Advent Day 5: "The Suffering Servant"

Prophetic Passage: Isaiah 52:13-15, Isaiah 53:1-12

Prophecy Fulfilled: Matthew 27:11-60
Key verses: 12-14, 57-60

In yesterday's devotion we read about the glorious promise of the Messiah's birth in the small village of Bethlehem. It was wonderful news. Who doesn't like babies? Who wouldn't be excited about the long-awaited Messiah's birth?

Today's message is not as pleasant in many ways, for it deals with the purpose and destiny of the Christ at His first advent. It is the message of the suffering servant.

There was much disagreement between Jewish scholars about Messiah. Some believed that he was coming as a glorious king to liberate them and deliver them from their enemies. Yet others looked at today's key passage and believed that the Messiah would come to suffer. It turns out that both were right - there was just going to be a break between one event and the other. Here is today's passage:

13 See, my servant will prosper; he will be highly exalted. 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 nations. Kings will stand speechless in his presence. For they will see what they had not been told; they will understand what they had not heard about.

Isaiah 53

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, like a root in dry ground. 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. 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. 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. 9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. 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.
Isaiah 52:13-15, 53:1-12

I wish that the text weren't so long today because it is so full of significance and there are so many things that should be said about it.

Let us begin with verse 13. This contains a pun of sorts - although not a funny one. The Scripture tells us that the Messiah will be highly exalted. Sounds great, right? But exalted is another way of saying "lifted up." Yes, Jesus gained much glory through what He suffered, but this phrase also shows us the manner in which He would die - by crucifixion.

Verse 14 gives us far more information about how severely Jesus was treated by His executioners than the Gospels do. Isaiah 53:2 tells us that there was nothing special about Jesus' appearance (even at the best of times) to indicate that He was anything special. He wasn't glowing on the cross or any of the stuff you see in the paintings about the crucifixion. He was a mess.

Verses 4 through 6 show just why He suffered - it wasn't for any sins that He had committed; instead it was for our sins, for our rebellion, for our brokenness, and our sickness that He was so severely punished.

We see the fulfillment of this prophecy in this passage from Matthew:

26 So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. 27 Some of the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters and called out the entire regiment. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. 29 They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it. 31 When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. Matthew 27:26-31

In verse 7 of Isaiah 53 we learn that the Messiah wasn't even going to answer in his own defense. The fulfillment of this prophecy took place in Matthew 27 as well.

12 But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent. 13 “Don’t you hear all these charges they are bringing against you?” Pilate demanded. 14 But Jesus made no response to any of the charges, much to the governor’s surprise. Matthew 27:12-14

Even the prophecy in Isaiah 53:9 came to pass:

57 As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, 58 went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. 59 Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. 60 He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. Matthew 27:57-60

What is the point of these prophecies about Jesus the Messiah, and why is it important that they were all fulfilled? First of all I believe that God gave this information to His prophets so that His people would know the Messiah when they saw Him. Secondly, they show that God knew hundreds of years before the Messiah appeared what would happen. This demonstrates God's sovereignty. It also demonstrates God's very great love for man. Jesus laid aside His majesty so that we could be bought out of the slavery into which we had sold ourselves so cheaply. The price that He paid for His people was dear, but it was worth it to Him.

What does this story have to do with Christmas? Christ's birthday was the day that Jesus became fully human - capable and worthy of being the sacrifice that would save so many. But first, He had to grow up just like you and me and live His life completely without sin - fully dependent on His Father. That all began in Bethlehem, but it had been planned for all eternity.

Questions and thoughts to discuss with your family:
1) Have you ever been wrongfully accused of doing something? How did you respond? How did Jesus respond?

2) Have you ever sinned? Isaiah 53:6 tells us that we have all gone astray. We have all sinned. Romans 6:23 tells us that the penalty for our sins is death. How does that make you feel?

3) Hebrews 9:22 tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission (or forgiveness) for sin. In other words, for sinners to be forgiven someone or something had to die. In the past God had ordered the Children of Israel to sacrifice lambs, sheep, goats, and bulls for their sins. At Passover a lamb was killed and its blood was put on the door frames of the Jews' homes. This reminded them of the very first Passover when God "passed over" the homes with the blood on the door and spared the people inside, but killed all of the firstborn of Egypt who did not have the mark on their doors. Verse 7 of Isaiah 53 compares the Messiah to a lamb. How was Jesus like the Passover lamb?

4) Why did Jesus die?

5) Our key passage (53:10) today tells us that "it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief." Does it seem strange to you that it was the Lord's plan to crush Him and that the plan was good? Do the following verses (11 and 12) explain why God would do such a thing and how Jesus' suffering could possibly be good?

6) Jesus took a punishment that we deserved because of our sin. It was a dreadful punishment, and yet He took our punishment willingly so that we would not have to face God's wrath. God had mercy on us when He allowed His Son to die on our behalf. Why would God do such a thing?

7) Do you recognize that you are a sinner? Do you know that you need someone to save you from your sins? Do you know that the only person who could do that is Jesus? If you have never received God's free gift of salvation I hope that you will today! Here are some verses that will help to explain what you must do to be saved: Acts 2:37-40, Romans 10:9-10, John 3:16