[0:00] Let us turn again to the scripture we read in the Old Testament in the prophecies of Isaiah chapter 53 and words in verse 5.
[0:15] Isaiah chapter 53 at verse 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
[0:26] The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his wounds we are healed.
[0:38] He was wounded for our transgressions. I wonder if any of you, any of you at all, down there, up in the galleries, if you saw a man wounded and lying helpless, would you pass him by without a word of help or encouragement, not even assuring him that you'd call an ambulance?
[1:11] I know this, that if you did that, you'd spend the rest of your days making excuses, justifying yourselves, trying to present the case from your point of view, suggesting you'd say the man was a fool to have got into the situation where he got those wounds.
[1:34] You'd say that the situation was one in which you, with your particular responsibilities, family and public responsibilities, you couldn't get involved.
[1:49] In short, you'd despise the wounded man and pass him by. Of course, you're telling me, there's no use you getting on like that.
[2:02] I wouldn't do such a thing. I wouldn't pass by anybody in that situation. But I'm going to ask again. Would you pass by a man wounded and fallen, if you knew that the wounds he received, he received in protecting you and your loved ones?
[2:26] Again, you may start to get a bit angry with me. As you tell me that you couldn't do such a thing, that would be the very depths of callousness and selfishness and ingratitude.
[2:38] You couldn't pass him by if he had got his wounds protecting you and your loved ones? I want you to listen to this again.
[2:52] And tell me how you relate to the person who's spoken of here. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
[3:06] The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his wounds, we are healed.
[3:18] If you tell me how you relate to this person, I'll tell you if you would step over the body of your wounded protector.
[3:28] But perhaps that's not where we should begin. We should perhaps begin with the question that a traveler asked an evangelist long ago, as he read in this very passage of scripture.
[3:42] I pray thee, he said to the evangelist, who is this prophet talking about? Is it about himself or about somebody else? And we want to ask that question.
[3:57] Who? And if we get an answer to that question, there are other questions that would follow. By whom was he wounded? And why?
[4:10] And finally, what was the effect? What did he achieve by being wounded? Well, we start with the question that the traveler asked the evangelist.
[4:26] Who is this? And the evangelist told him quite clearly that the prophet was speaking about a real person, not just a mythical or legendary figure, a real person who lived in Israel, who grew up, who was born in Bethlehem, grew up in Nazareth, became a familiar figure throughout Galilee and later on throughout Judea and Jerusalem.
[5:01] Somebody whose work and ministry attracted a great deal of public attention. He preached in public and people listened to him. At one time, they listened to him very gladly and in great multitudes.
[5:17] He was someone who went about doing good, helping the poor and the needy and the distressed and the oppressed. A good man, a godly man, a man whose first principle was that of obedience to God, who demonstrated first and foremost that he was God's man, who gave a new and living exposition to the commandments of God that a man should love the Lord his God with all his heart and all his strength and all his soul and his neighbor as himself.
[5:58] Living amongst the people, sharing the common life of the people around him, he was yet infinitely different in the totality of his obedience to God.
[6:15] Jesus of Nazareth. But that's not all. For these virtues were but the penumbra of the real and essential glory that belonged to him.
[6:31] What he himself declared and his works attested, that the inner essential glory of his being was this, that he is God, the living God, the creator of the ends of the earth.
[6:45] God become man and tabernacling amongst us. Can such a thing be? Will God?
[6:59] Solomon asked the question. You remember Solomon had built a temple for God, a palace, a fitting, as he thought, a fitting palace for Israel's true king.
[7:15] And as he dedicated it, this thought staggered him. Will God, in very truth, dwell with man upon the earth?
[7:28] Behold, the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain thee. Solomon was staggered by the thought of God coming to dwell among people, even, as we might say, in a spiritual and intangible way.
[7:45] But that God, in the person of his own son, should make himself of no reputation, that he should make himself of no reputation and be found in fashion as a man?
[8:02] Was that possible? God had a work of reconciliation in mind. God had a work He knew the needs and the necessities of his people and he sent his son into the world.
