In Acts Chapter 8 the Bible tells the story of how the Treasurer of the country of Ethiopia was in his chariot reading a verse from the scroll of Isaiah, when the deacon Philip walked up to him. Acts tells us this treasurer asked Philip, “Of whom does this prophet say this? Of Himself or someone else?” And it says then Philip opened his mouth and beginning from this scripture he preached Jesus to him. The verse the Ethiopian Treasurer was reading that day is the same verse we are looking at this morning: Isaiah 53:7: “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.” This verse teaches us that Jesus the Messiah, when He came, would be “Like a Lamb.”

I. ”Like A Lamb: The Volunteer Who Replaced Us” 

Verse 7 begins, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted.” 

Many of the best Hebrew translators and Bible scholars translate this: ”He suffered Himself to be afflicted,” because this is a reflexive verb, which indicates that He allowed this to happen; He allowed Himself to be afflicted. 

This gives a special meaning to this text that doesn’t come out otherwise: that Jesus volunteered for what happened to Him on the cross. We saw last week that :6 said, “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon Him”, but God did not put that punishment for sins on Jesus against His will. This verse (among others) indicates that He volunteered to do this for us.

Jesus did what He did for us of His own volition; He volunteered to do it for us. He said in John 10:17-18 “I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again …”. Jesus said: “I lay it down on My own initiative”. No one “made” Him do this; He volunteered to do it. This is an important point. The Bible makes it clear that God the Father & God the Son were not working at cross purposes; but they worked together in perfect unity. 

Sometimes the gospel is almost presented as if God the Father were against us, but that Jesus was for us. You might hear it something like this, that: “God was the perfect and holy God, and He was going to judge us and pour out His wrath on us, but Jesus loved us stepped in and saved us”, as if God had one attitude towards us, and Jesus had another.

Back when Moammar Gadhafi was ruling Libya, and was causing a lot of international problems, there were reports that the U.S. and other countries were in negotiation with one of Gadhafi’s sons, to supplant his father as the head of the Libyan government. It was ironic: here was the father, struggling to keep control of the country, while at the same time his own son seemed to be in negotiations to take his place!

Such a thing may or may not have happened back then in Libya, but we can be assured that there was never any such “cross purposes” going on with the Trinity in heaven. The Bible tells us “For GOD so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”. It wasn’t just that Jesus loved the world, but God the Father didn’t. No, it says “For GOD so loved the world”! It was GOD who purposed to save the world through His Son. As we saw last week, it was GOD who “laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” GOD Father did all of that. 

And He didn’t have to work against His Son to do that, either. He didn’t just “command” Jesus to participate in the Incarnation and go to the cross, although it was God’s will. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus volunteered to do what He did:

— Jesus said in John 10, “I lay (My life) down on My own initiative.” 

— Isaiah 53:7 here says, “He humbled Himself” to take those sufferings. — Philippians 2:5-8 describes the amazing self-humility of Jesus: “Although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.” 

Here in this famous hymn of the early church, we find repeated reference to the self-humiliation of Jesus: He was GOD; (“equal with God” it says; how can anyone argue that the Bible doesn’t teach that Jesus is God?!)  But Philippians 2 says He “emptied Himself” and became a man. No one “emptied” Him; it says He “emptied Himself.” And then it says He furthered “humbled Himself” by becoming obedient to the point of death. Again, no one “humbled” Jesus; He humbled HIMSELF. Jesus totally volunteered to do what He did. God the Father and God the Son were not working at cross purposes here; they were of one mind, working together in perfect unity, with one purpose, to save mankind through the substitutionary atonement of Jesus on the cross. 

Jesus volunteered to save us. It really serves as quite a contrast, if you look at the picture of Jesus as a sheep here in Isaiah 53:7, as compared to the picture of US as sheep like we saw in :6! “WE all like sheep have gone astray.” We were the kind of sheep who purposefully and willfully chose to stray from the Father’s commands. But HE like a sheep volunteered to submit to His Father’s will; He volunteered to take our place and save us; dying for us on the cross. 

