INTRODUCTION
Raise your hand if you have ever been unjustly accused of something?
Raise you hand if you have ever been punished for something you did not do?
If you had, what was your natural reaction to what happened to you? Did you just sit idly by and let it happen? If you are like me, you would have been screaming out at the top of your lungs about the injustice behind what was happening to you.
It seems like we are hearing more and more people who are found guilty in our court systems that later DNA evidence finds them to be innocent. Some people have been within days or hours of receiving the death penalty. I saw one guy who was in prison for over 18 years for a rape he did not commit.
All these people who have been unjustly put into prison are victims of failures in the system.
As we close in on Resurrection Sunday next week, Isaiah is going to tell us about a savior who fell victim to a failed system.
Over 700 years before Jesus came to save mankind; Isaiah is going to tell us about the oppression that our savior would face at the hands of His own countrymen.
The dictionary tells us that the word “oppression” means, “the act of subjecting to cruel and unjust hardships.”
A person is not being oppressed if they are being justly punished for something they did.
When you look in the bible, one example of a person who was oppressed was Joseph. His brothers who did not like him sold Joseph into slavery and he was later put into prison for something he did not do. Joseph was oppressed.
As you follow the story of Joseph you see that Joseph did not get angry with God, but instead he did all he could to serve God in the midst of terrible circumstances. Later Joseph was placed under Pharaoh and because of his position, he was able to help keep the nation of Israel alive.
In a stirring scene in Genesis 50:13-21 when Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they thought that Joseph would now pay them back for the evil they had done to him. Instead he responds in Genesis 50:20 by saying, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
The evil that the oppressor of Jesus meant for Him was going to benefit mankind because of the love that God has for us.
AS we have been looking at the Suffering Servant Poems in Isaiah 53, I hope that one of the things that you are starting to grasp is the love that God has for you. I hope that today’s text will deepen that understanding even more.
Jesus was oppressed. We are going to look at how Jesus dealt with His oppression. We will also once again see that the oppression He suffered was unwarranted, but that it was only temporary.
As we close in on Resurrection Sunday, let us never forget what God has done for us!
SERMON
I. HIS OPPRESSION WAS SUFFERED SILENTLY V7
A. He was oppressed.
As we look at verse 7, the first thing that jumps out at me is the fact that Jesus was oppressed. Verse 8 also speaks of oppression.
The interesting thing about this is that Jesus did not have to allow Himself to be oppressed?
Why didn’t He do anything to stop the oppression? Why did Jesus allow Judas to betray Him? He knew what Judas was going to do. (Matt 26:22-ff)
Why did Jesus allow Himself to be arrested? Why did He allow Himself to be mocked by the religious leaders? He could have wiped them all out or just a few of them to make a point?
Why did He allow the soldiers to beat Him and hang Him on a cross? Why did He allow the religious leaders to falsely accuse Him? Why did He let Pilate condemn Him?
None of this was something that Jesus was looking forward to. Listen to the anguish He was struggling with before His arrest.
MAT 26:36-38 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me."
READ Luke 22:41-44
Here is the reason He allowed Himself to be oppressed. READ Matthew 26:26-28.
He allowed Himself to undergo all He did because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life! (John 3:16)
We spoke of many of the terrible things that happened to Jesus so that we could have eternal life.
B. He was afflicted
Verse 7 also tells us that He was afflicted. This word in the original text means that HE VOLUNTARILY allowed Himself to be oppressed.
READ Philippians 2:5-8
Jesus humbled Himself so that He could take the punishment that we deserved.
C. The way Jesus endured.
Isaiah tells us in verse 7 that Jesus endured this horrible treatment as a lamb lead to slaughter. He did not put up a fight, He did not call on the Father to kill everyone.
When He was being arrested, Jesus told His disciples the following: READ MATTHEW 26:51-54
When Jesus was taken before Pilate in Matthew 27, He did not respond to any of the false claims made by the religious leaders.
