On January 21, 1977, President Jimmy Carter issued a proclamation granting unconditional pardon to all those who evaded the draft for the Vietnam War. Over 200,000 Americans had been charged with that crime, and they estimate another 300,000 were also guilty, making President Carter’s pardon perhaps the largest in the history of the United States. 

But there was a much larger pardon granted in history, not by a President of the United States, but by the King of the Universe; the pardon for sinners that was granted by Jesus, through His death on the cross. We don’t yet know the total number of those who were pardoned, as it continues to grow by the day — but it numbers millions upon millions upon millions — including, thankfully, many of us right here in this room! 

As we continue in our study of Isaiah 53 this morning, the emphasis of the chapter turns verse 11 to the theme of “Justification.” It has a judicial theme. Jesus came as the Suffering Servant to make us “justified” before the Judge of the Universe, as we see in :11,

“As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.”

I. THE MEANING OF JUSTIFICATION 

Isaiah 53 expresses the meaning of justification in a couple of ways in :11. — First it says: “He will see it and be satisfied”: that is, that God will see the punishment that was inflicted on Jesus when He hung on the cross, and be satisfied with that payment; that eternal justice was done. “He will see it, and be satisfied.”

— And secondly, it says, “the Righteous One, My servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.” The word “justify” here comes from the word “righteous.” It means Jesus will “make us right” with God, by bearing our sins on the cross.

It is important that we understand what went on here, and how it took what Jesus did, to make us right with God. God loves us, and He wants us to spend eternity with Him in heaven. It is what He created us for. But the problem is, we we have all sinned, as Isaiah 53:6 says, and gone our own way. God is the Holy Judge of the Universe. He cannot compromise His holiness or His judgment. He cannot just “overlook” our sins and let us into heaven. This is what a lot of people think He will do; they think that at the end God’s just going to say, “Oh, I didn’t mean it; you’re ok, just come on into heaven anyway.” We have seen that happen so many times in school and church in and in every aspect of our society, that we think God is going to do that too — but He cannot and He will not. God is a holy judge. He must do justice. He cannot just “overlook” our sins and let us off. 

The other day I read about a man who said that he believes that in the end, God is just going to say to him, “Oh, ok, I’ll just go ahead and let you in” to heaven. But here’s the thing: NO just judge can just let somebody off. You’ve seen pictures of criminals who have just been let off by some judge, and people were furious: You can’t just let him off; he has to be brought to justice!  But isn’t it ironic that the very lack of justice we get so angry about in cases like that, is just what some of us are counting on getting from God?! We think at the end that God’s going to just say to us, “Oh, it’s ok, just come on it.” And it will NOT happen. As Abraham said in Genesis: “The Judge of all the earth must judge rightly.” God cannot just “overlook” our sin. 

So here was a dilemma: God loves us, and wants us with Him in heaven, but at the same time, He is a holy and perfect Judge, and He cannot just “overlook” our sins. How does that problem get solved? God solved that problem in Jesus Christ. Jesus came to earth to bear our sins in His body; God’s wrath for sin WAS poured out, not on us, but on Him. And when that happened, Isaiah 53:11 says: “(God) saw it and was satisfied.” God was satisfied that the penalty for our sins had been paid. Jesus said, “It is finished.” God was satisfied with the payment He made for our sins. He had “justified” the many — made us “right” with God.

Romans 3 puts this as clearly as any place in scripture. Look at verses 23-26: 

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate God’s righteousness … so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 

Do you see that key phrase: “JUST AND THE JUSTIFIER”?! Through Jesus God can be both “Just”, and “Justifier”; that is, He is the “Justifier” — the One who declares us right with Him! But at the same time, He did not compromise His holiness and justice to do it; He is still “just” — because our sin HAS been punished. Justice was done.  So God is both “just and the justifier” of the one who has faith in Jesus. So now, when you put your trust in Jesus as your Savior, you are declared “righteous” by God — not because you really earned it, but because of what Jesus did for you. This is what is called “imputed righteousness” — you have the very “righteousness of God” given to you by faith in Jesus. As the old saying goes, “justified” means “Just as if I’d never sinned.” That is the meaning of the Justification that Jesus bought for you on the cross. 

