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Thanksgiving: The American Christian holiday

Thanksgiving is not just an American holiday. It is a Christian holiday.

Popular American nostalgia tells us that the first Thanksgiving was held by the Pilgrims  in 1621 after the arrival of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock. Their motivation? They were Christians.

The 1621 Pilgrim Thanksgiving in Massachusetts was a time of thanks giving to God. Governor William Bradford proclaimed the month of November to be dedicated to "Thanksgiving unto the Lord." Bradford wrote in his diary that their voyage and settlement was motivated by "a great hope for advancing the Kingdom of God."

In 1623, after a severe drought that ended at the conclusion of a colony-wide day of prayer and fasting, Bradford proclaimed another Thanksgiving - the Thanksgiving most Americans picture:

In as much as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetable, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings. William Bradford, Ye Governor of Ye Colony.

But there were earlier thanksgivings. One example happened along the James River at present-day Berkley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia.

The year was 1619, twelve years after the establishment of Jamestown, when a group of thirty-eight settlers aboard the ship Margaret arrived after having made a ten-week journey across the Atlantic. Upon their landing, they knelt and prayed on the rich Tidewater soil with their Captain John Woodlief proclaiming:

“Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrivall at the place assigned for plantacion in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

Beginning on December 4, 1619, Berkeley Plantation (Charles City, VA)⁵ , celebrated an annual thanksgiving to God on the anniversary of their safe arrival in the New World. This event was not just an early English Thanksgiving in the New World, it was an event motivated by Christian sentiment.

Thanksgiving is not just an American holiday. It is a Christian holiday.

Celebrations of “thanksgiving” would become a deeply rooted American tradition, usually brought on by periods of great hardship. On December 18, 1777, at the recommendation of Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress, the Thirteen Colonies gave thanksgiving to God for the American victory at Saratoga.

"[Congress] recommended [a day of] . . . thanksgiving and praise [so] that “the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and join . . . their supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, to forgive [our sins] and . . . to enlarge [His] kingdom which consisteth in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” ²⁴ Continental Congress, 1777 – written by Signers of the Declaration Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee

 The following year Continental Congressional chaplains issued a call to the States to thanksgiving and confession of sin. This Congressional practice continued until 1784.

In Virginia, Governor Thomas Jefferson issued a Thanksgiving proclamation in 1779, "[I] appoint . . . a day of public Thanksgiving to Almighty God . . . to [ask] Him that He would . . . pour out His Holy Spirit on all ministers of the Gospel; that He would . . . spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth; . . . and that He would establish these United States upon the basis of religion and virtue." ²⁵

Thanksgiving is not just an American holiday. It is a Christian holiday.

President George Washington issued the first Presidential proclamation of a National Thanksgiving Day on November 26, 1789, to thank God for the new nation, and a few of his successors followed suit.

In the State of New York, Governor John Hancock in 1790 wrote, "[I] appoint . . . a day of public thanksgiving and praise . . . to render to God the tribute of praise for His unmerited goodness towards us . . . [by giving to] us . . . the Holy Scriptures which are able to enlighten and make us wise to eternal salvation. And [to] present our supplications...that He would forgive our manifold sins and . . . cause the benign religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to be known, understood, and practiced among all the inhabitants of the earth." ²⁶

Interestingly, Thanksgiving was not a specific day or even month, and apparently each presidential proclamation was issued on the whim of whoever was in office. Second President John Adams issued one in 1799. Sporadically between the years 1789 and 1815, days of Thanksgiving were recognized in January, March, April, October, and November. This recognition of Thanksgiving ended in 1815 following President James Madison's term.
Beginning in the 1840s, Sarah Hale, a mother of five children and an editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book persistently campaigned for an established national Thanksgiving. She editorialized in 1852,

"The American people have two peculiar festivals, each connected with their history and therefore of great importance in giving power and distinctness to their nationality. The Fourth of July Is the exponent of independence and civil freedom. Thanksgiving Day is the national pledge of Christian faith in God, acknowledging Him as the dispenser of blessings. These two festivals should be joyfully and universally observed throughout our whole country, and thus incorporated in our habits of thought as inseparable from American life."

