"Behold, my Servant shall deal wisely, He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Like as many were astonied at You, (His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men,) So shall He startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at Him; for that which had not been told them they shall see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand." (Isaiah 52:13-158,RV,margin) "Who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He has no form nor comeliness; and when we see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hid their face. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." (Isaiah 53:1-3,RV)
We have quoted these verses from the Revised Version, and have been given the alternative reading found in the margin of verse 15, chapter 52. Right here at the beginning we call attention to the difference, so that we may have the change fixed in our minds once for all. It is impossible to say how many people have rested the whole case for sprinkling instead of baptism, upon the faulty rendering of: "So shall He sprinkle many nations." (Isaiah 52:15)
Now it is true that the Hebrew word from which this word is translated has the idea of "spouting forth," and this idea is found in leaping, starting, whether for joy or astonishment. It is used of liquids, as to sprinkle blood or water upon a person or thing. But note carefully this distinction, which is strictly observed, that it is not used of things that are not fluid, and which cannot be scattered forth in fine streams.
The word is often used in the Bible, where it is rightly translated "sprinkle," but it is the liquid that is sprinkled upon the thing. It would be impossible to use it of persons, because men cannot be sprinkled upon anything. We have in the English the accommodated expression, "to sprinkle a man," "to sprinkle clothes," although it is not strictly correct. The washerwoman does not sprinkle the clothes, but sprinkles the water upon the clothes. This distinction is most strictly observed in the Hebrew. It does not say that the Lord will sprinkle His people, but He says, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean." (Ezekiel 36:25)
In the passage before us, the rendering "sprinkle" is strained and unnatural, and does violence to the sense; the word "startle" or "astonish" is literal, and consistent. That, or its equivalent is given as the rendering in many translations other than the English.
The Wisdom of God's Servant
"Behold, my Servant shall deal wisely." (Isaiah 52:13,RV)
Again we have the Servant of the Lord brought before us. In chapters 42, 43, and 49, we have had Him introduced before. Here we are told that He shall deal wisely, or prudently. "He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high." (Isaiah 52:13,RV)
That this is true of Christ, the whole history of His life shows. So wisely did He deal, that the utmost efforts of all the scribes and Pharisees and doctors of the law failed to entangle Him in His talk. He knew perfectly when to answer a question, and when to hold His peace, and refrain from answering; and when He answered a carping question He always discomfited the questioner, and encouraged the listeners. "And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, He said unto him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that dared ask Him any question. And Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool. David therefore himself calls Him Lord; and whence is He then his son? And the common people heard him gladly." (Mark 12:34-37)
And as to exaltation, He is "by the right hand of God exalted," (Acts 2:33) to the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, "Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named." (Ephesians 1:21)
But that is not the whole of the story. It is "Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, [who is] crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9)
It is "the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5) who dealt prudently, and who is now exalted. It was all done in the flesh, that He might show His power over all flesh. If we yield to God as completely as He did, then are we the servants of the Lord just as surely as He was, (Romans 6:19) and all that is said of Him as the Servant of the Lord applies to us in Him. What a comforting thought it is to know that the servant of the Lord will deal wisely, because we know that if we are truly His servants we shall also deal wisely. "Christ is of God made unto us wisdom, as well as righteousness." (1 Corinthians 1:30)
This means, however, that we must indeed serve. We must not be idle, lazy servants. We must be alive to know what the will of the Lord is, and must be so filled with the Spirit that the mind of the Spirit, which is the mind of God, will be our mind. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, and since we are filled with all the fullness of God when He dwells in our hearts by faith, it follows that all the fullness of God's wisdom may be displayed in us. "You have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things." (1 John 2:20)
This comes only with the utmost humility, for "the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits." (James 3:17)
Then comes the exaltation; for "he that humbles himself shall be exalted." (Luke 14:11)
How highly shall we be exalted as the servants of the Lord? Even to the right hand of God in the heavenly places: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-6) "He has put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree." (Luke 1:52) "He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory." (1 Samuel 2:8) "Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to them that love Him?" (James 2:5)
Kings Terrified by Christ's Humiliation
"As many were astonied at You; His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." (Isaiah 52:14)
We read the account of the mock trial of Jesus: "Herod with his men of war set Him at nought and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate." (Luke 23:11) "And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged Him, to be crucified. And the soldiers led Him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they called together the whole band. And they clothed Him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it upon His head, and began to salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote Him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon Him, and bowing their knees, worshiped Him. And when they had mocked Him, they took off the purple from Him, and put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him." (Mark 15:16-20)
That was rare sport for those rough soldiers. To them he seemed only a half-crazy pretender to the throne, who was about to suffer for His presumption. They would crucify Him today, and forget all about it tomorrow. Nay, so little did they regard the whole affair, that they could calmly sit down at the foot of the cross, and gamble for His clothes.
