A Man of Sorrows Is. 53:1-12 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Jesus Christ is called a man of sorrows and he was acquainted with grief. These are characteristics of his earthly ministry. Today we are going to look at five things concerning the Lord’s sorrows: the cause of his sorrows, the purpose of his sorrows, the endurance of his sorrows, the agent of his sorrows and the result of his sorrows.
The cause of his sorrows – there are many things in this passage that were the cause of his sorrows. They are that:
- God degraded his form – Is 53:2 – he was in the form of God and took upon him the form of a servant [Phil 2:6-7] – he had no beauty [contrast Absalom, a type of the antichrist, 2 Sam 14:25].
- Men despised and rejected him – Is 53:3 – they despised his truth that shined light on their sin [Jn 8:40] –they said he was born of fornication [Jn 8:41] and that he had a devil [Jn 7:20] – the rejected him as their king and Messiah [Jn 19:15].
- Men hid from him – Is 53:3 – like Adam and Eve hid from God – Peter’s denial is a good example
- Men esteemed him not – Is 53:3 – based upon his miracles alone, he had to be from God – yet they tried him as a thief and hung him with thieves, calling him a blasphemer[Matt 26:65-66]
- He poured out his soul unto death – Is 53:12 – he had to die for our sins; in Gethsemane he plead with God to let this cup pass [Matt 26:38-39].
- He was numbered with the transgressors – Is 53:12 – he became one of us – he became our sin [2 Cor 5:21]
- He bore our sins – Is 53:12 – he lived his entire life apart from sin and now all the sin of the world was upon him in his body [1 Pet 2:24]
- He interceded for us transgressors – Is 53:12 – “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” – he still intercedes today [Heb 7:25].
The purpose of his sorrows – there are many purposes in this passage for Jesus’ sorrows: They are that:
- He bore our griefs – Is 53:4 – death is one of the greatest causes of grief – the grief of Christians is substantially diminished because we will see each other again – in other words, we don’t have to grieve because he grieved for us [1 Pet 5:7].
- He carried our sorrows – Is 53:4 – so that we don’t have to carry them [1 Thes 4:13]
- He was wounded for our transgressions – Is 53:5 – so that we don’t have to be wounded for them; he bore the punishment of our sins – it would be double jeopardy for us to be punished again.
- He was bruised for our iniquities – Is 53:5 – he paid the penalty
- He was chastised for our peace – Is 53:5 – before we were saved we were ungodly [Rom 5:6], sinners [Rom 5:8] and enemies of God [Rom 5:10] – so when we come to God through Jesus Christ we have peace with him [Rom 5:1] because God chastened “him” for “our” peace.
- He was whipped for our healing – Is 53:5 – the cause of much sickness in Israel [and in our lives] is sin – that’s why Jesus often told the people he healed to “go and sin no more” – Ex 15:26 and Deut 28:60 show us that God put the diseases of Egypt on Israel when they began to disobey him – thus, the Lord was beaten so that we could be healed
- He died – Is 53:8 – he was cut off out of the land of the living – he died because the wages of sin is death [Rom 6:23]
- He was buried – Is 53:9 – he made his grave with the wicked [the thieves] and with the rich [Joseph of Arimathaea] – God is no respecter of persons
- He was offered for sin – Is 53:10 – once and for ever [Heb 10:10-14]
The endurance of his sorrows – when the Lord Jesus Christ suffered:
- He opened not his mouth – Is 53:7 – he didn’t answer for himself at his trial and he didn’t revile those who reviled him [1 Pet 2:21-22]
- He was not violent – Is 53:9 – didn’t lift up his voice in the street [Matt 12:19] and did not retaliate against people like Judas
- He did not deceive – Is 53:9 – in other words he did not deceive in his earthly ministry and he did not deceive to get out of the sorrows [though they called him a deceiver (Matt 27:63)]
The agent of his sorrows – the agents of the Lord’s suffering were:
- God – Is 53:4 – men assumed that God had smitten Jesus because he was an imposter, a blasphemer and a devil – in fact God was the agent of his suffering but not for the reasons that men thought – he was smitten by God for our sakes – the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all – Is 53:6 – it was the Lord who caused him to suffer and yet it was for us that he suffered – and so we are also the agents of his suffering – Is 53:10 – it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he put him to grief
- Sinners – Is 53:6 – all we like sheep have gone astray – if we hadn’t gone astray, if we hadn’t sinned, then he wouldn’t have had to die
- Israel – Is 53:8 – for the transgression of MY people was he stricken – he died because of the covenants God had made with Israel – he had come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel and they crucified him
The result of his sorrows – the Lord accomplished many things through his sorrows – through his sufferings:
- He generated a seed – Is 53:8 – Jesus Christ has a generation of God’s children resulting from his death, burial, and resurrection [Jn 1:12]
- He shall see his seed – Is 53:10 – in other words, when he was buried he did not stay down; he rose from the dead and sees his seed – he said to the thief, “This day shalt thou be ‘with me’ in paradise” – and we shall see him
- He prolonged his days – Is 53:10 – he lives forever
- The pleasure of the Lord prospers in his hand – Is 53:10 – that is God was pleased with his suffering but God’s ultimate desire was not his sorrow but the pleasure and joy of seeing the seed generated through the salvation of lost souls [Lk 15:7, 10]
- God was satisfied – Is 53:11 – in other words, Jesus was the propitiation for our sins [Rom 3:25]
- Many are justified – Is 53:11 – men could not be justified through the law, but through faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus [his completed work of salvation] we can be [Gal 2:16]
- Jesus divides the spoils with the strong – Is 53:12 – Jesus receives the inheritance of all of God’s creation and shares this inheritance with his seed – Israel receives her inheritance and we receive ours [Ezek 48; Rom 8:16-17].
Conclusion: If it weren’t for the man of sorrows, we could not be saved and we would have no hope of ever being saved.