This morning's scripture reading for the message comes to us from Isaiah chapter 52, verse 13, through the end of Isaiah 53, which takes us to verse 12. So if you would open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 52, and we will begin our reading there in chapter 52, verse 13. Isaiah 52, beginning in verse 13. Hear now the word of the Lord. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him. For that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, every one to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not 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, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. 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. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. May God add his blessing to this reading from his holy and inspired word. Beloved, I think the book of Isaiah holds out some of the greatest and the richest treasures that we find in all of the scriptures. In this book, we read, for example, of the promised Davidic heir that would come to Zion to rule from God's holy hill. That the nations would flock to Zion and that they would come and that they would worship at God's holy hill. And as we have read here this morning, from what we'll call the 53rd chapter, even though it leads a little bit over into the last portions of Isaiah 52, that the suffering servant would come and would save Israel. In spite of the great treasures that we see and the many glorious truths that are contained within this wonderful prophecy, I think it's, at least from my own personal experience, something that I don't hear that many messages from the book of Isaiah. Perhaps it's because of its immense size. I mean, it's some 66 chapters long. But what I want us to do this morning is take a brief glimpse, if you will, a small window into what is perhaps one of the most famous passages from Isaiah's book, and that is here, what we've read this morning in the 53rd chapter. I think we'll only be able to get the smallest and the briefest of glimpses, and that there is so much here that we could dwell upon. There's a 17th century Scottish Presbyterian minister by the name of James Durham who once preached 72 sermons. 72 sermons, the morrow of the gospel and 72 sermons on Isaiah 53. That's a lot of sermons on one chapter of the Bible. So we won't get to that depth. But nevertheless, I think that we can, at least through the briefest of glimpses, afford us the ability to gaze upon the glorious redemption, the glorious and wondrous salvation that we have in Christ. And perhaps like Moses, who was hidden in the cleft of the rock and who was allowed to see the briefest of glimpses of God's glory, we too can behold the glory of the suffering Christ, the suffering Christ who was raised from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father. And so what I'd like us to do is I'd like us to explore this particular passage under three headings. Now, I'm not one for alliteration, but I was able to make this work, at least if you stretch it a little bit. I have to admit I'm something of a literary peasant, so this hopefully will work. My idea of good literature is watching the movie rather than reading the book, much to my wife's consternation. Nevertheless, I want us to look at this under three headings, the idea of intercession. What is it that the suffering servant was seeking to do through his work? Secondly, imputation. What was the suffering servant going to give his people? And then thirdly, impetration. It's an older 17th century word that theologians used to use. I-M-P-E-T-R-A-T-I-O-N. It's the professor in me, bear with me. Impetration. What did the suffering servant actually accomplish? So intercession, imputation, and then impetration. So we'll look under these three headings at the particular glories that we see here revealed in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah's prophecy. So first, intercession. When we enter the 53rd chapter, it's important that we understand at least the basic historical setting as to what's going on here in Isaiah's world. Isaiah was prophesying in the 8th century B.C. in the southern kingdom of Judah. This is, of course, after the two kingdoms had split, or the one kingdom had split. Judah faced a number of foes, such as their brothers in the northern kingdom, as well as the pagan nation of Assyria. Isaiah prophesied in the 36th chapter that the northern kingdom would be taken away into exile. And Isaiah prophesied that Judah as well would be taken away into exile. And it's from this vantage point of a foreseen and prophesied exile that Isaiah writes. And he talks about the suffering servant who would come to break the exile. The suffering servant, according to Isaiah 42, would bring justice to the nations. He would establish a new covenant with the Lord. He would be a light to the Gentiles, according to Isaiah 49. And as we have read here in Isaiah 53, he would take away the sins of his people. But this brings us to the question and to the specific core, if you will, of the suffering servant's intercession. And that is, why did the suffering servant have to take away the sins of the people? The 800-pound gorilla here, if you will, is the exile. Recall, for example, if you look back into the earlier portions of the Old Testament, the curses of the covenant that we read about in Deuteronomy chapter 28, which stipulated that if Israel obeyed the commands that God had given them in the law, they would enjoy long life in the land. They would receive blessings. But if they corporately as a nation were disobedient, they would receive curses. Deuteronomy 28, verses 32 and following, Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, that you shall be helpless. A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and all of your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually. The fact that Isaiah prophesies from this idea of exile means that Israel has been unfaithful. She has been idolatrous and sinful. and therefore has been cast into exile away from the land. So how is it that Israel that lays in this exilic graveyard be resurrected, raised, if you will, from such a state? Notice how Isaiah describes the servant. He is wise, according to chapter 52, verse 13. