The Person of the Messiah / Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Well church, it is good to see you this week. Merry Christmas to you all! It is hard to believe Christmas is next week. Where did December go all of a sudden? Where did this entire year go?
As we enter into this Christmas season, I have to ask a question. For those of you who grew up in families where gift-giving is part of your Christmas tradition, have you ever received a gift that you knew for certain what it was going to be? You were absolutely convinced, only to open that gift and experience that awkward moment where you realize the ugliness of your own entitlement because of the sheer disappointment you feel? It wasn’t at all what you thought it was, and you find yourself forcing a smile saying, “Oh… thank you. Thanks for this.” Anybody had those moments?
I can think of many, but one in particular leads right into where we are headed today. Back in the early eighties when I was a young boy, I remember a particular Christmas where my mom sat me down. Honestly, this may have been every Christmas, but this year stood out. She sat me down and said, “Shay, I know there are a lot of things you want for Christmas, but the truth is, you need clothes.” No young boy ever wants to hear those words at Christmas. “Clothes? Really?” She continued, “You need clothes, but don’t worry, I’m going to make it fun for you. There are a couple of items you’re getting that are going to make you feel like a hero.”
Instantly, my mind started racing. “Hero? What does that mean?” In my head, I immediately knew: she was getting me the Batman costume I had always wanted. Of course! Because that is the clothing I actually needed—a full Batman costume.
Every day leading up to Christmas became all about me pressing her for hints. “Give me more contextual clues! It’s a Batman costume, isn’t it? It’s going to have the cowl, the cape, the whole setup, right?” I was guessing and trying to pick up on every little clue, convincing myself that my theory was confirmed. Finally, I did what every kid does at Christmas: I went and peeked. Don’t act like your kids aren’t doing it right now while you are sitting in church! I peeled back a corner of the wrapping paper—I’m just confessing my sin right now—and I saw the little yellow Batman emblem. I taped it back up, thinking, “That’s it! I’m getting it!” Even the shape of the package looked like a costume.
Christmas morning arrived. I tore open the box, and sheer disappointment washed over my face. It wasn’t a Batman costume. It was Batman underwear. It was Batman Underoos! Do y’all remember Underoos? In that moment, I looked at them and thought, “This isn’t a Batman costume; these are Batman panties! I’m not wearing these! Where is my costume?”
I immediately pressed my mom: “You told me you were going to give me a costume!” She looked at me and said, “I never told you that. I told you I was going to get you what you needed, not what you wanted. There is a big difference between the two.”
That sense of disappointment settled in deep because I had completely missed it. I knew for sure what was in the box, and I was completely wrong.
The Promise of a Rescuer
In many ways, that imperfect illustration captures what we are going to see play out in Scripture today. If you have been trekking with us over the last couple of weeks, we have been in a series called Messiah. We started two weeks ago with an understanding of why we need a Messiah in the first place. From Genesis 3 forward, when sin entered the world through the rebellion of Adam and Eve, a curse fell upon all who would follow. We were instantly alienated and separated from God, under His wrath, condemned to death and eternity apart from Him. Our need was massive. We couldn’t rectify it through our own works; we couldn’t assemble our own human religion to make things right. We needed someone outside of ourselves to come in and save us.
Yet the beauty of the gospel is that right in the midst of that garden failure, God began making promises. For the next several thousand years, promise after promise after promise went forth declaring that God would send a rescuer. Every story in the Old Testament either implicitly, explicitly, or typologically shadows the reality that God will send someone to rescue us.
Last week, Brad walked through many of these Old Testament prophecies. Two thousand years before Christ, God gave promises to Abraham. Fifteen hundred years out, He gave promises through Moses. A thousand years out, He gave promises through King David. Seven hundred years out, He spoke through Isaiah. Four hundred years out, He spoke through Malachi. God repeatedly assured His people that He would fix the problem of our sin through a coming Rescuer.
As we look at those prophecies from this side of the cross, we recognize that Jesus fulfilled every single one of them.
2 Corinthians 1:20 (NASB)
For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.
As Paul wrote, all the promises of God find their “Yes” in Jesus. But as I sat listening to those prophecies last week, a question kept echoing in my mind: How did Israel miss it?
