Series: Isaiah
Title: It Pleased God
Text: Isaiah 53: 10
Date: December 5, 2014
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Isaiah
53 is a prophecy of Christ’s suffering unto the death he accomplished on the
cross. We are told in this chapter:
·
He was despised and rejected of men.
·
He was oppressed and afflicted by men.
·
Just judgment was taken from him by the hands
of unjust men.
·
He was cut off out of the land of the living
by the hands of men
Yet,
the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ was not merely by the hand of natural-born
Jews, not merely by the hand of the Gentile-Romans, not merely by the
flesh-pleasing weakness of Pilate, not even merely by the hand of Satan
himself.
Isaiah 53: 10: Yet it pleased the LORD to
bruise him; he hath put him to grief:
Determinate Counsel
& Foreknowledge
The crucifixion of Christ was according to the eternal
counsel of God. The cross was foreordained of God from eternity.
Acts 2:23: Him, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain:
Acts 4: 26: The kings of the earth stood up, and the
rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27: For
of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod,
and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered
together, 28: For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done.
The God of man’s imagination—preached from
most pulpits—can do nothing but what weak little sinners permit him to do. But
the true and living God “worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will.” (Eph 1: 11)
The crucifixion of his own Son was by the
determinate counsel of God—the predetermined counsel of God—that counsel in
which the triune God entered into everlasting covenant with God to save a
people from our sins by Christ and him crucified.
It was by the foreknowledge of God—the
fore-ordination of God. It was what God
ordained before the foundation of the world.
Therefore, wicked sinners did “whatsoever
[his] hand and [his] counsel determined before to be done.”
God cannot be charged with sin; the charge of
sin lies squarely upon sinners. God infused no evil into those men. The evil was in them
by their first birth. God did not force
those men to crucify Christ; God merely removed his restraining hand off them
and wicked men did what was already in their hearts.
Application:
Brethren, the same enmity, the same wickedness, abides in your heart of flesh
and mine. Were God to remove his hand of
grace off us today, we would do the very same thing as those wicked men did who
nailed our Savior to the cursed tree!
The same is true of every sinner in the earth. The man who does not know
that about himself does not know himself!
Yet, God overruled them, even Satan himself, so that everything
came to pass exactly according to the eternal purpose of God.
Who would be foolish enough to blame God for making the
wrath of man to praise him, for bringing to pass the eternal good of those he
chose to save? God is God! Have you not
heard? Has it not been told you? God is God! Oh, what great peace it is to
know that God only permits men to vent wrath if it praises God and works
together for the good of God’s elect, according to his eternal purpose!
Psalm
76:10: Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt
thou restrain.
But how and why did it please God to bruise the Savior?
That is our subject.
Subject: It Pleased God
We do not have to look any further than this tenth verse
to answer that question.
Divisions: It pleased the
LORD to bruise Christ: 1) Because
he made his soul an offering to God—v10:
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, margin: his soul shall
make an offering 2) Because by Christ’s offering all his seed shall be born to
eternal life—v10: he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong days, 3) Because by the hand of our resurrected Redeemer,
all God’s pleasure shall prosper—v10:
and the pleasure of the LORD
shall prosper in his hand.
I. IT PLEASED GOD
TO BRUISE CHIRST BECAUSE HE MADE HIS SOUL AN OFFERING TO GOD--v10: when thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, margin:
his soul shall make an offering. [Let’s spend some time here.]
The First Man
In the first garden, when our first representative, Adam,
transgressed, death passed upon us. When
we were given a being by our first birth we received Adam’s nature—we were
conceived in sin by Adam’s corrupt seed.
Adam’s guilt was charged to us for we were in Adam when he sinned. Every person born into this world is a sinner
due to our first father Adam.
1 Corinthians 15:22…in Adam all die,
There are no exceptions.
Psalm
14: 1: «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.» The fool hath said in his
heart, There is no God. They are corrupt,
they have done abominable works,
there is none that doeth good. 2:
The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any
that did understand, and seek God. 3: They are all gone aside, they are all
together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Application: How
would you like for others to see the wickedness of your thoughts? Can you
imagine if you could see all the wickedness in the hearts of all men. God sees
it and God says it is abominable, filthy corruption!
Justice and Mercy
God must and God shall punish every sinner. That goes for every sinner under the
sound of my voice, me included. He must punish you and me for God is just and
we are guilty of sin.
Exodus
34: 7: God will by no means clear the guilty.
Ezekiel
18:20: The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Romans
6:23: For the wages of sin is death;
But here is the good news! Before the foundation of the world God chose
his Son and God chose a people in his Son.