[8:19] And his words and his deeds all attested the reality of the claim that he made to be the son of God, to be God over all, blessed forever.
[8:33] And coming as he came upon a mission of grace in this way, his coming ought to have been acclaimed by men, ought to have been acclaimed by men upon earth as it was acclaimed by the angelic host in heaven who sang in their wonder at what was taking place, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace.
[8:57] but there was no answering chorus from the sons of men. There was no answering chorus from his own.
[9:09] He came as John tells us, he came to his own and his own received him not. He came to his own and instead of receiving him, they despised and rejected him.
[9:26] They made him a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and so he was wounded. But again I ask, can this be?
[9:43] Can God be wounded? can God die? I hear I hear the glorified Redeemer speak to the beloved Apostle John as he appeared to him when John was in Patmos and John had seen his glory and fell at his peak as one dead.
[10:13] he laid his right hand upon me John says and he said to me fear not I am the living one who became dead and am alive forevermore.
[10:32] I am the living one who became dead. Can you understand that? I cannot understand it except vaguely. the living one the source of life the one of whom it is said without him was not anything made that was made the one in whom we live and move and have our being the eternal God the eternally living one become dead.
[11:07] I can respond to the miracle of the resurrection. I can understand in some way I can understand that I can see this is in the natural order of things this is how things ought to be.
[11:24] I listen to Paul as he proclaims it it was not possible that he should be holden of death. That's what I know and that's what I can understand but that the living one should become dead.
[11:44] It's something which is naturally incredible because it is naturally impossible. There is something beyond the realm beyond the range of mere nature here.
[12:01] It's naturally incredible because it's naturally impossible. So much so that the truth of it the reality of it the actuality of it has to be objectively and overtly demonstrated both in heaven and on earth.
[12:25] For when John's gaze penetrated the heavens when John looked up to the heavens he saw in the midst of the throne a lamb as it had been slain.
[12:43] Now we may not be able to understand or to cope with all of the details of that imagery.
[12:55] The lamb in the midst of the throne as it had been slain. But it is as though our Lord were demonstrating the truth of his wounding and his dying almost as though it could not be believed otherwise unless it were demonstrated here in the very glory itself.
[13:19] the lamb in the midst of the throne the lamb of God bearing the marks of the wounds he had sustained.
[13:32] And it had to be demonstrated to the disciples on earth. That passage we read in John's gospel you remember when Jesus appeared amongst the disciples disciples he showed to them his hands and his side.
[13:53] And what response can we make to that other than the response of Thomas when the Lord bade him reach hither thy finger and put it into my hands reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side my Lord and my God.
[14:16] That is who he is. That is how I see him the one who was wounded. And I ask you what is he to you this one who was wounded for our transgressions.
[14:37] Now I ask by whom was he wounded. And of course there are there's an easy answer and there are answers that are progressively more difficult.
[14:53] There's an easy answer that comes from a restricted historical perspective. This will tell us that he was wounded according to the sentence of Pilate the Roman governor who gave him up to be crucified.
