When I Survey

All Scripture is precious – yes, even the genealogies. But there are certain passages in the Word that are special. This morning’s text is one of them. It is, to me, holy ground. Here we come to the core of the Gospel. Isaiah 53 is about the Cross, and it pictures what happened there in striking ways. I have to tell you that I have been intimidated by this chapter. Over the past week or two I’ve thought about how to preach this portion of Scripture so that something of the beauty and the horror of the Cross might be conveyed to you. Having prayed about this I think that the Spirit has given me something to say. It is my hope that this sermon will be a help to you so that you will see Jesus and His Gospel more clearly and thus that He might become more and more precious to you.

The chapter divisions do not help us here. This section of Scripture should start at verse 13 of chapter 52. Listen as I read from there to the end of chapter 53.

Let’s begin with what is a very familiar verse to us all. ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned –every one – to his own way…’ This is us. We are like sheep who have left the Shepherd of the flock and thus the safety of the flock. We have wandered away. This wandering is less a matter of outright rejection of the ways of God and more just a matter of being foolish and careless. But that really doesn’t make any difference when it comes to the consequences. The results of our choices do not depend on our intentions. Foolish sheep who wander from the flock, regardless of the reason, are in danger and that danger will sooner or later catch up with them – and with us. There is, however, also a note of rebellion here. We – each one of us – have turned to our own way. Here, we do reject God’s path and opt for one of our own choosing. This is willful. It is rebellion. And it has its own consequences. The chapter refers to the results of our wandering and the results of our rebellion. So, we read about our griefs and our sorrows, the fruit of wandering. Isaiah also writes about chastisement, punishment. This is the justice due to our rebellion. We are foolish and we are willful. What we bring to this picture is our sin.

Jesus enters the picture. He comes as the servant of the LORD. God says, ‘Behold, my servant shall act wisely…’ Jesus is a servant, and He is sent on a mission. His mission is not to be a great teacher, though He is that. His mission is to suffer. He is the Suffering Servant of God. He comes to this mission as one who is completely innocent. ‘… he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.’ Jesus was the innocent servant who suffered. And so, Isaiah writes, ‘Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows … He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.’ We should bear the consequences of our foolishness. We should be punished for our willfulness. And we should experience that day after day after day – forever. That would be just and right. But that is not what has happened. He, the innocent, has endured what we, the guilty, should have suffered. ‘He was crushed for our iniquities.’ Not us but Him. The Cross.

Who else is involved? You’ll note that the Romans are not mentioned even though they are the ones who drove those nails through His flesh and into the wood. The Jewish leadership is not mentioned even though they are the ones who plotted and schemed so that Jesus would be crucified. These are not mentioned but not because they have no responsibility. Isaiah points beyond them to the one who is ultimately responsible for what happened. ‘… it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief.’ Jesus was ‘smitten by God’. There is more going on here than what Romans and Jews had in mind. It was the Father who nailed Jesus to that Cross. It was the Father that caused Him to suffer so. And that tells us that there was more suffering here than what nails could create. The suffering of the Cross was more than what was physical. Jesus suffered hell on that Cross.

Imagine being called to such a mission: called to suffer hell, the unending experience of God’s angry justice. And yet, how does Isaiah describe Jesus’ response to His call? ‘He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.’ Jesus submitted to the Father’s plan. To be sure, He had a long discussion with the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane; a long and heartfelt discussion about this calling. But once it was clear that this was the Father’s will, that this really was the mission, Jesus accepted it: the silent submission of the suffering servant.

And what is the result of all of this? ‘Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous…’ First, there will be success. ‘…he shall see and be satisfied…’ Jesus will be satisfied with what He has accomplished. His anguish will not be for nothing. He will succeed. But what is that success is about? ‘… the righteous one, my servant, [shall] make many to be accounted righteous…’ Please note what it says and what it doesn’t say. Isaiah doesn’t use the language of forgiveness. To be sure, we are forgiven, and thanks be to God for that. But there is more than forgiveness going on here. We are ‘accounted righteous’. There are those, some consciously and others not, who understand what Jesus has done in terms of wiping out the negative points that they have in God’s ledger. Jesus has brought them back from minus to zero. But now it’s up to them to create some plus points in God’s ledger. It’s up to them to get on God’s good side and to stay there. They would say that you have to create your own righteousness before God. Jesus has His role to play, but then you have yours. Or so they say. But the Spirit is quite clear. He doesn’t talk about forgiveness here since that would only give part of the picture. Instead, He talks about being made right before God. He tells you that because of Jesus you are not only forgiven but also considered righteous. Jesus has not just removed your minus points and given you a second chance to get it right and keep it right with God. Something more than that has happened. You have also been given all of Jesus’ plus points. All of them. The Father accepts you as fully righteous. Jesus’ role is to do everything to make you right with God. He offers that to you as His gift. Your role is to simply accept His gift.

