Christmas 2021 – Christ, the guilt offering (Isa 53:10).

Sunday December 19,2021

When Jesus was born, Israel had not had a king for some 580 years. The last one, Zedekiah, was the worst of them all. David was the best. None of them were even close to being perfect in holiness.

To Mary, in Bethlehem, the one true King of all was born. Prophecy shows a victorious King and a suffering Servant: 2 Messiahs or 1?

Isa 7:14

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel [“God with us”].”

He will be human.

He will be a righteous and just King of all.

Isa 9:6-7

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,

On the throne of David and over his kingdom,

To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

From then on and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Psa 2:6

"But as for Me, I have installed My King

Upon Zion, My holy mountain."

Luk 2:10-11

And the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

He is the Savior [soter], who is the Anointed One [Christos] and God [kurios].

The establishment of His kingdom is described in some detail by the prophets.

Isa 65:17-25

"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;

And the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.

18 "But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;

For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing,

And her people for gladness.

19 "I will also rejoice in Jerusalem, and be glad in My people;

And there will no longer be heard in her

The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.

20 "No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days,

Or an old man who does not live out his days;

For the youth will die at the age of one hundred

And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred

Shall be thought accursed.

21 "And they shall build houses and inhabit them;

They shall also plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22 "They shall not build, and another inhabit,

They shall not plant, and another eat;

For as the lifetime of a tree, so shall be the days of My people,

And My chosen ones shall wear out the work of their hands.

23 "They shall not labor in vain,

Or bear children for calamity;

For they are the offspring of those blessed by the Lord,

And their descendants with them.

24 "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 "The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain," says the Lord.

However, centuries ago, the concept of the Messiah was somewhat paradoxical to the people of Israel because He was portrayed in the Scriptures as both a suffering servant who would give His life to save the people from their sins (Isa 53), and He was also portrayed as a victorious King who would defeat all of Israel’s enemies and establish His righteous kingdom.

The conundrum of suffering Messiah and victorious Messiah led to the belief in two Messiahs. The first, Messiah ben Joseph (Joseph son of Jacob), would fight Israel’s battles for freedom and peace but be killed in the process; the second, Messiah ben David, would usher in the kingdom of peace that was promised to Israel.

Over time some Jewish scholars came to believe that Isa 53 did not refer to the suffering servant but to the suffering of Israel as a nation. For many reasons that conclusion is impossible if we are going to take the text alone as legitimate.

But not all Jewish scholars agree that Isa 53 is a reference to Israel. The orthodox believe a personal Messiah will appear in Israel, but that he will not be divine. He will be a man from God who will deliver Israel from its enemies, judge the nations for their treatment of Israel over the ages, bring peace to Israel, and set up the Messianic Age which is a time of peace for the whole world.

Many more people, outside of the halls of Jewish scholarship, though they celebrate this holiday, have no idea who Jesus Christ the Lord is.

For those of us who have been found by Him, sheep rescued and brought into His fold, we have been entirely changed, made by Him into the new humanity fit for His kingdom. We are called to know Him fully, and when we do, we will be changed entirely in our thinking. The baby Messiah born that day had a unique mission, to say the least. That mission would show His own the only way of true life.

The NT writers quote Isa 53 nearly 50 times, 29 of those being in the gospels.

Mar 10:45

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Because the words don’t exactly match, we might think that this is not a quote from Isa 53, but we find that it is.

In the Gospel of Mark there are three-fold patterns found throughout the book. One of these is in Mar 8:27-10:52 where Jesus predicts His passion 3x.

At 8:27 is where Mark’s record of Christ’s many miracles changes to a record of Christ’s instruction. In each of the three instances in this section where Christ predicts His own suffering and death, the record follows the same pattern: the prediction is followed by misunderstanding, which is then followed by the Lord’s instruction. This wonderful literary device used by Mark under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is a gracious gift to us. None of us are really going to get what God says the first time we hear it, especially when it comes to the meaning and purpose of Jesus Christ and His work, and we might even respond in pride and stupidity, but God will patiently instruct us, waiting for us to see.

[table in on a slide]

Mar 10:32-41

And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, 33 saying, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and will deliver Him to the Gentiles. 34 "And they will mock Him and spit upon Him, and scourge Him, and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again."

35 And James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Him, saying to Him, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You." 36 And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  37 And they said to Him, "Grant that we may sit in Your glory, one on Your right, and one on Your left." 38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking for. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"  39 And they said to Him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. 40 "But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."  41 And hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John.

Then comes the instruction, which is much like the other two instances in Mark. He doesn’t say something like, “Come on guys, play fair,” or “Be nice, give someone else a chance,” or “Why can’t we all just get along?” Notice in the table that each teaching is an entreaty to be just like Him. “Deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow Me. Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it.” “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last and servant of all.” “Whoever wishes to be great and first shall be your servant and slave of all.”

Christ the King was born into the world to save us, and that salvation was to make us like Him.

Mar 10:42-45

And calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. 43 "But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. 45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

I’ll leave the Lord’s words up so we can compare.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mar 10:45)

Isa 53:10

But the Lord was pleased

To crush Him, putting Him to grief;

If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,

He will see His offspring,

He will prolong His days,

And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

Isa 53:10 “guilt offering” – asham = an offering that atones for sin.

Mar 10:45 “ransom for many”

There is a clear parallel between “guilt offering” and “ransom.”

Then we also find “the many” is the prophecy as well.

Isa 53:11-12

As a result of the anguish of His soul,

He will see it and be satisfied;

By His knowledge the Righteous One,

My Servant, will justify the many,

As He will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,

And He will divide the booty with the strong;

Because He poured out Himself to death,

And was numbered with the transgressors;

Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,

And interceded for the transgressors.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mar 10:45)

We find that Jesus isn’t exactly quoting Isa 53:10-12 and thus interpreting it from Hebrew to Greek, but is interpreting it and summarizing it. And He does this against the background of John and James’ underhanded grab for power and the twelve’s outraged response.

The Lord Jesus is not quoting Isa 53:10-12, but rather is interpreting and summarizing it with Himself as the guilt offering.

Isa 52:13-53:3 is about Him, the suffering Servant. But then three stanzas are about us and Him:

Isa 53:4-6

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,

And by His scourging we are healed.

6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all

To fall on Him.

Isa 53:6 is the admission of our guilt. Vv. 4-6 is our admission of Him as the only Savior.

We are hopeless sinners and only He can save us. The only thing we can do is to voice our guilt, and thus we lay claim to the one true guilt offering (vs. 10).

The shepherds of Israel in Jesus’ time (Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes) professed to be loyal to Yahweh and His Torah, but they were blind (Mar 4:12), hypocrites (Mar 7:6-13), impure (Mar 8:15), they blasphemed the Holy Spirit (Mar 3:29), made God their enemy, and resolved to do violence to the Servant (Mar 8:31).

Jesus’ disciples were also infected to some extent by these misunderstandings as they followed the soon to be crucified Messiah while they squabbled over preeminence.

But the redemption of man can only come through God’s unexpected way of the suffering Servant who was born in a trough in a nowhere town of Bethlehem.

He was born a King, the King of kings, while every other male or female child was born as rebels who all wanted to be kings.