John Milton was the great Puritan poet of the 1600s who wrote the famous epic poem, “Paradise Lost,” which describes the fall of Mankind from the Garden of Eden — and it describes God’s plan to redeem us from that fall. After Adam & Eve had sinned, the poem pictures God the Father addressing all the gathered beings in heaven, and He asks them:

“Say, Heavenly Powers, where shall we find such love?

Which of ye will be mortal, to redeem 

Man’s mortal crime, and just, th’ unjust to save? 

Dwells in all Heaven charity so dear?

He asked … but Alas, the Heavenly Quire stood mute, 

And silence was in Heaven: on Man’s behalf 

Patron or intercessor none appear 

Much less that durst upon his own head draw 

The deadly forfeiture, and ransom set. 

And now without redemption, all mankind 

Must have been lost, adjudged to Death and Hell 

By doom severe — had not the Son of God, 

In whom the fulness dwells of love divine 

His dearest mediation thus renewed:- 

BEHOLD ME, then: me for him, life for life, 

I offer; on me let thine anger fall; 

Account me Man: I for his sake will leave 

Thy bosom, and this glory next to Thee 

Freely put off, and for him lastly die 

Well pleased; on Me let Death wreak all his rage.” 

Milton’s “Paradise Lost” is fictitious, of course; it is not Scripture. But it does give us an interesting picture, doesn’t it? With Mankind fallen into sin, headed to destruction and eternal hell; WHO would have the love to redeem Mankind, and take our place? All heaven was silent — until the Son of God spoke: “Behold Me!” “Behold Me!” Jesus volunteered to take our place — we know THAT IS scriptural! He said in John 10 no one takes My life from Me; He said He laid it down voluntarily, that He might save us. 

We were the sheep who went astray. He was the Sheep who took our place!  Jesus was “Like a Lamb: The Volunteer Who Replaced Us.” 

II. Like a Lamb: The Sacrifice Who Saved Us

The Bible tells us here that Jesus went “like a lamb that is led to slaughter” to make the sacrifice on the cross for us. Here Isaiah continues to picture the coming Messiah as one who will be like a “sheep” or a “lamb.”  Significantly, the “lamb” is used throughout the New Testament to describe Jesus:

— When He appeared on the scene at the Jordan River, John the Baptist proclaimed: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) 

— Later in that same chapter John told his disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (:36) and they followed Him. 

— We saw how in Acts 8, the Ethiopian Treasurer was reading this very passage in Isaiah 53 about the lamb, and asks who Isaiah is talking about, and the Bible says that Philip began “preaching Jesus to him”! 

— Peter himself in the first chapter of his book (:19) speaks of “the precious blood as of a lamb” that purchased our salvation.

— And over 25 times in the Book of Revelation, Jesus is called “the Lamb” who was slain, but who is worthy, and who will worshipped forever and ever. So this picture of the Messiah as a “lamb” is an important one.

And it’s important for the sacrifice that it describes. When John said “Behold the Lamb of God”, he was referring not only to the picture Isaiah 53 gives of the Messiah as a lamb, but also/and especially to the lamb of the Old Testament sacrifices. In Exodus 12 God commanded Moses to tell His people in Egypt to make the Passover sacrifice of a lamb. Every house was to take a lamb, specifically “an unblemished lamb”, “a male”, and they were to take some of its blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel (the top bar of the doorframe) of their home. God was going to judge Egypt that nigh, but He said that He would “pass over” every home when he saw the blood on the doorposts and the lintel, and that home would be saved from His judgment. 