It would be forty-six years before another American president would issue a Thanksgiving proclamation.That President was Jefferson Davis, who proclaimed a day of thanks, humiliation, and prayer for the Confederate States of America for October 31st, 1861. He issued another in 1862. Not to be outdone, President Abraham Lincoln resurrected the forgotten day in the United States as well, and issued a similar proclamation in April of 1862.

But it was the next Thanksgiving of 1863 that had an eternal impact on Abraham Lincoln. While Lincoln was walking among the thousands of graves there at Gettysburg, he first committed his life to Christ. He later explained to a clergyman:

"When I left Springfield [Illinois, to assume the Presidency], I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ." ²²

That same year, Thanksgiving was made a national holiday in the United States, and in 1866, the tradition of recognizing Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November was started by President Andrew Johnson.

In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation making fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day. From that time on, every sitting President has recognized Thanksgiving as a national holiday.

Thanksgiving is not just an American holiday. It is a Christian holiday.

But that isn't the whole history of Christian thanksgivings in America. Let's start back at the beginning and move backward.


VIRGINIA: In 1607 when the first permanent English settlement was established in Jamestown, Virginia, Rev. Robert Hunt led the Englishmen in a Eucharist of thanksgiving and praise - consecrating the colony to God, at Cape Henry.⁴

MAINE: On August 9, 1607, English settlers in Maine under Captain George Popham held a harvest feast and prayer meeting on the Kennebec River with the Abnaki Indians.

FLORIDA: On September 8, 1565, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a Spanish explorer, invited the Timucua Indians to dinner in St. Augustine, FL, after a thanksgiving Mass celebrating the explorers' safe arrival.

Thanksgiving is not just an American holiday. It is a Christian holiday.

An earlier Florida Thanksgiving was held in 1564 when French Huguenot colonists celebrated near Jacksonville, FL. Prominent Huguenot leader, Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, envisioned America as a refuge for persecuted French Protestants. He sponsored a group of Huguenots to found Fort Caroline on Florida's St. John's River.² The settlement struggled, but reinforcements came just in time to save it. On June 30, 1564, the group celebrated their first Thanksgiving Festival.

TEXAS: Texas had two of the earliest Thanksgivings. One was in 1598 at El Paso, Texas with Juan de Oñate and his expedition.³ But the first recorded Thanksgiving was May 23, 1541, at Palo Duro Canyon, Texas,¹ when Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado held a service of thanksgiving with 1,500 of his men for finding food, water, and pasture for his animals.

Thanksgiving is not just an American holiday. It is a Christian holiday.

Sources: Andrew Marra, Fred Taylor, Jack Marlar, Pierre Bynum, Wallbuilders.com.
1. Library of Congress, “Thanksgiving Timeline, 1541-2001”
2. Library of Congress, “Thanksgiving Timeline, 1541-2001”
3. Texas Almanac, “The First Thanksgiving?”
4. Benson Lossing, Our Country. A Household History of the United States (New York: James A. Bailey, 1895), 1:181-182; see also National Park Service, “The Reverend Robert Hunt: The First Chaplain at Jamestown."

5. “Berkeley Plantation,” Berkeley Plantation.

John Adams' 1799 Thanksgiving Proclamation

A PROCLAMATION by the President of the United States of America:

As no truth is more clearly taught in the Volume of Inspiration, nor any more fully demonstrated by the experience of all ages, than that a deep sense and a due acknowledgment of the governing providence of a Supreme Being and of the accountableness of men to Him as the searcher of hearts and righteous distributor of rewards and punishments are conducive equally to the happiness and rectitude of individuals and to the well-being of communities; as it is also most reasonable in itself that men who are made capable of social acts and relations, who owe their improvements to the social state, and who derive their enjoyments from it, should, as a society, make their acknowledgments of dependence and obligation to Him who hath endowed them with these capacities and elevated them in the scale of existence by these distinctions;

As it is likewise a plain dictate of duty and a strong sentiment of nature that in circumstances of great urgency and seasons of imminent danger earnest and particular supplications should be made to Him who is able to defend or to destroy; as, moreover, the most precious interests of the people of the United States are still held in jeopardy by the hostile designs and insidious acts of a foreign nation, as well as by the dissemination among them of those principles, subversive of the foundations of all religious, moral, and social obligations, that have produced incalculable mischief and misery in other countries; and as, in fine, the observance of special seasons for public religious solemnities is happily calculated to aver the evils which we ought to deprecate and to excite to the performance of the duties which we ought to discharge by calling and fixing the attention of the people at large to the momentous truths already recited, by affording opportunity to teach and inculcate them by animating devotion and giving to it the character of a national act :

