Ian Thomson

The other night at our little gathering we had a boisterous time reading Matthew 13, Jesus’ parables of the kingdom. Here’s some things we learned from the Sower.

We saw that only one of the four soil types was described as “good soil”.  A good farmer would surely be aware that the three inferior soils would not produce good crops. But this is not about a farmer. This is about a sower who sows not sparingly but widely and profusely, with joyous abandon.

We could see that the results of sowing seeds of the Kingdom of God vary. But here, the human heart is hidden from the sower’s view. Like Jesus, the sowers –his disciples—must sow generously and not prejudge whether certain ‘soils’ are worthy, even though they are aware that only the good soil will produce a crop.

“Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (Mat 13:9—17)

We were impressed that Jesus keeps stressing this. So it is a very important phrase, used 5 times in the Gospels, 8 times in Revelation, plus there are similar sayings scattered in the NT. We were deeply challenged to take note!

We noted the obvious: hearing is what ears are for! The Greek akouo (to hear) also means to obey, to heed, to act. The strong implication is that if understanding does not follow then it is critical that the listener finds out, asks. So this is what his disciples do. They ask.

He tells them and us that the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven is given “to you”: “to you who have left everything to follow me”.  These secrets are not even revealed to many prophets e.g., John-Baptist and “righteous” people.

Jesus assures us: There is abundance for those who see it, who hear it, who get it! Those in the Kingdom. To those outside the kingdom everything remains puzzling, parabolic, mysterious. Even what they have will be taken from them.

Of the crowds, Jesus quotes Isa 6:9,10: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

We thought: what a terrible fate, to remain without this precious understanding.

We saw with great sadness, that many of Jesus’ listeners, like those in Isaiah’s day were happy to listen to stories like this but avoided the truth in them in case they understood and were disturbed out of their complacency into action. So today, many are like those in Isaiah’s day and are like the crowds who clamoured for his touch and yet remained without understanding. Complacent. Sterile. Unfruitful. Stagnant. God’s frozen people. Valleys full of dry bones.

We could see that the true people of God are now found outside unbelieving Israel. This is the true flock of God who are identified in Isaiah and the O.T. prophets as the righteous remnant of the chosen people. And the true people of God are now today also found outside the unbelieving churchgoers.

We could see that Jesus’ parables gradually took hold on the disciples. They followed him and understood the radical new way Jesus was starting, especially post-Pentecost.

As we 21^st century disciples, listened to Jesus explaining the various soils, we sensed the dreadful, the tragic, the hopelessness of  merely hearing Jesus’ words but not understanding and those precious words being snatched away (sown on a path). Then, sadly, for the ‘rocky ground’ there was joy for starters, but when trouble came and the word had failed to take root, then the precious spark of life dies. So also among the “thorns” when people inside and without the fellowship of believers, allow the world, or worry, or wealth to choke the treasured word.

Only on the good soil is the word heard and understood and obeyed and a crop produced. This is the meaning of a disciple, to bear much fruit.

This parable is very relevant for us following as it does the previous words and practices of Jesus about the ready harvest and the sending of the disciples on mission.

The metaphors Jesus uses, we saw, are organic! The Kingdom of God is not institutional.  And the gathering (church) of God is never seen as an institution in the Bible! We must stop reading institutionalism (a tradition of men) into the biblical text.

So what have we learnt from this parable?

1. We are sent to sow seeds of the kingdom, spreading seeds abundantly.
2. It’s not up to us to decide the worth of the “soil”, to discriminate
3. Seeds are powerful, they will germinate—the sower expects plants!
4. Everyone has ears, but few have ears that will hear, heed, that is, obey, act, change, turn, fear God.

This hearing is a matter of the heart. Hard, calloused hearts cannot hear. Here is a call for us to examine our hearts –do I have “ears” that can hear and obey the word of God? or a hard, calloused heart, a heart that does not want to hear and so cannot hear?

