Jesus was numbered with transgressors

JESUS WAS NUMBERED WITH TRANSGRESSORS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Isaiah53:12 12ThereforeI will give him a portion
among the great, and he will dividethe spoils with the
strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and
was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the
sin of many, and made intercessionfor the
transgressors.
CHRIST’S CONNECTIONWITHSINNERS THE SOURCE OF
HIS GLORY NO. 2070
A SERMON INTENDEDFOR READING ON LORD’S DAY, FEBRUARY
17, 1889 DELIVERED BYC. H. SPURGEON,AT THE METROPOLITAN
TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the
spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul unto death; and He
was numbered with the transgressors;and He bore the sin of many, and made
intercessionfor the transgressors.”Isaiah53:12.
WE may regardthis verse as a kind of covenantmade betweenthe everlasting
God, the infinite Jehovahon the one part, and our greatRepresentative,

Mediatorand Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the other part. The
incarnate God is to be bruised and wounded. He is to pour out His soul unto
death, and by travail of soul He is to bear the sin of many. And then His
ultimate reward is to be that God will divide Him a portion with the great,
and He Himself shall divide the spoil with the strong. Note the double
recompense and joyfully distinguish betweenthe two divisions—that which
Jehovahmakes for Him and that which He makes Himself. Our champion,
like another David, is to confront and conquer the greatenemy of the Lord’s
people, and then He is to have His reward. Unlike David, He is to pour out His
soul and die in the conflict, and then He is to receive a glorious portion from
the Father, and He is also Himself to seize upon the spoil of the vanquished
foe. At this moment, our Lord Jesus is enjoying the reward which His Father
has allottedHim— “Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great.” He
is no more despisedand rejected. Who dares to dishonor a majesty so
surpassing? See how the whole hostof heavenadores Him! All the pomp of
glory is displayed around Him. To Him the cherubim and seraphim
continually cry in their ceaselessworshipand undivided adoration. The four-
and-twenty elders, representing the ancient and the present church casttheir
crowns at His feet. And the myriads of the redeemed whose robes are washed
in His blood pour forth their love and life at His feet. He has His portion with
the great—none are as greatas He. He is not only King but kingmakerfor He
has made His most humble followers priests and kings unto God and His
royalty is multiplied in eachof them. How much His Fatherhonors Him, it is
not for my tongue to tell you. And if it were possible for me to tell it in words,
yet the inner meaning could never be compassedby such narrow hearts as
ours. He has infinite glory from the greatFather God. He lives forever, King
of kings and Lord of lords and all hallelujahs come up before Him.
Imagination cannot reachthe height of His immeasurable majesty and
happiness. And why these honors? What has He done to merit these
immeasurable glories? The answeris that He has done these four things—“He
has poured out His soul unto death; He was numbered with the transgressors;
He bore the sin of many, and made intercessionforthe transgressors.” In
addition to what His Father gives Him, it is worthy of contemplationthat our
Lord has taken, in His life-conflict, greatspoils with His own hands. “He shall
divide the spoil with the strong.” He has spoiled sin, death and hell—eachone

the vanquisher of our race, the spoilerof the entire world. He has overcome
these three, and in eachcase has led captivity captive. What must be the spoils
of such victories? All the processions oftriumph that ever went up the Sacra
Via to the capitol of Rome we may dismiss as empty pageants. All the glories
of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, andGreece are blots of the cruel pastwhich
sickenus in remembrance. These led liberty captive. But when He ascended
on high He led captivity captive. Jesus blessesallby His victories and curses
none. He spoiled no man of his goods— He only brought death on death,
destruction on the destroyerand captivity upon captivity. In all His spoils men
are gainers. And therefore, when the incarnate God divides the spoil with the
strong, all His people may joyfully shout without the reservationof a sigh for
the conqueredand the spoiled. That was
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a rich triumph and the spoils He won are spoils that enrich myriads of
believers today and shall enrich them throughout all the ages that are to come.
And why these spoils? What has He done? These trophies—where were they
won? What was the conflict? Here is the answer—“BecauseHe has poured
out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, andHe
bore the sin of many, and made intercessionfor the transgressors.” It is a
strange fact that I am going to declare, but it is no less true than strange—
according to our text the extraordinary glories of Christ, as Savior, have all
been earned by His connectionwith human sin. He has gotten His most
illustrious splendor, His brightest jewels, His most divine crowns out of
coming into contactwith this poor fallen race. What is man? What are all
men? Nothings, nobodies! This greatglobe itself; what is it in connectionwith
the vastcreationof God? One grain of the sweepings ofdust behind the door!
The small dust of the balance bears a largerproportion to the eternal hills
than this little globe to the greatworlds which speak to us across the midnight
sky. Yet all those glittering worlds that we cansee with the telescope bearan

extremely minute proportion to the illimitable fields of divine creation. We
know not that anywhere Christ ever came into contactwith sin, except upon
this little ball. We have no revelation of any other redemption. This obscure
star is faith’s great marvel! How shall we comprehend that here the eternal
Deity did take the nature of a man and here did suffer in the sinner’s place,
“the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”? All the eyes of all
the angels turn this way. This mystery is too greatfor them. They cannot
compass its full meaning but desire to look into it. We know not that
anywhere in all the vastcreation of God there has ever been seenthe likes of
this matchless, unparalleleddeed of divine grace—thatthe Sonof God, in
mighty love, should come down to earth and come into contactwith human
sin that He might put it away. No one imagines that our Lord has often
suffered. No, He has been incarnate once and has been sacrificedbut once.
“Once in the end of the world has He appeared to put awaysin by the
sacrifice ofHimself.” And this for guilty men! I am overwhelmed. I would
gladly sit down in silence and give way to adoring wonder. May the Holy
Spirit, Himself, now aid me, for my need is great! I am going to speak about
these four things very briefly. I have nothing of my own to say about them. I
only want to put them before you as much as I can in their nakedsimplicity—
there is a beauty in them which needs no describing, which would be degraded
by any adornment of human speech. Here are four flints out of which you may
strike sparks of divine fire if you are but willing to see their brightness. These
four things that Jesus did, the four reasons why He is crownedwith such
superlative honor, are connectedwith you, if you have but faith to perceive
the connection—soconnectedthat they will save you—will even make you
partake in the glory which has come of them. I. The first source of the
Mediator’s glory is that He, out of His love to guilty men, has POURED OUT
HIS SOUL UNTO DEATH. Remember that the penalty of sin is death. “The
soul that sins, it shall die.” “Forin the day that you eatthereof you shall
surely die.” As God made us, we should not have died. There is about man,
when he is in connectionwith God, no reasonfor death. But as soonas man
touched evil he was divided from God and he took into his veins the poison
which brings death with it and all its train of woes. JesusChrist, our
substitute, when He poured out His soul unto death, was bearing the penalty
that is due to sin. This is taught in the Bible—in fact, it is the chief theme of

Holy Scripture. Whenever sin was to be put away, it was by the sacrifice ofa
life. All through the Jewishlaw it stands conspicuous that, “Without shedding
of blood is no remissionof sin.” God has so impressed this truth upon
humanity that you can scarcelygo into any nation, howeverunenlightened,
but there is connectedwith their religion the idea of sacrifice, andtherefore
the idea of the offering of a life on accountof a broken law. Now, the Lord
Jesus came into such connectionwith men that He bore the death penalty
which guilty men had incurred. Remember the expression—“He has poured
out His soul unto death.” It is deliberate. “He has poured out His soul.” It is a
libation presentedwith thought and care. Notthe mere spilling of His blood
but the resolute, determinate pouring out of His whole life unto its lastdrop—
the pouring it out unto death. Now, Christ’s resolve to die for you and for me
was not that of a brave soldierwho rushes up to the cannon’s mouth in a
moment of excitement. But He was practicallypouring out His life from the
day when His public ministry commenced, if not before. He was always dying,
by living, at such a rate that
Sermon #2070 Christ’s Connectionwith Sinners the Source ofHis Glory
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His zealconsumed Him—“The zeal of Your house has eatenMe up.”
Deliberatelyand as it were, drop by drop, He was letting His soulfall upon the
ground—till at length, upon the tree of doom—He emptied it all out and cried,
“It is finished,” and gave up the ghost. “He poured out His soul unto death.”
As it was deliberate, so it was most realand true. I pray you do not think of
Christ as pouring out His soul as though the outpouring was a kind of
sentiment of self-abnegation. As though it made Him spend a sort of ecstatic
life in dream-land and suffer only in thought, intent and sympathy. My Lord
suffered as you suffer; only more keenly, for He had never injured His body
or soul by any act of excess so as to take off the edge from His sensitiveness.
His was the pouring out of a whole soul in all the phases of suffering into
which perfect souls can pass. He felt the horror of sin as we who have sinned

could not feel it, and the sight of evil afflicted Him much more than it does the
purest among us. His was realsuffering, real poverty, realweariness. And
when He came to His lastagony, His bloody sweatwas no fiction—His
exceeding sorrow unto death was no fancy. When the scourges fellupon His
shoulders it was true pain that He suffered. And the nails and the spearand
the sponge and the vinegar—these tellof a real passion—a deathsuch as
probably you and I shall never know. Certainly we shall never experience that
pouring out of our soulunto death which was peculiar to Jesus—inwhich He
went far beyond martyrs in their most extreme griefs. There were points of
anguish about His death which were for Himself, and for Himself, alone. “He
has poured out His soul unto death,” in grief most weighty—so weightythat it
can never be fully weighedin any scales ofmortal sympathy! And He did this,
remember, voluntarily. If I were to die for any of you, what would it amount
to, but that I paid the debt of nature a little soonerthan I must ultimately
have paid it? For we must all die, sooneror later. But the Christ needednot to
die at all so far as He, Himself, was personallyconcerned. There was no cause
within Himself why He should go to the cross to lay down His life. He yielded
Himself up a willing sacrifice for our sins; herein lies much of the preciousness
of His propitiation to you and to me. Love, love immeasurable, led the
immortal Lord to die for man! Let us think it over and melt into loving
gratitude. A death endured out of pure love. A death which was altogether
unnecessaryon His own accountand, indeed, a superfluous act, save that it
behoovedHim to suffer that He might fulfill His office of a Saviorand bring
us near to God. This is a matter which should setour hearts on fire with
fervent gratitude to the Lord who loved us to the death. “He has poured out
His soul unto death.” I will say no more about it, exceptthat you see how
complete it was. Jesus gave poorsinners everything. His every faculty was laid
out for them. To His last rag He was stripped upon the cross. No part of His
body or of His soul was kept back from being made a sacrifice. The lastdrop,
as I said before, was poured out till the cup was drained. He made no
reserve— He kept not back evenHis innermost soul—“He has poured out His
soul unto death.” Considerthese two truths of God together. He is the Lord
God Almighty before whom the hosts of angels bow with joy. Yet on yonder
cross He pours out His soul unto death. And He does it not because of
anything that is in Him, that renders it necessary, but for your sake and for

