GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH

"THINE UNKNOWN SUFFERINGS"

The Sufferings of Our Redeemer
Isaiah 52:14; 53:3, 10, 11

Don Fortner

In our study of Isaiah we have come to the Holy of Holies, in so far as the prophetic scriptures of the Old Testament are concerned. Isaiah 53 is quoted more often in the New Testament than any other portion of the Old Testament. Here the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God is set forth as the sinner’s Substitute, making atonement for sin by the sacrifice of himself.

As I open this Book and attempt to preach from it, I realize that I am dealing with holy things. I am here talking to you about the very glory of God. Let us tread softly, speak deliberately, listen reverently, and kneel in our hearts worship fully. The Lord is in this place! I am going to try to talk to you tonight about the most mysterious, most profound, and most practical thing in all the world. I want to preach to you tonight about the sufferings of Christ.

It is hard to believe that this incomparable prophecy was written by a man who lived 750 years before Christ came into this world. Nothing can explain the existence of this prophecy except the words of Peter – "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." I defy those infidels who deny the inspiration of Holy Scripture, who deny that this Book is the Word of God to explain the existence of Isaiah 53. As you read the words of this chapter you almost think you are reading the report of a man who was standing by when the Son of God died upon the cursed tree. But these are the words of a man who lived almost a millennium beforehand! Isaiah, the prophet of God, wrote of the sin-atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and did so with precise detail and accuracy, because God the Holy Spirit inspired, breathed out, the words as he wrote. Nothing else can explain this prophecy!

In order to redeem and save his people the Son of God had to suffer all the consequences of our sins to the full satisfaction of Divine Justice as our Substitute.

In the liturgy of the Greek Orthodox Church there is a reference to the sufferings of Christ that reads, "Thy unknown sufferings." As you might imagine, I have no sympathy for the theology of that church. But those words well describe my subject tonight. So I have taken them for the title of this message – "Thy Unknown Sufferings."

In the verses that we will look at tonight Isaiah describes the sin-atoning sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ in three ways.

1. The Sufferings Of His Body – (52:14).
2. The Sufferings Of His Heart – (53:3).
3. The Sufferings Of His Soul – (53:10-11).

No man can read the sufferings of Christ and not be astonished that any man could inflict such agony upon another, or that any man could suffer such agony. And when a person realizes that the one who suffered on that day was and is the holy, immaculate Son of God in human flesh, he is all the more astonished!

Ever remember that the Sufferer Isaiah here describes is both God and man. Our Savior had to be a man. Otherwise his sufferings would be of no redemptive value to men. He must also be God. Else his sufferings would have been of no satisfaction to the infinite Justice of the Holy Lord God.

Without question, many place too much emphasis upon the physical, bodily sufferings of Christ; but it is quite possible for us to place far too little importance upon them. The Word of God records the physical, bodily sufferings of Christ in detail, in all four gospel narratives, in Psalm 22, in Isaiah 53, and in numerous other passages in the Old Testament and the New, because it is important for us to know what Christ suffered for us.

On the night of the Passover supper, when our Lord instituted what we call "The Lord’s Supper," breaking bread and drinking wine, singing and praying with his disciples, an all night vigil began.

• The Supper was followed by our Lord’s Last Discourse (John 14, 15, 16).


• Then came His great High-Priestly Prayer (John 17).

Our Lord said to his disciples, "Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart" (John 16:6). "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go prepare a place for you." (John 14:1-2).

Then the story continues. We piece it together from the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

• The Arrest in Gethsemane.


• The Arraignment before Annas, then before Caiaphas, then the Sanhedrin.


• Then Jesus was taken by the Roman soldiers to Pontius Pilate.


• Pilate sent him to Herod, the ruler of Galilee.


• Herod sent him back to Pilate, the governor of Judea.

At last, Pilate condemned the Son of God to be crucified, and gave him into the hands of the cruel, barbaric Roman soldiers.

• The Mockery!


• The Beatings!


• The Infamous Parade!


• The Crucifixion at Calvary – The Place of the Skull – Jerusalem’s Garbage Dump!

The scene was so horribly ignominious and painful that as he hung upon the cross, our Lord said to John, "Take my mother away!" His suffering and death were hidden from his mother. The Sun refused to shine, hiding the infamy from the Earth. God the Father refused to look upon the horrid scene!

• "I thirst!"


• The Vinegar and Myrrh!


• The Burning Fever!


• The Excruciating Pain!

Let us never speak lightly of the sufferings of our Savior in his body! But there is much more. Isaiah also talks about-

Our Lord was outcast by men, betrayed by his friend, denied by his disciple, forsaken by his companions, tortured and nailed to the cursed tree; but he cried "reproach hath broken my heart," and that heart was broken for me. I want to know something about that too. I want to know my Savior "in the fellowship of his sufferings!"

• "He was despised and rejected of men" (John 1:11).


• His own countrymen!


• His own brethren!


• "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."


• His Trials and Temptations.


• The Slanders of Men.


• The Unbelief of His Disciples.


• The Souls of Men – "Moved with Compassion."


• The Sorrows of His Friends – "Jesus wept!"


• The anticipation, the heart breaking anticipation of Gethsemane.


• "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me."


• The mockery of the soldiers –


• The Crown of Thorns.


• The Purple Robe.


• The Reed Scepter.


• The Jeering Taunts.


• The songs of the drunkards and harlots – The Spit!

Don’t ever imagine that words do not hurt. If they hurt the Son of God, they hurt us for lesser men!

• The denial by Peter and the forsaking disciples!


• "We hid, as it were, our faces from him!"


• The margin reads, "He hid as it were his face from us!"


• "He was despised, and we esteemed him not!"

The Son of God suffered all this for us. Yet, we who now believe once esteemed him not. "We esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted!" Had he not himself given us faith, we would forever have esteemed him not!

Illus: The Vietnam Soldier – "I have a friend with me, can I bring him home?"

All these things tormented our Savior’s heart. Yet, even when his heart broke with reproach and shame for us, his heart was upon us (Ps. 69:6-9, 11-12, 14-20). Yet, there is more. Isaiah also speaks of –

• The sin offering.


• The paschal lamb.


• The prepared body (Heb. 10:1-14).


• I understand the agony of our Savior’s tormented body.


• I can even understand the torments of his broken heart to some degree.

But here, we have come to something I simply cannot comprehend – The Sufferings of our Savior’s Holy Soul – (Isa. 53:10-11).

A. The Son of God was made to be sin for us! – Imputation!

B. When he was made to be sin for us, the Lord God made His Soul an offering for sin! – Substitution!

C. When our Savior was most perfectly obedient to God as our representative, His Father forsook Him!

"God forsaken of God, no man can understand that!" Martin Luther

D. "He (God the Father) shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied!"

The Father’s justice is satisfied by the Son’s suffering unto death for the salvation of his people.

E. "He (the Lord Jesus Christ) shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied" – The cross of Christ shall never be discovered a miscarriage.

1. Why did the Son of God suffer all this agony of body, of heart, and of soul?

• To Satisfy Divine Justice!


• To Put Away our Sins!


• Because he Loved Us!

2. Will you yet hide your face from him, despise him, and esteem him not? – If you now look to him and trust him, Jesus Christ suffered all this for you! God help you to trust his darling Son!

3. In the light of these things, I have some questions for you and me, my brothers and sisters in Christ –

• Is anything too much for us to suffer for Christ?


• Is any sacrifice too great for us to make for him?


• Is any devotion to the Son of God extreme?

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