We ask ourselves, does our soil produce abundantly from the seeds of God’s word? Or, are we stuck in doing things our way, the safe way, the known way, like everyone else, tradition? Am we capable of hearing Jesus’ voice above the noise of tradition, the world and earthly wisdom? Would we love to be producing abundantly?

There is a design from above. We are to listen to Jesus, ask him, study him, let him teach us. We realise we must not just assume that the way our mentors, our teachers, have practised, is Jesus’ way. The road to fruitlessness is paved with assumptions.

Copy Jesus.

Isaiah’s prophecy, made centuries before the vicarious sacrificial atonement of the Servant was spelled out in such remarkable detail, as we have seen. Isaiah now predicts the Servant’s victory:

After he has suffered, he will see the fruit of his suffering and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11)

Jews could not accept that Messiah could die. But death could not hold this Servant of Israel.  And the outcomes were absolutely unexpected. The Lord God of the Jews, the God of Abraham, the God of Moses,  is the God of surprises, time and time again acting in ways never dreamed of by his people but made known to his prophets, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Zechariah ……

The slain Servant will see the results of his suffering –Isaiah wrote in the future tense. To see the results of his suffering means he will come back to life. Yes, he walked out of the grave, he rose from death. YHWH would not allow his holy one to see corruption! (Psalm 16:8-11).

Isaiah foretold the servant’s sacrifice would mean justification for many, and he will bear their iniquities. This is in the Old Testament, not just the New Testament! It is in the Book of the prophet Isaiah! So the Jewish, Messianic believer, Saul of Tarsus (Paul), the former Pharisee, the former persecutor of the disciples of Jesus, writing with eyes wide open, says …

just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18-19)

Isaiah continued to prophesy what the results of his suffering would be:

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great and he will divide the spoils with the numerous. Isaiah 53:12a

Again we read Saul in his Letter to the Phillipian believers:

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Messiah is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:9-11. And all this! Why? Because …

because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. Isaiah 53:12b

He said to his disciples just before his suffering:  It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’ and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfilment.” Lu 22:36-37

You will recall he was crucified between two criminals—numbered with the transgressors. Can’t you see how extraordinary this all is?

If you have any ears to hear with, then hear for God’s sake! Do not just sit there and harden your heart.

More!  Matthew (26:28) records the suffering servant before his ordeal saying . … my blood is poured out for many. No doubt this was said at the third cup taken after supper (the cup of redemption) at the Passover feast with his disciples. Of course this Passover meal would coincide with the night of his arrest by the religious leaders and his sacrifice on the tree with the Temple sacrifices of Pesach. What does Pesach stand for?

The sacrificial lamb dies

Those who obey Yahweh are saved

There is protection from judgment

There is deliverance

Finally, to cap everything off, Isaiah has the miraculous prophetic foresight to declare in the Holy Spirit what he would never appreciate until the new world:

For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:12c

Note this is in the past tense!  This is all extraordinary, amazing, totally surprising.

Look, reader, you just have to believe in the suffering servant of Israel who the writers of the New Testament had met, touched, heard, learned of him, watched him die and saw him raised from death.

The time you have left is very short. Today if you will hear his voice do not harden your heart.

We are now at the last of these 5 stanzas of this prophetic word of Isaiah, a passage of eternal significance: Isaiah 53:10-12.  I will confine this blog, the first for many weeks from this writer, simply to this verse 10 and follow up with the remainder soon.

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though you [the LORD] make his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. Isa 53:10

It was the LORD’S  will to crush him, this precious human being, this Son of God! What a mystery, far, far beyond our understanding, to cause his life to suffer as an offering for sin.  This is God acting in human history. This is God doing what he had always planned. This is how much he loves us and how grave is our sin.

You got a better rescue plan?

Do you not see it? God, the Father this wonderful person values you so much, loves us so dearly that he has done even this in sending us His Christ, the Jewish Messiah, to rescue us and set us free from fear, domination of the evil powers and an eternal death.

Or are you smarter than God? Do you have a better solution? No. This ‘foolishness’ of God is much wiser than your ideas, your private little philosophy, your miserably-weak world view, your bankrupt and beggarly religion, your vain self-righteous insurance you think will get you over the line.