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. What is wisdom but to fear the Lord, according to Proverbs. He is upright. According to Isaiah 53, verse 9, it says that he had done no violence. You read the prophets, and the prophets talk about the bloodshed that was rampant throughout the land. Again, in Isaiah 53, verse 9, it says there was no deceit in his mouth. The suffering servant, he is truthful. He speaks nothing but the truth which contrasts to the wickedness and the deceptive nature of the corporate people of Israel. In verse 11, the prophet says, and this is important, that the suffering servant is righteous. He is righteous. The righteous one, my servant. I think one of the biggest misnomers when people read the Bible, and particularly when we talk about the nature of our salvation, is we talk about it only in terms of the forgiveness of our sins. We think about it in terms of a declaration of innocence. Let's say you're driving down the street, you get pulled over by a police officer, and he says you were speeding, and you say, well, no, actually, I wasn't. I was driving according to the law. He gives you the ticket anyway, you show up before the court, and the judge looks at the evidence, you present your case, and he says, all right, you're innocent of the charges. You're not guilty. I think that's the way a lot of the people look at salvation. They think of salvation simply in terms of the forgiveness of sins. Now, don't get me wrong. The forgiveness of our sins is a huge part of our salvation. But when the scriptures invoke this term, particularly as it pertains to the suffering servant and says that he is righteous, it does not mean that he is merely innocent, that he is merely not guilty, but rather it means that he has positively fulfilled all of the requirements of the law, perfectly obedient. In other words, in that small thought world, that illustration that I used with the speeding ticket, it's not merely that you haven't violated the law by exceeding the speed limit, But rather, you've pulled over and you've helped motorists in distress. As you've driven by others, you've encouraged them to follow the law. So it's not simply the absence of guilt, but rather it is the positive presence of righteousness, of fulfilling the law. And this is the nature of the suffering servant. And indeed, you see that in verse 12. And it says that he's, you know, the righteous one, my servant, verse 11, but that he poured out his soul to death. In other words, he was obedient, as Paul says in Philippians 2, unto the point of death, death on a cross. Looking at these things and the nature of the suffering servant, I think it is a total and complete contrast to what we see as to how Isaiah describes the people. Verse 6 of 53, All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. It's clearly evident that the people are in need of someone to intercede on their behalf. Someone to offer the requisite obedience to the law to save them. To redeem them out from under their sin-cursed estate. So this is the nature of the Savior's intercession. The nature of the intercession of the suffering servant. And as we reflect upon his intercession, I think it certainly behooves us to recognize as did Isaiah in his own day of our own sinfulness. I think it's important that we recognize that we are just as needy when it comes to our need for redemption as the Israelites in Isaiah's day. So often I think we come to the scriptures and we will certainly acknowledge a certain sense of sinfulness. But how often, for example, do we read, say, the Old Testament narratives of Israel's wanderings in the wilderness, and we think, what is wrong with these people? It seems like fairly simple instructions that they've been given. Follow Moses, do what he says, stop complaining. You know, the Lord says you're hungry, all right, here's some food, but don't gather too much. What do the people do? They start stockpiling. You think, why can't these people follow some simple instructions? And yet what we do when we make comments like that or when we have thoughts like that is I think inherently what we're doing is we're setting ourselves slightly above the Israelites, saying certainly we would never be guilty of such sinfulness. But what we have to recognize is that when we read those narratives, there's a sense in which when we read them, we're looking into the mirror. We're reading of our own sinfulness. This is the Heidelberg Catechism says, and when it talks in questions four and five about what the law of God requires of us, it says in question five, can you live up to all of this perfectly? And the answer says, no, I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor. We are inherently sinful because of the fall and because of the sin of our first parents, as well as because of our own sinfulness, which means we need the suffering servant. We are in desperate need of his intercession on our behalf. So such is the nature of the suffering servant's intercession and such is the nature of our need for his intercessory work on our behalf. But how, secondly, and precisely, does the suffering servant pull off or execute his work of intercession, which brings us to imputation. At the heart of this passage is the doctrine of the imputation. The idea that one person can act on behalf of many people. Jewish rabbis have this story that they have told in the past, and I remember reading it, where they said that four men were shipwrecked. They're floating out on their wooden boat in the middle of the ocean, no land in sight, out there for days. And one of them gets a drill, a simple machine, and starts to drill slowly into the bottom of the boat. And as he's drilling, one of the other men notices what he's doing, and he says, what do you think you're doing? He says, never you mind what I'm doing. It's my own private affair. What I'm doing has nothing to do with you. And he says, on the contrary, you're drilling a hole in the bottom of the boat. You sink us, and not only will you die, but so will the rest of us. Your solitary actions are not alone unto yourself, but rather they will impact all of us. Well, this is the idea, if you will, that is behind