Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried...

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...

But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him...

That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?...

But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,...

My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities...

Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:4-12).

All of these verses in Isaiah 53 speak of substitutionary atonement, that the Servant would suffer the punishment for the sins of His people. The result will be the satisfaction of God's wrath (Isaiah 53:11a), the justification of many (Isaiah 53:11b) and healing (Isaiah 53:5).

This prophecy of substitutionary atonement in Isaiah is fulfilled in Christ Jesus, of whom we read in Romans 8:1-4:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Jesus became our sin offering and paid the price of our guilt. The righteous requirement of the law was fulfilled in Him, and we have been declared righteous through Him. Now, we can walk in the new way of the Spirit without the burden of the law continually condemning us.

Friends, as basic as this truth is to our Christian faith, we often fail to appreciate its implications for our daily perspective and walk. If Christ has died for us, and we trust this by faith, then He also lives in us (cf. Romans 8:9-10). This is why Paul declared,

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

We are not our own. We belong to Christ, and He lives in us. Even as we struggle to obey Him in everything, we can be assured that within us the Spirit of Christ is also tugging and pulling and leading us toward God. 

Let us realize that just as Jesus was our substitute in death, He is also our substitute in life. He does not simply take our sins upon Himself, He also puts His righteousness upon us:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

When God looks at us to judge the merits of our lives, He sees Jesus. On the one hand, He covers our sins; on the other hand, He manifests His righteousness.

Therefore, friends, let us not be too anxious about our righteousness or unrighteousness but simply embrace the Lord Jesus and Him crucified. On the basis of this conviction will we find purpose, strength, and wisdom for life. Every moral and spiritual endeavor must ultimately find its way back to simply knowing Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. 

How lovely on the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news (Isaiah 52:7).

Who has believed our message? (Isaiah 53:1).

These verses are cited in Romans 10 in a very theologically significant passage, which I believe has been often misunderstood. In Isaiah, the first citation speaks of the declaration of the Gospel of God's salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 52:7-10). However, even strangely, this universal revelation by God is met with an equally universal rejection by people (Isaiah 53:1-3). This sets up for the magnificent chapter on God's subsitutionary atontement, whereby God achieves salvation, not through human effort but through the suffering and sacrifice of the great Servant of the LORD (Isaiah 53:4-12).

What is often missed in the study of the suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 is what is communicated in the first verse, namely, that no one has believed the message. Up to that verse, it is clear that the message of God's salvatoin has been widely preached, but no one has believed it. And it is in the context of this universal rejection that God accomplished salvation though Christ Jesus. That is why we read in John's Gospel:

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him (John 1:10-11).

When Paul cites Isaiah 52 and 53, he returns to the dual theme of universal proclamation as well as universal rejection. But the way he presents it might be a bit confusing. As he often does, he uses point and counterpoint (cf. Romans 3:3-4, 5-6; 6:1-2, 15). He argues, for instance,

For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).

Paul declares that people are saved by simply calling on the name of the Lord. However, as simple as this declaraton is, Paul presents the objections by his objectors, who are primarily Jews:

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:14-15)

The objection is that calling on the name of the Lord is not such a simple prospect because several things are needful: faith, which requires a preacher, which requires sending. Isaiah 52:7 is cited as a support for these objections.

In response to these objections, Paul writes,

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:16-17).

Citing a passage from the very next chapter in Isaiah, Isaiah 53:1, Paul reminds his objectors that even when the message was preached to the ends of the earth, people did not believe it. Therefore, the key was not in the sending, preaching, or believing per se but in the decree of God; thus,

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).

In other words faith does not come from a preacher. A preacher cannot give faith. It comes from hearing. And this kind of hearing, which produces faith, comes "by the word of God, or literally what God has spoken, the decree of God (this as more preferred to modern rendering "word of Christ" see this discussion). 

To put it another way, unless God unstopped the spiritual ears of all people, no one would hear so as to believe. So Jesus preached, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear" (cf. Mark 4:9,23; Matthew 11:15; Revelation 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22). Unless God granted the hearing, there would be no hearing of faith. So Jesus also taught,

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them (John 6:44).

This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them (John 6:65).

As I have shown many times elsewhere, it becomes clear that the faith that results in salvation never originates in man but always originates in God. So also we read in 1 Corinthians 1:30, "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus."

Friends, what is the answer to Isaiah's rhetorical question, "Who has believed our message?" The answer is 'no one'! No, not even one. All have turned away (Romans 3:10-12). Yes, the message of God's salvation has been proclaimed to the ends of the earth:

The Lord has bared His holy arm
In the sight of all the nations,
That all the ends of the earth may see
The salvation of our God (Isaiah 52:10).

But even more universally, no one would believe it. That is why for the sake of God's Name, He enabled some, contrary to their natural rebellion, to believe the Gospel. 

Friends, if you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, understand that you did not arrive at this faith by any virtue or wisdom or free will power of your own. You received such faith, along with the whole of your salvation, as a free gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). And there can be absolutely no suggestion of boasting here.

So then, we are no better than any of the many, who are self-condemned to hell as vessels of God's wrath, except for the grace of God, by which we have been sovereignly chosen to represent vessels of His mercy.

