Behold Your God, Isaiah 53, Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Centuries before Christ was born, Isaiah prophesied that one would come to bear the sin of many, to make many to be counted as righteous. Isaiah 53 gave ancient Israel a peek at the mighty and gracious work God would complete through His Son's death, a plan that would bring many to Himself. In today's message, Pastor Rich shares what Isaiah 53 can show us about the character of our God. Let's listen in. This is the second part of a message that was first preached on June 30th, 2013.

It's part of a series through selected chapters of Isaiah titled Behold Your God. Mary virtually worships her parents' approval of her, her counselor told me, and they always wanted her to be a world-class artist. She is quite good, but she's never reached the top of her profession, and she cannot live with the idea that she has disappointed her parents. Medications helped to manage her depression, but they never could get to the root of it. Her problem was a false belief driven by an idol. She told herself, if I cannot be a well-known violinist, I have let down my parents and my life is a failure. She was distressed and guilty enough to die when Mary began to believe the gospel, that she was saved by grace, not by musicianship. She began to get relief from her idolatrous need for her parents' approval.

In time, her depression and anxiety began to lift, and she was able to re-enter her life and musical career. You see how God is a gracious God? You see how all of us have, all of us have addictions, there's not a one of us that doesn't? We have all gone astray. We all go after that lure on the hook.

That's our situation. This is why this servant had to come, and he came. And what is his doing? What did he do as we read in the text here? His doing is described in certain phrases in this text. For example, verse five, he was wounded for our transgression. That word wounded means pierced, and indeed he was pierced in his hands, in his feet, and in his side. He was smitten by God and stricken.

That word stricken means a vicious blow. He was afflicted. He was humbled.

He denied himself. He was humiliated. Verse five, he was bruised for our iniquities. That word bruised means crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him.

What does that mean? It means he experienced the punishment of justice. This is the concept of propitiation.

It's one of those words that's not commonly used, and it's hard actually to translate it into English. But what it means is this, that he took the blow we deserve to satisfy the justice of God, the necessary wrath of a holy God, so that there could be peace with God. That's what propitiation means.

You see, understand this, and you have to get this, okay? Because the idea of grace has been so misrepresented. It's grace is not this. God is a holy God and a just God, and we have gone astray, and we're experiencing the pain and anguish of our rebellion. And God stands over here in his holiness, and in his graciousness, he just simply says, oh, that's okay. I'll just forget about it.

That's not grace. What does it say here? He was bruised for our iniquities. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him.

What does that mean? A holy God had to deal with sin. He had to deal with sin.

He couldn't just look away. And which is why it says that by his stripes, we are healed. The judgment he took for us can deliver us from what destroys us. That's his doing. That's what he did for us.

Now, there's two important notes that we need to make in this. One is a very simple little preposition, and that's the word for. The word for means because of or instead of. It speaks of a substitutionary work, meaning he did it in your place. He took what you deserve. He took it for you. The vicious blow of God's holy, necessary wrath, he took it in your place.

That's grace. And we find, for example, in verse five, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. Again, verse eight, verse ten, and verse twelve, look them up. His soul, an offering for sin, a guilt offering, he took the penalty. For example, in verse eleven, he says he would bear their iniquities. Verse twelve, he bore the sins of many. We find in the New Testament also, second Corinthians five twenty one, he became sin for us in our stead.

First Peter three eighteen, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. Powerful word, isn't it? That little word for. That's the word that we need to remember when we celebrate the Lord's table.

This is my body, which is broken, what? For you. It was substitutionary. He took it. He took what you deserved because a holy God necessarily had to deal with the problem of sin. His justice had to be satisfied. The second important note we have here is that this was the father's will. This was the father's will.

There's no victimhood here on God's part. This wasn't a plan B. Oh man, man botched it up. What are we going to do now?

I got to do something. No, this was the father's will. This is his arm that he has revealed in fifty three one. And according to the father's will, the son freely submits. Understand that this is God's purpose.

He did this on purpose. Verse four, he was smitten by God. Verse six, the Lord has laid upon him. That word laid means to it falls upon him. Verse ten, it pleased the Lord to bruise him, to crush him. He has put him to grief. Verse twelve, he, the son, poured out his soul. Verse ten, the pleasure of the Lord will prosper. He will be successful.

He will be victorious. You can stand back and think and scratch your head and say, why would God do this? Why did he choose to do it this way? I've read this before. I want to read it to you again because I don't I think it's difficult to improve upon.

But listen to this. Imagine God way back in eternity before time began. You and I were thoughts in God's mind.

And God, the Trinity, the triune Godhead comes together and they make the plan for time and space. And as the Trinity is conversing, the Father says, let's create creatures with the capacity to fully enjoy us, personal beings like us to whom we can reveal the very depths of our glorious nature. We must, of course, take into account what that will require. These new beings must be built with the freedom to love us and thereby experience the life of connection or to love themselves more and experience the misery of disconnection.

They will, of course, make the wrong choice. We will design them to enjoy the depth of our grace. It will give us the opportunity to reveal what others would what otherwise would remain hidden, that we are so good and our love so profound that we will sacrifice the joy of our community in order to welcome them into community. Son, at just the right time, I'll send you to become one of them and to accept the guilt for their sin. Then, and here the Father's voice breaks, I'll break our connection and let you experience the death of separation for me that all sin deserves. When they see the extremes to which we will go to bring them into our community, the yearning will build into their hearts to be loved like that will draw them back to loving us fully and trusting us with their very souls.

Father, what you ask is painful beyond description, even to contemplate. I cannot imagine what the actual experience will be like of not seeing your face, yet I am delighted with your plan. It will give me the chance to let people see how wonderful you are. The joy of seeing you glorified makes it worth it all. There is no other way?

No. Then I will go, gladly. Behold your God. In this graciousness of God, remember grace is what has been given.

It's not withholding something. Grace is giving. What has God lavished upon us in this plan of His, in His grace? The scripture that we read, Psalm 116, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. It's the psalmist talking to himself, the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

Do you know God that way? He is a gracious God. He has lavished upon you His goodness and His grace. What is it that He has lavished upon us?

Three things. Number one, healing. He's lavished upon us His healing. By His stripes, we are healed. That's what it means when it says He bore our griefs. He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.