This sermon is available for free download from www.graceunlimited.co.za That's www.graceunlimited.co.za There you will also find many other sermons, the speaker's blogs, events, pictures, links, web store, e-documents and contact details. Simply follow the links to Grace Unlimited on Sermon Audio. The more I think of this theme of worship that we've been considering this weekend, the more I think about times in my life where God has come to me by His Spirit and has granted me an extraordinary ability to appreciate Christ. And I think back of some particular times, sermons that I've listened to and portions of scripture that I've studied, where I've just understood something of the person of Christ in more detail and I've delighted in the person of Christ more and more. And it is those moments, those times where God has granted me an appreciation of the person of Christ that has carried me through some of the worst difficulties in my life. It's true worship, seeing Christ and savouring Christ, appreciating Christ, worshipping Christ that is at the core of what we are looking at in this weekend. Last night we were looking at the Christ who astounds us, the astounding Christ, the Christ who astounded the psalmist in Psalm 45. But today we're going to have a look more at this astounding Christ. Last night we looked at that astounding Christ in His beauty and His glory and that wedding scene. Today we're going to look at the astounding Christ in His glory and in His shame. In Isaiah chapter 52, the last three verses of Isaiah 52. But before we begin let's just commend this time to the Lord in prayer and ask the Lord to grant us the eyes to see these things in a special and extraordinary way today. Our Father we just thank you again for the wonder that we have to open your word. We just thank you Lord that in your word we find these portraits that are so clear and so graphic and so beautiful and so attractive and so astounding and so astonishing. And Lord we find, remember what the Lord Jesus said to his disciples on the road to Emmaus. He opened the scriptures beginning with the law and the Psalms and the prophets and he showed them what all of the scriptures said about him. And Lord today we pray that you would help us to see what this portion of your words says about the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. We pray Lord that you would help us to write off every distraction, write off every care, write off every concern. Lord that there would be nothing else in the world for us today but these moments that we spend meditating on Jesus Christ. Lord we do not know what lies ahead of any of us in this room. We do not know what the future holds. We do not know what blessings or what tragedy lies in wait for us. But Lord we beg of you We beg of you that you would so entrance our vision today as we fixate our minds, as we fixate our thoughts on the Lord Jesus Christ. That we would be able to look back at these moments from a day in the future and say, wow that was truly a wonderful day. A day where my heart and my soul were transported into the presence of God. Where I could look at the Lord Jesus Christ and worship Him as it were for the very first time. That I could see something in the beauties of Christ that motivates me through the struggles of life. That I could see something in Christ that meets the very deepest desire of my heart. Lord, I pray that as we see the Lord Jesus Christ, that other things would just lose their lustre. That other things would just appear less beautiful. That other things would lose their flavour. Once we've seen this glorious and wonderful vision of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord we pray that you would help us as we open Isaiah 52 today. Lord not to just blunder over these words and to miss them. But Lord to soak in these very words. To stew in these words Lord that you have written for us on these pages. That Christ would be delightful to us. that Christ would be wonderful to us. Come to us by your Holy Spirit, Lord, and influence us and illuminate our minds today, we pray. We pray these things, Lord, begging these things in your name, in the lovely name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. On Isaiah 52, again, it's one of those wonderful passages quoted in the New Testament that refers to the lovely Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm just going to look at three verses this morning Three verses from Isaiah 52. And you'll see Isaiah 52, if your Bible is anything like mine and most of the English translations, there's a little heading on the top. There's a division there, paragraph division that shows that this is something else. This is the introduction to the whole of chapter 53. So today all I want to do is introduce Isaiah chapter 53 in these three verses. And then possibly this evening, if the Lord spares us that long, we'll have a look at the first half, first six verses of Isaiah 53, and then maybe tomorrow we look at the last six verses of Isaiah 53. And I have to confess that as we look at these verses, Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53, I have to confess that we're really just skipping over, as if you're standing at the side of a lake and you're throwing a stone, and the stone is just skimming over the surface of the water. We really can't even spend time soaking in these things, but I'm hoping that these three messages on Isaiah 52 and 53 will be