NYUBF | New York UBF

2009 Easter Bible Conference
Message II by Peter Song Jr.

The Suffering Servant
Isaiah 53:1-12

Key Verse 53:5

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;  the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

If you had the ability to tell the future, how would you use this special gift?  Imagine seeing into the future and knowing exactly what is going to happen. Wouldn’t that be awesome?  You would know exactly what is going to be on all your final exams, not just this semester, but every semester!  4.0 here I come.  Don’t we all wonder and hope for our futures?  What our lives have in store for us to come?  Where we are going to be in 5, 10, 20, 50 years from now?  Wouldn’t you like to know who your future husband or wife is going to look like?  Thank God glad my wife Hyewon did not have this power.

The prophet Isaiah lived about 700 years before the time of Jesus.  Not only was he a prophet, he lived as a statesman for 4 kings.  He was in a position where he could see the status of his people.  He could see all the good and all the bad that was going on in the land.  The Lord called upon Isaiah to warn his people of their headlong rush into disaster due to their rebellion & idolatry.  He was given visions of the demise of his country and people and the necessity of a savior for his people.  His message was not to be a popular message, but a very important one in foretelling God’s plan for the world.  How can words of a man be fulfilled nearly 700 years after they were documented almost to the very word?  Reading this chapter in Isaiah is like reading a manuscript of who Jesus was & of his life on earth.

The bible has the old & new testament, which can also be described as covenants.  A covenant is a one-way agreement whereby the covenanter is the only party bound by a promise. Once accepting this promise we enter a covenant relationship with God.   The bible is God’s promise to us, his people.

It’s so amazing to read prophesies in the Old Testament and how they were fulfilled to the detail in the New Testament.  It’s like a great episode of the TV series Lost.  Very captivating and mysterious.  It can really give you Goosebumps to see how detailed the similarities are.  Yes this is a remarkable thing, however what is truly amazing is God’s love towards his people & His faithfulness in keeping his word.

Part 1 The Suffering Servant

Let’s read verse 1
Who has believed our message to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

This question is actually half part question, half part challenge.  Isaiah knows the words he has to say are a tough message to accept.  He knew it would be a mixed bag of reactions to his message.  It’s almost as if he is asking,

“Are you ready to hear and are you willing and able to believe this message?  Can you truly believe this message that the Lord has given?

Verses 2-3 describe the servant of the Lord.
2     He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.  He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

When we think of growing plants we think of life. And we envision lush green gardens with flowers blooming.  However Isaiah gives us imagery of dry infertile ground in harsh desert like conditions.  It just sounds miserable and depressing.  He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

This sure doesn’t sound like the description of a savior or messiah like figure.  We are a nation of image conscious people.  We want to portray ourselves in the best possible way.  When we go to a new Doctor we scan his or her wall to see their credentials.  If we were to see only elementary & middle school diplomas, we would be a little nervous.

President Obama is a good looking, eloquent speaker, has a beautiful family and has a certain charisma.  He is someone that America was attracted to, a very leader like image.  The portrayal of a presidential candidate is very important to how people react and eventually vote for that candidate.   Shouldn’t Isaiah instead of describing this messiah figure in such a unappetizing way, write instead something along the lines of, he grew up like a rose sprouting from rich fertile meadows.  He was glorious, strong, majestic and came riding in on a white horse.  He was like a knight in shining armor.  Now that’s more like it right?  Well, maybe for a fairy tale, but we all know that life is certainly not a fairy tale & not everything goes as we plan all the time.

Verse 3 says he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

In those days the Jewish people viewed those who were prosperous as those who were good and right with God. Conversely those who lived lives of suffering and misfortune were looked upon as those who have sinned and were cursed by God.  In many levels, we believe the same thing today.  According to verse 3 the messiah would not only be a poor figure, but he would be one who was despised.  The mentioning of being a despised figure is brought up twice in this verse.  Despised, despised, rejected, suffering, sorrows.  We read verse 2 & 3 and we feel sorry for this poor figure.

To feel despised is one of the most terrible feelings.  Personally I would rather be hated or feared than to be despised.  When I was growing up, nothing angered me more than being called a racist remark.  It’s a degrading feeling to be treated differently because of your outward appearance.  You feel helpless and full of anger, looking to seek some type of revenge for this injustice.
To be rejected is also very terrible.  Anyone who has applied to colleges and awaits acceptance letters only to find letters of rejections knows very well the feeling of being rejected.  When I was applying to college my grades were very poor and I experienced these feelings many times as I applied to many many schools.  I was rejected by many States of America. It’s also very humiliating and hurtful to be rejected by people.  To be an outsider to classmates & coworkers, in relationships and dating, even by family members.  Rejection puts us in a very lonely place.

