Beholding the Glory of Christ Crucified (Part 1 of 2)

Our passage this morning is Isaiah 53. This is the fourth part in a series entitled, "Beholding God to Behave Godly for God's Glory." The purpose of the series is to see magnificent revelations of God, to be captivated by those revelations, to be motivated to live in a way that is pleasing to God, and to ultimately give glory back to God. The goal with this message, coinciding with Resurrection Sunday, is to behold the glory of Christ crucified.

It might seem strange to focus on this for Resurrection Sunday, since it might be more applicable to Good Friday. But there is a hint to the resurrection in this passage, and because the resurrection vindicates everything Jesus did on the cross, we can look at these things and realize they have been totally fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. Our salvation has been accomplished, and we are no longer in our sins if we believe this message.

The first verse gives us the introduction: Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? The interesting answer to the first question is no one. The explanation is embedded in the second question, because it is based upon the Lord's self-revelation in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you have not believed this message, it is my desire to draw faith into you and a confession out of you. As you behold the glory of Christ crucified, you would realize not just the possibility of being saved, but the actuality of being saved. Jesus did not purchase salvability. He took names to the cross. I hope you see your name there this morning.

For those of us who have believed, this is a reassurance of the reality of your salvation and a motivation to live for his glory, as you are reminded of the immense suffering your Savior went through and the immense success he accomplished for your salvation.

To accomplish these goals, there are three things to behold in this passage.

Behold the Sorrows of Christ

Verses 2 and 3: For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground. He had 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.

This draws out two peculiar things about Jesus. First, Jesus was predicted to not be an attractive man. He did not have any particular majesty that would cause people to be attracted to him. He came from humble beginnings, growing up as a tender shoot from parched ground. That's exactly the kind of beginning for God himself to take on human flesh.

He came from such humble beginnings that when Philip sought out Nathanael saying we have found the Messiah, Nathanael's response was, Can anything good come from Nazareth? He was not attractive to the world, but absolutely attractive to the Father because of his humility. Philippians 2:5-8 confirms that he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.

He is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. This is not saying Jesus was born depressed. He experienced the full gamut of human emotions. But it predicts that he is bearing our sorrows and griefs—the consequences of the presence of sin, those that should grieve us even more significantly than our sufferings.

God chose for Jesus to come in an unattractive appearance so we would not be physically attracted by him, but irresistibly attracted by his works—the work of forgiving our sins, bearing the wrath of God in our place. That is the most irresistible beauty we could ever behold when the Holy Spirit illuminates our eyes to that reality.

Behold the Suffering of Christ

Verses 4 through 9: 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 punishment of our well-being fell upon him and by his wounding we were 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 shears. 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.

Isaiah 52:14 expresses that he was marred beyond human recognition. He was so tortured and maimed that he could not be recognized as a man.

Movies depicting Jesus crucified are not violent enough—not even close to what he experienced. He was bearing grief, sorrow, stricken, smitten of God, afflicted, pierced through, crushed, punished, scourged, oppressed, afflicted, slaughtered, judged, cut off from the living, receiving the stroke of death, sacrificed as a guilt offering, experiencing anguish, and poured out to death.

This is not just crucifixion. It is crucifixion plus the outpouring of the wrath of God. Plenty of people were crucified, but this was divine punishment.

What were we doing? We esteemed him as nothing. We considered him stricken, smitten of God, afflicted—something he deserved. We all went astray, turning to our own way like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus, like a sheep, was silent before slaughter—the absolute difference between us and Christ.

These experiences produce something. He bore our griefs and sorrows. He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities. He was punished for our peace so that we might have peace—shalom, total well-being. Even amid what's wrong in the world, we have peace with God.

His scourging heals us—spiritually, not physically. Sin is like a corrupting acid that numbs pain and induces euphoria, destroying us. We beg you to be reconciled to God because we see sin's destructive nature. Christ purchased wholeness for you.

The Lord put our iniquity on Christ, imputing our sin to him. He was treated as the sinner we are. The next time you consider sin, remember Jesus bore the wrath of God for it. We esteemed him guilty, yet by the knowledge of the servant, we are justified—considered not guilty. This is grace: an undeserving people called Jesus' righteousness.

It shocks that the Father would do this to his Son—what you deserved for eternity. Hell is the ever-presence of God's wrath, the absence of his mercy. But not for believers. Behold your Christ crucified. Be brokenhearted at what you should have experienced, grateful you never will, and motivated to live for God's glory, secured by Christ.

Paul told the Galatians, You foolish Galatians, it was before your eyes that Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified. That's what the preaching of the Word does. Behold the suffering of Jesus Christ constantly.

Behold the Success of Christ

Verses 10 through 12: 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 was numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.

This hints at the resurrection because Jesus's intercession happens after he dies—after he rose. He intercedes for people with their names on his lips. The Father is pleased to declare you free, innocent of every crime.

Both Yahweh and the servant are pleased. Jesus rendered himself willingly as the guilt offering—not under compulsion, but with joy set before him to secure you.

He secures you as his prize, his possession, his inheritance. You were bought with a price; you are not your own. Our track record shows we didn't steward our lives well. Jesus is the thirst-quenching reality we crave.

Father and Son are satisfied because their plan worked to glorify themselves in the salvation of God's people. In John 12:23, Jesus says, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified—through crucifixion. He prays, Father, glorify your name, and a voice says, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. John 12:38 quotes Isaiah 53:1.

This is for the glory of God. He won us, purchased us. Being in his possession means we cannot be lost. He will never leave or forsake us. He promises to raise us up on the last day—proving our individual resurrections are guaranteed by the one who conquered death.

If you are an unbeliever, see your name and deeds nailed to that cross. Your life is no longer your own. You have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you, by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you.

For those who are dear brothers and sisters, blood-bought brothers and sisters by the blood of Jesus Christ, be motivated to please him through the gospel. Motivation to love and serve God that is not motivated by the gospel is legalism. This is the way of enjoying the service of God, rejoicing in the reality of what Jesus has done.

This is your greatest good that we are preaching here. I hope you use this in your moments of doubt—is my salvation even real?—to reassure you that it is. I hope you use this in recognizing that he has purchased for you a life worthy of living, a life worthy of the gospel, that we may live and love God and obey him and worship him.

One of the ways that we can do that on a regular basis is to behold God to behave godly for God's glory.