How could they miss it? There were prophecies about a virgin birth, prophecies specifying Bethlehem as the birthplace, prophecies detailing His lineage and ministry—and yet, when the Messiah finally arrived, they completely whiffed. How does that happen?
That would be like someone today predicting the exact outcome of the upcoming Super Bowl in February, saying, “The winning team wears silver and black, their home city is the Land of Oaks, and their name starts with ‘Rai-’ and ends with ‘-ders.’” And then someone responds, “I know who it is! It’s the Dallas Cowboys!” You would look at them and say, “How did you miss that? It was right in front of you!”
Why Did Israel Miss Jesus?
As you read through the Scriptures concerning Israel—and by the way, those who missed Him in Israel are no different than we are today—you find two primary reasons why they missed Jesus as the fulfillment of the Messiah.
First, they misunderstood their greatest need. As the centuries passed, Israel lost sight of the fact that their primary enemy was internal: the enemy of sin and personal unrighteousness. Over time, they began to believe that their external religion, morality, and works of the law were what qualified them before God. They thought, “Because of our Abrahamic genealogy, God is good with us.” Having lost the conviction that their greatest need was a Savior to forgive their sins, they shifted their focus toward their external enemies. Whether it was Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, or Rome, they fixated on the political powers causing them suffering and persecution.
Second, because they shifted their focus to external problems, they selectively embraced only the prophecies that promised political deliverance. They shelved the prophecies about a Messiah who would suffer for their sins, and instead highlighted passages like Psalm 2 and Zechariah 9, which spoke of a conquering King. They loved passages like Haggai 2, which spoke of God shaking the heavens and the earth to overthrow foreign nations. They said, “Yes! That’s the Savior we want!”
We see this exact tension in Peter’s confession in Mark chapter 8. Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi and asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter boldly declared, “You are the Christ, the Messiah!” Jesus commended him, noting that God the Father had revealed this truth to him. But immediately after that confession, Jesus told them what was coming next: He must go to Jerusalem, suffer, and die.
Do you remember how Peter reacted? Peter pulled Jesus aside and rebuked Him! “No, Lord! You can’t do that! That’s not what my Messiah does! My Messiah is here to overthrow Rome and set us up in glory!”
Mark 8:29-32 (NASB)
And He [continued] by questioning them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And He warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
Peter had the same misplaced expectations as the rest of his countrymen. They missed their deep internal need, and consequently, they missed the prophecies of a Messiah who would come first to deal with their sin. In His second advent, Christ will indeed return to vanquish all injustice and evil. But there had to be a first advent. There was a primary enemy that had to be defeated first, and it wasn’t Rome—it was sin.
If we are not careful, you and I can make the exact same mistake today.
The Servant Revealed
I want us to look at the person of the Messiah through one of the most stunning passages in all of Scripture: Isaiah 52:13 through chapter 53. This text answers the most fundamental question of Christmas and the Christian faith: How can a holy and just God forgive guilty sinners and restore them into a right relationship with Himself?
Isaiah is a massive book containing 66 chapters. The first 39 chapters focus heavily on the impending judgment coming upon Judah through the Babylonian captivity. But in the final 27 chapters (chapters 40–66), God uses Isaiah to bring immense comfort and hope. In the midst of judgment, God promises a Deliverer who will ransom His people, fulfill His covenant promises, and extend salvation to the ends of the earth.
In Isaiah 42, we are introduced to the reality that this Messiah will come as a Servant. We already caught a glimpse of His identity in Isaiah 9:6, where He is called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” But chapter 42 reveals that He will accomplish His mission as a Servant. In Matthew 12, Jesus explicitly quotes Isaiah 42 to declare that He is that very Servant.
Matthew 12:17-21 (NASB)
[This was] to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: ’BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. ’HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. ’A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. ‘AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE.’
By the time we arrive at Isaiah 52 and 53, we are given an astonishingly detailed preview of who this Messiah is, what He would endure, and the glory that would follow.
Keep in mind that the chapter breaks in our Bibles were added in the thirteenth century, and sometimes they divide thoughts awkwardly. The fourth Servant Song really begins at Isaiah 52:13.
Isaiah 52:13 (NASB)
Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Notice the language: “He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.” In the book of Isaiah, that kind of language is reserved exclusively for Yahweh. Whoever this Servant is, He is divine—God in human flesh coming to deliver His people. Everyone hearing those words would have cheered: “Yes! That’s the King we’ve been waiting for!”
