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, January 18, 1987.

Tonight our scripture reading begins in Isaiah 52 verse 7 and continues through Isaiah 53 verse 1. This is Isaiah 52. Verse seven and following how lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation and says to Zion, Your God reigns.

Listen, your watchmen lift up their voices, they shout joyfully together. for they will see with their own eyes when the Lord restores Zion. Break forth, shout joyfully together. You waste places of Jerusalem for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God.

Depart, go out from there, touch nothing unclean, go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. But you will not go out in haste, nor will you go out as fugitives, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. 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.

Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Let’s pray. May your servant and the messenger whom you have sent pass well before our eyes, and may the message that comes forth of him, by him, through him in all that he has said and done, register well upon our hearts and souls. Lord, may this be life to us that we have believed the report We have received the message and seen, we have seen the bearing of your arm. It has been revealed to us. We pray these things, Lord, knowing that you make plain your intent to those of your choice. We would serve you, Lord, as chosen of you. Amen. We are now preparing for our. Ascent.

Into Isaiah, chapter fifty three. Concentrating this evening on verses thirteen through fifteen of chapter fifty two. And certainly by this route, providing introduction to that magnificent opening of the fifty third chapter. Who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

So it is, we look at the opening word of verse thirteen. The word that is intended to grab us as we take stock of him. The word, That word is intended to set in contrast that which now is spoken of from that which has been said formally to sections interrelated. However, that interrelatedness may not be all that apparent to us as we look at that thirteenth verse and think about the word before. It’s as if the Prophet, the Lord speaking through the Prophet, would grab hold of those who are listening to him and compel them to open their eyes.

Look, look, look at my servant. Well, look at my servant in relationship to what? Why is it appropriate for the Lord at this point to introduce his servant in this fashion? Behold! That word conveying the note of surprise? Behold! As if that note of astonishment should be itself injected into the word itself.

Behold, as if the servant now passes before the eye of those who are listening, and it is surprising to them that he should appear in this content. But that being the power of the presentation, for you see What the prophet has done, what the Lord through the prophet has done, is prepare us for the presentation of the servant. You might think of that first servant song back in chapter 42. The servant there in the first verse is introduced in the same way. Behold my servant. whom I appalled.

And that magnificent introduction of the servant stands so marvelously against what has been said at the conclusion of chapter forty-one. You remember how that chapter concludes formally, I said to Zion verse twenty seven behold, here they are, and to Jerusalem.

I will give a messenger of good news, a messenger of the gospel. But when I look, there is no one. And there is no counselor among them who, if I ask, can give an answer. Behold, all of them are false. Their works are worthless. Their molten images are wind and emptiness. And then, against the background of that, the Lord says, Behold, my servant. There wasn’t anyone. There was no one who could carry the message. There was no appropriate or worthy conveyor of the good news for gospel. When I looked At Zion, when I scanned Jerusalem, there was no one.

But in chapter forty-two, verse one, behold, my servant. Now we have, in the thirteenth verse of chapter fifty-two, behold my servant once more, and against what has been said from that seventh verse of that chapter through verse twelve. Again, as it was in the thirty forty first and forty second chapters, the issue is the good news and the messenger of the good news, as verse seven makes plain, but now brought into view is the fact that Israel, Jerusalem herself, has undergone severe humiliation.

Humiliation and subsequently, consequently, exaltation. Enslavement through exile and imprisonment Exaltation coming through the release granted by God, His work, the bearing of His arm in the sight of all the nations, that the ends of the earth may see the salvation of God.

So, in verse ten, these things spoken of there related to the exile experience of the children of Israel. The good news being that even though they go into exile, they shall be redeemed, they shall be saved. So you come to verses 11 and 12, as if spoken to the people in exile. As it is spoken to their leaders, their priest, the park, the park, get out from there, get out from the place of exile, touch nothing unclean. Go out from the midst of her purify yourself because you’re going home and you’re going to serve in the temple.

Once more, you carry the vessels of the Lord. That’s the substance of the good news. Go out in haste. You will go out in haste. You will rather rather you will not go out in haste, unlike the former deliverance from Egypt, when the people went out in haste. Here you will not go out in haste. You will go out methodically. You will go out in patience. You will go out at your leisure, not as fugitives. The Lord will go before you. He will be your rear guard. You will go out in safety and without harassment. You will not be pursued, and you will not be destroyed.