For these reasons I have thought proper to recommend, and I do hereby recommend accordingly, that Thursday, the 25th day of April next, be observed throughout the United States of America as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer; that the citizens on that day abstain as far as may be from their secular occupations, devote the time to the sacred duties of religion in public and in private; that they call to mind our numerous offenses against the Most High God, confess them before Him with the sincerest penitence, implore His pardoning mercy, through the Great Mediator and Redeemer, for our past transgressions, and that through the grace of His Holy Spirit we may be disposed and enabled to yield a more suitable obedience to His righteous requisitions in time to come; that He would interpose to arrest the progress of that impiety and licentiousness in principle and practice so offensive to Himself and so ruinous to mankind;

That He would make us deeply sensible that "righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people"; that He would turn us from our transgressions and turn His displeasure from us; that He would withhold us from unreasonable discontent, from disunion, faction, sedition, and insurrection; that He would preserve our country from the desolating sword; that He would save our cities and towns from a repetition of those awful pestilential visitations under which they have lately suffered so severely, and that the health of our inhabitants generally may be precious in His sight; that He would favor us with fruitful seasons and so bless the labors of the husbandman as that there may be food in abundance for man and beast; that He would prosper our commerce, manufactures, and fisheries, and give success to the people in all their lawful industry and enterprise;

That He would smile on our colleges, academies, schools, and seminaries of learning, and make them nurseries of sound science, morals, and religion; that He would bless all magistrates, from the highest to the lowest, give them the true spirit of their station, make them a terror to evil doers and a praise to them that do well; that He would preside over the councils of the nation at this critical period, enlighten them to a just discernment of the public interest, and save them from mistake, division, and discord; that He would make succeed our preparations for defense and bless our armaments by land and by sea; that He would put an end to the effusion of human blood and the accumulation of human misery among the contending nations of the earth by disposing them to justice, to equity, to benevolence, and to peace; and that he would extend the blessings of knowledge, of true liberty, and of pure and undefiled religion throughout the world.

And I do also recommend that with these acts of humiliation, penitence, and prayer, fervent thanksgiving to the Author of All Good be united for the countless favors, which He is still continuing to the people of the United States, and which render their condition as a nation eminently happy when compared with the lot of others.

Given, etc.

JOHN ADAMS

1799

Isaiah 54-55 - Come to the Waters

Meissonier's Isaiah

Contextual Notes: Since chapter 40, Isaiah has offered comfort to his people and the nations. In Isaiah 53, we reached a peak in the prophecy where Isaiah identifies the Suffering Servant as the Branch (4:2), the stump (6:13), the Royal Child (7:14), and root of Jesse (11:1), and the Servant who is a divine-human king (42:1-9; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12). Now the work of the Servant who suffered our rejection (52:13-53:3), died for our salvation (53:4-9), and arose for our justification (53:10-12) is complete. It is done. It is finished.

Now Isaiah bursts into praise (chapter 54) that the future is secured with great benefits. Isaiah invites whoever will to come and be satisfied (55:1-5), but that choice involves submission to his Word (55:6-13).

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 54-55 to show Israel that the Suffering Servant offers an unshakeable, unfailing love and a free and abundant pardon.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about the benefits of submitting to the Servant-Messiah.

Key Verse: Isaiah 55:1-2

Pray and Read:  Isaiah 54-55

Sermon Points:

1.   His love for you is unfailing and unshakeable (Isaiah 54)

2.   His pardon for you is free and abundant (Isaiah 55)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   HIS LOVE FOR YOU IS UNFAILING AND UNSHAKEABLE (Isaiah 54)

a.   Because of the completed work of the Servant, Isaiah bursts into praise. The future is assured. A new age has dawned. God’s covenant of peace is at last in force forever (54:1-10) with great benefits (54:11-17).

b.   54:1 O barren woman: The barren woman suffered shame as well as a terrible void in her life (cf. Hannah in 1 Samuel 1). Because of the Suffering Servant (chap. 53), we who have been barren (Sarah – Genesis 19), empty without God and have fallen short morally will know joy.