[15:10] Pilate gave him up to be crucified at the instigation of the Jewish religious leaders and that he was the more encouraged and indeed pressurized to do this by the howling mob that shamed themselves as in their theory and their nationalistic and religious zeal cried out against the man of Nazareth crucify him crucify him and though Pilate asked why what evil had he done he delivered him up to be crucified and the mob were so in such a frenzy that they invoked upon themselves a measureless curse his blood be upon us and upon our children now we may take that restricted historical view and begin to clean ourselves with some sort of virtue we may think that we can take an objective stance and look with a historian's analysis at what took place and feel a sense of rage against those who unjustly condemned the man who went about doing good and like
[16:43] Pilate when he washed his hands of the whole thing we may say that we are innocent of the blood of this just person but we cannot so easily escape such a stance of objectivity is not open to us because this is the son of God because this is God in human flesh come amongst us there is a supratemporal dimension to this whole transaction and there is a sense in which every one of us were there representatively we were there when they crucified the Lord and this is what gives to our thinking of the whole consideration of the whole situation this is what gives to it a kind of nightmarish aspect for as
[17:45] I look and try to think of and try to identify those who were involved in the condemnation and crucifixion of the man of Nazareth I grow frightened I become increasingly full of dread as I begin to try to identify the features whose voice is that whose voice is that raised in mockery he saved others himself he cannot save who is it that laughs that casts the dice and laughs under the very shadow of the cross whose hand is it whose hand is it that wields the spear that is thrust into the side and into the very heart of the man of
[18:51] God I don't want to look the features are so familiar the gestures the actions they're so familiar I grow the more frightened I don't want to go any nearer I plead with God not to not to push me further I plead with God let it not let it not be me and yet when I look I see that my hands are full of blood my hands are full of blood but that's not all through my fright through the dread that grips me
[19:53] I hear another voice voice a voice raised against the man of the cross peremptory angry decisive not against me but against the man of the cross this voice comes awake oh sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow smite the shepherd it's not that I it's not that I am righteously or virtuously doing God's work but in some way that I cannot fathom God seems to be for me but he is against the man of the cross it pleased
[21:03] God to bruise him he hath put him to grief he wounds him whatever however he felt what my hostility and my insensitivity whatever pain that inflicted upon the man of Nazareth he bore it patiently but when the hand of God when the voice of God his father went against him with all the force and intensity with all the infinite intensity of his deity he cries out my God my God why why hast thou forsaken me and I want to get away for that voice haunts me
[22:06] I've got to find some place some quiet place where I can reflect and ask what is the reason there must be an explanation that why haunts me and pursues me wherever I go and I can't rest until I know what the explanation is why and you know if we return to the restricted historical perspective there is an easy answer Pilate will give us one explanation he will tell us that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up and the chief priests will tell us that here was a man who was presumptuous a man who without any accrediting from any of the rabbinical schools went about presuming to teach and to expound the law of
[23:13] Moses setting aside traditions that were sanctified by usage the traditions of the fathers a religious subversive who needed who it was necessary that they be rid of and Pilate would tell us they had accused him also of being a political agitator it's the familiar story the familiar story of collusion between people of different outlooks to put away a man who is embarrassing to them both because he is true that may satisfy the historians but it does not satisfy my heart I ask how could I be implicated in this how could I do such a thing how could my hands be red with the blood we tell ourselves don't we we tell ourselves that though we recognize that we are sinners though we know that we have broken and do break
[24:25] God's holy law there are limits beyond which we won't go we don't have a fundamental enmity to God we differ from God we think his commandments are too severe or his requirements are not geared to the particular situation in which we find ourselves we find it necessary to change or to bend his laws but we have no quarrel actually with God himself we don't want him out of the way and when we speak like that we speak in deceit and wickedness because deep within the heart of fallen man estranged from God there is a death wish for God a wish that God was not there a wish that he could be got rid of we tried to deny it the people of his own generation tried to deny it our
[25:27] Lord told them a parable about a king who sent his son last of all to them and they said this is the heir come let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours we want to be independent to do our own thing to be rid of God and that's how we can rise up against the son of God when he comes amongst us this was man's original madness this was the original deceit that man accepted when the tempter said to him you shall not surely die God knows that in the day you shall be as God we want to be rivals of God we want to be and so we we blame God for our frustrations we we blame we blame for our setbacks we blame God for our heart breaks and we tell ourselves it would be far better with us if
[26:29] God were not if we could exterminate him of course we don't speak it as plainly as that and maybe part of the shock that you experience in hearing it stated like that is not that the thought is strange to you but that the thought should be articulated in that way for each and all of us knows that deep down within us we have a quarrel with God himself we join with the multitude we join with the multitude who cried out to Pilate not this not give us up give us Barabbas if you're going to set somebody free let it be Barabbas he's our kind of person he's our kind of man we understand him he's one of us but as for Jesus crucify him crucify him as I reflect on that
