ISAIAH 53: THE LAMB'S LIFE
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. Isaiah 53
a) This is a study of one of the key chapters in Isaiah, namely chapter 53. Verse 7 is a key verse in the chapter. It speaks of one "led like a lamb to the slaughter" whom we understand to be Jesus Christ who was crucified.
b) When the man from Ethiopia was reading this chapter as he rode home in his chariot, he was puzzled as to whom this "lamb" might be. He asked Philip the evangelist to explain it to him, and Philip "preached Jesus to him". (Acts 8:26-39).
c) John the Baptizer heralded Jesus as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29).
d) In the vision John had of heaven, he saw "a Lamb standing as if slain" and this Lamb was honored and worshiped as God (Revelation 5:6, 12-14).
e) We therefore take Isaiah chapter 53 as a prophecy about Jesus Christ.
f) Here is one of the three points of the chapter.
2. The Lamb’s Life
Isaiah 53:1-4
1 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 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.
3 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.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
a) Isaiah 53:1-4 show three important aspects of the life of Christ. The four accounts of the life of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, portray him in the same manner.
i) Not a man of outward appearance
@1. Belief in Jesus is based on what one sees in the heart of Jesus, and in the words that came from his heart. Most people look at the outward man, at stately form and majesty, at attractive outward appearance. Jesus was a man of lowly birth and appearance. He was a king who did not look like a king. Therefore true believers in him are few (Isaiah 53:1-2).
ii) A man of sorrows
@1. The life of Christ was a hard one, in that most people did not esteem him as he deserved. Many followed him in a shallow way and later left him (John 6:66-71). Others, as Isaiah predicted, actually despised him (Isaiah 53:3-4) Christ experienced hardship and rejection not only at his death, but right from the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:28-30). The prophets of old, such as Elisha, experienced the hurt of doing good and being reviled and thus prefigure Christ (2 Kings 2:23).
iii) Led an exemplary life
@1. Jesus was a good man, bearing other people's griefs and sorrows in the good works that he did (Isaiah 53:4, Matthew 8:17). There is another reference, later in the chapter, to the goodness of Jesus, that he never committed any violence or deceit (Isaiah 53:9). Jesus led a sinless life. He "knew no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21), "a lamb without blemish" (1 Peter 1:19), "in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
The End ...
1. Isaiah 53a) This is a study of one of the key chapters in Isaiah, namely chapter 53. Verse 7 is a key verse in the chapter. It speaks of one "led like a lamb to the slaughter" whom we understand to be Jesus Christ who was crucified.
b) When the man from Ethiopia was reading this chapter as he rode home in his chariot, he was puzzled as to whom this "lamb" might be. He asked Philip the evangelist to explain it to him, and Philip "preached Jesus to him". (Acts 8:26-39).
c) John the Baptizer heralded Jesus as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29).
d) In the vision John had of heaven, he saw "a Lamb standing as if slain" and this Lamb was honored and worshiped as God (Revelation 5:6, 12-14).
e) We therefore take Isaiah chapter 53 as a prophecy about Jesus Christ.
f) Here is one of the three points of the chapter.
2. The Lamb’s Life
Isaiah 53:1-4
1 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 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.
3 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.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
a) Isaiah 53:1-4 show three important aspects of the life of Christ. The four accounts of the life of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, portray him in the same manner.
i) Not a man of outward appearance
@1. Belief in Jesus is based on what one sees in the heart of Jesus, and in the words that came from his heart. Most people look at the outward man, at stately form and majesty, at attractive outward appearance. Jesus was a man of lowly birth and appearance. He was a king who did not look like a king. Therefore true believers in him are few (Isaiah 53:1-2).
ii) A man of sorrows
@1. The life of Christ was a hard one, in that most people did not esteem him as he deserved. Many followed him in a shallow way and later left him (John 6:66-71). Others, as Isaiah predicted, actually despised him (Isaiah 53:3-4) Christ experienced hardship and rejection not only at his death, but right from the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:28-30). The prophets of old, such as Elisha, experienced the hurt of doing good and being reviled and thus prefigure Christ (2 Kings 2:23).
iii) Led an exemplary life
@1. Jesus was a good man, bearing other people's griefs and sorrows in the good works that he did (Isaiah 53:4, Matthew 8:17). There is another reference, later in the chapter, to the goodness of Jesus, that he never committed any violence or deceit (Isaiah 53:9). Jesus led a sinless life. He "knew no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21), "a lamb without blemish" (1 Peter 1:19), "in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
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