When I Survey
H. Hoeksema
Book 6, Chapter 9
Bruised According to the Good Pleasure of the Lord

"Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief." (Isaiah 53:10)

The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ from any human point of view, looked at from the aspect of its being the work and accomplishment of men and of the world, is a terribly dark spectacle.

There is nothing in all the history of the world that so reveals the corruption and the darkness that rules in the hearts of men as the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is indeed the condemnation of the world of men. From a human point of view there is absolutely no hope in the cross.

From this point of view the cross appears to be nothing else than the fulfillment of the will and the good pleasure of ungodly men, the triumph of an ungodly world, the final victory of the darkness over the light, of death over life. For as we have seen in all our former discussions on this theme of the Suffering Servant of Jehovah, He was thoroughly despised and rejected of men. He Who came to reveal the light, and Who was the revelation of the God of our salvation, stood entirely alone, was forsaken by all. His name was Man of Sorrows. Everyone hid his face from Him, stuck out the lip and mocked Him in evil hatred. Nowhere did He find a place among the children of men even though He had the tongue of the learned, and knew how to speak a word to the weary in due season. The judges among His own people found Him worthy of death, guilty of being a deceiver of the people and of speaking blasphemy against the living God. And although the judge of the world did not find Him guilty, and attempted to deny all responsibility on his part, yet he surrendered Him to be nailed to the accursed tree and to be cast out as a criminal. Indeed, "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 openeth not his mouth."

O indeed, the cross is the darkest moment in the history of the world.

Bearing the hatred of men without murmuring or protest, He hangs there, completely powerless apparently, and despised by all men. Exposed in His nakedness to the eyes of all, He is covered with His own blood. He is alone, completely forsaken. And He finds no pity. For even at the cross His enemies still mock Him, and cast in His teeth the challenge that He had better prove to them now that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. But He remains dumb. More deeply and deeply He sinks away. Presently the awful darkness covers the fearful spectacle, and the Servant of the Lord calls from the depths of misery and death to Him who can send salvation. But it is a cry of anguish, pressed out of a soul that is completely overwhelmed, rejected by men and forsaken of God. And it also appears in vain that this Servant of the Lord cries unto God in the anguish of His soul.

Presently He sinks into the depths of death.

It has become quiet on Golgotha. No more mocking and jibes are heard around the accursed tree.

And presently, at the end of three hours of darkness, the most awful cry that is ever pressed from the human heart is sounded forth by the Suffering Servant of Jehovah, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Then it is finished.

Presently Joseph of Arimathea carries the soulless remains to the grave, followed only by some Galilean women.

It is the end of the Servant of the Lord. He went under. He must succumb to the hatred and power of men. The pride of the Pharisees, the mocking unbelief of the Sadducees, the long provoked hatred of the Sanhedrin, and the overpowering sword of an evil world were too much for the Servant of the Lord. He suffered defeat.

Horribly dark is the cross from this human point of view.

Was He after all not the light of the world? Was He not the One Who had come down from heaven to speak in the midst of a world that lay in darkness and that was oppressed by the burden of sin and death, to speak of heavenly things and to prepare a way through this vale of tears to eternal life and glory? Was He not the Son of God, a last ray of hope in the pitch dark night of human misery? And now the light of the world was extinguished, it seems. The victor was overcome. The truth had become dumb. The life was murdered on Golgotha. The Savior of the world was condemned. Where, then, is there any hope if the light itself is being extinguished by the darkness of this world? Where, then, is the hope of those who wait for the morning if He Who is the life and the resurrection is murdered by ungodly men? If He on Whom all our hope was fixed as the Redeemer of Israel must suffer defeat at the hands of the powers of this world and its prince, how can we still look for the dawn of redemption?

Calvary indeed is hopeless, as long as we view the cross as the work of men.

But blessed be God! There is a higher viewpoint.

