This chapter actually Constitutes the greatest confession that will ever be made in the history of the world by one nation. And as far as scripture is concerned, there is only one nation. that will as a nation. Turn to Christ. and that is the nation of Israel.
Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. When you hear the word gospel, you probably think of the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or maybe those of the Apostle Paul. In other words, your mind goes to the authors of the New Testament.
so you might be surprised to hear that one of the clearest explanations of the Gospel in all of Scripture comes from a passage in the Old Testament, written seven centuries before Christ came to earth, no less. Take a look at this amazing portion of Scripture today in John MacArthur's study from Isaiah 53 called The Gospel According to God. But first, if you've listened to Grace to You for even a short time, you know that the New Testament was John's usual focus, so maybe you're surprised that we're spending today and the next several broadcasts in the Old Testament. With that in mind, I once asked John why he focused his pulpit ministry so squarely on the New Testament. Here's what he said.
Well, I made that decision when I understood that Paul said he was a minister of the new covenant. And when Jesus said in the Great Commission, go into all the world and preach the gospel.
So, if I'm going to go into all the world and preach the gospel, the gospel is basically laid out in the New Testament. The New Testament is full of the revealed mysteries. A mystery in the Bible doesn't mean some kind of tangled thing that's hard to figure out. It means something hidden in the past that is now revealed.
So the New Testament is the fullness of Revelation. Another way to look at it is. The Old Testament is shadow. The New Testament is substance.
So once the substance comes, the shadow fades away. You say, well, what's the purpose of the Old Testament?
Well, Paul says that these things have happened unto us as examples.
So, I've always known that I was called to preach the gospel. That is fully revealed in the New Testament, that I'm a minister of the New Covenant, that the New Covenant is superior to the old covenant, that the old covenant was the letter and this is the life, the spirit.
So, I think that is absolutely the priority. The Old Testament, then, is. The anticipation, and it's full of examples that illustrate the truths of the gospel.
So it seemed to me that anyone who is called to preach the Word of God must major on the New Testament, because therein is the fullness of the revelation revealed. If you look at the Bible this way, the Old Testament doesn't go from error to truth in the New Testament. It just goes from incompleteness to completeness.
So the Old Testament at any point is incomplete. It's not complete until you have the full New Testament.
So once you study the fullness of the New Testament, now you can see how the Old Testament sets the stage for that and how what it anticipates is fulfilled in the New.
So even when I did the Gospels, I went back into the Old Testament. Once we knew what Christ looked like, we could go back and find him in the Old Testament as well. That's the priority. That's right, friend. And to see an Old Testament passage that is unmatched in what it explains about the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for sinners, follow along now with John MacArthur as he continues his study in Isaiah 53, the gospel according to God.
For now, I want you to open the Word of God to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 53. This text is a bottomless well. A biblical truth. and reality. The more I search it, the deeper it goes.
It is unparalleled in my judgment in Scripture. And to understand it would be the challenge. of a lifetime. It is deep, it is high. And it is wide.
And I will do the best I can. To Discern all that is here for us. And leave even having done that, much to you. for your own future study. But to set this incomparable chapter in your mind, I want to read it to you.
Starting in verse 1. 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 of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced through.
for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon 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 did not 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 the 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 he was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he himself bore the sin of many. and interceded. for the transgressors.
While for believers through the centuries, this chapter has been a point of triumphant joy and profound blessing. As it looks at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the truth about it is. That this is a sad song. This is a sorrowful song. This is a lament.
This is a song of regret. This is a song of remorse. This is a minor key hymn of repentance. This chapter actually constitutes The greatest confession that will ever be made. In the history of the world, By one nation.
And as far as Scripture is concerned, there is only one nation. That will As a nation. Turn to Christ. And that is the nation of Israel. That is God's promise.
To them. in the future. When they do turn to Christ. This will be their confession. You noticed as I read All the way down to verse 10, the verbs are in the past tense.
Most people think of this chapter as a future prophecy concerning Christ, and it is that. It gives us so many details. about Christ and his death. And burial and resurrection and exaltation as to be unmistakably. A prophecy of him.
But it is not written in the future tense. It is not a prophet. Prophesying what will happen to Jesus. It is a prophet. prophesying the salvation of Israel in the future.
When they look back and say this about the Messiah they rejected and crucified. It is the lamentation. of Israel. When they look back On the Messiah that they have long. Rejected.
This is the most profound Old Testament prophecy. The most far-reaching, the most detailed Old Testament prophecy on the vicarious, substitutionary, sacrificial, atoning death of the Messiah, the servant of Jehovah, who is Jesus. It is that. It is the premier Old Testament look at the cross, the death, and the atonement of Christ. But Its primary purpose.
is to say to Israel. That one day in the future You will turn from your rejection. And you will look back. At the Gospel and at Messiah. and you will realize that you have rejected your only hope your only Savior Your Messiah Yeshua.
