A Sermon on Isaiah 52:13-53:12 has been lightly edited for ease of reading.
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If you have your Bibles, I ask that you would turn with me to the prophet Isaiah. Today we are going to look at Isaiah 52, beginning in verse 13 through the end of chapter 53, which is 53:12. Not your typical Christmas sermon, but this is as much a part of Jesus’ life, his work, and his ministry as his birth was. And so I think it is good for us to consider the fact that he suffered as well as the truth that he is born.
Let’s begin reading together in Isaiah chapter 52, beginning in verse 13. This is God’s word.
“See, my servant will act wisely. He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. He was probably highly exhausted too. Just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man, and his form marred beyond human likeness.
So he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told they will see, and what they have not heard they will understand. Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away, and who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgression of my people, he was stricken.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and to cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.”
Let’s pray.
To the great, holy, three-in-one God, we come before you today, and we are here at your call. Show us your word, and by the light of the Holy Spirit, light our path. We pray all this in Jesus’ name, amen.
INTRODUCTION
In the study of the Apostles’ Creed, many commentators, many writers do link together all of the next handful of phrases. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell.
However, I do think it is important for us to understand and to consider the suffering of Jesus apart from merely his death. His suffering is as important for our salvation as his death is.
And yes, there’s a lot of relation. There is a lot of overlap, and we’ll see that when we pick up again after the new year, but there is also a difference. Before we look more deeply into the suffering of Jesus, I do want us to understand that the inclusion of the name Pontius Pilate in the Apostles’ Creed is once again a reminder for us that the suffering, this life of Jesus, is rooted in history.
This is a historical reality. Jesus was a real person. He died a real death after living a real life, and the inclusion of Pontius Pilate’s name in this is a reminder that we are speaking of truth and we are speaking of fact.
Many modern archaeologists doubted the existence of Pilate until 1961, when a stone in a temple in the ancient city of Caesarea was discovered that had an inscription on there of a governor, a list of governors who had served in Caesarea, and Pontius Pilate’s name was included. And since then, we have found other proofs of his existence.
The Bible is God’s inspired word, and that is why we trust it. But history also affirms the truths that we have.
So today, as we consider the suffering of Jesus, we will consider five components of his suffering that we see in Isaiah 52 and 53. We will then ask and answer the question, what did Jesus suffer, both physically and spiritually? And then we will consider the proper response to the truth that he suffered under Pontius Pilate.
FIVE COMPONENTS OF JESUS’ SUFFERING
First, the five components of Jesus’ suffering. In Isaiah 42, we are introduced to the servant of the Lord, a servant who will bring about the will of the Lord and a servant who is linked to the work of that long expected Messiah, that long prophesied Messiah. In our passage today, we see the servant of the Lord once again, but an aspect of his ministry is added and that is his suffering.
It was odd to the ears of a first century Israelite to think that the Messiah would be a suffering Messiah. And yet Isaiah makes it clear that the suffering would happen. And Albert Mohler points us to five different components of the suffering.
First, there is the promise of his suffering. In Isaiah 52, verse 13, we read, “my servant will act wisely.” And later on in the passage, we are told that the servant would prosper the work, the will of the Lord.
At the end of verse 10, we read the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. The word wisely and the word prosper are related. And it would be also accurate to say that my servant will prosper as most of your footnotes will say.
Prosperity in the Old Testament was far different than what we think of as prosperity today. Prosperity in the Old Testament is not linked to health or wealth like we think it is. Prosperity and wisdom in the Old Testament are linked to a right relationship with God.
What Isaiah is saying – and what Jesus has fulfilled – is that the suffering servant would come to make right the relationship between God and humanity. He would provide reconciliation. He would provide salvation.
He would provide the redemption necessary for true godly prosperity to happen in the lives of his people. The suffering of the servant will and has accomplished what God intended it to accomplish. It cannot fail.
Next, there is a mission to the servant’s suffering. It is not just random suffering. Isaiah 53, verses four and six.
“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, and yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.
And the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Why did Jesus suffer? It was a substitutionary suffering. It was not a suffering that he deserved. It was a suffering that you and I deserve.
