Doug McMasters: Take your Bible and go to the book of Isaiah, chapter 52.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah 52.
Doug McMasters: And if you don't have a Bible, you'll find it a Bible in the pew in front of you.
Doug McMasters: And right around page 650 or so, you'll find Isaiah chapter 52.
Doug McMasters: There are moments that we experience when things happen so quietly, so subtly that you don't even realize that something new has begun.
Doug McMasters: Back in 1995 or 1996, my memory is a little fuzzy.
Doug McMasters: So 29 or 30 years ago, a friend of mine, Dan, invited me and my family to see an entertainment group by the name of Stomp.
Doug McMasters: I had no idea who they were.
Doug McMasters: I thought it was kind of a strange name, too.
Doug McMasters: All I knew was, and all that Dan would tell me, is that they were a percussion group and used percussion and movement in creative ways.
Doug McMasters: I had no idea what to expect.
Doug McMasters: We'd arrived early, sat down with Dan and some other friends, and we were enjoying some conversation, waiting for the show to begin.
Doug McMasters: And eventually, uh a man popped out from behind the curtain with a broom.
Doug McMasters: And just the movement of his presence on stage caught my attention.
Doug McMasters: But when I saw him sweeping the floor, I was a little puzzled and eventually went back to the conversation that we were having.
Doug McMasters: And this man, as he came out, wasn't dressed in any way that you would expect a performer to dress.
Doug McMasters: And he was pushing a broom around.
Doug McMasters: And so that glance and that momentary peak of my interest uh soon faded away until his movements started to become a little more rhythmic as he manipulated the broom.
Doug McMasters: And I thought, well, that's that's a little odd.
Doug McMasters: Again, I didn't know what to expect.
Doug McMasters: And then the curtain pulled back, and there were a whole host of people dressed exactly as he was, all holding brooms, and all of them began the show of doing some wonderful movement and and uh rhythm with with their brooms that they had in their hand, and off the show started.
Doug McMasters: It was a great show.
Doug McMasters: But it started in this small, quiet, insignificant way, this intentional subtlety that passed by my attention.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah's fourth servant song begins in a similar kind of way.
Doug McMasters: Now it calls us to attention quite strongly, but we don't catch it often.
Doug McMasters: In chapter 52 and verse 13, uh the CSB says, see, and that could easily pass behind by us.
Doug McMasters: Uh the ESV says behold, as my some of the other versions do.
Doug McMasters: And that term is is meant to capture us.
Doug McMasters: It's meant to hold for us to hold our attention on something.
Doug McMasters: It's not a casual glance, it's not a passing interest, it's a call to fix our eyes and pay our attention to something.
Doug McMasters: And back in the 90s, again, I gave my son some video games, and one of them was uh The Legend of Zelda, the Ocarina of Time, and there's this little figure, Navi, and she would go, Hey, hey, listen, listen, listen, hey, listen.
Doug McMasters: And my boys played that game to death, and that phrase just burned in my head.
Doug McMasters: This is the prophet saying, Hey, hey, listen, listen, listen.
Doug McMasters: But Isaiah's hears, and even all the way into our generation, this announcement deserves no more than a momentary glance, much like the one I gave that guy who was pushing the broom right at the outset of the stomp concert.
Doug McMasters: And it partly has to do with what we're to pay attention to.
Doug McMasters: See my servant.
Doug McMasters: Now, if God had said, Hey, hey, listen, we'd go, what am I supposed to pay attention to?
Doug McMasters: A king?
Doug McMasters: I'll pay attention to a king.
Doug McMasters: Um, a wealthy person?
Doug McMasters: I'll pay attention to a wealthy person.
Doug McMasters: Hey, a prophet?
Doug McMasters: Uh, maybe.
Doug McMasters: A singer?
Doug McMasters: Yeah.
Doug McMasters: A servant?
Doug McMasters: Why are you bothering me?
Doug McMasters: A king's interest would command attention in any room.
Doug McMasters: But what if you were in a ballroom and a servant and entered?
Doug McMasters: Would you notice?
Doug McMasters: Would you follow that person's movement throughout the room?
Doug McMasters: Would you care to pay any attention at all?
Doug McMasters: But it is to that person, the person with the broom, that God says, Hey! Listen, look here.
Doug McMasters: Well, why should we?
