Finding Your Way Home Scripture Reading: Isaiah 53

Introduction
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the
iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
 When we go astray, we need to find a way back home.
Helicopter view
 First 39 chapters which talk about condemnation and judgement
 40 – 66 which talk about deliverance and a glorious future.
 From chapter 1, Isaiah paints a picture that sets the context and the flavour for the entire book. Isaiah paints a
picture or Israel – the people of God. It is a picture of rebellion and disobedience.
 He describes Israel; God’s people as:

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  Rebelled against God (1:2)  Brood of evildoers (1:4);
 Fail to recognise God as Lord (1:3);  Corrupt (1:4);
 Sinful (1:4);  They have forsaken the Lord (1:4).
 Loaded with guilt (1:4);
 He goes on to describe their condition in the following terms:
 They are beaten (1:5);  They have calloused hearts (6:10)
 Their head is injured (1:5);  They are deaf (6:10; 35:5)
 Their heart is afflicted (1:5);  They have blind eyes (6:10; 35:5)
 There is no soundness in their body (1:6)  They are crippled (35:6)
 There is only wounds, bruises and putrefying  They have stumbled and fallen; and they are
sores (1:6) broken (8:15)
This is the condition of fallen man. We are all like this. Our sinful condition is a rebellion against God; a rebellion that
God likens to a disease. We are so riddled with this sickness that we have no power to cure ourselves.

 Although the first 39 chapters talk about condemnation and judgement, interspersed throughout there are
indications of blessing and deliverance:
 Chapter 9: for unto us a Child is born
 Chapter 11: a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse
 Chapter 27: the deliverance of Israel
 Chapter 35: The joy of the redeemed
But then from Chapter 40 onwards, the prophecy is one of hope.
 Chapters 40 – 48: Deliverance for Israel
 Chapters 49 – 57: looks at the deliverer himself;
 Chapters 58 – 66: Look at the glorious future.

Correct Your Vision

Chapter 53 is the crucial chapter – it is here that our mistakes and misconceptions are revealed:
Our blindness – we are spiritually blind not because we don’t see, but because we don’t see correctly.
 We have an incorrect view of ourselves
 We have an incorrect view of Jesus

 Isaiah gives us the closest thing that we have to a physical description of Jesus:
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He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty
to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
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He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom
men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
 Isaiah is speaking to the Jews, who were expecting Messiah to be a King like King David – he notes that they
missed him, because he did not meet their expectations. Many today don’t recognise him, because he was too
ordinary; too human.
 Philip Yancy: “The Jesus I Never Knew” as the question, what did Jesus look like?
 Fat man or thin man?
 Jesus himself talks about his reputation to the disciples of John the Baptist, saying that people regarded him
as a “glutton and a drunkard” (Mat 11:19)
 In his own town they took offence at him (Mk 6:3);
 The religious leaders of the day were all opposed to him;

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 The rich and influential were indignant when the woman washed Jesus feet with her tears, and anointed his feet
with expensive perfume (Mk 14:4)

In Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples:

“Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied,
“Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
Butt then Jesus asked them the most important question that any person will ever be asked:
“But what about you? Who do you say I am?”
When Peter recognises Jesus for who he was, Jesus said:
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in
heaven.”

 How do you see Jesus?

 I have known many fall away the faith. Many that I grew up with; Several were pastor’s kids.
 Gloucester Training Group. – confronted with different views of Jesus.
 We are Sycamore Chapel: Zacchaeus used a Sycamore tree as a vantage point to see Jesus.

Modify Your Actions

Our view of Jesus influences directly what we do with him.
 Bob Fenn – Institute of Metals
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He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom
men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our
suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
 He was despised and rejected by men.
 Like one from whom men hide their faces.
 We esteemed him not.
 We considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
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Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten
by him, and afflicted.
Mark tells us that this part was found in Christ’s earthly ministry, in the healing of the sick. Isaiah is showing an ironic
situation; here the sick people have noted that Jesus is healing sick people, and yet they regard him as the sick
person rather than themselves.
 Interesting that we are described as the sick people; our sin has given us:
 An injured head;
 A calloused heart;
 A deaf ear;
 Wounds and welts;
 No bodily soundness at all
You see this passage tells me that:
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We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
The problem is we don’t read it like this…we read “YOU all, like sheep, have gone astray….”
Ravi Zacharias; Brian Houston; - let him who is without stone cast the first stone.
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 We all have gone our own way. We all still neglect Jesus – we neglect his teachings; we neglect his ways.
 do things we shouldn’t do;
 we say things we shouldn’t say,
 we think things we shouldn’t think.
 Paul himself struggled in this way - For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. (Rom. 7:15)
 Sometimes we don’t do things we should do:
 pray more
 read more
 visit more
 phone more
And so, what did we see – nothing special;
And what did we do – we despised him, and we rejected him. As Stuart Townend puts it:
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers; It was my sin that held Him there.

Change Your Course

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But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us
peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
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We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
 Isaiah 53:5 is not about physical healing – its about spiritual healing.
 Throughout the book, Isaiah uses infirmity in many forms to describe man’s sinfulness as a sickness.
 He often describes God’s judgement as a beating or a wounding. And it is in that context that he uses this
language:
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
 This promise is to those that change their course – those that accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
 "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!" – Matt. 7:23
 There is certainty in this statement.
 There is no doubt that our condition has been dealt with.
We have a hope that is steadfast and certain
Gone through the curtain and touching the throne
We have a Priest who is there interceding
Pouring His grace on our lives day by day
Behold the man upon a cross, I will not boast in anything,
My sin upon His shoulders; No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
Call out among the scoffers. His death and resurrection.
It was my sin that held Him there Why should I gain from His reward?
Until it was accomplished; I cannot give an answer;
His dying breath has brought me life – But this I know with all my heart –
I know that it is finished. His wounds have paid my ransom.

 When Jesus died, the veil was torn in two, and that gives me direct access to God.
 If I have direct access to God, I also have direct access to all his blessings. These are vast. God is my:
 hope
 salvation
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  my comfort
 my strength
 my joy
 my peace
 my sustainer
 my inspiration
 my healer
 If you continue to read through Isaiah, you will see some of the blessings that we receive:
 Chapter 54 – God promises abundance
 Chapter 55 – God promises refreshment
 Chapter 56 – God promises salvation
 Chapter 57 – God promises comfort
 Chapter 59 – God promises the Holy Spirit
 Chapter 60 – God promises joy unspeakable
 Chapter 61 – God promises good news, release, freedom, and favour
 Chapter 62 – God promises a new reputation
 Chapter 63 – God promises victory
 Chapter 64 – is a prayer for God to fulfil these promises
 Chapter 65 – God promises restoration
 Chapter 66 – God promises peace and comfort
These are the blessings that we experience when we change our course.

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