NEAR LIFE OR NEW LIFE?

(Isaiah 53:10)
April 5, 2015
Read Isa 53:6-10 A cartoon depicts the living room of a retirement home. A
man looking totally dejected sits facing the wall, window shade drawn, paper
fallen in his lap. Others look equally dejected. One man says to another, Last
week, I think I had a near-life experience. That vividly depicts the end all of
us fear. Were good now, but what happens when the end comes crashing in?
It happened to 2 disciples in Luke 24 on the Sunday after Jesus was killed.
Theyd pinned all their hopes for now and later on Him. Now, their
expectations were dashed and their near-life experience was over they
thought. Then Jesus arrives on the scene, unrecognized by them, Hes not
very sympathetic. He kindly rebukes them. Why? Lu 24: 25 And he said to
them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have
spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and
enter into his glory? Hes saying, Guys, your hopes arent crushed. He was
crushed so that your hopes wouldnt be! Your own Bible told you Hed
suffer and be resurrected. It was all there and you didnt believe it.
I used to think Jesus was a little hard on them. Finding death and resurrection
of Messiah in the OT? Not easy! But I was just as wrong as they were. Its
there everywhere. Its there in the Garden when God takes Adam and Eves
fig leaves and replaces them with the skins of animals who died to illustrate
this truth. Its there in Gods demand to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac
only to provide a substitute lamb at the last minute. Its there in the three days
Jonah spent in the belly of a great fish. Its there in the prophecies of Psa 22
and Isa 53 of a crucified Messiah who becomes the eternal Son of Man from
Daniel 9. And its all there in a single verse in Isa 53:10. Amazing.
If I said, Give me the gospel in a single verse, youd go the same place I
would. Jn 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that
whoever believes in Him should not perish by have eternal life. The gospel in
one verse! But Isa 53:10? Dave, are you sure? Yes, its there & its beautiful:
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. This verse has book
ends the will of God at the beginning; the will of God at the end. Salvation is
all of God. But in the middle, it is about the Sonand us; it is about Jesus
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because He implemented the will of the Father. Remember how all thru His
life, all Jesus ever talked about was doing the will of His Father?
This verse explains Gods will 700 years ahead of time. Jesus disciples
should have known it. This verse tells us the price of salvation. It begins with
inexplicable horror, but it ends with unimaginable glory. It begins with death,
but ends with life. It is the gospel in miniature in the OT. It shows us 5 ways
Gods will prospered in His Son and why that was critical to every one of us.
I.