used by the Lord to grant you a wonderful vision, a wonderful perspective, a wonderful new sight of the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. As we begin with those verses in Isaiah 52, verses 13 to 15, Isaiah writes this, and it's the Lord speaking through Isaiah. He says, My servant will act wisely. He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being 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. Just those three verses. See, He says in verse 13, My servant will act wisely. He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. You notice that these verses begin with talk about the servant of Jehovah. My servant, God is speaking about My servant. And as you read through Isaiah, you notice that this mysterious character, this mysterious man appears, and in Isaiah there are four servant songs. Some have identified more songs and sub-sections of songs, but there are basically four songs called the servant songs, where Jehovah is speaking about his servants. And I've found such delight in preaching through these servant songs on a couple of occasions and just feasting on these servant songs that present a view of the Lord Jesus Christ, the servant of Jehovah in such a beautiful way, an astounding and a stunning way. And these four servant songs, we see this character emerging in Isaiah that leads you to say, I wonder who this is? I wonder who this remarkable man is that Isaiah is speaking about. And surely Isaiah is sitting there wondering as the psalmist did last night as we looked in Psalm 45. Wondering who this man is. What a remarkable man. And of course what a sad thing it was that Isaiah wasn't able to see the full glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He only saw some of it through the haze and through the mist of time. Yet we see the full picture. But here in Isaiah we see a man to whom kings will bow down. You can just imagine the majesty of the man. We see a man of power. We see a man of victory. We see a man of glory. We see a man called a servant who is the greatest man this world has ever seen. And you have to look at Isaiah's words and you've got to say what an astounding man. What a breathtaking man! What a remarkable man! Of course, We long to know who this man is, as we read through Isaiah, as you go through the servant's song, and as the information about his life astounds you. You say, I wish I knew more about who this man was, because he's such a remarkable man. And so did the generations from Isaiah's time, right until the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1 verse 10, you have Peter speaking about the prophets. Just longing, they're searching the scriptures intently because they just have to know more and more and more about who this remarkable man is. What a stirring theme this is. As these prophets and these men of God in the past are saying, are they praying and saying, God help us to understand who this man is. But sadly all of the bulk of that information was sealed up from them so that they couldn't see clearly the Christ in the coming day. This song of course Isaiah 53 and these few verses that introduce Isaiah 53 are the culmination, the final servant song, the first servant song is in Isaiah 42, the second servant song is in Isaiah 49, the third servant song is in Isaiah 50 and then of course the final servant song Isaiah 53 is the culmination, it's the tying together of all of these threads of these servant songs in Isaiah. Of course As we see this chapter unfold before us, we notice that this chapter is graphic. This chapter is outstandingly graphic. And it goes into detail upon detail about the servant of Jehovah. And it's the details that astound the reader of Isaiah 53. And I'm going to just open one detail today that is going to astound the audience as they look upon the servant of Jehovah. In fact, John MacArthur says that this Isaiah 53 is so detailed about the Lord Jesus Christ, the great servant of Jehovah, that it is called the Rabbi's torture chamber. The rabbi's torture chamber, the Jewish rabbis who are trying to deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They look at Isaiah 53 and they find themselves on a bed of nails. They find themselves tortured because this is so graphic about the Lord Jesus Christ that the conclusion of his identity is inescapable. Notice what this writer Isaiah begins with. He says, see my servant will act wisely. We've looked at the servant. Then he says about him, he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. He's using words in such a way that you realise he's trying to explain something but he just cannot reach the parameters, he cannot reach the limit to which his mind would really like to grasp. He's trying to say something, he's saying again and again and again, positive upon positive upon positive in the sentence to try and explain how great and glorious and exalted this servant is. And he says there that my servant will act wisely. He's speaking of a man who has clear thinking actions. A man of understanding issues. A man who meets with success. Something like a surgeon who goes in to deal with a cancerous growth. And he cuts in between nerves and arteries and veins and important bodily structures. And he goes in for that specific structure and he removes it without harming the patient. The servant will act wisely, he will go in and he will act with precision. Clear thinking, I like that New Testament word Sofran, that