Isaiah 53:12

THE WORK AND THE REWARD OF CHRIST

Isaiah 53:12. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, &c.

Both the work and the reward of the Saviour were included in the prophecies concerning Him.
I. HIS WORK.

1. Its culminating act. “He hath poured out His soul unto death.” Not His incarnation, poverty, miracles, teaching, obedience. All these necessary. But the grand act was His death.

2. Its humiliating circumstances. “He was numbered with the transgressors.” On the cross as a male-factor with malefactors.

3. Its vicarious character. “And He bore the sin of many.” This conducts our thoughts farther than the outward spectacle, to the reason of it.

4. Its mediatorial power. “He made intercession for the transgressors” (Luke 23:34; Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 2:1).

II. HIS REWARD.
“Therefore will I divide Him,” &c. The allusion is to the conqueror receiving as his reward a portion of the spoils taken in war. Christ’s triumphal entry into heaven and seat upon the throne. His acquisition of the souls rescued from the power of the enemy. Illustrate by the progress of the Church from small beginnings to the present time. Also its further progress as indicated in prophecy as yet unfulfilled. This includes a multitude which no man can number; and all the intelleot, wealth, holy character, talent, power of usefulness of each.
CONCLUSION.—

1. These glorious results will be secured by human agency.
2. The work is committed to the Church of Christ, every member of which is responsible for his proper portion of it.
3. The strongest motives to engagement in this enterprise exist. They are the united obligations of love and loyalty.—J. Rawlinson.

Be careful not to mistake the pleasure with which you listen to a subject like this for real religion and acceptable devotion. Many weep over Christ’s sufferings who never weep over their sins, &c. The true feeling with which we should contemplate His work.

I. Christ as a sufferer. This chapter forms rather a history of His passion, than a prophecy. It appears to be a part of God’s procedure that the most important blessings should arise out of suffering. Christ has consecrated and ennobled the path of suffering.

1. Christ’s sufferings were penal. Ours are salutary. We have many alleviations under them, and have cheerful hopes of benefit by them, but Christ was unsustained by the prospect of any moral benefit to Himself.

2. Christ’s sufferings were vicarious.

3. Christ’s sufferings were chiefly intellectual.

Some of the advantages arising from the fact that our Saviour was a sufferer.—

(1.) It reconciles us to the endurance of trial.
(2.) It secures to us support and sympathy under the pressure of our various trials.
(3.) It leads us to anticipate a final conquest over trial. Glory preceded by humiliation, &c.

II. Christ as a conqueror (Colossians 2:15; Philippians 2:9). Innumerable multitudes shall enjoy the benefits of His death. He is still conquering. The final triumph is certain.

III. Christ as an intercessor.

In Christ we have a complete and all-sufficient Saviour.—Samuel. Thodey.

LESSONS AT THE CROSS
(For Good Friday, or Sacramental Service.)

Isaiah 53:12. He hath poured out His soul unto death.

Of all wonderful deaths, that of the Son of God is the most wonderful. Let us take our stand at the cross, and gather up some of the lessons taught by His death—
I. THE IMMEASURABLE DEPTH OF MAN’S MISERY.

He had sunk so low that he could sink no lower, except he sank into hell. He might justly have been left to perish, and must have perished but for the interposition of the Son of God, who assumed the nature that had sinned, &c., and “poured out His soul unto death” on the accursed tree. He alone could rescue man from Satan’s grasp, &c. (Isaiah 49:24).

II. THE INFINITE ENORMITY OF SIN.

It is evident that to a God of perfect purity sin must be infinitely hateful. Call to mind the destruction of fallen angels, the expulsion from Eden of the parents of our race, &c. The Apostle Paul maintains that sin subjects the sinner to temporal, spiritual, and eternal death, by a law perfectly holy, just, and good, and is consequently set forth in its true colours as “exceeding sinful”—out of measure, beyond all expression or conception sinful (Romans 7:13). But the crowning evidence is seen in the cross of Christ: not so much in the fact that impenitent sinners are damned by it, as that the immaculate Son of God died for it. What must be its enormity when God’s mercy could not consistently pardon it till His own Son had undergone its punishment—a person of infinite purity, dignity, and worth, &c.? Cease to regard sin as a trifle, &c. Put yourself in the line of God’s view of it. A right estimate of sin is a vital point in the process of personal salvation. Repent, and believe on Christ, or you must perish eternally, for “there is no other sacrifice for sin.” If God spared not His own sinless Son, when He bore the sins of the guilty, much less will He spare impenitent sinners when they bear their own sins.

