One of the great advantages of having the Old Testament and the New Testament in one Bible is that they give support to each other. Together they strengthen our faith that both are God’s word.
So if you are Jewish or come from a Jewish background your confidence in the Old Testament — the Jewish Scriptures — may be strong. Yes, and with good reason. And so when you see the amazing fulfillments of the Old Testament in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and His teachings, and the movement of Christianity that He unleashes, your confidence in the New Testament is made stronger.
Or if you have never read a syllable of the Old Testament and hear the story of Jesus Christ and His life and teaching and death and resurrection and the movement He unleashed you may be overpowered by the truth and relevance and credibility of Christ and believe that He really is who He says He is and become a Christian. And then you discover that this Jesus embraces and endorses the whole Old Testament as true and reliable Scripture (as in
And so it works all through the Christian life. The better you know Jesus Christ, the better you know the roots of His life and ministry in the Old Testament where God was at work to prepare for the coming of His Son into history. And the better you know the Old Testament, the better you know the meaning of Jesus Christ and what He came to fulfill that God had been planning for so long.
So I thought it would deepen our understanding and strengthen our faith if we fixed our gaze on the resurrection of Jesus as it was described by the prophet Isaiah 700 years before it happened. Here in Isaiah 53 we will see the content and the confirmation of the resurrection of Christ — content because the precious meaning of it for our lives is opened to us; and confirmation because it was predicted 700 years before it happened.
The View of Islam
Don’t miss the significance of this in a day when the question of Islam is much on people’s mind. I had my first serious conversation with a well-trained Muslim about 20 years ago. I discovered for the first time that if you share the good news of the death and resurrection of Christ with a Muslim you will find out that Muslim’s do not believe Jesus died on the cross for sinners and rose again but that there was a replacement on the cross; He escaped death and later was taken to heaven. The Q’ran, sura 4:156-157 says: “… and for their [the Jews’] saying: ‘We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God’ — yet they did not slay Him, neither crucified Him, only a likeness of that was shown to them. Those regarding Him; they have no knowledge of Him, except the following of surmise; and they slew Him not of a certainty — no indeed; God raised Him up to Him; God is all-mighty, All-wise.”
Therefore Muslims in general believe that the central message of the New Testament and of Biblical Christianity is built on a mistake: Christ did not die, and Christ did not rise. Therefore, the very heart of Christianity is false.
There are significant historical reasons why the Islamic reconstruction of the life of Jesus is not true. But here’s the point in taking our text from
So let’s go to
The Promised Servant of the Lord Was to Die
First, let’s notice that the promised Servant of the Lord was to die and why.
The death is made explicit in
Then
One more confirmation from
Ten Statements of Why God Planned for His Holy Servant to Die
Now, why did He die? Ten times we are told why. I will let the words of scripture have their own multiplying effect by just saying them to you, without comment on each one. Ten times. Before I mention them notice
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If you are here this morning and you have ever asked, What is the essence of Christianity? What’s at the heart and center of it all? Here is the answer. Let’s use the words of
But God was not willing to leave us in this guilty and condemned condition. He planned from ages past to send a Suffering Servant, not mainly to model love for us, but to bear our sins as a substitute for us. “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” This is the heart of Christianity. Jesus Christ came into the world to fulfill this prophecy — yes, many others to be sure, but this one is central and basic. He came to die. He came to die in our place. He came to die for our sins. This is our only hope. And the New Testament is all about how this happened and how it affects our lives now and in the ages to come. I urge you to pursue the knowledge of these things with all your heart and all your mind.
The Redeeming Servant of the Lord Was to Rise
Now what about the resurrection? Let’s look at the resurrection of the redeeming Servant of the Lord in these words written 700 years before it happened. At least three times Isaiah tells us that the sacrifice that the servant made in dying results in a resurrection triumph. He does not use the word “resurrection,” but the reality is plain.
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Then
He is satisfied. We are justified. And all our sins are carried by another forever. We will never bear them again.
Finally,
He Will See It and Be Satisfied, among His Offspring
Let’s end on this note. The resurrection of Jesus did not happen for His sake alone. It was for His sake! O yes! And we would not have it any other way. Let Him be honored for His great work of salvation on the cross!
But what is the Son satisfied with?
In just a moment we are going to sing two songs. One is “Crowns Him with Many Crowns” and the other is “Victory in Jesus.” One rivets our attention on the Majesty of Christ the risen Lamb upon the throne. The other catches us up into the victory and celebrates our salvation: “He sought and He bought me with His own precious blood.” That’s exactly the way it should be: Exult in your salvation and make much of Christ in His majesty.
But first: Are you His? You can be. You can belong to that great and strong people, even though you feel utterly unworthy. That is the whole point of the death of Christ. He died in our place. And all who trust Him as the Savior and Lord and Treasure of your life will be forgiven and justified and live forever with Him. I urge you to say “no” to all that pulls you away and say “yes” to Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ Death: The Risen Christ — Satisfied with His Sufferings Isaiah 53:3-12
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