And this will be your lament. This is what they will say. in that future. Generation. In this chapter, we read that the Messiah The servant of Jehovah will bear.
The sin of transgressors. That he will experience the judgment of God who will be pleased to crush him. to make him a guilt offering. To have him bear the sins of many. Yes, this chapter says that in providing an atonement.
To satisfy God. He will die. which is necessary to provide forgiveness of sin. But He will not remain dead, for we just read That he will See his offspring. He will prolong his days.
The good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hands. He will see light, literally, and be satisfied. The resurrection is here, and then he will be exalted. It's all here. The Jews since the New Testament time have been profoundly disturbed by this chapter.
Profoundly, so much so. that in many synagogues it is not read. In the normal reading of Scripture, it is skipped. Those who do read it And face it? Have decided that the suffering servant here is not the Messiah and not Jesus, but Israel.
Israel is the righteous sufferer. Israel is the righteous sufferer here who, because of suffering righteously, will one day be rewarded for that righteous suffering by being blessed and becoming a blessing to the world. That's how the rabbis view it. And they do it because They don't want it to be Jesus. And they have to find an explanation for why the Jews Have suffered so brutally.
For so long. And to make sure that they haven't suffered in vain. They view this chapter. as a tribute to the righteous suffering of Israel. from which God will reward them.
Glorify them. and through which God will bless the world. Which is to say that they don't see reality. This isn't Israel. It can't be.
They are neither an innocent sufferer, such as the one described here, nor a voluntary sufferer. They need to recognize that they need one to die to pay the penalty for their sins. They're unwilling to recognize that. They want a king and a ruler to deliver them from their enemies, their circumstances, and their suffering, but not their sins. They are not the righteous sufferer here.
Who will be rewarded by God? That's part of a self-righteous works system. What they need to understand is They have been through all these centuries an unrighteous sufferer. They have suffered the judgment of God on them for the rejection of Christ. And they're still suffering it even now.
And they will continue. to suffer. The judgment of God. for the rejection of Christ. Until that day in the future.
when they as a nation turn to him. Along the way, Any Jew can come to faith in Christ, and many have come to faith in Christ. But nationally, They continue to be under divine judgment. waiting for the salvation that will come Followed by The blessing of the fulfillment of all the promises that God gave to Abraham and David. and the prophets of the glory of the kingdom.
This is not a revelation that honors Israel for suffering that leads to blessing. This is Israel's Repentance. This is Israel's brokenhearted lament. This is Israel's confession. by a generation yet to come.
In a personal sense, Every Jewish person who comes to Christ can pray this same lament. But in a national since it is yet to come. in the future and it will come. As I said. Scripture only promises the salvation of one nation.
Individuals from every nation, tongue, tribe, People. But only the salvation of one nation. And that is Israel. And they will, in the future, repent and turn. to Christ.
So, while in a sense this looks forward to the event of the death and resurrection and even exaltation of Christ, and gives us details about. Those marvelous realities. In the purest sense, It is a look beyond the cross. at the conversion of Israel and what they will say when they look back. There are people Astute people, students of scripture.
theologians, preachers, writers. who don't believe in the future salvation of Israel. They don't believe that the kingdom will be on earth. They're not pre-millennial. And my judgment is that They can't interpret this chapter.
Because this is the prayer of confession. of national Israel at the time of their future conversion.
Now, just to give you the big picture again, I don't want to go over a lot of detail. But remember now, Isaiah is Living at a time prior to the Babylonian captivity when the Jews were carried away as captives by the pagan Babylonians. The kingdom had split after Solomon, northern kingdom Israel, southern kingdom Judah, 722. The northern kingdom had gone off into captivity. They were long gone.
And now Isaiah comes along and prophesies. 700 years or so before Christ, 650 years before Christ, and he says, You're going into captivity too. You're going into captivity from which you will return. Israel didn't return the northern kingdom, but you will go into captivity in Babylon and you will come back. And it happened.
It happened. About eighty years after Isaiah died, And the first deportation when the Babylonians came was in 603, the next one, 597, the final one, 586. Jerusalem was destroyed, people were massacred, and the Jews were hauled off by the pagans into captivity where they hung their harps on the willows and wept because they didn't have their promised land anymore. But Isaiah says to them, this will happen, but that's not the end of the story. You will be restored.
You will come back. You will return.
So, God will put you in a historical captivity and He will bring you back. He will deliver you. He will save you. That's the emphasis. Uh uh The first section in the second half, chapters 40 to 66.