That Passover Lamb is one of the greatest pictures of what Jesus would be, and what He would do for us. Just as that Passover lamb had to be a male, unblemished, whose blood would save them from God’s judgment when He saw the blood on the door of their home, so Jesus would be the Lamb of God, a male, the Son of God Himself; unblemished, “who had no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth”, as Isaiah 53:9 says; who “was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin”. He was a perfectly unblemished sacrifice, who bore our sins in His body, I Peter 2:24 says, so that the judgment of God that was rightly due for our sins would “pass over” us, when God sees His blood on our hearts!  I Peter 1:18-19 puts it this way: “You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” 

Picture of the blood of the Passover Lamb as it was painted across the door of the Jewish homes in Egypt. We don’t want to “push” a symbolism that is not there, but it doesn’t take much imagination, does it? They were specifically commanded to have the blood of the lamb in a basin at bottom of the door; and to take it from there to the two sides of the doorposts and the lintel (the beam across the top). You are doing that in the form of a cross! The blood would have come down from that lamb-blood-stained door in Egypt in just the same way it would have come down from the cross at Calvary, from the head and the hands and feet of Jesus! The blood of the Passover Lamb was a picture of what JESUS would do for us when He came. JESUS was the ULTIMATE Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world!

There is a modern Jewish commentary which gives a very interesting interpretation of the blood of the Passover. It describe it as the “commitment of the individual to work for the Torah and the community.” The commentator referenced how Winston Churchill promised his “blood, toil, sweat and tears” to defeat the Nazis and win World War II. This interpretation is so revealing. To believe that the Passover symbolizes our own blood and toil is just how most people think that they will be saved — by their own efforts — but in reality that’s the exact opposite of the true meaning of the Passover!  NO ONE can be saved by their own blood and toil. We aren’t qualified for our blood to atone for our sins! We aren’t “unblemished”! We just saw how: “All we like sheep have gone astray”! Our own blood and toil and sweat and tears can’t save us! Romans 3:20 says “By the works of the Law NO FLESH will be justified in His sight.” Our own religious works and deeds can’t saved us, no matter how hard we work at it. It’s just like the old song says:

“Not the labor of my hands

Can fulfill Thy Law’s demands.

Could my zeal no respite know

Could my tears forever flow,

All for sin could not atone

THOU must save; and Thou alone.”

If we will ever be saved, we have to come to the realization that we have sinned, and that we can’t save ourselves. We are not “unblemished.” Our “blood, toil, sweat and tears” can never save us. If we want to be forgiven we must put your trust in the “precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” Stop trying to be the lamb! Stop trying to be good enough to save yourself. Today, once and for all, put your trust in Jesus! He was “Like a Lamb: The Sacrifice Who Saves US.” 

III. Like A Lamb: The Example Who Inspires Us”

Jesus’ character as He made that sacrifice for our sins, was also like a lamb. He made that sacrifice for our sins meekly, and gently, the Bible says: “Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, or a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.” Often times, when you & I are injured or suffering, we let it be known! We sometimes talk about how we will “go down kicking and screaming”! But Jesus did not do this. The Bible says He did not cry out; it says He went meekly. This was literally fulfilled in the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ trials: 

— In Matthew 27:12-14, when Jesus was on trial before Pilate, it says: “While He was being accused by the chief priests and the elders, He did not answer. Then Pilate said to Him, ‘Do you not hear how many things they testify against You?” And Yet He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.” It was just like Isaiah 53 said: “He did not open His mouth.”

— Luke 23:9 says the same was true when Jesus went before Herod. It says: “He questioned Him at some length, but He answered him nothing.”

The whole time the Jews were accusing and questioning Jesus before Pilate and Herod, Jesus did not open His mouth, just as Isaiah writes. Finally, Pilate was totally amazed and said to Jesus in John 9:10, “Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?”, but in :20 Jesus merely said to him, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given to you from above.” But in the whole trial and accusation process, Jesus said NOTHING. He went “like a lamb to slaughter” and “did not open His mouth,” just like Isaiah 53 said 700 years before He ever came to earth!

And Jesus responded that way because He knew He was here on earth for this very purpose. In John 12:27 He said, “What shall I say, ‘Father save Me from this hour?’, but for this purpose I came to this hour.” Jesus knew that what was happening to Him was God’s will; this was exactly why He came to earth; to suffer and die for our sins. He trusted that God’s plan was being done, so He meekly submitted to God’s will. 

