The PREMISE of Easter is simply this … God did what only God could do, in order to do what only God could do.
Here is what I mean in a nutshell … God saw that His created people were racking up sin. And He saw that we could not pay for our sin.
When we sin … when we do something that separates us from God, we have to live separated from God … forever. But God didn’t want it that way. That’s why He sent His Son Jesus to pay for our sin.
So, God helped in a way only God could … He sent His Son, Jesus, to make a substitutionary payment for our sins … His life for ours.
But here’s the deal, none of us would have believed His offer of a sin-payment unless God did something extraordinary to make us sit up and take notice. So, what did He do? He simply sent Jesus, who was historic, supernatural, sacrificial, and predicted.
What Jesus did for us really was AGAINST ALL ODDS, since all the details of His time with us was predicted.
Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God sent a series of prophets to tell us what Jesus would do. One of them was named Isaiah.
Isaiah lived 700 years before Jesus. He wrote one of the longest books in the Bible, and he lived one of the longest lives of a prophet. His active ministry lasted 60 years.
Somewhere during that time, he wrote a powerful chapter of prophecies. This chapter, written 7 centuries before Jesus was born, is so accurate that it’s either scary crazy, or supernatural.
So today let’s focus on Isaiah 53. By the time we’re through, I think you’re going to be more astounded by Jesus than you are right now.
To begin, I’m going to go out on a limb as a pretend Prophet like Isaiah was … so here goes … I predict that the Utah Jazz will be NBA Champions within the next 3 years.
The Denver Broncos will win a Super Bowl within 5 years.
The Dow Jones will hit 35,000 within 3 years.
England will actually exit the European Union.
North Korea will relinquish their nuclear weapons in 3 years.
Donald Trump will be re-elected President in 2020, and
Mike Pence will be elected President in 2024.
Now, I’m not really predicting these things, I just wanted to throw 7 predictions out there to make a point.
The point is, what is the likelihood of me getting all of those predictions correct? Obviously not very likely.
If I could get even a few of those right, you would start consulting with me for stock market advice and fantasy football drafts, wouldn’t you?
Several years ago, a mathematician tried to actually calculate the probability that Jesus could fulfill all the prophecies of the OT. He knew from studying the Bible that Jesus Christ fulfilled over 300 prophecies from the OT concerning the Messiah.
His task was to calculate the probability that anyone could fulfill that many events predicted hundreds of years into the future.
So, what is the probability that one man could fulfill over 300 Biblical predictions? The truth is … we will never know.
When he got to the probability that anyone could fulfill 8 Scriptural predictions (not over 300, but 8), the number was so large, he had to use an analogy to explain it.
The number to fulfill just 8 prophecies was one in 1 x 1017 power. The English word for it is “One hundred quadrillion.”
To appreciate how large this number is, imagine filling the state of Texas 2 feet deep in silver dollars. Mark one silver dollar with a red “X” and mix them all up. Then have someone pick the marked dollar on the first try.
That’s the probability that anyone could fulfill 8 prophecies. My point was not to bore you with numbers, but to impress you with how impossible it was for Jesus to fulfill more than 300 OT prophecies.
So, in our text for today, written some 700 years before Jesus was born, the Prophet Isaiah recorded 24 predictions or prophecies about Him. And all twenty-four predictions came true.
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
Let’s talk about just a few examples of his predictions. First, Isaiah 52:13 says, “See, my servant will act wisely (be successful); he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.”
According to Isaiah, one day, God would send His Servant to earth, and that Servant will act wisely, or be successful.
Now lots of people act wisely and are successful, so God clarifies further … His Servant will be so successful that one day He will be “raised and lifted up and highly exalted.” Let’s look at Revelation 1:17 for a picture of the Servant Jesus today.
When the Apostle John saw Jesus, John “…fell at his feet as though dead. Then he (Jesus) placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”
I would say that is exalted.
Prophecy fulfilled … Jesus WAS SUCCESSFUL and was EXALTED
However, there was a moment when it didn’t look like any of this success would happen. Verse 14 said many people were appalled by him: “…his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness…”
Why were they APPALLED? It was because Jesus was beaten so badly that He was almost unrecognizable.
If you’ve seen the movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” you know that Jesus was so badly beaten He almost looked inhuman, like something out of a science fiction movie.
Prophecy fulfilled – Jesus was DISFIGURED.
How about Isaiah 53:2 …
“He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him.”
The unique thing about this is… Jesus grew up!
