The Gospel According to Isaiah
Part 1: An Overview
Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12
A Catechism for the Church can be found at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YXL2J71/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1
Journaling Through the Scriptures: A Bible Study Method can be found at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YXTG6TS/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
The Sermon on the Mount: Practical Lessons from Jesus can be found at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B2QNXDBX/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
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Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Music: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Robert Robinson and John Wyeth (Public Domain.) Arranged and performed by Ginger Manning. Recorded and mastered by Gordon Manning.
The Gospel According to Isaiah
Part 1: An Overview
Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12
A Catechism for the Church can be found at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YXL2J71/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1
Journaling Through the Scriptures: A Bible Study Method can be found at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YXTG6TS/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
The Sermon on the Mount: Practical Lessons from Jesus can be found at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B2QNXDBX/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Please follow us on:
www.instagram.com/redriverministries
www.redriverministries.wixsites.com/red-river-ministries
to keep up with what is going on in the ministry.
You are able to give to the ministry securely through PayPal simply by clicking here.
Remember to subscribe to this podcast so you never miss an episode.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Music: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Robert Robinson and John Wyeth (Public Domain.) Arranged and performed by Ginger Manning. Recorded and mastered by Gordon Manning.
The Gospel According to Isaiah
Part- 1: An Overview
Through the next several episodes we will be looking at a well-known passage of Scripture from the book of Isaiah.
As we look at this passage, we will explore the prophecy that God gives through Isaiah and how that prophecy has been fulfilled.
One thing that I want to let everyone know before we get started is this: we will be using the English Standard Version of the Bible for this study, and possibly going forward with this podcast, instead of the New King James Version as we have for past studies.
This is simply a decision that I have made based solely on readability and availability of the ESV.
However, you use whichever version of the Bible is most convenient for you.
I feel that the most important thing is not the version of the Bible that you use, but that you commit to reading and studying the Bible.
As long as you use a translation and not a paraphrase, you will get a close representation of what the original writers intended.
Simply put, translations are taken from the original languages where paraphrases are what the contemporary author feels makes the Bible more relatable to modern audiences.
Use the Bible that you are comfortable with, and do not let legalism stand in the way of what works for you.
Now, with all that behind us, let us look at the Scripture we are going to be in for our next several studies together.
Turn in your Bible to Isaiah chapter fifty-two, verse thirteen and we are going to read through verse twelve of chapter fifty-three.
Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12
Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
Isaiah 52:14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
Isaiah 52:15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Isaiah 53:2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:7 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.
Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
Isaiah 53:9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isaiah 53:11 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, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Let us pray.
Father God, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for another opportunity to come together to study Your Word. Teach us, lead us, guide us, and help us to understand what Your Word says to us. We ask these things in the name of Your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Many years ago, I heard a sermon on this passage and the preacher called this passage of Scripture the “Gospel According to Isaiah” and I have never heard a more accurate description of what is going on in these verses since then.
In these verses Isaiah records the truth of the Gospel and how it is that we obtain salvation.
Everything about what Christ has done for us is given in this passage, yet we often simply skip over when we are looking at sharing the gospel with others.
I often wonder why it is that we overlook such a simple and succinct writing of what Christ did and why it is that we try to overcomplicate the gospel all the time?
This passage tells of the birth, life, death, resurrection, and eternal work of Jesus Christ in just a few verses, yet we do everything we can to make all those things so much more difficult than they need to be.
Throughout the next several episodes of this podcast we will be exploring this passage in depth, but today I want to do a quick overview, a flyover if you will of what is going on in these verses.
If we are going to understand what the good news of what Christ has done for us truly is, then we need to understand what it is that God spoke through Isaiah concerning what Christ would do for us when He came and what would happen to Him.
Let us look at this Scripture together briefly today and anticipate a more in-depth look at it in the future.
Before we get into these verses, however, I want to bring up on thing that has been a major controversy concerning this passage.
As Christians, we understand that this passage is a prophecy concerning the coming of Christ and His work in our salvation.
However, among many Jewish scholars, there has been centuries, even millennia, of teaching that the “suffering servant” that this passage and other passages in Isaiah portrays, is actually the nation of Israel.
I want to make sure everyone is aware of this controversy before we really get into this study because it could come up in your conversations, especially with unconverted Jewish people.
Please remember to show some grace with them as they have been taught this since the prophecy was written.
Okay, now we can do a quick overview of this passage.
Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
Jesus was high and lifted up and exalted during His triumphal entry into Jerusalem
Isaiah 52:14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
Yet, after His betrayal, He was beaten beyond what anyone could recognize.
Isaiah 52:15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
Sprinkle here can also mean to startle.
Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Isaiah 53:2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
Jesus was born and grew up like all of us; on the outside He was no different from any other child in Nazareth.
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Yet, when He came, He was not accepted as the long-expected Messiah.
Isaiah 53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
God the Father put on Him the punishment for our sins.
It is because of that punishment that we are made free.
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
We are so arrogant, sometimes, to think that we know better than God what is best for our own lives.
Isaiah 53:7 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, in His willingness to be our sacrifice, did not try to stop what was happening to Him.
Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
There was never any doubt that Jesus actually, truly died on that cross.
Isaiah 53:9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Even though Jesus did nothing to deserve the death He experienced, it still happened the way it was prophesied.
Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Again, it is made clear that all of these things are done because the Father willed them to be done.
If Jesus has died and been buried, how then shall He see His offspring or have His days prolonged?
This is the prophecy of the resurrection.
Isaiah 53:11 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, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, many are made righteous.
In other words, this verse tells of those who will come to faith in Christ and be made righteous through His work.
Isaiah 53:12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
The end of this verse tells us what Jesus is doing now, making intercession for us.
Of course, He does this because of the other works that He has done on our behalf, because He is of one mind with the Father and is not willing that anyone should perish.
I know this has been a lot of history and maybe some other boring stuff for some of you who are listening, but I think it is important to get a good foundation before we begin a new study, especially on such a well-known and heavily preached passage of Scripture.
Through the next several episodes we are going to explore this passage more thoroughly, examining exactly how and when Jesus fulfilled each part of this prophecy and why it is important to us that He is the servant of Isaiah and not the nation of Israel, as the Jewish people have been taught for so long.
We will also be looking at some of the incorrect teaching that this passage has been made part of over the years, and why it is important to read and study verses in context instead of ripping a single verse out of a passage and claiming it for yourself and your flawed theology.
That is something we will get into in a later study.
Until then, I hope you have enjoyed this brief overview of these fifteen verses, and I look forward to studying the “Gospel According to Isaiah” with you in the coming episodes.
Let us pray.
Father God, we thank You once again for the Word that You have given to us. We thank You for the love that has been poured out upon each on listening to the podcast and we pray that You would continue to move in their lives. Help us all to understand Your Word more, so we can know You better each day. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thank you all and may God bless you richly in the mercies of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit.