The Suffering Servant

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The Gospels What Failure, Why? The Gospel According To Matthew Introduction The Baptisms, The Temptation Of Christ, New Wine Raca, Thou Fool Children In The Marketplace, Blasphemy And Casting Out Devils One Wiser Than Solomon Logic In The Gospels Kingdoms Divided The Line Is Drawn The Line Is Crossed The Family Of God Empty The Man, The Man Won't Rest, The Rest Won't Fail The Mustard Plant, Leaven In The Meal No Wedding Garment, Whose Resurrection? Ten Virgins, Ten Talents The Gospel According To Mark Introduction Bridegroom And Fasting, Christ The Testator Demons By Demons, Candles And Bushels The Sower – Reaping And Mustard Trees Corban ‘The Gift’ – Rewards In This Life, But Not $$$ A Close Comparison To Matthew 24 The Gospel According To Luke Introduction Temptation Of Christ, Dropping The Bombshell Bridegrooms, Garments, Children In Marketplaces Who Say Ye That I Am? – Mary And Martha Opinion, Expectation, Purpose, Division Judgement Already Happened In Part Mustard Trees, Leaven, Hate What You Have The Dishonest Steward Priceless Articles Of Faith, Marriage And Resurrection Matthew 24’s Companion In Luke, - Confirmation With Mark The Gospel According To John Introduction Born Of The Spirit, Where The Wind Blows, You See? Samaritan Woman – We Know What We Worship – Contrasts The Son Is Revealed As God – and Glorified In The Father Bread From Heaven, Flesh And Blood: Consumed Whole The Identity Of The Son Of God – Appearances Not Deceptive Those That See, Sheep Hear The Shepherd’s Voice Cryptic; Any Connection With Anselm? – the Holy Trinity Was Paul Truly A Christian? Introduction The Mystery Religions In the Days Of These Kings Why Christianity Won Saul, Part Of The Problem? Were Paul Not In Christ, Why Would He Risk It All? Conclusion New Testament In Christ Introduction Doctrinal Fundamentals The Sealing – Hit The Ceiling! The Right Hand Of Power Coming On The Clouds Of Heaven You've Got It Totally Upside Down! The Dumbest Thing I Ever Heard Introduction Many Paths To God - What Utter Bullshit Blood Of Christ Man, That’s Dumb! Should Have Been More Careful Paying For Yourself There? These Three Agree In One The Head Of The Corner No Marriage In Heaven Ye Do Therefore Greatly Err Strength In Numbers, Ha! Jesus Paid The Price, (And Gave Me Credit) My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me? Shortcomings And Stumbling Blocks Introduction Gay Marriage A Stumbling-Block Trouble Dividing The Sexes Is There Freedom Of Religion? The Power Of The Cross Introduction Christ Obedient To The Cross Grace The Gift Of God Shadows And Substance Propitiation For Sins The Suffering Servant The Urim And Thummim Acts and Epistles I Introduction The Book Of Acts I The Book Of Acts II Moving On To Romans	The Suffering Servant Now the greatest passage on the cross in the Old Testament is clearly Isaiah chapter 53; -- Click To Expand/Collapse Bible Verses -- Isa ch53:v1-12 Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. Isa 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (KJV) Now verse 4 we can easily explain by the life of Christ, but the verse contains the phrase "we did esteem Him smitten". The verse does not state that He was smitten by God, but that we esteemed Him as such. In this manner He was wounded for the transgressions of Old Testament Israel. The cross was the moment of translation from the Old to the New covenant, the completion of the mediation of the new covenant was with the cross - the sin of the world was taken away through Christ because it could not ever be laid to His charge by God. It was the sin of Israel (and all men) that they rejected their God Jesus Christ (both before His coming and at the cross.) Verse 5 immediately follows verse 4 with "But he was wounded .." (which goes to show that the rejection of Christ by Israel at the cross was the transgression, the iniquity.) He translated Israel, becoming the object of rejection of those that prefer their physical standing in the law to those that believed on Him. All Israel was guilty of this sin, (verse 6) in that before Christ even came they had all likewise rejected God through lack of faith. The cross of Christ is the moment of division between those that reject Him and those that come to Him for newness of life, that gather about Him as if the cross were an ensign to gather those that love Him by its utter brutality. The more brutal the cross, the more effective a gathering sign for those who love God. The brutality of the cross and the punishment of Christ by His own flock (including those who love Christ) will ensure that His chosen elect will place themselves in the position where they are separated from the former (physical) Israel towards the latter (spiritual) Israel. This is the process of translation, where Christ draws out His own lost sheep from the house of Israel to the new spiritually reconfigured Israel. Everyone in the new Israel had to have been in the first group before the translation into the latter with the new covenant's completion. The suffering of Christ then is such that He was despised and rejected by His own, but the sin He bore was of that rejection at that point. He bore it in the sense that He did not injure in kind, he did not curse, he did not destroy them, he suffered it willingly so that those who would be gathered to Him from all those who crucified Him might not share in the wickedness of His murder but would be welcome at His table. (verse 6, verse 7) The Israel that crucified Him was then done away with, and the new Israel that He had gathered to Him in the knowledge that He had borne their sins against Him (of the former for the benefit of the latter) was established. This translation from a people with guilt before God to a people without guilt before God is the moment of translation at the cross, and is its power. We have this in the sense that Gods people in verse 8 are the elect of the new covenant, Christ suffered the rejection (iniquity) of the sinners of the old covenant in order to separate out His own. His own were guilty, in the first group, but now have found mercy in the second. So the greatest verse to state that Jesus was punished for our sins is verse 5, yet this is explained away (to nullify God punishing Christ) by the translation of Israel by the faith placed upon Christ by His elect (the lost sheep) of the House of Israel. The cross is the door (from one to the other) for all those who weep and mourn as for the bridegroom taken away. The brutal treatment by the jews of Christ is the ensign of the cross because the sin and rejection of Christ (the controversy God has with man) is upon the former group until they be gathered into the second. The transgressions are not upon the heads of those who come to Christ and are under the new covenant, because they are not guilty but are those for whom Christ laid His life down. We have in verse 10 that it pleased God to offer His Son Christ to us,.. because of the good done by Christ in mediating the new covenant and scorning the shame of the cross. The brutality of the cross has shown the great love of Jesus Christ to us all, and is a greater dividing line between Christ being an offence to many and as an arm offered in peace and reconciliation. verse 12 concludes the chapter with Christ placing Himself with sinners, being "God with us", bearing the sins of many (the lack of faith of all) and has made intercession for them, now sat down at the right hand of the Father. We therefore find the doctrine of the New Testament translation of Israel in this passage rather than the atonement by any punishment of Christ by God in our place. In the Old Testament we would not expect the spiritual substance of the new testament to be given except in the manner of the Old Covenant ordinances. The prophet Isaiah spoke in the shadows of the Old Testament now revealed and unlocked by the ministry of Christ and His apostles to us in the New Testament. After all, God would not accept a sacrifice of a spotless lamb for passover that had been brutally whipped and beaten beforehand, would He? The greater offering of Faith by Christ for the redemption of His people must accompany the sacrifice of Christ for us all - much as did the faith of Abraham that of offering Isaac. A loving Father should never slay His innocent child. Continue To Next Page Return To Section Start Return To Previous Page