In 1927, Charles Lindbergh made the first-ever trans-Atlantic flight, taking off from the United States, and landing in Paris, France. It was a huge event in the history of mankind, and it was celebrated all over the world. After he landed and was congratulated in Paris, they took Lindbergh to nearby Belgium, where a group of celebrities greeted him, and the Burgomaster welcomed Lindbergh. He said, ‘In this City Hall, where I have had the honor to receive so many great and illustrious men, I am proud to salute a real hero … your victory is the victory of humanity. In your glory there is glory for all men.’”  (A. Scott Berg, Lindbergh, p. 146)

That city official was right when he spoke of Charles Lindbergh — it was an amazing feat at that time, flying across the Atlantic in a small plane. But it is better said of what the REAL Hero of mankind did: Jesus Christ, when He died on the cross to pay for our sins — and proved it by rising again on the 3rd day. It can truly be said of Him, that “HIS victory is the victory of humanity; in HIS glory, there is glory for all men” — because as we shall see this morning, what Jesus did, He did for US; and the glorious reward He received, He will share with us — with all who will serve Him in this life!

This very last verse of Isaiah 53, :12, says: “Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong; because He poured out His soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.”

I.  The Suffering Endured.

This verse starts with the word, “Therefore.” “Therefore” points back, to everything we’ve seen over these last weeks in this chapter that Jesus did: the griefs, the sorrows, the substitutionary atonement, the piercing and scourging, “the anguish of His soul” as we saw last week — because of everything He endured in this chapter, “Therefore,” it says, here is what God is going to do. 

This verse actually summarizes what Jesus did in FOUR specific ways:

1) “He poured out Himself to death”. Literally, “He poured out His SOUL” to death. 

Philippians 2 in the New Testament describes the “pouring out” of Jesus:   “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, Who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

These verses describe it meant that Jesus “poured out His soul” for us. It says He was God Himself — it uses the phrase “equality with God” — You can’t get any more “God” than “equal with God”! But although He was equal with God, it says “He EMPTIED Himself.” This word means to “pour out.” Interestingly enough, the word in Philippians is the same word used here in Isaiah 53:12, when it says “He POURED OUT His soul to death.” This is just what Philippians 2 describes. Jesus was God in heaven, sharing glory with the Father, but He “poured out” that glory and became a man, and not only a man, but a humble man; not only a humble man, but a man who would die — and not just one who would die, but who would die the horrific death of the cross! Jesus “poured out His soul to death” for us on the cross. 

2)”and was numbered with the transgressors”: this wording is important. It says He was “numbered” with the transgressors. Jesus was NOT a transgressor, as we saw repeatedly in Isaiah 53. He had no sin. He was crucified between two criminals, but He was not a criminal. He was “numbered” with the transgressors, but He was NOT a transgressor.

3) “He Himself bore the sin of many”. Here once again in this final verse of Isaiah 53, we find that vital doctrine of the Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus one last time! HE bore OUR sins. He was crucified for OUR transgressions. If you don’t know for sure today that you are right with God and have a home in heaven; you CAN know it, because Jesus bore your sin in His body on the cross. He did everything it took to forgive your sins and make you right with God. He did it ALL.

Ricky Hoyt is a young man who has finished many an ironman triathlon:  where you swim over two miles, ride your bike 112 miles, and finish by running a 26-mile marathon! It is an amazing feat of stamina, but Ricky Hoyt finished those marathons even though he was born with cerebral palsy, and cannot walk or even move his arms! Then how could he finish those marathons? Because his DAD did it for him. His father, Dick Hoyt, ran those marathons pushing Ricky in his wheelchair, riding the bike with him as a passenger, and for the swim portion, he put Ricky in a raft and pulled him behind him as he would swim. So Ricky “finished” all those marathons — but it was because of what his Father did for him. He did it all.

That’s how it is with us and our salvation. You and I can no more save ourselves from our sins, than that palsy-stricken young man could finish those ironman races. We have all sinned; we have all fallen short of the glory of God; we are “dead in our sins.” We can’t save ourselves. But just like Mr. Hoyt bore his son in those races, so Jesus “bore our sins” in His body on the cross, and He did for us what we can’t do ourselves, to save us. He did it ALL for us. Jesus did everything it took for us to be saved. As an old hymn says “Jesus paid it all”! And not only did He pay it all, He paid it all, for ALL of us: like we talked about last week, the phrase “the many” here is the Greek “hoi polloi”! Jesus bore the sins of the “hoi polloi”, the common people like you and me! He did it for all of us. So if you want to know that you are right with God, and that you are going to heaven, you can: trust what JESUS did for you, as “He bore the sins of many” — He bore YOUR your sins — on the cross!