This remarkable word speaks unmistakably of a ransom, a vicarious death, the lamb slain. Done.

Yes. Yes. This is a death of the innocent instead of the offenders, the many. Us. All of us. Jews and Gentiles.  Religious and irreligious. Wealthy and poor. Young and old. We have all broken fellowship with God, acted as offenders, sinned, gone our own ways. We have turned our backs on the Lover who having provided us life upon this awesome planet, now does the ultimate to win us back to His bosom.

The story teller in Matthew 20:28 quotes Jesus’ emphatic word about himself: the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. There it is – the suffering servant of Isaiah, predicted 6 centuries before and fulfilled in unmistakable detail in the death of the historical Jesus, an act that is emphasised over and over by all the writers of the New Testament.

He suffered and he died. But as Isaiah saw long ago, he will see his offspring, innumerable people from every race, generation, nationality, status and culture. He will see the fruit of his labours, the results of his offering. The suffering servant will survive and will see the abundant life flowing from his offering. And that’s not all. God’s design, his will, will is being restored and seen under his leadership.

His leadership, his movement: It began with an outpouring of power and authority upon his offspring, his followers who against all odds in an aggressive Roman rule and pervasive Greek  ideas and culture, turned that world around. Today the results of his death, abound in China, in Africa in the Middle East and in South East Asia – things that are not widely known in the media dominated West.

He sees the results of that dreadful travail of his human soul. He lives. He lives! Victorious.

Last time we looked at the third of five stanzas in this amazing writing produced long centuries ago  with an vision for many centuries to come. Come with me now and think about this forth stanza beginning at Isaiah 53:7 for three more heavily significant verses.

Pay attention to Isaiah the prophet!  What is here for us to get excited about?

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Isa 53:7

No protest, no defence. Complete vulnerability. No rescue from above. No lamb resists shearing, no bleating even when cut and bruised. Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?”  But Jesus remained silent. (Mat 26:63)

The writer of the Gospel of John tells how it will play out on the charged lips of the immerser prophet indicating to the troubled crowds: “Look, there’s the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) the Jews understood the significance of the slain lamb. They lived with the ritual of temple sacrifices continually. They remembered the great deliverance in the Exodus story with the blood of the lamb on their dwellings as the sign of their obedience to the word of God on that dreadful night.

Do you not see the details, the way it all fits with the drama played out at the hands of the enraged blinded religious Jews in cahoots with their hated Roman oppressors.

Anything but Jesus’ way, his kindness, his intimacy with the Almighty! Anyone but this man and his so-called kingdom!

Amazingly, insanely, exclaiming, shouting to Governor Pontius Pilate we have no king but Caesar!

From arrest and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. Isa 53:8

Five unfair, unprofessional, hurried, frantic, illegal trials in the night, with trumped up charges, twisted testimony, lies and half-truths, desperation to do away with the very best of human beings. Get rid of him at all costs. Yes, even risking the astronomically terrible cost of judgment for murder of the Son of God.
Who gave a protest, who cared?  Disciples ran in fear, despair. Peter’s awful denial. Left alone with his tormentors. There was no man to have pity on him. Truly, he was in the world and the world was made through him yet the world did not know him. This, even as the world of human beings whom he loved, despised and rejected him. He came to his own people and they did not receive him.

There were no followers. No offspring offered any help. All deserted him bar a few of the women.

O intolerable day, the Lord of life cut off from the land of the living.

Yet also the greatest of days : for the transgression of my people he was punished. My people!

Do you get it? My people. It was for God’s people! He was the Lamb of God. beloved of God yet punished for God’s own people. Think how much we are valued, cherished, loved. Here is love, not that we loved him, but he loved us.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Isa 53:9

Taken down, carried into a nearby place of the dead. Placed into a rock-cut tomb. Stone dead, the Lord of Life. Note that in our ancient text, penned 400 years before what it was describing, the word wicked is plural and rich is singular. Here is a very, very precise text! For there were two thieves, and one rich man, Joseph.  That is extraordinary. We can trust this text.

