Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1724

March 29, 2026

Isaiah 53.1-12                    Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“The Passion of the Christ”

 

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 a 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.

 

• The Work of the Holy Spirit

 

I do not want the message today to take away from the powerful message of Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem on this Palm Sunday. That event was also a fulfillment of an Old Testament prophet who spoke of the coming King, Zechariah 9.9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. So we are to recognize this day as a wonderful celebration and to sing hosanna to the Lord. But this Sunday also has an alternate designation on the liturgical calendar, that is, Passion Sunday. The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem marks the beginning of Holy Week which, of course, includes His suffering and death. I think we often gloss over what Jesus endured in His suffering partly because we want to look only to the joyful events, from singing Hosanna and waving palms to the joy of resurrection on Easter Sunday.

So, today will be Passion Sunday for us. And this fits right into our ongoing series in Isaiah as we have read about the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. I have categorized this chapter into the three parts as you see in the outline: God the Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son. The heaviest load will be on the Son!

We begin with the work of the Holy Spirit – Isaiah 53.1 - Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? This opening verse is about the revelation of God’s saving arm and about who has believed. Who has believed? Whose eyes are open to the salvation from the Lord? To whom has this salvation been revealed? These questions open us to the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the confession of Reformed Theology that the Holy Spirit works in the lives of those whom God has chosen to give the gift of faith. It is a gift to believe what has been revealed in God’s Word. On the other side is the hardness of heart that does not believe. This opening verse is quoted in John’s gospel as fulfilled by those who do not believe.

John 12.37-38, Though [Jesus] had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in Him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Apparently the Lord did not work His grace in the heart of those who did not believe. The Spirit blows like the wind… John 3.9, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

This is the first fulfillment of Isaiah 53 among many prophecies in this chapter. John pulls from Isaiah 53.1 to reveal the first fulfillment of this particular chapter in Isaiah.

 

• The Will of God the Father

 

Now we will jump to Isaiah 53.10 to speak to the will of God the Father. 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. There are two sides to the passion of Christ. On the one hand we experience great sorrow and grief that Jesus was struck down, whipped, beaten, ridiculed, and nailed to a cross. But, on the other hand, we rejoice in that it was God’s will for all this to happen for the sake of an offering for the sins of the world. We call the Friday of crucifixion “Good Friday” because of the result of His death. It was a holy sacrifice and therefore good! It was the holy will of God and therefore good! It was the gift of life to all who believe in Christ and therefore good! It was and is the Gospel message and therefore good!

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of God’s Word and salvation to the chosen. It was the will of God the Father that the Christ should suffer and die on the cross for the sake of our salvation. It was the faithful obedience of Christ that brought that will to fruition. And this is the bulk of Isaiah 53.

 

• The Passion of the Christ

 

We have just begun to cross reference Isaiah 53 with the New Testament passages where the Word of God from the mouth of the prophet has been fulfilled. Now we are going to journey through Isaiah 53 and the Gospel message of salvation in Christ. This is the bulk of the Isaiah 53 prophecy, showing us the passion of the Christ.

 

53.3 – 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. Despised, rejected, with sorrow and grief, not esteemed...

 

In Mark 9.12 Jesus tells how He was despised and rejected, And [Jesus] said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that He should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?”

John opens his gospel with the message of rejection, John 1.10-11, He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. The disciples were not the most educated of men (a few exceptions), but they knew the Torah and the prophets, and, this is most important, they were led by the Holy Spirit to write these things showing the fulfillment of the prophetic word in Jesus Christ.

 

53.4 – Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

 

We turn to the gospel of Matthew chapter 8, “And when Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases” (Matthew 8.14-17).

It seems obvious to us that this is a reference to Isaiah 53. It is a direct quote. Back in the day there were no chapter numbers but if there were, perhaps Matthew would have cited it that way.

 

53.5 – 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.

 

Thus far we have seen fulfillment in the Gospels, but here we turn to Paul in the letter to the Romans. Romans 4.23-25, But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

 

One of the most detailed fulfillments of Isaiah 53 is found in 1 Peter 2.21-25, particularly 24 related to Isaiah 53.5, For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

 

53.6 – 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.

 

Again from 1 Peter 2.25; For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Laid on Him the iniquity...2 Corinthians 5.21, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And Paul reiterates this same point in Colossians 2.13-14, And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

 

53.7 – 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.

 

Christ remained silent when questioned before those who would have Him crucified. Mark 14.60-61; And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But he remained silent and made no answer.

 

1 Peter 2.23; When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

 

In the book of Acts we see the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch where the eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53.7,

Acts 8.32, Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.

 

53.9 – And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

 

Two passages speak to this prophecy, the first on having a grave with a rich man in Matthew 27.57-60, When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

 

And again from Peter, Jesus is the one in Isaiah 53.9 who had no deceit, 1 Peter 2.22, He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

 

53.11 – 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.

 

Jesus is the One who makes many accounted righteous, Acts 13.38-39, Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

 

So too in Romans 5.18-19, Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

 

53.12 – 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.

 

Jesus bore the sins on the cross… Philippians 2.8-9, And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name...

 

How can so many Jews miss the prophetic fulfillment? One way is to skip Isaiah 53 from readings. That is the testimony of some Jewish converts to Christ. They claim that they had never seen or heard Isaiah 53. But also, they are often forbidden to read the New Testament, so even if they know Isaiah 53 they cannot make that connection.

 

Thanks be to God that we have been given the spirit of understanding for it is the Spirit who opens our eyes and hearts to see the connection between Old Testament prophecy and New Testament fulfillment (1 Corinthians 2.10). But this is not really the main point of these things. The main point is that Jesus suffered and died on the cross through this week. On Thursday He shared the Last Supper with the disciples. On Friday He was tried and convicted and crucified. It was a gruesome death and while we may want to hide our eyes and imagination from what we read in the Gospels, we need to spend more time there. Take some time this week to read the four gospels and those chapters that deal with Christ’s passion, His suffering and death. It is part of what makes Easter morning such a great joy. It is part of what makes the resurrection so deeply wonderful and meaningful. It is the impossible story of life from death that has brought all who believe from death to life. Take on the pain of suffering and death in order to take away the complete joy of the empty tomb. Amen.