4) “and interceded for the transgressors.” Even as He was suffering on the cross, Jesus interceded for those for whom He was dying. He cried out: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And Hebrews says He continues to intercede for us today.

So Isaiah 53:12 says Jesus did 4 things: He “poured out His soul to death;” “was numbered with the transgressors;” “bore the sin of many;” and “interceded for the transgressors.” In all these ways and more, He was a “Suffering Servant” who died to save us.

Our response, in light of what Jesus did, is first, to RECEIVE what He did for us; to trust Him as our Lord & Savior. If you never have never done that, you should do it today. Ask Him to forgive your sins, and save YOU! 

But secondly, once we have received Him, we should then follow in His steps and imitate what He did for us. It’s notable that the Philippians 2:5 passage we read a few moments ago begins with the words, “Have this attitude in YOURSELVES which was also in Christ Jesus.” What Jesus did by humbling Himself and pouring Himself out for us, was not only on our behalf, to save us, but it also serves as an EXAMPLE for us. WE are to do the same kinds of things that HE did for us!

I Peter 2 quotes Isaiah 53, about how “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross,” but it also says that He left an example “for you to follow in His steps”! God says there, I want YOU to do the same kinds of things that HE did — not in the sense of dying for the sins of others; we can’t do that. But we are called, as His followers, to imitate His example of Suffering Service. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny Himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Jesus commands us, if we are really His followers, to follow His example of suffering service for others, like He did to save us.

Too many people today think that Christianity is just about receiving the benefits of what Jesus did, without any responsibility to imitate what He did, ourselves. That is NOT genuine Christianity.  Real Christianity imitates Jesus. Scripture is FULL of God’s commands for us to humble ourselves, deny ourselves, follow Him, persevere to the end, endure hardships — follow in His steps. We are to imitate what Jesus did. 

— Jesus “poured out His soul to death” at Gethsemane. You and I are to “pour out our souls” in “Daily Gethsemanes.” Every day we are to get up and spend time with God in the morning and say: “Lord, not my will, but Thine be done” today. As a follower of Jesus, it’s not “what do I want to do today?” It’s about what the Lord needs you to do today. We are to imitate Jesus every in a “daily Gethsemane”! 

— Jesus “emptied Himself” and left the glory of heaven, and became a man to serve us. We are to follow His example by emptying ourselves of our pride and glory, and becoming servants to other people.

— Jesus “bore the sin of many” in the Substitutionary Atonement. We can’t bear anyone’s sins — but we can bear the burdens of other people, and that’s what Jesus calls us to do as His followers. 

These things are hard; but Jesus did some hard things for us — and He calls us to follow Him, and do hard things for Him and for others. Sometimes we do some hard things as a church: we go on mission trips, and those trips are hard; maybe a 12-hour flight; sleeping and staying in strange places, sometimes with danger. The Roundup we had a week ago was hard — a bunch of us were dragging at the end. Lauryn is going to be having a VBS meeting soon; VBS week is hard; one of the hardest weeks of the year. A lot of the things we do are hard. And sometimes when we hear about something the church is doiing we’re tempted to say, “Well, that’s hard, I don’t want to do it.” But we need to realize, Jesus has called us to do hard things! He did some hard things for us — and He has called us, if we are really His followers, to do some hard things for Him.

And old hymn says, “Must I be carried to the skies, on flow’ry beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize, and sailed through bloody seas?” Don’t say, Oh, that’s hard, I’m not going to do it. God calls you to do hard things. He calls you to serve. He calls you to do Roundups; He calls you to work in VBS — and even in the nursery! He calls us to follow in the steps of Jesus, who did a lot harder things than that, to save us! 

So if you have really accepted Jesus as your Savior, then take seriously your responsibility to follow His example: pour out your soul; bear the burdens of those around you; intercede for the lost. Show that you are really His, by imitating what Jesus did for you. Share in the hard things He asks you to do as you follow Him. 

II. The Glory Bestowed

Because of those four things Isaiah 53:12 says that Jesus did, it says God rewarded Him, and it expresses that reward in two ways in this verse:

—“Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great” 

— “And He will divide the spoils with the strong”

These are terms that describe reward. The “portion,” and the “spoils” go to the victor. When a general and his army capture a city, they take the treasure; the “spoils of war.” In the same way, the Bible says, God’s Servant has suffered in the battle, but He has won the victory, and now He will receive His reward.

