THE SERVANT OF GOD
"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."
Isaiah 53:7
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"Wonderful, wonderful Jesus! Who can compare with Thee?
Wonderful, wonderful Jesus! Fairer than all art Thou to me.
Wonderful, wonderful Jesus! Oh! how my soul loves Thee!
Fairer than all the fairest, Jesus, art Thou to me!
THIS chorus printed above, taken out of the Scripture Union Chorus Book which is hardly used now, sprang to my mind as I thought upon this verse from Isaiah 53 before us in this sermon. The language is old fashioned, and perhaps the sentiment is not how we express ourselves today, yet it expressed for me the thought and feeling that is created in my mind and heart as I contemplate this verse.
There is no doubt that the Servant spoken of in Isaiah 53 is Jesus Christ. This verse is amazing, as is all the chapter, in the accurate detail given of the sufferings of Jesus we read about in the Gospels. The verse before us describes "A Willing Sacrifice". How wonderful Jesus is to have willing given himself as a sacrifice for my sin and yours. I hope that God may so enable me to write about the willing sacrifice of Jesus, that you too may feel the chorus is echoed in your heart too. I am sorry for the archaic language of the chorus, but when the Scripture Union Chorus Book was in vogue, it was felt almost like sacrilege to speak of God or Jesus in any other way.
THE ACCURACY OF THE LANGUAGE
I believe it is valuable to notice first of all the accuracy of the prophecy. Isaiah prophesied over four hundred years before Christ was born, yet he describes the way Christ behaved in his trial with astounding accuracy. Isaiah tells us that Jesus did not open his mouth when oppressed and afflicted, and that he silently accepted his suffering like a lamb being slaughtered and a sheep being sheared.
This is mirrored in the suffering of Christ. We can not but be amazed at the way Jesus remained silent at his trial, both before Pilate, the Roman governor, and Caiaphas, the Jewish High Priest, when he was accused of doing wrong. When Jesus was falsely accused he remained silent. We read in Matthew 26:62,63 - �Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" But Jesus remained silent." He was accused of wrong doing falsely, yet he remained silent.
Jesus was not entirely silent, for when the high priest in the next verses in this chapter of Matthew asked Jesus if he was the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus replies and owns that he is, and then goes on to warn and speak of his coming to judge the world at the end of the age. However the important thing to notice is that Jesus was silent when accused, and only spoke to answer factual questions about himself. His speaking to affirm the truth about himself does not invalidate the prophecy of Isaiah because Isaiah was speaking of his silence when accused of wrong. Isaiah is speaking of the suffering of the Servant of God. Jesus showed himself a willing Sacrifice in this way. By this silence he showed he accepted the sin of others in order to give his life to atone for that sin. His answers concerning the truth about himself shows his love for sinners, because he gave his accusers all the information they needed to recognise him as their Saviour and believe on him.
Then, as we read on in the account of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, although Jesus makes seven sayings on the cross, all of which have deep meaning for us, yet he was largely silent throughout his terrible ordeal, bearing all the suffering without complaint. This was in marked contrasted to the thieves crucified with Jesus, who we are told stormed at him angrily and at length, and shouted at the crowd around the cross. Isaiah speaks with amazing accuracy of an event that was hundreds of years in the future. This is the wonder of Scripture and its inspiration by God.
WILLING SUFFERING
This silence before oppression and affliction, before suffering and death, is amazing and full of meaning.
Jesus offered no defence when he was falsely accused. He showed he was willingly accepting the suffering, and giving himself as a willing sacrifice. This is reinforced when we see that he offered no resistance when he was arrested, and prevented his disciples from resisting on his behalf. Jesus rebuked Peter for drawing a sword and attacking the high priest�s servants who came to the garden of Gethsemane to make the arrest. Jesus even healed the damage made by Peter�s sword to the servant�s ear.
Jesus made no defence to the charges made against him. He never protested his innocence. He made no attempt to counter the charges made against himself or to avoid the sentence of death that was coming upon him.