c.   54:2-3 – Your tent: The tent imagery and language recalls their father Abraham who dwelt in tents, calling to mind the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 17:15-19). It also refers to the children of Israel in the Wilderness. His promise of the Land will be fulfilled (Exodus 3:8; 34:10-11) and the nations (Post-exilic Israel may be very small, but one day they will fill the Promised Land.

d.   54:5 – Divine Servant: For your husband (He has an intimate relationship) is your Maker (He is Creator). YHWH (personal name of God) Sabaot (Warrior) is his Name. Your Kinsman Redeemer (goel) is the Holy One of Israel.

e.   54:6-8 – Your husband: Isaiah has used this image before (50:1-2). Prophets used the husband/wife analogy often to portray God’s relationship with Israel. Israel is the unfaithful wife who runs after pagan deity lovers in idolatry (cf. Hosea, Isaiah’s contemporary, Hosea 3:1). In anger, God was forced to abandon her for a time (Jeremiah 31:31-34). God is a faithful and compassionate husband who will restore His people to their special relationship with Him.

f.    54:8 – compassion: The Hebrew word here is raham, a term that means ‘to love deeply,’ thus to be compassionate. Isaiah uses it frequently (Isaiah 13:18; 27:11; 30:18; 49:10, 13; 54:7, 10; 60:10). The verb is used a total 47 times in the OT. In 35 occurrences, it is used to describe God’s love for human beings. Some other examples are found in Exodus 33:19; Deuteronomy 13:17; 30:3; 2 Kings 13:23; Psalm 102:13; 103:13; 116:5; Jeremiah 12:15; 13:14; 31:20; 33:26; Lamentations 3:32; Ezekiel 39:25; Hosea 1:6-7; 2:23; Micah 7:19; Zechariah 10:6.

g.   54:9-10 – Covenant with Noah: The last picture is of the covenant with Noah, in which God promised never again to destroy the earth (Genesis 9:8-17). God transforms this commitment into a promise that God will never again destroy Israel.

h.   54:10 – Covenant of Peace: This expression is also found in Ezekiel 34:25-31 and is linked with the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31. Its benefits become possible only after the Messiah forgives the sins of God’s people and makes them righteous. God will Himself teach his people, and they will be established in righteousness (Jeremiah 31:31-34). But the focus of this covenant is on security. God will throw a protective covering over His people so that they will be safe. While this covenant speaks to the end-times, it has present application for us.

i.     APPLICATION: God the Holy Spirit is Himself “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession” (Ephesians 1:14). Because we are God’s own, we are safe and secure. Paul understood it this way (Galatians 4:21-27).

j.    54:11-17 – Benefits of peace: This peace will bring three consequences:

                 i.    Prosperity – precious stones to build Jerusalem (54:11-12; Revelation 21:18-21).

                ii.    Serene faithfulness to the Lord (54:13-14)

              iii.    Absolute security because God will provide impregnable defense (54:15-17).

2.   HIS PARDON FOR YOU IS FREE AND ABUNDANT (Isaiah 55)

a.   55:1-5: A voice cries out to the thirsty, urging them to respond, inviting them to come and be satisfied. Isaiah associates this banquet with eternal life (25:6-8).

b.   55:1 – Without cost: It costs us nothing. It cost Christ everything.

c.   ILLUSTRATION: Bonhoeffer “cheap grace.”

d.   55:3-5 – Davidic covenant: Not only does the Servant make complete the Abrahamic covenant, but he fulfills the Covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:11; 1 Chronicles 17:14; Matthew 1:17; Acts 13:34) and invites the thirsty to a royal banquet, a picture of the end-time feast of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Matthew 22:1-14). The aspects of the Messiah (55:4-5; cf. 52:15; 53:10b, 12a).

e.   55:6-7 – freely/abundantly pardon: It is in the free pardon that God offers the wicked that the sharpest difference between God’s thoughts and our thoughts are seen. We feel anger and outrage and call for revenge. God feels compassion and love and extends mercy. There seems to be a time limit on this offer (55:6). The day will come when we will no longer have the option of turning to the Creator in repentance (Ecclesiastes 12:1-7)

f.    Are all saved? No (Matthew 22:1-14). Isaiah makes it clear that a moral choice is involved. The wicked are welcome, but they must give up their way. The Hebrew word here for “turn, return” is shuv, the word for repent, to turn around in direction. The decision to come to God also involves submission to Him, to the Servant.

g.   55:8-9: Submission: We must abandon the arrogance that leads us to stand in judgment on God’s ways and submit to Him whose ways and thoughts are higher than ours. Jesus, repeated this message of forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-35).

h.   55:10-13: Because God’s thoughts and ways are so far above our own, his words are life-giving and like gentle rain. Those who do submit to that Word of God, which is like life-giving rain from heaven, will share in a harvest of everlasting joy.