Doug McMasters: Well, because this servant's going to be like no other that we've ever met.
Doug McMasters: Let's just read about him in these three verses we'll look at today.
Doug McMasters: See my servant, will be successful.
Doug McMasters: He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Doug McMasters: Just as many were appalled at you, his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being.
Doug McMasters: So he will sprinkle many nations.
Doug McMasters: Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what they've not been told, and they will understand what they've not heard.
Doug McMasters: This servant's going to be like no other servant ever.
Doug McMasters: Now we would expect him like any other servant.
Doug McMasters: We might have an attitude that said, well, despised, rejected, silent, and suffering.
Doug McMasters: Yeah, whatever, servant.
Doug McMasters: That is sadly too often the case of how people think.
Doug McMasters: But not this servant.
Doug McMasters: Oh, yeah, all that, yes.
Doug McMasters: But something else.
Doug McMasters: He's going to be exalted.
Doug McMasters: He's going to be glorious.
Doug McMasters: He's going to shut the mouths of kings.
Doug McMasters: He's going to be one who acts wisely.
Doug McMasters: Yes, he'll be turned away and not valued.
Doug McMasters: But he's much, much more, much, much more than just a broom-sweeping man on a stage.
Doug McMasters: He enters quietly just like that.
Doug McMasters: And if we don't pay attention, we might miss it.
Doug McMasters: But God is doing something new here.
Doug McMasters: God is doing something glorious here, and he's doing it through this servant.
Doug McMasters: Listen.
Doug McMasters: Pay attention.
Doug McMasters: It's not going to be obvious, but it should never be overlooked.
Doug McMasters: It's not going to be grand, but it's definitely unexpected.
Doug McMasters: And it's not to be done in strength.
Doug McMasters: It's going to be accomplished in suffering.
Doug McMasters: Are you ready to listen?
Doug McMasters: This is the paradox at the heart of Isaiah's fourth song.
Doug McMasters: This is the one who will be high and lifted up, who will silence kings, but also will suffer injustice and will not be valued.
Doug McMasters: And Isaiah wants us to hear this.
Doug McMasters: He wants us to walk through this and understand this strange paradox of this servant.
Doug McMasters: So let's hear him.
Doug McMasters: See my servant will be successful.
Doug McMasters: He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah introduces us to this servant, and there's much to say about his suffering.
Doug McMasters: But interestingly, the first thing that he says about this servant is that not his suffering, but rather his success.
Doug McMasters: Now turn over to the next chapter and go to the very near end, not the complete end, but the near end of this.
Doug McMasters: In verse 10, and notice, yes, the suffering of this servant.
Doug McMasters: The Lord was pleased to crush him severely and made a guilt offering.
Doug McMasters: But he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand the Lord's pleasure will be accomplished.
Doug McMasters: He will see light and be satisfied.
Doug McMasters: By his knowledge, many will be justified.
Doug McMasters: And he will be given a portion and will receive the mightiest spoil.
Doug McMasters: Why?
Doug McMasters: Why are we told that he'll be successful in the beginning?
Doug McMasters: Why are we told at the end he's going to be fully accomplishing all of God's purposes and will therefore be exalted?
Doug McMasters: Why this affirmation?
Doug McMasters: Because Isaiah wants us to know at the very outset that the suffering and the rejection that the servant is going to face is not some detour off of the road to success, but is actually the path itself.
Doug McMasters: That his suffering does not stand contrary to his exaltation, but that his exaltation is intimately, directly, and necessarily connected to his suffering.
Doug McMasters: That his suffering is part of his success, and it is not an obstacle to it.
Doug McMasters: And it's this very point that the disciples of Jesus did not understand.
Doug McMasters: In the very last chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus has to say to them, How foolish you are, how slow to believe all the prophets have spoken.
Doug McMasters: Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?
Doug McMasters: And then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in the scriptures.
Doug McMasters: All of that encapsulated here in this psalm.
Doug McMasters: Christ first to suffer, and then enter into his glory.
Doug McMasters: And this servant will be wise, he will be skillful, he will be faithful, he will be obedient, and he will bring about all of God's intended purposes.
Doug McMasters: He will fulfill the mission that God gave him.
Doug McMasters: He will not falter, he will not fail, he will look like he's faltering, he will look like he's failing, he will look like he's defeated, but that is not the end of him.
