Good Friday – Apr. 3 – Is. 52:13-53:12 “God’s Blessed Will”

Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Old Testament Lesson just read, from Is. 52 and 53. We begin with prayer.

Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:

Our text contains the clearest and most detailed theological explanation of the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is odd and strange in that this text was written prior to 700 B.C., over 700 years prior to the event that it describes.
So people of God were able to look closely and carefully at God’s plan of salvation, at His great love and His good and gracious will for mankind from days of antiquity. And I’m certain that many people did just that, and were brought into the same life of repentance and wondrous joy in God’s gracious salvation that we have today.
The fact that Judaism developed – with all of its rejection of God’s love, as evidenced by the religious leaders of Jesus’ day rejecting Him and fighting against Him – is strong evidence that the majority of the children of Israel did not look at this text, and that these religious leaders were oblivious to it.
We understand the difficulty they had in comprehending this text – it describes an innocent Person serving as the Lamb of God, taking upon Himself all of the guilt, shame, sin, and just punishment of the sins of the whole world, taking them away from us and providing us with healing, health, innocence, and eternal salvation.
The question naturally arises as to how God could have allowed this, how God could have participated in this, how God could have planned and implemented this! But the reality is clearly stated in our text: “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief.” And this is what we consider this evening, “GOD’S BLESSED WILL.”
Most important, we consider the impact upon us – why God willed this and performed it, but we also want to consider the final outcome for Christ – not only to “crush Him” and “put Him to grief,” but also to “lift Him up high” and “exalt Him.”
But first we must fully grasp that:

I. God’s Blessed Will Was To Crush Christ, To Put Him To Grief, To Make His Soul An Offering For Our Sin – Out Of His Great Love For Us, To Heal Us, To Save Us, To Give Us Eternal Life

Text: “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.”

“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.”

“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.”

Statement: If we are to contemplate the will of God, and see His very heart of love for us, then we must consider these statements from His own Word very carefully. And to do so brings such wonderment and amazement! He took away our griefs, was killed for our iniquities and transgressions and sins. His suffering brought us peace and healing – God’s forgiveness of our sins, reconciliation to God, and peace with God. By His offering – the offering of His soul for our guilt, He has produced “offspring,” dear children of God who are also reconciled to Him through faith in His gracious love! These are given new life, prolonged life with their Savior, eternal life! He has made us to be “accounted righteous” in the sight of God, the only One Who matters! THIS IS “GOD’S BLESSED WILL,” and it has to do with us, our benefit, our salvation, God’s great and everlasting love for us!

Application: This revelation of God’s will was clearly and plainly available to the children of Israel and to all who had access to His Word for centuries prior to the incarnation of Jesus, and His suffering and death on the cross. Would to God that all of Abraham’s offspring had contemplated this Word of God and rejoiced with faith in His goodness, His love, and His gracious and merciful gift of redemption. Alas, the vast majority did not – and so when Jesus “came unto His own, His own received Him not.”

The fulfillment of this Word of God and its meaning has been recorded for another 2,000 years now, and Christ’s offspring, His church has been in existence all this time, and yet many fail to contemplate and grasp the meaning of this text and “GOD’S BLESSED WILL.” A “Reformation” was required, and still, there are many within the “institutional” church, visible Christendom, who do not grasp the fullness of God’s love for us in Christ Jesus, and the salvation that has already been fully provided for us. Oh, dear friends, do not be among them – but deeply contemplate this blessed gift of God, and secure yourself to “GOD’S BLESSED WILL.” This is the only way to truly honor and revere our precious Lord Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Father!

Transition: For while Christ certainly suffered and died, in seeming shame and ignominy, this Word of God makes clear that this was not the end for Christ. Rather:

II. God’s Blessed Will Was To Exalt The Lord Jesus Christ Above All Things

Text: “Behold, My Servant shall act wisely; He shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted . . . 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.”

Statement: I’m sure that to many it doesn’t seem possible that One Who was so thoroughly humiliated and demeaned could possibly be exalted above all things – but this also provides us with insight into the love of God, the power of God, His nature, and how He works with mankind for the purpose of saving us – in view of the entrance of sin into human existence through the fall of Adam and Eve. The insight – which is contrary to human reason and our expectation of God – is that God’s love is so great for us that He is willing to suffer loss for our redemption and salvation. And His love for us is so great that He will lift up and restore and exalt what is good and right, the One Who redeems us, and all who take refuge in Him. We are the “spoil” apportioned to the Lord Jesus Christ, and just as He is exalted so we shall be – in fact Scripture describes it as though we already were “lifted up together with Christ in the heavenly places.”

Application: By His glorious resurrection, by His eternal reign at the right hand of the Father, by the fruit of His sacrifice – the true church, His offspring, His children of faith – Christ is exalted. Thus God is satisfied – it was worth it to Him. You were worth it to Him! This is “GOD’S BLESSED WILL,” and you are privileged to be the beneficiary of it and to participate in it, through repentance and faith in Jesus. And obviously God wants us to know these things – His servant Isaiah wrote it all down, every Word that God gave him! And so:

III. We Also Are Blessed By His Knowledge, By The Knowledge Of His Blessed Will

Text: “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.”

A. We Are Blessed With Salvation And Newness Of Life By His Knowledge

B. We Are Forgiven And Justified – Accounted To Be Righteous By God Himself

Statement: Jesus once stated: “This is eternal life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” To truly know Him is to know “GOD’S BLESSED WILL,” and knowing God’s blessed will is to know God. So you see the blessings God had always planned to give us in Christ Jesus, the blessings that He revealed and promised to all people through the Old Testament prophets, the blessings He fulfilled to us in Christ Jesus, in His suffering, death, and resurrection!

Application: Let us not fail to clearly see and receive “GOD’S BLESSED WILL” as He has revealed it to us in our text and throughout His Word, the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. What waste and sorrow and wickedness prevails when people reject God’s will and make up their own religions – it is horrible! There is no need for any of this – just look upon and meditate upon His blessed Word, and you also will know Him and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent, and as Jesus stated, you will have eternal life.

Conclusion: Let us beware of how easy it is to lose sight of the will of God, and to lose the knowledge of the only True and Living God. It happened to the ancient Hebrews. It has happened to many within the institutional church, visible Christendom. It has happened to many Lutherans as well – who rather than allowing the Word of God to govern and dictate their knowledge of God and “GOD’S BLESSED WILL,” have succumbed to their own thinking and the influence of their own sinful nature and have rejected God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus.

To the end of time it will be the same – that some will marvel at “GOD’S BLESSED WILL” and rejoice eternally in His gift of salvation in Christ Jesus, while others will reject His love and remain ignorant of His will. May God bless our church and our congregation, that we always remain among those who know His will and revel in His love. May He bless each and every one of us to know His will in Christ Jesus, and to rejoice in His salvation! Amen.