Invitation:

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Get to Work

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 - Numbered with the Transgressors

Mount Mitchell

Opening thought: As you drive westward in our state, you go from the coastal plain steadily up into the piedmont where the hills rise and fall with the streams and rivers, until you reach the mountain grade where you rise quickly into the mountains. There the weather is different. The air is cooler, and you continue to rise until you reach the Blue Ridge Parkway. There you drive still farther up, up, up, until you come to Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. Once you park at the top, you still have to walk a quarter mile or so uphill to the summit where on a clear day you can look back and observe many miles distant the terrain and neighboring mountains.

That is what we will do today as we find ourselves at Isaiah 53, that great mountain peak in Isaiah, a height that is all about the Messiah. From this height you can look back and see across the breadth and depth of Isaiah’s prophecy. You can see specific places pointing directly to this passage, pointing like the rest of the canon of Scripture, to the Messiah, the one about whom the Bible tells, the one whose suffering and resurrection will save his people from their sins.

Pray and Read:  Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Contextual Notes:

Well into the second section of Isaiah (since chapter 40) with a message of comfort, we reach a climax, a focal point, a mountain peak in Isaiah. The Servant, who was presented to us (“See” 42:1) and who has spoken of his experiences (49:1-6; 50:4-9) is now promised highest ultimate majesty through beyond the humiliation of suffering death.

Now we come to the fourth and most stirring of Isaiah’s Servant Songs (42:1-9; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12). In it we see the convergence of all the descriptions of the Messiah that Isaiah has used all the way back to chapter 4 (4:2-6). Here is the Old Testament’s clearest and most comprehensive description of the sufferings of the Messiah in one place.

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 52:13-53:12 to point Israel to the Suffering Servant who suffered for their rejection, died for their salvation, and arose for their justification.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about the Suffering Servant.

Key verse: Isaiah 53:5

Sermon Points: HE IS THE SERVANT WHO

1. Suffered our rejection (Isaiah 52:13-53:3)
2. Died for our salvation (Isaiah 53:4-9)
3. Arose for our justification (Isaiah 53:10-12)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   HE IS THE SERVANT WHO SUFFERED OUR REJECTION (Isaiah 52:13-53:3)

a.   Overview: The Servant is valued by God but rejected by men (52:13-15). Looking for a powerful ruler, God’s people see no beauty in a Galilean carpenter despite his good works (53:1-2). Despised by his own people, the Messiah was a Sufferer, not a Conqueror (53:3).

b.   52:13-15 – This Servant, like Israel in exile, like the ancient Job, will be humiliated before being exalted for the salvation of the nations who have not even heard of him (Romans 15:21; Philippians 2:6-11).

c.   53:1-2 – Why was this suffering necessary? First, God does not play to appearances in order to win. Because someone’s appearance is one of the first things people see, they will not immediately approve of this servant. (cf. 1 Samuel 16:7: ⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart”; Luke 16:15: ¹⁵ He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.”). The Gospels never describe Jesus’ physical features, but they do tell us that he considered a right attitude of the heart much more important than image (Mark 12:38-44).

d.   53:2 – He will sprinkle/startle the nations. Sprinkle is the usual sense of this word, as in the sprinkling of the blood of atonement (Ezekiel 36:25-27: ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.), and it will be startling to the nations.

e.   53:3: Second, this suffering is necessary to prove the Servant’s faithfulness. The Servant is also a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Isaiah makes it clear that anyone who is faithful to God must know how to face persecution for the sake of righteousness (20:2-3; 50:5-6; 51:7), and on this day of prayer for the Persecuted Church, we remember this. But the Messiah’s suffering goes beyond this – John 1:11.

f.    APPLICATION: Appearances are deceiving. Let’s not look at someone’s cash or clothing, their assets or bling, but watch their commitment and compassion. Looking for authenticity? Watch commitment and compassion.

