#151. Isaiah 53 Explained: The Prophecy of Jesus That Changes Everything ⭐

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This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox, and in our

reading today of Isaiah 51 through

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53, we will be humbled by the depth

of the sacrifice of the suffering

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servant king and will be amazed at the

accuracy of Isaiah's prophecies Isaiah

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53 is one of the most comprehensive

prophecies about Jesus and his sacrifice

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but let's begin today

in chapter fifty-one.

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Listen to me, you who pursue

righteousness, you who seek the Lord.

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Look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the quarry from which you were dug.

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Look to Abraham your father,

and to Sarah who bore you.

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For he was but one when I called him,

that I might bless him and multiply him.

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For the Lord comforts Zion, he

comforts all her waste places, and

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makes her wilderness like Eden, her

desert like the garden of the Lord.

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Joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song

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My daughter's middle name is Eden

Because I wanted her to live in light

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of all that Jesus already accomplished

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which of course means dwelling

with him throughout life.

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verse seven, listen to me, you

who know righteousness, the

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people in whose heart is my law.

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Fear not the reproach of man, nor be

dismayed Verses 12 through 16 continue

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on this theme of fearing God over man.

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" I am He who comforts you.

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Who are you that you are

afraid of man who dies?

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Of the son of man who is made like

grass, and have forgotten the Lord your

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Maker, who stretched out the heavens

and laid the foundations of the earth?

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And you fear continually all the day

because of the wrath of the oppressor,

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when He sets Himself to destroy."

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And where is the wrath of the oppressor?

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He who is bowed down shall

speedily be released.

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He shall not die and go down to the

pit, neither shall his bread be lacking.

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I am the Lord your God who stirs

up the sea so that its waves roar.

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The Lord of hosts is his name.

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And I have put my words in your mouth

and covered you in the shadow of my

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hand, establishing the heavens and

laying the foundation of the earth, and

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saying to Zion, "You are my people."

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you'll likely recognize 52 verse 7

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How beautiful upon the mountains are

the feet of him who brings good news Who

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publishes peace, who brings good news

of happiness, who publishes salvation,

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who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."

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And now we come to one of the songs

of the suffering servant I think it's

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important that we read it in its entirety.

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But I'd like to start a few verses before

in chapter: 52:13

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the chapter break should come earlier

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behold, my servant shall act wisely.

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He shall be high and lifted

up and shall be exalted.

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As many were astonished at you,

his appearance was so marred beyond

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human semblance, and his form beyond

that of the children of mankind.

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So shall he sprinkle many nations.

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Kings shall shut their mouths because

of him, for that which has not been

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told them, they see, and that which

they have not heard, they understand.

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Who has believed what

he has heard from us?

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And to whom has the arm

of the Lord been revealed?

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for he grew up before him like a young

plant and like a root out of dry ground.

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He had no form or majesty that

we should look at him, and no

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beauty that we should desire him.

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He was despised and rejected by men, a

man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

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And as one from whom men hide their faces,

he was despised and we esteemed him not.

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Surely he has borne our griefs and

carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him

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stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

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But he was pierced for our transgressions.

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He was crushed for our iniquities.

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upon him was the chastisement

that brought us peace, and

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with his wounds we are healed.

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All we like sheep have gone astray.

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We have turned everyone to his

own way, and the Lord has laid

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on him the iniquity of us all.

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He was oppressed and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth.

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Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter

and like a sheep that before its shearers

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is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

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By oppression and judgment he was taken

away, and as for his generation, who

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considered that he was cut off out

of the land of the living, stricken

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for the transgression of my people?

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And they made his grave with the

wicked, and with a rich man in his

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death, although he had done no violence

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

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Yet it was the will of the Lord to

crush him, and he has put him to grief.

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When his soul makes an offering for

guilt, he shall see his offspring;

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he shall prolong his days.

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The will of the Lord

shall prosper in his hand.

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Out of the anguish of his soul he shall

see and be satisfied; by his knowledge

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shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

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and he shall bear their iniquities.

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Therefore I will divide him a portion

with the many, and he shall divide

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the spoil with the strong, because he

poured out his soul to death; he was

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numbered with the transgressors; yet

he bore the sin of many, and makes

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intercession for the transgressors

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I remember the first time I saw The

Passion of the Christ, and my response

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was, "How could I ever want anything

more than the love of this man?"

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What Jesus did for you and

for me and to all who believe

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is astounding 51:1 inquired " Who has

believed what he has heard from us?

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And to whom has the arm of

the Lord been revealed?"

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Belief is the issue.

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Jesus paid it all.

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He gave His very life to pay our sins

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And the gospel, the good news, is that

all you and I need to do is recognize

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that we have a problem of sin, and

it has separated us from our God

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this payment of sin, our immense

debt could only be paid through

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the perfect blood of Jesus Christ.

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By God coming himself

And being our sacrifice.

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You and I no longer

have to pay for our sins

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This is the doctrine of

substitutionary atonement

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That Jesus took our place

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I hope that as I read it, you

were thinking, " How could this

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be anyone other than Jesus?"

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It so clearly points to Him,

this is another one of those

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prophecies that is abundantly clear.

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And if you marveled at the prophecy

of Cyrus that was written 150 years

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before he was born, listen to this.