sober mindedness. A clear thinking way of life. But he said there, my servant will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Isaiah is restating the servant's exalted state in three separate words. He cannot make his point more clearly. He's emphasizing in the strongest possible way, that if you think you understand how exalted the servant of Jehovah is, you haven't understood. He's saying he will be raised. And you say, yes, the servant of Jehovah will be raised. He will be up there at a level of exaltation, beyond which I cannot imagine a level of exaltation. And Isaiah is saying, if you can think of the servant of Jehovah as raised, Right up there. Then you haven't even begun to understand His exaltation. He's way beyond that. He's way beyond what you can imagine as a servant, as this man, this glorious man who has been raised to that level. He's way beyond that. And if you can imagine a level of exaltation way beyond that, He says just grasp something that is way beyond your grasp. And you haven't even reached the exaltation of this servant yet. He's way beyond that. He's raised. He's lifted up. He's highly exalted. He's speaking of a man who can look down from a position where he cannot even see the next man in rank. He cannot even see the next man in authority. He's so far below his state of exaltation. His name is above every name. He's raised or He's constantly actively working towards His glorious goal. It's like a person swimming. I remember, I don't know how many of you have been to Pretoria. Just outside Pretoria there's a place called Nkwe. This is an old abandoned mineshaft. Anybody been to Nkwe? There we go, one man at least. I'm not delusional, hey? And if you go to inquire, ask this guy who's been there. There's a cliff there. I can't remember. It's been a long time since I've been there. Probably about 30 meters or so high. How high is it? 30 meters? And if you stand up there, 30, 40 meters, I was trying not to exaggerate. But let's say 30, 40 meters, let's say 30 meters at a conservative depth. You stand on top of that cliff and you jump into the water from the top of that cliff and you go into this round hole that is an old abandoned mineshaft that is full of water. So you know you can just go down and down and down. You don't know how far you're going to go. But when you jump off the top of that cliff and you go down into the water, you don't realize how far you've penetrated into the depth. You just feel your ears hurting and you pop so your ears go right and then they pop again and pop again and pop again so your ears don't hurt all the way down. But you know what happens when you stop, when you eventually stop traveling downwards and you start swimming up towards the surface again. You think any moment I'm going to break the surface. You can imagine, your eyes are closed and you can imagine the surface just here. And you swim and you go through layers and layers of temperature in the water. It's cold down there. And as the water gets warmer and gets lighter and lighter, you think I'm going to break the surface any moment. And it's almost as if you're ready to gasp for a breath of air as you break the surface. But the surface is not there. And you swim further and further and further and it just feels like the surface is never going to get there. And you start feeling a bit panicky because you think I'm going to run out of air before I get to the surface. And eventually your head breaks the surface and you think, the surface should have been way down there. I'm sure I didn't travel that far down. And you break the surface and you're so relieved that you've eventually burst out through the top. I don't know if you had that experience. But I remember feeling a bit panicky under the water there. And this is the idea in the servant who is raised. He's a servant who is working toward an elevated position where one day he breaks out and he says, I've done it. I've reached this level. I've broken out into freedom. It's an active verb. It's an incomplete verb. He's busy striving towards the top as a swimmer swims towards the surface of the water. And then Isaiah uses that word lifted up. He will receive huge honor because of what he has done. He has elevated above every person because he's achieved something that no other person can possibly achieve. This is a glorious, glorious servant. And then Isaiah uses that phrase, he will be highly exalted. He will be a person who is recognized as a person who has earned a glorious position that no one else could possibly have earned. An astoundingly elevated honor that is accompanied by the joy of his accomplishments. You can just imagine the glorious servant being submerged in the darkness of this world's mission. and striving and striving and striving until he breaks out into the freedom of having accomplished the mission of God. I want to say that I could even just stop right here and say this is worship, this is glory, this is looking at Christ and saying what a glorious Saviour. God thank you for granting me the eyes to see this beautiful man. God, thank you for granting me the eyes that can look upon a man that millions upon millions upon millions in this world cannot see. You look in the dictionary, Oxford dictionary, you find the name of Jesus is just one of those words that you use when you're angry or annoyed or to express surprise. It's like the name of God. It's a term that you use when you want to