The servant of Jehovah, the slave of Jehovah, he is the one Israelite. The one Who's Work will prosper. On such a level that he will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted, and in the end, literally, he will render the globe. Speechless. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Today John continues his compelling look at what he called the first gospel in the Bible, written not by New Testament writers in the decades after Jesus walked the earth, but written by an Old Testament prophet some 700 years before Christ was born in Bethlehem. Stay here for this study from the book of Isaiah called The Gospel According to God. But before the lesson, we need to recognize and thank a very faithful ministry partner, and that is Ambassador Advertising Agency. These are longtime friends of John MacArthur and our staff, and if you have benefited from John's Bible teaching on Grace to You broadcasts at any time over the past forty years, then the team at Ambassador has had a very important ministry to you.
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So, on behalf of all of us at Grace to You, thank you, Ambassador, for your decades of faithful support of the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. And now let's listen to John MacArthur as he continues his study from Isaiah 53, titled The Gospel According to God. The prophecy in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah begins At the end of the 52nd chapter, if I had my way, I'd move that 53 back three verses. just to encompass the whole prophecy in one. It really begins in chapter 52 and verses 13 through 15.
Let me read them for you. 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.
This speaks of Jesus Christ. 700 years before he was born. And so does chapter 53. And so does this entire section of Isaiah. With many chapters directed at the person of the Messiah.
Who was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, today I want to look at these three verses that introduce this portion. Under the title the startling servant. Startling servant. The language here emphasizes that everything about the Messiah is astonishing. It begins with the word behold.
Verse 13. And then in verse 14, the word astonished. Appears. And then in verse 15, the word which in some Bibles is sprinkle would be better translated startle. I'll explain that in a moment.
And then you have Speechless kings. and nations. The language, behold, astonishing, startled, speechless. All indicates that this is a startling, shocking, stunning. picture of the career of the Messiah king.
We'll just break it down simply. The first, verse 13, is the astonishing revelation. The astonishing revelation. Behold, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Behold. The Hebrew hinach. Full attention. Give me your full attention. The Messiah is introduced for the fourth time in this prophecy of Isaiah as the servant of Jehovah.
My servant, my Abed. meaning slave. A word referring to one who did hard work in obedience to his master, who had no will of his own, only that of his master, and lived to please his master. God identifies The Messiah as his slave, his obedient, submissive. Slave.
The servant of Jehovah, the slave of Jehovah, that is a messianic title, the one who comes to do the will of Jehovah. He is the one Israelite. The one Who's Work will prosper. On such a level that he will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted, and in the end, literally, he will render the The globe speechless. God had been disappointed in the nation of Israel.
Here is the one true servant of Jehovah, the one true Israelite. Who will effect the redemption of his people from their sins and then from their circumstances and their suffering? and their enemies. Just a note about my servant. There are Four times.
In the prophets, where you have behold my or behold. Referring to the Messiah. Here, behold, my servant. Also in Zachariah 3.8. Behold, my servant referring to Messiah.
In Zachariah 6, 12, it's Behold the man. The man Which tells us the Messiah will be the servant of God, he will also be a man. In Zachariah 9, 9, The prophet says, Behold your king.
So the Messiah will be the servant of Jehovah, amen. And King. And in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 9, it says of Messiah, Behold, your God. Behold, your God, Messiah will be man and God, and servant, and king. Those are.
Juxtaposed, aren't they? Man and God, servant and king. He is all of that. Behold, look at him. And those powerful Titles, that quartet of titles.
Man, God, servant, king. Become the theme of the four Gospels. Matthew presents him as king, Mark presents him as servant, Luke presents him as man, and John presents him as God. Look at Him. Look at my servant.
The one whose food is to do the will of him who sent him. and finish his work. The one who said, I always do the things that are pleasing to my Father. My servant, he says, will prosper. This is the revelation.
He will prosper. It's not a. A well-intended life gone bad. Jesus didn't die as some kind of a martyr to a noble cause that he failed to be able to pull off. My servant will prosper.
The Hebrew actually is literally to act intelligently, to act wisely. And in the Hebrew language, that always means that it measured by success. It's not like the Greek language has all kinds of nuances, but when you say someone acts wisely in Hebrew, what you mean is they're successful. That is why that same verb that is here translated will prosper Appearing in Joshua 1:8 is translated this way: you will make your way successful. Success is the result of hard work and wise strategy.
He will act intelligently. He will act wisely. He will be successful. He will accomplish my work. He will prosper.
And by the way, the verb actually has the idea of increasingly so. And this verb is never applied to success that someone fell into. It is never applied to any success without effort. Or any success that is not obtained by wisdom and careful action. He will not fail.
That's what the prophet said to accomplish the will of God. He will do what I set him to do. The evidence of his success in the same verse. He will be high. and lifted up and greatly exalted.
That that's a series That is not redundant. I know you read it and you say high, lifted up, greatly exalted, sounds redundant. It isn't. It's high. Higher Highest.