Of course nobody likes to be despised & rejected yet Jesus came to this earth willingly to be despised, rejected, to suffer and to even be a man of sorrows.

Why would he do this?  The son of God who was the darling of heaven came to be a man of sorrows in order to deeply understand our sorrows.  Some people are very sorrowful due to suffering from growing up poor, many people are sorrowful because of losses of loves ones.  Others feel pain and misery from the feelings of rejection from a bad break up or divorce.  God’s plan for the restoration of his people was through the suffering, shame and sorrow that his only son had to face from the very same people he came to save.  He wanted to be able to comfort those who experience sorrow & rejection.

These days if Jesus came in the same way as he first did and as he was described in these verses, I wonder how we would react to Him.

This is the day and age where superstars carefully craft their personalities to maximize their market power, A worldwide superstar like Tiger Woods carefully chooses which products and companies to endorse using his famous marketable name in order to protect his image.  We have come to expect our stars and even our leaders in a certain format.  Would we reject and despise him the same way that he was the first time he came?

Part II    The Wounds that Heal

Lets read verse 4
4    Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

How we might treat Jesus may or may not be the same, but one thing would certainly not change.  Jesus would yesterday, today & tomorrow take up our infirmities and carry our sorrows.  He could carry our sorrows because he loves us and also because he too was a man of sorrows who understands our pain and suffering.  Often times we are stubborn & proud and feel as if only we can solve our own problems.  My sins & situation are so terrible that nobody can help me.  We want to carry our burdens, in a way punishing ourselves.  We even like to feel sorry for ourselves.  We like to fuel our anger at others due to our suffering.  We stress ourselves out with never ending bills.  However this doesn’t have to be the case.  Let Jesus take up your infirmities & carry your sorrows.  Jesus wants us to give all our messes and problems to Him.  When we finally do, it’s at this moment where we can understand grace and true love.

What a wonderful message of hope, that we can live a life that is burden free & full of grace and love.  There seems to be so many different reasons people are sorrowful.  These days there is a lot of talk of financial instability and disaster. Every other marriage in America is ending in divorce.  I was recently surprised to learn that 40% of childbirths are now out of wedlock. In the last month there has been 8 separate mass murders resulting in the lives of 57 victims.

In one instance a man in Washington State shot and killed 5 of his own children before killing himself because of the distress and fear of not being able to support his family because of a lost job.  And of course many of us were shocked to hear recently the shootings of 13 people in Binghamton, NY where the killer was set off from losing a job and from being despised for his lack of English.

We live in a chaotic world that is full of the sorrowful & wounded.  This is because we live in a world that is full of sin.  Since the fall of man with Adam & Eve, mankind has been infected by the sin virus.  Because of sin we face death and separation from the holy God.  Because of sin we hurt each other whether intentionally or unintentionally.  Without any resolution between God and man the gap between us grows wider and wider.  For sins of the past, present and future Jesus came to fill that gap, so we can cross to be with our father in heaven.  He is our true leader, savior and messiah.

However in order to be reunited with our Lord, there needed to be atonement for our many transgressions.  Even if it were just 1 transgression there would need to be atonement for that sin.  According to Jewish custom and law there needed to be an animal sacrifice where the sins of the people would be transferred upon this sacrifice.  When the blood of that animal was spilt, it would signify the atonement for the people’s sins.

This is the seriousness of sin.  That God’s own son had to come down to be a sacrifice for our past, present and future mistakes.  How miserably unfair it is.

I recently read an article about how a boy who killed his stepbrother at the age of 13 was locked away for life with no parole.  I got conflicting thoughts about this because my heart goes to this boy who made a tragic mistake at a young age and would have to suffer the consequences without any chance.  Yet, there was a serious violent crime with a victim and he was in fact 100% guilty.  Both arguments can be made for this boy and many others like him. However it is clear to say that a sinless innocent man paying the price for billions of sinful souls is rather unfair.

Verse 5 digs deeper into the depth of the broad shoulders of Christ.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;  the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Transgressions mean a violation of the law.  Iniquities mean a gross injustice or wickedness.  You can view it sort of as a Transgression in the 1st degree.  For our basic sin he was to be pierced, for our greater sin he was to be crushed.  The greater or more wicked our sin, the harsher the punishment that was to be brought upon him.