Such is the nature of the good news delivered to Jerusalem. But you see, woven within this message from the Prophet, which draws forth now that statement, is a reflection upon the condition of Israel herself. For there is an element of surprise with regard to her condition, her humiliation, and her subsequent exaltation.

The circumstance is such that Israel has no right to expect deliverance. She has no right to expect that she will be saved. In fact, so far removed from her mind should that be, that when taking stock of the matter as a whole, she should conclude that it is utterly impossible for her to be rescued. She cannot be rescued.

The exile is viewed as more than a momentary. Humiliation. To which can be supplied a proper remedy. Out of the resort reserves and resources of the. The circumstances such that you must read the exile as death. and deliverance from that utterly impossible humanly speaking. Therefore, the character of the good news.

If the humiliation that Israel is to experience is a death If there is no deliverance possible for her, then the news is good indeed, because the power of God alone sets her free, brings her up from the grave, sets her on high, makes her new, gives her life afresh. It’s more than a matter of perceiving the magnificence of God’s dealings with Israel. It’s more than taking stock of the surprise that should overtake Israel as she thinks about the message that the prophet is delivering to her. In the midst of this, The Lord, rather than having Israel go upon herself, calls attention to the servant.

For you see, it will be by root of the servant. Israel, in her servanthood, having been ruined. It will be by root of the servant. That deliverance will truly be effective. The one true servant faithful. You’re right. The one upon. The one to whom we can impute no. The one who is without offense. The one who is guilty of no transgression. The one who is perfect in his service to God. Behold, my servant, so that here you see Isaiah becomes the preacher, albeit by grace, the preacher of a glorious redemption, even more magnificent than that experience by Israel when she was delivered from exile.

He will read into that exilic deliverance something more magnificent yet. so that it becomes merely a pointer to something utterly grand under absolutely transcendent in its war and magnet. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. You see what the Lord is doing here in the message of Isaiah.

He’s taking the exaltation of the exilic people. They are restored, and now he begins to read the servant in precisely the same pattern. He speaks, first of all, of the exaltation of the servant, and then he works backwards to the humiliation. Behold, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. But then note what is said in verse fourteen.

Just as many speaking about the nations that observed, even those within Israel who are amazed, just as many were astonished at you, my people, when you were restored from exile, when you out of humiliation then came to enjoy exaltation, that having been utterly impossible, just as many were astonished at you, my people.” So, it goes on, and he takes now into consideration the humiliation of the servant, so his appearance was marred. He draws the parallel between the humiliation at this point, the humiliation experienced by the children of Israel in exile, and the experience of the servant who, in his union with his people, is marred and defaced and disfigured. So his appearance was marred more than any man, and here he sets apart the servant and make sure that his audience understands that the servant is the unique one.

There isn’t anyone like him, not any in Israel. He is marred more than any man. He is disfigured more than any man. Now, the disfiguring and the marring experienced by the servant of God is not to be thought of as simply physical, as if his body was rent apart more than anyone else that had ever lived on the face of the earth. You see, it’s a lesson in contrast. The disfigurement, the marring, is against the background of the status and standing of the servant. No one has fallen so far to think of it.

The servant of the Lord, more disfigured than he, having undergone that humiliation, makes more are disfigured than any who’s ever lived. But just as there was astonishment when Israel was restored from exile, how much more now is there astonishment when one is raised from the grave, when one is taken forth from the bonds of death When one comes out of the tomb, as is true of Christ, his appearance was marred, his form destroyed, more than all the sons of men.

But you note what is said next. Is there a concentration upon the priestly ministry of the children of Israel as they come forth out of Babylon as they are restored from exile? Isn’t that what’s concentrated upon in verses eleven and twelve? Touch no unclean thing. Go out of the midst of her. Cleanse yourselves, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord.

But more now than merely a purification of vessels. and the picture of purification of the Levitical order and the priestly called more than these purifications is the purification of the nation, the sprinkling of them. Thus, through the marring of my servant through his disfigurement, there will be a sprinkling for the nation. The nations themselves plans. Was it not through the sprinkling through the baptizing of the vessels that were to be brought into the tabernacle and the temple to the baptizing of the priest through the baptizing of the people that they were brought near to God’s altar there to stand before his presence and to present their offerings. Now you There is a latter-day sprinkling, and that sprinkling comes through the ministration of the One who is marred and disfigured. By root of His marring disfigurement, by root of His suffering and humiliation, He provides the means for the sprinkling of the nations to the ends of the earth. The nations will be drawn through the baptism that is effectual through Christ, the sprinkling of the many nations.

