This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Suffering Servant” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 22, 1987.

Reading from Isaiah 52 verse 13 and into the 53rd chapter once more. Isaiah 52 verse 13. Behold, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, my people, so his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. Thus he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths on account of him, for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand.” has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed. For he will grow up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of a parched ground.

He has 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. 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 of 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.

That’s a marvelous thing, your word, our God. For we understand that it is the vehicle of your spirit and your spirit with the word brings life. O Lord, we ask that we might not simply read words on a page, that we would not simply hear words hanging in the air. We pray, rather, that our understanding of your word would never leave us with the dead letter. but with the Spirit and the fullness of that administration granted to us in Christ, for through that administration by the Spirit and Your Word we have been made alive. We pray, Lord, that Your Word this day may in fact accomplish Your purpose, that our hearts would assent unto that purpose, that you would accomplish your ends by the means you have appointed for your glory. We pray it in the name of Christ, the living word. Amen.

Isaiah 53 is meant to surprise you. Isaiah 53 is formed, written, it is communicated as a surprise. I’m not even certain that the word surprise actually captures what is going on here. It’s more as if something like an astonishment, a disarming amazement, is overtaking the Prophet as he speaks.

Surprise, maybe better, astonishment, amazement. who can believe our message, and to whom possibly could the arm of the Lord be revealed, given the substance and the character of the revelation that is in front of us. How would we calculate the weight of this surprise. How would you assess the power of what is being conveyed here? With what force would it register upon you? Well, think of those amazing things which the Lord has done.

Place yourself as a servant in the household of a wandering Aramean, tracing through the Middle East nearly 4000 years ago, living 13 centuries before Isaiah. He is a hundred years old. His wife is eighty. And as one scripture says about this couple, his own body was as good as dead, as was his wife’s womb. The situation is utterly impossible. Utterly, completely impossible.

But into the midst of that impossibility, and out of its impossibility, there comes a child born of promise, and that by the power of God. The child’s name. The child’s name is Isaac. His name means laughter. And you see, initially that laughter was a twitter. A somewhat embarrassed twitter at that. laughter that had within it a note of scorn and disbelief. But in the end, that laughter is filled with surprise and amazement and astonishment. So that we should read into that name, Isaac, all the amazement and astonishment it will bear. Isaac! Isaac! Literally life out of death. And are you not, as a member of that household, yourself amazed? How do you weigh the surprise, the amazing? Place yourself in Palestine 2,000 years later, outside of a house in Bethany.

The Lord of that house has died and is now four days gone and laid in a tomb. There is one man who approaches that scene and it seems as if for that man the family has waited. But now, he turns from the family to the tomb. He commands over all of the objections raised, that the stone be rolled back.

And he cries out, Lazarus, come! But Lazarus, he’s dead. Lazarus, come! But it’s impossible for Lazarus to come. And you, standing among all those who have gathered, possibly your cheeks with tears stained, look at this man with a deep sense of incredulity. And suddenly, Out of the darkness of the tomb, into the darkness of the entranceway, there appears the man, Lazarus, alive. The amazement! Are you not dumbstruck And overcome at the sight of this conveyed to you by the Spirit and through the Word, are you not overcome with emotion and joy? You are thrilled, amazed, astonished.

How do you weigh it? How do you calculate it? before you sit in Ephesus in the first century. A member of a congregation newly formed there, and to you now comes a letter from a man who means a great deal to you because it is by root of his ministry that you have been introduced to Jesus Christ. And this man says to you, emphatically, you were dead in your trespasses and sin.

But what amazement, what astonishment, when that same passage goes on to say, but even when we were dead in our transgressions, Christ made us alive together in him. the weight of that astonishment, amazement, surprise. Let the Scripture settle in upon you as you absorb the force and strength of what is being said here to Israel by God through His prophet, Isaiah.