In July of 1953, Jimmy Carter’s father Earl was sent home to die with pancreatic cancer. Jimmy came home from the Navy to spend the last days with him. On his death bed Earl asked “Jimmy to bring the ledger books to his bedside so that he could cancel the debts of both white and black families that owed him money.” (Jonathan Alter, His Very Best, p. 87)

At his death, every debt was cancelled out; forgiven; the ledgers were clear. When Jimmy told those families that their debts were forgiven, he wasn’t cheating anyone; he was “just” and the justifier of their debts. He told them their debts were cancelled — and they WERE! 

That is what Jesus has done for us with God. By His death on the cross, the debt that we owed for our sin was paid. He has wiped the slate clean. He has paid the debt. “He saw it and was satisfied.” “He justified the many, as He bore their iniquities.” God is “just and the justifier” through what Jesus did.  

This is the great blessing of the Christian; the one who has faith in Jesus. They can know they are “justified” before God. But that doesn’t mean the devil will leave you alone about it. He will continue to hound you, to try to get you to doubt; to make you ineffective as a Christian. It’s like several years ago, when we lived in Louisiana, Cheryl was stopped by an officer in Lake Charles and she was given a citation for a seat belt violation. She had a certain time to pay the fine, but she couldn’t stand having that outstanding, so that very day she called on the phone and paid it. So her record was clear. But she said, for the rest of the weekend, she still had this “nagging feeling” like things weren’t right; like that guilt was still “hanging over her” — but it wasn’t; it had been paid for! She just had to keep reminding herself that it’s over; it’s been paid for!

This is what we have to do as Christians too. Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid for our sins. He said “It is finished” — paid in full! If you have received that forgiveness in Jesus, and have been saved, your sins have been paid for; they are forgiven. But the devil doesn’t like to let us off so easily; he keeps trying to remind you of your sin. He is doing that to some of you right now. But just like Cheryl had to keep reminding herself: “That ticket has been paid; I am right with the law;” so now we may need to keep reminding ourselves (and maybe the devil too!) MY SIN HAS BEEN PAID! I am right with God! God is “just and the Justifier” through what Jesus did.  Jesus “justified the many, as He bore their iniquities.”

II. THE COST OF JUSTIFICATION 

What did it cost to justify us; to make us right with God? Isaiah 53:11 tells us. It describes “the anguish of His soul”. This word “anguish” here means “labor, toil, suffering”. It is used in Genesis 41:51 to describe the sufferings that Joseph went through, and of the sufferings of Job (7:3), and in Judges 10:16 of the miseries of Israel under the Philistines, when they were slaves and were “crushed” by the oppression of their enemies. This is the word that is used here in Isaiah 53 of what it cost Jesus to justify us. It cost Jesus “anguish” — misery, suffering — to justify us, and make us right with God. We speak of salvation as being “free”, and it is to us — but that does NOT mean it wasn’t costly. The old saying is, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Someone has to pay for it. That’s true of every “free benefit” we supposedly get from the Government: people talk about “free cell phones,” or “free COVID tests” or whatever from the Government; but it’s not “free”; someone is paying for it! That’s how it is with our justification too. It’s free for us, but it cost Someone dearly; and that “Someone” was Jesus. The Bible says He paid for it with “the anguish” of His soul.”

The Bible specifically says “soul” here; because the sufferings of Jesus were not just physical. The greatest suffering Jesus endured for us was the suffering of His SOUL as He bore our iniquities. The anguish His soul endured for us, we can’t even begin to understand. 

The Bible tells us in Luke 22:44 that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus “being in anguish, was praying very fervently, and His sweat became like drops of blood.” Jesus literally fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah by being in “anguish” — notice it’s the same word — at Gethsemane. It’s significant that the word “Gethsemane” literally means “oil press” so named because of how the olives of the garden there were crushed to get their oil. Jesus fulfilled of “Gethsemane” by being “crushed” with anguish at that place of the “oil press,” when He bore the sins of the world on Himself. 