express surprise. I mean, what has the world become when that is what the Oxford Dictionary says? Yet God has granted us the ability to see this. It's an extraordinary blessing to look upon this man and appreciate his glory. This man who is raised, who is lifted up, who is highly exalted. In fact, if we look at the last verse that we're looking at there today, verse 15, 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. Verse 15. He's going to be so astounding, such an astounding man, that He will startle the nations. That word, sprinkle many nations, I believe, After all of the things that I've, the commentators that I've read and all of the different studies that I've done on this particular word, it appears to me that this word is probably better understood as startle rather than sprinkle. He will startle many nations. He will astound many nations. He will shock many nations. Of course in our day it's difficult to startle even one individual. I just remember about a year ago watching that movie that just came out, Hotel Transylvania. I don't know if anybody's watched that movie. But it's about, just to cut the whole story down into a nutshell, it's about Dracula and all of his monster and spooky friends, you know, all of these crazy sort of vampire characters. And Dracula and all of his friends are so sick and tired of being harassed by human beings. You know guys are always chasing them and trying to put holy water on them and you know put silver crosses in front of them. You know the whole Dracula thing. So he decides to build himself a castle that is outside of the reach of human beings. So he can just have some peace and safety and live there and do his Dracula thing and live his life there without being harassed by human beings. You know terrorized by the human beings. And of course, into this castle, this impregnable castle that Dracula has built for himself, this young American teenage boy wanders. He comes strolling in like a tourist, you know, with his camera and his backpack on and, you know, chewing on his candy bars and all that sort of thing. Throughout the movie, you're expecting this guy to say, you know, seeing all the ghosts and the monsters and Dracula and all of that. But he walks in and he says, hey man, neat costume you got on there. You know, that looks really authentic. And he's just, he's just not shocked by anything. He's just saying, you know, I don't know how you do that trick over there, but it's pretty neat. And he's just not taken with the whole Dracula thing and all of the monsters and all of that. And in the movie you're kind of disappointed that this guy is not shocked by coming into Hotel Transylvania, this big castle. But my point is that that's the world we live in. With all of the pyrotechnics that we see in the movies, even your iPads, you know, you can put yourself swimming in the swimming pool or something and you can have a fighter plane crashing into the pool and everyone says, hey, that's cool. But nobody's even impressed anymore. It takes a lot to raise somebody's eyebrow when you've seen these fancy movies, you know, with special effects and all kinds of things that you can look at on the TV and anybody can do anything on their computer today. Extreme sports, bungee jumping, you know, of the highest point in the world, you know, down there is it's from Stardom, the Storms River, that's higher bungee. People do crazy things today and it's hard to astound or startle an individual. You might, you might stand on your head and turn blue and try and astound somebody and, you know, a teenager today will just keep chewing their gum and say, ah, that's neat or that's cool or something like that. You can't astound people, you can't shock people, you can't surprise people. Yet this servant, this one man, this one individual, the text is saying, will startle nations. What will it take for one man to stand before the nations and they fall to their knees and they say, shocking, astounding, amazing, what a man. Kings bowing down before this man, so startled are they. I'm astounded by a man who can astound the nation. What is it that they are seeing in this man? Oh God, grant me the eyes to see what it is that is startling these kings. Grant me the eyes to see what it is that is astounding these nations as they look at the servant of Jehovah. What is it? My eyes long to see that. I want to see more. God, grant me the eyes to see more. And shouldn't that be the prayer of our hearts here today as we're thinking of worship. This is the heart of worship. I want to know Christ. As Paul said to the Philippines, I want to know Him. I want this inner, personal, satisfying knowledge of the great Jesus Christ. As Paul said to the Ephesians, when Christ, who is your life, who is your life appears, you will also appear with Him in glory. I want to see that, I want to know that, I want to see the servant of Jehovah. And as the nations will gasp and stare and fall stunned to the ground at the splendor of this man, kings and governors and rulers will be lost for words just at the sight of Him. Because they will suddenly understand the meaning of true power. of true character, of true glory, a truly astoundingly ascended and elevated man. What will it be to see that man? This is our appropriate response, to be startled, to be astounded, to be astonished by the servant of Jehovah. Yet there's something specific Now Isaiah doesn't just leave us gratefully like