The Gospel According to Isaiah, Part 7, The Micro-Gospel

The Gospel According to Isaiah

Part 7: The Micro-Gospel

Isaiah 53:8-10

John 19:38 – 42  

Psalm 16:10

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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. 

Transcript

The Gospel According to Isaiah

Part 7: The Micro-Gospel

Hello everyone, and welcome back to our study in the book of Isaiah.

I would like to invite you to get your Bible and turn to Isaiah chapter fifty-three.

We will be looking at verses eight through ten in this study.

If you have not listened to all of the episodes in this study, please go back and listen to them.

There is a great deal of information that we have already covered and today is such an exciting portion of this passage.

Let us read today’s selection and then pray.

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. 

Father God, we are so thankful for Your word and for the opportunity to come together to study what You have ordained to be written for us. We ask that Your Holy Spirit lead this study today. That our eyes, ears, and hearts would be open to You. We ask these things in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.

As we have been looking through these verses, we have seen that Jesus was not well received by the people when He first came.

He was considered just another man, maybe a good teacher or a prophet by some, but only a few considered Him to be the Messiah.

They had Him arrested, beaten, turned over to the Roman authorities who beat Him some more, and then were responsible for His crucifixion.

We have seen that all of these things were part of the greater plan and will of God the Father to bring about salvation for those who would believe.

Today, we are going to see the events that happened after Jesus died.

In fact, this is a micro-gospel within a greater explanation of the gospel. 

Hopefully, by the end of this study, you will see what I mean by that.

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? 

The first thing we need to notice here is that this is no longer Israel speaking in these verses.

If you remember, the last few verses have been the people of Israel looking back at what was done to Jesus.

These verses are actually God the Father speaking, looking at the same events as the last few verses from a different perspective, and continuing the prophecy of Isaiah.

The Father sees that the Son was taken away by oppression and judgment.

We have already seen this and talked about it at some length so we will just do an overview of the things that are a repeat of previous studies.

Jesus was oppressed by His own people.

He was wrongly accused and judged for things that He did not do.

As for the people around Him, none of them considered what was being done for them.

They did not have the slightest clue that Jesus was being killed for their sins.

They considered Him a problem and wanted Him gone.

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. 

Here is where things take an interesting turn.

Only God, the Author and Chief Architect of this plan, could know that these things would happen.

What happened to Jesus’s body when He died?

Look at John chapter nineteen, verses thirty-eight through forty-two.

John 19:38 – 42  After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. (ESV)

Jesus was buried in a new tomb.

New tombs were hard to come by in those days, as they were expensive to cut and dig out of the rocky ground, especially around Jerusalem.

Only a rich man could afford to have a tomb in which no one had been laid waiting for him to use upon his death.

This tomb was in a garden, this would have been a common place for people to bury their dead, especially those who were a little more well-off than others. 

It is highly probable that there were wicked people also buried in the tombs in that garden. 

It is highly probable that there were righteous people buried in those tombs.

However, Isaiah does not mention the righteous, only the wicked.

Why would Isaiah make such a point to mention that Jesus would be buried with the wicked and in a rich man’s tomb?

Because this is such a contrast to who Jesus was in His earthly life that it would be a shock to those who saw what was going on.

Isaiah points this out in the second half of this verse, “although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”

Jesus never harmed anyone.

He never lied.

He never stole.

He never cheated.

He never coveted.

He never committed adultery.

He never broke any of the Law.

He never sinned.

He was the perfect, sinless sacrifice that was made so that those who would believe in Him would be saved.

The most exciting part of the entire gospel is outlined in the next verse.

Let us read it together.

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. 

Here is where we see the micro-gospel laid out in our verses today.

First, I want you to realize that everything that Jesus did when He was here on the earth, from the moment He was born to the moment He ascended back into Heaven, was the will of the LORD.

It was the plan made from before the foundation of the earth that Jesus would be born at the time He was born, that He would do the things He did, that He would accomplish the things He accomplished, that He would teach the things and the people He taught.

It was the plan made from before the foundation of the earth that Jesus would be betrayed by the person who betrayed Him, that He would be mocked the way He was mocked, that He would suffer the beatings that were laid upon Him by the Jewish people.

It was the plan made from before the foundation of the earth that Jesus would be handed over to the Roman authorities, that He would suffer more mocking and beating at the hands of the Romans, that He would ultimately be sentenced to die, and that His death would be by crucifixion.

It was the plan made from before the foundation of the earth that Jesus would become the supreme sacrifice for sin, that God the Father would pour out His wrath on God the Son in the man Jesus of Nazareth, the He would die on that cross, and that His body would be laid in a tomb, guarded over by Roman soldiers and sealed with a Roman seal.

It was all part of the plan made from before the foundation of the earth.

It was all the will of the LORD.

If you look throughout the Old Testament, you will find prophecy after prophecy after prophecy concerning the Messiah.

From Genesis through Malachi there are promises made to the people of Israel that the Messiah would come to them. 

Unfortunately, they miss the ones that talk about the Messiah having to suffer and die.

This is one of those prophecies that the people of Israel do not apply to the Messiah because it speaks of Him dying.

But that is what Jesus did.

He suffered and died because that was the will of the LORD.

That was the plan that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit decided on before the earth was formed.