mine—for the salvationof all those who put their trust in Him. Put your trust
in Him, then, without reserve. Pour out your souls in full trust—even as He
poured out His soul unto death. Come and rest in Him and then see the reason
why He is crowned with majesty. His death for your sins is the reasonwhy He
divides the spoils with the strong. He has His portion with the great because
He “died, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” This, which
brought Him so much shame, has now brought Him all His glory. Come and
trust Him! Come and trust Him wholly! Come and trust Him now! II.
Secondlyand somewhatbriefly. It appears in the text that our Lord did not
only bear the penalty due to sinners but HE WAS NUMBEREDWITH
SINNERS. “He was numbered with the transgressors.”There is a touch of
nearness to the sinner about this which there is not in the first clause. He
bears death for the sinner. But you would not suppose, if you had not read it,
that He would be written in the sinners’ register. He was not and could not be
a sinner. But it is written, “He was numbered with the transgressors.”O
sinner, see how close Jesus comes to you? Is there a census takenof sinners?
Then, in that census, the name of Jesus is written down. “He was numbered
with the transgressors.”He never was a transgressor—itwas impossible that
He could be. It would be blasphemy to saythat the Son of God ever was a
transgressoragainstHis Father’s laws. In Him was no sin in any sense, or
shape, or form. His spotless birth, His perfect nature, His holy life all make
Him, “separatefrom sinners.” How, then, was
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He numbered with the transgressors? This makes it the more marvelous
because it is so hurtful to a man who is pure, to be numbered with the impure.
What would any woman with a delicate purity of mind think if she were
numbered with the harlots? What would any honestman among us think if he
were numbered with thieves? But that would be nothing comparedwith the
holy Lord Jesus being numbered with the transgressors.And yet to this He

submitted for our sakes. I saidthat He could not be a transgressor. But we are
not like He in this. Anyone of us could be either unjust or dishonest, for, alas,
sin dwells in us, and the possibilities of its still greaterdevelopment are rich!
But Jesus was cleanin nature and pure in heart and therefore He could never
be tainted with evil. And yet the inspired prophet says, “He was numbered
with the transgressors.”This was a humiliation, indeed! This was coming
down to where the sinner lay and bowing over him to lift him up. Our Lord
Jesus was numbered with the transgressors, first, by the tongue of slander.
They calledHim a drunken man and a wine-bibber—they even called Him
Beelzebub. That was sharp enough for Him to bear, whom all the angels
salute as “Holy! Holy! Holy!” Accusedof blasphemy, sedition, and so forth,
He had enough to bear from evil lips. Nothing was too vile to be castupon
Him by those who said, “Let Him be crucified.” Reproachnever spared the
spotless one, but spent its utmost venom on Him. Like the Psalmist, He was
the song of the drunkard. The very thieves who were crucified with Him
reviled Him. He was numbered with the transgressorsin the earthly courts of
justice. He stoodat the bar as a common felon though He was Judge of all.
Though they could not find witnesseswhose testimonyagreed, yet they
condemned Him. Though Pilate had to say, “Why, what evil has He done?”
yet He was takenout with two malefactors that He might die side by side with
them. And then, we are told by the evangelist, the Scripture was fulfilled—
“He was numbered with the transgressors”(Mark 15:28). To go a little
farther, our Lord Jesus Christ on earth was treated, in the providence of God,
as transgressorsare treated. Transgressionsometimes brings on men poverty,
sickness, reproachand desertion. And Jesus Christhad to take His share of all
these with sinful men. No wind was tempered for this shorn Lamb. No
winter’s frost was stayed, no night dews dried to comfort His secretagonies—
“Coldmountains and the midnight air Witnessedthe fervor of His prayer.”
All things in this world that are so keenand terrible to man, because man has
become so guilty, were just as keenand terrible to Him. The sun shone on
Him till His tongue was dried up like a potsherd and did cleave to His jaws
and He cried, “I thirst.” The nails that pierced Him tore His tender flesh as
they would have torn that of the sinful. Feverparched Him till His tongue
cleavedto His jaws. There was no softening of the laws of nature for this Man
because He had never offended. But He had to stand as a sinner where we

sinners stand—to suffer from the common laws of a sin-cursedworld—
though He was not, and could not, be a sinner. “In Him was no sin.” Yet He
was numbered with the transgressors.And look, my brethren. Oh, that I may
know how to speak properly on it! The Holy God treated Him as if He were
one of us—“it pleasedthe Father to bruise Him. He has put Him to grief.”
God not only turned His back on transgressors but He turned His back on His
Son, who was numbered with them. God never canforsake the perfectly
innocent, yet He who was perfectly innocent said, “My God, My God, why
have You forsakenMe?” Sinking and anguish of spirit, even to soul-death,
cannot come to a man who is numbered with the perfectly righteous. It was
because Jesusvoluntarily put Himself into the sinner’s place that He had to
bear the sinner’s doom. And He being numbered with the transgressors, the
justice which smites sin smote Him. The frown that falls on sin fell on Him.
The darkness whichcomes over human sin gatheredin sevenfoldnight about
His sacredbrow. In the day of the Lord’s anger, “He was numbered with the
transgressors.”As this is the reasonwhy He is now exalted, it seems to me that
you and I ought to feel a mingling of grief and joy at this time to think that the
Lord Jesus would condescend to put His name down with transgressors.You
know what a transgressoris, don’t you? One who has done wrong; one who
has brokenlaws, and one who has gone beyond bounds and committed evil.
Well, Jesus Christsays, “Father, that I might save these transgressors,put My
name down among them.” It was necessarythat it should be so, that He,
standing in our place, might lift us into His place, transferring His
righteousness to us, as He took our sin upon Himself. I could weepas I tell you
that “He was numbered with the transgressors.”
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I cannot preach. This theme baffles me altogether. I wish that you would look
into it yourselves. Nevermind my words. Think of my Lord and of these two
things—“He has poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with

the transgressors.”III. That leads me to the third matter by which the Lord
Jesus Christ has won His victories and earnedreward of God. It is this—“HE
BORE THE SIN OF MANY.” Now do not think that these words are mine,
and therefore find fault with them. Deliberatelyobserve that these are the
words of the Holy Spirit. “He bore the sin”—“He bore the sin of many.” They
quibble with us for saying that He bore the chastisementof sin. We shall say it
none the less plainly. But we shall go much further and insist upon it that,
literally, Jesus bore the sin of man. Or else why did He die? Why did He die at
all? “He was man,” you say, “and, therefore, He died.” There was no reason
why the Christ should die because He was a man—for being born without the
taint of sin and having lived a spotless life, and having never violated the law
of God—there could be no justice in Christ’s dying at all, if there was not
some reasonfor it apart from Himself. It is an actof injustice that Jesus
should be permitted to die, at all, unless there canbe found a reasonapart
from His own personalconduct. If death is the consequenceofsin, there being
no sin in Christ, the consequencecouldnot follow without the cause. You tell
me that by wickedhands He was crucified—it was so, and yet the Scripture
assures us that this was by the determinate purpose and foreknowledge of
God. How could this have been, had our Lord had no connectionwith sin? It
was not necessarythat He should die because He was Man. He might have
been takento heavenin a chariot of fire. Or it might have been said of Him, as
of Enoch, “He was not, for God took Him.” If the rough Elijah ascendedto
heaven, how much more the gentle, tender, perfect, absolutelyperfect Christ
might have been expected to do so! There was no reason, then, in His personal
nature, why He should die. “He died,” said one, “as an example.” But, my
dear friends, I do not see that. In His life He is an example to us through and
through, and so He is in His death. If we must die, it is an example to us that
we should die as bravely, as patiently, as believingly, as He did. But we are not
bound to die at all unless God requires it at our hands. Indeed, we are bound
to shun death if it canvirtuously be avoided. Selfpreservationis a law of
nature—and for any man to voluntarily give himself up to die without some
grand purpose would not be justifiable. It is only because there is a law that
we must die that we may judge ourselves permitted to volunteer to die. The
Savior does not set us an example in a sphere into which we cannotenter. In
that case He goes beyond us altogetherand treads the winepress alone. He is a

Being whom we cannot follow in the higher walks in which He is both God
and Man. In His great voluntary self-surrender unto death, the Son of God
stoops from a position which we, who are mortal, because ofsin have never
held. “Well,” you say, “but Jesus Christdied as an exhibition of divine love.”
This is true in a certain sense, but from another point of view, of all the things
I have ever heard, this does seemto me to be the most monstrous statement
that could be made. That Jesus Christ, dying because ofour sins, is a
wonderful example of divine love, I know, admit and glory in. But that
Christ’s dying was an instance of divine love, if He did not die because He
bore our sins, I entirely deny. There is no exhibition of divine love in the death
of Christ if it is not for our sins, but an exhibition of a very different sort. The
death of the perfect Son of God, per se, without its greatobject, does not
exhibit love but the reverse. What? Does Godput to death His only-begotten
Son, the perfectly pure and holy Being? Is this the finale of a life of obedience?
Well, then, I see no love in God at all. It seems to me to be the reverse of love
that it should be so. Apart from sin-bearing, the statement that Jesus must die
the death of the cross to show us that his Fatheris full of love is sheer
nonsense. But if He died in our place, then the gift of Jesus Christ by the
Father is undoubtedly a glorious instance of divine love. Behold and wonder,
that “Godso loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that
whoeverbelieves in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is
love, if you please. But not the mere fact that the Sonof Godshould be put to
death. That would be a thing altogetherunaccountable, not to be justified, but
to be lookedupon as a horrible mystery never to be explained—that the
blessedSon of God should die—if we did not receive this full and complete
explanation, “He bore the sin of many.” If our Lord’s bearing our sin for us is
not the gospel, I have no gospelto preach. Brothers and sisters, I have fooled
you these thirty-five years, if this is not the gospel. I am a lost man, if this is
not the gos
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pel, for I have no hope beneath heaven, neither in time nor in eternity, save
only in this belief—that Jesus, in my place, bore both my punishment and sin.
If our Lord did so bear our sin we have a firm and joyous confidence. God
would not accepta substitute in our place and then punish us. If Jesus
suffered in my place, I shall not suffer. If another has gone to prison and to
death for me, I shall not go there. If the axe has fallen on the neck of Him that
took my place, justice is satisfied, the law is vindicated, I am free, happy,
joyful, grateful—and therefore, bound forever to serve Him who loved me and
gave Himself for me. I do not know how you look upon this doctrine, but it
seems to me to be something worth telling everywhere. I would like to make
every wind bear it on its wings and every wave waftit on its crest. There is a
just and righteous way to forgive sin—Jesus bearing the death penalty in the
sinners’ place—thatwhoeverbelieves in Him should be justified from all
things from which the law could not deliver him. Now, these three things—
that He poured out His soul unto death, and so bore the sinner’s penalty; that
He was numbered with the transgressorsand so stoodside by side with
sinners; ad next, that He actually bore their sin and so came into a wonderful
contactwith sin which did not defile Him, but which enabled Him to put away
the sin which defiled men—these three things are the reasons ofthe glory of
our Lord Jesus. God, for these three things and one more, makes Him to
divide the spoil with the strong, and divides Him a portion with the great. IV.
The lastthing is this—“HE MADE INTERCESSIONFOR THE
TRANSGRESSORS.”You see, allalong Christ gets His glory by standing side
by side with guilty men. A curious mine it is to getgold out of. I will not
venture to say what Augustine, in a burst of enthusiasm, once uttered. When
speaking ofAdam’s fall, and then describing all the glory that comes to God
out of the salvation of the guilty, that holy man could not help using the
unguarded expression, “Beataculpa!” “Happy fault!” Yet, though I would not
say so much as that, I do see that out of this dunghill of sin Christ has brought
this diamond of His glory by our salvation. If there had been no sinners, there
could not have been a Savior; if no sin, no pouring out of the soul unto death;
and if no pouring out of the soulunto death, no dividing a portion with the
great. If there had been no guilt, there had been no act of expiation. In the

