I. The Suffering of the servant foretold
"...a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering (Isa. 53:3b)
A. Familiarity by acquaintance
Isa. 53:4
Mt 8:16-17
Mt. 14:14
Lk. 7:12-13
B. Familiarity by personal experience
1. Throughout His lifetime
Mt. 8:20 - "nowhere to lay his head
Heb. 4:15 - "tempted like we are"
2. At His crucifixion (Jn. 12:23, 27)
a. Physical suffering
---"wounded" (Isa. 53:5b)
--- "pierced" (v. 5a)
---killed (v. 8b)
b. Emotional and Spiritual suffering (v. 11a)
---"despised" (v. 3a)
---"rejected" [by man and God] (v. 3a)
---bearing our sin (vv. 6b, 11b, 12b)
II. The cause of His suffering and death
A. On the human level, a miscarriage of justice
1. The envy of the Sanhedrin
2. The betrayal by Judas
3. The self-serving complicityu of Pontius Pilate
B. On a cosmic level, a divine plan of salvation
1. Initiated by God ["Jahweh"] (vv. 10a, 6b)
2. Submissively accepted by the God the Son (vv. 7, 12b)
III.The purpose of the suffering
A. The propitiation of God's wrath
---"guilt offering" (v. 10)
---substitutionary suffering and death (v. 5)
B. Justification of the sinner (vv. 6b, 11b)
[We will pause at this point in the message to contemplate His suffering and death for us as we partake of the bread and
wine of the Lord's Supper.]
IV. Our response to His Suffering
A. Rejection by mankind as a whole (v. 3a)
B. Hiding our faces from him (v. 3b)
1. By failing to contemplate and appreciate His suffering for us (Lk. 22:19)
2. By failing to look upon our suffering fellow humans with compassion (Mt. 25:44-45)
