This Passage answers the most significant question any person can ask. Here's the question. How can A sinner Be right with God so as to escape hell. and enter heaven? That's the most important question.
Welcome to Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Today we're launching a study of what John called one of Scripture's most complete, most powerful, and most important revelations about Jesus Christ. And what's surprising is this study is not based on the New Testament. And significantly, it is the first Old Testament series that John preached after wrapping up his verse-by-verse study, his 42 years of study through the entire New Testament.
Based on Isaiah chapter 53, this series is titled The Gospel According to God.
Now I once asked John why Isaiah fifty three was the part of the Old Testament he was drawn to after completing his journey through the New Testament. Here's what he said Because I, and this may sound strange to some people because all of the scripture is inspired by God, but I am convinced that if there's one chapter. That is the best of the best of the best in the whole of the Old Testament. It's the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. It is just, it is the Mount Everest of the entire Old Testament.
It is the first gospel, and Matthew is the second gospel, because it gives us the story of Christ. It tells us about him in his pre-incarnate place with God. It tells us about his life on earth, about his rejection, about his death, about his resurrection, about his coronation back in heaven. It's the whole story of Christ 700 years before he was ever born. And because It is that it is the single greatest proof of biblical inspiration.
Yeah, this has always been a favorite passage of mine. The very first sermon I heard as a Christian. was from a preacher who was talking about the crucifixion from Isaiah 53. And I was 17 years old. I'd grown up in a liberal church, and I remember thinking.
Wait a minute, that's the Old Testament, Isaiah. What is that? There's so much here about the crucifixion of Christ. From that day until now, I've never doubted the authority and inspiration of God's Word. Which is precisely why the Jews in the synagogues all over the world in their reading of the Old Testament always skip Even to this day, skip Isaiah 53 because it is so patently obvious that this is Jesus.
And they can't tolerate that, so they don't read it.
So it is the presentation of the life, death, resurrection, ascension, coronation of Jesus in detail. And as such, it demonstrates that God is the author of the Old Testament because only He knows history before it happens. That's right, friend. Stay here and see why John called Isaiah fifty three the first gospel, and let this prophetic passage, written seven centuries before the birth of Christ, build your trust in God's Word perhaps like never before.
So here is John MacArthur to begin his series called The Gospel According to God. Open your Bible to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 53, and we're about to embark on a study of this immensely important portion of the Old Testament. The reality is, you're going to think you're in an upper division class. In the master seminary, because It is essential for me to give you the groundwork and the foundation and something of the structure of this section of Holy Scripture.
You need to understand its character, its context.
So that you can be able to draw all the richness that is in this chapter. And so you need to put on your scholastic cap. And think carefully and thoughtfully about this. Expect to be on overload a little bit. We're going to test your gigabyte capacity this morning, how much you can handle.
It'll be the kind of thing you'll probably want to go back to and listen and absorb. in the future. As we come to Isaiah chapter 53, I have to say that the beginning of the passage is really in chapter 52, verse 13.
So when I make reference in general to a study of Isaiah 53, I'm actually including 52, verse 13 through 53, verse 12, that entire section. Of 15 verses starting in 52:13. It all belongs as one because verse 13 sets up. What is detailed in the fifty-third chapter.
Now, if you've been a Christian for any time at all, you're very familiar with this section of Holy Scripture. And you should be. It um has been called by some scholars in the past, the fifth gospel. The fifth gospel to be added to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It was Augustine who said way back in the fifth century: it is not a prophecy.
It is a gospel. It was Polycarp. the student and friend of The Apostle John. Who called this section of Scripture the golden passional of the Old Testament? Martin Luther himself said, Every Christian ought to be able to repeat it by heart.
So that is going to be your assignment to memorize Isaiah 40. 52, 13 through 53, 12. And you will draw on it the rest of your life. It is very likely that you already know most of it. If you have uh been a student of scripture for any length of time.
A couple of German scholars writing in 1866 said it looks as if it had been written beneath the cross of Golgotha. They further said, Many an Israelite has had it melt the crust of his heart. The same German scholars went on to say this. This chapter is the most central, the deepest, and the loftiest thing that Old Testament prophecy outstripping itself has ever achieved. End quote.
You're going to find in this section of Holy Scripture, the root of Christian thinking. even though it is Old Testament. You're going to find here phraseology that has entered and remained. In Christian speech and conversation. You're going to find in this section of Scripture the text.
That has been used by more gospel preachers and writers through history than any other portion of the Old Testament. In fact, Isaiah 53 is the heart of Hebrew writings. It is the epic messianic Prophetic Scripture that stands above all others in the Old Testament.
Now, the luster of this prophetic gem is intensified by its setting.
So, get your Bible handy because you're going to have to grasp this with me. I want to give you the sense of what we're dealing with here, starting with a bit of a wider. Panorama. Isaiah is divided into two sections. Chapters 1 through 39 and chapter 40 through verse 66.