When it says “Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great,” THIS IS GOD SPEAKING! God is going to reward His Servant. As we saw earlier in Isaiah 53, the world did not think much of Jesus, but God says, “This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased.” God says “Therefore — because of all He’s done — I will allot Him a portion with the great”! Men persecuted Him, but God says, I will exalt Him! 

God exalted Jesus first of all when He raised Him from the dead on the 3rd day. Men said, “If You are really the Son of God, save Yourself; come down from that cross.” But Jesus stayed on the cross, despite their taunts, so that He could die for our sins. But after He had paid for our sins, on the 3rd day, God said, I’ll show you what I think about Him — and He raised Him from the dead! 

It is just as Romans 1:4 says, that Jesus “was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.” In the Resurrection, God demonstrated that Jesus really was His Son, the one and only way to the Father, by raising Him from the dead — which He did for NO other prophet, preacher, or so-called “lord” or “god.” People today act like, “Oh, there’s so many religions, how can we possibly know which one will really give you eternal life?” How about the one-and-only religion whose Founder was raised from the dead? The Resurrection of Jesus was God’s way of saying: “THIS IS THE RIGHT ONE!” He’s the One I raised from the dead! Follow Him! 

People are always looking for a sign. They say things like: “God, give me a sign; give me a sign.” They asked Jesus for a sign, but Jesus said, I’ll give you a sign: the sign of Jonah: Jonah came out of the great fish after 3 days, and I’ll come out of the grave after 3 days! Don’t you see: THAT’S THE SIGN! The resurrection is the “sign” God gave us, of who the genuine Savior really is! If you’re looking for a sign, GOD ALREADY GAVE US A SIGN: when He raised Jesus from the dead!

But that Sunday resurrection was not the end of Jesus’ exaltation: after all of the humiliation and suffering Jesus endured, that Philippians 2 talks about, ending in “death, even the death of the cross” — then it says: “THEREFORE (the same “Therefore” we see here in Isaiah 53:12!) “Therefore also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow: in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” 

The Suffering Servant was raised from the dead, and now God glorified Him, and gave Him the “Name Above All Names,” seated at His right hand. “The Suffering Servant” has now become “The Glorious King”! 

BUT NOTICE one more thing: Isaiah 53:12 indicates that the glory and reward that Jesus received, He will SHARE in a fellowship “with” others!

Notice how Isaiah 53:12 says: 

—“Therefore I will allot Him a portion WITH the great” 

— “And He will divide the booty WITH the strong.”

The word “with” is used twice here: “WITH … WITH.” The Bible indicates that the Glorious King will share His glory and reward WITH those who have “thrown in their lot” with Him. We don’t deserve it; but He’s going to share His reward with His followers. 

C.S. Lewis wrote the fantastic children’s book series “The Chronicles of Narnia,” for which he won the Carnegie Medal in 1957. A woman who drew some illustrations for the book wrote to Lewis and congratulated him, and Lewis said, “I consider it to be OUR medal” — Lewis earned that reward, but he graciously shared it with this woman who served with Him.

This is what the Bible says Jesus will do for us. He promises to share the glories and rewards of heaven with us— what an amazing promise! BUT we need to realize something: in order to share those glories with Him THEN, we must first cast our lot with Him NOW. Romans 8:17 says, “if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” We must take our stand for Jesus now, in the face of opposition and persecution. And there WILL be opposition. Jesus said, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” Isaiah 53 went to great lengths to describe the sufferings of Jesus at the hands of men. And if we are serious about following Jesus, we will encounter opposition too. But we must be determined to stand for Him come what may. 

One of my favorite stories of the Civil War is about a regiment from New York that was catching some very heavy fire from the Confederate artillery across the river. Someone rode over to colonel in command of that New York unit and told him that the reason for all the incoming fire they were getting was that they had placed “Old Glory,” the American flag, in such a high and prominent position over their unit. That flag was attracting all the fire of the enemy against them. The messenger was implying: if you’ll place your flag in a little less conspicuous position, you won’t attract as much fire from the enemy. But that colonel looked at the messenger, and he looked up at the flag, and he said, “Let it wave high; it is our glory!” (Catton, p. 13) He didn’t care what fire he was catching; he gloried in the flag of our country! 