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Isaiah wrote these words

700 years before Jesus

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this so accurately describes what

Jesus encountered on this earth

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that many throughout history

have said that this couldn't

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have possibly been written by

Isaiah so long before Jesus came.

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and this is one of the reasons that

the Dead Sea Scrolls was so pivotal

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because when they found these scrolls,

and if you recall, I said that the

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entire Book of Isaiah was on one scroll.

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This accusation that Christians had at

one point inserted this chapter of Isaiah

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right between fifty-two and fifty-three,

here the entire scroll was present, and

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every word of Isaiah fifty-three was there

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it proved that this was indeed a prophetic

word written long before Christ's arrival

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Some Jews looked at these passages

about Jesus being the suffering servant,

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and they struggled to reconcile how

could this be the same man that's

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coming in victory and is king

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and now we have this

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The Son of Suffering

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You and I have the blessing of clarity

of realizing that Jesus came first

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as the suffering servant, but He will

return again as reigning King and Lord

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you might wonder what do the Jewish people

think now when they read these prophecies?

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I mean, they think they're still

waiting for the Messiah, right?

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Well, what some modern rabbis have said is

that this chapter isn't about the Messiah,

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but it's about the nation of Israel

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Well, when we read that the nation

esteemed him not and that they

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despised him, it doesn't really make

sense to despise and reject itself.

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And this viewpoint was never present

in any rabbinical historical account.

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This has been a modern creation that

they're just trying to figure out, what

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do we do about this problematic chapter?

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If we don't acknowledge it's

about Jesus, what can we say?

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And when you and I see the reigning

Son of David and the suffering son

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of Joseph, we can hold them together.

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we worship and believe in both.

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I love what The Bible Project says

about this portion of Isaiah, that

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through the suffering servant king,

God makes a covenant with all nations

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for hope for a renewed creation

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let's look at a few phrases that

describe the man of Jesus Christ

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He had no form or majesty that

we should look at him, and no

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beauty that we should desire him.

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Even though King David was described

as handsome and ruddy in appearance,

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Jesus came in a cloak of humility.

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There was nothing about His

appearance that would draw you to Him.

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but certainly His character would have.

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Isaiah tells us that He was a man

of sorrows acquainted with grief.

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But Hebrews tells us that God

bestowed upon Him the oil of gladness.

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I would say that Jesus

perfectly embodies both.

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He weeps with those who weep,

mourns with those who mourn

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and yet he knows the joy of walking

in obedience and righteousness

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and fellowship with the Lord.

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So I think that he was the

epitome of joy and laughter.

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You know, the Jewish people looked

on Jesus' crucifixion and saw

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it as God's judgment upon him

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And Isaiah confirms That God

did put punishment for sin upon

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him, but it wasn't his own sin.

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It was ours

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We read that he was stricken, smitten,

afflicted, pierced, and crushed.

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These are all different words

in the Hebrew that accurately

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describe the beatings and the

piercings Jesus endured for us

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Like a lamb led to the slaughter,

he did not defend himself.

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He was falsely accused, But he

did not defend himself so that

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he could complete his mission

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He died surrounded by wicked criminals,

yet was buried in a rich man's tomb

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His soul made an offering for guilt.

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This refers to a sin offering

we've studied the Levitical

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process in depth, and guess what?

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The sin offering always dies

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but the very next verse says,

"He shall see his offspring.

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He shall prolong his days."

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This speaks of resurrection.

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How can you see your

offspring if you're dead?

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So shall he sprinkle many nations.

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when the priests would sprinkle the

blood on the altar, it symbolized that

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the sin was atoned for and paid for.

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And that's what Jesus did, but not

just for Israel for many nations

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All four Gospels point to Isaiah

53 and the way Jesus fulfilled it

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this chapter changes

everything for you and I

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I pray that if you've walked with the

Lord for a very long time, that you

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can still come to this chapter and be

astounded at the love of your Savior.

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and if this is new to you, I pray

as Isaiah wrote, "Who has believed

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what he has heard from us?"

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And to whom has the arm

of the Lord been revealed?

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I believe God wanted you to listen to

this so that you could believe The Lord is

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extending His arm of redemption to you so

you can be brought into the family of God

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Heavenly Father There are no

words that are adequate to

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express the gratitude we have

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For what you allowed as a father

and for what your son endured for us

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For those of us that have been walking

with you for a long time, restore the joy

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of our salvation and may we never forget

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The blessing of fellowship that

we have for you, that was so

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generously paid for by your Son.

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For those I thank you, Lord, for

opening their eyes, and their ears

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And I pray with them, " Lord,

we know that we are sinners.

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We know that we could not fix our problem.

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We could not come back to you.

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We thank you that you came as a

person so that you could live a

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perfect life and take our place.

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Thank you that Jesus died for our sins

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We thank you that now Your Holy

Spirit dwells within us and will

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continue to lead us so that we can

live lives that bring you glory

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God, I also pray for our kids that we

may have shared the gospel with them

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so many times since they were little,

we pray that the newness of it and

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the wonder of it would not wear off.

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Any commitments to you that were

made prematurely, Lord, we just ask

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that you would give us wisdom as

mothers and about how to point our

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children to the joy of following you

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may we not shame them for their sin,

but help us to also teach them how

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desperately we are in need of a savior

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It is in your matchless

name that we pray, Jesus.

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Amen