Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3554
Isaiah 53:11.
EVERY word of the text is peculiarly full of meaning. There are passages of Scripture which are like the rooms of a royal palace which may not have in them gold and silver, though there are precious things. But this text is the strongroom of the King’s house—the richest, rarest treasures are here! When we preach the Doctrine of our text, we are preaching the very marrow of all theology—the very pith of the Gospel—the essential oil of the good news which brings salvation! I shall not, tonight, therefore, have any time to give you illustrations, nor shall we have any time for anything like oratory—but simply to speak right on, in explaining the deep Truths of God which lie before us. May God open our ears and may every heart receive the Truth which is able to save your souls, for I may truly say when preaching upon this text, “Incline your ears and come unto me. Hear, and your soul shall live,” for we are upon the main business of your souls, and treating upon that which God sets forth as the only way of redemption for the sons of men!
There are two points in the text. You observe there are two persons. There is the Lord Christ, and there are the many. We will take these two persons in order and you will perceive in a moment that these are both represented in a threefold character. And our first point will be the Lord Jesus in His threefold Character. And the second will be the many in their threefold character. To begin, then, where all mustbegin—
I. Our Blessed Lord Himself in His Threefold Character
You have Him here in a threefold Character. First, the Servant—“My righteous Servant.” Secondly, the Sin-Bearer—“He shall bear their iniquities.” Thirdly, the Justifer—“He shall justify many.”
To begin, then—Christ, the Servant—“My righteous Servant.” Be astonished, O you heavens! He that distributes crowns and thrones and is, “God Over All, Blessed Forever,” designs to become a Servant! He came into this world and “was made in fashion as a Man and, being found in fashion as a Man, He became obedient”—obedient to His Father’s will, “obedient even unto death.”
Think of Christ for a few minutes and you perceive that first, He is a Servant unto God. In a certain sense He became the Servus servorum—the Servant of servants—washing our feet and wiping them with a towel. But now in the text He is represented as serving God. Whereas we were servants that ran away from our Master, Christ came to take our place! Whereas we were disobedient servants, He came to fulfill our obedience for us—took our position of service of which we had proved ourselves to be unworthy. He served His Father and did His will. According to the verse which precedes the text, He served God not only with His body, but—with His soul—and yet again in the verse in which our text is found, “He shall see of the travail of His soul.” The service that Christ rendered to God was partly that of His body, for He suffered weariness in the diligent obedience to His Father’s will. But His mind went with it—every power and every passion of His Nature was sweetly obedient to the Divine Will! The zeal which He had for God’s Glory ate up not only His body, but His very soul! He served God, as alas, we do not as we should—with all His heart, and soul, and strength!
And note He was an ardent Servant, for the text speaks of the travail of His soul. Read it as the labor of His soul, as if He threw His soul so fully into it that His soul labored in the service of God! Or read it, if you will, as travail, and you know the meaning of that word, which we will cover with a veil. The whole of His powers and faculties were full of pain that He might serve His God. He suffered in His service and He served in His suffering—not only with all the power He had, but bowing the fullness of His strength into the service which He rendered unto God. In the text He is called a righteous Servant, as if He had rendered an account unto God, and God had found it in every jot and tittle to be correct—a righteous Servant, fulfilling all righteousness, carefully doing so—a righteous Servant without any need to add a word about some little slips or failings, for in Him was no sin—no sin in His life and no sin in Himself. The prince of this world searched Him, but he found nothing in Him—He was without the slightest offense—“holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners.” Christ, then, as a Servant to God was an accepted Servant. We know He was, for God Himself calls Him, “My righteous Servant.” Now think—I will not enlarge further—think, Beloved, of this. This is your Lord, whom angels worship, become an obedient Servant unto God for your sake and discharging His work so as to get the reward of, “Well done, good and righteous Servant!” His merits are yours, Believer! All that He has done is yours! You are “accepted in the Beloved.” The Lord receives you for Jesus’ sake and in Christ He is well-pleased with you. There is a sweet Truth of God to begin with! Roll it under your tongue as a dainty morsel. “He is My righteous Servant.”