And what astonishment follows! Those who may have raged the kings of the earth, those who had their own arguments protested because of the sanctity of their own rule, importance, and position. They are awestruck, dumbstruck, they have nothing to say, they shut their mouths on account of him. So amazing is this one who rises from humiliation and death to life and exaltation. The word going out to the nations then, what they had not been told, they will see. What they had not understood or heard, rather what they had not heard, they will understand.

And what is it? that they see, and what is it that they understand? Can I ask you? The issues that stand at the conclusion of the fifteenth verse, what is it? What is it that they see? What is it that they understand? Is it plain to you? Is it clear? They see and they understand the cross.

They see and they understand that instrument of the marring of the servant of the Lord. That instrument of his disfigurement. They see and they understand the means by which he will sprinkle the nations and make them clean so they can approach God and offer sacrifice. The sacrifice of themselves in honor, in thanksgiving. to him. They see, they understand, the cross.

From humiliation to exaltation, so that at root, the exile experience of Israel and her deliverance is a preparation for a prefiguring of, a premonition of the coming humiliation and exaltation of the servant of the Lord. But who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

Does it grab you now Can you see it? You’ve grown up with the cross all your life. and the astonishment that is spoken of here by Isaiah passes you by if you fail to meditate on the significance of what is being said. Don’t take it for granted. Don’t take it as that usual instruction that comes to you, that which you have been taught all of your life. Instead, take hold of what the prophet says here and live through the astonishment once more.

It is amazing. It is absolutely impossible. It can’t happen, but it did. and the focus of it, you see, all that God was doing from beginning to end was centered in that cross. Have I not been saying those things to you as I preached to you out of Matthew 5, endeavored out of the entirety of Matthew’s gospel to convince you that the law and the prophets have been always saying one thing, and that one thing is the cross of Christ. the cross of Christ. It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about the Golden Rule or the Great Commandment.

At the center of it is the cross of Christ, the humiliation of the one who comes to serve. He waits upon the Lord, and in due time, he is exalted by God, because he trusts in Him. The Lord becomes the servant and is duly exalted. He who wishes to be greatest among you, let him become the servant of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for men. Who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? You see why the question is so appropriate as we march into Isaiah 53? What we have here is the incomparable description of the humiliation of the servant of the Lord, and it’s precisely that which proves to be such an offense to the people of Israel.

They not even understanding the significance of their exile, nor do they yet to this day. They have not comprehended the significance of what has overtaken them in the world. They do not understand why they suffered so. in this century, or in former centuries, they do not comprehend it because they will not come to grips with the cross of Christ.

It remains the offense and they hate it. And they are determined to make you pay for it. And that is the significance of all the propaganda that we get out of Jerusalem, out of Tel Aviv, out of New York. They are determined to make you pay for. The message that they cannot tolerate that they will not accept. Is the cross, and because of that, they don’t even understand their own history. What a tragedy. It makes the apostle Paul weep. Weep. And we should weep for them. Who has believed the report? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Have you believed the report? The report is the cross. Have you believed it? That’s the message.

The bearing of the arm of the Lord is the cross of Christ, the servant of God, the one marred through whom the nations are sprinkled, and we of the nations now are gathered, all of grace, all of God’s choice, that we might embrace in full the message of Isaiah 53. What a humiliation for us observing the humiliation of the servant, but what an incomparable exaltation. What matchless glory is ours through the cross. And the glorification of the servant of the Lord, our We know his name.

Jesus. Let’s pray. Our Father, we cannot commend ourselves, for we did not see, we did not understand. We have no right or claim to you, we of the nations gathered now. For we were apart from the commonwealth of Israel, we were alien to the promises of God.

But by route of. The cost of. Your servant your son. He having been marred and disfigured more than any man. We have been sprinkled with cleansed made clean that we might approach the sanctuary of the Lord. And how marvelous. How marvelous our approach, for we are instructed in that by him. What a glory! For the final sacrifice has been offered, and by the blood of that sacrifice we have been sprinkled. And Lord, now we, by your grace, have received the report Our eyes have been opened to behold the servant of the Lord. Bless us, Lord, our God, in our service of you, in light of the things we behold out of your word. Amen.

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.