wondrous actof expiation by our greatsubstitute, the Godheadis more
gloriously revealedthan in all the creations and providences of the divine
powerand wisdom— “Sin, which strove that love to quell, Woke yet more its
wondrous blaze; Eden, Bethlehem, Calvary, tell, More than all beside, His
praise.” In the person of His dying Son, bleeding for human guilt, the Lord
God has focusedthe splendor of His infinity. If you would see God, you must
look to Calvary. God in Christ Jesus—this is God, indeed. God in Christ
Jesus—bearing sin and putting it away—here you see what a God cando in
boundless love! “Godforbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ.” But this is the finale of it. He makes intercessionfor the
transgressors. Who among us will take up the part of the guilty? Who will
plead for the guilty? I know, in certain cases, the lawyer will sell his tongue to
the most polluted. But if a man were perfectly pure you would not find him
saying a word in defense of the guilty, would you? So far as the man was
guilty he could not be defended. Unless there were a fearof too severe a
punishment, no one would take his part. And even in that case, the offender is
viewed as so far deserving that he is not guilty enough for so heavy a penalty,
for the guilty we could not plead so as to deny or extenuate evil. A just man
would plead for innocent persons who might be falselyaccused—butour Lord
made intercessionfor transgressors.WhenHe was here on earth how tender
He was with transgressors!Women that were sinners came around Him and
He never bade them be gone. She that was takenin adultery, oh, how He dealt
with her! When Peterwas about to deny Him, He said, “I have prayed for
you, that your faith fail not.” Those nights out there on the cold mountains
were not spent for Himself, but for sinners. He bore on His heart the names of
guilty men. He was always pleading their cause and when He came to die, He
said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He took their
part, you see. He would clearthem of guilt if He could. I dare say that He has
often prayed like that for you. When you have been despising religion and
saying vile things about your Lord, He has said, “Ah, poor soul! It is
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like the ravings of a man in a fever who does not know what he is talking
about. He does not know what he is saying. Father, forgive him.” Our blessed
Lord pleaded thus when He was here. And now He has gone up yonder He is
pleading still for the same persons. Though we cannot see through that veil
which hides the invisible from us, yet the eye of faith, I hope, is strong enough
to see that He is at the Father’s side at this moment making intercessionfor
transgressors. Ido not picture Him up yonder as using entreaties or pleading
to an agony. Oh, no! With authority He intercedes, forHe has finished the
work and He claims the reward. I do not even picture Him as using words.
Those are the poor tools with which men plead with men. But the death which
our Lord endured for the guilty is pleading with the Father. The death of
Christ is a wellspring of delight to God. The Fatherthinks of what Jesus has
suffered in vindication of the law, even of His obedience unto death. And that
thought has powerwith the Judge of all the earth. In effect, the wounds of
Jesus perpetually bleed. Still His cries of the greatSacrifice come up into His
Father’s ear. The Godhead, delighted to bless, is charmed to find the way of
blessing men always open by the factthat the propitiation has been made, and
the sin has been put away. I cannot continue longer, for strength and time fail
me. Only it does seemto me so delightful to think that Jesus pleads for
sinners. If you see Him die, He is dying for sinners. If you see Him with His
name written down in a register, that registeris the sinners’ census book—His
name is written there that He may be in a position advantageous forsinners.
If you see Him pleading now that He is risen, He is the advocate forsinners.
Did you ever read this text in the Bible—“Ifany man does not sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”? No, you never did! But
I will tell you what you do read there—“If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” “If any man sin.” Is there
anybody here that never sinned? Then there is no Christ for you. He never did
anything for you and never will. Are you guilty? Do you feel it? Do you
confess it? Do you acknowledgeit? Christ is for you. If a doctorwere to setup
in the town he would never think of sending out a circular in such terms as
these—“HenrySmith, M.D., invites healthy persons to call upon him, for he is
proficient in the healing arts.” There will be no business for “Henry Smith,

M.D.,” among the healthy folks—lethim be as learned as he may. And if he is
known as an eminent physician, he does not need to intimate that sick persons
are welcome to call upon him, for the very fact that he is a physician means
that he lives to serve the sick. My Lord Jesus Christ, with all His saving
power, cannot save those who do not need saving. If they have no sin He
cannot cleanse themfrom it. Can He? What, then, have some of you to do
with the Savior? You are very good, respectable people that have never done
anything wrong in all your lives—whatis Jesus to you? Of course, yougo your
own way and take care of your ownselves and forget the idea of being
beholden to free grace. Alas, this is folly! How foolishyou are to think you are
such characters! You are nothing of the sort. If you look within, your heart is
as foul as a black chimney that has never been swept. Our hearts are wells of
defilement. Oh, that you could see this and quit your false righteousness!If
you will not, there is nothing in Jesus for you. He derives His glory from
sinners, not from selfconceitedfolks like you. But, you guilty ones that will
admit and confess your guilt may cheerfully remember that those four things
which Jesus did, He did in connectionwith sinners—and it is because He did
them in connectionwith sinners—that He is this day crownedwith glory and
honor and majesty. Jesus Christdoes not shrink from sinners. What then? O
you sinners do not shrink from Him! If Jesus does not shrink from sinners—
(let me say it again)—yousinners, do not shrink from Him! If we were to go
today to some of those unhappy parts of the world in the north of Europe (it
makes one’s blood curdle to think that there are such places), where poor
decaying lepers are made to live alone. And if these poor creatures came our
way, we should wish them every blessing and should desire for them every
comfort. But while we were expressing our kind wishes we should be
gradually edging off and leaving a distance betweenourselves and their
horrible pollution. That is not the way in which Jesus acts towards sinners—
He draws near and never sets a hedge betweenHimself and them. You need
not undergo quarantine before you may enter the port of salvationby Christ.
Yonder is a filthy leprous sinner—as full of filth as an egg is full of matter—
but Jesus comes rightup to him and lays His hand upon him and says, “I will.
Be you clean.” Jesus neverkeeps ata distance from the sinner.

8
8
But suppose this poor leper beganto run awayfrom Him. It would be natural
that he should, but would also be very foolish. No, poor creature, stop your
running! Stay at Jesus’feet! Look to Him! Trust Him! TouchHis garment
and be healed! O my dear hearers, in this pulpit I seem to stand a long way off
from you and talk to you from afar but my heart is with you. I wish I knew
how to persuade you to come to Jesus. I would use some loving logic that I
have not yet hit upon. How heartily would I entreatyou to trust the Son of
God, made flesh, bleeding and dying for guilty men! If you will trust Him, He
will not deceive you, but you shall be saved, and savedat once, and forever!
And, O you that love Him and know Him, will you learn one lesson, and then I
will send you home? As Jesus does not shrink from sinners, do not yourselves
shrink from them. You are not so pure and holy as He was and yet He came
into the world to save sinners. Go, eachof you, into the world to seek them. Be
in earnestafter sinners. You get so good, some of you, that there is no living
with you. You forget the dunghills where you grew and fancy yourselves
angels, but you are nothing of the sort. God has made something of you, and
now you are too respectable to look after those who are no worse than you
once were. If a man sins, you do not speak to him lest you should be disgraced
by his society. Whatpride! A man is known to be a drunkard and there are
some, even of you, that are teetotalers who would not talk with such, but leave
them till they are improved, and then you would speak to them. You will do
them goodif they come to you for it but you will not go to them—you cannot
bring your souls to handle the wound while it bleeds and touch the filthy while
they are foul. Some are too fine and finicky to look after roughs. But I
venture to say to the rough, the ragged, the graceless,and the godless—that
they are more likely to get a blessing than the self-righteous. I believe that
there is more likelihood of converting a downright out-and-out sinner than of
reaching the consciencesofyour very nice, neat, hypocritical people. Do not,
therefore, shrink from sinners, for Jesus did not. And as from them He won
His brightest trophies, even so may you. Be not ashamed, even if, by talking

with sinners, you should come to be taken for one of them, for your Lord
Himself, “was numbered with the transgressors.And He bore the sin of many,
and made intercessionfor the transgressors.”Letit be your vocation, as a
man redeemedby blood, to be “the sinners’ friend,” henceforthand forever.
God help you to do it! O my beloved, may God send a blessing upon us at this
hour. Pray for it. Pray for it. Lord, send it, for Jesus’sake!Amen.
LETTER FROM MR. SPURGEON
DEAR FRIENDS—Withgreatpleasure I have prepared this sermonupon
that truth of God which lies at the heart of the Christian faith. The denial of
the substitutionary sacrifice ofour Lord is the enemy of Christianity. Without
atonement by the death of the Saviorthere is no gospel. I do not conceive
“substitution” to be an explanation of atonement, but to be of the very essence
of it. Those of us who have receivedthe Lord Jesus as our expiation and
righteousness know whatdivine power dwells in that precious truth. In a few
days I hope to be on my wayhome—indeed, I may be so when this sermon is
published. I crave a kindly remembrance in the prayers of the faithful. May
there be years of useful preaching and fruitful hearing in store for preacher
and readers!Yours, in Christ Jesus, C. H. SPURGEON. Mentone, February
11, 1889.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The False Accusation
Isaiah53:12
W. Clarkson

