Bible pictures of Christ

Isaiah’s wonderful Picture – Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

Read John 12:32-38

Please note here :-

1. It is in the Bible that the Lord Jesus is set forth.
It is God’s picture gallery where He hangs portraits of Christ.

• The message of God is here called a report. It is a report of God’s wondrous plan of mercy to redeem sinners by the sacrifice of His Son in their room and stead.
• It is a report which centres upon Christ. He is called here ‘The arm of the Lord’. The Gospel of Christ is “the power of God unto salvation,” Romans 1:16.
  As our arm accomplishes our will so the ‘arm of God’ accomplishes His will amongst men. “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” Hebrews 10:9.
• It was a report that was not believed. “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: that the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?” John 12:37-38.

2. What a contrast there is between God’s view of His Son and sinful man’s view.

• God saw Him. “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground,” verse 2. Tender – a small offshoot. God’s eye was tenderly upon Him but men observed nothing of His coming. “And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?” Luke 4:22. He was no one special to them.
• What man saw he despised. “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” No form, no comeliness, no beauty. Just nothing about Christ appeals to men. No name is more despised in the world than that of Jesus. Allah is honoured as is Buddha, the pope. But not the name of JESUS!
• How different man’s view of Christ is from that of God’s! “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not,” Verse 3.
  This is man’s universal, age-old view of Christ.

Click to stream or download, KICS, Pt123

Isaiah’s wonderful Picture – Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

Now that we have divine authority to say that the wonderful person spoken of here is the Lord Jesus Christ, let us take note of what is said about Him.

1. Notice how Isaiah starts and ends his picture of Christ with a setting forth of His exaltation!

“Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high” Isaiah 52:13.
“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors,” 53:11-12.

This is very important for us to notice. There is more emphasis on His humiliation and sufferings but the passage begins and ends with His glory!

His sufferings came first in time: “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” Luke 24:26, but here His glory is referred to first.

2. This something God often does. Rev 4:1-11, 6:1-2 & 17.
Why is that?

a. I believe that before going into the detail of Christ’s sufferings, God refers to His ultimate glory in order that we might have hope! This is seen also at the beginning of Isaiah. 2:1-4, 10-12. Glory and triumph before there is a dealing with the sinful and desolate state of Israel.

b. It has ever been so. Right from the beginning there has been a emphasis upon the glorious victory of the Saviour, Jude 1:14-15. These words were preached back in the days of Adam.

c. The Lord wants us ever to bear in mind the eternal triumph of His Son. It is what sustained the Saviour amidst His sufferings. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,” Hebrews 12:2.

Click to stream or download, KICS, Pt122

We will take heed to the opening words of this passage.

“Behold, my servant,” Isaiah 52:13.

In this portion you have one of the most wonderfully detailed portraits of the Lord Jesus. His name is not mentioned but we can be sure that the prophet is speaking of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus.

Last assembly we looked at Acts 8:26-35 and we learned that this passage is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. We saw also the wonderful help that God gives us in order that we might understand the Bible.

Boys and girls we all need help to understand the Bible. This man was a very learned and intelligent man, verse 27. But listen to his words. “And Philip  . . . . said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me?” Acts 8:30-31.

Here we have the help that God supplies.

1. The Holy Spirit, v29. He is the One Who wonderfully superintends the bringing of the elect to an understanding of the gospel.

2. A Preacher. What a blessed gift from God are Spirit-guided, Spirit-filled preachers. The man to give the help that the Ethiopian so desired was sent by the Holy Spirit at the right time, “And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him,” Acts 8:31.

Click to stream or download, KICS, Pt121