follow Him, we will gain eternal glory.

Suffering should not be despised.  It should be embraced.  I’m not talking about suffering for suffering’s sake—that’s insanity.  I’m talking about sacrificing for the sake of the Kingdom—that’s obedience.

Let’s sum up what we have learned about suffering from viewing Isaiah’s verbal portrait of Jesus as the Suffering Servant.

* Suffering for God does not make us a victim, but a victor.

* Just as Jesus was despised and rejected, if we follow Him, we will be despised and rejected.
* We must face suffering for Christ with resolve and confident determination.

* We must understand, that whatever we lose following Christ in this world, will be restored to us eternally in the world to come.

Most of you have probably heard of the Island of Molokai.  It is one of the islands that make up the State of Hawaii. Like all the islands of the Pacific, it is a paradise.  But, for 8000 or so persons exiled to the island, it was a prison.  You have to go way back to the late 1800’s to understand its significance.  For many years, the islands were isolated from outsiders.  But, once discovered, outsiders came in large numbers, bringing with them diseases for which the Hawaiians had no immunity.  One dreaded disease brought from the outside, probably China, was leprosy.  Back in the 1800’s, there was no cure for what was thought to be a highly contagious and deadly disease. This disease that would attack the extremities of the body, the ears, the toes, the nose, the fingers. A horrible dreadful disease which today is curable, But it wasn’t back then. So, in order to keep the disease at bay. In order to keep it from spreading and creating an epidemic, the government would send lepers to a colony on the island of Molokai where they would be secluded and isolated from those who were not infected with the disease.  In 1873, there was a young, brave Catholic priest named Father Damien who volunteered to spend his life serving the people secluded on the island of Molokai. When he arrived, he was startled to see people who were not only suffering physically, but socially, and emotionally, and spiritually. In the leper colony he saw extreme drunkenness, immorality, abuse, and an overall sense of hopelessness. What he saw were people who desperately needed to know the answer to a question we all ask... where is God? They needed God’s presence in their life.  And so, in 1873, Father Damien lived among the 700 lepers (eventually, over 8000 would be exiled to the Island).  Knowing the dangers and realizing the inevitable results of so much personal contact with a highly contagious disease Father Damien still volunteered to serve the Colony.  He built hospitals, clinics, and churches and built some 600 coffins. And the whole while he was giving them the answer to that question... where is God?  And whenever a church service was held. He would stand up in front of the lepers, and he would warmly and lovingly address them as "my dear brethren." But then one morning in 1885, at the age of 45, in a calm clear voice, instead of "my dear brethren," he began with, "My fellow lepers, I am one of you now."  Most people do not know that six patients still remain sequestered on the island.  They range from 73 to 92 years of age.

Many would consider Father Damien’s sacrifice to be foolish.  He sacrificed his social life and eventually even his life.  Yet, he did not consider the “suffering,” but considered the “service.”

I pray that we would all gain a little of Father Damien’s perspective on what it means to be a “Suffering Servant.”