See, my servant will act wisely;
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him[c]—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so he will sprinkle many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand. [Isaiah 52:13-15 NIV]
These verses from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah are referring to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's Servant - It is God the Father who is speaking about Him as 'my servant. In order to grasp the meaning of this short passage, we need to focus on the two signposts. The first one is JUST AS …… and the second one is SO…….. The first signpost is referring to the crucifixion of Jesus which was still future when Isaiah was writing but he is so certain that it will happen that he uses the past tense. We are going to focus on this part in today's blog. It speaks of people being appalled at his suffering. But the passage goes on to speak of a more distant future event which is introduced by 'So.' So in the future he will have a massive impact on the world. Just as in the past many were shocked and appalled at His suffering, so in the future many will be shocked at his exaltation and glory.
It says that he will sprinkle many nations - this is a difficult expression to interpret. Some simply replace the word 'sprinkle' with 'startle' which seems to flow more smoothly. Notice that kings of the earth will be silenced. They will discover something which they had not been told. They will realise who Jesus truly is. They will come to understand that they have been wrong in ignoring Jehovah's perfect Servant. They are silenced because they have no defence. They realise when it is too late that they have made a great mistake. The 'kings of the earth' is an expression used in Revelation and I am convinced that it does not simply refer to King Charles and other royalty across the globe. I take it to mean those who dominate today's world - the celebrities. Those who are admired and revered by the 'inhabitants of the earth' - the rest of us who spend our time and energies admiring and even worshipping these celebrities from politics, the media, sport, commerce etc.
But I want to focus today on the description of the reaction of the onlookers to the effects of the sufferings of the Son of God. Those who witnessed Jesus suffering on the cross were astonished and appalled at what he was suffering. In the original Hebrew language the word that is used to describe the reaction of those who saw the death of Jesus is a very strong word. I am told that the word means that they grew numb or were stupefied. They had never before seen anything as awful as this. They were shocked or shattered at the sight of what the Saviour suffered. Crucifixion was a brutal form of execution and the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the first century must have witnessed many a victim of this appalling form of death penalty. But this time it was different - it was so bad that the onlookers were struck dumb - they were horrified.
His face or visage was so disfigured that he was unrecognisable. He was battered and bruised and swollen that it was impossible for those who knew him well to identify him. It goes even further - his face did not even seem to be human! In the gospels we read regularly that they struck him on the face.
Here is a detail from the account which Mark gives
Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and beat him with their fists. "Prophesy to us." they jeered. And the guards slapped him as they took him away. [Mark 14:65 NLT] This is a brief description of torture and humiliation of a prisoner by his captors. They are enjoying both inflicting unnecessary suffering and making it into a game for their entertainment.
But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.
This is what God's own Son suffered on the cross. Crucifixion was an awful form of death. This was the most cruel way to end the life of a criminal - but the Roman soldiers were killing an innocent man - their own trial by the Roman governor had not found any crime deserving the death penalty. This was the worst miscarriage of justice ever carried out. He was totally blameless and sinless. He had helped so many people in so many ways and yet the Jews wanted rid of him. They were not permitted to carry out the death penalty themselves so they handed him over to the Romans, their enemies, to do their dirty work for them.
Have we begun to appreciate that Jesus took this position willingly and he allowed his own creatures to treat him so badly so that we could benefit from his death? If he had not died, there would have been no hope for mankind this Easter. We need to come to terms with this and appreciate the true significance of the death of Jesus on a Roman cross. He was not just dying as a martyr. He was dying as a Saviour but he can only be your Saviour if you allow Him to come into your life. You need to surrender your resistance and your opposition to Him and declare that He is Lord. You need to acknowledge that you had a part in this great event. It was the biggest discovery I have ever made when I put my name on to the cross and appreciated that He was suffering and dying because of my sins. This transformed my life.
Isaac Watts wrote this hymn a long, long time ago but its words are so full of meaning that I am happy to quote it again.
When I survey the wondrous Cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the Cross of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most
I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my heart, my life, my all!
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