The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. The Sovereign LORD has spoken to me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away. I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting. Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced.Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame. (Isaiah 50:4-7 NLT)

Let us consider these words from the Servant of the LORD. God has given him wisdom and understanding of God's will. The LORD helps him. Yet, this servant does not resist when he is beaten and his beard is plucked from his cheeks. He is subject to mockery and spitting. So then, even though he is suffering this kind of abuse, the servant is not ashamed and rejects His experience being labeled disgrace. Why?  It is because the servant of the LORD refuses to rebel against God. He is fixedly determined to obey God's will. And he has been given the wisdom and understanding to realize that there is no disgrace nor shame in doing God's will.

On the other hand, there is a warning for those that do not follow in the footsteps of this servant of the LORD:

But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment. (Isaiah 50:11 NLT)

What is noteworthy is that this word of warning is not a judgment against great evil but simply following one's own way.   I am reminded of Paul's indictment of the Jewish people for this very thing:

Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. (Romans 10:1-3 NLT)

Every morality that is not from God is immorality. There is no true ethic apart from God's revelation. What great evil was there in Adam and Eve eating fruit from a tree? The evil was not in the tree, nor the fruit, nor the eating, but simply this: It was against God's will. The children of Israel was severely judged for not taking the Promised Land at Kadesh Barnea. Then, right afterwards, the children of Israel was severely judged for trying to take the Promised Land at Kadesh Barnea. The issue was not about fighting or not fighting but what God said. First, He commanded them to take the land. But they did not, and they were judged. Then, He commanded them to wander around and forget about taking the land. But they tried to take the land, and they were judged. 

Friends, let us understand, it is not about what you think or what I think, but what God says that matters. A preacher or teacher is only as good as they faithfully convey God's Word. It does not matter how eloquent, logical, interesting, or moving a speaker is, but how carefully they convey the truth of God's Word. So I never tell people to follow my word or take my view of things, but I always direct them to read, study and discern for themselves the Word of God. This is also why I react quite firmly to those that try to assert or demand their own view, especially in the guise of defending their "spiritual" authority or maintaining "unity," even at the expense of God's truth. 

Dear friends, I hope you never are this way. Remain always humble and teachable before the authority of God's Word. But humility is not stepping away from controversy. Humility is not submitting to an authority when it teaches the wrong thing. And humility is not asserting or demanding your own view over everyone else's. Humility is not absent conviction, but on the contrary, humility recognizes the true value of things. Biblical humility always points to God's way, even God's Word, as opposed to my way, or this pastor's way, or any other way.

I have found that many people have a hard time understanding this, but I witnessed this kind of humility from Senior Pastor Lee Sung Chul of the Korean Central United Methodist Church during my few years of serving there. I remember him asking me to teach a series on spiritual gifts to all the teachers at the church. I thought this was an unusual request since he accepted the continuity of the manifestational spiritual gifts, as did all the teachers of KCUMC at the time, but I generally did not. So when I asked him why he wanted me to teach this rather than someone else, who believed in it, he suprised me with his answer. He said it is because he knew that I would faithfully teach the Bible. He was more concerned that the Bible be taught accurately than I support the current practice of him and his teachers. That was remarkable to me, for many are not this way.  

Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will (Isaiah 50:4).

I pray that this would be your practice and blessing every morning, that you would begin every day asking God to open your understanding to His will, and then ordering your day around this, trusting in His strength to obey. 

The words of Isaiah 50:10 were a little confusing at first.  As I sometimes do, I looked up other translations to get a better understanding of the verse.  The New Living Translation gave me a bit more insight.

"Who among you fears the LORD and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the LORD and rely on your God."

The message of our Redeemer is clear.  Turn from sin and return to him.  How?  By trusting in Him - faith - and then see where that gets you.  Sometimes this process is a drawn out one because we first have to exhaust every other option - especially trusting in ourselves.  Maybe it's because being accountable to knowing that God simply wants us to trust in him in all circumstances requires a lot of faith.  Another example of working out one's salvation daily.  "Just believe" is given new meaning and weight with the more you know God.  It's humbling to think that we can know God more each day.  I can't begin to imagine what it would be like to fully know God.  What an honor.  What a responsibility. 

It is good to read the message of redemption in the middle of a book full of prophecy and judgement.

Friends, these are perhaps the most profound verses in Isaiah (Isaiah 53:4-5):

      Surely He has borne our griefs
      And carried our sorrows;
      Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
      Smitten by God, and afflicted.

      But He was wounded for our transgressions,
      He was bruised for our iniquities;
      The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
      And by His stripes we are healed.
 

In these chapters Isaiah is not speaking of a deliverance from enemy nations, like Assyria or Babylon. He is talking about a deliverance from a more trecherous enemy, namely, sin. The servant Israel failed in bringing salvation to the nations; but the Servant of God, who is like Israel in the way Israel was meant to be, will succeed in saving. However, contrary to expectations, He will save by sacrificing Himself. He will bear "our griefs" and carry "our sorrows." God will strike Him, smite Him, and afflict Him in our stead. So this Servant will be "wounded for our transgressions" and "bruised for our iniquities." And He will bear the punishment that is the necessary precursor to a resotored relationship with God. He will satisfy the righteous requirement of God by experiencing His holy wrath for us. And so "by His stripes we are healed!"

I can hardly read this without tears welling up in my eyes, because I know that my sins put Jesus on the cross. And it was for my sins that He died. And now will I complain about any discomfort or loss? My only complaint is that I still struggle to be holy, and that I do not more fully trust and obey the One, who freely gave His life for me.

Just the other day I was encouraged by a presentation from a brother and sister in the Lord, who have determined in their hearts to give their lives to reach the people of Mali. They are leaving their comfort for what will undoubtedly be highly uncomfortable; however, in so choosing, they are choosing an eternal weight of glory.