2.   HE IS THE SERVANT WHO DIED FOR OUR SALVATION (Isaiah 53:4-9)

a.   Overview: The Servant’s affliction seems to be a mark of God’s displeasure, but the great irony is that his suffering is actually for us, that we might be healed by His wounds (53:4-6). He remains humble in life and death. Though innocent, he dies “for the transgression of my people” (53:7-9).

b.   53:4-9: Third, the real reason why the Servant’s suffering is necessary: God’s servant is not suffering only for righteousness, but also for the sins that all of us have committed. Because of these sins, the Sufferer, though innocent himself, is put to death (53:7-9). He dies “for my people” (53:8).

c.   The Reason the Servant died: To heal us – 53:5.

d.   53:5 – By his stripes we are healed – Some take this verse to mean that there is physical healing in the Atonement, that the Christian can claim victory over sickness by faith. This interpretation is supported by Matthew 8:17 which applies this verse to the healing ministry of Jesus. The problem is that the context of Isaiah 53 is clearly speaking of inner healing, healing of the spirit. This word for healing, rapha, is used by Jeremiah of forgiveness and inner renewal (Jeremiah 17:9, 14: ¹⁴ Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.; 51:9). Rather than build a theology of healing on a questionable interpretation of this verse, it is better to keep the focus where Isaiah does clearly – on the spiritual health Jesus died to restore.

e.   APPLICATION: In Christ we are truly healed eternally. Our bodies will weaken and die, but we will awake to eternal life. Then our transformed bodies too will share in the fullness of all Jesus has won for us.

f.    Prophecy fulfilled minutely – 53:9

                i.    Died with criminals: Matthew 27:38: ³⁸ Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

              ii.    Buried with the rich: Matthew 27:57-60: ⁵⁷ As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹ Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.

            iii.    And in verse 8, the verse is difficult to translate. “By oppression and judgment he was taken away” may be also rendered, “By arrest and sentencing” (Matthew 26:47-56: twice Jesus says that his arrest was to fulfill prophecy: ⁵³ Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴ But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” ⁵⁵ In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. ⁵⁶ But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”).

g.   APPLICATION: The Bible is trustworthy. It was inspired by the same God who watches over you. If it is so accurate and concerned about every minute detail of prophecy, then why do you question whether that same God is not concerned for every detail of your life? He is. He watches over you and takes care of you. Trust him with everything.

3.   HE IS THE SERVANT WHO AROSE FOR OUR JUSTIFICATION (Isaiah 53:10-12)

a.   Overview: It was God’s intent to crush Him, for the Messiah is a guilt offering, a substitute paying the price of our sins (53:10). Yet death is not the end. The light of life awaits the Servant beyond the grave. He not only rises, but is satisfied that his suffering was not in vain, for by it He “will justify many” (53:11). Vibrant, the Servant is raised to new life and glory. In submitting to God’s will, “he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (53:12).

b.   ILLUSTRATION: It was this section of Scripture that led to the salvation of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-39).

c.   Meaning of Jesus’ death: The theologians since the Apostles struggled to explain exactly why Jesus had to die. This passage in Isaiah gives perhaps Scripture’s clearest single explanation. Why did they struggle? Probably because they had become so anti-Semitic, so anti-Jewish. The answer comes from the Jewish sacrificial system. Jesus died as a guilt offering. He was a sacrifice who took our sin upon Himself and gave His life to pay for it in full.

d.   Sin offering and Guilt offering: This sacrifice brings peace and justify many people (53:5, 11-12). The idea of something without sin dying to atone for the sins of someone who is guilty is embedded in the sin and guilt offering regulations in Leviticus 1:4; 5:15 & Paul Romans 3:21-24.

                i.    Sin Offering: (Non-sweet) Leviticus 4:1-5:13; 6:24-30; 12:6-8; 14:12-14 - Christ our Substitute for Sin; Hands on the head of victim

              ii.    Guilt Offering: (Non-sweet) Leviticus 5:14-6:7; 7:1-6; 14:12-18 - Christ our Restorer at six-fifths value. (He gives above and beyond).

