Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Nov 1952

The glory of Christ as Jehovah's Servant will be commensurate with His sufferings. The call of Isaiah 42. 1 is renewed in Isaiah 52. 18:

"Behold, My Servant." In the latter scripture we are told both of how He would act and, as a consequence, of the glory that His wise dealing would yield, and also of the sufferings that this would bring upon Himself. The sufferings of the Lord are threefold: (1) His suffering at the hand of God, when He suffered for the sins of others; (2) His sufferings at the hands of men, because of His obedience to God; and (3) His sufferings at the hands of the devil in the temptations which He endured; He suffered, being tempted.

God through Isaiah says, "Behold, My Servant shall deal wisely (or shall prosper), He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high." Wisdom, which is the principal thing, ever characterized the ways and works of the Lori Indeed it could not be expected that it should be otherwise, for the Lord was not only wise, He was the Wisdom of God (Luke ii. 49). So that it is no wonder that we should read the astonished question of the multitudes, "Whence hath this Man this wisdom, and these mighty works?" (Matthew 13.54).

The Lord's closest followers never imagined in the early days of His ministry that He would end that ministry silent and dead upon a Cross of shame. Peter himself could not tolerate the thought, when the Lord began to tell the disciples of His sufferings and death, and said, rebuking Him, "Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall never be unto Thee" (Matthew 16. 22). - Indeed it seemed almost up to the very end that He as Messiah would then ascend the throne, for but a few days prior to the cross Jerusalem rang with the acclamations of the crowds "Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest" (Matthew 21.9).

What was shortly to fill His hand, the iron nail or the iron rod? the nails which would bind Him to a Cross or the iron rod by which He would break the nations as a potter's vessel? This is a wholesome and fundamental question touching the purpose of His coming to earth.

Rarely have the tables been turned so quickly. The Lord rides into Jerusalem on a borrowed ass amidst a rejoicing people, and in a few hours, comparatively, He walks out of Jerusalem condemned, bearing His cross to the place of execution, the place of the skull, surrounded by a jeering mob more like wild animals than men, men that gaped upon Him, as the psalmist said, "As a ravening and a roaring lion."

Is it any wonder that Isaiah should portray such a reversal of public opinion with the words, "Like as many were astonied at Thee"? This word "astonied" may be rendered "appalled," "stunned," "stupified," "amazed," "astonished." Men expected the Lord to ascend the throne or at least they expected Him, as He often had done before, to escape from' His enemies and persecutors. But now He seeks no escape; He submits and yields Himself to the gross indignities of His own people and of the Gentiles. Men went numb at the thought of it. His closest followers, filled with consternation, had fled and left Him. Judas too was stupefied! The clink of silver no longer sounded as music in his covetous ear. His disciples could but mourn and weep (Mark 16.10).

But though many were appalled at what happened to the Lord, He Himself knew what Isaiah had written, what David had written, and many others besides, whom the Spirit of Truth had unerringly aided to testify of the sufferings of the Christ, and also of the glories which should follow His sufferings. Thank God for such a Sufferer! and we shall thank God too when we see His glories.

"Like as many were astonished at Thee (His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men), so shall He sprinkle many nations" (Isaiah 52.14, 15).

Though the words "His visage was 50 marred more than any man, and His form than the sons of men" are by some pat in brackets, having been regarded as a parenthesis, yet they give the cause why many were appalled at Him who was Jehovah's suffering Servant. His visage being so marred is undoubtedly the description of the anguish He endured when He was crucified. He had suffered the agony of the garden of Gethsemane, He had suffered indignities at the hands of the Sanhedrim, at the hands of Pilate and Herod and their soldiers, but the agony of the cross, who can describe? None but God could understand all He passed through. There are no equivalent words for "more than" in the Hebrew. The R.V. marginal reading gives, His visage "from that of man, and His form from that of the sons of men." The word "visage" means "appearance," "look," "aspect." It means the sight men saw of the Christ, not simply the Lord's face, though undoubtedly the face is that part of the body in which the soul reveals its joy or sorrow. The word form means the outline or figure of a body, it is the appearance of the Divine Sufferer as He is described in Psalm 22.14, in such tragic and fearful words: "All My bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels."

We know that some men's bodies have been mutilated by men beyond description; saints have been burned, sawn asunder, put on the rack and almost torn to pieces; these suffered the most intense agonies, but none of the sufferers suffered as He did. It is not that the Lord's body was more marred or disfigured than the bodies of some men have been, there being, as we have said, no equivalent words for "more than". One translation of the passage is

"So marred was His visage unlike that of a man, And His form unlike that of the sons of men."

This Sufferer was quite unlike any other. There were two sufferers on either side of Him, dying as He was the death of crucifixion, but they were unlike Him. Christ is peculiar and without equal as a Sufferer, and shall have no equal or peer amongst all God's saintly sufferers in the glory.

Out of His sufferings shall spring His ability to sprinkle the nations. Some translate this word sprinkle (Hebrew Nazah) as "startle". It is never so translated elsewhere in the Old Testament, but is twenty times translated "sprinkle", all in Hiphil, as in Isaiah 52.15. The Vulgate, Luther, etc., reader it "sprinkle", showing the Messiah making expiation for men (see "sprinkle" in this sense in Leviticus i6. 14, 15, 19). Gesenius renders this as-"So shall He cause many nations to rejoice in Himself." The LXX. gives the word thaumazo = "to marvel or wonder" for "sprinkle" here. But whatever be the true meaning of nazah here, whether to sprinkle in atonement or startle into wonderment and joy, such effects are produced by the sufferings of the Sufferer of Calvary.

Here will end all cavilling and questioning, for "kings shall shut their mouths at (or because of) Him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand (or perceive)." How different shall it all be in the future when King Messiah returns to earth again The wisdom in a Christ who was crucified was not understood by the rulers of' the world in the past. Then it was

"We speak God's wisdom in a mystery ... which none of the rulers of this world knoweth: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2.7, 8).

Then in that coming day the mystery of the crucifixion will be made known, and then no longer will Jews seek after a sign and Greeks after wisdom, but Christ crucified will be as He is, both the Wisdom and the Power of God.

J. Miller | Nov 1952
Jottings