Doug McMasters: And as a result, take a look.
Doug McMasters: In verse 13, I want you to notice a phrase.
Doug McMasters: He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Doug McMasters: Now, just read that again.
Doug McMasters: Just to cement it a little more deeply in our mind.
Doug McMasters: He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah has used this language before.
Doug McMasters: Back in chapter 6 of the book of Isaiah, right at the very beginning of his ministry, Isaiah saw Adonai, the Lord, enthroned in glory, surrounded by the seraphim, crying, Holy, holy, holy.
Doug McMasters: And there he says he saw Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of armies, the Lord of all lords, the Lord of all strengths and powers, high and lifted up, the exact same language that's used here.
Doug McMasters: That vision of divine majesty in Isaiah chapter six, and the language of the exalted Lord of armies is the exact exaltation that the servant is going to receive.
Doug McMasters: You see, he's not merely a human figure who succeeds, he is the mystery itself, a divine majesty and humility.
Doug McMasters: The servant who suffers is the same Lord who is glorified in the earlier vision.
Doug McMasters: Now, with that in mind, let's go to John chapter 12 for just a second.
Doug McMasters: John chapter 12.
Doug McMasters: Here in John chapter 12, Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 6 are blended together, as we'll see in a moment.
Doug McMasters: And we don't have time to walk through all of this, but we'll eventually move through verses 23 to 41.
Doug McMasters: But before we get there, in verse 12, you'll see in your Bible what we call the triumphal entry of Christ.
Doug McMasters: Jesus coming in, and the people shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.
Doug McMasters: Your king is coming.
Doug McMasters: And you can imagine all the people laid out there in the entryway into the city, laying down their palm branches and crying out with jubilant praise.
Doug McMasters: And here comes Jesus on top of a beast of burden.
Doug McMasters: And the disciples don't catch it.
Doug McMasters: What they catch is all the fanfare.
Doug McMasters: They're like, Yes, we go.
Doug McMasters: Yeah, he's coming.
Doug McMasters: Our king.
Doug McMasters: We've been his disciple for three years, and we're right behind him.
Doug McMasters: And we're going to sit on the right and the left hand side of his throne.
Doug McMasters: We've got this.
Doug McMasters: You guys come and join us.
Doug McMasters: This is victory.
Doug McMasters: We're in.
Doug McMasters: We're doing this.
Doug McMasters: It's going to happen.
Doug McMasters: Verse 23.
Doug McMasters: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Doug McMasters: Yes.
Doug McMasters: It's going to happen.
Doug McMasters: Victory, power, might, success.
Doug McMasters: But Jesus didn't stop there.
Doug McMasters: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself.
Doug McMasters: Huh?
Doug McMasters: All of a sudden, Peter, James, and John, who've been pushing each other around, saying, I'm first, no, I'm first, no, I'm first, no, I'm first, are looking at Jesus, going, What are you talking about?
Doug McMasters: Jesus speaks about his impending glorification.
Doug McMasters: Now, now is the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Doug McMasters: And I'm going to die.
Doug McMasters: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself.
Doug McMasters: But if it dies, it'll produce much fruit.
Doug McMasters: And here Jesus is in his humanity and deity, not relishing in the idea of death or taking the curse of sin upon himself.
Doug McMasters: His soul is troubled.
Doug McMasters: And yet he embraces the hour of suffering.
Doug McMasters: And so in verse 27 and 28, he says, My soul is troubled.
Doug McMasters: What shall I say?
Doug McMasters: Father, save me from this hour.
Doug McMasters: But this is why I've come, come, Father, glorify your name.
Doug McMasters: And the Father responds, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.
Doug McMasters: All surrounding the idea of the death of Jesus.
Doug McMasters: And so in verse 32 and 33, Jesus says, This voice was not for me, but for you.
Doug McMasters: Now is judgment to this world.
Doug McMasters: Now is the ruler being cast out.
Doug McMasters: And again, James and John and Peter and the other disciples are like, Yeah, okay, we're getting back on track here.
Doug McMasters: We're getting back to armies and power and swords and success.
Doug McMasters: As for me, if I'm lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.
Doug McMasters: And he said this to indicate what kind of death he was about to die.
Doug McMasters: And again, the disciples are shocked.