He was numbered with the transgressors. The factthat he who was the
Author of all law and the Judge of all moral agents was himself classedwith
transgressors is most suggestive;it calls our attention to the truth -
I. THAT A RIGHTEOUS MAN, though he is righteous, MAY BE CHARGED
WITH WRONG. If Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, was accusedof sin, how
much more may we, who are only comparatively and imperfectly righteous,
be so charged!
II. THAT A RIGHTEOUS MAN MAY, in virtue of his righteousness, BE
ACCUSED OF WRONG. Jesus Christwas chargedwith blasphemy because
he said what he saidand actedas he did in pursuance of his great and
beneficent mission; he was accusedoffellowship with sin because he was bent
on carrying his gospelof grace to the very worstof mankind (Luke 15:2). In
the same way, a goodman may lay himself open to the charge of transgression
in virtue of his very excellency;a devout man, because ofhis devotion, to the
charge of pietism or hypocrisy; a zealous man, because ofhis ardour, to the
charge of fanaticism; a courageous man, to the charge of rashness;a trustful
man, to the accusationofpresumption, etc.
III. THAT THE FALSELY ACCUSED HAVE THREE GREAT
CONSOLATIONS.
1. The approval of their own conscience.
2. The knowledge that they take rank with their greatLeader, who was
himself numbered with the transgressors,and with all the best of the goodin
every age and land (Matthew 5:11, 12).
3. The assurance that they have the commendation and the sympathy of their
Divine Lord. Enemies may accuse us;brethren may fail us; notwithstanding,
"the Lord stands with us, and strengthens us" (2 Timothy 4:16, 17). - C.

Biblical Illustrator
Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great.
Isaiah53:12
Christ's conflict and conquest
I. CHRIST'S CONFLICT.
II. CHRIST'S CONQUEST.The conflictis lastin the order of the words, but
first in order of nature and time.
( T. Manton, D.D.)
The greatnessofthe Sin-bearer
F. B. Meyer, B. A.
It is the voice of God Himself; and it is befitting that, as He introduced His
Servant in the opening verses ofthis marvellous portraiture, so, in these
closing words, He should pronounce His verdict on His career. Two things are
clearly predicatedof the Sin-bearer.
1. That He should be great.

2. That He should attain His commanding position, not as the founder of a
new schoolof thought, nor as the leaderof a socialreformation, nor as
possessedof exceptionalsaintliness — but as a Sufferer.
I. THE GREATNESS GIVEN BY THE FATHER AS THE REWARD FOR
CHRIST'S OBEDIENCE TO DEATH. It was meet that such a reward should
be bestowed, for the sake of those who should afterwards follow in the
footsteps oftheir Divine Master. None could ever deserve more or better than
Christ; and if He were without recognitionor reward, might it not be thought
that Heaven had no prize to give for faithful service? Surely He must have a
reward, or the very order of the universe might be deemed at fault? But what
reward should He have? What could compensate Him for having laid aside
the exercise ofHis Divine prerogative;for having assumedour nature; for
having passedthrough the ordealof temptation, sorrow, and pain; for having
become obedient to death, even the death of the Cross? All worlds were His by
native right; all holy beings ownedHis swayas Creatorand God; all
provinces of thought, emotion, power, and might, sent Him their choicest
tribute. What rewardcould He claim, or have? The answermay be suggested
by recalling our own pleasure in conferring pleasure, our joy in giving joy. Let
the limitations imposed by our mortality or circumstances be removed; let us
be able to realize to the full the yearnings and promptings of our noblest
hours; lot the wish to help be accompaniedby a sympathy that cannot hurt
the most sensitive, a wisdom that cannot mistake, a power that cannotbe
daunted or thwarted; and probably we should at once drink deep draughts of
blessednesslike God's. This is the blessedness ofChrist, and this is the reward
which the Father has given Him. God Himself could not give, nor the Saviour
ask for, a greaterrewardthan this. And, in its magnificence, it appeals to all
who would tread in His steps. This is Heaven's supreme reward: that all who
pour out their souls to death shall obtain enlargedopportunities and
possibilities of service.
II. THE GREATNESSTHAT CHRIST'S DEATH HAS SECURED HIM
AMONG MEN. He is worthy to take the mysterious scrollof destiny, and
break its seals, because ofthe light Its has caston the greatmysteries by
which our lot is shadowed.

1. Pain. When it enwraps us in its fiery baptism, we are apt to accuse
ourselves or to doubt God. But Jesus has taught us that there is yet a third
way of regarding pain. He had not sinned, yet He suffered as none of
woman.born ever did. Evidently, then, pain is not always symptomatic of
specialsin. He was once so submerged in anguish that for a time He lost the
sense ofHis Father's love; but He never suggestedthat there was failure or
obliquity in the moral government of the world. The death of Jesus has
therefore robbed death of these two implications, and has taught us that it is
often sent, and must be borne, with the view of benefiting others. What a
priceless service was this — to transform pain; to persuade sufferers that by
their travail of soul they were enriching the whole world of men.
2. Death. Men dread it. But He, by His dying, has abolished death, and
brought life and immortality to light. For this we count Him great, that
through death He undid death.
3. Sin When Jesus died on the Cross, He was numbered with transgressors;
but He stoodover againstall transgressors, distinctfrom them and bearing
their sin. This surely constitutes an overmastering claim for us to count Christ
great.
III. THE GREATNESSWHICH HIS DEATH WILL WIN FOR CHRIST IN
THE ESTIMATION OF OTHER RACES OF BEING. Notto the Mount of
Beatitudes, but to the Cross, will distant worlds send their deputations in all
coming ages, to learn the manifold lessons whichit alone can teach. There
they will learn to know the very heart of God, His hatred againstsin, His love
for the sinner, His fidelity to covenantengagements,His righteousness,His
truth. The Cross is the heavenly prism that enables us to distinguish the
constituents of the Divine nature.
(F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
He shall divide the spoil with the strong
"He shall divide the spoil with the strong

Howard Crosby, LL.D.
This is generallyinterpreted as picturing a conqueror sharing with other
fellow-conquerors in the booty of the conquered. But could that figure have
any analogyin Christ's triumph" Who could be His fellow-conquerors?What
could be the booty of His conquered ones? Much better is it to consider "the
strong," or the "mighty ones," to representthe powers of darkness, who have
made spoil of the human race, and the division of the spell with them by
Messiahto be the rescue of souls from their grasp. The "many" (ver. 11)
whom He saves will then be the spoil He snatches from the greatenemy, and
we can read the whole passage:"By the knowledge ofHim shall My righteous
Servant give righteousness to many, and He Himself shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide Him the many as His portion, and he shall divide the
spoil with the mighty ones." This allusion to the powers of evil gives
completeness to the prophetic description. The humble birth, unattractive
position in society, and unfavoured careerthrough life, are given in vers. 2, 3.
His partnership with distress and His own sufferings are exhibited in vers. 4,
5, 6. His meekness is portrayed in ver. 7. Then comes the apparent failure of
His life, followedby its complete triumph in saving souls. We need a word
regarding the enemy triumphed over to make the wonderful prophetic sketch
complete.
(Howard Crosby, LL.D.)
The Lord Jesus a glorious Conqueror
Dividing of the spoil is the effectof a sure and a greatconquest. The eminency
of it lieth in these four things —(1) Either in the power of the adversaries.
There is no triumph in prevailing over weak things.(2)The unlikelihood of the
means. A thousand men were slain by the jawbone of an ass by the hands of
Samson;and a numerous hostdiscomfited by Gideon's pitchers and three
hundred lamps. Such things as these make the successmemorable.(3)The
manner or nature of the victory. Totaldefeats are most noted.(4) A conquest
is glorious in the effects or result of it. If it be of greatimportance and
consequence to the goodof a people, when fears are removed, and privileges

are granted and enlarged, spoilers taken, a kingdom subdued — these things
make for the glory of the victory. Let us see if such things be not found in the
conquestof Christ.THE ADVERSARIES. Theyare always expressedby such
notions as do imply greatstrength and power(Colossians 2:15;Ephesians
4:8).
1. There is the devil, who is a powerful adversary. But "the prince of this
world is judged" (John 16:11).
2. The law was an enemy, as it condemns us (Colossians 2:14;Ephesians 2:16).
3. Deathand hell (1 Corinthians 15:54;2 Timothy 1:10; Revelation1:18).
4. The flesh (Romans 8:3).
5. The world (John 16:33).
6. All the adverse powers in the world (Psalm2:10-12).
II. THE MEANS. The weapons ofthis warfare are not carnal.
1. As to His death.
2. By the Word of the Cross, calledthe foolishness ofpreaching.
3. By His Spirit; a greatforce, but secretand undiscerned.
4. By His prayers and intercessions.
III. THE MANNER OR NATURE OF THE CONQUEST,how it is achieved.
1. The enemies are overcome and terribly broken: there is a total dissipation
of all the powers of darkness.
2. Notbarely overcome, but spoiledand rifled (Colossians 2:15).
3. Such a victory as endeth in a solemntriumph; as conquerors in public view
carried their spoils and their enemies tied to their chariots, so Christ would
expose them to open shame.
IV. WHAT SPECIAL BENEFITSWE HAVE BY THE CONQUEST OF
CHRIST.

1. The banishment of distracting fear(Hebrews 2:15).
2. An encouragementto the spiritual conflict.
3. Joyunspeakable and glorious.
4. Hopes of glory; we shall conquer with Him, and reign with Him.
5. The very exaltation of Christ is a greatcomfort to us.
6. Christ's conquestis a token, earnestand pledge of our victory.
7. What Christ did in this conquest, He did it for our sakes. He will have
nothing but we shall share in it.
8. Another benefit is usefulness and serviceablenessforall that befalls us.
Christ doth so effectit that all things work togetherfor good (Romans 8:28).
( T. Manton, D.D.)
He hath poured out His soul unto death
The conflict of Christ explained
I. HIS DEATH. "He hath poured out," etc.
II. THE IGNOMINYOF IT. "He was numbered with the transgressors."
III. THE CAUSE OF IT. "He bare," etc.
IV. THE NOTED CIRCUMSTANCE IN IT. "He made intercessionfor the
transgressors."
( T. Manton, D.D.)
The love of Christ
He gave Himself.
I. THE GIFT. "His soul."

