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TH1159: On-Line
Teaching Notes
ISAIAH
Please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 53, as we continue our study through the Word of God. Beginning in chapter 49 of Isaiah, we are seeing a picture of the Messiah that is being painted for us. And in chapter 53 we come to the climax or the culmination of the picture or painting. And as I said last week, the last 3 verses of Isaiah chapter 52 flow into chapter 53. So lets read verses 13-15 of Isaiah 52 just to keep the thought of what is taking place.
God’s Servant, the Messiah, was lifted up on the cross of Calvary. And prior to the crucifixion He was scourged, beaten, a crown of thorns was placed upon His head. And all of these things disfigured His face so much that He didn’t even resemble a man anymore. Thus, when we see Jesus in His glorified body He will still bear the marks He took for us, and we will be startled by what we see. It will be hard for us to believe He endured all that for us. Those marks will be the marks of love that we will be reminded of for eternity! And that leads us into chapter 53 of Isaiah.
ISAIAH 53
VERSE 1
1. Isaiah and the other prophets of God spoke of the Messiah, but the people refused to listen, they closed their ears to what was being said. Now in John 12:38 Jesus quotes this verse and He applies it to the Pharisees whose eyes were blinded and their hearts were hard towards God. They could not see the Messiah nor receive Him even though He stood right before them. The same is true even today. Many close their eyes to the truths of God and refuse to receive Him into their lives.
VERSE 2
1. The Messiah came as a child and He grew in wisdom and stature. He played on the streets of Nazareth. And during the period of His life the spiritual life of the nation was dry and barren. In fact, if you remember the Davidic line through David’s son Solomon was cut off, for Jehoiachin, also known as Jeconiah and Coniah had a blood curse put upon him and his descendants for his wickedness. (II Kings 24, Jeremiah 22:24-30). And yet, through the linage of David’s son Nathan came Mary, the mother of Jesus, giving him the blood line of David without the curse. Also, His step dad, Joseph was from the royal line, the kingly line, the line that was cursed, and yet Jesus did not inherit the curse, for He was only the step son of Joseph, but He did have the right to the throne. And so, out of a dry, barren, hopeless situation Isaiah tells us "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." Isaiah 11:1. The Messiah would come forth!
2. F. B. Meyer describes this verse this way. He says: "The tender plant; the sucker painfully pushing its way through the crust of the caked ground; the absence of natural attractiveness. Such imagery awaits and receives its full interpretation from the New Testament, with its story of Christ’s peasant parentage, his manger-bed, and lowly circumstances - fisherfolk his choice disciples; poverty his constant lot; the common people his devoted admirers; thieves and malefactors on either side of his cross; the lowly and poor the constituents of his Church. This were humiliation indeed, though the irregularities of human lot are scarce distinguishable from the heights whence He came."
3. Also, we are not going to be drawn to Him because of His physical beauty. Why? Because, as I said, in His glorified body He still bears the marks of the crucifixion. In fact, we will be startled when we see Him!
VERSE 3
1. In John 1:10-11 we read of Jesus, "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." Like back then, men today still reject the Messiah because He speaks the truth and they don’t want to hear the truth, so they hide themselves, they don’t want to be accountable to God. People love to hear feel good messages that don’t deal with sin, sanctification, striving after holiness. They don’t want to be convicted of sin for they want to have fun. And in that kind of teaching, many are being made to feel good about going to hell! How tragic. Speak the truth and either people will receive it or you will be despised and rejected by men, as Jesus was.
Paul’s words to Timothy are very fitting for us today. He said in II Timothy 4:2-5, "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."
VERSE 4
1. Sin brings grief and sorrow to our life, and yet, the Messiah has come to set us free, to take those things from our life. And as the Messiah came and died for our sins, many feel He got what He deserved. That God put Him in His place, God’s judgment came upon Him. And yet the Scriptures tell us "And you know that He was manifested to take away our sin, and in Him there is no sin." I John 3:5. Jesus was without sin, He didn’t deserve to die on the cross, but He willingly gave His life to be the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins, to set us free from the bondage of sin.
VERSE 5
1. His death satisfied the wrath of God against sin and allows God to, in a sense, overlook the sins in our life for they have been atoned for by Christ if we have appropriated that free gift of life into our lives. If not, then the wrath of God will be poured out upon you.
2. Now it says that "by His stripes we are healed." And some come to the wrong conclusion that this is speaking of physical healing. And thus, we should never get sick, need medicine, even die, for it shows a lack of faith on your part. That is foolishness. By His stripes we are spiritually healed, as I Peter 2:24 says. We read "Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness-by whose stripes you were healed."