Jesus gives us as disciples the perfect picture of what “meekness” or “gentleness” of the 3rd Beatitude, and Psalm 37, means. Jesus responded like this because He trusted that God had a plan and a purpose for what was going on. Just like Psalm 37 says, He “trusted in the Lord and did what was good.” As 1 Pet. 2:23 says, “when reviled He did not revile in return, but KEPT ENTRUSTING Himself to Him who judges rightly.” Jesus perfectly lived out that difficult quality of Christian meekness and gentleness, which we are to imitate in our own circumstances. 

According to a Union Soldier, Confederate General Robert E. Lee demonstrated that kind of godly meekness at an incident outside the battlefield at Gettysburg. The soldier wrote: 

“I was at the battle of Gettysburg myself, and (had) fought and cursed the Confederates desperately. I could see nothing good in any of them. The last day of the fight I was badly wounded. A ball shattered my left leg. I lay on the ground not far from Cemetery Ridge, and as General Lee ordered his retreat he and his officers rode near me. As he came along I recognized him, and though faint from exposure and loss of blood, I raised up my hands, looked Lee in the face, and shouted as loud as I could, “Hurrah for the Union!” The general heard me, looked, stopped his horse, dismounted, and came toward me. I confess that I at first thought he meant to kill me. But as he he looked down at me with such a sad expression upon his face, all fear left me, and I wondered what he was about. He extended his hand to me, and took mine firmly and looking right into my eyes, he said, ‘My son, I hope you will soon be well.’” The man said, “If I live a thousand years I shall never forget the expression on General Lee’s face. There he was, defeated, retiring from a field that had cost him and his cause almost their last hope, and yet he stopped to say words like those to a wounded soldier of the opposition who had taunted him as he passed by! As soon as the general had left me I cried myself to sleep there upon the bloody ground.’” (p. 302) 

How could Lee respond to the taunting of that soldier in such a meek, gentlemanly way? Because he trusted God. After the defeat at Gettysburg Lee wrote: “God sends us even defeats, to teach us wisdom and prudence, to call forth from us greater energies, and to prevent our falling into greater disasters.” Lee trusted that even this defeat was God’s will, and it was his trust in God which enabled him to respond even to an enemy with such Christian gentleness and self-control. That is Biblical meekness in action. That is “trusting in the Lord and doing what is right,” as Psalm 37 describes. That is following in the steps of Jesus. 

You and I will react like that too, in our own life situations, when we trust in God in that same kind of way. Several years ago there was a man in the church we served, who came forward one Sunday morning with his wife for prayer about his upcoming appointment for a scan, as they were looking for a possible tumor in his body. After I prayed for him, and they were about to walk back to their seats, this man, Pat, looked up at me and calmly said, “I know God has a plan.” I thought, he has such a calm trust in the Lord! He trusted the Lord with his circumstances; so he could respond in such a calm, meek, trusting way. 

The way that you & I respond in OUR circumstances will demonstrate how much WE really trust God too. If we really trust that God has a plan, and that He’s working it out in our lives, then we will respond with meekness and trust, just like Lee did; just like Pat did; just like Jesus did. Ultimately we are all imitating Jesus. He was the “Lamb” who meekly did not open His mouth, because He trusted His Father’s plan. He was “The Volunteer Who Replaced Us;” He was “The Sacrifice Who Saved Us,” and He Is “The Example Who Inspires Us.”

INVITATION

— Christian person, is there a situation in YOUR life today, where you are tempted to “go down kicking and screaming,” but God is telling you today, NO, do not do that. Follow Jesus’ example. Trust ME, and do what is good. Don’t hit back. Don’t strike back. Don’t answer back. Do what Jesus did in your situation: “trust in the Lord and do good.” 

— But there may a number of us here today who realize that Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” That He died for you, in your place, and you need to trust Him today as your Lord & Savior.

When Philip had finished preaching that day to the Ethiopian treasurer from this passage in Isaiah 53, Acts 8 tells us the Ethiopian turned to Philip and said, “Look, water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may!”

Do you believe in your heart today? Do you know that you have sinned, but you are willing to turn away from that sin and follow Jesus as your Lord & Savior?  If this is happening to you right now, then why don’t you make the same response as that Ethiopian did:  show the world that you are now a real follower of Jesus, by being baptized, just like he did.