Jesus did these things willingly for a people who, for the most part, would reject Him.

The second thing I want you to see in this verse is that Jesus did what He did as an offering for guilt.

Why would a guiltless, sinless person sacrifice Himself as an offering for guilt?

Because there is a reward for everyone involved.

Those who will believe in Jesus will be rewarded with salvation, eternal life in the presence of the eternal God, and freedom from all sin.

However, this verse tells us that Jesus will be rewarded also.

What is Jesus’s reward?

“He shall see His offspring.”

Wait a minute!

The last time we saw Jesus He was in a tomb!

That is the exciting part.

He is no longer in that tomb.

He is no longer dead, but He has been made alive by the same Holy Spirit that now indwells every true believer in Him.

He was raised from the dead, the stone that held the Roman seal was rolled away from the opening of the tomb, the soldiers ran away, and Jesus walked out of the tomb in all His glory!

That is how He will see His offspring.

So, who is His offspring?

Very simply, the offspring of Christ, as mentioned in this verse, can be defined as those who are saved by the work that He accomplished. 

Every true believer throughout all of history, past, present, and future, is the offspring of Christ.

The apostles, the thousands saved on the day of Pentecost, the tens of thousands saved during the following years, and the millions upon millions of people who have been called by the Holy Spirit and given the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ are the offspring of Christ.

In other words, you and I are the offspring of Christ.

We are Jesus’s reward for the work that He accomplished, which may be bizarre for some people and difficult to accept for others but look at what the verse says.

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. 

“When his soul makes an offering for guilt,” that is the work that Jesus did on the cross through His death, “He shall see his offspring,” that is the reward for the work.

The next thing I want you to see is this, “He shall prolong his days.”

What does that mean?

It is a two-part definition.

First, His life is prolonged by His resurrection.

Jesus died an actual physical death; His human body died.

Jesus was buried in an actual physical grave; His human body was buried.

Jesus was actually, physically resurrected out of the grave; His human body was resurrected.

Jesus ascended in an actual physical body; His human body, now glorified, ascended back into heaven.

Second, because He was raised from the dead in an actual human body, and He ascended into Heaven in a glorified human body, His body is part of Him and will not see corruption.

Psalm 16:10  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption. 

Jesus will live in His glorified body forever.

Finally, “The will of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.”

What is the will of the LORD?

It is to see those who will be saved come to know that salvation.

It really is that simple.

That is why all of the things that have been outlined in this one verse and the verses we have been studying had to take place; so that people can come to salvation.

That is the will of God Almighty.

So many people are searching this way and that way, looking for the will of God when it is right here in this verse.

The will of God is to save those who will believe in the work of Jesus Christ.

When we finally understand that it is the will of the LORD to save people, it should do some things for us.

First, our evangelism should become easier.

Knowing that God is with us we should never be in fear when we go out to do work of evangelism.

Too often people make excuses about why they do not go out and evangelize or witness to others, it is all fear-based and not faith-based.

Second, our devotional time should become deeper.

If God wills for us to be saved, then it logically follows that He also wants us to come to know Him in a deeper way.

Therefore, our personal devotional time should be even more God-centered and not man centered. (Although if your personal devotional time is ever man centered, I would start to question your salvation in the first place.)

Finally, our corporate worship services with other believers will be greatly impacted.

When we fully comprehend that God is at the center of our salvation and not any work that we can do, we can take our eyes off of ourselves and put them on Him.

He is the One we should be praising.

He is the One we should be worshiping.

He is the One we should be listening to in our sermons.

If our music or our sermons are self-centered or man centered in any way, then we do not understand that our salvation is from God and Him alone.

We still think that we have something to do with our salvation.

Guess what!

You have nothing to do with your salvation.

I have nothing to do with my salvation.

It is all up to God and Him alone.

That is what salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone is all about.

It is based on Scripture alone and we recognize it so that we can give glory to God alone!

Theologians call this monergism, meaning that the only One doing the work in salvation is God.

We are saved by the Father, through the work of the Son, and by the calling of the Holy Spirit, by whom we are also kept until our final day.

I have heard many pastors and preachers say that the only thing we bring to our salvation is the sin that makes it necessary.

This is really the only thing we bring to the table when it comes to being saved.

The Holy Spirit calls us, we bring our sins and lay them before the Father, the Son has already provided the sacrifice necessary for our salvation, therefore the Father forgives us.

That is salvation in a nutshell.

I hope now you can see why I call this verse a micro-gospel within the overall scope of the Gospel According to Isaiah.

Our next time together will be the last study in this particular section of Scripture.

We will close out Isaiah fifty-three and get ready to move on to our next study together.

There may be a bonus episode in between the two studies, however. 

I am playing with the idea, at least, of a bonus episode before we start our next series.

You will know for sure when it comes out, or doesn’t, whichever may be the case.

Let us pray.

Father God, we are so very thankful for the work that Jesus did for our salvation. We are thankful that You called us to You by the Holy Spirit. We are most thankful that You forgave our sins. Again, we thank You for Your word and especially for this portion of Your word. We love You and praise You. We pray these things in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Before you go, I wanted to remind you to check the show notes for important links concerning ways to support the ministry as well as ways to help us reach out to others. If this podcast is a blessing to you, please share it with others on whatever podcasting app you use.

Thank you and may God bless you.