Psalm 45 last night. The psalmist doesn't just say that my heart is stirred by a noble thing. He actually goes on to pen the words and he actually tries to describe what it is that he's looking at and seeing and what he is appreciating and thank God for that. But Isaiah, neither does he leave us in the dark. He doesn't just say what a glorious servant and then not mention anything more. He doesn't do what the charismatic songs say, we lift you up, we raise you higher, we praise you God because you're worthy to be praised. He actually says, he actually explains why it is that this servant is worthy to be praised. He goes into the details so that we can grasp something of his glory and say yes. Yes, God, I understand now why it is that the nations are startled by this man. I understand why it is that my heart should be completely taken up with this man and nothing else. In verse 14, the verse that we skipped over, just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness. What a verse! What a verse to put right in there, in that gap. What were we expecting to read when God is speaking about the servant of Jehovah? What were we expecting God to say is the glorious thing about this man? And what Isaiah is doing here in these three verses, he's saying, yes, you are rightly stunned by the elevated position of the servant, his majesty, his refinement, his character, his glory, his achievement. You should be bowing like the nation, stunned and astonished by this man. But he's saying there's something else that should stun you, and astonish you, and astound you. And that is the extreme humiliation and mutilation, not just of a man, not just of a person, but that person, that man, that servant of Jehovah, He was the one who was mutilated. He was the one who was shamed. He was the one who was brought down from that place right to the shame of the earth, of a cursed human race. And He is the man who is cringing before us, just as there were many who were appalled at Him, who were startled, startled at His humiliation, startled at the shame that He bore, startled at His disfigurement, startled at His mutilation, startled that that man should experience these very things. Isaiah is picturing an audience who stand staring upon the servant as they are appalled and astonished and astounded. And they are appalled and astonished and astounded because this glorious servant has been disfigured beyond the point where his identity can be recognised by his physical features. We're astounded by this man. And we are shaking our heads in amazement As we see this man cringing under the blows of human fists, cringing under the scourge that was given to him by human hands, cringing under the nails that nailed into the cross, and more, and more, and more. I just think of that Babylonian New Year festival, what was it called? Akitu. Apparently there was this among the Babylonians when Isaiah was writing, now we've traveled so far into the glory of heaven and we're looking at the servant of Jehovah, but remember this is Isaiah speaking 700 years before the Lord Jesus Christ was even born. And of course one of the main concerns of Israel at that time, well Isaiah's current civilization, what they're thinking of is the threat of the growing Babylonian force that is going to come against them. They haven't come yet, they're still growing, they're still developing as a nation. But the Babylonians are going to come and attack them and take them into exile. And Isaiah is prophesying about the Babylonians. And he understands, okay, there's this one thing, there's this one ritual that the Babylonians have. And that was that once a year On the new year, the king of the Babylonians had to be taken by the priest of Bel, or Marduk they call him. They had to be taken by the priest to this god of theirs, the god of Bel. And they would strip the king, the priest of this god, would strip the king of his royal insignia. And then once he's been stripped of his royal insignia, the priest would grab the king by the ear and he would slap the king's cheeks, you know, just to humiliate the king. And then he would grab the king by his ear and drag him down so he would have to kneel on the ground before this God's belt. And you can imagine, you the king. You can imagine your lofty position, your position where you've been ruling over this nation for the entire year or multiple years or maybe even decades. And now this priest comes to you and he takes off your royal insignia and he slaps you in the face in front of all of the people. You can imagine how that is for the king. And then, as if that's not enough, the priest grabs him by the ear and drags him down to the ground and makes him bow down in front of the so-called God of the Babylonians. This happened once a year and you can imagine the humiliation for this king. You can just imagine that today in a business setting. Imagine you came to your MD in a company and you grabbed him by the ear and you made him bow down to the ground in front of his employees. It would be totally embarrassing. It would be totally humiliating. But for this king, this only happened once a year. It was to proclaim his innocence. He had to go before the God, you know, of the Babylonians and say, I'm innocent and I'm ruling this country in a wise way and all sorts of things. You know, it's like swearing on the Bible that we have in our day to day. Had to do that in front of their God. But consider Christ. This wasn't just a little ritual of humiliation. This was a plot that was calculated to totally annihilate him. It was a plot that was calculated to wipe him out, to destroy him, to see him dead and never ever see him again. Never have to listen to his words again. Never have to listen to him claiming to be God again. How sickening was that? They couldn't hear anymore. Remember those crowds who put their fingers in their ears, rushing at Paul. They just couldn't take another word as they heard him speaking. And his human form has been marred and smashed and pulverised that he is too grotesque to look upon. Yet it is so startling and so shocking that the audience just cannot stop looking. Now those of you who've done any work in the medical field will understand what it is to look upon some of these scenes. But somebody has to do it. Terrible, terrible scenes that flash before your eyes. People mutilated and damaged and marred. And you go in there and other people are throwing up because they're so sickened by the scene. Other people are fainting because they just cannot look upon it. And you have to go in. And you have to help that individual who's suffering in that state. Motor vehicle accidents, people falling off buildings, people being attacked by hooligans. terrible, terrible scene. And it's as if the scene is so grotesque that you don't want to look. But it is because the scene is so grotesque that you have to go in and help that person. You can imagine these people staring at the mutilated servant of Jehovah and saying, but it's him. It's not just any man, it's him that has been humiliated like this. It's him that has been marred. So astounding is the contrast between His glory and His shame that the crowd just cannot stop looking. They cannot stop being stunned and amazed and astounded by this glorious man brought to this state. The gruesome display causes people to stop and stare. Because there are no words to describe both the beauty and the horror of the sin that has unfolded before them. Kings will be left speechless and staring. This is the one who is raised, who is lifted up, who is highly exalted. Yet he stands before the crowd, dripping in his own blood. and in the spit of men. Astounding! How can it be? How can it be that this glorious servant can be presented before the eyes of the world like this? Imagine Isaiah writing and straining his mind and straining his eyes through the mists of time. And he's reading about this, he's writing the words of God about this glorious servant of Jehovah, this glorious champion, this glorious man who is going to rescue them forever and ever. And as his eyes focus through the mists of time, the image that becomes clearer and clearer in his mind is not the image of a military hero, but a man in tears. a man stained with blood, a man who has been spat upon, a man whose beard has been pulled from his face, a man onto whose head a crown of thorns has been pressed, a man who has been nailed to a cross, and a man who is dying in apparent failure. How can it be, Lord? I can imagine Isaiah sitting there astounded and saying, God, what is this? What am I looking at? Who is this servant we thought he was this glorious hero? And here we see this weeping man, this man in tragedy, this man who is marred, this man who is smashed and ruined. Yet in verse 14, We read here, this state is not a permanent state. The state of bewilderment and confusion as we look at the Christ, as we look at the servant of Jehovah marred in this way, it's not a permanent state. As God's explanation for this astounding reality is explained through the Gospel and in the final day when Jesus Christ will be gloriously revealed in every eye What a wonderful revelation that is going to be seeing Christ, seeing that glorious elevated man still bearing the scars of Golgotha. How we are going to be stunned by His glory. How we are going to be stunned by His elevation, His refinement, His character, His majesty. The nations will be stunned by the glorious wisdom of God and the glorious person of the servant of Jehovah, the Christ. They will come to grasp it clearly and they will find in this servant of Jehovah every reason to worship. Astounded and stunned on their knees as Paul said to the Philippians, every knee bowing before this glorious man. Every knee. I want to say that I fear that we have become way too accustomed with the facts of the Gospel. We can so easily today tell somebody, yes, the Son of God died in my place, without even thinking of what it is that we are saying. What am I saying? The Son of God! The Son of God, Almighty, The Son, The Glorious, Glorious Servant of Jehovah, standing as we have seen Him, shamed and dripping in His own blood and the spit of men smashed and disfigured beyond recognition. What a mystery! What an astounding mystery! And may God grant it to us that this will be a mystery that never leaves our hearts and minds. That it will be a mystery that never ceases to astound us and stun us and startle us and stop us in our tracks as we even begin to say these words. The Son of God, mutilated as me, dying as me, suffering as me, humbled as me, bearing a weight of the consequences of sin as me. What an astounding person! What an astounding truth! Is this not startling and astounding and thrilling and motivating in the Christian life? Doesn't this motivate you? As you struggle in your struggle against sin, As you struggle in a fallen world with