In the very same way, if you hold up the name of Jesus today, and the Substitutionary Atonement that Isaiah 53 proclaims, you are going to catch some “fire” for it, because there are many who oppose Him: 

— Teachers and students in your classroom may try to embarrass you if you say you believe in Jesus and what the Bible teaches.

— People will call you ignorant, and say: “How can what some man did on a cross 2000 years ago do anything to save us today?”

— Many today will call you narrow-minded and bigoted if You say that there is only ONE way of salvation, as Jesus taught in John 14:6, when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

— You may be forbidden to pray in some public assemblies if you insist on praying “In Jesus’ name,” as many are being asked to forgo today.

— Friends may call you “holier than thou” if you try to live in a way that pleases God.

— You may lose business; you may lose a promotion; you may lose a job,  because you hold to your faith in Christ. 

— Some day we may even face physical persecution like Jesus and His disciples did — people all over the world are facing it right now. 

So there may be some who suggest, like the messenger did to the colonel of that New York regiment, Hey Christian, if you’ll just “lower the flag a bit,” you won’t catch so much fire. If you’ll just back off your beliefs a little; if you’ll just compromise a little, things won’t be so hard for you.

But let our response be like that New York colonel: “Let it wave high, it’s our glory!”  Let us wave Jesus high; He is our glory! 

— Let us unashamedly teach that Jesus died for our sins and rose again on the 3rd day!

— Let US boldly proclaim that Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him”; 

— Let us proudly teach that His word is truth

— Let people call us ignorant, let them call us bigots; let them call us fools — because Jesus said, “If you confess Me before men, then I will confess YOU before My Father who is in heaven.” 

If we will stand for Him in this life, the Bible says, we will “divide the spoils with Him.” We’ll share in His reward, and glory, in heaven. But here’s the thing: if you want to share in the rewards later, you have to participate in the battle now. You have to take His side now; you have to stand with Him now! It may cost you now,  but as the old song says, it will be worth it all, when we see Jesus, and we receive our reward from Him.

1963 President John F. Kennedy asked Secret Service agent Clint Hill to do a 50 mile challenge hike with his brother-in-law, Prince Radziwill, and a a group of Marines. President Kennedy promised to visit them along the way.  It was very difficult, but they finished the hike in about 20 hours. After it was over, Agent Hill said that President Kennedy invited him to join them for a champagne celebration — and while they were there, the President gave Agent Hill a special medallion, that he had hand-made, out of purple construction paper attached to a ribbon of yellow crepe paper. On it, Kennedy wrote: “For Dazzle (agent Hill’s Secret Service code name). February 23, 1963.The Order of the Pace Maker, He whom the Secret Service will follow into the Battle of the Sunshine Highway. Signed John F. Kennedy.’ Hill wrote: I still have that simple paper medal. It is one of my most treasured possessions.”  (Clint Hill, Five Presidents, p. 128)

That would be amazing, wouldn’t it: for the President of the United States to give you an award that he made and signed for you, with his own hands? It WOULD be one of your most treasured possessions!

But we have something better than that, waiting for us as followers of Jesus! One day, when the “marathon” race of this life is over — and we all have some hard running along the way — but when this race is over; we will share in the great reward God will give Jesus in heaven. The “Suffering Servant” will be “The Glorious King” forever and ever. And IF we have taken our stand with Him here on earth, then He will share His reward with us, in glory forever!

INVITATION

— This Easter Sunday, many of us as God’s people need to ask ourselves: am I taking my stand for Jesus in this world? Or have I kind of “lowered the flag” a bit, to avoid some of the incoming “fire”? Today the Lord is reminding some of us of what He did for you, and how He wants you to stand for Him, at home, at school, at your job, wherever you are.

— Maybe as a Christian you’ve kind of had the attitude: I don’t want to do something in the church, on mission, or whatever; because “it’s too hard.” But God’s reminding you today that Jesus did some hard things for YOU; and He’s calling you to do some hard things for Him. Maybe He’s even laid some specific thing on your heart today, that you know you need to do: maybe it’s go on a mission trip; maybe it’s to witness or minister to someone difficult; maybe it’s to serve in VBS or the nursery or some other “hard” thing.

— Or maybe you have never really taken the basic stand, of making Jesus your Lord & Savior. Maybe you’ve been one of those who’s said, “How can we know which religion is right?” But God showed us, when He raised Jesus — and it is a fact of history; He appeared to 500 people at one time!

Or maybe you’ve just never really made it personal; asking Him to forgive YOUR sins, and be YOUR Lord & Savior. What better day, than this Easter Sunday 2024, to nail it down, and give your life to Him?