Doug McMasters: And even the crowds confused.
Doug McMasters: And they're like, wait a second.
Doug McMasters: What is this?
Doug McMasters: Verse 34.
Doug McMasters: We've heard it said in the law that the Messiah must reign forever.
Doug McMasters: How can you say the Son of Man should be lifted up?
Doug McMasters: Jesus says in verse 36, While you have light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.
Doug McMasters: You need to listen to this.
Doug McMasters: Don't miss what God's doing here.
Doug McMasters: And then verse 37.
Doug McMasters: Even though he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him.
Doug McMasters: And this was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet who said, Lord, who has believed our message?
Doug McMasters: And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Doug McMasters: Isaiah chapter 53.
Doug McMasters: Verse.
Doug McMasters: Okay.
Doug McMasters: But we're not done yet.
Doug McMasters: Just in case we missed the point and we haven't quite understood what Isaiah was doing when he connected Isaiah chapter 6 and Isaiah chapter 52 and 53 together, with this servant being high and lifted up and exalted.
Doug McMasters: John quotes Isaiah 53, and then verse 39.
Doug McMasters: This is why they were unable to believe, because Isaiah also said, He's blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they would not see with their eyes or understand with their hearts in turn, and I would heal them.
Doug McMasters: A quote from Isaiah chapter 6.
Doug McMasters: Now, what about the glory thing?
Doug McMasters: Look at the next verse.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke about him.
Doug McMasters: So who is the Lord in Isaiah 6?
Doug McMasters: And who is the exalted servant in Isaiah 52 and 53?
Doug McMasters: It is Jesus, and his suffering and his exaltation are necessarily linked together.
Doug McMasters: The one Isaiah saw as high and lifted up in the temple in Isaiah 6 is the same one who is high and lifted up as the successful servant in Isaiah 52, and he is also Jesus, who is lifted up on the cross so that he might also ascend into the heavenlies and be sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high?
Doug McMasters: This is him.
Doug McMasters: How successful will he be?
Doug McMasters: Will death stop his plan?
Doug McMasters: Will the murderous considerations and schemes of evil people bring his plan to nothing?
Doug McMasters: Will the disbelief of the people as they mock him?
Doug McMasters: No, nothing, nothing can stop his plan.
Doug McMasters: Because God is conquering the powers that be.
Doug McMasters: God is putting to death the one who holds the power of death, that is the devil, by sending his son to die.
Doug McMasters: This is why John could say that Isaiah saw the glory of the servant, the glory of Yahweh, the glory of Emmanuel Jesus.
Doug McMasters: He's not merely a representative of God who's successful, he's the embodiment of God's saving person and purpose.
Doug McMasters: And this arc, this movement arc of suffering into glorification is exactly the arc that Paul brings up in Philippians chapter 2.
Doug McMasters: He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Doug McMasters: Therefore, God highly exalted him.
Doug McMasters: The wisdom of the servant is obedience, and the reward of that obedience is glory as he gives himself over to God's purposes.
Doug McMasters: I have come to do your will, O God.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah has mentioned people as servants, himself as a servant, Cyrus is a servant, the nation as a servant, but there's a new thing happening here with another one who is the servant like none of those servants, because all of those other servants were sinful and did not fulfill their purposes as fully and as completely as God intended.
Doug McMasters: But this one does, even though it looks like failure.
Doug McMasters: What does this tell us?
Doug McMasters: Well, we don't worship the Lord in spite of his sufferings, we worship the Lord because of his sufferings.
Doug McMasters: Amen.
Doug McMasters: But let's take it a little deeper for us.
Doug McMasters: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Doug McMasters: Oh, wait a second.
Doug McMasters: You mean my life is to follow this ark as a believer in Christ?
Doug McMasters: Yeah?
Doug McMasters: Yeah.
Doug McMasters: What does it mean for your life to be obedient, even if it brings suffering?
Doug McMasters: But don't worry, that doesn't mean the end of God's goodness and plan for you, because he will also bring you to glory with your Savior.
Doug McMasters: It may look weak, it may be costly, it may be counted foolish, it may bring suffering, but it will also bring exaltation in the final day.
Doug McMasters: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Doug McMasters: What was this mind?
Doug McMasters: The self-pouring out for the purposes of giving all of your resources to the betterment of somebody else, so that he might save undeserving sinners.