II. THE MANNER OF GIVING. "Pouredout."
III. THE INTENT.
( T. Manton, D.D.)
Christ killed by the inner Cross
C. Clemance, D.D.
It was not the Cross of woodthat killed the Saviour, but the inner Cross,
which lay heavily on His soul.
(C. Clemance, D.D.)
Christ's connectionwith sinners the source of His glory
I. The first source of the Mediator's glory is, that He, out of His love to guilty
men, has POURED OUT HIS SOUL UNTO DEATH. The penalty of sin is
death. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." The Lord Jesus came into such
connectionwith men that He bore the death penalty which guilty men had
incurred. Remark the expression:"He hath poured out His soul unto death."
It is deliberate. It is a libation presentedwith thought and care;not the mere
spilling of His blood, but the resolute, determinate pouring out of His whole
life unto its last drop — the pouring it; out unto death. Christ's resolve to die
for you and me was not that of a brave soldier who rushes up to the cannon's
mouth in a moment of excitement; but He was practically pouring out His life
from the day when His public ministry commenced, if not before. He was
always dying by living at such a rate that His zeal consumedHim.
2. It was most realand true. I pray you do not think of Christ as pouring out
His soul, as though it made Him spend a sort of ecstatic life in dream-land,
and suffer only in thought, intent, and sympathy. My Lord suffered as you
suffer, only more keenly; for He had never injured His body or soul by any
act of excess, so as to take off the edge from His sensitiveness.

3. See how complete it was. Jesus gave poorsinners everything. His every
faculty was laid out for them. Put your trust; m Him, then, without reserve.
II. OUR LORD WAS NUMBERED WITHSINNERS. "He was numbered
with the transgressors."There is a touch of nearness to the sinner about this
which there is not in the first clause. He bears death for the sinner; but you
could not suppose, if you had not read it, thus He would be written in the
sinner s register. He was not, and could not be, a sinner; but yet it is written,
"He was numbered with the transgressors." Is there a census takenof
sinners? Then, the name of Jesus is written down. How was He numbered
with the transgressors? This makes it the more marvellous, because it is so
hurtful to a man who is pure, to be numbered with the impure.Our Lord
Jesus was numbered with the transgressors —
1. By the tongue of slander. They called Him a drunken man and a wine-
bibber: they even calledHim Beelzebub. That was sharp enough for Him to
bear, whom all the angels salute as "Holy, holy, holy!"
2. In the earthly courts of justice. He stoodat the bar as a common felon,
though He was judge of all. Thoughthey could not find witnesses whose
testimony agreed, yet they condemned Him (Mark 15:28).
3. Our Lord Jesus Christ, on earth, was treated, in the providence of God, as
transgressors are treated. Transgressionsometimes brings on men poverty,
sickness, reproach, anddesertion; and Jesus Christhad to take His share of
all these with sinful men. All things in this world that are so keenand terrible
to man, because man has become so guilty, were just as keenand terrible to
Him. The nails that pierced Him tore His tender flesh as they would have torn
that of the sinful. Feverparched Him till His tongue cleavedto His jaws.
4. The Holy Godtreated Him as if He were one of us. "It pleasedthe Fatherto
bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.". God not only turned His back on
transgressors, but He turned His back upon His Son, who was numbered with
them.
III. The third matter by which the Lord Jesus Christ has wonHis victories,
and earnedreward of God, is this: "HE BARE THE SIN OF MANY."

IV. The last thing is this: "HE MADE INTERCESSION FOR THE
TRANSGRESSORS."Who among us will take up the part of the guilty? Who
will plead for the guilty? I know, in certain oases, the lawyer will sell his
tongue to the most polluted; but if a man were perfectly pure, you would not
find him saying a word in defence of the guilty. So far as the man was guilty
he could not be defended. But our Lord made intercessionfor transgressors.
When He was here on earth how tender He was with transgressors!He bore
on His heart the names of guilty men. He was always pleading their cause, and
when He came to die he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what
they do." He took their part. He would exculpate them if He could. I dare say
that He has often prayed like that for you. Now He has gone up yonder He is
pleading still. Application:(1) Jesus Christdoes not shrink from sinners; ye
sinners, do not shrink from Him.(2) As Jesus does not shrink from sinners, do
not yourselves shrink from them.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
He was numbered with the transgressors
The Friend of sinners
I. To the sinner, troubled and alarmed on accountof guilt, there will be much
comfort in the thought that CHRIST IS ENROLLED AMONG SINNERS.
"He was numbered with the transgressors."
1. In what sense are we to understand this?(1)He was numbered with them, in
the census ofthe Roman empire.(2) Years rolled on, and that child who had
been early numbered with transgressors,and had receivedthe sealof
transgressionin the circumcision, which represents the putting awayof the
flesh — that child, having come to manhood, goes forth into the world and is
numbered with transgressorsin the scrollof fame. Ask public rumour "What
is the characterofJesus of Nazareth?" and it cannotfind a word in its
vocabulary foul enoughfor Him. "This" they sometimes said; and our
translators have inserted the word "fellow" becausein the original there is an
ellipsis, the evangelists, Isuppose, hardly liking to write the word which had

been castupon Christ Jesus. They calledthe Masterof the house,
Beelzebub!(3) But to make the matter still more forcible, "He was numbered
with transgressors in the courts of law." The ecclesiasticalcourtof Judaism,
the Sanhedrim, said of Him, "Thoublasphemest;" and they smote Him on the
cheek. Written down among the offenders againstthe dignity of God and
againstthe security of the JewishChurch, you find the name of Jesus of
Nazarethwhich was crucified. The courts civil also assertedthe same.(4)
Then, the whole Jewishpeople numbered Him with transgressors;nay, they
reprobated Him as a more abominable transgressorthan a thief and a
murderer who had excited sedition.(5)His name is written in the calendarof
crime by the whole universe; for He is despisedand rejectedof men; of all
men is He accountedto be the offscouring of all things, and is put to grief.
2. Why was Christ numbered with transgressors?(1)Because He could the
better become their advocate. I believe, in legalphraseology, in civil cases, the
advocate considers himselfto be part and partner with the person, for whom
he pleads. You hear the counsellorcontinually using the word "we;" he is
consideredby the judge to represent the person for whom he is an
advocate.(2)ThatHe might plead with them. Suppose a number of prisoners
confined in one of our old jails, and there is a person desirous to do them
good, imagine that he cannotbe admitted unless his name is put down in the
calendar. Well, out of his abundant love to these prisoners he consents to it,
and when he enters to talk with them, they perhaps think that he will come in
with cold dignity; but he says, "Now, letme say to you first of all that I am
one of yourselves." "Well,"they say, "but have you done aught that is
wrong?" "I will not answeryou that," saith he; "but if you will just refer to
the calenderyou will find my name there; I am written down there among you
as a criminal." Oh, how they open their hearts now!(3) That sinners may feel
their hearts drawn to Him.(4) That we might be written in the red roll of His
saints.
II. We are taught in the next sentence, that Christ "BARE THE SINS OF
MANY."
1. Here it is as clearas noon-day that Christ dealt with sinners.

2. As He did bear their sins, other texts tell us that He did bear them away.
3. There is now no sin abiding upon those for whom Jesus died.
III. Our third sentence tells us that JESUS INTERCEDESFOR SINNERS.
"And made intercessionforthe transgressors."
1. He pleads for their forgiveness.
2. He next prays that those for whom He intercedes may be saved, and may
have a new life given them.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ numbered with the transgressors
J. Trapp.
He became a sinner, though sinless —
1. By imputation.
2. By reputation.
(J. Trapp.)
Made intercessionfar the transgressors
Christ's intercessionfor transgressors
Christ in this and such like actions is to be consideredin a double regard —
1. As a holy, godly man; so He was to fulfil all righteousness.
2. As a mediator and public person, that was to be our High Priest, to satisfy
and intercede.
( T. Manton D. D.)

Christ s intercession
1. Who prayeth. Christ, one that could destroy them with His glory easily
enough.
2. When He prayed. In the very actof His sufferings.
3. Forwhom He prayed. Forthem that offered Him all the indignities in the
world.
4. How He prayed. He pleadeth for them; "Forgive them," etc.
( T. Manton, D.D.)
Jesus interceding for transgressors
Our blessedLord made intercessionfor transgressorsin so many words while
He was being crucified, for He was heard to say, "Father, forgive them; for
they know not what they do." Our Lord fixed His eye upon that point in the
characterof His persecutors which was mostfavourable to them, namely, that
they knew not what they did. He could not plead their innocence, and
therefore He pleaded their ignorance. Our greatAdvocate will be sure to
plead wisely and efficiently on our behalf; He will urge every argument which
can be discovered, for His eye, quickened by love, will suffer nothing to pass
which may tell in our favour. The prophet, however, does not, I suppose,
intend to confine our thoughts to the one incident which is recorded by the
evangelists, forthe intercessionofChrist was an essentialpart of His entire
life-work. Jesus Himself is the reasoning and logic of prayer, and He Himself
is an ever-living prayer unto the Most High. It was part of our Lord's official
work to make intercessionforthe transgressors.He is a Priest, and as such He
brings His offering, and presents prayer on the behalf of the people.
I. I have to direct your attention to our ever-living Lord making intercession
for the transgressors;and I shall pray God that all of us may be rousedto
ADMIRATION FOR HIS GRACE.

1. If you will considerHis intercessionfor transgressorsI think you will be
struck with the love, and tenderness, and graciousnessofHis heart, when you
recollectthat He offered intercessionverbally while He was standing in the
midst of their sin. Sin heard of and sin seenare two very different things. Our
Lord actually saw human sin, saw it at its worst. He saw it all, and felt the sin
as you and I cannotfeel it, for His heart was purer, and therefore tenderer
than ours: He saw that the tendency of sin was to put Him to death, and all
like Him, yea and to slay God Himself if it could achieve its purpose, for man
had become a Decide and must needs crucify His God — and yet, though His
holy soul saw and loathed all this tendency and atrocity of transgression, He
still made intercessionfor the transgressors.
2. Another point of His graciousnesswas also clear, namely, that He should
thus intercede while in agony.
3. But it is marvellous that He being pure, should plead for transgressors at
all: for you and for me amongstthem — let the wonder begin there.
4. Further, it is to me a very wonderful fact that in His glory He should still be
pleading for sinners.
5. Again, it is gloriouslygracious that our Lord should continue to do this. He
hath never ceasedto make intercessionfor transgressors.
II. I do earnestlypray that we may be led of the Holy Ghost so to view His
intercessionfor transgressorsas to put our CONFIDENCEIN HIMSELF.
There is ground for a sinner's confidence in Christ, and there is abundant
argument for the believer's complete reliance in Him, from the factof His
perpetual intercession.
1. BecauseHis intercessionsucceeds.
2. There is reasonfor transgressors to come and trust in Jesus Christ, seeing
He pleads for them.
3. I am sure, too, that if Jesus Christ pleads for transgressors as transgressors,
while as yet they have not begun to pray for themselves, He will be sure to
hear them when they are at last led to pray.

