Fifty Two Weeks / Isaiah 53b

Stranger Than Fiction

When I was in college I appeared in a one act play that involved my character entering a room with a plate full of sandwiches and asking a group of guys playing cards if any of them wanted one. One of the other characters replies, “Yes,” and I am supposed to give him a plain bologna sandwich which was just two pieces of bread with a piece of meat between and nothing but gravity holding it all together. Form some insane impulse I simply blindly slung said sandwich over my shoulder in the general direction of the guys. Meanwhile the guy requesting the sandwich, without looking in my direction, simply held up his hand expecting me to place the sandwich neatly between his thumb and fingers. 

Once in a lifetime, once in a million lifetimes, a blindly thrown sandwich would fly fifteen feet hold together and perfectly reach its tiny target. This particular occasion was that once. I knew something remarkable had happened when the audience exploded. They had witnessed a miracle.

Of course you have heard the phrase “Truth is stranger than fiction”. It is true. There are things that happen in real life that would never be believed if they appeared in a “novel”. 

Some people think the sixty-six books of the Bible are basically works of fiction. When you really read the 53^rd chapter of Isaiah and consider it in light of the life of Christ you are left with only two options. Either the writers of the gospels took a virtually inscrutable fragment of 700 year old prophecy and constructed an unimaginably brilliant fictional account to line up with this prophetic writing, or… it must all be true.

Unraveling the Mystery

Without the light of Jesus’ life this chapter from Isaiah is a real head scratcher. Is this Messiah? What is all of this about Him taking our iniquity? How could He possibly do that? It sounds like He is going to die and yet it sounds like He doesn’t die. How does that work?

The most striking verse of all to me is verse nine: “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”

Let’s assume that Jesus and His followers fully understood this passage and tried to “make it happen”. These things were completely beyond His control. They relied on the actions of others. Anyone who would suggest that the leaders of the Jewish Sanhedrin as well as the Roman Governor were complicit would have to be certifiably nutters. Without the light of actual events I doubt that hardly anyone could even imagine how this could happen.

Here is how it happened. He was crucified, a death usually reserved for the worst of the wicked, but He wasn’t alone. He was crucified with two others. People hung on the cross were considered wicked indeed and He was assigned such a place along with others, not just figuratively but also literally. Due to the special circumstances of the occasion (this being the day before Passover) the bodies were not left on the crosses. Doubtless the other two were thrown on the dung heap but not Jesus. A most extraordinary thing happened in that a wealthy man named Joseph of Arimathea came and took Jesus’ body placing it in his own tomb. Thus, He was indeed with the rich in his death. 

Fiction or truth? Frankly, it is too strange to be fiction. 

So, what about the rest? These other questions? How could He take our iniquity? He could die the death of the wicked “though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth”. He took my place and your place on the cross.

How could He die and yet not die. He could die and rise again! “After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.”

In Conclusion

I threw two pieces of bread and a slice of bologna over my shoulder across a room and it landed perfectly in the outstretched hand of another guy who wasn’t looking. Believe it or not, I don’t care, it really doesn’t matter. It happened, but it doesn’t matter that you believe it and it really doesn’t matter that it happened.

Jesus’ life death and resurrection fulfilled every remarkable word of Isaiah 53. Whether we believe it or not it happened. It is not only fact; it is truth. It happened and it matters and it matters that you and I believe it. It matters because by knowledge of Him, by faith in Him, many will be justified even though they are sinners. And that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.