The Sacrifice is Sufficient - Isaiah 49:1 - 53:12

While growing up on the family farm it was necessary for me to make dad a farm hand the year around; and I can distinctly remember that time crept by very slowly in those days. It was not unusual for me to work as many as 200 weeks from one Christmas to the next. {Time seemed to creep by} Congress started messing around with our clocks, moving them forward and backward and it caused a great difference with the passing of time. Time goes much faster now. I have only had enough time to take two showers and get one hair-cut since last Christmas, and here it is Palm Sunday; next Sunday we will celebrate Easter. Where did over three months go?

At Christmas time, we always try to tie the Bible lesson plan in with the story of our Lord’s birth, which is as it should be. To me, it is just as appropriate for us to discuss his death and resurrection at Easter time and we will. Today we will talk about his reason for coming, his preparation for His sacrifice He made. It actually makes it more interesting to me when I realize the Bible source of the information being used today is coming from Isaiah; he foretold this story about the life of Christ hundreds of years before the Jesus was born. His prophesy is as detailed and accurate as is the history written by eye witnesses, and there are no contradictions.

Some of you may be skeptical of the Bible and at least have doubts about some of the miracles as recorded. You should find much strength and assurance when you read the truth about how Isaiah and other prophets were able to predict with precision the birth, life and death of Christ about eight hundred years before the event happened exactly as they told us it would. Prophesies made that have come true hundreds of years later help us to know that we know the Bible to be the true Word of God.

People did not have to wait until after the life of Christ to know who the Messiah would be. They did not have to wait until the New Testament was written to find that Christ lived, died for our sins and was resurrected and ascended back into heaven. And they did not have to wait past their own generation to know for sure that His SACRIFICE WOULD BE SUFFICIENT. Isaiah explained it well in the scriptures we are studying today. The 53rd chapter is one of the most amazing prophecies ever made. I keep warning us in the beginning of the 21st century that even though God is love, there is a limit beyond which he will not tolerate blatant disobedience of His people. The Israelites, for some reason, never seemed to understand this characteristic of Jehovah; and King Uzziah completely ignored the law of God, and the Jewish people had turned to their idols and selfish desires. Remember that God called Isaiah on the day Uzziah died. He was called to specifically warn these disobedient people that they could either change their ways or there would be a series of wars that would completely annihilate the Kingdom—even Jerusalem and the temple.

In the eighth century B.C. Isaiah met the Lord, high and lifted up—he got his instructions and started his work. You will find that chapters 40 to 66 cover the look ahead to the Babylonian exile and the time when only a remnant of the Jews would be left and finally able to return to their home country. It seemed that he was a bearer of nothing but bad news, but that was not completely so. In God’s time a remnant would be able to return to what would be a New Jerusalem under the rule of their new Messiah.

Isaiah explained to the people that because of their disobedience they would be conquered and exiled by their enemies but that through Babylon, Assyria, and others there would be a remnant that would eventually be able to return and rebuild their land, and bring His people back to Him; not only this but they would also be charged to carry this good news of salvation to all people everywhere. He told them that they would be released from exile and would even feel they had been rejected, but he declared that God had not forgotten them and that their defeat was only punishment for their sins. God would restore them and their restoration would witness to His lordship [49]. This all cam true just as he told them it would.

Listen dear friend, don’t miss this fact! Isaiah was telling the Jewish people [and us] what was going to happen 800 YEARS BEFORE IT HAPPENED: And it happened just as he had predicted. The Bible confirms this as truth. Oh, so you do not believe the Bible? Well, history books confirm that these wars took place and the temple was destroyed. Do you believe history books? Yes. Or No. Maybe you should question whether or not Columbus discovered America; or even whether or not there was ever a new settlement at Plymouth Rock. Did the English attack early America? Was there ever a Spanish American War? How do you know? If you believe historians regarding American history, why do you doubt historians who confirm the Bible history to be true?

