a corresponding incident, phrase, or doctrine for almost every particular item in these verses, as for His being despised (Luke 23: 11); being sorrowful (Jno. 11:35); grieved (Mark 3:5), ete. (2) The teaching is for the whole world as well as for. the J ew t h at (a) H e was born amo ng the spiritually dry and dead of the seed of David; t h at He hwd no attractiveness to natural'* men, b ut was repugnant to their lusts and prejudices; t h at He was treated with contumely and con- tempt by them, and was a cross Bearer all His life. Though He made the world, and was the Christ of the Jew, t he world knew Him not, and His own rejected Him (Jno. 1,10, 11). He was "wounded" (pierced); bruised: scourged; uncomplaining; judged (wrongfully); led to the slaughter; cut off (put to d e a t h ); numbered with lawbreakers (thieves, robbers); buried with them, but in a rich ma n 's grave (Mat. 27:57); yet pro- longed His days (renewed His life); -sees His seed (men become His children and fol- lowers (Heb. 2:13); does God's pleasure (Heb. 10:7-9); justifies many (makes them righteous) Rom. 3:24-26); ma k es interces- sion for them (Rom. 8:34); shall be satis- fied (Jude 24. 25); shall apportion the spoil (Young) with the mighty (Eph. 4:8; Rev. 20:4); and all "because He poured out His soul unto death" (Phil. 2:8, 9). (b) All this was by the purpose and power of God. He was smitten of God; all was laid on Him bv God; it pleased the Lord to bruise H i m; God gave Him (Jno. 3:16); did not spare Him (Rom. 8:32); forsook him (Mat. 27:46); all by His eternal predetermination (Act 2:33); all as here foreshown by the prophet, (c) And all t h at He endured was for the aoostate "scattered and peeled" Jew, and- hell-ridden Gentile (Eph. 2:1-3); all of whom despised, rejected, and found no beauty in Him, for He was our Substitute, and all His sufferings were vicarious, so t h at our iniquities, all our iniquities (1: e., our guilty deserts and punishments) were laid on Him and His sorrows were our sorrows; His griefs our griefs; His wounds our wounds; His bruises our bruises; His chastisement our chastisement; His stripes our stripes; His judgment our judgment; His slaughter our slaughter; His burial our burial. So t h at His shooting from a dead root is our shooting from our dead root: His: inherent comeliness our comeliness; His beauty our beauty; His peace our peace; His cutting off our grafting in; His travail our new birth; His prolonged days our eternal life; His spoil» our spoils; all because His right- eousness is our righteousness, inasmuch - as He was numbered with us; had our iniqui- ties, all our iniquities, laid on Him,! and bare the sin of us many, and makes continual intercession for us. Glory to God! Halle- lujah! Servant, verse 13. This verse also reveals Him as the exalted one—high and lifted up, Isa. 7:1; 67:15, and exalted exceedingly, Phil. 2:6-9. The Servant a Spectacle, verse 14 and 2. There was no outward show of beauty or splendor, but the rather an un» attractive man The beauty of the Lord was the glory within, which shone out (if His life. There was nothing to a t t r a ct thf> eye or arrest attention. It required a s p i r i t- ual eye to see the beautv of the spirit within. The Servant a Surprise, verse 15.
(b) The unheeded report, is the Gospel of the whole Bible, but most of the New Testa- ment. "Our report" —what the true Israel proclaimed. So few believed, or will to the end (Luke 18:8) t h at we wonder, "Wh o ?" (e) "The arm," " a r m" equals power. The a r m of the Lord the Gospel (Rom. 1:16); the cross (1 Cor. 1:18); the Spirit (Act 1:8); the Christ (1 Cor. 1:24); all are in Him the a rm of the Lord." " To whom is H e revealed?" Blind they had been to the veiled though unveiled Lord of glory. H ad they known, they would not have crucified (1 Cor. 2:8). Though manifest in flesh, yet H e is only "spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14); and to this is added the veiling of eyes by the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4). "Blessed thou Simon Barjona .(Mat. 16:17), and thou Saul of Tarsus from whose eyes the scales fell (Act 9:18). Lord ma n i- fest Thyself to us as Thou dost not to the world" (John 14:21, 22). "We would see J e s u s !" (d) "Tender plant," "shoot, suck- er," sprung from a stump. Christ is "the stem, the rod of Jesse" (Isa. 11:2); "the B r a n c h" (Zee. 3:8); the "offspring of D a- vid" (Rev. 22:16). Tender in the manger, in Mary's bosom, amo ng the babes of Bethle- hem, and the doctors in the temple; and, in fact, in all His gentle grace in this rude, rough, world t h at pierced- His tender hands, and feet, a na heart. (e) "Dry ground," Israel dead spiritually and politically; the world "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2;1). Out of t h at Israel, out of that hu- ma n i ty He sprung, the harbinger of ever- lasting spring and fruitful summer. • (f) The "root" was the remaining stock of Da- vid. Mary, His mother, and Joseph legally His father, both of the House of David (Luke 2:3, 4). (g) His aspect. "No f o r m ;" "no comeliness;" "no beauty," do not refer to His physique. He; the new, the perfect, could not have wanted all manly grace and beauty. It is trivial to apply this to physical aspect. His immaculate holiness, His sep- aration from sinners, His unlikeness to n a t- ural man, and opposition to His prejudice ma ke Him unattractive, repugnant to J ew and Gentiles. The Jesus whom the world compliments today is a. creature of the imagination, not the real Christ, the Wit- ness to the Truth. H ad He come with the glory of Solomon, the pomp of Caesar, the conceits and traditions of the Rabbis, with a rod of iron to rule the Gentile, and gratify the world-hate of priest and elder and pay the score of Jewish vengeance. He would h.^ve been beautiful in their eyes. B ut we love H im as He was, and as H e is. and as H e shall be! and as we see Him in the lowly. "Fairest Lord Jesus." IV. CONCERNING THE SUFFERINGS. (1) We may find In the New Testament These verses are like a kaleidoscope, giv- ing such a. marvelous variety of pictures of the strange servant. The opening words of verse 13 command o u r - a t t e n t i o n. "Behold, my servant" —then follows a wonderful vis- ion of a supernatural being in the form of a man, acting as a servant of God and servant of man. The opening verse set . him forth as The Sagacious Servant, verse 13, who shall deal prudently o r . wisely.' "In him were all the treasures of wisdom and knowl- edge hid away," Col. 2:3.TI eTheb.Sovereign
PITH AND PIVOT—T. C. H.
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