But look at how the prophecy shifts in verse 14.
Isaiah 52:14 (NASB)
Just as many were astonished at you, [My people], So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.
Isaiah looks ahead to the cross, where Jesus’ body would be so brutally beaten, scourged, and bloodied that He would hardly look human. People were appalled by Him. No one expected a kingly Messiah to endure such horrific disfigurement. Yet, it was through that very suffering that He would fulfill His priestly work.
Isaiah 52:15 (NASB)
Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.
Just as the Old Testament priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the Day of Atonement to purify the people, Jesus would sprinkle many nations with His own blood. Kings would shut their mouths in reverent astonishment as the gospel went beyond Israel to the Gentile world.
Paul quotes this exact verse in Romans 15 regarding his mission to preach Christ where He had never been named.
Romans 15:21 (NASB)
but as it is written, ‘THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND.’
The Rejection of the Servant
The nations would marvel, but within Israel, widespread unbelief would prevail.
Isaiah 53:1 (NASB)
Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Both the Apostle John and the Apostle Paul quote Isaiah 53:1 to explain why so many in Israel rejected Jesus despite His miraculous signs and clear teaching.
John 12:37-38 (NASB)
But though He had performed so many signs before them, [yet] they were not believing in Him. [This was] to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: ‘LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?’
Romans 10:16 (NASB)
However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, ‘LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?’
They were looking for a conquering military general, not a humble, suffering servant. The reality of who He was did not match their self-styled expectations.
Isaiah 53:2-3 (NASB)
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no [stately] form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Isaiah describes Him growing up like a tender shoot out of dry ground, possessing no stately form, majesty, or physical grandeur that would draw a consumeristic world to Him. Jesus didn’t arrive with royal fanfare, rolling out the red carpet, riding a white stallion, surrounded by armed guards or paparazzi. He was born in a feeding trough, raised in the obscure town of Nazareth, and entered Jerusalem riding on a borrowed donkey.
There was nothing externally dazzling to attract worldly power to Him. In fact, people were repulsed by Him. He was despised, rejected, and forsaken. Think of the disciples fleeing the garden, Peter denying Him at the rooster’s crow, the Pharisees mocking Him, and the crowds screaming, “Crucify Him!”
Let me remind you: if you are a Christian today, God chose you by His sheer grace before the foundation of the world. But make no mistake—left to our own natural inclinations, none of us would have chosen a crucified Messiah. A Savior on a cross does not sell well to human pride.
The Great Exchange
Why did the Messiah have to come this way? Scripture provides two profound reasons.
First, He came this way so that He could sympathetically enter into our human condition. Hebrews tells us that we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tempted and tried in every way as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:15 (NASB)
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as [we are, yet] without sin.
Jesus stepped into our world, took on our frail humanity, and bore our sorrows.
Philippians 2:6-8 (NASB)
who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Isaiah 53:4 (NASB)
Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
Notice who struck the Messiah: “smitten by God, and afflicted.” It was not merely the Roman soldiers or the Jewish leaders; God the Father placed upon Him the weight of judgment. Yet He bore it willingly.
Second, sympathy alone could not solve our Genesis 3 problem. The Messiah had to come this way because our sins required an atoning death. The penalty for rebellion against a holy God is death. For centuries, animal sacrifices were offered repeatedly, but as Hebrews reminds us, the blood of bulls and goats could never fully take away sins. A human had to die for human guilt. But no ordinary human could qualify, because every person is infected with the very same disease of sin.
Consider the divine tension: God loves His rebellious creation and desires to save them, yet as a holy and righteous Judge, He cannot overlook sin. Sin must be punished.
Many of you have heard the illustration of the California court case from years ago where a young woman was brought before a judge for traffic violations. She walked into the courtroom only to discover that the presiding judge was her own father. Everyone in the courtroom wondered, “What will win out—his love as a father, or his duty as a judge?”
The father listened to the charges, examined the evidence, and did what justice demanded: he slammed the gavel down and declared her guilty, issuing the full fine. But then, he stood up, removed his judicial robe, walked down from the bench as a father, took out his checkbook, and paid the fine in full on her behalf.
