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Who Hath Believed?
by The Very Rev. Frank F. Limehouse, III
Good Friday, 2010, Isaiah 53:1-6
April 2, 2010
unedited
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
I'll call him Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones was not a church-goer. Mrs. Jones, very much involved in my church at the time, asked that I talk with her husband. Mr. Jones and I met for coffee one morning at which time I poured my heart out to him and told him of my own conversion story. Much to my delight, he said he would go to church with his wife - at least for a while - and give it a chance. At the end of about six months of regular attendance, Mr. Jones stopped coming. I invited him to have lunch with me and he told me then, “Frank, I believe in the existence of a god, and I want to live a godly life, but I want you to know I simply cannot believe all the stuff you Christians are supposed to believe.”
I thought about Mr. Jones as I read Isaiah in preparation for this sermon. There's a little, seemingly insignificant half-verse there to which I have paid no attention, until very recently. It's actually in the form of a simple five-word rhetorical question and it begins the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, where the prophet, out of frustration, wrote: “Who hath believed our report…? Isaiah was not really asking a question at all, but making an exclamation, expressing sadness that so few of his people believed the word form God he was proclaiming.
The New Testament authors picked up on this same half-verse at important points. As recorded in the 12th Chapter, St. John wrote in his gospel, “Though Jesus had done so many signs before them, yet they did not believe in him; thus the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled, ‘Lord, who has believed our report'.” And then in the 10th chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul wrote, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But, Paul continued, “they have not all believed, as Isaiah also wrote, ‘Who hast believed our report'.”
My point is this little half-verse of scripture that begins the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, “Who hath believed our report” is significant. It was significant to Isaiah; it was significant to John and St. Paul, and it is certainly significant to the church today.
For a fuller understanding of the prophet's words I want to ask just two questions: What is the report Isaiah is talking about that so few of his people believed? Second, what reception does this report meet in the hearts of people today, including our own hearts?
First, what is the prophet's report? Speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophet spoke of One who was to come. So certain was the prophet that he spoke as if this has already taken place. I'll pick up at the 4th verse: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. 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.”
That's the report in a nutshell. That's the heart of the Christian faith; that's the essential “stuff” (to use Mr. Jones' word) Christians are suppose to believe.
These are, on one hand, very troubling words. He said, “All we like sheep have gone astray.” The report is indiscriminately inclusive. The emphasis is on the word “all”. “ALL we like sheep have gone astray.” Furthermore, Isaiah implies we have something like a sin-disease, because he said, “By his stripes, we are healed.” If we all need healing we all must be sick.
It gets worse. According to Isaiah, sin involves not only an inward disease of the heart, but also guilt before God who judges sin. “He was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole.”
That implies God's judgment on all of us. “Read the burning words of scripture; see how the God of heaven abhors evil” (Spurgeon). “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts!” God is too holy to tolerate sin. The prophets pull no punches. God is angry. The psalmist was right when he said, “the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom.” From the dawn of history God had announced that he would punish sin. The word “wrath” appears over two hundred times in the Bible, almost always referring to God's wrath. We are meant to squirm in our seats.
The Bible tells us God is angry with sinners, not irrationally angry, but justly angry. By his very nature he cannot just look past sin like a doting grandparent or parent who lets their child get away with bad behavior. The demands of God's justice could not be relaxed. He is eternally consistent with himself. “We, by sin, had incurred a debt which not all the men on earth or angels in heaven were able to discharge” (Simeon). A person will never, ever understand the true meaning of Good Friday and the Cross of Jesus until you understand the wrath of God and the justice of God!
So, yes, on one hand these are troubling words, but on the other hand, the most wonderful words ever proclaimed! Has there been a more wonderful report to ever reach the ears of man? “The Lord has laid on him (HIMSELF, that is) the iniquity of us all.” God is the Righteous Judge of sin, yes, but He is also lover of his people. How can God punish sin and yet, in his infinite love, save the sinner? Marvel of all marvels, to the astonishment of all the hosts of heaven, “He became the Judge who took his own judgment on himself and became judged in our place.” (Mark Gignilliat) He not only assumed our nature, but in our nature he was wounded for our transgressions... the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
“A thing cannot be two places at one time. If God laid your iniquity on Jesus, then it is no longer on you…If he accepted Christ as my substitute then he does not punish me. God's justice cannot twice demand the penalty.”
Does this arrangement suit you? Mr. Jones told me, “I refuse to believe that I owe my peace with God to the penalty of another.” How sad. Let us remember, this is God's plan. “The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” There's the old song, “I lay my sins on Jesus, the precious Lamb of God.” Yes, but this is even more profound, THE LORD has laid my sins on Jesus, the precious Lamb of God.
You would think there has never been, nor will there ever be a more wonderful proclamation of the Father's love and plan for our salvation. Yet, Isaiah wrote, “Who hath believed our report?” We need not confine that rhetorical question to the people of Isaiah's age and nation. We need not confine that rhetorical question to the Mr. Joneses of the world today. Honestly, what reception has the report met in your own heart?
Raymond Ortlund, an author and Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church Nashville, heard Joan Baez once singing the gospel song, “Oh, Happy Day”… “Oh, happy day! When Jesus washed my sins away.” It was beautiful, he said, but at the end, with her voice trailing off, Joan Baez said, “If only it were that easy.”
Easy?! God knows, Jesus went through hell - literally, our hell - to make us well. If there had been another way, an easier way, God would have done it. But he did it and because of Him, it has always been a great blessing for me to preach that our healing and freedom from guilt is so very simple: “By his stripes we are healed…The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all…”.
“Who hath believed our report?”
To quote Bishop R.C. Ryle of Liverpool, “Was he not scourged? It was done so for ‘by his wounds we are healed.' Was he condemned, though innocent? It was done so that we might be acquitted, though guilty. Did he wear a crown of thorns? It was done so that we might wear the crown of glory. Was he stripped of his clothes? It was done so that we might be clothed in everlasting righteousness. Was he mocked and reviled? It was done so that we might be honored and blessed. Was he reckoned a criminal, and counted among those who have done wrong? It was done so that we might be reckoned innocent, and declared free from all sin. Was he declared unable to save himself? It was done so that he might be able to save others. Did he die at last, and that the most painful and disgraceful of deaths? It was done so that we might live forevermore, and be exalted to the highest glory…”.
Prayer: Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, please draw reluctant hearts and now give doubting souls the courage to believe this for Jesus sake. Amen.
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