4. In order that our confidence may be increased, considerthe effect of our
Lord's intercessionfortransgressors.(1)Many of the worst of transgressors
have been preserved in life in answerto Christ's prayer.(2) The gift of the
Holy Spirit which is needful for the quickening of transgressors was the result
of Christ's intercession.(3)It is through Christ's intercessionthat our poor
prayers are acceptedwith God.(4)It is through the prayers of Christ, too, that
we are kept in the hour of temptation. Rememberwhat He said to Peter, "I
have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not," when Satandesired to have him
and sift him as wheat. "Father, keepthem from the evil" is a part of our
Lord's supplication, and His Father hears Him always.(5)Indeed, it is because
He pleads that we are savedat all. He is "able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make
intercessionfor them."
III. I pray that our text may inspire us with the spirit of OBEDIENCETO
HIS EXAMPLE. I take the example of Christ to be an embodied precept as
much binding upon us as His written commands.
1. Imitate Him by forgiving all transgressions againstyourself.
2. Imitate Christ, in pleading for yourselves. Since you are transgressors, and
you see that Jesus intercedes fortransgressors, make bold to say, "If He
pleads for such as I am, I will put in my humble petition, and hope to be heard
through Him."
3. If we have been forgiven our transgressions, letus now intercede for
transgressors, since Jesus does so.
4. Let us take care, that if we do plead for others we mix with it the doing of
goodto them, because it is not recordedthat He made intercessionfor
transgressors until it is first written, "He bare the sin of many"
5. If Christ appears in heavenfor us, let us be glad to appear on earth for him.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Monarchbecomes an intercessorfor His foes

C. Clemance, D. D.
(with Luke 23:34): — Here prophecy and history unite in taking us to the
place which is calledCalvary.
I. IN WHAT LIGHT SHOULD WE REGARD THESE WORDS?
II. WHAT IS THE REQUEST? Forwhom? "Forgive them," those who were
the instruments and agents in His crucifixion. These were —
1. The people.
2. The chief priests and scribes.
3. The rulers.
4. The soldiers.
5. The Roman governor.
6. The passers-by, who were reviling Him.
7. Those who were crucified with Him, joining in the mockeryand jests.What
is the plea by which the petition is urged? "Theyknow not what they do." Not
one of them knew the full extent of the crime. Noteven the disciples could
have estimatedthe guilt of the people (Acts 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:6). There
was only One, even the Sufferer Himself, who could view that sin in all its
manifold complications, and hold evenly and righteously the scales of
judgment.
III. WHAT A SPIRIT OF LOVE THESE WORDS BREATHE!Their self-
forgetfulness is wonderful. The sin of those thus wronging the Saviour was a
far greatercause ofdistress to Him than all the degradation, ignominy, and
pain He was enduring; on these things He could be altogethersilent, in order
to plead for the forgiveness ofothers sin. We see here, too, a love which, rising
above human repulsiveness and guilt, ever regards itself as sent to save;a love
which would carry on a redeeming work, even when stretchedin agonyon the
Cross. Here, too, is not only the love of One, whose saving energycould
neither be repulsed nor trammelled, but of One who, though He is most fully
acquainted with the greatness oftheir guilt, pleads before Him, to whom sin is

an abominable thing, the mitigation of their crime. Truly, it is a marvel of
comfort that He, who judges sin most exactly, deals with the sinner most
tenderly! Here, too, is Divine love making intercessionforthe transgressors;
not for the good, but for the bad; not for the penitent, but for the impenitent;
that they may be brought to repent; showing us. how Christ's love goes after
men always, under all circumstances, in the lowestdepths of guilt.
Nevertheless,Divine love so pleads, as to imply that if this sin had been
committed with full understanding of its enormity, He dared not have asked
for its forgiveness. "Fortheyknow not what they do." Thus the spirit of this
prayer has its terrors as wellas its comforts. "There is a sin unto death," for
which the Redeemerdoes not intercede, and for which we have no commission
or authority to pray. Where that sin lies, what is its precise character, whether
this or that man has committed it, we dare not say. We can tell four things
about it: — we know the region in which it lies, the sign it has been
committed, the sign it has not been committed, and why there is no mercy for
it. Where one who has the fullest light indulges in the greatestsin, he is getting
very near the unpardonable sin. The sign that it has been committed, would
be hard, final, impenitence. True repentance is a sure signit has not been
committed. It is not pardonable, because atsuch a stage the sinner will not
repent.
IV. WHAT ARE THE DOCTRINESTHESE WORDSINVOLVE?
1. They teachus that the Fathersaves us through the Son.
2. That sins of ignorance needforgiveness. Paulsinned "ignorantly in
unbelief," and yet was the "chiefof sinners."
3. Whateverpalliation of guilt may be allowed, owing to ignorance, full
recognitionis takenthereof by the greatIntercessor.
4. We are taught that the fuller the light the greaterthe sin (Hebrews 10:26,
27).
5. That forgiveness ofsin, by God, is so precious to us, because it is made over
to us in. perfect knowledge ofevery aggravationand mitigation.

V. WHAT RESULTS DID THIS INTERCESSION SECURE? We are sure
that this prayer was answered. It did not indeed avert the destruction of the
doomed city, but —
1. It securedthe forgiveness ofevery penitent who might be, nevertheless,
involved in its temporal disasters.
2. The Great Pleader's work soonproved its power in the salvationof the thief
on the Cross, and shortly after of thousands more.
3. By means of the intercessionof our Lord, begun on earth, and now carried
on in heaven, we are "not under the law, but under grace."
(C. Clemance, D. D.)
Meaning of intercession
The question, "Whatis meant by intercession?"being askedin a Sunday
school, one of the children replied, "Speaking a word to God fur us, sir."
Intercessionfor the transgressors
"I shall never forget," wrote Miss Plumptre to a friend, "the day of the
sadness and the gladness of my heart, the day when a chafedand disappointed
spirit found healing and rest in One whom I had done my utmost to be
independent of. The joy of the astronomerover his newly-discoveredplanet is
nothing to the rapture with which I gazedupon the word transgressors in the
last sentence ofIsaiah53:12; 'He made intercessionforthe transgressors.'I
well remember being so dazzled that for a time I thought it a delusion, a
misprint. It was something so altogethernew to my proud, hard-working
spirit, that I could almostwonder that I did not erase it and put in 'the
penitent' or 'the humble' or one of nature's proud epithets. Yes, I think that
word 'transgressors'was the first that ever glowedon me with all the
attractionof 'free grace.'".

Sing, O barren.
Isaiah54
Jerusalem:barren, then fruitful
F. Delitzsch, D.D.
: — The direct address refers to Jerusalem, whichresembled Sarah in her
early barrenness and later fruitfulness (Isaiah51:1-3).
(F. Delitzsch, D.D.)
The relation betweenIsaiah53. and 54
Prof. G.A. Smith, D.D., Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.
Isaiah53and 54.: — From Calvin to Ewaldand Dillman, critics have all felt a
close connectionbetweenIsaiah52:13-53.and chap. 54. "After having spoken
of the death of Christ," says Calvin, "the prophet passedon with goodreason
to the Church: that we may feel more deeply in ourselves whatis the value
and efficiencyof His death." Similar in substance, if not in language, is the
opinion of the latestcritics, who understand that in chap. 54. the prophet
intends to picture that full redemption which the Servant's work, culminating
in chap. 53., could alone effect. Two keywords of chap. 53. had been "a seed"
and "many." It is "the seed" and the "many" whom chap. 54. reveals.
(Prof. G.A. Smith, D.D.)The two chapters deal with the same subjectfrom two
distinct standpoints. Whateverview be held as to the Servant's personality,
there is no doubt that His exaltationimplies the restorationof Israel, and that
His work is the indispensable condition of that restorationbeing
accomplished. Thus while chap. 53. describes the inward process of
conversionby which the nation is made righteous, chap. 54. describes the
outward deliverance which is the result; and the impression is probably
correctthat the glowing hopes here uttered are sustainedin the lastresort by
the contemplationof the Servant s mission as described in chap. 53.
(Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)

Isaiah54
W. H. Barlow, B.D.
is peculiarly a missionary chapter. After the death and resurrectionof the
Saviour has been foretold, the greatresults that would follow thereon are
appropriately described. In vers. 1-3, she that was "barren" (whether a
reference is made to the Jews on their return from captivity, or to the Gentiles
to whom the Gospelbeganto go forth on the day of Pentecost, orto the
enlargementof the true Church by the gathering in of souls from Jews and
Gentiles alike)is exhorted to rejoice in the increase ofher offspring. God's
mercy in gathering this Church and bestowing upon her His favour is
described(vers. 4-10); the attractiveness ofthis Church follows (vers. 11, 12);
and lastly (vers. 13-17)her establishmentin righteousness andher
permanence are setforth.
(W. H. Barlow, B.D.)
The Church of the future
C. Clemance, D.D.
The prophecy of this chapter follows naturally on, and is a continuation of,
that in the fifty-third. The former foretells "the sufferings of Christ, and the
glory that should follow." The latter speaks ofthe Church, the foundations of
which the Saviour died to lay, the superstructure of which He lives to build.
I. WE HAVE A PICTURE OF THE CHURCH IN HER SADNESS. The
figures used by the prophet, while easyenough to apply generally, present
some points of difficulty when we attempt the detail.
1. At the first glance of the opening verses ofthe chapter we see that the
figures are drawn from the very closesttie that nature knows, eventhat of the
marriage relationship. This figure, so frequently used in the Old Testament, is
basedon a profound truth. The truth on which it is basedis this: that as both

male and female are incomplete without eachother, so the happiness of God is
incomplete without the love of the creature whom He has made to love Him,
and the happiness of man is incomplete without an object above him in which
his love can rest. Such a figure serveda holy educating purpose to Israel, and
ought still to do so to us. In one direction it shows us how holy and tender is
the relationship betweenman and God, and how loving is the heart of God
towards man; in another direction it lifts up the sacredtie of marriage into a
higher and Diviner light, and lets us see it in the light of the Divine idea, as not
only a union of bodies but also of spirits, in a tie which can never be broken
without a rupture of the laws of God!
2. Another truth lying at the foundation of the chapter is this, that the
Church, in God's eye, is seenat a glance, through all the vicissitudes of her
chequered career, till her completion in the fulness of time. That Church,
chosenin Christ "before the foundation of the world, in Him is one. He sees
that Church passing, through gloom to glory! And truly, sad enoughis the
picture of the Church s sorrow which is presentedhere. She is like one whose
husband has forsakenher. She is barren, desolate, rejected, contemned;and is
consequentlysad, afflicted, tossedwith tempest, and not comforted. The chief
question is, at what period was Gods Church like this, and what Church was
ever in such gloom?(1)The Hebrew Church was primarily intended. Her
bondage in Egypt was "the shame of her youth, her captivity in Babylon was"
the reproachof her widowhood."(2)The figures would apply, to some extent,
to that idea!, Gentile Church which the Saviour saw in vision when He said,
"Other sheepI have, etc., including all those in the eastand westand north
and south who were yearning after God, but to whom the Lord had not yet
revealedHis love, and who were not yet brought to rest in the Infinite heart of
God.(3)The description will apply also to the whole Church of God now:
which, during the transition period through which we are now passing, while
the greatproblem of sin and its treatment is being workedout, is often in
shade, often mourning the paucity of those who join her ranks, often the
objectof the world s ridicule and scorn!(4) The passagewill befit also the
individual believer, in whose chequered experience of sorrow, temptation and
care all the varied phases of the troubles of the Church are presentedin
miniature.

