 Okay welcome back to the second lecture. So we've been looking at Isaiah 53 looking at different aspects from what Isaiah prophesied about the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone with me, everything okay, everyone's able to track along. Any questions before we go ahead? Any questions? Any thoughts? Shall we go ahead? Alright, so let's go to Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 to 9. Philippians 2, 5 to 9. Yes, could any one of us just want to request maybe a few of us to have your Bibles handy so that we can just quickly go to the verses and avoid that waiting for a long time to read the verses please. So Philippians chapter 2, 5 to 9, go ahead. I'm being funded in the appearance of the man, the humble himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given you me. This is above every me. Amen. Thank you. Now here the Apostle Paul is challenging us to be like Jesus. He's saying Jesus did not hold on to the position of being God. In the book of Hebrews says who having the very nature of God did not consider it equal to be equal with God. Yeah, he says let the mind of Christ, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. So he made himself of no reputation. He made himself to become a servant. He became a lowly man. He further humbled himself and obeyed God up to the point of death on a cross. Why not any other death? Did we ever think about this? Why did the Father choose the most gruesome, most humiliating death for His own Son? The price had to be paid. All of God's wrath, all of God's anger against sin had to be put on the Lord Jesus and it had to be through the most humiliating, painful death. He humbled himself to the point where it was even death on a cross. Why not being stoned to death? Why not just, you know, we've seen the many martyrs, another way that the Romans would kill Christians, which is historically proved is they would throw people into hot oil or hot boiling water and they would die. Why not those, you know, at least some kind of a respectful way they die or hanged to death? No, it was obedient, obedient to even death on a cross. You know, a dead man has no reputation to protect. A dead man is not offended if he does not receive any recognition. Picture this, imagine, you know, this is just an example, okay, this great, you know, for example, a president, right? And he dies. And in his burial, imagine if you just, if you don't call him Mr. President, you know, when he's alive, everyone gave him so much respect, called him Mr. President, you know, Sir, and all those, you know, so much of reverence. But at that time, you can call him by his name, you can call him by his nickname. It doesn't matter to him because he's dead, right? I hope you're understanding what I'm trying to get at. No, Mr. President is not going to wake up from his death and say, hey, you forgot, you know, you know who I am. I'm a president. I'm president of this entire nation and you're calling me by my name. He's not going to do that. He's already dead, right? There's no reputation for him to protect. And since he's dead, he doesn't, he can't do anything about that, about receiving recognition. So much so, Paul is writing to the Philippians and he's saying that he considered it equal. He did not, he, who being the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and was it being found in the appearance of man, he humbled himself and became obedient, found in the appearance of man. Now all these words sound very, it's okay, found in the appearance of man. No, but it's a great thing. The God of heaven considered it nothing less to come and be with his own creation, be like them, look like them, to walk like them. He didn't consider it robbery. He felt, this is what I have to do to save them. Second Corinthians 8, 9 says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that through his poverty we might become rich. Wonderful, wonderful verses. Isaiah saying he had no reputation. There was, there was nothing in him that was, you know, there was no beauty or appearance that we should desire of him. It's not like, oh look, he's this wonderful man who is, you know, got 10 servants around him looking after him and he's got people who will come and, you know, look after him. No, no, just a regular man walking about doing simple tasks that each one of us that did, but it says there that because of that it became a stumbling block to the Jews. So when you and I get opportunities to share about the cross, sharing about people, remember this verse, who has believed our report from the time of Isaiah to the time where the Lord Jesus was there and after his death and resurrection in the early church and even now, who has believed his report but to him who believed it is the power of God unto salvation. Let's go Isaiah 53 and verse 3. He is despised, which means scorned to treat with contempt, you know, when you see, for example, the Jews, if there's a leper, the lepers are despised, they're contempt, they're treated as a vile person. And so that's why the lepers are put out of the city. They wouldn't be around in the city. They were out of the city gates, far away from society. They were treated with contempt. He, that is Jesus, is despised and rejected, which is to be abandoned, to be left aside, to be forsaken by men. A man of sorrows. The word sorrows means affliction and pain. Now, this affliction and pain was not only a physical one, but a internal soul. His soul was burdened. His spirit was burdened. It was a pain and a grief for him. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. The word despised, the way Jesus was treated by the Roman soldiers. He was despised. He was mocked. He was ridiculed. All of this was fulfilling prophecy of Isaiah. Remember the time? They put a crown of thorns on his head and they said, look, the king, that's bowed down before the king. They despised him. They mocked him. It was fulfilling prophecy. They rejected him and abandoned him. Imagine the 12 disciples. It's for the first three years. Imagine the first time Jesus had all 12 of them. The first six months of ministry, these 12 disciples would have been in awe of Jesus. Look at this man. You know, in certain places they say, what kind of power does Jesus have? What kind of man he is, where he even calms the storms with this word. And they are in awe of what he did. Now the same Jesus, caught by Roman soldiers, beaten, probably the firstly they, one of his own person betrays Jesus, being rejected by his own Judas. And then on the cross, there's nobody there for him. There's a lonely, painful death that's like adding salt into the injury. But all of this had to be done because it is the wrath of God. It is, it was how God intended it to be. It's not just an attack on Jesus's body. Okay, we'll crucify him and let him die. It was attack on the mind, it on the soul, everywhere. John chapter 1 was 10 and 11. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. Right, the Lord Jesus, because of a man who suffered a lot of pain, this does not mean that all his life, he suffered pain and sickness. It was only on the cross where he suffered that pain. The sin of the world was put upon him. A man of sorrow, it was not like, now we must understand when Isaiah is writing, he's talking specifically about the cross. It's not that Jesus, see here he's talking about the previous verse, he's talking about humility. That is the person of Jesus. He walked in humility. There was nothing great about his appearance. That's about him. Here he's talking about a man of sorrows and griefs. Doesn't mean that Jesus was only crying the whole time, three and a half years, only telling his disciples, you know, I'm going to die, I'm going to die. No. He was joyful. Right, many places he was just, you know, it was not, there was no account of Jesus, you know, only crying and in grief. No. It was at that moment of the cross where he suffered and he recognized what he was going to do and the pain and the suffering that he would go through. But normally Jesus was, you know, he was a joyful man. You know, if you were somebody who's always crying in mourning, 10,000, 15,000 people will not follow you, right? Like, oh man, this guy is only crying every time. So always grumbling, only with the bad news, oh, one day I will die, one day I will die. You wouldn't want to be with that person. Imagine a friend you have, he's going on, you know, one day, you know, one day we will all die, one day, the whole time he's talking about it. You wouldn't want to be friends with them. So you know, all know that we're going to die one day. Jesus was not so. He was, you know, many places he was joyfully bringing healing upon people, right? There was joy. There was peace in his heart. He's the Lord and he was not like in a crying mode every time. It was just that season, right? And verse 53, the chapter 53 verse 4, here's the common verse that we all like to quote, surely that means certainly he has borne, which means the word borne is to carry away or to cast away, right? It's taken cast away. That is, he has borne our grieves, our sicknesses and our sorrows, our pains and afflictions, yet we esteem him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, right? Surely, certainly, he has borne our sicknesses. He has, he's borne our grieves, our pains, yet we esteem him stricken and struck down by God and afflicted. Jesus lifted up, carried away our sickness and pain. Jesus forgave our sins and healed people before the cross. He could do so because it was a pre-payment of what he was going to do. Remember, when he looked at the lady who was bent over, what did Jesus say? This woman is part of the covenant and now since he's part of the covenant, a greater covenant I will give and so I'm bringing healing upon her. What about the time when he brought healing upon those who are sick, who are demon-possessed, those who are dead already, Jairus' daughter? What does that? What did Jesus do? It was an advanced payment. He did all the work looking at the cross. One day it's going to be a accomplished and one day you all can do this by, you know, in the name of Jesus because I'm going to fulfill it. So when Jesus did these miracles, he did it on what he was standing on, what he was going to do, a pre-payment in advance of what he was going to do on the cross. Now, that is why the enemy did it. He did it on the cross. He did it on the cross. He did it on the cross. He did it on the cross. Now, that is why the enemy didn't want Jesus to die. They didn't want Jesus to, you know, the whole thing of Jesus being, you know, crushing the enemy on the cross. If the cross didn't happen, the enemy could continue on in his work. Now, for other people and those Pharisees and Sadducees and the people around and even right now, people who may look at the cross as a terrible, offensive place, a place of failure and defeat. But Satan knows that that's not a place of defeat. Because of that cross, you and I, in the name of Jesus, can heal people. You and I, in the name of Jesus, can destroy the work of the devil in our lives. Right? So, when Jesus did something, he did it as a pre-payment. The miracles, the deliverance, the things that he did as a pre-payment. That later on, once the work is accomplished, you and I can do it. Let's go on. Isaiah 53 verse 5. He was wounded, he was pierced for our transgressions. The word transgressions means sins and rebellion. Right? He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities because of our evil faults, because of our guilt. The