God the Son entered into covenant with God the Father: to be made in the
likeness of sinful flesh, to offer himself in place of his people, to offer
himself as an offering to God for sin, to put away the sin of his people, to
satisfy divine justice, to declare God just and Justifier.
God Providing
Himself
It
pleased God to bruise Christ in the place of his people because Christ on the
cross was God providing himself a lamb—v10:
when THOU shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Abraham told Isaac, “My
son, God shall provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering.” (Gen 22: 8) God
did that in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:19…God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;
Christ Jesus is the express image of his Father’s person,
the brightness of Jehovah’s glory; he who made all things. The church is “the
church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” (Acts 20: 28)
The Lamb of God
Throughout the old covenant God showed how
atonement would be made by the offering of a sacrificial lamb in place of his
people. In the garden, God slew animals
to make coats of skins and covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness; Abel came offering
the blood of a lamb; in Moses day, throughout the old covenant, lamb after lamb
was offered. But not one of those
animals offered under the old covenant ever pleased God—not one ever propitiated God—not one made atonement to
God—for the sin of his people.
Hebrews 10: 1: For the law having a shadow of good things
to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers
thereunto perfect. 2: For then would they not have ceased to be offered?
because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of
sins. 3: But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made
of sins every year. 4: For it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins. 5: Wherefore when he cometh into the world,
he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou
prepared me: 6: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no
pleasure. 7: Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written
of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Note
that, this offering was voluntary on Christ’s part. He said, “Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God.” He made his soul an offering for sin.
The first Adam sinned in the garden, the last Adam, who
knew no sin, went to a garden to be made sin for his people. Our text says, “He made his soul an offering
for sin.” In John 12: 27, Christ said, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall
I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this
hour. 28: Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying,
I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” So he went to the garden of Gethsemane.
Under the old covenant, the sinner came with a spotless
lamb and the sinner confessed his sins. Christ is the lamb for his people. But
Christ had no sin of his own to confess.
Christ offered himself to God—his very soul—without spot and without
blemish—a fit substitute for his people. (Heb 9: 14)
Under the old covenant, in type, transference took
place. In type, the sin of Israel was
put on the lamb of sacrifice. But with the express image, “The LORD laid on him
the iniquity of us all.” (Is 53: 6) “He bare the sins of many.”—all God’s
elect. (Is 53: 11-12; Heb 9: 28)
Illustration: Bearing the book.
1 Peter
2:24: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we,
being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were
healed.
Matthew 26:38: Then saith he unto them, My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death:…
Under the old covenant, in type, the lamb was
then fit to be slain and its blood was poured out.
Matthew 26:46
Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.
John 18:4: Jesus therefore, knowing all
things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
Those wicked hands did what God determined
before to be done. “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him.” On the cross God
justly “put him to grief.” He cried, “My
God, my God why hast thou forsaken me.” (Ps 22: 1; Mt 27: 46; Mk 15: 34)
Under the old covenant the lambs blood was poured out—Isaiah
53: 12: “he hath poured out his soul unto death.” He cried, “It is finished!” “It
pleased the LORD to bruise him!” What
does that mean?
Hebrews 10: 10: By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. 11: And every
priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins: 12: But this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. 14: For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them
that are sanctified.
Adam, along with every sinner who fell in Adam, must and
shall suffer the eternal vengeance of holy justice.—God will be no means clear
the guilty. But by God’s sovereign
grace, for you who God sanctified in divine election—chosen in Christ, for every
sinner God shall sanctify in the new birth to believe on Christ, instead of you
bearing that justice, it pleased the LORD to bruise him in your room and stead;
He hath put him to grief, instead of putting his people to grief—he hath made
his soul an offering for the sin of his people.
By doing so, he satisfied God—“it pleased God to bruise
him.” Christ manifest the righteousness
of God—that God might be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in
Jesus. (Rom 3: 26) He magnified his law
and made it honorable satisfying divine justice for his people. (Is 42: 21) Christ our Scapegoat bore our sins into the
grave—the land not inhabited—and left them there never again to be remembered
by God. (Lev 16: 22; Heb 8: 12; 10: 17)
Application: I
cannot preach Christ like he deserves to be preached! But how I pray he make this word effectual in
your heart. God entrusted this whole
work to his Son and his Son finished the work.
Now, entrust your soul to him! If you are his, before this life is over,
you shall because…
II. SECONDLY, IT
PLEASED GOD TO BRUISE CHRIST BECAUSE BY CHRIST’S ONE OFFERING ALL HIS SEED
SHALL BE BORN TO ETERNAL LIFE—v10: he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days,…
God the Father Saw
His Seed
First, God the Father saw HIS Seed—his only begotten Son,
Christ Jesus—and prolonged his days. The great crosswork of our Mediator
magnifies God the Son’s preeminent love and honor of God his Father. It shows his willingness and preeminent
desire to glorify his Father because to go to the cross he had to humble himself,
he had to make himself of no reputation.