The first section is about that historical captivity, and we know it happened. They were hauled off into captivity, 70 years of captivity. Later, they came back and they rebuilt and they re-established in the land, and they're still there. They're still there. That prophecy came to pass exactly as God said it would be.
At Babylonians, took them away, they came back, they reestablished. in the land. More importantly, Following that discussion from Isaiah, He tells them in the future. There will be a greater deliverance, a far greater deliverance, not a deliverance from Babylon, but a deliverance from sin. A deliverance from sin.
You will be saved as a nation. You will be delivered from sin by the work. Of the servant of the Lord. And so the Messiah is the theme. of this great section of Isaiah.
We call chapter 42, 49, 50. And 53, the servant songs. Because all four of those chapters look at the Messiah and identify him as the servant of the Lord.
So much more important than your temporal deliverance is your spiritual deliverance. Far more important. You will be. Saved spiritually, you will be saved eternally from sin and judgment and hell. And then he closes his prophecy in the last chapters by saying, Then you will have the kingdom, and this is what the kingdom will be like.
The great kingdom of Christ.
So this chapter 53, which is in the middle of the middle section, Tells us the Jews are going to make a future. Turn. And they're going to repent. They're going to turn to Christ and they're going to be saved. This is just in marvelous reality.
Now, I want to identify the subject of this chapter as the one called in 52:13 my servant. God is the speaker, by the way, in verses 13 to 15. God speaking through Isaiah. And then God becomes the speaker again. At the end of chapter 53.
God picks up and becomes the speaker. In the middle, it is Israel making its confession. God introduces his servant and talks about how he will be marred or humiliated in his death and be exalted so that the kings and the nations of the world are in awe of him. That's his suffering and glory. And then God gives the final word, as again He talks about the meaning of his suffering and his glory to follow.
But in the middle, it's this amazing Confession of Israel. The um servant My servant I need to just say a word about that. The Old Testament word for slave is ebed. In English it would be E-B-E-D. And that is a key word used 800 times in the Old Testament, and it is the word for slave.
And so when God Himself, who is the speaker in 52:13, identifies the Messiah. He calls him my slave. My slave. Following up a little bit on that. The dominant idea of Ebed, if I can give it to you in Hebrew, the dominant idea and this.
Source for this would be No less than one of the best of Old Testament scholars, Dr. Walter Kaiser, who is a Just a phenomenal Student of Old Testament scripture. Walt Kaiser said this. The dominant idea of Ebed is not primarily a reference to subordination. But to ownership.
That's what it means to be a slave. My servant. The Messiah is the slave of God. What does that mean? That uh God determines everything He does.
He has no independent will of His own. He serves. At the will of God. and the pleasure of God. And by the way, if you think that's a demeaning word, Slave?
Mark this out. In the Old Testament, prophets are called slaves of God. Kings are called slaves of God. And just for an example, Moses is called the slave of God 17 times, which is to say that very distinguished people have that kind of relationship to God. Even the Messiah.
Who from Philippians 2 remember Thought it not somebody to be grasped to hang on to what he had, but humbled himself, took upon himself the form of a slave. The Greek word doulas.
So the Messiah does the Father's will. And only the Father's will. This is the testimony of Jesus. Read the Gospel of John, and how many times do you hear him say, I only do what the Father wills me to do, I only do what the Father shows me to do, I only do what the Father does, I only do what the Father desires me to do, I do what I do to please the Father. And finally, culminating in His life, He says, Not my will, but Yours be done.
That's slave talk. The Messiah then is identified. As this one who is the possession of God. Consequently, the pronoun is my servant. The one that is mine.
This is the Messiah.
So, the servant of Jehovah is the person being spoken of by the future generation of Jews as they lament. And we know who that is, it is Jesus. It is Jesus. The Jews don't want to accept that. And they give a testimony in that future generation, and listen to their testimony in verse 1.
Who has believed our message? For to whom is the arm of the LORD? been revealed. This great Penitenti Cry, this heartbroken confession from a future generation of Jews and from any individual Jew who comes to Christ at any point in time. Every Jew being saved and included in the church has to make this confession that up to that point they were wrong about Jesus.
But when they look back, the first thing they're going to say is. We didn't believe it. We didn't understand it. The revelation concerning Jesus has been met. with unbelief.
With unbelief. But in a future day, That will all change. It will all change. You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. Today, we continued John's series, The Gospel According to God.
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Now for the entire Grace to U staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Be back tomorrow as we continue looking at what John MacArthur called the Mount Everest of the Old Testament. The 53rd chapter of Isaiah. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on grace to you.