VERSE 6
1. All of us have turned from God, there is none good, no not one. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23. We all are going our own way instead of God’s way! Thus, we did not go out looking for God, He came looking for us, and as His Spirit touched our hearts, we received Him, or we rejected the Spirit’s leading.
2. Now the Jew’s today have a difficult time with this verse, and really, this whole chapter. They try to tell us that Isaiah is speaking of the nation of Israel. But think about it, when was the nation of Israel without sin and able to bear the sins of the world? The Scriptures speak of them being rebellious and stiff-necked, and thus, this is not Israel.
From His 1980 book "You Take Jesus, I’ll Take God" Samuel Levine, a Jewish scholar, wrote, "As you know, the Jews were in Israel for around 1000 years before Jesus appeared. They had a definite concept of what the Messiah would be like-there was a status quo regarding the nature of the Messiah. The Christians appeared and introduced an entirely different picture of what the Messiah would be like (Son of God, God incarnate, born of a virgin, two comings,etc.,). Thus, the Christians changed the status quo concept of the Messiah, and so the full burden of proof rests upon them."
Actually, the Scriptures speak very clearly on these issues, and even on what this verse is all about. And yet Samuel Levine says "Many Jewish commentators feel that it [Isaiah 53] refers to the Jewish people on the whole...Thus, Isaiah 53 could very well be describing the history of the Jewish people-despised by the world, persecuted by the Crusaders and the Spanish Inquisition and the Nazis, while the world silently watched...The verses do not point exclusively to Jesus, or to a Messiah..."
And yet, a 16th century Rabbi Moshe el Sheikh said of Isaiah 53, "Our Rabbis with one voice accept and affirm the opinion that the prophet is speaking of the King Messiah, and we shall ourselves also adhere to the same view."
And in the 14th century Rabbi Moshe Cohen Crispin said this in regards to applying the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 to the nation of Israel, that it "Distort[s] the verses of their natural meaning...As then it seemed to me that the doors of literal interpretation [of Isaiah 53] were shut in their face, and that they wearied themselves to find the entrance’, having forsaken the knowledge of our teachers, and inclined after the ‘stubbornness of their own hearts’ and of their own opinion, I am pleased to interpret it, in accordance with the teaching of our Rabbis, of the King Messiah...This prophecy was delivered by Isaiah at the divine command for the purpose of making known to us something about the nature of the future Messiah, who is to come and deliver Israel."
You see, there is no other way to interpret Isaiah 53, it must be speaking of the Messiah, for only a perfect sacrifice, without spot or blemish could pay the penalty for our sins, as I Peter1:18-19 says. We read "Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from you aimless conduct received by the tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." And it wasn’t until the 11th century that the Rabbinical interpretation of Isaiah 52 and 53 began to change and they took the Messiah out of the picture.
VERSE 7
1. Jesus was silent before His accusers, during His religious trial before the Sanhedrin and the civil trial before Pilate. Why didn’t he defend Himself? Because He did nothing wrong, he committed no sin.
VERSE 8
1. Jesus was falsely accused and judged by the people. They did not realize the magnitude of what was transpiring before their eyes. They seemed not to care.
VERSE 9
1. After a criminal was put to death, and in their eyes Jesus was a criminal, if they were poor and their family did not have the money to bury them, the Romans would cast the deceased into a common burial pit with the rest of the criminals where animals would come and eat their flesh. That is where Joseph of Arimathea came and gave the tomb that was for his family for the burial of Jesus. Thus, Joseph was a rich man, and you can see that when you look at the size of the tomb he had built for his family. And understand this, Isaiah is writing some 742 years or so before these events even took place, and look at the accuracy of what he has said.
VERSE 10
1. Now it seems strange to read that it pleased the Father to crush or bruise His Son. Why would He say that ? Because of what would be accomplished out of the bruising or crushing, it would bring forth life!
VERSE 11
1. Jesus came to do the will of the Father, and when He completed that task, dying on the cross of Calvary for our sins, the Father was satisfied. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and that word means to appease and that is what Christ’s sacrifice did for us. He satisfied the righteous requirements of sin for us, and many will be justified by His actions. Why not all? Because all will not receive Him.
VERSE 12
1. When the Lord returns He will take and divide the spoil with us, His people. In Revelation 5:9-10 we read of that day "...’You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And you have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.’"
2. Also, Jesus was crucified between two thieves, numbered with the transgressors. Why? To show us that you can be the most wicked person alive, deserving death, and God will still extend His grace to you. Now you can receive that grace, as one of the thieves did, and Jesus said to Him "Assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43. For theother thief, he continued to mock the Lord, and He too will enter into eternity, but not in paradise, but in Hell!