Doug McMasters: What mind are we to have as believers?
Doug McMasters: The giving up of ourselves in sacrifice and suffering, if necessary, for the benefit of others.
Doug McMasters: What does this mean for us by way of implication?
Doug McMasters: It means that we are to live the ark of God's designated purposes that He's already shown us in our Savior Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: And the church today largely is about as far away from that as can be, and it's tragic.
Doug McMasters: We measure our success with the metrics of size and influence and connections, and we are as worldly as the world itself, and even more culpable because we should know better.
Doug McMasters: But we take glory in celebrity conversions.
Doug McMasters: Have you heard that ye became a Christian?
Doug McMasters: Let's get him up on a platform and have him talk.
Doug McMasters: Because, well, somebody of that stature talks about Jesus.
Doug McMasters: Maybe they'll like Jesus.
Doug McMasters: And then he crashes and burns.
Doug McMasters: And then what happens to the name of Christ?
Doug McMasters: Strategic partnerships with cultural elites, platforming influencers to boost Christianity's visibility, mimicking corporate branding to appear professional, pursuing political endorsements for legitimacy, curating worship that matches entertainment trends, highlighting wealthy donors as proof of God's favor, using social metrics to validate our spiritual impact, softening truth to avoid offending the powerful, prioritizing public relations over our need to be a prophetic witness in our generation, seeking academic prestige to gain intellectual credibility, framing of the gospel as a tool for personal success, hosting events and even stunts in order to gain media coverage.
Doug McMasters: Let me go burn a Quran and see all the press come and pay attention to us.
Doug McMasters: That's our generation.
Doug McMasters: But what do we have here?
Doug McMasters: We've got a servant that succeeds by his suffering.
Doug McMasters: And in contrast to all those worldly strategies, we must measure our obedience by the same way he walked.
Doug McMasters: Are we willing to follow Christ?
Doug McMasters: Or are we just trying to be another voice in the crowd?
Doug McMasters: Using the same techniques?
Doug McMasters: Are we willing to serve quietly, suffer patiently?
Doug McMasters: To speak truth when it's unpopular.
Doug McMasters: Remember the servant.
Doug McMasters: Remember that his life is not fruitless and it's not failure, even though it's suffering.
Doug McMasters: And if you follow him, you will follow him with God's blessing.
Doug McMasters: The world will hate you if it hated me, Jesus said.
Doug McMasters: So just do what they do, and it'll be all okay, and you can call yourself a Christian.
Doug McMasters: No, it's not what he said.
Doug McMasters: If you're here this morning and you don't know Christ is your Savior, He's not calling these demands on you.
Doug McMasters: He's calling you to find life in that suffering that he gave.
Doug McMasters: And we'll talk about that in just a second in the next point.
Doug McMasters: But I want you to just hear this for a moment.
Doug McMasters: Because he does know your weaknesses, and he understands your wounds, and he knows your waywardness also.
Doug McMasters: And yet he came to save people just like you.
Doug McMasters: So let's move to the second point.
Doug McMasters: It'll be a lot shorter than the fourth one.
Doug McMasters: The servant will be successful, but the servant will also shock the world through his sufferings.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at verse 14.
Doug McMasters: Just as many were appalled at you, his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being.
Doug McMasters: This paradox deepens.
Doug McMasters: This exalted one is now a disfigured one.
Doug McMasters: And the people are looking at him not yet in admiration, but they're looking at him in horror.
Doug McMasters: He doesn't even look human.
Doug McMasters: And this is much, much deeper than just poetic exaggeration.
Doug McMasters: This is this is exactly what happened.
Doug McMasters: And the Hebrew word here is astonished at him.
Doug McMasters: Appalled, devastated, desolated, wiped out at him.
Doug McMasters: He's a grotesque spectacle.
Doug McMasters: The servant, he doesn't look heroic, he doesn't look divine, he doesn't even look like a man.
Doug McMasters: He's so beaten and mocked and scorched.
Doug McMasters: And when we read the gospel accounts, those things are talked about.
Doug McMasters: Matthew talks about him being spat in the face and struck, and John says that he was flogged, and the Romans scourging of leather whips embedded with bone and metal designed to tear at his flesh, the crown of thorns, the beat-up face, the bloodied back, this the pierced scythe.
