I want you to think about this, that as a believer, you are actually the gift of God the Father to his own dearly loved son. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, that is an amazing statement. But there may be someone listening today who’s thinking, that’s not me. There’s no way I can be a gift to the son. Well, here are the words of Jesus. He said, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. So anyone who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, trusting him, well, if you do that, you are a gift of the Father to the son. And if you will come to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will trust him in faith, he says, whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. So you come to him, he’ll receive you. And as he receives you, you will become aware that in fact, you are a gift of the Father to the son. That’s what Jesus says you are. So this is a wonderful open invitation. And it’s one of the most wonderful descriptions of a Christian believer, that we are actually given to the son by the Father. And the evidence of this wonderful fact is that we’ve come to him in faith and in trust. So let’s have a look at that in Isaiah chapter 53, focusing on verse 12 today. So if you can, why don’t you join us as we begin the message, Celebration. Here’s Colin. Well, please open your Bible for the last time in this series at Isaiah and chapter 53. We have spent one weekend in each of the first 11 verses. And today we come to the last verse, verse 12 of this wonderful chapter. The whole of this chapter, the book of Isaiah was written hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world. But through the prophet Isaiah, God revealed what would happen in the life and the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This chapter is full of what Jesus has accomplished. Isaiah tells us that when the Son of God came into the world, he would be despised. He would be rejected. He’d be oppressed, pierced, crushed, wounded, cut off. In eight verses, we saw Isaiah describes the suffering and the death of the Lord Jesus. And then in verse nine, he prophesied the burial of the Lord Jesus. Verse 10, he prophesied the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then as we saw last time in verse 11, he announces the work of the ascended Lord Jesus Christ. He will make many to be accounted righteous. So we have the life, the death, the burial, the resurrection, and the ascension of the Lord Jesus. What’s left? Well, there’s one great and glorious thing left, and that is the glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ, his ultimate triumph, as he returns in power and glory. And that is the focus of verse 12 that is before us today. Look at these wonderful words. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. Now I called today’s message Celebration, because what Isaiah is describing here is the ultimate triumph of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And notice that he begins this last verse with the word, therefore. So what we’re reading here is really the final outcome of all that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. And the final outcome of all that our Lord Jesus has suffered is that he will enjoy a great triumph, and we who are his people will share in it with him. Now, I want you to notice that there is an I and a he at the beginning of this remarkable verse. I will divide him a portion with the many. That’s the English Standard Version. The Christian Standard Bible translates it this way, I will give him the many as a portion. Now the I here is God himself. This is God the Father speaking, and he’s telling us through the prophet Isaiah what he’s going to do for his own dearly loved son. In the light of all that Jesus has done, all that he’s suffered, and all that he has endured, God the Father will divide him a portion. Now a portion, of course, is simply what is given to you. That’s what a portion is. And it seems here that Isaiah is saying that the many, that is those who come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, are the Father’s gift to his son. They are the portion that the Father gives to his son. Literally translated, this verse says, I will apportion out to him the many. I want you to think about this, that as a believer, you are actually the gift of God the Father to his own dearly loved son. And Jesus spoke about this repeatedly, four times in his prayer in John and chapter 17. Jesus speaks to the Father about the people that the Father has given to him. John 17 and verse 6, Jesus says, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me. So you see, here are people who are given by the Father to the son. And what does the son do for them? Well, he reveals the Father to them. That is, he, I have manifested your name. The son reveals the Father to those the Father has given him. And then Jesus says that he prays for the people that he has been given. Verse 9 of John 17, I am praying for them. I’m not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. So you see here, this is very wonderful. The Father gives people to the son, his portion. And what does the son do? He reveals the Father to them. He prays for them. And then Jesus tells us in this marvelous prayer that he keeps them. Verse 12, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost. So those who are given by the Father to the son, they come to know God because Jesus reveals the Father to them. He prays for them, and he keeps them, and he will bring them all the way home to his own glorious presence. That’s verse 24 of John 17. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me, what does Jesus desire for those who are given? That they may be with me where I am to see my glory. Now, we may well ask then, who are these people who are given by the Father to the son? Jesus refers to them four times in this prayer on the night on which he was betrayed. And the Bible gives us the clearest answer. Jesus himself said, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. So do you see very clearly from this verse that those who come to Jesus are the Father’s gift to the son? And those the Father gives to the son, well, they come to Jesus. The Father draws them, and the son wonderfully receives them. And this vast company of people given by the Father to the son, the people who come to him, the people to whom he reveals the Father, the people he keeps, the people he prays for, the people he brings all the way into glory, that they’ll be with him and see his glory forever. They are Jesus’ portion. They are the reward that he receives from all that he suffered. And the Bible tells us very clearly that Jesus endured all that he suffered on the cross for the joy that was set before him. And what is the joy that was set before him? Well, that’s what we’re looking at right here, the gift of the Father to him, of a vast company of redeemed people who will share his joy for all eternity. There’s an I in this verse, and the I is God the Father. But I want you to notice, too, that there is a he in this verse, and the he is God the son. He shall divide the spoil with the strong. Now, again, the he here is clearly the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, it seems most likely that Isaiah is referring to the strong as the spoil that Jesus, the ascended Lord, will indeed divide. Literally translated, this verse says, I will allocate to him, that is to the Son of God, the many and the strong he will allocate as spoil. In other words, at the end of time, Isaiah is prophesying there will be two communities, two groups of people. There will be the many who have come to Jesus, and there will be the strong who have resisted Jesus. The many who come to Jesus are given to him by the Father, and he receives them. But the picture is very, very different when it comes to the strong who resist him. They are the spoil. And that indicates that Jesus triumphs over them. He conquers them by his own power. Scripture tells us that God the Father has highly exalted our Lord Jesus Christ and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. One way or another, every person who has ever lived will one day bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. Some will bow before him because we have come to him and he has received us. Others will bow because they have resisted him and he has conquered them. So Jesus will enjoy a great triumph. He will indeed be King of kings and Lord of lords, conqueror over all, and he will share his triumph with his redeemed people. There will be, we’re told at the end of the Bible, a new heaven and a new earth. It will be the home of righteousness. Christ will bring his people into it and he will wipe away all tears from our eyes. There will be no more death. There will be no more mourning, no more crying, and no more pain. God himself will be with us and we will share his joy forever and forever. Now here’s the very practical question that arises from the truth to which Isaiah points. How can you be sure that you will share in the triumph of Jesus? How can you be sure that you will be in the great company of the redeemed? How do you know that you will make it to heaven? How do you know that heaven will be yours? We’ll pause there, but when we come back, we’ll look to answer those questions. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message Celebration, part of our series The Gospel According to Isaiah, an in-depth look at chapter 53 of the book of Isaiah. And if you ever miss one of our broadcasts, you can always go online to openthebible.org.uk. You can go back, listen again, or catch up if you’ve missed any of our broadcasts. Open the Bible is supported by our listeners, and if that’s something that you don’t already do but feel you’d like to get involved in, we’d love to thank you by sending you two copies of a book called More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell. And I’ll be asking Colin more about this book later in this broadcast. You can find details of the offer on our website openthebible.org.uk. Also on our website, you can find Open the Bible Daily. This is a series of short two to three minute reflections written by Pastor Colin Smith and read in the UK by Sue MacLeish. There’s a new one on the website every day. It’s a great way to start the day. Back to the message now, here’s Colin. How can you be sure that you will share in the triumph of Jesus? How can you be sure that you will be in the great company of the redeemed? How do you know that you will make it to heaven? How do you know that heaven will be yours? And Isaiah gives three answers to that question. Questions that we as those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, trust ourselves to him, believe in him, are able to take so that we will have confidence in regards to the ultimate outcome of our lives. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be sure that heaven will be yours because of the will of Jesus, because of the death of Jesus, and because of the life of Jesus. All of these are right here in this last verse of Isaiah in chapter 53. First then, the will of Jesus. He says, therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death. Now the main point here is that our Lord Jesus Christ died willingly. Death did not overcome the Lord Jesus. He was the one who poured his soul out to death. Now Isaiah has described how Jesus was oppressed, how he was pierced, how he was crushed and wounded and cut off. And when you read the story in the Gospels, you read the story of the crucifixion of Jesus, it just seems that evil has got the upper hand. It seems that darkness has taken over completely and seems to reign. But what Isaiah is pointing us to here is the wonderful truth that throughout it all, even in the darkest place, the Lord Jesus Christ himself was in control. He was in control even at the moment of his own death. He makes this very clear, that the life of Jesus was not taken, it was given. He was in control. He poured out his soul to death. You remember that Jesus said, I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. Only God in the flesh could say such words as these. And you know, you see this very clearly in the eyewitness descriptions that were given in the Gospels of the moment of the death of Jesus. He was clearly in complete control. And this is how we know that. Matthew tells us that Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And Luke in his account records that Jesus calling out with a loud voice said, Father into your hands I commit my spirit. And having said this, he breathed his last. Now think about it. When a person is dying, their voice becomes weaker and weaker. Eventually, they can only speak in a whisper. Sometimes it’s really hard to make out what a person is trying to say. But do you see that with the Lord Jesus Christ, it was completely different. Jesus died with a shout. He entered into death as a conqueror. He went in there in triumph at the moment of his own choosing when the work of atonement that he had done on the cross was finished. He said, it is finished. And then with a shout, he breathed his last, Father into your hands I commit my spirit. The life of Jesus was not taken from him. He laid it down. And he chose to lay it down when all the work that he came in the world to do was completed right there on the cross. Jesus died willingly. And what that means is that Jesus wants to save you. That’s his will. He chose to do this. The will of Jesus with regards to those who come to him in faith is not in doubt. He wants to save you. Father, I desire, he said, that those you have given me will be with me and that they will see my glory. That’s the will of Jesus. And you can be sure of heaven because the will of Jesus gets done. How can you be sure that you’re going to share the triumph of Jesus? How can you be sure of heaven? Well, you can be sure of heaven because of the will of Jesus. And secondly, you can be sure of heaven because of the death of Jesus. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and we’ve just begun to see that truth. We can be sure of heaven because of the death of Jesus. We’ll continue to explore that we can be sure of heaven because of the life of Jesus in our next broadcast. And if you ever miss one of our broadcasts, I hope you’ll go online to openthebible.org.uk. There you can catch up with any of the messages that you might have missed or go back and listen again. You can also find Open the Bible messages as podcasts. Go to your favourite podcast site, search for Open the Bible UK, look for the purple banner and subscribe to the podcast in order to receive regular updates. Also on our website and as a podcast, you’ll find Open the Bible Daily, a series of short daily reflections written by Pastor Colin Smith and read in the UK by Sue MacLeish. Open the Bible is supported on this station and on the internet by regular donations from our listeners, and we’d like to thank you for that. If you don’t already donate to the work of Open the Bible, but you feel it’s something you’d like to do, we have an offer for you. This month, if you’re able to set up a new donation in the amount of five pounds per month or more, we’d love to send you two copies of a book. It’s called More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell. Colin, give us an idea of what’s in this book. Well, the first thing to say is that it has stood the test of time. This book has been around for more than 40 years and God has used it in the lives of many people. It sold more than 15 million copies. That is remarkable. Now, someone might say, well, a book that was written 40 years ago is hardly going to be relevant to today. So here’s the good news. It has been updated to speak to some of the questions that we are facing today, and that work has been done by Josh McDowell’s son, Sean McDowell, and it’s been done really well. So this new edition is going to bring a time-tested book to a new generation, and it’s a marvellous story. Josh McDowell started out by asking some fundamental questions of his own life, and these are questions that never change. Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? And he was challenged by some friends to make a serious investigation into the claims of Christianity. He started out on that thinking that he was going to disprove Christianity, and what he found was that the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ laid hold of his mind and of his heart, and that story is told very wonderfully in this book. So this is a very useful book, both for believers, so that we will be better equipped to testify to Christ, and also for anyone who has serious questions about Christianity and is looking for answers more than a carpenter, updated after 40 years for a new generation. This is really a special gift, and I’m delighted that we have the opportunity of sharing this book this month. We’d love to send you two copies of this book if you are able to set up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible in the amount of £5 per month or more. Full details of the offer and to give online go to openthebible.org.uk. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and I hope you’ll be able to join us again soon. How can you be sure you’ll make it to heaven? Find out next time on Open the Bible.