There are a few psalms, like Psalm 126. When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who drank. Then our mouth filled. Then our mouth was filled with laughter. Remember Isaac Then our mouth was filled with laughter, our tongue with joyful shouting. Then they said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us. We are glad. We are amazed. We are astonished. We are surprised.

Feel then the power of that message through the prophet to his people. And how it is that the prophet, now a spokesman of God, cannot contain himself. He bursts forth in some of the finest poetry written in all the Old Testament. How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings the good news. the tidings of good things.

You see, then, what is being said as this gospel is heralded by Isaiah. This gospel goes forth out against the background of the Assyrian devastation. You may notice what is said in verse four of chapter fifty-two. For, thus says the Lord God, my people went down at first into Egypt to reside there. Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. It is against the background of that Assyrian devastation and the fact that Jerusalem’s captivity now is inevitable. It is the matching of the Assyrian disaster with Jerusalem’s demise. that’s so overwhelmed already in Isaiah’s day, the Israel, the ten tribes of the north, have been removed and swallowed up by death and the same fate awaits Jerusalem, except except the Lord himself asserts to Jerusalem. verse six of chapter fifty-two. He dispenses his emissary with the message of his rule. Your God reigns, he says. He restores Zion, he comforts his people, verses seven through nine. He redeems Jerusalem, verse nine again.

These glad tidings burst out over a landscape of hopelessness. For Jerusalem is as good as dead, and as surely dead as the ten northern tribes. Her circumstance is beyond remedy. She is like unto a valley filled with human bones of many long deceased. But God’s Spirit is the wind, and he breathes upon those bones life, and they come together, sinews slap to them and flesh, and into them that spirit exhales the breath of life. Out of death comes life. And with Israel’s resurrection, out of the tomb of captivity, there is this amazement, astonishment, this absolute surprise.

Now note, that that amazement and astonishment is not reserved or restricted. It is not restricted to Israel. For the Prophet makes it clear that this amazement and astonishment, though it is something that is observed in Israel because of Israel, She who was dead is now alive. Nevertheless, the Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all of the nations, verse ten of chapter fifty-two, and concluding on with that verse, that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God. So you see, what amazement, what astonishment there was for Israel is not restricted for her. It belongs to the earth, to the nations, and God is revealing himself before them. They shall see this wonder. And if there has been laughter in Israel, there shall be laughter as well amongst the Gentiles. amazement, astonishment in Israel, and yes, similarly, amazement, astonishment before the nations.

But the prophet isn’t done. For it’s hardly enough to point out to Israel and to the nations the amazing thing which God has done With regard to the captivity, there is yet a greater humiliation in God’s plan. There is yet a greater and more desperate humiliation in God’s plan than the captivity of Israel. and there is yet a more astonishing and more amazing thing to be accomplished by the Lord. Verse 13, Chapter 52. Into the midst of this consideration of Israel’s plight and subsequent release comes the presentation of Don’t miss out on the astonishment and amazement attached to him.

For the Prophet tells us that just as the world was amazed at Israel’s restoration, they will be amazed at the prosperity of the servant. But you see, The situation for the servant is even more complicated and even more desperate. For the Prophet goes on to say that his appearance will be marred more than any man, his form more than the sons of men. He, in an enigmatic phrase, speaks about him sprinkling the nations.

The nations, they are introduced again. By him, then, through him, in light of what is accomplished in him, kings will shut their mouths. What they had not been told, they will see. What they had not heard, they will understand. They will comprehend in light of the servants’ work. Before the nation, this one, humbled even further than the Jews going into captivity in Babylon, this one will be the means by which the nation is introduced into the Prophet’s message. Everything to this point, at least in our consideration of these passages, has been sweetness and light. amazement, astonishment, laughter, joy, gladness, these things are good news indeed.

But now the discordant note comes. Who believes our report? The arm of the Lord upon whom is it revealed. There’s a note of alarm and amazement and surprise in the process. But it’s an inversion of what we have been considering so far, because here you see, it’s not something positive, it’s something quite negative.