Some have wondered at Jesus’ anguish at Gethsemane. WHY was He so distraught? Many throughout history have faced death bravely. Many armed servicemen bravely stare death in the face without flinching. Many of Jesus’ own followers went to horrible deaths without fear: 

— Polycarp, a disciple of the Apostle John, went to his death calmly, saying, “Four score and six years I have served Him and He has done me no wrong; how then shall I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

— William Tyndale, who against the law of the King translated the Bible into English, shouted at his death at the stake with a strong and fervent voice, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!!”

There was no fear in these men; was Jesus less courageous than they were? Why did He sweat drops of blood? Jesus was not weaker than His own followers; but no one ever faced what Jesus did; it was not merely physical suffering — the sins of the whole world were placed on His pure and perfect soul. 

A couple of weeks ago we saw in Isaiah 53:9 how pure and perfect Jesus was: “He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.” “He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin,” Hebrews sayas. Jesus HAD to be sinless to be our Savior. But by that same token, it was absolute agony for His pure sinlessness to bear sin, which He had never known. As II Corinthians 5:21 says “He who knew no sin BECAME SIN on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” We can’t imagine being such a pure being, and then BECOMING SIN!

And then He bore the wrath of God upon Himself for all of our sins. It is one thing to bear everything that man can do to you, but it’s another to face the wrath of God! And that is what Jesus had to do: He faced the wrath of God for the sins of the world on Himself. 

When terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy Seal Team 6, many lamented that he died so easily: with a quick bullet to the head, when they felt like he deserved so much more punishment than that. But Southern Baptist Seminary President Al Mohler pointed out, that’s not the only punishment Bin Laden will receive! The moment Bin Laden died here on earth, he went to face the wrath of God for his sins. Can you imagine the wrath of God for a plot that killed over 3000 innocent people in the 9-11 attack? His just wrath would be fierce!

Then imagine the wrath of God for all of the immorality and perversion that exists in this world. The Bible speaks of God’s wrath as being poured out like a cup: Isaiah 51 speaks of the cup of God’s wrath for their sins; Revelation 16 speaks of the cup filled with the wine of God’s wrath. The Bible says God’s wrath will be poured out like a “cup.”

How significant is it then, that in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked that if possible, “this cup” might pass from Him! What “cup”? The cup of the wrath of God for sin, which was about to be poured out on Him! THAT is why Jesus sweat drops of blood at Gethsemane; Jesus didn’t lack courage; He was about to face what no man had ever faced: the cup of the fierce wrath of God Almighty poured out on Him for all the sins and evil of the world!

One of my favorite scenes in John Milton’s classic, Paradise Lost, is when Satan and his demons are being chased from heaven by the wrath of God. Milton writes that the gates of heaven opened up, and there before them was the great abyss: hell standing wide open before them, so they came to a screeching halt — but when they looked behind them, they saw the wrath of God coming after them, and seeing that, they THREW themselves willingly into hell. THAT terrifying wrath of God is what Jesus was about to face at the cross. 

THAT is what Jesus agonized about: the holy wrath of God Almighty for sin. And here is the amazing thing: if you are a Christian, you will never know that wrath! The words of that song are so great: “I’ll never know how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross.” We’ll never know that wrath; we’ll never know that anguish. But Jesus did. Isaiah 53:11 says that our justification cost Him “the anguish of His soul.”

III. THE SCOPE OF JUSTIFICATION 

And WHO is this justification for? Verse 11 says: “the Righteous One … will justify THE MANY, as He will bear their iniquities.” This is something that those of us who have heard the gospel all our lives take for granted: that it took only ONE sacrifice of Jesus to save EVERYONE! Romans 5 compares Jesus to Adam, and says, “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.” It says that just as it only took one sinful act of Adam to bring sin into the whole world, so it only took one act of righteousness in Jesus to make salvation available to the whole world. It’s like I John 2:2 says “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world”!

But someone might wonder: does not this use of the word “many” here in :11, limit the scope of salvation to just a certain few? Like, He will justify “many,” but not all? NO; it does not mean that! The Hebrew words “Ha rabbim” here mean “the mass; the many.” The Greek translation here is “hoi polloi” – you may have heard those words before, when someone talks about the “hoy polloy” — the “common people.” That expression actually comes from this Greek term, “Hoi polloi.” It means “the common man;” “everyone.”