II. WE HAVE A SECOND PICTURE AS BRIGHT AS THE FIRST IS
DARK. The secondis given on accountof the gloom of the first, for the special
purpose of cheering the saints of God, throughout the period of shade. In the
picture given with this view, an entirely different setof figures is made use of;
even such as belong to the erectionof a building. And there are, scattered
throughout this chapter, no fewerthan nine main features which go to make
up the outline of this beauty and glory which, in spite of present gloom, the
prophet sees farahead. Regarding the Church of the future, then, under the
figure of a building, let us observe —
1. God Himself is the Founder of it. The foundation is Jesus Christ.
2. Men from every nation under heaven will gather within it. "The God of the
whole earth shall He be called." The restrictions of the past shall be done
away.
3. Righteousnessshallhe its basis (ver. 14).
4. Close and endearing relationship with God will be its privilege (ver. 5).
"Thy Makeris thine Husband." He who formed by the hand of His power,
will make Himself known to you in the tenderest love.
5. Light will be its heritage. "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord"
(ver. 13).
6. Peacewill be its possession. "Great shallbe the peace of thy children" (ver.
13).
7. Beautywill be its adornment. "BeholdI will setthy stones in stibium" (ver.
11). Stibium was a peculiar dye with which the Hebrew womentinged the
eyelashes,in order that, being surrounded with this tinge, the beauty of the
eye might flash forth more brightly. So the stones with which this building of
God was to be erected, were to be set, as it were, in cementof so rich a dye as
to set forth their lustre in richer beauty. And thy battlements of rubies, thy
gates offlashing gems, and all thy borders of precious stones." Thus the
mineral world is made to yield its meed of illustration; its choicestgems are
used as symbolic of the glory and beauty of the Church. Why? Becauseall
beauty and glory of jasper, amethyst, ruby, sapphire, and pearl, when so set

that their radiance gleams out most brilliantly, are but a reflectionof that
higher spiritual beauty of Him who createdall.
8. Divine protection will be its safeguard(vers. 14, 15). "Thoushalt be far
from oppression;for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not
come near thee. Behold, they (thine enemies)shall surely gathertogether, but
not by Me (not by My consent): whosoevershallgather togetheragainstthee
shall fall for thy sake"(rather, shall fall upon thee). "Whosoevershallfall on
this stone shall he broken." Adverse weapons shallbe blunted. Adverse
tongues shall be condemned — both by the force of powerful argument, and
by the mightier demonstration of a holy life (ver. 16). "I have createdthe
wasterto destroy," the same power which builds the Church, has createdall
her foes;hence the inference is inevitable, God will not suffer those who arc
opposedto Him to use their power so as to destroy that part of His work
which He values most.
9. Perpetuity shall be its everlasting law (vers. 7-10). This is expressedin
various forms of antithesis. Everything is wrapped up in this ninefold glory!
(C. Clemance, D.D.)
"Sing, O barren
In the previous chapters we have heard the exiles summoned to leave Babylon,
and beheld the Divine Servant becoming the Sin-bearer for them and the
world. Here our attention ,is startlingly recalledto the desolate city of
Jerusalem. "Barren;" "Forsaken;"Desolate"— such are the terms applied to
her by One who cannoterr. And they are corroboratedby the testimony of a
contemporary (Nehemiah 1:3; Nehemiah 2:3, 13-17). But how is this? Have we
not learnt that the Mediator has put awaysin at the costto Himself of wounds
and bruises, stripes and death? Is that redemption complete which fails to
grapple with all the results and consequencesofwrong-doing? This opens up
a greatsubject, and one that touches us all. Though our sin is forgiven, yet
certain consequences remain, of which that ruined city is a type. We cannot
undo the past; God Himself cannotundo it. It can never be as though it had

never been. The seventy years of captivity, the shame, the sorrow, the anguish
to God, the forfeited opportunities, attended by a multitude of hypocrites, and
her courts were crowdedwith formalists, but the genuine children of Israel
were sadly few; and when the Lord, the Husband of the Church, Himself
arrived, the Church was in no happy condition. After that the Lords had been
lain in the grave and risen againand ascendedand left the Church, then were
the days of refreshing, and the times of the visitation of the Spirit. At all
seasonswhenthe Church has been desolate and has become barren, God has
appearedto her.
II. I now intend to use the text in reference to ANY ONE CHURCH.
1. There are some separate Churches which are in a very sad condition, and
may most truly be said to be barren and desolate.
2. Brethren will ask me what is their present duty as members of such
Churches? Your duty is very plain Labour to be consciousofthe sad
barrenness of the Church to which you belong: Spreadthe case before
Jehovah, and be sure that you look awayfrom everything that you yourself
can do to Him, and to him alone. But mind you do not pray without proving
the sincerity of your prayers by action.
III. THE POOR HELPLESS SINNER HAS HIS CASE WELL DESCRIBED
BY THE PROPHET AS BARREN AND DESOLATE. "Barren!ah, that I am.
I have not one meritorious fruit that I can bring before God." You are
desolate, too;no one cancomfort you. Your barrenness is barrenness for ever
if left to itself, and your desolationis utter and helpless unless some one
intervene. May I ask you to look at the chapter which precedes my text? Jesus
has takenthe sinner's sin upon Himself, and made a complete atonement;
therefore, "Sing, O barren!" The mighty Redeemerhas come out of His
dwelling-place, and has fought the enemy, and won the victory. "Sing, O
barren!"
IV. Does not this text belong to THE DEPRESSED BELIEVES? Youand I,
though we have brought forth some fruit unto the, Lord Jesus, yetsometimes
feel very barren. What are we to do? "Sing, O barren, etc. But what canI sing
about? I cannotsing about the present; I cannot even sing concerning the

past. Yet I can sing of Jesus Christ. What is my barrenness. It is the platform
for Divine power. What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the
sapphire of His everlasting love.
V. Our text ought to have a specialvoice to THOSE CHRISTIANS WHO
HAVE NOT BEEN SUCCESSFULIN DOING GOOD.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Gentile Church a joyful mother
R. Glover, M. A.
I. THE CHILDLESS MOURNER. The passageis the presentheritage of the
Gentile Church. Gentiledom was for a long time without a spiritual child.
Now she may sing over a multitudinous family of true Christians. Addressed
to the Jews as a prophecy — showing, in their sadness and depression, that
though matters lookedso dark for the cause ofGod now, yet there was a
bright and blessedhope. Cheers them, not so much by showing grounds of
present rejoicing, but by providing a telescope by which they might behold
"the goodtime coming." We may here note —
1. One greatuse of prophecy. It cancheer when things immediately around
cause depression.(1)To a sad Church the minister should speak much of
unfulfilled prophecy.(2) The Christian, in the "presentdistress should do the
same for himself (2 Peter1:19).
2. The imagery. It rings poetic changes onthe idea of childlessness.Expressive
imagery to Jewishwomen, who so longed for children, in hope of Messiah.(1)
Such should be the Church's longing. Her prayer should be, "Give me
children, or I die!" Bad sign when a Church seems contentto be barren or to
have no spiritual increase.(2)Whenshe remains without new births (or
conversions), she should mourn. Contemplate the once barrenness of
Christendom. Its comparative barrenness in vast tracts now, even in Christian
England!

II. THE REJOICING MOTHER.Gentiledomfor ages "unmarried" —
"desolate." WhenChrist came, He "calledher by name," and espousedher.
Then how rapidly a family was brought forth. In Pentecostaltimes, what
"multitudes were added to the Lord" (Acts 6:7; Acts 16:5). What joy this
caused!(Acts 2:46, 47, etc.)
1. The great subjectof the verse, the joy of the Church in multitudes of
conversions. This joy of the Lord is her strength (Nehemiah 8:10). She is then
encouragedto labour with fresh zeal and hope in works ofevangelization.
Therefore "new births should be, as it were, registered;the successes ofthe
Gospelshould be published to evoke this healthful joy. hence the reflex
benefits of missionary gatherings.
2. Reasons forsuch joy. Not only because souls are saved, but because —(1)
Increase is a sign that God's power is with His Church.(2) It confirms our own
faith. The more they are who believe what we believe, the more confident we
must feel in the truth of our faith.(3) It makes heavenappear attractive by the
"sympathy of numbers." We may use the text as a test . How far are we in
sympathy with the Church in joy over conversions to God?
(R. Glover, M. A.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(12) Therefore will I divide . . .—The “great” and the “powerful” are words
which describe the kings and rulers of mankind. The Servant, once despised
and forsaken, takeshis place with them, though not in the same manner, or by
the same means. We may have echoes ofthe words in our Lord’s language as
to the “spoiling of the strong man” (Matthew 12:29) as to the contrastbetween
the greatnessofHis Kingdom and that of the rulers and greatones of the
world (Matthew 20:25;Mark 10:42;Luke 22:25). The LXX., Vulg., Luther,

and some modern scholars render, I will give him the multitude as a prey, the
spoil “of the mighty ones.”
Becausehe hath poured out . . .—The absolutelyvoluntary characterofthe
sacrifice is againemphasised. The next clause is better takenas he let himself
be numbered. So it was that he bore (and took away)the sin of many, and
gained the power for availing intercession, both in the hour of death (Luke
23:34)and in the eternal triumph (Hebrews 7:25). The ideal Servant,
contemned, condemned, failing, is seen, at last, to be identical with the ideal
King.
MacLaren's Expositions
Isaiah
THE SUFFERING SERVANT-VI
Isaiah53:12.
The first clause ofthis verse is somewhatdifficult. There are two ways of
understanding it. One is that adopted in A. V., according to which the
suffering Servant is represented as equal to the greatestconquerors. He is to
be as gloriouslysuccessfulin His victory as they have been in theirs. But there
are two very strong objections to this rendering-first, that it takes ‘the many’
in the sense ofmighty, thus obscuring the identity of the expressionhere and
in the previous verse and in the end of this verse; and secondly, that it gives a
very feeble and frigid ending to the prophecy. It does not seema worthy close
simply to saythat the Servant is to be like a Cyrus or a Nebuchadnezzarin
His conquests.