chastisement, which means a punishment for our peace, for our wholeness, for our shalom was upon him, the Lord Jesus. And by his stripes, we are healed. Jesus dealt with our transgression as well as our inequity. Transgression has to do with sins, wrong deeds, wrong actions. Inequity has to deal with both the propensity to do wrong and the guilt and the shame of doing wrong. Transgression, let me repeat that. Jesus dealt with our transgression and our inequity. Transgression is a sin. Right? Our wrong deeds, our wrong actions. Inequity is the guilt of those wrong deeds and actions. Now, Jesus dealt with both of them. That's why Paul writes, therefore now there is no condemnation. Now, not tomorrow, not next month. Now, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Will we sin? Yes, there will be times we will sin. As much as possible, we ask the Lord to help us to overcome sin. But whenever we sin, let not guilt come in. Because what is Isaiah saying here? The chastisement for, sorry, he was bruised for our inequities, for our guilt, for our faults, he was bruised. Right? And the chastisement for our peace. So, when we sin, if there is guilt, we have this verse, we have the cross and we can say, God, you took my guilt and my shame on the cross. My inequities were all taken on the cross. So, now I should not live in guilt. But the enemy is putting guilt into my heart, into my mind. And so we can overcome it. You say, God, help me to overcome. Help me to understand what you did on the cross for me. And then we are able to overcome. You know, guilt is, is a very dangerous, very, very dangerous thing that we should never keep in us. And the guilty, it keeps ringing in our mind, it keeps ringing in our ear. So it happened to Judas. You betrayed him. You betrayed him. You betrayed him. You were the one who betrayed him. The reason he's rested, it's because of you. The reason that he's being beaten and bruised is because of you. The reason he's standing in front of Pilate is because of you. The reason the soldiers are, you know, beating him is because of you. The reason he's carrying this cross is because of you. The reason they're crucifying him because of you. The reason he's dead is because of you. That guilt went on and on from stage one to stage two, stage three. Finally, Judas could not handle it anymore. He went and ended his life. So let not sin and let not guilt overpower us because here Isaiah says he's taken our guilt. Right? 1 Peter chapter two verse 24, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sin might live for righteousness. Looking ahead to the cross, Isaiah said this wonderful, wonderful, powerful words. He says by his stripes we are healed. So you look at the way in such a beautiful poetic way. Isaiah is bringing this whole, you know, aspect of the Messiah. He's saying, okay, you know, first things, we are all sinners. Then he says, God will send his servant. His servant will come. How will he come? He will humble himself. Then when he humble himself, what will he do? He will be walking around like a normal person. Then he will do wonderful miracles, but people will not believe him. But to those who believe, you know, the power of God will be on their lives. And yet when they see him, he will be, he'll be simple. There's nothing great about his look, about his appearance. But later on, he will be put on the cross and he will be beaten. He will be bruised and his own friends will, he will be lonely and there will be pain, guilt, inequity and everything will be put on him. And on the cross, he will suffer this humiliation and pain. And he ends that whole series by saying, it's not a defeat, but by his stripes we are healed. So he's giving authenticity to all the work that Jesus is doing. By his stripes, we are healed. Matthew 8, 8, the Roman Centurion's servant is healed. Matthew 5, the woman with the issue of bleeding. Matthew 6, the multitudes who touched Jesus were healed. Luke 6, the multitudes who touched Jesus were healed. Luke 9, the lunatic boy who was, you know, jumping into the fire every now and then, he was healed. The man with leprosy, Luke 14, the 10 lepers, imagine 10 lepers came running to Jesus. Jesus says, go wash yourself off and you'll be healed. They go, they wash their cells out of 10 to come back. Luke 22, the servant of the high priest whose ear was cut off, was healed. The man in the pool of Bethsaida, Acts 3, the crippled man, and there are plenty and plenty and plenty of healings that has happened from the time of the cross and even before that till now. And healings will continue and continue and continue. Isn't this such an encouragement for us? Like maybe some of us are living in a sickness, you know, for a long time, or there's a family member in our lives. I want to encourage you, take this word and say, Lord, by Your stripes we are healed. It's not by Your stripes we will try to be healed or we are going to be healed or by His stripes we may be healed. No. By His stripes we are healed. It is a statement. We are healed. Right? And the wonderful part is the Lord Jesus has given us that authority to use His name. Isaiah didn't have that. You know, the prophets in the old covenant didn't have it. They were even up to, you know, Jesus' disciples. Of course Jesus chose 72 and He said, Go and preach the Kingdom of God. And they came back saying, you know, God, in Your name demons are fleeing. People are getting healed. That was just a down pre-payment or an advance down payment which Jesus gave. Okay, here this is your practice run. Go do this in my name. But after the cross, it's going to be 10 times more powerful or maybe hundreds and thousand times more powerful than what you're doing it now because the work will be finished. Jesus, let's read Isaiah 53 and verse 6. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way and the Lord has laid, the word laid refers to refers to paga, which means to fall upon or lay upon or lay upon Himself on Him the iniquity of all of us. The word lay is, you know, so for example, think about this, right? There's some work to be done. Say, you know, say, okay, we need to clean this room. And suddenly a friend comes and your friend comes and says, hey, what are you doing? He says, I'm cleaning my room. He says, okay, you know what? I'll let you play with my video game for an hour. Can you clean the entire room? So He dumps the entire work to Him. He lays it on Him. He says, okay, you do it. I know it's just a random example. But what I'm trying to say is Jesus laid it upon Himself and He said, I will take the iniquity of all these people, right? Second Corinthians 5, 21, for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. He made Him who knew no sin. The Lord Jesus did not know sin. Meaning, the word no means, does not mean that He did not know what is sin about. He was not oblivion to the fact that there is sin around. No, He did not fall into sin. Was Jesus tempted? Yes. Falling into temptation is not a sin. You know, being tempted is not a sin. But when we fall into it and succumb to that temptation, then it's sin. And here Isaiah is bringing the allegory of a shepherd and a sheep. Sheep, by nature, they go astray. It's in their nature. You feed the sheep, the shepherd, feed the sheep, and you give, you know, okay, this is the good, the shepherd will look after me. Still, they will go astray. The shepherd can whack the sheep and, you know, say, don't go that way and this is where you should be. He comes back. You know, he can go astray. I think that's wonderful that the Lord Jesus brought the whole example of the lost sheep. I think there will be this one person out of 199 may be good, but one will be there. It's in their nature to go astray. All like sheep have gone astray, turned to their every own, to their own ways, but the Lord is saying, I'm putting all that inequity upon myself. And he says, lay upon himself, on him, all the inequity that was upon him. Jesus knew no sin. He became sin, 1 Peter 3 18, for Christ also suffered once for our sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. Right? As a sheep before it sure was, Isaiah 53 and verse 7, he was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he did not open his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it sure is silent. So he opened not his mouth. Again prophecy being fulfilled, Matthew 27 12 to 14 says, and while he was being accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you? But he answered him not with one word so that the governor marveled greatly. You see the prophecy being fulfilled there? Right? He was oppressed. He was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. Was it in Jesus' nature not to talk? No. It was his nature to talk to people. Right? Then we look at his ministry. He didn't do ministry through, you know, just only praying and sitting in the mountain the whole time. No. Right? He went, he communicated, he talked to people. Right? He, you know, he didn't choose his disciples via an app. He went, he spoke to them. He spoke to people. He talked to people. He communicated with the people. Remember the woman, the Samaritan woman? Jesus started the conversation. Remember when, you know, when Jesus went to the house of people and he went there to pray for them and for, he was the one who, you know, started it. So it's not like by nature Jesus didn't talk to anybody. That moment at that time when he was being oppressed, he did not open his mouth because he knew, I'm going to fulfill prophecy. I don't want to give a defense of what's happening. I'll just keep quiet. And he knew he's fulfilling prophecy and he did not open it. Like a lamb going to the slaughter. He just kept quiet. Okay. Come, like a sheep going to the slaughter. And as a sheep before it shared us, he opened his mouth. He never opened his mouth. Right? This again is another view of the imitation of what Jesus did on the cross. Verse 8, Isaiah 53 and verse 8. He was taken from prison and from judgment and he will declare and who will declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people. He was stricken. Now, he was in prison and then overnight he was moved and brought into judgment by from pilot, brought before pilot. And then the Lord Jesus was, you know, somebody who was loved and appreciated and people really cared about him and, you know, people knew about him. Everyone talked about this wonderful man named Jesus. Overnight, arrested, couple of days put to depth. End of story. Right? From prison to judgment. He was taken from prison, put into judgment. Right? And why was he put into judgment? For the transgression of my people, he was stricken. So, Isaiah was writing that for us, he did all of this. Verse 9, Isaiah 53, 9. And they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich at his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. Now, they made his grave with the wicked. And remember that Jesus was in the middle of two criminals between two thieves. He was crucified between two thieves. Even that fulfilling prophecy. Right? And they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich at his death. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man who believed in the Lord Jesus and he went and asked Pilate, can I take the body of Jesus and put him in my tomb? Now, having a tomb in Jerusalem was a big deal. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich person. Right? With the rich at his death and nor was any deceit in his mouth. Pilate could not find fault in him. Remember? You see these prophecies being fulfilled there? You know, when we read the book of Isaiah, when we read these prophecies and you go deep into it, you see every aspect being fulfilled, point to point. Now, can you picture that? They made his grave between the wicked, meaning he died between two wicked people. But with the rich at his death, Joseph of Arimathea comes and he was usually, I think we looked at that last week as well. If you die on a cross, they would take the body and just dispose it off at the outer places of Jerusalem. Or they would leave the body on the cross and vultures and eagles would come and eat it and the bones would just fall off. And you know, it was so bad. But Jesus' burial was a rich burial. Right? They put incense and perfumes and all of that on Jesus. History says that a lot of those perfumes were very expensive, which came from parts of Asia into Israel. And so they were very expensive perfumes. So his burial was a rich one. And Pilate, the last verse there, nor was any deceit, which means there was no fault in him. Pilate himself washes his hands and says, I don't find this man guilty at all. But since you all have the option, you can choose Jesus over Abbas, but I'm going to wash my hands off. I don't find him guilty. Isaiah 53-10, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise, but it pleased the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering of sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. See that first verse, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. So God, the Father was pleased to bruise his own son on the cross. That is called love. John 3.16 can be a verse that we can just write it and overlook it. But God didn't just say, okay, I'm sorry, my son, you have to do this. God the Father didn't do that. It pleased him to bruise his son. And the son was pleased in taking it as well and receiving it. Okay, Lord, let not my will, but let your will be done. He shall see his seed, his days, and he shall prolong his days, a literal fulfillment. He arose to see his own descendants. What happened? The Lord Jesus died, he rose again from the dead. He shall prolong his days and figure it to fulfillment. Sorry, and the next one is, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. When we say the pleasure of the Lord means the works of God, God's after he was resurrected, the Bible says that he was seated at the right hand of the Father that at the name of Jesus, all authority, all dominion, all power belongs to him. What a wonderful, wonderful way the Lord God brought deliverance. Isaiah is writing this, and he's writing this hundreds of years before, looking at the cross, and he's saying all these things are going to happen fulfilled to the date. 53 was 11. We'll just do this last one and we'll close. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear the inequities. What a wonderful verse. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. Imagine the Lord Jesus there in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's saying, God, Father, it is too much for me, drops of blood coming down his face. He's sweating. He's saying, I don't know sin, Lord, I don't know sin. I have not tasted it, but now I'm in a place where I have to take not just one sin, but the sins of the entire world crushed upon me. My soul is burdened. And what does he say here? He shall see the labor of his soul. The Lord Jesus was on the cross when he said it is finished. He gave up his spirit to God, to the Father. He gave up his spirit. The Lord Jesus didn't die. He gave it up. He said, Lord, into your hands I come at my spirit. I'm giving it up to you. Now, because of that, he shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. Why is he satisfied? Because the wrath of God, two reasons. One, the wrath of God has been satisfied. The Father has put all the sins of the world upon his son. The wrath of God is satisfied. Two, the Lord Jesus is also satisfied because when he was on the cross, he said, God, from your side you have done everything. You have put all your anger, all your sin, all the sin, all the hatred, all the inequities and sicknesses and diseases upon me. From your side, you are satisfied. And from my side, I say it is finished. I have, I receive it. And I have done my part. And I say it is accomplished. And it's fulfilled. So many will be justified through this whole, you know, through this whole event, through what has happened. And so many shall be justified. Right? So it's so wonderful to study about this. We'll continue on from next week. We have a couple of verses more on Isaiah 53. And then we'll finish that and we'll look at how Jesus foretells the cross. Right? Any questions? Any thoughts? Everyone okay? Right. Let's just close in prayer and yes, could anyone please leave? Lubega, can you close in prayer for us? Let's pray, Pastor, and my colleagues. Lord, we thank you for the wonderful lesson we've had with the pastor, trying and to teach us how really Jesus Christ died and suffered on our behalf. Lord, as we've been reading from the book of Isaiah chapter 22, I mean 52 and 53, since we know that he's the Shakespeare of all prophets, we really understand that it is through the guidance of the Holy Spirit that our lecturer has been able to put this course together for us and to really show us how wonderful the death of Christ was on our behalf. I do also thank our brethren who have been inside the class. And Lord, we think that we should put this into practice as we walk our Lord of salvation. We do pray and believe that everything is going to come to pass until we meet in peace next time in the name of the Father we have prayed. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lubega. Thank you everyone for joining. Have a great week ahead. We'll catch up next week. God bless.