Now, I know nobody in America likes to admit that they watched the Royal Wedding in England, but since it was the most-watched event in history, I assume some of us watched it!  I saw a little bit of it, and I couldn’t help but wonder, as the camera panned across the audience in Westminster Abbey: what kind of person do you think got one of those seats there in that renowned church? I thought, you must really have to be “somebody”, to get to sit in there! There were no “commoners” in that group; the “hoi polloy” were all outside in the streets!

But the wedding of our King Jesus will be for the “hoi polloi”!  In fact, “hoi polloi” is the very term the Bible uses here to describe those for whom Jesus died: He died to justify “the many”; literally “the hoi polloi”! This is not a term of limitation; it is term of inclusion. It’s emphasizing that Jesus didn’t die just for the few, He didn’t just die for the royal, He didn’t just die for the noble; He died for the “hoi polloi” — for the many! — praise God, He died for the “common folk” like you and me! Isaiah 53 is telling us here that the scope of Jesus’ justification was the whole world! Which is just what I John 2:2 says, “He Himself is the propitiation … for the sins of the whole world.” It is available for everyone, for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Jesus came to justify “the many;” the “hoi polloi” — whoever would be willing to humble themselves and receive it! 

IV. THE MEANS OF JUSTIFICATION 

But how do you lay hold of the justification Jesus offers? What do you do to actually obtain it? The Bible answers that here in verse 11 also: “By His knowledge the Righteous One, My servant, will justify the many.” Most Hebrew scholars believe the “knowledge” referred to here is the knowledge of the Messiah — in other words, a person’s knowledge of Him. In other words, you receive this justification by knowing Him — by knowing Jesus! 

Now, we need to make something very clear. When the Bible talks about the “knowledge” of Him here, it is NOT just talking about intellectual “knowledge” — knowing facts about Jesus. Just knowing facts about Jesus will NOT save you. SO many think, “Of course I know Jesus!” But knowing ABOUT Him is not the same as knowing Him personally. 

The Bible says in James 2:19 “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe and shudder”! The Bible says the demons “know” who Jesus is. In Mark 1 Jesus encounters a demon-possessed man, and the man says, “I know Who You are: the Holy One of God!” That demon knew better even than Jesus’ disciples did, just who Jesus was — but that demon was not saved by knowing “facts” about Jesus. And the same thing is true for you: Just knowing some facts about Jesus won’t save you; you must have a personal encounter with Him, in which you make Him YOUR own personal Lord & Savior, and “know” Him personally. 

Several years ago there was a young adult man in our church at that time (Dustin Smith) that someone had talked with, about what it meant to really be saved, and he was really convicted about his sins. He said it was like he was always carrying a tremendous weight on his shoulders, and it became so unbearable, that he finally got down on his knees and read Psalm 51 (which is about asking God for forgiveness) and he asked the Lord to forgive HIM and save HIM because of what Jesus did on the cross. He said after he got up from that prayer, the feeling he had was like walking from the summer heat into a room where the air conditioner had been on for some time. He said it was so refreshing to him, that his sins were forgiven, and that now the “weight” of all his sin was gone! See, now Dustin didn’t just “know about” what Jesus had done on the cross; now he had experienced it for himself! 

THAT is what Isaiah 53 is talking about here. “By His knowledge” — that is, by personally knowing the salvation of Jesus — not just a “head knowledge”, but a personal, experiential knowledge in your heart, YOU can be justified through what Jesus did on the cross for you. YOU can know the forgiveness of all your sins. But You have to make it personal; you have to experience it personally.

Some of us right here today, may be counting on “knowing some things about Jesus” to save you; but that will not save you any more than it saved that demon in Mark 1. It’s not just “knowing about” Jesus that will save you. You need to do what that young man (Dustin) from our church did a few years ago: feel the weight of your sins before God, and cry out and ask Him to save YOU, because of what Jesus suffered on the cross for you. If you’ve never done it before, why don’t you ask Him to save YOU, right now?

INVITATION:

As we bow our heads together, would you ask yourself: What am I trusting for my salvation? That I know a lot of “right answers” about God; that I can pass the answers on the Sunday School test? That’s not going to save you!  You need to repent of your sins, and ask Jesus to save YOU, and give your life to Him as your Lord & God. If you’ve never done that before, why don’t you do it right now …