The other rendering, though there are some difficulties, is to be preferred.
According to it ‘the many’ and ‘the strong’ are themselves the prey or spoil.
The words might be read, ‘I will apportion to Him the many, and He shall
apportion to Himself the strong ones.’
This retains the same meaning of ‘many’ for the same expressionthroughout
the context, and is a worthy ending to the prophecy. The force of the clause is
then to represent the suffering Servant as a conqueror, leading back from His
conquests a long train of captives, a rich booty.
Notice some points about this closing metaphor.
Mark its singular contrastto the tone of the rest of the prophecy. Note the
lowliness, the suffering, the minor key of it all, and then, all at once, the leap
up to rapture and triumph. The specialform of the metaphor strikes one as
singular. Nothing in the preceding context even remotely suggestsit. Even the
previous clause about ‘making the many righteous’does not do much to
prepare the wayfor it. Whateverbe our explanation of the words, it must be
one that does full justice to this metaphor, and presents some conquering
poweror person, whose victories are brilliant and real enough to be worthy to
stand at the close ofsuch a prophecy. We must keepin mind, too, what has
been remarked on the two previous verses, that this victorious campaign and
growing conquestis achieved after the Servant is dead. That is a paradox.
And note that the strength of language representing His activity canscarcely
be reconciledwith the idea that it is only the post-mortem influence of His life
which is meant.
Note, too, the singular blending of God’s power and the Servant’s ownactivity
in the winning of this extended sovereignty. Side by side the two are put. The
same verb is used in order to emphasise the intended parallel. ‘I will divide,’

‘He shall divide.’ I will give Him-He shall conquer for Himself. Remember the
intense vehemence with which the Old Testamentguards the absolute
supremacy of divine power, and how strongly it always puts the thought that
God is everything and man nothing. Look at the contrastof the tone when a
human conqueror, whose conquests are the result of God’s providence, is
addressed{Isaiah45:1 - Isaiah 45:3}. There is an entire suppressionof his
personality, not a word about his bravery, his military genius, or anything in
him. It is all I, I, I. Remember how, in Isaiah10:13, one of the sins for which
the Assyrian is to be destroyed is preciselythat he thought of his victories as
due to his own strength and wisdom. So he is indignantly reminded that he is
only ‘a staff in Mine hand,’ the axe with which God hewed the nations,
whereas here the voice of God Himself speaks,and gives a strange place
beside Himself to the will and powerof this Conqueror. This feature of the
prophecy should be accountedfor in any satisfactoryinterpretation.
Note, too, the wide sweepof the Servant’s dominion, which carries us back to
the beginning of this prophecy in Isaiah52:15, where we hear of the Servant
as ‘sprinkling’ {or startling’} many nations, and the ‘kings’is parallelwith
the ‘strong’ in this verse. No bounds are assignedto the Servant’s conquests,
which are, if not declaredto be universal, at leastindefinitely extended and
striding on to world-wide empire.
These points are plainly here. I do not dilate upon them. But I ask whether
any of the interpretations of these words, exceptone, gives adequate force to
them? Is there anything in the history of the restoredexiles which
corresponds to this picture? Even if you admit the violent hypothesis that
there was a better part of the nation, so good that the national sorrows had no
chastisementfor them, and the other violent hypothesis that the devoutest
among the exiles suffered most, and the other that the death and burial and
resurrectionof the Servant only mean the reformation wrought on Israel by
captivity. What is there in the history of Israelwhich can be pointed at as the
conquestof the world? Was the nation that bore the yokes of a Ptolemy, an

Antiochus, a Herod, a Caesar, the fulfiller of this dream of world-conquest?
There is only one thing which canbe calledthe Jew conquering the world. It is
that which, as I believe, is meant here, viz. Christ’s conquest. Apart from that,
I know of nothing which would not be ludicrously disproportionate if it were
allegedas fulfilment of this glowing prophecy.
This prophetic picture is at leastfour hundred years before Christ, by the
admission of those who bring it lowestdown, in their eagerness to getrid of
prophecy. The life of Christ does correspondto it, in such a way that, clause
by clause, it reads as if it were quite as much a history of Jesus as a prophecy
of the Servant. This certainly is an extraordinary coincidence if it be not a
prophecy. And there is really no argument againstthe Messianic
interpretation, except dogmatic prejudice-’there cannot be prophecy.’
No straining is needed in order to fit this greatprophetic picture of the world-
Conqueror to Jesus. Eventhat, at first sight incongruous, picture of a victor
leading long lines of captives, such as we see on Assyrian slabs and Egyptian
paintings, is historically true of Him who ‘leads captivity captive,’ and is,
through the ages,winning ever fresh victories, and leading His enemies,
turned into lovers, in His triumphal progress. He, and He only, really owns
men. His slaves have made real self-surrenders to Him. Other conquerors may
imprison or loadwith irons or deport to other lands, but they are only lords of
bodies. Jesus’chains are silken, and bind hearts that are proud of their bonds.
He carries off His free prisoners ‘from the power of darkness’into His
kingdom of light. His slaves rejoice to say, ‘I am not my own,’ and he only
truly possesses himselfwho has given himself awayto the Conquering Christ.
For all these centuries He has been conquering hearts, enthralling and
thereby liberating wills, making Himself the life of lives. There is nothing else
the leastlike the bond betweenJesus and millions who never saw him. Who
among all the leaders of thought or religious teachers has been able to impress
his personalityon others and to dominate them in the fashionthat Jesus has
done and is doing to-day? How has He done this thing, which no other man

has been able in the leastto do? What is His charm, the secretof His power?
The prophet has no doubt what it is, and unfolds it to us with a significant
‘For.’ We turn, then, to the prophetic explanation of that worldwide empire
and note-
II. The foundation of the Servant’s dominion.
That explanation is given in four clauses whichfall into two pairs. They
remarkably revert to the thought of the Servant’s sufferings, but in how
different a tone these are now spokenof, when they are no longer regardedas
the results of man’s blind failure to see His beauty, or as inflicted by the
mysterious ‘pleasure of Jehovah,’but as the causes ofHis triumph! Echoes of
both the two first clauses are heard from the lips of Jesus. As He passed
beneath the tremulous shadow of the olives of Gethsemane, He appealedfor
the companionship of the three, by an all but solitary revelationof His
weakness andsorrow, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; abide
ye here and watchwith Me.’ And even more distinctly did He lay His hand on
this prophecy when He ended all His words in the upper room with ‘This
which is written must be fulfilled in Me, And He was reckonedwith
“transgressors.”‘Maywe not claim Jesus as endorsing the Messianic
interpretation of this prophecy? He gazedon the portrait painted ages before
that night of sorrow, and saw in it His own likeness, andsaid, That is meant
for Me. Some of us feelthat, kenosis orno kenosis, He is the best judge of who
is the original of the prophet’s portrait.
The two final clauses are separatedfrom the preceding by the emphatic
introduction of the pronominal nominative, and cohere closelyas gathering up
for the last time all the description of the Servant, and as laying broad and
firm the basis of His dominion, in the two greatfacts which sum up His office
and betweenthem stretch overthe past and the future. ‘He bare the sin of
many, and maketh intercessionforthe transgressors.’The former of these two

clauses brings up the pathetic picture of the scapegoatwho ‘bore upon him all
their iniquities into a solitary land.’ The Servant conquers hearts because He
bears upon Him the grim burden which a mightier hand than Aaron’s has
made to meet on His head, and because He bears it away. The ancient
ceremony, and the prophet’s transference ofthe words describing it to his
picture of the Servantwho was to be King, floated before John the Baptist,
when he pointed his brown, thin finger at Jesus and cried: ‘Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh awaythe sin of the world.’ The goathad borne the sins
of one nation; the prophet had extended the Servant’s ministry indefinitely, so
as to include unnumbered ‘many’; John spoke the universal word, ‘the
world.’ So the circles widened.
But it is not enoughto bear awaysins. We need continuous help in the
present. Our daily struggles, our ever-felt weakness,allthe ills that flesh is
heir to, cry aloud for a mightier than we to be at our sides. So on the Servant’s
bearing the sins of the many there follows a continuous act of priestly
intercession, in which, not merely by prayer, but by meritorious and
prevailing intervention, He makes His own the cause ofthe many whose sins
He has borne.
On these two acts His dominion rests. Sacrifice and Intercessionare the
foundations of His throne.
The empire of men’s hearts falls to Him because ofwhat He has done and is
doing for them. He who is to possessus absolutely must give Himself to us
utterly. The empire falls to Him who supplies men’s deepestneed. He who can
take awaymen’s sins rules. He who can effectually undertake men’s cause will
be their King.

If Jesus is or does anything less or else, He will not rule men for ever. If He is
but a Teacheranda Guide, oblivion, which shrouds all, will sooneror later
wrap Him in its misty folds. That His name should so long have resistedits
influence is due altogetherto men having believed Him to be something else.
He will exercise an everlasting dominion only if He have brought in an
everlasting righteousness.He will sit King for ever, if and only if He is a priest
for ever. All other rule is transient.
A remarkable characteristic ofthis entire prophecy is the frequent repetition
of expressions conveying the idea of sufferings borne for others. In one form
or another that thought occurs, as we reckon, eleventimes, and it is especially
frequent in the last verses ofthe chapter. Why this perpetual harking back to
that one aspect? Itis to be further noticed that throughout there is no hint of
any other kind of work which this Servant had to do. He fulfils His service to
God and man by being bruised for men’s iniquities. He came not to be
ministered unto but to minister, and the chief form of His ministry was that
He gave His life a ransom for the many. He came not to preach a gospel, but
to die that there might be a gospelto preach. The Cross is the centre of His
work, and by it He becomes the Centre of the world.
Look once more at the sorrowful, august figure that rose before the prophet’s
eye-with its strange blending of sinlessness andsorrow, God’s approval and
God’s chastisement, rejectionand rule, death and life, abject humiliation and
absolute dominion. Listen to the last echoes ofthe prophet’s voice as it dies on
our ear-’He bore the sins of the many.’ And then hearkenhow eight hundred
years after another voice takes up the echoes-butinstead of pointing away
down the centuries, points to One at his side, and cries, ‘Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh awaythe sin of the world.’ Look at that life, that death,
that grave, that resurrection, that growing dominion, that inexhaustible
intercession-andsay, ‘Of whom speakeththe prophet this?’

Jesus was numbered with transgressors

Jesus was numbered with transgressors

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Jesus was numbered with transgressors