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.   Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,  and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. Mt 27:57-59.

No sinner here. No conviction, all of history will agree. Pilate on edge finding no fault but bowing to crowd pressure and political expediency.  Pilate’s wife’s dream unnerving her, warning him to have nothing to do with that just man.  The cry of the executed thief and the conclusion of the executioner, the Roman Centurion : this man has to be the Son of God.

1 Pet 2:21f.  …… because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 

Here is the great challenge. To live as he did. To follow in his steps. To do as he did.

Last time we looked at the second of five stanzas in this titanic passage. Now just look at the second stanza beginning at Isaiah 53:4 for three powerful, loaded verses. It’s the central stanza, the heart of the whole matter. Pay attention to the prophet!  If you ever hear anything, hear this!

He foretold long centuries ago ..

Isa 53:4  SURELY he took up our pain [or sickness] and bore our suffering [or pains]

The First century Gospel writer, Matthew, was familiar with this prophetic passage and saw this literally fulfilled in the healing work of Jesus of Nazareth :

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.  This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”(Mat 8)

The writer of Matthew knew there was a connection between salvation from sin and healing from sickness. Both have a common root cause, disconnection from the life, the face, the presence of God. With his seemingly timeless foresight, the prophet sees from afar the suffering servant of Israel taking up our pain and suffering and bearing these in place of a whole people universal. Us.

Matthew will go on to tell the story speaking of a Servant of God that, he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (Gospel of Matthew 16)

Isa 53:4b  Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

Ha. The human condition. Were you there too, when they crucified him?  Were you there thinking God is punishing him, taunting him in his terrible humiliation? (Yes, I was. Everyman was.) Surely we think he deserved it, confirmed when we hear that desolate cry from his lips, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

We assumed it was deserved. Just. How dare a man make such claims. O deadly assumption!

Isa 53:5   But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;

We were dead wrong. This was all about us. Our wrong-doing. Our rebellion. Our disobedience. Our refusal to embrace love and the Lover and the altogether Lovely. Our determination to have anyone but this Man of light and love and life. Our wilfulness to follow anyone, even the Destroyer, the murderer, rather than the Lord and Giver of Life. Crushed for us.

That furious one who excelled in vain efforts to spoil the Servant’s offering, that one who oppressed, persecuted Him and his followers,  determined to kill this spurious superstition, later had to write : He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Paul in his Letter to the Romans 4:25).

Another, that thrice-denier, that faithless, terrified ‘leader’, who saw all this and ran away, later with the memory of that moment, pivotal for all history, ground into his mind, commented …

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.  “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (First Letter of Peter 2:23-25)

And then that Hebrew believer who wrote to fellow Hebrews with deep gratitude : Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many.( Hebrews 9:28)

Isa 53:5b   the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

And now we can see it, what was so obscured, so hidden for long ages! That torment, that humiliation, that utterly unrighteous act, that endured suffering, has brought us peace. Shalom. Well-being, wholeness, healing, salvation, freedom, joy, gladness, faith, hope and love, release from the dominion of iniquity, transportation form the dark kingdom into the kingdom of light, the joyous, comfortable, generous, perfect Kingdom of God. all undeserved. That makes it all the more delicious. Satisfying.

Isa 53:6   We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

 Here’s Peter again, always reminding the reader : “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Pet 2:24-25)

We all, sinners by nature, as a race, evaluated collectively, doing what comes naturally. Gone awfully astray. By our own awful choice, each one turning away from life to death, our own way. Suicide.

So much so that God takes the initiative, God reconciling the world unto himself through Christ as the once arch-persecutor says in 2 Cor 5:19. Think about it: God actually laid upon him the filthiness, the humiliation, the shame, the iniquity of all of us. 

This creative, almighty, invisible, surprising, unfathomable, only wise God! Such mercy, compassion. Such value of us must leave us awestruck. 

Just accept it, receive it. That’s all. Done for us. Finished. Once for all. Nothing for us to do. Just believe. Adore. Respond.

And now. Onwards! To live for righteousness!