3. Now as chapter 53 closes with the Messiah bearing the sins of the world upon Himself, to pay that penalty for our sins and setting us free from the bondage we are in, chapter 54 opens up with a cry to sing, to rejoice for God has restored His people.
ISAIAH 54
VERSE 1
1. Israel is called the wife of Jehovah and yet for so many years their lives were fruitless because of their rebellion against God. And the thought here is that in the kingdom age they will see the fruit that has come forth, not only the Jews, but the Gentiles will be gathered together, not saved by the Law, but out of grace! The Law did not produce any spiritual children, but grace has.
VERSES 2-3
1. God is saying that their boundaries will be enlarged. In Joshua 1:4 God told Joshua that their boundaries would go as far north as Lebanon to as far south as the Nile River. To the west was the Mediterranean Sea and as far east as the Euphrates River. It covered an area of some 300,000 square miles! And yet they never occupied all that land. Even during the time of David and Solomon when the nation reached the zenith of its power, they only occupied an area of some 30,000 square miles! They could have had it all, but because they did not walk by faith and were not obedient to God’s directions, they did not appropriate all that God had for theminto their lives. But in the kingdom age they will have all the land that God had promised them, they would finally occupy it.
2. The same is true for us as Christians. Paul said in Ephesians chapter 1, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." Ephesians 1:3. And yet, many times, because of a lack of faith or not listening to God’s leading, we don’t appropriate all that God has for us into our lives.
VERSE 4
1. God is telling them that all their afflictions, all their sorrows, all their failures will be taken away and forgotten - remembered no more. Again, looking towards the kingdom age.
VERSES 5-8
1. In the kingdom age the Lord will reign over the earth. And yes, God’s people did suffer, were afflicted so that they would learn lessons, so they would return to the Lord. God was chastening them for their sin with the intention that they would humble themselves, repent of their sin, and come back to Him. And yet, they were very unfaithful to the Lord, but God is very faithful, and He will redeem them back. And as tough as God’s chastening might be, compared to eternity with Him, they are but a moment! It is as Paul said in II Corinthians 4:16-18, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things whichare seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
VERSE 9
1. God judged the world by a flood for their sin, and after the flood God told Noah that He would not destroy the earth by a flood again. That judgment was over, it was only for a time. And just as God’s judgment on the earth came to an end, so too will His judgment upon His people come to an end.
VERSE 10
1. As Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word will by no means pass away." Matthew 24:35. You see, God’s new covenant, the covenant of peace that is found in the blood of Christ, His atoning work for us, is an everlasting covenant. It is a covenant that is not based upon our faithfulness to keep it, but upon God’s! You see, His love, kindness, compassion, mercy, grace, and-so-on, are everlasting.
VERSES 11-12
1. As much as the city of Jerusalem was destroyed and rebuilt, God is saying that He is going to rebuild this city, and this time He will use precious stones, and it will not be destroyed. This is speaking of the New Jerusalem that God is going to create, and we see this spoken of in Revelation chapter 21, after the 1000 year reign of Christ.
VERSE 13
1. Imagine a day when Children will be able to play out in the streets without the fear of drive by shootings, kidnaping’s, beatings, sexual abuse, and-so-on. Imagine a day when children will be able to walk with lions and bears without the fear of being mauled to death. We just recently saw the tragedy here in Wisconsin when a 5-year-old girl was killed by her own two dogs. But in the kingdom age that won’t be a problem, peace will fill the land, and even nature will be affected by it. We are told in Isaiah 2:2-4, "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, And shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore."
And in Isaiah 11:6-9 we read, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea." The Lord will rule and reign and teach His children! Peace will fill the land. What a glorious day that will be!
VERSE 14
1. In the kingdom age we will be living in a world without fear for God will rule and reign in righteousness, as we have seen.
VERSE 15
1. There is coming a day when those who try to come against Israel will not succeed. I think we can see that partially fulfilled today as the nation of Israel is surrounded by 80 million enemies! And yet God has protected them, sustained them, and fought for them. But ultimately this will be fulfilled when the nations of the world gather together to fight against God and His people in the battle of Armageddon. They will not succeed in their endeavor, the Lord will defeat them, and Israel will be saved.
VERSES 16-17
1. God has created us all, those that make the weapons to be used in war and those that use them. But as believers, standing in the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to us, we have nothing to fear. In the end God’s cause will be fulfilled, His plan will come to pass, and no one will be able to stop it, nor, as His people, do we want to. I like the way that Paul puts it in Romans 8:31-32, as he puts things in a proper perspective. We read "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"