The Suffering Servant

Isaiah 53:1-12

The last three verses of Isaiah 52 and this chapter form the fourth of four songs in the book of Isaiah about the servant of Jehovah. With a poetic pathos his fourth song portrays the suffering servant: “He was despised and rejected of men.” “Nowhere in all the Old Testament” is Christ “so plainly and fully prophesied as in this chapter,” said the Bible commentator Matthew Henry. When Philip, a leader in the early church, explained this chapter to a man from Ethiopia, he “opened his mouth, . . . and preached unto him Jesus" (Acts 8:26-38).

Who hath believed our report?
   and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
   and as a root out of a dry ground:
he hath no form nor comeliness;
   and when we shall see him,
   there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men;
   a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
and we hid as it were our faces from him;
   he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs,
   and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem him stricken,
   smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
   he was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
   and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
   we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD hath laid on him
   the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
   yet he opened not his mouth:
he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
   and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
   so he openeth not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment:
   and who shall declare his generation?
for he was cut off out of the land of the living:
   for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked,
   and with the rich in his death;
because he had done no violence,
   neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him;
   he hath put him to grief:
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,
   he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days,
   and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
   for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
   and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he hath poured out his soul unto death:
   and he was numbered with the transgressors;
and he bare the sin of many,
   and made intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit Will Come; He is Taken up into Heaven

Acts 1:1-11

Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. The “former treatise” is his gospel, and the events mentioned in these verses are also found in the last chapter of Luke. Jesus promised that his followers would be baptized with the Holy Ghost and said to tell others about himself even to “the uttermost part of the earth.” Jesus then ascended into heaven. The Holy Ghost came upon the disciples ten days later on the Day of Pentecost.

            The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

            When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

            And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Comfort and Good Tidings for God's People

Isaiah 40:1-9

In this amazingly rich passage, Isaiah speaks of a future time when everything will be made right. These words are familiar because they were used in Handel’s “Messiah.” They were also used by Martin Luther King, Jr. when in 1963 he quoted verses 4 and 5 and told two hundred thousand civil rights supporters of his dream “that one day every valley shall be exalted.” And Matthew explained that Isaiah’s description of “the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness” referred to John the Baptist, who announced the coming of the Messiah.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,
   that her warfare is accomplished,
   that her iniquity is pardoned:
for she hath received of the LORD 's hand
   double for all her sins.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the LORD,
   make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted,
   and every mountain and hill shall be made low:
and the crooked shall be made straight,
   and the rough places plain:
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
   and all flesh shall see it together:
   for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

The voice said, Cry.
   And he said, What shall I cry?
All flesh is grass,
   and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth:
   because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it:
   surely the people is grass.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth:
   but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

O Zion, that bringest good tidings,
   get thee up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings,
   lift up thy voice with strength;
lift it up, be not afraid;
   say unto the cities of Judah,
   Behold your God!

After His Resurrection, Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

John 20:1-18

The central point of the Bible is not the death of Christ, but his resurrection, for “if Christ be not risen, then . . . your faith is also vain" (I Corinthians 15:14). Here we are told that Mary, Peter, and John went into the tomb and found only the clothes in which Christ’s body had been wrapped. Mary then told two angels that someone had taken away the body of her Lord. Jesus appeared to her and she told him the same thing before she realized that she was speaking with Jesus himself.

            The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

            Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

            But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

            Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

"For Unto Us a Child Is Born"

Isaiah 9:2-7

These verses form one of the most moving passages of Scripture. Isaiah had been declaring punishment upon Judah in chapter 8 because “there is no light in them.” But, in this chapter hope is renewed; the people that walked in darkness  “have seen a great light,” and the king is to begin his reign. The description of the king, the Messiah, begins with a child being born. His kingdom is characterized by peace, judgment, and justice.

The people that walked in darkness
   have seen a great light:
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death,
   upon them hath the light shined.
Thou hast multiplied the nation,
   and not increased the joy:
they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest,
   and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden,
   and the staff of his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
   as in the day of Midian.
For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise,
   and garments rolled in blood;
   but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
For unto us a child is born,
   unto us a son is given:
   and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called
   Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God,
   The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
   there shall be no end,
upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,
   to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice
   from henceforth even for ever.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.