God is going to make him high, then higher, and then highest. High, I believe, looks at his resurrection. Higher looks at his ascension. And highest looks at his coronation. He is going to be so successful that God is going to raise him from the dead, God is going to take him into glory, and God is going to sit him at his right hand.
Philippians 2:9 to 11. God is going to give him a name above every name. the name Lord, and at that name every knee will bow. But God is going to make him The ruler over everything in the universe. He's going to be the king of the universe as well as the head of the church.
The astonishing revelation of the servant of Jehovah is this: He will come, he will succeed, he will accomplish the purpose of God by his great effort, and God will validate that by raising him from the dead, taking him into glory, and seating him on his throne. is an astonishing appearance. of the Messiah. It is followed by an astonishing humiliation. Those great words in verse 13 then immediately fade away in the language of 14, 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.
This seems bizarre to us because the next verse talks about how the nations and the kings are silenced by his glory. What is going on here? His career will be successful. He will be lifted up, ascended, and crowned in glory. But.
The promised success of the servant of Jehovah in delivering his people includes An astonishing humiliation. Verse 14. Just as many were astonished at you, So his appearance was more than any man and his form more than the sons of men. Many are going to be astonished at him, but not because of his exaltation. Many.
They're going to be astonished because of his humiliation. Many Yeah, many the people of Israel basically They're the only ones that saw his humiliation. The word astonished, we might want to talk about for just a moment. Again, the Hebrew language gets so much from the context. The word could be translated to be desolate.
to be waste To be thrown into a numbed condition. to be petrified, to be paralyzed. It basically has the idea of you're so shocked that you lose control. That this is going to happen to the Messiah is so shocking, it's almost paralyzing. And what is the shock?
That when Messiah comes, His appearance was marred more than any man. and his form more than the sons of men. His appearance has to do with his face. And his form has to do with his body. In face and face.
and body He is marred more than any man. More than the sons of men. What does that mean? His face and body will be so totally disfigured and so totally distorted. that he will literally be literally in Hebrew away from men or beyond men out of the category of being human.
This is a distortion. and a disfigurement that destroys all resemblance to being human. What could that be about?
Some thought that the Messiah would be ugly. that he would be repulsive. When he walked on earth. that he would be deformed in some way. That's not what this is saying.
The truth is the Messiah was God in human flesh. He was the sinless ideal of human creation, therefore, he was beautiful in every feature. He was the manliest man. the most strikingly Handsome man. Whoever lived.
But that's not the point. This looks at his crucifixion. and what led up to it, where he was so disfigured.
so mutilated.
So distorted. as to be beyond looking even human. We all know what happened to Jesus. We understand that he was scourged, that he was beaten raw almost to death. By lashes.
So that his body was a mass of open wounds, pouring blood out. We understand that a crown of thorns was crushed down on his head with thorns as long as two or three inches. Blood ran down his face. We understand the sleeplessness. Of the nights leading up to his crucifixion, the weariness.
We understand that from the scriptures he was slapped in the face, he was punched in the face like a. punching bag. He was spit on. And we also have to understand the contorted expressions that he must have hat on his face, The disfiguring tortured face of the Holy One, Suffering. He can barely recognize a human being under the blood.
And this sweeping wounds And the crushing burden of his body hanging on a cross and being dislocated. And so it says they were astonished. At you. It was the astonishment of contempt. This couldn't be their Messiah.
This picture is the shock. of the common people Looked at his humiliation. He was a repulsive object to them, nowhere near what they wanted in their Messiah king, not even close. His degradation is the deepest possible, the most profound, the most horrible. But so will his exaltation be.
There were Many who saw that Many. in in Israel. But His exaltation Everyone will see. We go from an astonishing revelation to an astonishing humiliation or mutilation, and then finally an astonishing exaltation. Look at verse 15.
This is important. Thus, he will sprinkle 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. This speaks of his exaltation.
The scene changes with another jolting shock. It was common local Jews living in Israel who were astonished at his disfigurement in death.
Now, all of a sudden, The astonishment belongs to the men. to nations and kings who literally are mute. who are speechless. When they see him when they see him. You'll notice in your Bible it may say sprinkle there.
That's possible. And again, in dealing with the Hebrew language, we have to kind of decide whether we're going to go one way or another in words that could mean a couple of things: could mean something literal or something metaphoric. In this case, sprinkle is a fair translation of the verb. It literally means to spurt, something that spurts up. And some translators have Used sprinkle, and they've said, Well, this means that in his death and humiliation and mutilation, he will provide cleansing for the nations.
He will cleanse many nations. That all of a sudden, now he's gone from being a sacrifice to being a priest. It's better to translate it, and this is becoming, I think, a more standard way with the word startle. Startled. Why startle?
Well, because It fits the parallel. The so and thus They were astonished. At the marring of the man, And thus, They will be astonished at his exaltation. Because of the parallel, the effect he produces by his exaltation needs to be parallel to the effect produced by his humiliation. The effect produced by his humiliation was astonishment or startling, and so the effect produced by his exaltation is startling as well.