e.   From these verses develops our theology of the Penal Substitutionary Atonement (Isaiah 53:5-6, 8, 10-12).

                i.    What is the Atonement? It is the work Christ accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection to procure our salvation for us.

              ii.    Was the Atonement necessary? It was not necessary for God to save anyone at all. Angels were not spared (2 Peter 2:4). In perfect justice he could have left us to await judgment. But in his love, he decided to offer atonement to sinful human beings through his Son.

            iii.    What made the Atonement necessary? Christ came to earth and died for our sins because of two important characteristics of God: his love and his justice (John 3:16; Romans 3:25). Since his pure character could not accept us in our sinful state into a relationship with himself, God’s love and justice required him to find a way that the penalty of sin due us be paid, a payment that could bear God’s wrath, that would be propitious, or favorably disposed toward us, to “prove God’s righteousness” (Rom 3:26). Both love and justice are equally important. Without love, God would not have redeemed us. Without justice, God would have compromised his righteous character by not destroying sin and those who commit it.

             iv.    Was there any other way? No. It was not possible for Jesus himself to avoid the ‘cup of suffering’ (Matthew 26:39) if he was going to accomplish the work for which the Father had sent him and if people would be redeemed for God, it was necessary that he die on the cross (Luke 24:25-26). The Servant was the only one effectual sacrifice (Hebrews 2:17) because it was impossible for any other blood to be sufficient (Hebrews 10:4). A better one was required, only that of the divine-human Servant (Hebrews 9:23, 25-26).

               v.    How did the Atonement work? First, if Jesus had only died for us for the forgiveness of our sins, we would be in the same spot as Adam and Eve, with our guilt removed but having to live sinlessly from that point forward. Instead, Christ lived a perfect life of perfect obedience without blemish before his Father in order also to earn righteousness for us (Matthew 3:15; Philippians 3:9; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Romans 5:19). Second, Jesus had to suffer for us.

1.   He suffered his whole life in a fallen world (Matthew 4:1-11; Hebrews 5:8; 12:3-4; John 11:35; Isaiah 53:3).

2.   He suffered on the cross (Matthew 26:38)

a.   in physical pain and death (Mark 15:24; John 19:31-33),

b.   in bearing sin (Isaiah 53:6, 12; John 1:29; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 2:24),

c.   in abandonment (Mark 14:34; Matthew 26:56; John 1:11; 13:1; Matthew 27:46),

d.   In bearing the wrath of God (Romans 3:25-26; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10; Isaiah 53:11). Making propitiation is  a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God, making God propitious (or favorable) toward us.

             vi.    Penal Substitutionary Atonement – (Genesis 22) Penal: Christ bore the penalty of death. Substitutionary: He was a substitute for us when he died. It was fair for him suffer so, because he willingly received it because he loved us.

f.    Jewish people also have a hard time understanding how the Messiah, God’s Servant, could suffer and at the same time be Messiah. The Servant’s suffering was a unique event in history. Its uniqueness was that He was the Son of God and his death was a Substitutionary sacrifice which won us salvation. One day, Zechariah says, they will mourn for the one they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10-11)

g.   APPLICATION: At the same time, the Suffering Servant of Isaiah serves as an example to believers. He reminds us that we too are to seek the welfare of others, even at the cost of personal suffering.

h.   Resurrection & Reward: For this suffering work, the Servant is repaid. He who was in the tomb will see his days prolonged (53:10b; like Hezekiah, 38:1-20). Isaiah has already pointed to resurrection (25:8; 26:19). Besides resurrection, the Servant also receives great power and authority (Matthew 28:18:¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me). It was the will of the Lord both for him to suffer and to go in triumph like a conquering king (53:12; Ephesians 4:7-10: But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸ This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” ⁹ (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? ¹⁰ He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)).

i.    PROPHECY: The evidence that Jesus of Nazareth is the Servant-Messiah described in Isaiah is compelling, as many minute details in this passage are seen in the Messiah’s life and death. The Apostles recognized and taught this passage as prophecy being fulfilled in their time (Matthew 8:17; Luke 22:37: ³⁷ It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”; John 12:38; Acts 3:26; Romans 15:21; 1 Peter 2:22-25).

Invitation: He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. The Servant has interceded, gone before and between you and the Lord to make a way for you. Would you allow him to bear your sin today?