Obviously, a long and very detailed and magnificent Old Testament book. It was written about 680 BC or 700 years before Christ. The first half of the book, chapters 1 through 39, Speak of coming judgment. and captivity. 39 chapters where God speaks through the prophet Isaiah.
Speaking of judgment. Judgment on Israel to come immediately. And it did come. It came less than a hundred years after it was written. In the beginning of the Babylonian captivity, when the whole southern kingdom of Judah, the only part that remained, the northern kingdom already had gone into captivity some years earlier, 720.
The captivity of the southern kingdom is the target. Of the first 39 chapters. And beyond that, there are warnings about divine judgment on sinners of all ages and all time, and even indications of a final. Terminal. S.
catalogical. Day of great judgment. But the chapters 1 through 39 are about judgment and captivity. In terms of the Babylonian captivity and the greater issue of judgment on sinners, and even the greater issue of final judgment at the end of human history.
So that chapter 39 ends with a pronunciation of the judgment that's going to come on Israel in the Babylonian captivity when they will be taken away by the powers of Babylon. Listen to verses 6 and 7. The days are coming, verse 39. 6 of chapter 39: When all that is in your house and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon, nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon.
This is a specific prophecy about the Babylonian captivity, which began in 603, about 80 years after Isaiah wrote it. He prophesied that it would happen. It did happen. There were three deportations: 603, 597, and 586, the final one, and they didn't return until 70 years after that final captivation. Captivity.
So the first section can be verified as divinely authored because history proved its fulfillment. to the letter. That brings you to the second section. 27 chapters remain, chapters 40 through 66. The theme of the second section is grace and salvation.
Grace and salvation. These 27 chapters, starting in chapter 40, are the most sublime and rich portion of Old Testament prophecy. It really is a single prophecy, one glorious vision, one majestic revelation of salvation through the coming Messiah. It is sublime. It is sweeping.
It is comprehensive. It encompasses not only the deliverance of Israel from Babylon. Not only the deliverance of sinners from sin. But the deliverance of the nations From the curse into the kingdom of Messiah.
So it has those same elements. The first part talks about judgment on Israel, it talks about judgment on sinners, and it talks about final judgment. The second half talks about deliverance for Israel, deliverance for sinners, and a final deliverance into the Messianic kingdom. Most interestingly, the second half, which is what we're going to be looking at 40 to 66. begins where the New Testament begins.
I want you to look at chapter 40. For just a brief moment, And the parallel is quite interesting. In chapter 40, We read, Comfort, O comfort, my people, says your God. That's the. Turn in the book of Isaiah from the pronunciation of judgment in the first thirty-nine to comfort in the back half because of grace and salvation.
Speak kindly to Jerusalem. And then comes the prophecy. In verse 3, of John the Baptist. A voice is calling, clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
And of course, it was John the Baptist who came, who was the fulfillment of that prophecy. He was the forerunner of Messiah. He was the voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make in the desert a highway for our God.
So that's where the New Testament begins. The New Testament begins with John the Baptist, and that's where the back half of Isaiah begins.
So this.
So-called gospel section of Isaiah begins where the actual New Testament gospel begins.
Now this section of Isaiah ends where the New Testament ends as well. And that is another remarkable feature. In the 65th chapter of Isaiah, as you're getting to the very end, in verse 17, we read this. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. Hmm, the new heavens and the new earth, chapter 65, verse 17.
Then in the final chapter, chapter 66, verse 22, almost at the very end. For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before me, declares the Lord, and so forth. Guess where the New Testament ends? It ends in Revelation 21 and 22 with the new heavens and the new earth.
So, this section of Isaiah begins where the New Testament begins with the arrival of John the Baptist. It ends where the New Testament ends with the new heaven and the new earth. And thus, we see the magnificent way in which this incredible prophecy parallels the New Testament. And all of it is written 700 years before Messiah comes to begin to fulfill it.
Now Who is going to bring this grace and salvation? Who is going to be the one to provide? this deliverance. The answer is Be servant of the Lord. The servant of the Lord.
That is how he is designated. The Hebrew word is ebed, and it means slave or servant. It's used many hundreds of times in the Old Testament. It is the Hebrew word for slave as well as servant. The slave of Jehovah, the servant of Jehovah.
He is the one. Who will bring salvation? He is the one who will bring comfort. He is the one who will bring the forgiveness of sins. He becomes then the theme of this final section of the book of Isaiah.
Now, let's go to chapter 53 for a moment with just that kind of broad picture. And you will find in verse 13 of 52, Behold my servant. Behold, my servant, my Ebed, my slave. This is the same designation that has been indicated much earlier in this. Section of the book of Isaiah.
This is the fourth of specific prophecies of the servant. Chapter 42 is one, chapter 49 is another, and chapter 50, verses 4 to 11, is the third. This is the fourth of what we would call Isaiah's servant songs or servant prophecies.
Now in this presentation of the servant before us The prophet calls on us. to look at this servant. and be astonished. If I were to title this message, I would entitle it The Astonishing Servant of Jehovah. This is the most complete Most powerful.
