Macarthur The Gospel according to God

Rediscovering the Most Remarkable Chapter in the Old Testament
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4335-4960-1
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 224 Seiten

'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.' Isaiah 53:5 Often hailed as one of the greatest chapters in the Bible, the prophecy of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53 foretells the crucifixion of Jesus, the central event in God's ultimate plan to redeem the world. This book explains the prophetic words of Isaiah 53 verse by verse, highlighting important connections to the history of Israel and to the New Testament-ultimately showing us how this ancient prophecy illuminates essential truths that undergird our lives today.

John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, where he has served since 1969. He is known around the world for his verse-by-verse expository preaching and his pulpit ministry via his daily radio program, Grace to You. He has also written or edited nearly four hundred books and study guides. MacArthur is chancellor emeritus of the Master's Seminary and Master's University. He and his wife, Patricia, live in Southern California and have four grown children.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Macarthur, John

Leseproben

1

The Most Remarkable Chapter in the Old Testament

This is one of the chapters that lie at the very heart of the Scriptures. It is the very Holy of holies of Divine Writ. Let us, therefore, put off our shoes from our feet, for the place whereon we stand is specially holy ground. This fifty-third of Isaiah is a Bible in miniature. It is the condensed essence of the gospel.

Charles Spurgeon1

No text in the entire Old Testament is more momentous than Isaiah 52:13–53:12. It is a prophecy that begins and ends with the voice of Yahweh himself. He calls our attention to a singular individual: “Behold, my servant . . . ” (52:13) and “the righteous one, my servant” (53:11).

The servant is the Anointed One of Israel—the Messiah. We know that for several reasons. To begin with, those opening words are a clear echo of Isaiah 42:1: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” In the introduction we noted that Isaiah wrote four psalm-like passages prominently featuring a person the prophet calls the servant of Yahweh: Isaiah 42:1–9; 49:1–13; 50:4–11; and 52:13–53:12. All of them (often referred to as Isaiah’s Servant Songs) speak of the servant’s gentle manner and his worldwide mission. All four are clearly messianic prophecies.

Those passages from Isaiah ring the same note as Zechariah 3:8, another famous messianic prophecy: “Behold, I will bring my servant the Branch.” Of this same individual, Isaiah had previously written, “The government shall be upon his shoulder [and] of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore” (9:6–7).

So the introductory words of Isaiah 52:13 make clear that what follows is a prophecy concerning the Messiah, the promised Redeemer from Israel: “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.”

The entire passage then focuses on the servant of the Lord—described in plain terms as a specific individual. The passage is not about any nation, tribe, people group, or general category of oppressed persons. This is about the suffering of one person, the Lord’s servant, and he remains the singular focus of the passage through the end of Isaiah 53.

As we also observed in this book’s introduction, the chapter and verse divisions in our modern Bibles aren’t found in the original manuscripts. Though generally useful and convenient, the chapter breaks and verse numbers were not divinely inspired. In the case of our text, the break between chapters has been inserted in a rather unfortunate place. The prophecy clearly shifts from one topic to the next after Isaiah 52:12. Both the context and the content make clear that the final three verses in Isaiah 52 actually introduce (and belong to) the passage that spans all of chapter 53. So for convenience’s sake, please understand that throughout this book when I speak in general terms of Isaiah 53 without citing specific verses, I have in mind the entire pericope, including those final three verses in chapter 52.

The Text

Here is the complete passage, formatted to reflect the fact that Isaiah is writing in poetic verse:

Behold, my servant shall act wisely;

he shall be high and lifted up,

and shall be exalted.

As many were astonished at you—

his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

so shall he sprinkle many nations.

Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,

for that which has not been told them they see,

and that which they have not heard they understand.

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.

That brief but pivotal portion of Isaiah is a crystal-clear prophecy about the ministry, death, resurrection, and coronation of the Messiah, written more than seven centuries before he came. It is the gospel according to God. Of all the Old Testament’s messianic prophecies, this one stands out for its sublime richness and unparalleled clarity. In particular, Isaiah paints a precise prophetic portrait of Messiah’s sufferings. He also explains in vivid detail the true meaning of Messiah’s death as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of his people.

Many key historical details from the events surrounding the death of Messiah are expressly stated in this passage. For example, Isaiah speaks of the savage brutality of the wounds that were inflicted on him (52:14), his utter silence before his accusers (53:7), his death (vv. 8–9), the place of his burial (v. 9), and the ultimate triumph of his finished work (v. 11). The prophet even alludes to his resurrection from the dead: “He shall prolong his days [and] the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand” (v. 10).

The passage is also loaded with doctrinal themes: substitutionary sacrifice (vv. 4–6, 10), the forgiveness of sins through the shedding of Messiah’s lifeblood (v. 5), the sinlessness of this “despised and rejected” servant who dies for his people (v. 9), the sovereign initiative of God in providing atonement for sinners (vv. 10–11), the justification of many (v. 11), and the intercessory work of the one who offers himself as a sacrifice (v. 12).

Who Is This Suffering Servant?

Ancient Jewish commentators recognized and acknowledged the messianic significance of Isaiah 53. An early belief among some rabbis was that Messiah would be pale and sickly—regarded as a leper—because of how the suffering servant is described in Isaiah 53:3: “despised and rejected . . . as one from whom men hide their faces.” The Talmud is a massive compendium of rabbinical teaching covering several centuries of tradition, commentary, legal opinions, philosophy, ethics, and other matters of Jewish custom. It dates from the fifth century after Christ but includes a record of oral traditions from as early as two or three centuries before Christ. One section of the Talmud features a discussion about Messiah and what he was to be called. “What is his name?” the writer asks. Someone answers “Shiloh,” based on Genesis 49:10 (“The sceptre shall not depart . . . until Shiloh come,” KJV). However, the writer says, “[our] Rabbis maintain that his name is ‘the leprous one of the school of Rabbi Judah the...