Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Jul 1958

In Isaiah 52.13 Jehovah calls attention again to His Servant:

"Behold, My Servant shall deal 'wisely, He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high."

The Hebrew for wisely means to act with understanding, intelligence, prudence. David is a type of Him in this, he was " prudent in speech" or business (1, Samuel 16.18), and he "behaved himself wisely," he "behaved himself wisely m all his ways," "he behaved himself very wisely," and "he behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul "(1 Samuel 18.5,14,15,30). Joseph too was addressed by Pharaoh in the words, "Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou: thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled : only in the throne will I be greater than thou" (Genesis 41.39, 40). Joseph, like David, is a type of the Lord-a sufferer who became a ruler. They are both miniature pictures of the Lord; but their experience both in suffering and glory pales before that of Jehovah's Servant.

He was to be exalted and very high, yet He was One at whom many were to be astonied (astonied is an old English word which is now lengthened to astonished) and means to be so astonished as to be stunned into silence. His disciples were so stunned by their Lord's sufferings on the Cross, that they could only mourn and weep during the days between His death and resurrection (Mark 16.10). "His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (verse 14). Visage in Hebrlw means the Lord's appearance, look, aspect; He was 50 marred or disfigured, from what He ever had been; so serene and composed was He and beautiful with the beauty of holiness, but on Calvary so utterly disfigured ii; the intensity of His sorrow and suffering, which no mind, tongue or pen can describe. His form or body was disfigured more than the sons of men. In meditation we may stay here awhile to dwell on the sufferings of Him, whose sufferings mean so much to us, infinitely more than we understand at the moment: here too we may have our spirits subdued and disciplined, that we have rendered so little for sufferings so great.

"So shall He sprinkle many nations" (verse 15).

There are two Hebrew words used in Leviticus translated sprinkle, Zarak, which means to scatter, and Nazah which means to spirt or spatter. The farmer describes how the blood of the burnt and peace offerings was scattered or laved upon the copper altar (Leviticus 1.5, 11; 3. 2, 8, 13) The latter shows how the blood of the sin offering was spirted before the veil (Leviticus 4 6 17) also upon and before the mercy seat on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16 14 15) Sprinkle in Isaiah 52.15 is the word Nazah. Two meanings are given by Gesenius (1) that the word Nazah, in Isaiah 52. 15 means "so shall He fill many people with joy because of Himself," and (2) "He shall besprinkle many nations i.e. He (My Servant, the Messiah) shall purge them in His own blood. The latter, Gesenius says, is Luther's view. I am of like opinion, that His sprinkling indicates the Lord's work of atonement applied to many nations

"Kings shall shut their mouths at him for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand" (verse 15).

What is meant by kings shutting their mouths at Jehovah's Servant? Some have thought that this means that they will be dumbfounded at the wisdom expressed in His government as compared with their own, as, no doubt, the simplicity and justice of His rule will be in sharp contrast to the intricate and often unjust forms of rule that have obtained in the world. I think, however, that this is hardly what is meant here, for the prophet goes on to say "for that which had not been told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they understand." I would connect these words with what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2.6-8: "Howbeit we speak wisdom among the perfect yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, which are coming to nought which none of the rulers of this world knoweth for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" But m contrast to the ignorance of earth's rulers who crucified the Lord and many since kings in the coming Millennium shall see and understand the hidden wisdom of God in Christ crucified

In Isaiah 53 we reach the death of Jehovah's Servant. We can but offer a few words on this chapter of transcending importance. If the Jewish people understood in part its meaning it would revolutionize their thought and attitude to the tragedy of Golgotha, when they stumbled at Him who is the Stone of stumbling and Rock of offence; yet, God be praised by us who are Gentiles, for" by their fall (trespass) salvation Is come unto the Gentiles" (Romans 11.11). We know from John 12.86-48 that the Jewish people could not believe on Him and so receive Him nationally, though many of their rulers did, of whom were Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

Thus the prophet in Isaiah in his day, and the Lord in His, stretched out their hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people. Said Isaiah,

"Who hath believed our report?

And to whom hath the Arm of the LORD been revealed" (verse 1).

The Arm of the LORD is Jehovah's Servant. He is addressed, in 51.9, as "0 Arm of the LORD," and He it was who dealt with Pharaoh and at last drowned him and his host in the Red Sea. But now He appears in lowly guise, as One who grew up before Him as a tender plant, a sucker or sapling, and as a root out of a dry ground. Here, I judge, is a two-fold presentation of the Lord. Before God He was beautiful as a tender plant, an evidence of new life in an otherwise arid and barren scene; but in men's eyes He was like a root out of dry ground; One without form or comeliness, as roots are, and without beauty, and consequently undesired by men. He was as the rough badger-skin covering of the tabernacle, but within the tabernacle all was beautiful with gold and blue and purple and scarlet curtains. Despised, rejected, such was the Man of Sorrows, One who was well acquainted with grief. "Acquainted" is from the Hebrew Yada which means to know or perceive by seeing. The griefs (or sicknesses) which the Lord saw touched and melted His tender heart, as is seen when He came amongst the mourners at Martha's house at Bethany.

Men turned their face from Him, which literally means that they turned their back upon Him, as Adam did with the LORD God when he sinned and sought cover amongst the trees of Eden. The Jewish people will yet say in the day of their repentance, "We esteemed Him not," and yet again shall they say,

"Surely He hath borne our griefs (sicknesses), and carried our sorrows:

Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted" (verse 8).

So they viewed Him on Calvary as One upon whom God's wrath had fallen, because that He who was Man claimed to be God; His claim to them was blasphemy. Though He had borne their griefs, and performed all manner of cures, yet thus He died in their eyes as a blasphemer.

"But" (says the prophet, showing the reason that upon Him had come the wrath of God) "He was wounded (pierced) for our transgressions, He was bruised (crushed or broken to pieces) for our iniquities: the chastisement (or correction) of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (verse 5).

Here is the Healer through Himself being wounded, and here is the cure. There is no healing for the wounds of sin in the soul but by the blood shed at Calvary. This verse has been the spiritual birthplace of countless thousands.

"From oppression (shutting up or restraint) and judgement He was taken away." " Who shall declare His generation? " His own people, the Jewish nation, would not, for had they sought the book of His generation, both of Joseph's and Mary's line, they would have found that they had crucified the Messiah. But God has declared His generation in Matthew 1 and Luke 3.

"He was cut off ... for the transgression of My people was He stricken." The stroke was due to them, but He received it.

"They made His grave with the wicked," a common grave for the three who were crucified, but He was with the rich man (Joseph) in His death, for He had done no violence (unlike the robbers), nor was deceit in His mouth. Such was Jehovah's righteous Servant who bore our iniquities.

J. Miller | Jul 1958
Jottings