Dr. Rodney Plunket

Note:  The Scripture reading that preceded this sermon was Isaiah (Isa) 52:13-53:12.  Since it is so important to this sermon it is printed in full from The New Revised Standard Version.

Is. 52:13           See, my servant shall prosper;

                    he shall be exalted and lifted up,

                    and shall be very high.

14           Just as there were many who were astonished at him

                    —so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,

                    and his form beyond that of mortals—

15           so he shall startle many nations;

                    kings shall shut their mouths because of him;

          for that which had not been told them they shall see,

                    and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

1           Who has believed what we have heard?

                    And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2           For he grew up before him like a young plant,

                    and like a root out of dry ground;

          he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,

                    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3           He was despised and rejected by others;

                    a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;

          and as one from whom others hide their faces

                    he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Is. 53:4           Surely he has borne our infirmities

                    and carried our diseases;

          yet we accounted him stricken,

                    struck down by God, and afflicted.

5           But he was wounded for our transgressions,

                    crushed for our iniquities;

          upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

                    and by his bruises we are healed.

6           All we like sheep have gone astray;

                    we have all turned to our own way,

          and the Lord has laid on him

                    the iniquity of us all.

Is. 53:7           He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

                    yet he did not open his mouth;

          like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

                    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

                    so he did not open his mouth.

8           By a perversion of justice he was taken away.

                    Who could have imagined his future?

          For he was cut off from the land of the living,

                    stricken for the transgression of my people.

9           They made his grave with the wicked

                    and his tomb with the rich,

          although he had done no violence,

                    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Is. 53:10           Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.

          When you make his life an offering for sin,

                    he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;

          through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.

11              Out of his anguish he shall see light;

          he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.

                    The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous,

                    and he shall bear their iniquities.

12           Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,

                    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;

          because he poured out himself to death,

                    and was numbered with the transgressors;

          yet he bore the sin of many,

                    and made intercession for the transgressors.

Sermon Text

The British Old Testament scholar, R. N. Whybray, has published a short study guide on Isaiah 40-55.  In that study guide Whybray refers to the emphasis on grace in those chapters and writes, “Here, as so often, [this prophet] comes closer to the New Testament than any other Old Testament teacher.”  Whybray especially draws attention to Isaiah (Isa) 43:22-28 as the place where that emphasis on grace is “most clearly seen.”[1]  I will not read all seven of those verses, but please listen to verses (vv) 22-25 where the Lord speaking through the prophet says,

. . . you did not call upon me, O Jacob;

but you have been weary of me, O Israel!

You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,

or honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings,

or wearied you with frankincense.

You have not bought me sweet cane with money,

or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins;

you have wearied me with your iniquities.

I, I am He

who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

and I will not remember your sins.

In the last verse read, v 25, God refers to blotting out their “transgressions for my own sake” and says, “I will not remember your sins.”  That is a full forgiveness.  Notice that this forgiveness is not due to the people having increased their devotion to God.  In verse (v) 22 the Lord says, “ . . . you have been weary of me, O Israel.”  Notice also that the forgiveness God announces here is not the result of any religious ritual that the people had performed.  The text makes very clear that they had not performed any religious rituals.  In fact, most scholars are agreed that the intended audience for these words was the people of Judah while they were in exile in Babylon.  That means they were cut off from the temple, from sacrifice, and from all the religious rituals that could only be carried out in Jerusalem.  So God’s forgiveness here was an act of pure grace, pure gift, pure mercy.  The people did not generate it.  Nothing they did prompted it.

Now look at two more verses found just one chapter later in this same book.  Look with me at Isa 44:21-22 where the Lord is again speaking through the prophet.

Remember these things, O Jacob,

and Israel, for you are my servant;

I formed you, you are my servant;

O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,

and your sins like mist;

return to me, for I have redeemed you.

Here we find same this same message of full forgiveness.  Yes, there is something very New Testament (NT) like about this material in the Book of Isaiah.

From this same section of the Book of Isaiah, this section written to Jewish exiles in Babylon, comes a passage which powerfully portrays a person who would suffer and die for “the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:6d).  This passage is often quoted and alluded to in the NT.  It is Isa 52:13-53:12, the passage read as our Scripture reading this morning.  Please listen to some of the NT references to this great passage from the Book of Isaiah.

In the Gospel of John 12:37 it is reported, “Although [Jesus] had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.”  The verse that follows explains why.  John 12:38 says,

This was to fulfill the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

          “Lord, who has believed our message,

                    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

Those words quoted from the prophet Isaiah come from Isa 53:1.

In Matthew 8:14-16 Jesus heals many people.  Matthew explains why with these words, “This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Matt 8:17).  This quotation is from Isa 53:4.

In Acts 8 a disciple of Jesus named Philip is given an opportunity to connect Jesus to an Old Testament (OT) passage.  A man who is traveling home to Ethiopia from Jerusalem is reading this passage.  Please listen to Acts 8:32-33.

Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

          “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,

                    and like a lamb silent before its shearer,

                              so he does not open his mouth.

          In his humiliation justice was denied him.

                    Who can describe his generation?

                              For his life is taken away from the earth.”

Those words come from Isa 53:7-8, and the man reading those words on the road to Damascus was an official from the Court of the Ethiopian Queen Candace.  In just two Sundays our assembly will be focusing upon his conversion.  Central to his conversion was the awareness that Jesus fulfilled that passage and was indeed the Christ/the Messiah.

For me the most poignant use of this passage is found in Luke 22:37.  Jesus is soon to be arrested, tried, and crucified.  He is talking to His closest followers when He says, “For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted among the lawless’; and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.”  The line, “And he was counted among the lawless,” is from Isa 53:12.  Jesus, with this reference, makes clear that He knows that what is about to happen to Him will connect tightly with Isa 52 & 53.  Jesus knows that He is about to suffer for sins He did not commit.

We are just a little more than a week away from Christmas, and on that day we remember the birth of Jesus.  It is important that we remember that the Jesus who was born was born to die for our sins.  He was, as John the Baptist said, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  A lamb of God for a Jew like John the Baptist was a lamb that was killed sacrificially to effect forgiveness of sins.

Next Sunday we will focus upon the birth stories in Matthew and Luke.  We will celebrate together the wonder of God’s Son being born to a virgin, God’s Son being heralded by angels, and God’s Son being welcomed by both humble shepherds and wise men from the East.

But this Sunday I wanted us to reflect on a passage that Jesus and the early church realized was a passage that told the story of Jesus in advance.  It told how He would suffer and die for the sins of the world.

I want now to read just a few verses that were read as a part of our Scripture reading.  In Isa 53:4-6 the prophet writes,

Surely he has borne our infirmities

          and carried our diseases;

yet we accounted him stricken,

          struck down by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

          crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

          and by his bruises we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

          we have all turned to our own way,

and the Lord has laid on him

          the iniquity of us all.

About a year and a half ago, my dad and step-mom Shirley had gone to Denver for Shirley’s high school reunion.  After their time there was completed, they came to Lubbock and spent a short time with us before traveling on to their home in Alabama.  They arrived on a Sunday evening too late for worship services, so I served them communion.  To help them prepare to receive the bread and the wine, I read these verses from Isa 53.  Dad had tears in his eyes when I finished reading.  He looked up at me and through a lump in his throat that you could hear he repeated these words from the reading, “ . . . he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities.”  My dad was seventy-eight years old at that time.  He had been preaching since he was a young student at Harding University.  After so many years of preaching and knowing that truth it still broke my dad’s heart to hear again what Christ Jesus had done.  Would those who will be serving communion please go to the foyer at this time?

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