That is a picture of what God did for us at the cross. Jesus, God in human flesh, took our place and bore the full penalty of our guilt.
Isaiah 53:5-6 (NASB)
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. 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.
For fifteen hundred years, every fall on the Day of Atonement and every spring at Passover, blood was shed to remind Israel that sin requires a substitute. For fifteen centuries, God ingrained this reality into their culture, pointing forward to the ultimate Lamb of God.
At the cross, what Martin Luther called “The Great Exchange” occurred. Jesus took our sin—past, present, and future—and bore it upon Himself. He took the wrath of God that was rightfully ours and absorbed it. He took the condemnation of death that we deserved, and in exchange, He credited us with His perfect righteousness. He gave us the peace, acceptance, and reconciliation that He enjoyed with the Father from all eternity.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The Triumph of the Resurrected Servant
Jesus did not enter this suffering begrudgingly; He went willingly.
Isaiah 53:7-8 (NASB)
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 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 For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke [was due]?
He did not open His mouth in protest or defend Himself against false accusations. He willingly laid down His life.
This very passage from Isaiah 53 is what the Ethiopian eunuch was reading in Acts 8 when Philip came alongside his chariot. Philip explained that Isaiah was writing about Jesus, and the reality of Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice so gripped the eunuch’s heart that he surrendered his life to Jesus and was baptized on the spot.
Acts 8:32-35 (NASB)
Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: ’HE WAS LED AS A SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER; AND AS A LAMB BEFORE ITS SHEARER IS SILENT, SO HE DOES NOT OPEN HIS MOUTH. ‘IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO WILL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH.’ The eunuch answered Philip and said, ‘Please [tell me], of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?’ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.
Isaiah continues by describing the Messiah’s burial with the rich in His death, yet death would not have the final word.
Isaiah 53:9-10 (NASB)
His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 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.
Look closely at verse 10: “He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days.” How does someone prolong their days after being crushed to death? That is a clear prophetic declaration of the resurrection! The Messiah would die as a guilt offering, but He would rise from the dead in victory, triumphing over sin, Satan, and the grave.
Isaiah 53:11-12 (NASB)
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. 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.
Because of His sacrifice, God’s justice is fully satisfied, and sinners are justified. The inheritance of eternal life is secured and freely distributed to all who believe in Him.
Do Not Miss Him This Christmas
This is the stunning beauty of the Messiah foretold in Isaiah 53. He is the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.
John 1:29 (NASB)
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, ’Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Yet, as John wrote in his gospel, the tragedy of history remains.
John 1:11 (NASB)
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
Israel missed Him because, like a young boy expecting a Batman costume, they underestimated their true need and projected their own desires onto God’s promise. When the true Gift arrived, they rejected Him.
My plea to you this Christmas is simple: do not make the same mistake. Do not miss Jesus by misunderstanding your need before God. Growing up in a Christian home, attending church, getting baptized as a child, or living a moral life does not make you righteous before a holy God. Scripture tells us that our finest self-righteous deeds are like filthy rags. We need a Savior. We need a substitute.
If we forget our foundational need for atonement, we will treat Jesus merely as a means to alleviate our temporary temporal discomforts, turning to worldly functional saviors when life gets hard.
If you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ, let today be the day you abandon man-made religion and self-reliance. Recognize your sin, look to the cross, and surrender your life to the One who took your place.
And for those of us who belong to Christ, let this truth anchor our celebration. We do not merely herald holiday traditions, gifts, food, or family nostalgia. We celebrate the glorious reality that God came to get us. He kept His promise, sent His Son, and rescued us from our sin. Because of Jesus, we have everlasting joy.
Let’s pray together.
Father, thank You for the beauty of this promise given seven hundred years before Jesus was born—a promise that shines brighter than ever today. God, forgive us for how easily our hearts gravitate toward lesser things during this season. Protect us from exalting holiday traditions, material gifts, or our own perceived morality above the gift of Your Son.
We stand in awe of Jesus, the Lamb of God who took away our sins. Thank You that You are not only a promise-maker, but a faithful promise-keeper. Fix our gaze upon the person and work of our Messiah. May our hearts overflow with genuine worship and adoration for the Savior who came, who lives, and who is coming again. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Amen.