It Was the Fathers Will He Be Crushed

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief. Wow!
What kind of Father would crush his own Son? The worst father we know
wouldnt do that. Its unimaginable. Yet it says it was the Fathers will to crush
his son. So there must have been some overwhelmingly, compelling reason,
right? there must have been an unavoidable reason! And there was and well
get to it in a moment. But first, consider implications of this phrase.
First, it shows the death of Christ was the Fathers idea. It was not a tragic,
avoidable accident of history. It was not primarily the plan of the Jewish
leaders, altho they will be accountable. It was not the plan of the Romans,
altho they will be accountable. It was not ultimately the result of 3-years of
planning by jealous men. It was ultimately the result of the eternal plan of an
infinite God. Note how Gods sovereignty and human choices meld together
in Peters Pentecost sermon 7 weeks after Jesus death: Acts 2:23 this Jesus,
delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you
crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God planned it, but you
executed it. Gods blood is on your hands. No wonder 3,000 of them turned
to Christ that day alone. But Jesus death was purposeful and intentional.
And infinitely painful! Imagine asking your Son to die. Sure Jesus suffered
but so did the Father, Beloved. Remember how Davids son Absalom led a
rebellion against David trying to seize the throne? And remember Davids
reaction when news was brought that the rebellion had ended with the death of
his son? II Sam 18:33 And the king was deeply moved and went up to the
chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, O my son
Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O
Absalom, my son, my son! If David felt that way about the death of a
rebellious, wayward son, imagine how the God the Father felt about the
death of His absolutely perfect Son. Understand that your ability to have a
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broken heart reflects your Creators ability to feel that same way, and imagine
what He felt. It could not have been for no reason, could it? So what reason?
II.
It Was the Fathers Will He Be Guilty
When his soul makes an offering for guilt. We are rapidly going from bad to
worse, here, arent we? But now at least we know the reason the Father would
ask His Son to die to make an offering for guilt. Whose guilt? Couldnt have
been His. He had none. Heb 4:15 assures us He was without sin. No guilt
there. So where? In the life of every person who ever lived. Our guilt.
Where does guilt come from? Sin. And where did that come from? Adam and
Eve. And what was the result? Death. Separation from God. You see it
immediately in Eden. The sweet, daily fellowship with God that had been
common was broken. Adam and Eve ran rather away from God rather than to
Him. Fellowship broken. Separation, alienation, illustrated by the sword put
at the gate as God expelled them from the garden. Sin has brought death God
promised. And now theres no way back except thru the sword, thru death.
So how did Jesus make an offering for guilt? You say, by dying. He was the
fulfillment that millions of sacrificial lambs point toward. What the blood of
bulls and goats could not do, He did! What their death only symbolized, His
death accomplished. So, He made an offering for sin by dying. Thats true.
But we need to go a little deeper to get the full story.
Men killed Jesus, right? The Jews condemned Him and Roman soldiers drove
in the nails. Men killed Him. But note the phrase again: Yet it was the will of
the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief. Men killed Him, but who
crushed Him? Who put Him to grief? The Father did! The Father did. What is
that all about? It is about this. Jesus didnt just die physically. Notice his soul
makes an offering for guilt. Soul, nephesh, breath, life principle -- the totality
of the person body, soul and spirit. It was the totality of Jesus person that
paid sins price. And while men took his physical life, it was the Father who
crushed His whole being by separating from Him. An infinite price paid in a
moment of time by an infinite sacrifice when He cried, My God (not Father
this time), My God, why have you forsaken me? Why? Because at that
moment, Jesus had become sin for us and in the ultimate penalty for sin,
God the Father separated from Him and crushed Him. It was the
anticipation of this spiritual death that drove His anguish in Gethsemane.
Thats how Jesus soul made an offering for your guilt and mine.
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But one more point. The guilt offering is described in detail in Lev 5:1-6:7.
Alec Motyer says, The heart of its distinctiveness is its insistence on minute
exactness between sin and remedy. It could well be called the satisfactionoffering. This passage affirms Jesus suffered exactly equivalent to what
needed to be done. Consider this! If my sin deserves an eternity of separation
from God, and your sin deserves an eternity of separation from God as does
everyones, that means Jesus suffered literally billions of eternities of
separation from the Father in a moment of time in a way we can never begin
to understand. When Paul says, He made Him to be sin for us who knew no
sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, it was no small
thing! Something inexpressible happened on Calvary Father and Son acting
in harmony to take our guilt. One becoming sin for us, the other turning away
from that sin for us. Separated in r; united in purpose. Given that imagine
saying, No thanks. Im good enough on my own. Sorry you went to all that
trouble for nothing. Hell would hardly be good enough for such an attitude.
Believe me, God didnt crush His Son for nothing any more than you would.
That means there was no other way. And when Jesus said, I am the way,
the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except thru me He meant it.
He alone removed the sword from the Garden. No one else not Buddha, not
Vishnu, not Confucius, could do that. There is one way. That way is Jesus.
III.

It Was the Fathers Will He Be Resurrected

What started in horror now turns to glory. Life out of death. Resurrection!
Where do you see that? In the next phrase: he shall see his offspring. How
can a dead man see his offspring? Resurrection!! He is risen! And to make
sure we get the point, the prophet adds he shall prolong his days. Having
been crushed by the Father, He is now raised again by the Father. Its not
blatant here; its subtle. But its sure! Its matter of fact, but unmistakably here
and thats why Jesus faulted those disciples for being slow of heart to
believe all that the Scripture said. Youll miss a lot if you dont dive into the
details. You might even miss the resurrection. You dont want to miss that.
Everything hinges on the resurrection, doesnt it? Paul says in I Cor 15:14 And
if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in
vain. This is the lynchpin for Christianity. If Christ was not raised bodily
from the dead, there is no Christianity. It is all a lie. There is no redemption,
no atonement, no forgiveness and no hope. All depends on the resurrection.
This is the Father stamping APPROVED on all the Son has done. Yes, the
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payment is made. Yes, it is adequate. Yes it is accepted, and Yes, there is