Who’s to read our message as if the only appropriate response to that question is, no one? No one. And the force of it is made even more gripping, as you see that these questions are directed not to the nations, as they have been dealt with at the conclusion of chapter 52, but to Israel. How amazing indeed Israel, having experienced her liberation from Babylon, She having been born out of a dead womb, she having all of that laughter and amazement and astonishment as part of her history, as part of her identity. But now we come to this description of the servant who is destined to prosper, who is destined to be exalted, and the prophet steps back in amazement himself and says, who has believed our report? No one. Not in Islam. They don’t believe. And why?

Because they never understood the meaning of the dead wound. And they never understood the meaning of the captivity. And they cannot, for the life of them, grasp the significance of their own humiliation. And now the servant of God strides onto the scene and he confronts them with themselves.

And what is their response? It isn’t amazement and astonishment and joy and gladness. It is hatred. Rejection. They cannot stand the sight of him. But even at that, we aren’t finished. Even then, we are not concluded. The amazement, the astonishment, is also wrapped up in the man himself here described, the servant. Who would have expected the servant of the Lord to look like this?

And what an offense he is! He appears as one who can’t even defend himself. He’s but a tender shoot. He’s a root appearing on a parched ground. There’s no hope for him at all. And what kind of form has he? One with regal carriage. He has no stately form. He has no majesty to speak of. That we should look on him. That we should even be attracted to him. What a surprise this servant is. He’s so surprising I don’t want anything to do with him. And how will a man without a people do anything? This one appears as one despised, forsaken of men, utterly solitary and alone.

Do you know anything about loneliness? Have you read stories of people who have been in prison? Has it been a part of your life? Maybe sometime in college? Nobody around. You’re convinced. Nobody cares. Utter solitude. You know something about rejection? the greatest weight upon people the fear of rejection not being accepted standing on the outside looking in what terror grabs a heart when confronted with such a prospect well here he is Jews hate solitude now in their community they might not like each other very much but they wouldn’t live without one another and they despise Solitude that is why they are known for their community spirit and character Nothing spells curse more to the Jew than utter complete isolation Well here he is The servant Not just rejected by the nation’s I mean, they’ve come off pretty well, given the end of chapter fifty-two. This one is rejected by his own people. Who can stand it? A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face, he’s despised.

And we thought nothing of him. But then you see, the amazement is taking hold once more as the Prophet goes on in verses 4 through 6 of that 53rd chapter. By this despised, forsaken, solitary figure, this man of sorrows, this one acquainted with Greece, he is the one who is bearing in himself our Greece, our sorrows.

This one stricken, smitten of God pierced through for what? My transgressions. Crushed for my iniquities. The well-being of my life and soul is won by a chastening exacted upon Him. He’s beaten and I am healed. I was the one who went astray. I turned to my own way. But the Lord has heaped upon him my iniquity, my sin. There is that amazement, that astonishment. Who’s believed our report? No one. There is that amazement and astonishment when we’re confronted with the visage of this servant.

But then, you see, as you move through it, Everything is becoming clear. The significance of that humiliation, born by Abraham and by Sarah, we begin to understand, and we comprehend the significance of Isaac. We know from inside out the meaning of the captivity in Egypt first, and then in Babylon later. We understand it. We understand it because it is now mediated to us, interpreted for us, through Christ the servant.

We are indeed purged by way of Him. Through Him we are cleansed and healed. We are made new so that rather than being buried in death with the stone rolled over our tomb, we are brought forth as Lazaruses to sing the praises of gladness in the light of day, astonished, amazed, cheered, delighted, and not a little surprised. Well then, the weight of the astonishment, the amazement, nothing less than this. Life. Out of death. Life. Out of death. It’s impossible. Oh no it’s not. Do you believe that?

Now we ask that your spirit sweep through us, urging us that we, devoid of doubt, would be filled with faith. We beseech you, Lord, that we, your people made alive, would laugh joyously in the face of death. and the threat of sin, we truly victors and victorious through the suffering servant, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.