Beholding the Glory of Christ Crucified

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 has been to see magnificent revelations of God, to be captivated by them, to be motivated to live in a way pleasing to God, and to give glory back to God.

The goal today, coinciding with Resurrection Sunday, is to behold the glory of Christ crucified. It might seem strange for Resurrection Sunday, but there is a hint of the resurrection in this passage. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we can see that everything here was fulfilled in his person and work on the cross. Our salvation has been accomplished, and we are no longer in our sins if we believe this message.

Who Has Believed Our Message?

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Isaiah 53:1

The first verse introduces the message. The answer to the first question is no one, because it depends on the Lord's self-revelation in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you have not believed, my desire is to draw faith from you. As you behold the glory of Christ crucified, realize not just the possibility but the actuality of being saved. Jesus did not purchase saveability. He took names to the cross. See your name there.

For believers, this is reassurance of your salvation and motivation to live for his glory, reminded of the immense suffering your Savior endured and the immense success he accomplished.

To accomplish this, behold three things in this passage.

1. Behold the Sorrows of Christ

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.

Isaiah 53:2-3

This draws out two peculiar things about Jesus. First, he was not physically attractive. He had no majesty to draw people. He came from humble beginnings, a tender shoot from parched ground. When Philip told Nathanael about the Messiah, Nathanael asked, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

Not attractive to the world, but attractive to the Father because of his humility, as in Philippians 2:5-8, where he humbled himself to death on the cross.

He is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief—not that he was always depressed, but bearing our sorrows and griefs, the consequences of sin. God chose for Jesus to come without physical appeal so we would be attracted by his works: forgiving sins, bearing God's wrath in our place. When the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to that, it is irresistible beauty.

2. Behold the Suffering of Christ

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 chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are 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 the 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 53:4-9

This suffering goes beyond crucifixion. Isaiah 52:14 says he was marred beyond human recognition, so tortured he was unrecognizable as a man. Visual depictions are not violent enough.

Jesus bore grief, sorrow, was stricken, smitten by God, afflicted, pierced, crushed, punished, scourged, oppressed, slaughtered, judged, cut off, receiving the stroke of death, sacrificed as a guilt offering, anguished, poured out to death.

This is not just Roman crucifixion—many endured that. It is crucifixion plus the outpouring of God's wrath. We contributed nothing to our salvation except the sin that made it necessary. We esteemed him nothing, thought he deserved God's smiting, went astray like sheep wandering without a shepherd. Jesus, like a silent sheep led to slaughter.

Yet this produces results. He bore our griefs and sorrows because we sinned (preposition of cause). He was crushed because of our iniquities. He was punished for our peace (shalom)—total well-being with God. By his scourging we are spiritually healed. Sin is like a corrupting acid that numbs pain and induces pleasure, destroying us. Christ heals that.

The Lord put our iniquity on him, treated as the sinner we are. We considered him guilty; by his knowledge, we are justified, considered righteous. This is grace: an undeserving people called Christ's righteousness.

Be brokenhearted at what you should have experienced eternally—God's wrath ever-present in hell. But be grateful you never will, and motivated to live for God's glory, secured by Christ.

3. Behold the Success of Christ

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.

Isaiah 53:10-12

This hints at resurrection: his intercession happens after death, post-resurrection. Jesus intercedes with your name on his lips. The Father declares you free, innocent.

Both Yahweh and the servant are pleased. Jesus willingly rendered himself a guilt offering, enduring for joy set before him (Hebrews 12). He secures us as his prize, his inheritance. You were bought with a price; you are not your own.

Our track record shows we fail at securing our joy. Jesus is the thirst-quenching reality we crave. Father and Son are satisfied—their plan glorified themselves in saving God's people.

In John 12:23, Jesus says, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified"—through crucifixion. The Father replies, "I have glorified it and will glorify it again." This fulfills Isaiah 53:1.

He won us; being his possession means we cannot be lost. He promises never to leave or forsake, to raise us on the last day.

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

For believers, be motivated to please him through the gospel—not legalism, but enjoying what Jesus has done. Use this for doubt: your salvation is real. He purchased a life worthy of the gospel, to love, obey, and worship God.

Behold God to behave godly for God's glory.