As presented to us in Isaiah 52:13-53:12.

(Concluded from page 324. Dec. 1924)

In the fourth section of this prophecy we see this same blessed Person tested in every possible way, and every fresh test only bringing out some fresh perfection.

"He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as to his generation, who considereth that He was cut off out of the land of the living? For the transgression of my people He was stricken! And they gave Him his grave with wicked men, and with a rich man when He was dead:because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth."

The two characters of fallen man are deceit and violence. The psalmist speaks of the "bloody and deceitful man," and so the Lord:"All that came before Me were thieves and robbers." The last is the man of violence; the thief, the man of deceit; and yet both are one, for he who will take openly, if he has the power, will use deception if he be weak. But how did He use the power which was undeniably His? The mockers at His cross declared it:"He saved others." And when power was unrighteously against Him, "As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not his mouth."

"If any man offend not in word," says the apostle, "the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." Such, then, was His perfection, from whom no pressure of evil could bring aught but good; who, "when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously."

Yet "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted." In Him was no callousness whatever. Look at Ps. 22, in which, if anywhere, His innermost soul is told out; and mark how every feature of the scene is before Him. With us one sorrow swallows up another; we have not capacity as He, and can little realize even the more outward of His sorrows.

Verse 8 has been variously translated. I do not doubt that, as to the first clause, the margin is the more correct:"He was taken away by distress"-better, "by oppression and judgment." The second clause I would read, as others have suggested:"As to his generation, who considereth that He was cut off out of the land of the living? for the transgression of my people was He stricken." These are the ingredients of His cup of sorrow:cut off by "oppression," perverting the forms of "judgment," amid a careless and unbelieving generation, for whose sin He was "stricken."

At the end only He is separated from the malefactors with whom He had been associated, and with whom they had assigned Him a grave; but, His work accomplished, further humiliation was not permitted. We know how the rich man interposed to fulfil this prophecy. What He really was began to come out, and to be owned of God. Burial with the rich man was only the first of a series of steps, the last of which placed Him "at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens."

We are prepared now, therefore, to see where the path of the perfect Servant terminates. This is the fitting and necessary close of the prophecy, the Deuteronomic ending of this Isaian Pentateuch.

Mediator between God and man, the divine glory and the blessing of man were joined together indissolubly in His heart, as the names of the people were graven on the Urim and Thummim of the high-priest's breastplate. For this double purpose He wrought, and its accomplishment was His reward. The "pleasure of Jehovah" in the salvation of His people was the fruit of the "travail of his soul."

"Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief:when his soul shall make a trespass-offering, He shall see a <seed, He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul; He shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant turn many to righteousness, and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, and bare the sin of many, and made intercession far the transgressors."

It was Jehovah's pleasure He undertook to fulfil, and Jehovah's pleasure was that He should be bruised. But mark well, as the explanation of it, how again comes in the covenant name. God's interest in man it is that requires this-His "delight" (for the word translated "pleasure" is this); and was not His "delight" also (who came to fulfil this) "with the sons of men"? Thus, then, His soul bowed itself to make for them a "trespass-offering." Fittingly this aspect of His sacrificial work is named here, because the trespass is the restitution offering, which repairs all injury, whether toward God or man. Thus it is the blood of the trespass-offering which anoints the ear, and hand, and foot of the leper, to restore him to his place amongst Jehovah's people. It is the governmental offering also, satisfying the requirement of the throne of God, as the sin-offering does that of His nature. Thus He "sees a seed; He prolongs his days," becoming "last Adam," with no conditional tenure of life such as the first had. "He asked life of Thee," says the psalmist, "and Thou gavest it Him, even length of days for ever and ever." This, then, His "seed" share, possessors of eternal life in and with Him.

He then "shall see of the travail of his soul; He shall be satisfied"-blessed satisfaction of a heart like His! His rest, the rest of a perfect love, the rest of the Mediator! What follows as the expression of this? "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant"-there His heart Godward is seen-"turn many to righteousness, and He shall bear their iniquities." It is the word most commonly and rightly rendered "justify," but which has also this meaning, as in Daniel 12:3, where "justify" would be impossible.

Aye, atonement satisfies Him also-Him who makes it. The righteous One could not be satisfied with anything short of this.

Now He comes forth the mighty Conqueror over sin, and death, and all the power of evil, to receive His recompense from God and enjoy the spoils of His conquest. "Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong," that is, as the strong do. But where has this might been shown? What is the field in which He has been Victor? It is the lesson for eternity, and happy those who begin to learn it now! Power in goodness; victory in suffering; the battle-field a cross!-"because He hath poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, and bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."