Doug McMasters: They sneered and mocked and derided him.
Doug McMasters: He can't save himself.
Doug McMasters: It's brutal, this crucifixion.
Doug McMasters: But why?
Doug McMasters: Why?
Doug McMasters: Because his disfigurement was not a punishment for sin.
Doug McMasters: He did no wrong.
Doug McMasters: It was obedience.
Doug McMasters: He humbled himself and became obedient to death.
Doug McMasters: Even the death on the cross.
Doug McMasters: This is the scandal of divine love.
Doug McMasters: That the servant brought to death is not a failure of God's plan, but the fulfillment of God's plan.
Doug McMasters: That the shame of the cross is the beauty of redemption.
Doug McMasters: And this is why Isaiah says, Hey, listen, behold my servant.
Doug McMasters: Because you would look at that and you would not think it's anything to pay attention to.
Doug McMasters: But it is everything to pay attention to.
Doug McMasters: Because it's not a moment to pity, this is the place of worship.
Doug McMasters: Because his scars are not a blemish on his glory.
Doug McMasters: They are a part of it.
Doug McMasters: And Isaiah Isaac Watts said, When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on my pride.
Doug McMasters: This is a call to worship.
Doug McMasters: And if you're not a follower of Christ yet, this death of the servant is the means by which humanity is saved and delivered.
Doug McMasters: And this is why when we read the book of Acts in chapter 3, under the delightful direction of Ethan, it said that these people in that generation were to look to the servant for the forgiveness of sins.
Doug McMasters: And so we call you to see in this servant the means by which you might be forgiven.
Doug McMasters: None of us need to hide from God.
Doug McMasters: We don't need to push our brokenness and our broken lives and the brokenness we've made for others' lives away and try to present ourselves as something so that God would say, okay, I'll let you in.
Doug McMasters: Because he crushed his own son with the judgment we deserve.
Doug McMasters: So you don't have to wear that and bear that.
Doug McMasters: And so you can come just as you are.
Doug McMasters: Bruised and bruising, broken and breaking, destroyed and destroying.
Doug McMasters: Come as you are.
Doug McMasters: Come as a sinner to the sin-bearing Savior and find life.
Doug McMasters: Because this is what He's done.
Doug McMasters: Now notice verse 15, our last point.
Doug McMasters: The servant will not only be successful, and not only will he stun and surprise, but he will also sprinkle the nations.
Doug McMasters: This is an interesting word, verse 15.
Doug McMasters: He will sprinkle many nations.
Doug McMasters: Kings will shut their mouths because of him.
Doug McMasters: For they will see what they've not been what has not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.
Doug McMasters: He will sprinkle the nations.
Doug McMasters: But it's not a strange term if you're an Old Testament Jewish person.
Doug McMasters: Because that word sprinkle brings them back to the Leviticus.
Doug McMasters: It brings them back to the Day of Atonement.
Doug McMasters: It brings them back to that time when the high priest would bring the one sacrifice for the year, the only day of the year in which he was allowed into the very presence of God's manifested presence in the temple in the Holy of Holies.
Doug McMasters: And there he would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat, so that there would be a passing by of God's judgment for the people.
Doug McMasters: And so they would be cleansed, so that they would be reconciled, so that they would be forgiven.
Doug McMasters: So that they would be brought in.
Doug McMasters: But year by year, by year by year, they had to do it again and again and again because that wasn't going to take away sin.
Doug McMasters: But this servant will sprinkle not just the Jewish people, but the nations.
Doug McMasters: The nations.
Doug McMasters: Because he is both the priest and the offering.
Doug McMasters: And he doesn't just sprinkle the altar, he sprinkles the nations.
Doug McMasters: He does sprinkle the Jewish people.
Doug McMasters: He sprinkles the Jewish people and all who believe on him.
Doug McMasters: This is staggering.
Doug McMasters: That this servant, his sprinkling ministry will flow outward to the ends of the earth.
Doug McMasters: It crosses all boundaries and borders.
Doug McMasters: And it will cleanse all of his people, even the distant peoples who will hear what they have not been told.
Doug McMasters: And so Paul in Romans 15, in this long discussion about the gospel ministry and the proclamation of the missionary endeavor to bring the name of Jesus around the world, quotes this verse in Romans 15 and verse 21, and he says, Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.