You say, well, that's fine context-wise, but what about the words, sprinkle and startle, seem like two different words. Not really. Yasa, the verb can mean to spurt. But it can mean metaphorically to leap up, and there's evidence it can mean to leap up by excessive emotion. It can mean to startle.
Metaphorically. And by the way, nations can't be cleansed anyway, individuals can, but the whole world can be startled and will be startled by the return of Christ. The day will come when the nations of the world will tremble with astonishment. When he comes, they will be electrified. The sun will go out, the Bible says, the moon will go out, the stars will go out, and the sign of the Son of Man in blazing glory will appear in heaven.
Matthew 24:25, he will come in that blazing glory. Daniel also talks about that. We learn as well in the book of Revelation: people will cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of his coming. Every eye shall see him. Every eye shall see him.
And why does it pick on the nations? And the rulers Because when he comes to establish his kingdom, he will literally take over the world. He will replace rulers. Why are the nations in an uproar, Psalm 2? Why are the people devising a vain thing?
The kings of the earth take their stand, the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against his anointed, saying, Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. But he who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. He will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury, saying, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. When God installs his king in the world as king of the world, the nations will all see it.
That is glorious. Exaltation. They're stunned at his crucifixion, the ones who saw it. The whole world will be stunned. When he returns and appears in glory, The drama that will occur as the sky goes black.
And as Christ appears in glory, will not be lost on anyone. Kings will therefore shut their mouths on account of him. Those who always have a right to speak will be speechless. The involuntary effect of shock. And amazement.
extreme astonishment, intense emotion. will render them silent. The world will be mute. As he comes. Why?
for what they hadn't been told. They will see. What they hadn't heard, they will understand. The world hasn't been told about the glorious return of Christ. But when He comes, they will all see it.
They will all understand it. And they will be in stunned silence. They'll have their complete theological education about the second coming in a moment.
So our Lord's inhuman disfigurement astonished the first century Jews who saw him. His Exaltation will astonish the globe. The whole world will see him.
Now. Between his humiliation which included his death. and his exaltation.
Something had to happen. What was it? Resurrection. Resurrection. There has to be a Resurrection.
And that's exactly What is not only implied, But stated in verse 13, he will be high, resurrection, lifted up, ascension, greatly exalted. Coronation. Psalm 16, the psalmist says he will not allow his holy one, God will not allow his holy one, the Messiah, to see corruption. His soul will not languish, his body will not languish in the grave. He will See the path of life.
Psalm 16. promises the resurrection of the Messiah. Peter preached on that psalm on the day of Pentecost. in that great sermon on the resurrection of Christ.
So the resurrection is here. It's here in verse 13, but more than that. It's the most obvious. Missing part of the text. Because you can't have death and exaltation unless you have...
Resurrection. By the way, the Apostle Paul quoted verse 15, the end of it. what they had not been told they will see. And what they had not heard, they will understand. He quoted that, showing that the verse embraces not only the final exaltation and reign of Christ.
But the preaching of the gospel that leads up to that. The world will be shocked when it happens because they will not expect it, they haven't been told, they haven't understood it. But all through history, even now, people are being told, people are coming to understand it.
So Paul extends this, which has its ultimate fulfillment in the return of Christ and the shock of the nations back to the period of the preaching of the gospel. where we are telling people what they've never before seen. what they've never before understood. about the glory of God. Christ.
So we find even here the career of the Messiah will succeed. He will accomplish the work of God and therefore be raised. Taken to heaven. and crowned. I'm going to let Isaiah have the last word.
And it's the first line of chapter 53. An astonishing revelation, an astonishing humiliation, an astonishing exaltation. And there in that one line, we have an astonishing rejection. The prophet says pensively, sadly, Who has believed Our Report. Looking forward.
The Jews had this. when they crucify Jesus? The Jews had this after he rose from the dead. It's been there all along. Who's believed it?
Small remnant. The world has had this portion of Scripture. Concerning the death and resurrection of the Messiah, who has believed it? That's the sad reality. Of rejection.
And it begs the question: what about you? And that's the question that has to be asked and answered today. What about you? What about you? You believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again from the dead for your justification and one day will come as the exalted king.
and take his people into the kingdom promised to them. Do you believe that he couldn't come to reign until he came to save? Do you believe that he couldn't receive his glory until he suffered? That's the gospel. And in believing the gospel, there is salvation for you.
That would make this the most wonderful day of your life if up to now you haven't embraced Christ. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. Today, John looked at the astonishing humility of Christ, who, though he was and is the God of the universe, took on the role of a slave to save sinners like you and me. John's current series is titled The Gospel According to God.
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Now for the entire Grace to U staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Watch Grace TU Television this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378 and then be back tomorrow as John MacArthur continues his look at an Old Testament text with crucial details about your salvation in Christ. that you can't afford to miss. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on grace to you.