Over and over again, he took up our infirmities. He carried our sorrows. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. And the punishment that brings us peace was laid on him. Jesus stood in our place.
He suffered for us. Jesus died so that he might take the punishment that is due to our sins.
Thirdly, the passage highlights the innocence of the servant.
Verse seven, it says “he was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” Going on in verses 10 and 11, it links Jesus’ suffering to the guilt offering.
We have a linkage in verse 7 to Leviticus 16 and the atonement offering and the guilt offering in verse 10. What was necessary for the atonement offering and the guilt offering? A lamb without blemish. Jesus was the perfect, righteous, innocent lamb who suffered in our place so that we might have salvation.
Yes, the sacrifice is the next component of Jesus’ suffering. Yes, he did die for our sins and we see that this happened according to the will of God. It was God’s will to crush his servant and Jesus willingly submitted himself to the suffering so that people could be saved.
And lastly, his suffering is vindicated in the justification and the salvation of his of his people. Verses 11 and 12 talks about that after the suffering of his soul, not only would he see the light of his life of life, not only would God be satisfied, but many souls would be justified, would be declared righteous through the suffering of the servant. And every time a new believer comes to faith, every time the Holy Spirit works to redeem, to regenerate and to justify the fallen sinner Jesus’ suffering is vindicated as worthy.
The suffering of Jesus was primarily focused on the satisfaction of God’s holy glory.
I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but he was not thinking of you most of all. He was thinking of God’s glory, God’s holiness, God’s righteousness, God’s justice. And the salvation of sinners is the earthly proof that Jesus’ suffering was worthy of the holiness and the righteousness and the glory of God.
Jesus suffered so that many sons and daughters could be brought to glory. This includes me. This includes you.
WHAT DID JESUS SUFFER?
Next, what did Jesus suffer? We answer this question by looking in two different areas of his suffering.
The first is his physical suffering. Most people, as they’re talking about this, as they’re writing about this, say that we overlook the physical aspect of Jesus’ suffering or at least a good part of the physical aspect of Jesus’ suffering because sometimes we forget that Jesus was just as much human as he was God.
He is human now and he ministers in the throne room of God on behalf of his people. And he was human as he walked this earth. And this humanity came with certain physical sufferings.
Mark 11:12 tells us that Jesus suffered hunger. Ever thought about hunger as suffering? John 4:6-7 teach us that Jesus suffered thirst and weariness. Mark 4:38 teaches us that Jesus needed sleep.
Brothers and sisters, think of all those aches and pains that accompany merely living your life. Bumps, bruises, scrapes, paper cuts, headaches, stomach aches, ear aches, back aches. Jesus suffered those things in his life.
But physically as well, the accounts of Jesus’ arrests, his trial, his beating and his crucifixion teach us that he also suffered excruciating pain and soul-crushing rejection in those hours. Referring to Mohler once again, he says,
“Jesus, the eternal son of God, experienced the fullness of pain that would have accompanied his torture and execution. The son of God willingly placed himself into the intense, horrific and excruciating pain of his Roman torture and execution.”
And he endured all of that out of a divine love for a rebellious, sinful, people. The Scriptures also tell us that beyond suffering physically, Jesus suffered spiritually. Hebrews chapter 4, beginning in verse 14, we read,
“Therefore we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens. Jesus, the son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin.”
Jesus suffered the spiritual trial of temptation, and he experienced the full weight of fighting temptation.
In his humanity, he was assaulted by the winds of temptation, and he was unbending to those winds. You know, if a tree bends during high winds, some of that wind lets off and gives some relief to the tree as it bends. If that tree just goes ahead and fully breaks, then it no longer suffers the press of the winds.
But if a tree remains fully upright in the face of gale force winds, it takes the full force of those winds for as long as they blow. And the hurricane of Satan’s temptations blew full force against Jesus, unbending until his death.
You and I have never suffered the full spiritual force of temptation because we uproot ourselves at the slightest puff of a breeze. We bend and we bend and we bend until we have put ourselves into the position of breaking and falling to the cool evening breeze of Satan’s attacks.