III. THE ALL-SUFFICIENT ATONEMENT FOR SIN, AND THE ONLY FOUNDATION OF HOPE FOR SINNERS.
Christ did not die as a martyr, or as a spotless example of virtue, &c. These were important ends secured by His death, but they were not the direct and supreme purpose of His death, which was, according to the uniform teaching of the sacred word, “for our sins,” &c.—a substitutionary sacrifice, &c. Though God is a being of infinite love, He cannot pardon sin apart from an adequate atonement. All ideas of Divine mercy separate from the great atoning scheme are erroneous, valueless, dangerous. “God was in Christ,” &c. God has always dealt with humanity “in Christ,” whether they have known it or not. The dealings of an absolute God with a sinner—a God out of Christ, what would that be? What is the appropriate retort of offended Omnipotence? Annihilation. The history of mankind is a history of redemption. All the characteristics and conditions of an adequate atonement met in the Christ. That the Father has accepted His atoning work as all-sufficient is evident by His raising Him from the dead, and exalting Him, &c. (Acts 5:31, and others). And, that His death is now available as an atonement for sin, is manifest from the fact, that He is set before us in the Gospel, by the supreme authority of the Father, as the only object of faith and ground of acceptance (Romans 3:25; Galatians 2:21, and others). Have you “received the atonement?” If not, you have not found the ground on which you can venture without fear into the presence of the Holy One, &c.

IV. THE SUPREME REVELATION OF DIVINE LOVE.

All other manifestations are but faint compared with the love exhibited in our redemption. Either Christ must assume our nature, &c., or the race must perish. Will God’s love to a world of sinners induce Him to give His Son? The everlasting interests of humanity were suspended upon that question (Romans 8:32; John 3:16, and others). He might have formed a more glorious world, &c., but He could not manifest His love in a higher degree than He has done. What more convincing proof can you want that God loves you? Can you continue to grieve such love? Yield to His love’s all-conquering power.

Let us, then, often visit the cross to learn the depth of our misery, &c.; the one great theme of all true Christian preaching, and the supreme object of Christian glorying (Galatians 6:14; P. D. 595).—A. Tucker.

THE FRIEND OF SINNERS

Isaiah 53:12. He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

A vague notion is abroad in the world that the benefit of Christ’s passion is intended only for good people. How inconsistent is such a supposition with the whole teaching of Scripture. Consider the plan itself. It was a plan of salvation and of necessity, it was intended to bless sinners. The plan was based in grace, but how “grace,” unless it was meant for persons who deserve nothing? Moreover, think of the work itself. The work of Christ was to bring in a perfect righteousness. For whom? For those who had a righteousness? That were a superfluity. And then look at God’s end in the whole work. It was to glorify Himself; but how could God be glorified by washing spotless souls, and by bringing to everlasting glory by grace those who could have entered heaven by merit?

Our text, in its threefold character, shows the intimate connection which exists between Jesus and sinners, for in none of its sentences is there meaning unless there be a sinner, and unless Christ has come into connection with him. It is this one point I want to work out.
I. CHRIST IS ENROLLED AMONG SINNERS.
In what sense are we to understand this? He was numbered with them—

1. In the census of the Roman Empire. There went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed, and the espoused wife of Joseph, being great with child, must travel to Bethlehem that Christ may be born there, and that He may be numbered with the transgressing people, who, for their sins, were subject to the Roman yoke.

2. In the scroll of fame. Ask public rumour “What is the character of Jesus of Nazareth?” and it cannot find a word in its vocabulary foul enough for Him. “This—” they sometimes said; and our translators have inserted the word “fellow,” because in the original there is an ellipsis, the Evangelists, I suppose, hardly liking to write the word which had been cast upon Christ. Fame, with her lying tongue, said He was a drunken man and a wine-bibber, &c.

3. In the courts of law. The ecclesiastical court of Judaism, the Sanhedrim, said of Him, “Thou blasphemest;” and they smote Him on the cheek. Written down among the offenders against the dignity of God and against the security of the Jewish Church, you find the name of Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified. The civil courts also asserted the same. Pilate may wash his hands in water, and say, “I find no fault in Him,” but still, driven by the infernal clamours of an angry people, he is compelled to write, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews;” and he gives Him up to die as a malefactor who has rebelled against the sovereign law of the land. Herod, too, the Jewish tetrarch, confirms the sentence, and so, with two pens at once, Jesus Christ is written down by the civil leaders among transgressors.

4. By the whole Jewish people. Barabbas is put in competition with Christ, and they say, “Not this man, but Barabbas.” His being numbered with transgressors is no fiction. Lo, He bears the transgressor’s scourging! He bears the felon’s cross. All earth holds up its hands for His death; it is carried unanimously. Of all men is He accounted to be the offscouring of all things, and is put to grief.

5. God, the Eternal Judge, shows that He too considers Him to be in the roll of transgressors, for He veils His face till Jesus shrieks in agony so unutterable, that the words cannot express the meaning of the Redeemer’s soul, “My God,” &c.? The only answer from heaven being, “I must forsake transgressors; thou art numbered with them, and therefore I must forsake thee.” He dies without a protest on the part of earth, or heaven, or hell; He that was numbered with the transgressors, having worn the transgressor’s crown of thorns, lies in the trangressor’s grave.

Pause here a moment, and think this matter over. It is a strange and wonderful thing, and ought not to be passed by in silence. Why, think you, was Christ numbered with transgressors?