On the cross he made himself the very least but “He that is least among
you all, the same shall be great.” Lu 9: 48)
God the Father saw his Son and said, “This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 17: 5) “This is my Son whose heart it was
to do the will of his Father, to fulfill my law in every jot and tittle; this
is my Son who began by saying, “I must be about my Father’s business.” And
ended by saying, “It is finished.” In every way my Son preeminently glorified
me by his work on the cross wherefore I highly exalted him and give him a name
above every name.” So we read, “he prolonged his days.” God raised him to be Head over every name
that is named, to be Head over his body his church. (Eph 1: 21-23)
Christ Shall See His Seed
And it means that Christ shall see all his seed brought
to faith in him and their days prolonged to eternal life.
Among the Hebrews—and among us—a large family was counted
a great blessing. It was an even greater blessing to live to see your children’s
children. For example: Genesis 48:11: And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not
thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.
Christ
Jesus shall see his seed—as Surety of his people he has always seen them from
the foundation of the world. Philip ran to get Nathaniel.
John 1: 47 Jesus
saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in
whom is no guile! 48: Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus
answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast
under the fig tree, I saw thee.
He saw his people from the moment they were given to him
by the Father in eternity.
Psalm 128 conveys the meaning of Christ seeing his seed
as the fruit of his finished work.
Psalm 128: 1: Blessed is every one that feareth
the LORD; that walketh in his ways. 2: For thou shalt eat the labour of thine
hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with
thee. 3: Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine
house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. 4: Behold, that
thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD. 5: The LORD shall bless
thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy
life. 6: Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children, and peace upon
Israel.
Hoshea 6:2: After two days will he revive us: in the
third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Ephesians
2:5: Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved;) 6: And hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Psalm
22:30: A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a
generation. 31: They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness
unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
Christ is the Life of his seed. Adam was our father but
that relationship is not everlasting. Christ is the last Adam, the “Everlasting
Father” of all for whom he is the Head and Representative. Our relationship to Christ our Father shall
never end. (Is 9: 6)
Promised by the
Father
As promised by the Father, to Abraham and his Seed
(Christ Jesus) his seed shall be as the stars of heaven. Christ Jesus lives to see, all the souls that
he has redeemed, born first, to earth, and then born a second time to newness
of life in the new birth. He shall see
every elect child for whom he died born the first time then brought to faith in
him and to glory by him. None shall be lost. This is why it pleased the LORD to
bruise him.
Illustration:
Teresa Eddmenson and her mother
III. LASTLY, IT
PLEASED GOD TO BRUISE CHRIST BECAUSE BY THE HAND OF OUR RESURRECTED REDEEMER ALL
GOD’S GOOD PLEASURE SHALL PROSPER—v10: and the pleasure of the LORD shall
prosper in his hand.
Do you
remember what all scripture says “pleases” the LORD? “It pleased the LORD to
bruise him”—therefore these things are certain.
Colossians 1: 18: And he is the head of the body, the
church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he
might have the preeminence. 19: For it pleased the Father that in him should
all fulness dwell; 20: And, having made peace through the blood of his cross,
by him to reconcile all things unto himself;
The pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in
Christ’s hand.
1 Corinthians 1: 21: For after that in the wisdom of God
the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe.
The pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in
Christ’s hand.
Galatians
1: 15: But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and
called me by his grace, 16: To reveal his Son in me,…
Hebrews
11: 6: But without faith it is impossible to please him: for that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him.
The pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in
Christ’s hand.
1 Samuel 12:22: For the LORD will not forsake his people
for his great name’s sake: because
it hath pleased the LORD to make you
his people.
The pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in
Christ’s hand.
Ephesians 1: 9: Having made known unto us the mystery of
his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 10:
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in
one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even
in him: 11: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will: 12: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted
in Christ.
The pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in
Christ’s hand.
Luke 12: 32: Fear not, little flock; for it is your
Father’s good pleasure to give you
the kingdom.
The pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in Christ’s hand.
Sinner, would you be so foolish to lay down
in front of a steam roller to try to stop it? Well scripture says, “The stone
which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it
shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” (Lu 20: 18) Believe on the Lord and you shall be saved.
(Acts 16: 31; Rom 10: 9) The pleasure of the LORD shall propser in his hand!
His power is irresistible. This is why
it pleased the Lord to bruise him!
Amen!