redemption; there is atonement; there is forgiveness and there is hope. And
here is the living, walking, talking proof. Jesus Christ alive from the dead.
This separates Christianity from every other religion. They have claims; we
have proof. They have maybe; we have certainty. They have religion; we have
relationship. They have men in the flesh; we have God in the flesh. They have
dead founders; we have a live Savior. They have lies; we have the way, the
truth and the life. They have rules; we have Jesus Christ alive and well and
coming again. The resurrection, Beloved, changes everything -- for all time!
Years ago there was a devastating earthquake in China. It dislodged a huge
boulder from a mountain thus exposing a great cache of wonderful artifacts
from a thousand years ago. A whole new world opened up when the boulder
was dislodged. And thats just what happened when the stone was rolled away
from Jesus tomb on Easter morning. Mankind got its first glimpse of a new
world a world where death does not have the last word, where injustice is
made right, and where perfection reigns supreme. Want in on that? The angel
told the women, Dont be afraid. You are looking for Jesus? He isnt here.
Hes arisen. You will find Him not among the dead but among the living.
Its a new day and a new world. And that angel might have told the soldiers,
You should be afraid. Everything your world is based on has been shaken
to the core. No one went away from that empty tomb the same way they
came and neither can we. That tomb says it is decision time!
IV.

It Was the Fathers Will He Have Offspring

Thats the point of the whole thing, isnt it? To save sinners. To produce
offspring. The Son of God died and rose again to bring other sons and
daughters to God. John 1:12: 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed
in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. And how do we
receive Him? By faith. By believing in what He has done and submitting to
His authority. Rom 10:9, 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus
is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will
be saved. Hes defeated death for you! It just remains for you to accept the
gift of eternal life by faith. You die to self to come alive to Him. Are you His
child? Or are you still on the outside looking in?
Philip Ryken tells of a young woman with an immoral past who came to faith
in Christ. But she found it hard to forget her past. She believed Jesus died to
forgive her sins, yet continued to condemn herself. But one day someone
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advised: Understand, Kay, that when God looks at you He doesnt say,
There goes that slut, He says, There goes my beloved daughter. Thats
what it means to be part of the family, Beloved. Thats what it means to be
forgiven. Thats why it was the Fathers will to crush His own Son so that
we need not be crushed! You cant put Jesus death aside and try to earn that.
But you can accept His death in your place and receive it!
V.

It Was the Fathers Will They Live Forever

He shall prolong his days. Theres eternal life! Its hinted at in the previous
phrase: he shall see his offspring. That implies resurrection, but it also
implies eternal life. How many of your offspring will you see? Kids?
Grandkids? Maybe greats if you are very fortunate. But in 100 years, your
own offspring wont even know your name. I didnt know beyond my own
grandparents until I did a genealogy study. Thats how fleeting life is.
But Jesus? Hell see them all. He is alive to live forever, and so are those He
brings with Him. Paul says this of God in II Tim 1:9-10: [God] saved us and
called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own
purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
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and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior
Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. Imagine that. Eternal life with God for all believers. And
Isaiah saw it all 700 years before Jesus came.
Conc The will of the Father was not easy for Jesus, was it? But look at the
last phrase of the verse: the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand, and,
it did! It all happened just as God thru Isaiah said it would. That just leaves
one unanswered question: How is the will of the Father doing in your hands?
Prospering, or ignored. What is His will? Easy. He wants you for His
offspring. II Pet 3:9: He is not wishing (literally, willing) that any should
perish, but that all should reach repentance. Have you come to repentance?
At the close of a church service a gentleman approached Dr. D. M. Stearns
with a criticism; I dont like your way of preaching. I dont care for the
idea of Christ dying for the lost. Youre out of date! Preach Jesus as a
teacher and example. Dr. Stearns replied, Would you then be willing to
follow Him if I preached Christ as the great example? I would. Dr.
Stearns said, Well then, lets take the first step. According to I Peter 2:22
Jesus did no sin. Are you ready to take this step? The man replied, Well, of
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course I cant. I do sin. I admit that. Dr. Stearns said, Well, then, your
most pressing need of Jesus is not as example, but as Savior. You need a
Savior. As do we all need a Savior someone who has made offering for
our guilt. So accept Him. Its Easter. Dont settle for near life. Get a new life
in Him. Hes done His part. Now, its up to you. Lets pray.