No one believed that when the Messiah came, He would come as a baby. But God, through Isaiah, prophesied this would happen.
Prophecy – Jesus GREW UP
In these first 5 verses there are 4 prophecies of which I spoke about 3 of them. However, in the last 10 verses of our lesson there are 20 prophecies. Let’s continue looking at a few more of them starting with Verse 3…
“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” Isaiah 53:3
The Sanhedrin rejected Him during three trials that took place during the night of Good Friday. And the majority of the people rejected Him when Pilate asked if he should release Jesus or Barabbas as a gesture of good will for the Passover holiday. The crowd chose Barabbas and shouted, “Crucify Him” about Jesus.
Prophecy – Jesus was DESPISED AND REJECTED.
Then, in Verse 4, Isaiah says Jesus “…took up our pain and bore our suffering…”
This was true from His very first days of ministry. Everywhere Jesus went, He bore people’s sicknesses by healing them and carried their pains by counseling with them.
Prophecy – Jesus BORE OUR SUFFERING
4b – “…yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.”
On the day of atonement, a special goat, called “The Scapegoat” was brought into the Temple and stricken by the sins of the people. A red sash was tied around its forehead. The sash symbolized the sins of the people.
This scapegoat, called “Azazel,” was then led away into the wilderness by the High Priest as a way of illustrating that the people’s sins had been taken away.
In John 19:15, when Pilate asked if he should release Jesus, the crowd shouted “Azazel”, which is translated as “take him away.”
Prophecy – Jesus was STRICKEN.
Next in verse 5…
“…he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Jesus was crucified between two criminals on the afternoon before Passover. Normally it took 2 or 3 days for a victim to die by crucifixion, but the Jews didn’t like it when people were writhing in pain during the Passover, so just before sundown, which would be the start of Passover, the Roman guards broke the legs of the two criminals on either side of Jesus, so they would suffocate faster.
When they came to Jesus, He was already dead.
So instead of breaking His legs, they pierced His heart with a spear to verify that He was really dead.
Prophecy – Jesus was PIERCED
Isaiah said in Verse 7…
“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
Matthew records that during Jesus’ trial, He never defended Himself or confronted His accusers. He remained silent.
Prophecies – Jesus REMAINED SILENT and was LED LIKE A LAMB TO SLAUGHTER
And Isaiah’s last prophecy in Chapter 53 says…
“For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.”
On the Cross Jesus prayed “Father, forgive them.” Then, He answered the prayer of the thief on the Cross when the thief asked Him to remember him when He came into His kingdom. “Today you shall be with Me in paradise”. Romans 8 says He is still interceding for all of us today at the throne of God.
Prophecy – Jesus INTERCEDED FOR HIS ACCUSERS
So, after just this sample of 10 prophecies that we see were clearly fulfilled, can’t we conclude with absolute certainty that Jesus’ death was historic, supernatural, sacrificial, and predicted?
Especially since it is mathematically impossible for this to happen … other than by God’s will.
Lest anyone is still tempted to believe it was a giant accident, remember that Isaiah wrote these prophecies as Scripture 700 years before they happened. WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
Author Ernest Gordon wrote the story of the “Miracle on the River Kwai”, about Scottish soldiers who were forced by the Japanese to work on a jungle railroad in a World War II prison camp. Under the strain of captivity they degenerated into a group of barbarians. Until one day, when a shovel went missing.
The officer in charge of the camp was enraged by the missing shovel. He demanded that the shovel be produced, or else. When no one in the squadron budged, the officer got out his pistol and threatened to kill them all.
Finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put his gun away, picked up a shovel, and proceeded to beat the man to death.
When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody body and carried it with them to the second tool check.
This time, no shovel was missing. There had been a miscount. There never was a missing shovel.
Word spread like wildfire throughout the camp that an innocent man had been willing to give his life to save others.
His heroic act transformed the camp.
When its prisoners were finally liberated, the Allies found a group of human skeletons who treated each other with dignity and respect.
Those men forgave their captors, saying, “No more killing. No more hatred.”
The effect of the one who died for them had taught them how to love.
This is the story of Jesus. The story of Isaiah 53.
We will celebrate His story again on Easter.
And I pray that you will invite your family and friends to hear the story of the One who loved them AGAINST ALL ODDS.
The One who died for them … AGAINST ALL ODDS.
And the One who rose from the dead AGAINST ALL ODDS, to give them the opportunity to experience eternal life. Amen