imputation, that one person can act on behalf of others, the one serving the many. That one person's actions can be representative and can be accredited, can be given to others. And so here, remember the context, the suffering servant who is wise, truthful, righteous, obedient. Whereas on the other hand, the people are collectively disobedient. They have all gone astray, each according to his own way. And so the prophet says that the servant will bear their sins. Verse 5, chapter 53, But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his stripes we are healed. Verse 6, The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now we may not realize it, But the prophet here is invoking the procedures from the day of atonement in Leviticus chapter 16. Particularly with the language of he has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Recall there in Leviticus chapter 16 that the high priest would have taken two goats. He would have sacrificed one. He would have taken the other goat. He would have placed his hands upon this goat. He would have confessed the sins of the nation over this goat. and then this goat would have borne, would have carried those sins outside the camp. The idea was, is that the goat would carry the sins and carry them away. In later antiquity, at least in the period of the Jewish rabbis, they said that Israel added an extra measure of protection. The scriptures just tell them to confess the sins over the goat and to send it into the wilderness, but they made sure that they let the goat go near a cliff and that there was somebody by the cliff so that they would just give the goat a helpful hand to make sure the goat went over the edge. Now, at first hand, you think, well, my, that sounds a bit extreme and harsh, poor goat. But the idea was is they didn't want the goat making a U-turn and coming back and bringing the sins of the nation with it, thereby ruining their holiness. But yet, beloved, the amazing thing here is that though the prophet invokes the language and the procedures of Leviticus 16 and the Day of Atonement, he is not talking about goats. He's talking about the suffering servant. The one upon whom the sins of the people of God would be laid. But as I said before, it's not merely that the suffering servant wipes the slate clean and then places us back in the garden to give us another chance. If that's all Christ did, wiping the slate clean and saying, here, try again, that is not redemption. In golfing terms, that's a mulligan. Try again. See if you can do better this time. We know what would happen if we were to try again. We would fail. And so instead, notice what the suffering servant accomplishes there in verse 11. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. And he says by his knowledge. It's a lack of knowledge, according to Isaiah in chapter 47, that's the impelling cause of Israel's exile. Idolaters, according to Isaiah 44, lack knowledge. Yahweh possesses knowledge, whereas the people of Israel do not, according to Isaiah 40. And Isaiah says in chapter 11 that the servant is anointed with the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, which is the disposition to produce obedience. So therefore, it's as if the prophet is saying by his knowledge, that is, by his obedience, shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. In other words, what the prophet is saying is he is saying the suffering servant's perfect law-keeping is accredited to your account. So that when you place your faith in the suffering servant, not only does he bear your sins and take them away, never to come back again, but he also gives to you, to your account, his perfect law-keeping, his perfect obedience. John Calvin tells a beautiful story, uses a beautiful illustration in Book 3 of the Institutes, Or he says that when Jacob and Esau were both vying for their father's blessing, that Jacob took the coat of his elder brother and put it on so that he could go in and somehow deceive his father into receiving that blessing of the covenant. His father could tell, well, I'm not quite sure. Sounds like Jacob, but it smells like Esau. He was so desperate to receive that blessing. And what Calvin says is he says, the blessing of our redemption and the imputation of Christ's righteousness is that we do not have to try and deceive our Heavenly Father into giving us the blessing of the covenant, but rather our elder brother has freely given to us his code of righteousness so that we can enter boldly into the presence of our Father because our Father knows that we wear our older brother's coat and we can receive that blessing of the covenant because of that freely given, that freely imputed righteousness. So, beloved, it's not merely that the servant, through his work, through the imputation, declares that you are innocent, but rather he says you are righteous because of what I have given you, because of what I have imputed to you. Indeed, we know that the servant is righteous even unto death because here in verse 11 says, out of the anguish of his soul he shall see. The Greek translation of the Old Testament here says he shall see light. Now, it's not that the Greek translation is changing any of the meaning of the text, but rather I think it's amplifying it because in the Psalms especially, to see light is a way to say is to live. It's to have life itself. So that what Isaiah is saying is he's saying that out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see, he shall live, he shall be raised from the dead, which is indicative of his perfect righteousness, that death has no claim. And because death has no claim upon him, through Christ's imputed righteousness, death has no claim upon us. Indeed, scholars believe that it was the Apostle Paul reflecting upon this very passage of Scripture in Isaiah 53, verse 11, that caused him to write in Romans 4, 24, and following Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Beloved, only Christ, only the suffering servant, has done what we could never do, even in a sin-free estate. Only, therefore, by resting in Christ's finished work, his perfect obedience, can we receive his sin-bearing and his perfect righteousness by faith alone. Remember, no amount of moral effort on your part can somehow meet the law's demands. Remember what we sang this morning, not what my hands have done can clear my guilty soul. This is why Heidelberg Catechism 60, question 60, when it talks about imputation, it says, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner and as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. So because of his intercession and his imputation, the Father looks upon you and sees perfection, sinlessness, holiness, righteousness, perfect conformity to the law. The law cannot bring an accusation against you because you are in Christ. You wear the coat of your elder brother. And because you wear that coat, you are entitled to the blessings of the covenant. Which brings us to our third point, impetration. What precisely has Christ accomplished through his sin bearing and his perfect obedience to the law? Notice verses 11 and 12 once again. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see light, he shall live and be satisfied. By his knowledge, by his obedience, shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, always ask, what's the therefore, therefore? I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. Beloved, in terms evocative of Old Testament law, namely the portion, dividing the spoil with the strong, the servant merits the blessings of the covenant, those spelled out in Deuteronomy 28. If you're obedient, I'll give you long life in the land. I'll give you verdant pastures. I will give you fruitful wounds. Your enemies will be put at great length, at great distance. You will conquer them. They will not threaten you. The animals around you will not threaten you. It's also evocative of the Deuteronomic blessings that are spelled out in Deuteronomy 17, which says that if the king obeys, it will go well for you and you will live long in the land. But if he disobeys, he will bring judgment upon the land. It's either the king's representative obedience or the king's representative disobedience that determine whether or not the community received blessing or curse. But there's a significant element for which we have to account when we're looking at Isaiah 53 when he talks about, therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, is that, yes, Isaiah invokes those Deuteronomic blessings, long life in the land, verdant agriculture, fruitful wombs, military might, But all of these blessings were foreshadows, anticipations of heaven itself. In other words, beloved, the suffering servant, through his impetration, through what he has accomplished, does not merely secure this worldly blessings, but rather he secures eternal life for us. Again, Paul, arguably reflecting upon these very ideas, writes in Romans 5.18, Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. Or again, Paul in 2 Corinthians 5, 17 and following, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God. In other words, beloved, through the impetration of the Savior, of the suffering servant, he has secured the blessings of heaven itself. And he has secured it for you. So that you can rest assured that Christ has secured the blessings of heaven. And that for those who are regenerated, who profess their faith, who look to Christ by faith alone, and they're united to him, that means that you breathe the air of the new creation itself, of the new heavens and earth. This is why Isaiah 53 eventually moves towards the end of the book to the idea of the new creation, the new heavens and earth in chapters 65 and 66. So, beloved, if you are royalty, if you are royalty because you are united to the king, if you breathe the air of the new creation itself because this is what Christ has secured for you, you live in a manner that is befitting of this wonderful redemption that Christ has given you. Again, the catechism in question 64 asks whether or not The idea of the free forgiveness of sins and the imputation of righteousness would make people indifferent and wicked. If God's in the business of forgiving sins and I have a lot of those, well, then we're in a good relationship. I can sin, he forgives me, we're fine. The catechism says a hearty no. It's impossible for those grafted into Christ through true faith not to produce the fruits of gratitude. The beloved, to Isaiah and his original audience, he was sending them a message of hope. If this is what the suffering servant has secured, well then live in a manner befitting of this hope. Do you live as the world does, like wandering sheep, each one going his own way, each one doing what is right in his own eyes? Or do you recognize that you've been united to Christ by faith alone, given right and title to heaven itself and that indeed even now you are living out the ethics and the hope of the new creation of the heavens of the new of heaven itself in the midst of the darkness of this present evil age our hope shouldn't be merely a well-intentioned but nevertheless empty emotional sedative to deaden our suffering and pain but rather a present reality anchored in the hope of Christ's perfect suffering and obedience, the intercession and the imputation and the impetration of Christ's salvation on our behalf, one that assures us that we will be delivered from all of our foes and cross the threshold through the waters of the heavenly Jordan and safely reach the shores of Zion. Live, therefore, beloved, in gratitude in a manner befitting of this wonderful redemption that we have received through Christ. As I said at the beginning, this is but a small glimpse of the glories that we find in Isaiah 53. The suffering servant's intercession, his work on your behalf, his imputation, not only the free forgiveness of sins, but the free imputation, the accrediting of his perfect law-keeping to your account, and the suffering servant's impetration, securing the right and title to heaven itself. Beloved, rest in Christ's accomplished work. Praise God for the wonderful mercies that he's poured out upon us, those of us who deserve his wrath, but nevertheless receive his tender love and mercies in his Son and live in a manner befitting the inhabitants of the new creation, the new heavens and earth, one marked by ethical purity and ultimately hope. Let's bow together in a word of prayer. Thank you.