(1.) Because He could the better become their advocate. I believe, in legal phraseology, in civil cases, the advocate considers himself to be part and partner with the person for whom he pleads. You hear the counsellor continually using the word “we;” he is considered by the judge to represent the person for whom he is an advocate. Now, Christ, when the sinner is brought to the bar, appears there Himself. What is the accusation? He stands to answer it; He points to His side, His hands, His feet, and challenges Justice to bring anything against the sinners whom He represents; He pleads His blood, and pleads so triumphantly, being numbered with them and having a part with them, that the judge proclaims, “Let them go their way; deliver them from going down into the pit, for He at their head hath found a ransom.”

(2.) That He might plead with them. Suppose a number of prisoners confined in one of our old jails, and there is a person desirous to do them good, imagine that he cannot be admitted unless his name is put down in the calendar. Well, out of his abundant love to these prisoners he consents to it, and when he enters to talk with them, they perhaps think that he will come in with cold dignity; but he says, “Now, let me say to you first of all that I am one of yourselves.” “Well,” they say, “but have you done aught that is wrong?” “I will not answer you that,” saith he; “but if you will just refer to the calendar you will find my name there; I am written down there among you as a criminal.” Oh, how they open their hearts now! They opened their eyes with wonder first, but now they open their hearts, and they say, “Art thou become like one of us? Then we will talk with thee.” And he begins to plead with them. Sinner, dost thou see this? Christ puts Himself as near on a level with thee as He can. He cannot be sinful as thou art, but He so puts His name down in the list that when the roll is called His name is called over with thine. Oh, how near doth He come to thee in thy ruined state!

(3.) That sinners may feel their hearts drawn to Him. There is a tendency in awakened sinners to be afraid of Christ; but who will be afraid of a man that is numbered with us? Surely now we may come boldly to Him, and confess our guilt. He that is numbered with us cannot condemn us.

(4.) That we might be written in the red roll of the saints. He was holy, and written among the holy; we were guilty, and numbered among the guilty; He transfers His name from yonder list to this black indictment, and ours are taken from the indictment, foul and filthy, and written in the roll which is fair and glorious, for there is a transfer made between Christ and His people. All that we have goes to Christ; and all that Christ has comes to us.

II. CHRIST BARE THE SINS OF MANY.

1. Here it is as clear as noon-day, that Christ dealt with sinners. Do not say Christ died for those who have done no wrong. That is not the description given. It is clear to every one that chooses to look, that Christ could not bear the sins of those who had no sins, but could only bear the sins of men who were sinful and guilty. Their sins were really, not in a legal fiction, but really transferred from them to Him. You see, a man cannot bear a thing which is not on his back; it is impossible that he can bear it unless it is actually there. The word “bear” implies weight, and weight is the sure indicator of reality. Christ did bear sin in its fulness, vileness, and condemnation upon His own shoulders. Comprehend this, then, and you have the marrow of the subject.

2. Then notice, that as He did bear them, so other texts tell us that He did bear them away (John 1:29). Sin being on His head, the scapegoat took it away. Where? Into the wilderness of forgetfulness. If it be sought for it shall not be found; the Everlasting God seeth it no more, it hath ceased to be, for He hath finished iniquity and made an end of sin; and when there is an end of it what more can be said?

3. There is now no sin abiding upon those for whom Jesus died. “And who are they?” you say. Why all those who trust Him. Are you a sinner? Yes or no. If you say “No,” then I have nothing to say to you; Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. If you are a sinner, to you is the word of this salvation sent. “But I have been a thief!” I suppose a thief is a sinner? “But I have been a drunkard!” &c. &c. You come in under the list of sinners, and I say that such Christ contemplated, and the two sentences we have already considered prove this to a demonstration. He contemplated such as you are when He came to save, for “He was numbered with transgressors,” and He “bare”—not the virtues, not the merits, not the good works of many, but “the sin of many.” So, if you have any sin, here is Christ the sin-bearer; and if you are a sinner, here is Christ numbered with you.

III. JESUS INTERCEDES FOR SINNERS.
He prays for His saints, but remember that by nature they are transgressors, and nothing more.

1. There is a transgressor here this morning. He has been hearing the Gospel for many years, &c. I hear a voice saying—“Lo, these three years I come seeking fruit,” &c. The woodman feels his axe; it is sharp and keen. “Now,” says he, “I will lay to at this barren tree, and cut it down.” But hark! There is One that maketh intercession for transgressors, hear Him, “Spare it yet a little while, till I dig about it and dung it,” &c. Bless God that Christ pleads for you in that way.
2. But that done, He pleads for their forgiveness. “Father, forgive them,” &c. It is this that breaks a man’s heart; to think that Christ should have been loving me, with the whole force of His soul, while I was despising Him, and would have nothing to do with Him.

3. He next prays that those for whom He intercedes may be saved, and may have a new life given them. Every soul that is quickened by the Holy Spirit is so quickened as the result of His intercession for transgressors. His prayer brings down the life, and dead sinners live. When they live He does not cease to pray for them, for by His intercession they are preserved. And more, our coming to glory is the result of the pleading of Christ for transgressors (John 17:24).—C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 458.