Doug McMasters: And this is the fulfillment, like Peter said in Acts 3, if you caught it, in all in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
Doug McMasters: The servant is the one seed of Abraham, who is the means by which the nations are blessed.
Doug McMasters: This is the reversal of Babylon.
Doug McMasters: At Babel, humanity sought to ascend, and they were brought low and scattered.
Doug McMasters: Here, the one who is already ascended is brought low so the people can be gathered.
Doug McMasters: This is the reverse of Babel.
Doug McMasters: This is the Son who reconciles.
Doug McMasters: And what happens because of him?
Doug McMasters: Kings will shut their mouths.
Doug McMasters: The powerful will be disarmed.
Doug McMasters: The rulers of the earth who are used to speaking and commanding and judging and motivating and moving are struck dumb and rendered speechless.
Doug McMasters: Not by force, but by grace.
Doug McMasters: Acts chapter 8.
Doug McMasters: An Ethiopian man came from the courts, was reading Isaiah chapter 53.
Doug McMasters: And he said, Please help me understand.
Doug McMasters: What am I reading here?
Doug McMasters: When he asked Philip in Acts chapter 8.
Doug McMasters: And Philip told him about the blood that sprinkles the nations.
Doug McMasters: And this Ethiopian eunuch brought the gospel to Africa.
Doug McMasters: So much for Christianity being a white man's religion.
Doug McMasters: It went to Africa before it ever went to Europe.
Doug McMasters: It was in Asia before Europe even thought about listening to this.
Doug McMasters: The Roman centurion who looks up at Christ and he says, Surely, this is the Son of God.
Doug McMasters: A Gentile soldier, hardened by violence, silenced by grace.
Doug McMasters: This is our servant.
Doug McMasters: And for the next three weeks after this one, we're going to be looking at chapter fifty-three.
Doug McMasters: We're slowing down.
Doug McMasters: The servant's mission.
Doug McMasters: It's global, it's sufficient, and it's successful.
Doug McMasters: But it doesn't look like power.
Doug McMasters: It doesn't look like the things we expect success to look like.
Doug McMasters: It's the way God makes success.
Doug McMasters: Because he likes to make the wise look foolish and to give wisdom to the ignorant.
Doug McMasters: That's just who he is.
Doug McMasters: He's not impressed by how strong our legs are at all.
Doug McMasters: And if you're here this morning and you don't know Christ, here is this servant who's come for people just like you.
Doug McMasters: He wants to strike you so full of awe that you would be unable to talk just like kings.
Doug McMasters: And he doesn't want to shut your mouth because he's powerful.
Doug McMasters: He wants to stun you into joyful silence and saying, Why would God save me?
Doug McMasters: Why would he deliver me?
Doug McMasters: Why would he forgive me my sins?
Doug McMasters: So behold him, shall we?
Doug McMasters: Let's listen.
Doug McMasters: Let's fix our eyes.
Doug McMasters: Let's shape our lives after who he is.
Doug McMasters: This servant who succeeds, this servant who shakes, this servant who sprinkles.
unknown: Let's pray.
Doug McMasters: Father, we thank you for the servant, your son, our Savior, Jesus, who is high and lifted up, yet marred for our redemption.
Doug McMasters: And today we behold him with reverence and with awe.
Doug McMasters: And we see in his obedience the wisdom of heaven.
Doug McMasters: We see in his suffering the depth of your love.
Doug McMasters: And we see in his atonement the hope of the nations.
Doug McMasters: And so, Father, those of us who already know Christ, deepen our trust.
Doug McMasters: Teach us to be obedient the way Jesus was.
Doug McMasters: Father, in the midst of our hurting, remember, help us to remember that your glory shines on our scars.
Doug McMasters: For those of us who are seeking forgiveness and reconciliation with you, Lord, I pray, open their eyes to behold the beauty of the cross and the welcome of grace.
Doug McMasters: May we be a people who behold the servant, not just with our eyes, but with our whole person.
Doug McMasters: And let us worship him, not in spite of his sufferings, but because of it.
Doug McMasters: And let us proclaim his name until every nation sees and every heart understands.
Doug McMasters: And that at the name of Jesus, all knees should bow and declare him as Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Doug McMasters: And it's in his name we pray.
Doug McMasters: Amen.