700 years before the life and death of Jesus Christ on the cross, these words were written about the coming messiah.

The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds We are Healed

Lets repeat this please

The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds We are Healed

The punishment that was brought upon Him because of My sin brought ME peace & healed MY wounds.

My life before Christ did not have much suffering, not much sorrow.  I was fortunate & blessed to have a great Christian family who has supported me throughout my life.  However my faith was one based on my parent’s faith and I never took care of my spiritual life very seriously.  In college I found myself burdened by the guilt placed on my sinful life and I lived by the mantra, Life is short enjoy every minute while you can.  Life was a big game.  I spent every moment figuring out how to just enjoy life, playing basketball, bbqing, drinking heavily and eventually getting involved with many drugs.  I had lost all values and lived life in a very animalistic way.  Sad to say, but this is so common in our culture, & is considered to be the norm in college.   I became more and number as time passed and I looked to fill the empty feeling in my heart more and more with drinking with friends and trying to have fun.  I was broken but I didn’t even realize it.

By God’s grace, eventually over time my heart was softened week by week after I had moved back to New York City from Buffalo.

By attending Sunday worship service again, my heart began to feel lifted and energized.  I started to feel whole again.  Through bible study with Missionary David Baik, Missionary William Shin & Working with my Dad and talks with him, my eyes became open to my real spiritual problem.  God opened my eyes to see that I was not only a sinner because of my many transgressions, but that I was a sinner also because of the pride in my heart & my selfishness unto those around me.

I eventually accepted Jesus Christ as being the son of God in my heart and in doing so He healed all my wounds and brought me true peace for the first time in my life. How could this be??  I don’t know how many times I have said that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, so casually and so rehearsed before I truly believed these words on a personal level.

Verse 6 reads
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

It’s easy to think that its the sins of murderers, rapists, thieves & other criminals that brought this type of punishment upon Jesus, but verse 6 clearly tells us that the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us ALL.

I wondered all my life if God is real, yet never really searched Him.  Once I finally looked to find Him honestly and truthfully, and by faith, He was there.   Not only was he there but he took my transgressions and iniquities upon his shoulders.  His death on that cross became very personal to me.  He did not just die for a terrible world.  He died for a terrible world that I was a part of.  I remember when I first really took this to heart.  When I would see the telephone poles in the streets, every pole looked like the cross.  I had to stop looking at telephone poles for a while.  Once in awhile I look to remind myself by envisioning His death on that cross.  It was during this time in my life that for the first time I felt true grace and forgiveness for my sins.

This message of good news and hope came to the world through the words of Isaiah the prophet.  700 years later, Jesus Christ came as the fulfillment of this message.  2000 years after the life and death of the messiah the power of this hope and promise holds true.

2000 years later Jesus Christ is still healing our wounds and bringing us peace one by one.  He is still the answer to mans largest problem: our sin problem.  There are many wounded, sorrowful, despised, rejected & hopeless souls in this world.  Only the prince of heaven who came to our level to suffer, feel sorrow, be despised and face rejection can truly comfort us, heal us and save us.

This is how he befriended & healed the heart of the Samaritan women who had 5 husbands.  She was despised by her community & faced rejection & loneliness every day, even to gather water by herself in order to avoid the gossip and condemning looks.  Through his understanding he was able to eat with tax collectors, prostitutes and other so called public sinners to free them from their lives of sin and restore their hearts and their relationship with God.

Jesus came to this world with a purpose and a mission.

Verse 7 reads
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

He went to that cross willingly, and obediently.  This was God’s will and sacrifice for the redemption of the world.

We can read John 1:29 where Jesus is described as this lamb.  The lamb of God

John 1:29  The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Jesus came with no beauty or majesty, but he is gentle & humble in heart. He came as a gentle lamb.   There is true rest in Him & he can restore us when we give our lives to Him and learn from Him.

This Easter let us look into our hearts to see the state of our heart.  Search for all burdens & sorrows & give them up to Jesus.  Allow Him to take up our infirmities and carry our sorrows.  Through this we will find rest, peace and hope.

Let‘s remember how Jesus Christ took up all of our transgressions & iniquities and how he has healed our wounds and brought peace upon our lives through his mercy and grace.

Lets read the key verse together
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;  the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

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