It’s here that Martin Luther’s ‘Great Exchange’ comes in handy. This is how he explained what happened at the Cross. Jesus was the sinless Son of the Father, worthy of all praise. We were ugly sinners, worthy of hell. At the Cross, all of our sinful ugliness was transferred to Jesus and all of His sinless perfection was transferred to us. As a result, Jesus was crushed by the Father for our sins. That is what justice required. Crushed. But at the same time we were fully accepted by the Father. We were and are accepted as sinless and holy because we have Jesus’ sinlessness and holiness. The Great Exchange. That’s what happened at the Cross. That’s what our text is about.

Now we’re ready for a question. How should you feel about this? I’m looking for an emotional response. I could say, ‘What should you think about this?’, but it seems that this is a place where the emotions are more revealing. There are some emotional responses that just make sense to me. It makes sense that there would be a sense of wonder at what God has done. God, the Son, has suffered for us. ‘But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.’ But He is not the only one who has suffered. The Father also suffered. ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…’ Remember that Jesus was sent on this mission. The Father sent Him. The Father gave Him. It was the Father who caused Him to suffer. Do you think that the Father enjoyed doing that to His Son? Here, the Father and the Son (and I’m sure the Spirit also, but in ways that I do not yet understand) have acted in ways that go beyond what we can grasp so that you and I will never face that day after day of angry divine justice. I can’t help but think that one response to this is wonder. A sign that we are becoming more familiar with the truths of the Gospel is not that they become ordinary and commonplace, truths to which we are accustomed, but that they become more amazing, truths that provoke awe.

Another emotional response is a sense of being humbled. It’s like the time when God told David that He would bless David with a dynasty. What does David say in response? ‘Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?’ Likewise, as you get the Gospel more and more, your response is, ‘Who am I, O Lord GOD?’ That sense of ‘why me’, as in, ‘Why have you been so good to me?’, will grow as you understand better your utter sinfulness and His utter holiness. It is humbling to think that God would go to such lengths for people like us.

Let me mention one more emotional response that makes sense to me. When someone gets this, that person knows that he is loved. Knows. Here is something from Pastor Tim Keller: ‘God saw Abraham’s sacrifice and said, “Now I know that you love me, because you did not withhold your only son from me”. But how much more can we look at his sacrifice on the Cross, and say to God, “Now, we know that you love us. For you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love, from us.”’ If anything is clear in the Gospel it is surely this: You are loved. Some of you to doubt this at times, and you tell yourselves, ‘But I’ve just sinned. Horribly so. He can’t love me now.’ Those of you who fall into this should consider these questions. Were you less sinful when Jesus was sent to the Cross for you? Did the Father and the Son love you then because, somehow, you were more holy and less sinful than what you are now? From day one, you have been loved even though you are sinful. One more sin, however horrible it may be, doesn’t change anything. You are still loved. The Gospel is quite clear. You are loved.

Awed. Humbled. Loved. Because of these it seems to me that we, of all people, are to be highly motivated and that toward a specific goal. Paul put it like this: ‘For me to live is Christ…’ For Paul, life was all about Jesus. Whatever he was doing, it was about Jesus. Preaching? That’s about Jesus. Making tents to get some money? That’s about Jesus. Taking a walk in the marketplace? That’s about Jesus, too. It seems to me that we all are to be highly motivated to make it clear that our lives are also all about Jesus. On the job? That’s about Jesus. Caring for young children? That’s about Jesus. Going to classes or just hanging out? That’s about Jesus. To be sure, there is much about what this means that is unclear to us. That’s okay. What is important is to want our lives to be about Jesus. If that is the desire of our hearts, then the Spirit will teach us what we need to know about how to make it happen. And we are this way not as some sort of payback. This is not about debt reduction in God’s ledger. Remember, there are no minus points there. We are highly motivated to make our lives all about Jesus simply because we want to love Him. Not payback but love-back. And isn’t that the point of the Gospel, that we would be freed from all that enslaves us so that we can love?

We’re going to close in a way that is a little different. We’re going to sing a hymn: ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’. This will be our response to God.

For the sake of those of you who will read this later, here are the words so that, even if by yourself, you can sing the hymn also.

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ my God:

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to his blood.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down:

Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.