Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
The glory of God is the primary issue in Isaiah and in all of Scripture. God does all for the glory of His own name. In Isaiah 6:3 we see the angelic beings crying out “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” The very holiness of God in some way consists in the fact that the whole earth is full of His glory and that is true whether men see it or not. The darkness and blindness of men to spiritual things does not negate the fact that the light of the glory of God is shining forth at all times and in all places.
Isaiah 35:2 It will blossom profusely And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, The majesty of our God.
Isaiah 40:5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.
Isaiah 42:12 Let them give glory to the LORD And declare His praise in the coastlands.
Isaiah 60:2 “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.
The Son of God bearing the guilt and sin of many sinners to the point where God was and is satisfied is glorious to the LORD of hosts. The pleasure of the LORD is crushing the Son is glorious. Beholding the glory of God’s perfect wrath is glorious as we behold it when it poured forth upon the Son. We can behold the glory of God’s pleasure in His own glory in beholding the cross. We can behold the glory of God’s love for the body of His Son in the Church that He purchased. We can behold the glory of the self-sufficiency of God in saving sinners instead of sinners being able to do something of themselves. We can behold the glory of God’s perfect and eternal plan of making a place for the display of His glory of justice and wrath where they met at the display of His perfect love and grace. It may be the case that academics can spend many years studying nuances of the text of Isaiah 53 or of various things about the cross, but for those with eyes to see the glory of God they will see far more.
For those who love God they will love the sight of a crucified Savior and know that the wrath of God was fully satisfied by the Son. They will behold a satisfied justice and know that Christ alone is the way for their sins to be fully and totally propitiated. Those who love God and His glory will learn to look at the cross know that the glory and the majesty of God was displayed and is displayed at the cross. Those who love God and His glory will see that the glory of the LORD has been revealed. Those who love God and His glory can know by a gaze of the cross that God will not give His glory to another. Those who love God and His glory will know that all should live to the glory of God. Those who love God and His glory will know that while the earth is in deep darkness at the moment, at some point the LORD Himself will arise and His glory will appear. Those who love God and His glory know that His glory is shining even now for all those with eyes to see. For those who don’t see His glory, they need a new heart with new spiritual eyes that they may behold the most beautiful things that can be beheld.
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