conditions that are not as they should be. Motivating, because we can see that we are living in a battle that has already been won by that glorious champion. The blood-stained champion of God. I just want to finish with this one point, okay. And this one point really is going to help set us up for Isaiah 53 as we begin this evening. And this is just an interesting grammatical points, okay? These verses, as we introduce, these three verses we've been looking at today, that introduce Isaiah 53, you'll notice that as we finish reading these two verses and we go into the next chapter, there's an interesting thing that Isaiah does. You'll notice that throughout Isaiah 53, if you look at the text, you'll see that he begins by using plural pronouns, all the way through that chapter, plural pronouns, and past tense verbs. Plural pronouns and past tense verbs all the way through this chapter. Now you might say, so what? So what if he uses plural pronouns and past tense verbs? I want to ask you this. How can Isaiah be speaking of the servant of Jehovah in the past tense if the Christ is not even going to be born for another 700 years. Look at what he says in Isaiah 53. Who has believed our message? Past tense. And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Past tense. He grew up before him like a tender shoot. Grew up is in the past tense. Like a shoot 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. He goes on through the whole chapter speaking as if it's already happened. And as I've puzzled over this and as I've thought about this, these plural pronouns speaking as if it's a whole group that we saw him, we were thinking about these things, we understood these things about him that happened in the past. As I've thought about this, I've listened to a number of sermons, I read a lot of commentators, and I've come to a conclusion about this. It's not the conclusion that everybody will accept, but it's my conclusion and this is the best understanding that I have on this. And I'm convinced that what is happening here in these verses This prophecy that Isaiah utters in chapter 53 is not primarily, just listen carefully what we've got to say here, is not primarily a prophecy about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You might say, of course it is. Actually what it is, is a prophecy about what people are going to say in a future date about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what they're saying. They're saying, 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. It's people looking back on the death of Christ and saying, Ah, I understand. I suddenly grasped this. And who is it that is going to grasp these things? I'm totally convinced that in a coming day, as the prophecies pronounce, that the whole of Israel is going to experience a mass turning toward the Lord Jesus Christ and they're going to see the one that they pierced and they're going to be stunned by him and they're going to say, I cannot believe it! This man walked among us! We saw this man! They're going to say, this is what we understand about this man, this glorious servant of Jehovah and we killed him! This is what we did to Him. This is how we made Him suffer. And as Zechariah says in chapter 12 verse 1, They will look on Me, who's speaking, God is speaking. And God is saying, They will look on Me, God, the One they have pierced. If there's ever a text for the Deity of Christ, there it is. They will look upon Me, the One whom they have pierced." The Jews will look upon Jesus Christ and they will mourn for Him, deep, bitter, desperate mourning as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son. Zechariah 12, verse 10. And what a wonder it is that the truth of these words has yet to be fulfilled. And as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be there on that day. And we will see the Jews falling to their knees and saying, God, have mercy on us. Look what He's done. The great and glorious servant of Jehovah. Today we've been looking at something, we've been astounded by the glory and the shame of the servant of Jehovah. Maybe tonight, if the Lord spares us, we continue into chapter 53 and we see something more of the beauty of this great man of Calvary. Our Father, we just thank You that we've had this privilege of just looking at these three verses and God how deep Your Word is. God how stunned we are as we look at this glorious man. And Lord, how wonderful Your Word is, how poetic, how creative, how delightful, how artistic Your Word is that paints these scenes before us, not in technical language, but Lord, in pictures. Lord, in scenes that come before us that melt our hearts and cause our knees to collapse so we fall on the ground stunned by this man. And Lord, we thank You that as we looked at Psalm 45 last night, And we saw that this is the story in which we are engaged. We thank You, Lord, that this great glorious servant of Jehovah is none other than our Saviour. He's our Lord, our Guru, our Jesus Christ, a man whose desire is taken up with us. God, we cannot understand that mystery. Lord, we cannot understand it. But we beg of You, Lord, that even today, even as we sit in our seats, that You would pierce and penetrate into our hearts by Your Spirit and grant us an appreciation for this that we will never lose. Until the day we set our aching eyes upon the glorious Saviour Himself. O God, we beg these things of You in the lovely name of our Lord Jesus Christ.