Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Oct 21 2019 - Isaiah 52:13-53:12 – The Suffering Servant

How can the cup of God's wrath be removed from his people? They were sent into exile because of their disobedience. Is that disobedience simply to be forgotten so that they may be restored to God's favour? The answer to these questions is given in this, the last and most wonderful of the four Servant Songs in Isaiah.

Israel was accustomed to the idea of an animal being sacrificed for the sin of the people, but here God speaks of one who is his Servant (52:13) who has been raised up to bear the judgment his people deserved:

He was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
   each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5-6)

The judgment of God has fallen on him so that God's people may be forgiven, healed and restored. It was the Lord's will to crush him and make him "an offering for sin" (53:10) so that the guilt and shame of his people might be swept away.

It is difficult for us to imagine what these wonderful words meant to the Israelites facing return from exile. They must have seemed deeply mysterious even though they offered the comfort and confidence that their sin had been dealt with. For us, standing on the other side of Jesus' coming into the world and of his death and resurrection, they speak clearly and prophetically of him. He is the Lamb of God who takes upon himself not merely the sin of Israel, but the sin of the whole world (see the wonderful words concerning the Servant in Isaiah 49:6). He is the one who suffered cruel mistreatment at the hands of others without lashing out in protest. He suffered the judgment of a holy God against sin for our sake. "The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed" (53:5). He is the one who prayed that his persecutors might be forgiven and who still makes "intercession for the transgressors" (53:12).

The atoning work of the Suffering Servant will result in people from all nations being brought to know the living God (52:15). "He will see the fruit of his suffering and will be satisfied" (Septuagint translation of 53:11).

From every nation we shall be gathered,
Millions redeemed shall be Jesus' reward.
Then he will turn and say to his Father:
'Truly my suffering was worth it all!'

The Suffering Servant has been "highly exalted" (52:13), and one day every knee will bow to him and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Lord God, help us to see more clearly the dreadful offensiveness of sin that it demanded the sacrificial death of your beloved Son. Help us also to see more clearly the greatness of his love who gave himself for us. Help us to know that through his resurrection he has forever conquered sin and death and gained salvation for all who come to him. Help me to know that there is always more grace in Christ than there is sin in us. Holy Spirit, fill us with wisdom and courage to tell others the good news concerning the Lord Jesus that they also may find forgiveness, freedom and eternal life in him.

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Oct 21 2020 - Hebrews 12:14-29 – An unshakable kingdom

When God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he brought them to meet with himself at Mount Sinai. It was an uncomfortable meeting. The mountain was burning with fire and covered with smoke. No one was allowed to approach the mountain except Moses and a few others; anyone straying onto it – even an animal – was to be stoned to death.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us that God has saved us through the Lord Jesus Christ that we also might be brought to meet with him. But this is a very different meeting. We have not been brought to Mount Sinai but "to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel" (Hebrews 12:22-24).

The blood of Abel cried out for vengeance. God heard that cry and Cain became a marked man, living out his life under the lonely burden of God’s judgment. The blood of Jesus also cries out to God and its voice also is heard. Jesus' blood cries out “Father, forgive them!” – it pleads not for vengeance but for forgiveness, even the forgiveness of those who nailed him to the cross. Through this shed blood our sins are forgiven and we are able to join the ranks of the "righteous made perfect." Because of Christ’s shed blood we are marked men and women – marked as children of the living God, called to live out our lives in the presence and under the blessing of God.

Through the death of Christ on our behalf and his risen intercession we are brought into the welcome embrace of God. We have been brought before the judge of all the earth, not to the accompaniment of earthquake and loud thunder, but to the songs of angels. We are able to stand before him without being consumed because of "the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel."

We have received a very different reception from that of the Israelites at Sinai; but we need to remember that God has not changed. He who once shook Mount Sinai will one day shake both heaven and earth. The whole of the created order will be shaken and transformed at the coming of its creator and judge. We can be confident and thankful that even in that day we shall stand secure, for in Jesus Christ "we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken" (12:28) – we stand on solid ground and unshakable promises. Yet we need also to remember that "our God is a consuming fire" (12:29 quoting Deuteronomy 4:24). We can stand confidently in God's presence as his much loved and dearly bought children, nevertheless, along with the angels we come before him in worship "with reverence and awe."

Father God, teach us to come before you with the excited joy of children and yet with reverence and awe, remembering that you indeed are God. We give you thanks that in the Lord Jesus we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. By your Spirit, help us so to live as members of your kingdom that we may draw others to trust in your unshakable promises. May we, together with them and with angels, archangels and all the company of heaven, rejoice in the blessing of living in your presence.

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Peter Misselbrook