This is what Isaiah prophesies here, and it is all in accord with his mission from God, which he was continually speaking about throughout his ministry. He told his disciples that he had come to give his life a ransom for many. He told his disciples more than once that he had to be taken, put to death, and that he would rise again. He set his face with determination to go to Jerusalem, even though he knew that this would mean his arrest and conviction on false charges, and that he would be put to death.
All this willingness to give himself as a sacrifice speaks of the mission of Jesus in our world, which was to be our Saviour and give his life to pay the price of our sin. He willingly gave himself for us. Surely he is a wonderful Saviour and our souls go out to him in love.
NO COERCION
Many have said or expressed the thought that Jesus was a good man, but one who was helpless before the power of evil men and the state. They say that he was too good for his time, or any time for that matter, so it was inevitable that he would die, and that he was helpless before this power. They say that Jesus was too good to avoid confrontation and save his life.
This is not true and is not proved from the facts. Jesus was a willing Sacrifice. He was not overcome by forces beyond his power. He was not a stupid but good man who did not understand the evil in the world, and was helpless in the face of worldly power.
Firstly, the Bible testimony is that he was a willing sacrifice because this was the mission he had been given to perform by God. He came into this world for this purpose. Myrrh was one of the gifts given at his birth by the wise men because he came to die. Myrrh is an embalming spice. The New Testament speaks of God being in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The death of Jesus was God acting to save sinners because of his great love for us. We have just read, in the sermon before this one, that God was the one who purposed to make Jesus responsible for the sin of the world. Jesus makes it plain that this was his mission, so that when he was sweating blood in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, he indicated in his prayer that it was God�s will that he suffered, so he surrendered himself to that will.
Secondly, the idea of the helplessness of Jesus before the power of evil and the state is just not borne out by the historical facts of his life revealed in the Gospels. Jesus had amazing power. When we look without prejudice at the accounts of what Jesus did, in healing, and controlling the natural elements like storms, and causing Peter to walk on water, and so much more; it is plain that Jesus exercised divine power. There was nothing he could not do if he wanted to.
Then we read that many times the Jews tried to take him prisoner, but could not until Jesus allowed them to. We read also of the crowds, with uncontrollable anger and ferocity, tried to stone him to death, and on another occasion tried to throw him over a cliff, but Jesus just past through them safely. Then when Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who tried Jesus, suggested that he had power to put Jesus to death or release him, Jesus replied that he would have no power except it was given from above, and that Jesus could call on God for ten thousands of angels to defend him.
The fact Pontius Pilate was allowed to condemn Jesus reveals the will of God to give his only begotten Son as a ransom for the sins of the world. Jesus was a willing sacrifice, giving himself to untold suffering for our salvation.
NOT INSENSITIVE
Some may suggest that Jesus was willing to give himself as a sacrifice because he was insensitive in some way to the suffering involved, or in some way the suffering was negated for him. How untrue this is. The real suffering of Jesus is plain as plain for all to read in the Gospel narratives of his trial and death.
Who could deny the real suffering of Jesus when hearing his agonising prayer in the garden of Gethsemane before his trial began. Jesus knew all he had to suffer. He anticipated every last terror of it. He really suffered. Then when he was on the cross he did not complain, but there is no doubt that his body suffered all the terrible agony of that cruel way of execution. Further to this we have in his cry of dereliction on the cross - My God, my God, why have you forsaken me! - a peep at such terrible spiritual suffering that is too terrible to look upon or contemplate for us.
The sufferings of Jesus were so terribly real. They were, the Bible tells us, the total punishment for the sins of the world, and the total experience of hell for all eternity. Yet Jesus was a willing sacrifice as Isaiah in our text so graphically expresses in his description of Jesus silent before his accusers and in the face of his pain.
CONCLUSION
Why did Jesus give himself as a willing Sacrifice? It was to redeem us from the consequences of our sins, and from eternal death and hell. It was an act of tremendous infinite love. The apostle Paul expresses the truth so graphically in his letter to the Romans chapter 5 and verses 6 to 8, and this expresses it all and so I will end with these words -
"You see, at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."