Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed
Haddon Robinson was a preacher who taught preachers for many years. He talked often about finding what he called “The Big Idea.” In the Bible there is always a big idea. The passage you are looking at has a big idea. Sometimes you try to find the definition of words, the history, and the context of a passage, and all those things are important, but they are just means to the end of finding out what this passage is actually about. You may understand the Greek and Hebrew and all the words, but if it doesn’t help you get the big picture of what the passage is actually about, it is pointless. The purpose of reading a passage is to find out the big idea, the point of the passage.
Haddon Robinson said when he was a young preacher he never knew when to stop studying. When is there enough study behind a sermon? Well, there is never enough if you are talking about plumbing the depths of all that God has in store in the Word of God, but what he came to realize was that he was studying to find out the big idea. The big idea was the point in studying. One of the things that can help us as we read to understand the Bible is when we are reading, wherever it may be, to think, “What is the big idea?” The truth is that Jesus is the big idea. God’s Word finds its end in God’s Son.
Isaiah 53:1 says, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” What follows is a wonderful chapter about the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth. It is about Jesus. The Bible says about Him, “Surely, he hath bourne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” All of that He did for us. Verse 5 says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement for our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Our peace comes for His chastisement.
Notice the exchange in every verse. We have sinned; the Lord Jesus was judged. “The LORD has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.” Verse 7 says, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted.” Verse 8 says, “For the transgression of my people was he stricken.” Verse 10 says, “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him…thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.” God’s righteousness and justice are satisfied by the work of Jesus Christ, His righteous servant. Verse 11 says that He will justify many, not only a few, “for he shall bear their iniquity.”
Verse 12 says, “He was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Back in verse 6 it says, “All we like sheep have gone astray…and the LORD hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all.” Notice it says, “All” and “Many,” not just a few. Jesus is the big picture. God’s Word finds its end in God’s Son.
In Luke 22:37 Jesus says, “For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.” They have a purpose or fulfillment in Jesus. In the first place, Jesus is the end to the story. He is the purpose to the story. You might read the story of David and go back to the portion about Amnon. Why do we read about Amnon? It is because it is really about Absalom. Why do we read about Absalom? It is because it is about David. Why do we read about David? It is because it is really about Israel. Why do we read about Israel? It is because it is really about the Messiah that God would send through Israel. Why does that matter? It matters because it matters to you. This is the story of Jesus and He is the end to the story. All the stories in the Bible find their consummation in the big picture, Jesus.
Jesus is the end to genealogies. Maybe you have slogged through endless pages of genealogies in the Old Testament wondering why they are there. Well, the last genealogies in the Word of God are the genealogies of Christ. All those genealogies find their summation in Jesus. They lay a big picture context for the Messiah God would send.
Jesus is the end to sin and judgment. Romans 10:4 says, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” There are many people ignorant of God’s righteousness going about to establish their own righteousness and have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Christ is the end of the law. It is not that the law is dead and gone. It is that the summation or purpose of the law is to bring people to Christ. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Years ago, a man attending the Bill Rice Ranch for a men’s event was concerned about peace with God. As a young man he had been religious, but later in life he became a convict. He had felt virtue, but then had the feeling of his guilt pressing upon him. I remember telling him that it is not our righteousness but Jesus’ righteousness that gains us favor with God. It is putting our faith and trust in what Jesus did. He took our sorrows, bore our griefs, took our chastisement, and our punishment. The man said, “Wow, that’s it?” People would rather crawl to China on their knees on broken glass than to come to God by God’s way through faith in God’s Son. So, who would believe this?
Most people live and then die. Jesus lived, died, but now He lives forever. You can live forever too because Jesus is the big picture, the big idea. God’s Word finds its end in God’s Son. That is the way to understand the Bible and the way to accept the Son whom God has sent.