I have seen movies where someone loved one committed a crime and they would try to take the rap for what happened. I assume that has happened in real life also.
What would drive a person to do such a thing, what would drive them to give up t heir freedom for another person? It is love.
Jesus allowed the terrible things to happen to Him so that they would not have to happen to us. I want you to think about what kind of love that took!
Jesus was perfectly quiet, meek, submissive, patient, He did not open his mouth to complain of God on account of the great sorrows, which he had appointed to him; nor to God on account of his being ill-treated by man. He did not use the language of reviling when he was reviled, nor return upon people the evils which they were inflicting on him (compare Ps. 39:9).
What did Jesus say? Father for give them for they know not what they do! (Luke 23:34)
As a sheep submits quietly to the operation of shearing Jesus never opened his mouth to revile or complain. It was opened only to bless those that cursed him, and to pray for his enemies and murderers. READ 1 PETER 2:20-23
II. HIS OPPRESSION WAS UNWARRANTED V8
This verse tells us that Jesus was unjustly tried and punished.
This verse is hard to interpret from the original, but what the first part basically says is Jesus was violently taken and was not permitted to have justice. His trial was rigged.
In Matthew 27, when Pilate wanted to release Jesus, He decided to give the people a choice between Jesus and a criminal named Barabbas. Listen to Matthew 27:19-26 with me.
When you think about this, Jesus took the punishment this criminal deserved. The crowd when given the choice of releasing a man who done no wrong, took the evil one. How many times do we reject Jesus for evil?
Isaiah tells us that Jesus was cut off from the land of the living (He was killed) for the transgressions of the people to whom the punishment (stroke) was due.
Once again we need to understand that Jesus did not die for any sins He committed (since He did not commit any), but for us.
Jesus had seemingly lost everything, His few possessions, His life and most of His friends left Him.
Jesus was mocked, can you imaging joining in with the crowd as they wagged their fingers at Jesus, hurled insults at Him?
I would imagine that Satan was beaming from ear to ear about this time. It looked like he had won and God had lost.
Here is God, sending His perfect Son to save mankind, and here is mankind rejecting Him.
On October 19, 1987 the stock market declined in a sudden, surprising plunge that left many investors much poorer. The day was quickly named Black Friday. It has always seemed to us that Good Friday should be called Black Friday.
It looked pretty hopeless to those few who still loved Jesus, it looked hopeless to His disciples.
It was Friday, but Sunday was coming.
III. HIS OPPRESSION WAS TEMPORARY V 9
If we did not know any better, it looked at that point like God lost. It was Friday, but Sunday was coming.
When a criminal was put to death, their body was more or less dumped. The sense is that it was not only intended to put him to death, but also to heap the highest indignity on him. They intended to deny him an honorable burial, and to consign him to the same ignominious (or embarrassing) grave with the violators of the laws of God and man. One part of a humiliating punishment has often been to deny to him who has been known to be guilty an honorable burial.
Had it not been for Joseph of Arimathea who requested the body Jesus and gave Him in his own grave (Lk 23:50-53, Matt 27:57-60), He would have been humiliated even further.
Jesus was not going to be defeated by death. It was Friday, but Sunday was coming.
Jesus was oppressed, but Isaiah tells us again that He had done nothing wrong nor did He deceive anyone!
CONCLUSION
Criminals who are deserving of death live on in infamy in the minds of people forever. Think of the Ted Bundy’s, the John Wayne Gasey’s, the Adolph Hitler’s.
Their image will always be remembered as evil, but with Jesus, it was Friday and Sunday was coming.
Jesus submitted Himself to what He did for you and me. He did it because of the great love that He has for us!
Next week we will finish up our mini-series on the Suffering Servant. On Resurrection Sunday we will look at the Victorious Savior! Satan thought he won on Friday, but Sunday was coming.
Today is the day for you to come to Jesus, to show Satan that he cannot have victory in your life.