Jesus suffered temptation.
Galatians 3:13 tells us that he also spiritually suffered as a curse.
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
You and I deserve God’s curse. And yet he took that curse upon himself. He took the full curse of the law and he took the full curse of God’s wrath on your behalf. There is an eternal weight of suffering that you and I deserve and the Bible describes that suffering as drinking down a boiling bottom of the barrel glass of wine. It describes it as eternal wailing and gnashing of teeth and it describes it as eternal fire and smoke.
Without Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we hate and rebel against God. We are called to love and worship him, but if you and I are honest, on our own, we love and worship ourselves. But because God is love, and this is the context of that statement in John’s letter in 1 John, because God is love, Jesus has taken the full weight of your curse, if you believe, so that you might have life rather than suffering.
He became sin for you so that you could have life. He became cursed so that you can be blessed. Jesus suffered both physically and spiritually.
CONCLUSION
I think one of the greatest summaries of Jesus’ suffering and the benefits that come from it that I’ve read recently comes from the prayer in Valley of Vision, “Love Lusters at Calvary.” Listen to these words, brothers and sisters, and hear the back and forth, the sad and the joyful, the curse and the blessing as the Puritans consider the suffering of Christ.
“Christ was all anguish so that I might be all joy.
He was cast off so that I might be brought in.
He was trodden down as an enemy so that I might be welcomed as a friend.
He surrendered to hell’s worst so that I might attain heaven’s best.
He was stripped so that I might be clothed,
wounded so that I might be healed,
thirsty so that I might drink of the living water,
tormented so that I might be comforted,
made shameful so that I might inherit glory,
entered darkness so that I might have eternal light.
My Savior wept so that all tears might be wiped from my eyes.
He groaned so that I might have endless song.
He bore a thorny crown so that I might have a glorious diadem.
He bowed down his head so that I might uplift mine.
He experienced reproach and rejection so I might receive welcome.
He closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
and he expired so that I might live forever.”
What a glorious truth, brothers and sisters. What a magnificent thing we say when we say he suffered under Pontius Pilate, and this truth demands a response.
If the news of Jesus’ suffering is new to you or maybe you’ve heard it many times and you’ve just rejected it, the proper response is to submit, to surrender to God’s call that comes to us through the suffering of Jesus. Jesus’ suffering, Jesus’ death is a stark monument to the truth that God keeps his promises.
He has promised to punish sin. If you repent and believe, Jesus takes the punishment for your sin. If you’re not sure about all this, take some time, speak with me or one of the elders.
For the believer, the proper response is to join Jesus in his suffering.
In the book of Philippians, Philippians 3:8 through 10, Paul has just finished going through his credentials. Born into the tribe of Benjamin, made a Pharisee, made one of the leaders of the Pharisees through his education. And in verse 8 of Philippians chapter 3, Paul says that every benefit that came to him through his ethnicity, through his education, through his position of power, he said all of them are nothing as he puts them aside and takes on Christ, puts on Christ.
Brothers and sisters, part of our suffering, part of our joining Jesus in his suffering is to put off those things that we put our hope in, putting off relationships, putting off wealth, putting aside those things of the world that God has created to be good, but we make ultimate. And there will be pain in setting those things aside to put on Christ. But beyond that, in verses 9 and 10, Paul says that in the sufferings of this life, there is great joy and reward as we are united to Christ and his suffering through our suffering.
Without Jesus, our suffering is meaningless. But with him, there is sanctifying meaning, glorifying purpose behind our suffering. We don’t seek out suffering, but there is joy in that suffering because we are united to Jesus and he has redeemed us and made us his people.
Let’s pray.
To the great God and Father above, remind us that the joy of Christmas comes not only through a birth, but also through suffering, also through death. And so, as we seek to honor you during this season, we ask that you would remind us that our Savior suffered under Pontius Pilate and we are called to suffer with him as we set aside our earthly entrapments and embrace him as our only hope.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
As you go this week, please take this blessing with you:
“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
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