His visage was marred, and His form likewise; but by the power of those very sufferings He will astonish many nations. Then the rabble could mock Him, and set Him at nought; soon kings will crouch in dumb terror at His feet, and will frantically call for the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from His face. "And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake terribly the earth." (Isaiah 2:19)
And all that power will be only a manifestation of the power by which He "endured the cross, despising the shame." (Hebrews 12:2)
The Arm of God Mocked
"So shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them they shall see; and that which they had not heard they shall consider." (Isaiah 52:15) "Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" (Isaiah 53:1)
Men did not know it, and they would not have believed it if a man had told it to them, that this poor, silent, despised prisoner was "the arm of the Lord." (Isaiah 53:1)
Often had the Jews who persecuted Jesus chanted in their synagogues, "You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, and high is your right hand." (Psalm 89:13)
And again: "We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work You did in their days, in the times of old. How You did drive out the heathen with your hand, and planted them; how You did afflict them, and cast them out. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your countenance, because You had a favor unto them." (Psalm 44:1-3)
But never did they think that the humble, despised, and rejected Man before them was the arm of the Lord, by whom all this was done. The prophets were read every Sabbath day; but none of the men who cried for the blood of Jesus to be shed, and were willing to take all the guilt of it upon themselves, had any idea that they were seeing the fulfillment of the prophecy, "The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." (Isaiah 52:10)
Yet so it was. The arm of the Lord, which brings salvation, is Christ the Crucified. The isles shall wait for Him, and on His arm shall they trust, (Isaiah 51:5) because: "He shall gather the lambs with His arm," (Isaiah 40:11) the very same arm that "shall rule for Him." (Isaiah 40:10)
But although these things have been proclaimed for centuries, even now it may be asked, "Who has believed our report?" (Isaiah 53:1)
The Beauty of the Lord
"For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." (Isaiah 53:2-3)
Who would think that a little baby, the child of one of the poorest people, born in a manger, growing up in seclusion and poverty, was the manifestation of the arm of the Lord? What is weaker and more lacking in wisdom than a little babe? "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." (1 Corinthians 1:27)
A root out of a dry ground! "He grows up in their sight like a tender sucker; And like a root from a thirsty soil." (Isaiah 53:2,Lowth)
One would not expect any beauty in such a plant. Indeed, one would scarcely expect it to live. It seems not to have enough earth and moisture to supply life to it, yet it supplies life to all the world.
A grape vine is one of the barest of things at certain seasons of the year. In some countries the vines are not trained upon supports, but are cut back each year, near to the ground, so that in a few years each vine is a gnarled stump. Such a vineyard looks very much like a field of dry stumps left to rot away in the ground after the timber has been carried away.
Yet from that very field, and from those very unsightly stumps, flows a stream of rich wine. Hundreds of huge clusters of the most luscious grapes will be gathered from that root that springs from a dry, rocky soil. And that is the beauty of the plant. It is not what it seems to be, but the fruit that it bears, that determines its beauty.
Christ had no beauty that the world could see. His beauty was "the hidden man of the heart, ... the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit;" (1 Peter 3:4) the beauty of holiness.
To Whom is the Arm Revealed?
If we read this lesson as a mere historical prophecy, we lose the whole of it. If we think merely of what has taken place in the past, of the rejection of Jesus nineteen hundred years ago, because He did not meet the expectation of the people, we have read to no profit. In that case the arm of the Lord has not been revealed to us. We have not believed the report.
What does it mean to us, to you and me? It means that however dry and barren our lives are, God can bring forth from them rich streams of blessing; that tender though we may be, and growing in a dry soil, the mighty power of God may reveal itself in us. "Our circumstances are very unfavorable; we have so many difficulties to contend with; everything is against us; there is no prospect of our ever being able to amount to anything."
Ah, yes, we have often mourned in that fashion. We have not believed the report about the root out of the dry ground. That has been the trouble with us, and the only trouble; for when we see the arm of the Lord, there can be no trouble. "With God nothing is impossible." (Luke 1:37)
Jesus was born and reared under the most unfavorable conditions, in order that nobody might have any cause for discouragement. Nobody was ever any poorer than He was; nobody could ever have any fewer advantages; nobody was ever so despised and ill-treated, and was so little appreciated, as He was. And what was it all for? To show us that if the life of God is allowed to flow through the deadest root in the driest possible soil, it will not only find nourishment for itself, but will be able to furnish support for all the world.
Have you believed the report? Has the arm of the Lord been revealed to you? Whenever you are inclined to grumble over your situation, and your lack of opportunities, or to become discouraged at the prospect, stop and ask yourself these questions. "Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith." (2 Corinthians 13:5)
See if you yet believe the first principles of the Gospel. (Hebrews 5:12)--Present Truth, March 22, 1900--Isaiah 52:13-18; 53:1-3.