[27:29] I stand ashamed before the cross of Calvary but can God be got rid of so easily can can we simply by putting nails into the hands of the Son of God and fixing him to the accursed tree can we get rid of him so easily the Jews found that it was not so they could not be rid of him so easily but why did he succumb why did he submit why did he allow for our transgressions for God had laid upon him the iniquity of us all that is why it pleased God to bruise him and to put him to grief and that is why it pleased him even in the agony in the extreme distress of his dereliction it still pleased him to lay himself down for his people to give up his life for his people
[28:43] God shows to me in the wounds of Jesus what I would have become of me if I were left to my sin and disobedience God takes me when I view the wounds of Jesus he takes me to the very edge of the precipice of hell I look into that when I hear the cry of dereliction but God tells me in the wounds of Jesus there is a way back there is a way of reconciliation it is in order to accomplish that that the voice of God went out against his own son and in order to accomplish that that he gave his life for his people so I ask finally what is the outcome of it all to what effect did he suffer and the answer can be given in three statements the effect was first the procurement of man's salvation second the full demonstration of disarming love and third to give assurance of God's total understanding of our pain the procurement of our salvation death itself was disempowered we witness in the cross of the Lord
[30:37] Jesus Christ what John Owen called the death of death in the death of Christ our saviour Jesus Christ the apostle tells us has disempowered death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel he has borne the sins he has borne the guilt of his people and God has proclaimed that there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus the father will answer and fulfill the will of the son our mediator father he said it is my will that they whom thou has given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory and God will see to it that all those for whom his son has suffered will share will participate in his everlasting glory it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings they will participate in his glory they will be changed as indeed the people of God are progressively being changed as they as through faith they see the glory of God we with open face beholding
[32:10] God are changed into his image from glory to glory as by the spirit of God we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is so then when we look upon the wounds of our saviour we see them not as disfigurements we see them not as disfigurements but as the emblems and memorials of grace and glory there is a glory that accrues to him precisely because he was slain the heavenly hosts acclaim him worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and wisdom and riches and strength and honour and glory and blessing that worthiness inheres in the very fact that he was slain that he was wounded for our transgressions the procurement of our salvation but also there is made to us a full demonstration of disarming love
[33:26] John wants to define the love of God when he wants to define the love of God he does it in terms of what our saviour Jesus Christ has endured for us here in his love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins in love he gave up his own spared not his own only begotten son but delivered him up for us all in love to us God sent his son to bear our sins upon his own body to the tree it's not threats it's not force that vanquishes our enmity but the love of God demonstrated in Jesus
[34:26] Christ and his finished work amor vincit omnia the Latins used to say love conquers all this is how it is we cannot longer doubt the sincerity of the divine love how can you doubt the sincerity of the love of one who sent his own son and who bids you receive life in him seeing that he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends and finally what is accomplished what is achieved by the wounded Christ is assurance to each one of his people assurance of the total understanding of our pain and that there are times when our pain is great and our distress almost unbearable and our saviour draws near to us are you troubled by rejection rejection by those whom you thought would open their arms to receive you with enthusiasm he was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief are you troubled and pained by false accusations brought against you they they suborned men to bear an ill testimony against the son of
[36:10] God are you in pain through the bereavement and the loss of one dear to you he knew that pain and the rage of his soul the fury of his soul against death death in all our affliction he was afflicted his wounds assure us of his understanding when you are in distress and sorrow ask Jesus to show to you his hands and his side say with the poet if we have never sought we seek thee now thine eyes burn through the dark our only stars we must have sight of thorn pricks on thy brow we must have sight of thee
[37:19] Lord Jesus of the scars the heavens frighten us they are too calm in all the world in all the universe we have no place our wounds are hurting us where is thy balm Lord Jesus by thy scars we claim thy grace if when the doors are shut thou drawest near only reveal thy hand that side of thine we know today what wounds are have no fear shows thy scars we know the countersign the other gods were strong but thou wast weak they rode but thou did stumble to a throne but to our wounds only God's wounds can speak and not a god has wounds but thou alone let us pray oh most merciful
[38:47] God who has borne with us in all the way that we have come and who has promised that thou would bear us to the end help us to see in you something of the grace and glory of our redeemer and to know the sufficiency of his grace to take us through each perplexing path of life until we come to see him face to face for his name's sake amen