Isaiah explained that the Jewish Messiah would come; and this new [GOOD] King would set up his throne and reign forever more. Then in chapter 53 Isaiah explained in detail who this new king would be, and all the details of his virgin birth, his physical description, his life’s work, and finally THE SUFFICIENT SACRIFICE that he would make to save his people forever. AND ACCORDING TO HISTORY IT HAPPENED JUST AS ISAIH PREDICTED OVER 800 YEARS BEFORE. WOW! Nothing gives me more faith in all the word. Through Isaiah, God called the people of that day to wake up. Through the teaching and preaching of the church you are being called to wake up and demonstrate that you have faith; and prove through your service that you do love Him. Here is what Isaiah said He would look like, what He would do and how his people {including you and me], and how you and I would accept or reject Him. [Notice that much of this is written as if it had already happened. Isaiah looks ahead and sees as plainly as you and I can look back and see that he was correct.]

53:1-12. His birth would seem as normal to the people as it was normal for a plant or weed to sprout and come up out of the ground. That is, He would be borne by a woman in natural childbirth. He would look like all other babies, with nothing different or noticeable that would set him apart from others. He did not look like a rising king; he was just another unwanted root that had sprouted. Jews expected the birth to come out of royalty, in a palace, with servants attending; and instead he was born in a stock yard stable, and raised in Nazareth not Jerusalem.

This is written in past tense hundreds of years before it happened and we can go to Matthew and read about it happening over 2000 years ago, after it happened. How did Isaiah know that? The only thing to discuss is the reference to sickness. We have no record of Jesus being sick as unto death with others. But he was around sick people, and served sick people, and healed sick people so he knew what sickness was. He was despised and rejected. Now look at the present tense: He is still despised and rejected today just as he was then—by many but not the faithful few. Which side are you on? It has to be one or the other. Do you despise Him? Have you rejected Him? Or, have you accepted Him? Why do you think the people living in A.D. 27-30, the time of his teaching life, rejected him as the Son of God? Why do people today reject him as Savior and Lord?

Jews had been accustomed to the use of birds and animals as their sacrifices and so it must have been difficult for them to fully understand that in this case their New Messiah would be the sacrifice for the sins of others. Isaiah described in detail how his death would involve more than just the crucifixion. Words to describe different types and levels of punishment and pain were such as stricken, afflicted, pierced and crushed. His people were thinking on a different level and it was impossible for them to visualize the New King being the sacrifice for his people. A servant or an animal should be the sacrifice, while the New King was being crowned.

They had problems understanding that each one of them was a guilty sinner. We have the same problem. If you talk to the unsaved about being saved, one of the most common replies you will receive sounds something like this. “I have always been a good person, I donate to charity, I have given all my spare time to working with youth in little league. I am truthful, honest and try to be a good neighbor.

Isaiah speaks of Israel as wandering sheep and the Messiah as the shepherd that would bring them back to the fold. People today that condemn the Jews for not accepting Isaiah’s warning must realize that they had to look forward into the unknown and believe; whereas we can look back into the known and recorded history given to us by eyewitnesses. God will have a greater reason for condemning us for our unbelief, than he has for condemning the Jew.

As you conclude your study of this lesson, through your mind’s eye, look back at the last three days of the life of Christ that led up to his death on the cross. Try as best you can to visualize him praying in the garden that God would find another way. Look in his face when he returned to his disciples and found them asleep and not praying for him. Feel his heart beat as Judas and the soldiers came to arrest him. Attend the trial and watch the crowd scream for his destruction. Look into his eyes as John denies him the third time and leaves the court yard.

Follow along with the crowd that pushed, shoved and beat him all the way to the hill of skulls. Listen to the whip as the lashes filed with metal spikes and glass, cut through his skin and watch the blood run down. Observe closely the Roman soldiers pounding spikes through his hands and feet. Hear his last prayer; “God forbid them for they don’t know any better.”