Most important revelation of the Messiah in the entire Old Testament. Right here in front of us.
Now let's meet this. Suffering servant. Let me read, starting in verse 13. Behold, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Just as many were astonished at you.
So his appearance was marred more than any man. and his form more than the sons of men. Thus He will Sprinkle or startle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths on account of him. For what had not been told them, they will see.
And what they had not heard, they will understand. Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him.
He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself bore. And our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell on him, and by his scourging we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.
He was oppressed. And he was afflicted. Yet he didn't open his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away.
And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living? For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due. His grave was assigned with wicked men. Yet he was with a rich man in his death. Because he had done no violence.
nor was there any deceit in his mouth. But the Lord was pleased to crush him. putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied.
By his knowledge the righteous one, my servant, will justify many, as he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great. And he will divide the booty with the strong, because he poured out himself to death. and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he himself bore the sins of many, and and interceded for the transgressors.
Do you see Christ there? Proof that God is the author of Scripture. And Jesus, its fulfillment? Is found in that one chapter alone. In the minute, essential details exactly fulfilled in the death.
Burial? Resurrection. Ascension Intercession Coronation And salvation provided through Jesus Christ. Jesus himself? The apostles of the New Testament.
The writers of the New Testament? In proclaiming the gospel. Point back to Isaiah 53 many, many times. Jesus referred to it? The apostles refer to it.
The New Testament writers refer to it again and again and again. There are references to Isaiah 53 in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, 1 Timothy, Titus, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and 1 John. No Old Testament scripture so often and so convincingly is applied to Jesus Christ by the New Testament as this one. The New Testament writers refer to virtually every verse. in the 53rd chapter.
It contains the sum and substance of the gospel. And to reject Christ is to reject the clear testimony of history. fulfilling every detail. In this Prophecy. But on a bigger scale Then the history and the fulfillment, as vital and important and wonderful as it is.
is this question. What does that mean to me? That's the big issue. You could be in awe of the history. You could be amazed that detailed prophecies concerning a person's life and death and resurrection could be predicted 700 years before the person arrived.
You and you should be. You could be in awe of the fact That no man could know that, and therefore, scripture is authored by the only one who knows the future, and that's God, who not only knows it, but determines it. You should be in awe of the divine nature of Holy Scripture. You should be. But that's not where you want to stop because there's a bigger, grander question than that.
What does it mean to you? What does it mean to me? And everybody else.
So let me talk about that for a minute. The truth of this ancient prophecy and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ answers the most crucial, essential, critical question that can ever be asked by any human being. I'm going to pile up the adjectives on you. This Passage answers the most significant question any person can ask. The primary question, the principal question, the most vital question, the most weighty question, the most serious question, the most monumental question, the most meaningful question, the paramount question.
And that has nothing to do with health. None to do with wealth? Nothing to do with success, education, morality, well-being, philosophy, sociology, politics. The most important question that any human being will ever ask and have answered has nothing to do with the issues that occupy people's minds. I suppose if you could Google on your computer what are the most asked questions, you would go through thousands of them before you would ever, ever, if you ever did, discover the appearance of this question.
But it should be First. It is the most necessary question. It is the most essential question. It is the most determinative question. And it is frankly the most avoided question.
It transcends all other questions infinitely. infinitely And yet it is almost non-existent on people's Priority list. What is the question? Here's the question. How can A sinner Be right with God.
So as to escape hell. and enter heaven. That's the most important question. How can a sinner Be right with God.
so as to escape eternal hell. and enter eternal heaven. That's the question. How can a man be made right with God? How can a holy God declare a sinner righteous?
That's the question. This is the great moral dilemma that exists in the world. This is the great moral dilemma that exists in the world. Listen. It is precisely to answer that question that the Bible was written.
Did you get that? It is precisely to answer that question. that the Bible was written. It is precisely to answer that question. That Isaiah 53 was written.
That is the question. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. Today, we launched John's study titled The Gospel According to God. And, friend, keep in mind that we'll be airing this entire series over the next three weeks. But remember, you can jump ahead and dig into the rest of the study right now, including parts that we don't have time to air on the radio.
You can download the entire Gospel According to God series in MP3 and transcript format free of charge from our website today. You'll find us online at gty.org. There you can download all 10 messages from the Gospel According to God. This study looks at God's promised Messiah, his love for Israel, and how Isaiah's prophecies were so clearly fulfilled in Christ's atoning work at Calvary. Again, to download all ten sermons for free, go to gty.org.
And friend, while you're at the website, take advantage of the numerous Bible study tools available there. One suggestion, the three devotional books written by John. They are great tools to help you think deeply about biblical truth and apply it to your life 365 days a year. You can also read about current issues in your life and the life of your church on the Grace2U blog. Those Bible study resources and many others are available right now at gty.org.
Now, for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson. With a question: What is mankind's greatest problem? Is it political oppression, war? disease Those are major issues, but they can't compare to the problem John looks at next time.
So be here for another 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time on tomorrow's grace to you.
