“BEHOLD, MY SERVANT!” – REASONS FOR UNBELIEF
Preached at Emmanuel, Workington on Sunday, 2nd April 2006
Reading: John 12 verses 25-37.
Text: “Behold, My Servant!” (2nd Easter ministry)
Subject: Reasons for unbelief – Isaiah 53 verses 1-4.
The text for my Easter ministry is Isaiah 52 v 12, “Behold, My Servant.” Today we must face the fact when the world saw God’s Servant in the flesh, most rejected Him!
Jesus Christ fitted Isaiah’s prediction in Isaiah 52 vs 12-15 perfectly. As we saw last week, God’s Servant is prudent, He renders to God intelligent service from the heart. God’s Servant is high, higher than the highest, full of superlative majesty! Yet He was marred more than any! And He undertook a global mission to all nations!
Why then was He rejected? Why was He confronted by militant unbelief? The question is relevant today. Why has this Christian country repudiated the Gospel and rejected the Son of God? At Easter I ask, Why does our society crucify the Son of God afresh? Why did God’s obedient servant suffer the contradiction of sinners?
Isaiah gives the reasons for unbelief in Isaiah 53 vs 1-4 .
1st: THE FACT THAT FEW BELIEVE IS AN ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF UNBELIEF
Isaiah 53 v 1 asks, “Who has believed our report?” Twice the NT quotes this verse interpreting it to mean that few believe. The fact that few believe is an argument in favour of unbelief! The small number of believers discourages faith; the vast number of unbelievers encourages unbelief. We all like to follow the crowd; to go with the flow! ‘They can’t all be wrong!’ We don’t like to stand out or to be different. The democratic vote of world populations goes against Jesus! Unbelief is contagious; it spreads like a disease through society!
So unbelief begets unbelief. For the most part, unbelieving parents raise unbelieving children. Unbelief generates unbelief. This is true even when there is a measure of blessing, when some do believe.
In the ministry of Jesus, things came to a head during Holy Week, the last week of Jesus’ ministry. In John 12 we read that after the raising of Lazarus the authorities plotted to crucify Jesus and to kill Lazarus, John 12 v 10f, “because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.” The faith of some provoked militant unbelief in others! In that sense, faith provokes a reaction of unbelief!
It was people who witnessed the raising of Lazarus and others who heard their testimony, who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem, John 12 v 17. That provoked the Pharisees to complain, John 12 v 19, “Look, the world has gone after Him!” So they crucified Him during the weekend!
John 12 v 37f summarizes: “Although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’
Then John 12 vs 42-43 tells a sad tale: “Many rulers believed in Jesus but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him; lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” So fear of reprisals from unbelievers kept top men from confessing Christ openly.
“Behold, My Servant” – look at Jesus Christ, and there is every reason to believe. Look at the world and there is every reason not to believe! God expects believers to stand against the crowd, to swim against the current. True faith, real conviction, a persuasion of the Holy Spirit, has no problem. ‘Lord, help my unbelief!’
2nd: THE LOWLINESS OF GOD’S SERVANT IS MADE AN EXCUSE FOR UNBELIEF.
Isaiah 53 v 2, “He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” The lowliness and humility of God’s servant is made an excuse for unbelief; unbelief thrives on Christ’s lack of glory; the lack of the visible signs of deity!
Here the Incarnation is the stumbling-block! God sent His Son/Servant into the world in humility, born of a woman and laid in a feeding trough. God’s Son laid aside the glory which He had with the Father before the world was! He emptied Himself of the shekina glory! Only Peter, James and John saw it at the Transfiguration.
In Old Testament times, the shekina glory of God was covered by the cloud. In Jesus Christ His glory – brighter than the midday sun - was covered by His humanity! Charles Wesley put it: “Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see!” It was for the suffering of death that Jesus laid aside the outward brightness of His glory.
So the Highest of the high came on earth as a tender plant; He grew up from infancy to childhood; to be a little boy, grow into a young man and so come to adulthood! No form marked Him out! No halo identified Him! No comeliness attracted people to Him! No outward beauty made His desirable!
This is why the Jews constantly asked Him for a sign. They wanted outward evidence of His identity. Yet they were not convinced by the signs they saw! Signs and miracles do not create faith! The Word creates faith!
Unbelief latches onto the feeblest excuse. Unbelief wants sight, not hearing! Unbelief wants visible proof but will not take God at His Word. The glory of Jesus was there to be seen in His holy character and mighty deeds; in His unspeakable wisdom and words of truth. Unbelief wants a visible halo before it bows down!
3rd: CHRIST SUFFERING IS MADE A REASON FOR UNBELIEF
Isaiah 53 v 3, “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not.” Christ’s suffering is used as a reason for unbelief.
Who wants to follow a leader heading for a fall? A suffering leader hardly attracts people! Worse than that Jesus Christ expects His followers to follow Him in the path of suffering!
In John 11, when Jesus determined to go to Bethany, near Jerusalem, Thomas said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” That is the problem with discipleship – it’s costly!
In John 12 v 24 Jesus speaks of Himself as a grain of seed that must fall into the ground and die that it may bring forth fruit. Jesus later adds this: “He who loves his life will lose it; he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.. If anyone serve Me, let him follow Me.” Who wants to follow a leader who says, “Take up your cross and follow Me”?
Here is a major reason for unbelief. Faith is too costly! Naturally we avoid suffering. The suffering Christ is unattractive! So when Jesus was arrested in the Garden, all the disciples who promised to die with Him, fled and deserted Him. “We hid our faces from Him!” “He was despised” by the world and “we did not esteem Him.”
4th: UNBELIEF USES GOD TO JUSTIFY UNBELIEF.
Isaiah 53 v 4, “We esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.” Unbelief puts a spin on Christ’s sufferings: God is against Him! Unbelievers use God as an argument for unbelief, to justify unbelief!
At the cross, the religious leaders said, “He trusted in God; let God deliver Him now if He will have Him!” His death proved that God was against Him! If God is against Him, so also should we be against Him! We are against Him because we are on God’s side!
Now, friends, we cannot deny that at the cross God’s hand was heavy upon Jesus! As Isaiah 53 v 10 says, “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.” The question is WHY?
If there was sin in Him, if He had not served God perfectly, then He must die for His own sins! If there was disobedience in Him, God must punish Him with death! Everything hangs on whether there was sin in Him. Find sin in Him, and the Jewish authorities were right to condemn Him! In that case, His death is evidence of God’s judgment upon Him for His own sins. He cannot then be the Saviour of the world!
But Isaiah says, “He did no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth!” If He was indeed God’s servant, doing the will of God from the heart, loving God with all His heart, mind, soul and strength and loving His neighbour as Himself, then Isaiah’s interpretation of His sufferings is right. God afflicted Him for our sins!
Fives times Isaiah tells us: chapter 1 v 4“He had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” : chapter 2 v 5 “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for out iniquities.” : chapter 3 v 5“the chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes were are healed.” : chapter 4 v 6 “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.” : chapter 5 v 8 “ For the transgression of My people He was stricken.” John Baptist summed up Isaiah 53: “Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”
BEWARE THE SEDUCTIVE POWER OF UNBELIEF
Friends, beware of unbelief. It is a most powerful and seductive thing. It pretends to be reasonable and logical and scientific and factual. In fact it is a wholly unwarranted spin on events! It calls good evil and evil good!
We ought to come to the Lord’s Table standing fast against every lie; believing the Word of God; knowing that Jesus was righteous altogether and as God’s righteous Servant, He died in our place, for our sins.
