Our response to the Passion of Jesus Christ

If there is one passage that teaches with extraordinary clarity the meaning of Jesus’ death, it is, without a doubt, Isaiah 53.

For this text, known as the Third Song of the Servant of the Lord, written some eight centuries before Christ’s coming into the world, reveals, like few others, the work of redemption. This is what the so-called ‘gospel prophet’ wrote:

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“For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,  smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgement he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” Isaiah 53:2–12

[destacate]Many are familiar with Isaiah 53, but not so many have reflected on what follows[/destacate] In this passage, we find what the Scottish professor of theology John Murray termed ‘redemption accomplished’, that is, the necessity, nature, perfection and scope of the salvation effected by the Lord Jesus Christ when He died as a propitiation for our sins.

Many are familiar with Isaiah 53, but not so many have reflected on what follows, in our versions what we know as chapter 54 of Isaiah. Here are the opening verses:

“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labour! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.

Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called” Isaiah 54:1-5

One of those who did so was William Carey, known as the father of modern Christian missions. The former missionary to India used verses two and three of this passage as his text for a sermon he preached at the Baptist Chapel in Nottingham, England, on 31 May 1792. The main points of his message are well known: Aim for great things for God; expect great things from God. There is perhaps no better summary of what Isaiah teaches here than these words of Carey.

And, whilst there is no possibility of improving upon what this great missionary said about Isaiah 54, I would like us to appreciate in these verses the response the church ought to give in the face of the glory, the achievements and the magnitude of Christ’s work on our behalf.

[destacate]Joy implies an appreciation for that work of atonement for our sin[/destacate] Firstly, we are called to rejoice. Isaiah uses three modes of expression here: he exhorts us to rejoice, to sing, and to shout for joy. This repetition merely emphasises that this is the only appropriate response to the work of salvation accomplished by the Lord Jesus. The reason is that redemption is a fait accompli to which no other reaction is possible. Joy implies an appreciation for that work of atonement for our sin.

Jubilation also indicates that it is a work to which we can contribute nothing, for it is free; all that remains for us is to rejoice. The satisfaction that Jesus rendered to divine justice through His work on the cross is perfect, so all that remains for us is to sing. For God has nothing against us; everything has been paid for by the Lord; His blood has cleansed us from our sin through faith in Him. The rejoicing to which we are called is based directly on the proclamation of the reality of that supernatural salvation.

The text’s reference to the barren woman, in contrast to the married woman, reminds us of Sarah, who became a mother in that wonderful way (Genesis 18:10–15). But the cry of joy also recalls what Israel did after being delivered from Egypt and following the defeat of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. The song of Moses and Mary would thus be the first Psalm, not as part of the Psalter, but as the foundation or model for the entire Psalter—the text of Exodus 15:1–2:

“Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, ‘I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him”

[destacate]The culmination of praise, what we know as the doxologies, emphasises what the name of the prophet Isaiah himself highlights, namely, that Yahweh is salvation[/destacate] It is therefore not without reason that praise is an essential part of worshiping God. And it is precisely because, in offering this worship to the Lord, we acknowledge that God’s salvation comes through His grace alone in Jesus Christ.

The culmination of praise, what we know as the doxologies, emphasises what the name of the prophet Isaiah himself highlights, namely, that Yahweh is salvation, that God alone gives us salvation. And He does so freely because of the One who paid for our sins on the cross.

“Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” Isaiah 53:11–12

But, secondly, we are called to make room, to make space for such a congregation of souls:

“Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called” Isaiah 54:2–5

The reason is equally clear: there is a promise that they will spread out… they will possess and populate; they will break in, inherit, and inhabit the desolate places. In other words, precisely because God cannot lie, what He has proclaimed will come to pass. In Isaiah, specifically, it is announced in advance that, due to the return from captivity in Babylon, the people must prepare for it, making room for those who return.

This return was unexpected, a work solely of God. But this fulfilment was not all that Isaiah prophesied. In fact, something far more glorious was being prophesied; the universal spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth was likewise announced. Something we have seen come to pass in our own day in an extraordinary way. Which, moreover, was already foretold by the Lord Jesus himself:

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” Matthew 24:14

In this chapter 54, we are thus faced with an Isaiah-inspired version of the Great Commission:

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”

Matthew 28:16–20

For we obey the Lord’s Great Commission precisely because we are convinced that in Heaven there will be a great multitude, which no one can count: “from every nation and tribe and people and language”, and that they will stand “before the throne and in the presence of the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and with palm branches in their hands”, and they will cry out “with a loud voice, saying: Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9,10).

[destacate]Like Isaiah, we can urge the world to embrace the Person of Jesus as their Lord and Saviour[/destacate] Therefore, our response to Christ’s work of redemption is the proclamation that, because of it, there is complete salvation from all our sins and their terrible consequences in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness of sins and eternal life in Christ. Therefore, proclaim this message of reconciliation to all; that is your response to his work of salvation.

Consequently, and like Isaiah, we can urge the world to embrace the Person of Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

As Isaiah 55:1–7 says:

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.

Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. ‘Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon”

And we do so with great joy, for this is what God demands of us and what springs equally from our hearts, grateful for His salvation:

“You will say in that day: ‘I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation’

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.

‘Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel’”

Isaiah 12:1–6

José Moreno Berrocal, evangelical pastor in Spain, theologian and author.

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