After all, in the deepest sense of the word the accursed tree on Calvary's mount is not men's cross, but God's. And in the present chapter we wish to turn our eyes away from the wicked power of the world which crucified our Lord Jesus Christ, and gaze at the cross in the light of eternity and from the viewpoint of the good pleasure of the Lord Who bruised Him. This we do on the basis of Isaiah 53:10: "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." It is evident that in these words of the prophecy of Isaiah a ray of light from eternity illumines the cross of our Lord. For it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, His servant Who had come to build the house of God and to deliver His people. The Most High Himself has put His Anointed to grief, His Servant, Whose meat it was to do the Father's will, God Himself had bruised. Here, therefore, we behold the accursed tree in the light of the good pleasure of the Lord, in the light of eternity. All of a sudden in this passage of Isaiah's prophecy, the light of God's eternal counsel and good pleasure is shed upon the cross. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief, not men. It is true, according to Acts 2:23, that ungodly men took Him and by wicked hands crucified and slew Him. But nevertheless, He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Behind the Sanhedrin and the wicked high priest, behind the Roman judge and governor, behind the raving and raging powers of darkness that turn themselves against this Servant of the Lord, stands the Almighty, the eternal God. And through all the hatred and iniquity of men He executes His own good pleasure. When in this light we see the suffering and death of this Servant of the Lord, our soul finds rest. When not the pleasure of the ungodly, but the good pleasure of Jehovah triumphs at the cross, we know that all things are well, and that all things work together for good to them that love Him. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief. There is light, the light of eternity, in the horrible darkness of the cross.

When we read in the text that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, it is evident that this refers to the eternal good pleasure of the Most High. That good pleasure was indeed realized in time. It was manifested in the suffering and death of the Servant of Jehovah. Nevertheless, what pleases God in time is rooted in His eternal good pleasure. The light of eternity here falls upon the fearful suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. For that reason we may rest assured, as we stand by the cross and contemplate the mystery of the suffering of this Servant, even when apparently we see Him defeated and swallowed up by the ungodly powers of darkness, that the cross is nevertheless not a victory by the world, but its complete condemnation, and the triumph of God.

God's good pleasure has its deepest motive and its highest purpose in God Himself. Always its purpose is His own glory and honor, the highest revelation of His divine goodness, the proclamation of His own eternal virtues. For God is God! And there is no God beside Him. He is the only good, Whom to know is eternal life, and Whom to despise and reject is eternal damnation and death. Around Himself concentrates the eternal good pleasure of God, in order that all the creatures may finally glorify Him and boast in His absolute goodness. It is by that good pleasure of Jehovah that the Servant of the Lord is anointed from before the foundation of the world. In that pleasure it was decreed that He should be the head of all His people, their prophet, priest, and king. It is by the same good pleasure of Jehovah that the brethren of Christ, His elect church, were given unto Him from all eternity, that He might redeem them from sin and death and exalt them into the highest heavenly glory of God's eternal tabernacle. For the highest revelation of God's infinite virtues, and especially for the revelation of His own divine covenant life, this Servant of the Lord must be bruised and put to grief. Around this good pleasure of Jehovah concentrates even all the hatred and wickedness of an ungodly world which nails the Suffering Servant of the Lord to the cross. It is true, when that world cooperates with the Most High to execute His own good pleasure, they, on their part, have an entirely different purpose. They plan to extinguish the light, to kill the life, to silence the voice of truth, to trample under foot the glory of God's name. And by doing so, they sign their own condemnation. Yet in the meantime, every thought of the heart, every contemplation of the mind, every evil plan and secret counsel, every word of accusation and of false testimony, every stripe of the scourge, the weaving of the crown of thorns, the blows of the hammer that strike the cruel nails through hands and feet, and the darkness that presently covers the spectacle on Golgotha -- everything concentrates around the the good pleasure of Him Who sitteth upon the throne.

It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.

The cross is God's cross, not man's.

For it was the eternal good pleasure to lead His own to the heavenly height of His eternal covenant life, and to do so from the depths of misery and death. For this reason the Servant of the Lord must stand at the head of His brethren, according to the good pleasure of Jehovah. They were hopelessly lost in sin and death. They had no right to live in the blessed fellowship of God's covenant because of the guilt of their sin. Moreover, because of their sinful condition they would never will or desire to enter into that fellowship of the Most High. They were corrupt, and in the darkness of desolation and death. They could not, they would not, and they could not possibly will to live in God's blessed communion. Nor could they ever obliterate the guilt of their sin. On the contrary, they daily increase their guilt. They could never conquer death, and they could never attain to life. They could never find the way out of darkness to the light of eternal life. But He, the Son of God, Immanuel, is the Servant of the Lord, to represent and to stand at the head of His people. In the volume of the book it was written of him. He represents all His brethren. He is appointed and anointed to suffer for them and to die for them, to enter into the very depth of their misery, in order in that depth to taste death for them and to be obedient unto God even unto the death of the cross. All this was the eternal good pleasure of Jehovah concerning His Servant. And this good pleasure was finally realized in the cross.

It pleased the Lord to bruise Him.

This good pleasure of Jehovah was known to His Servant. For of this we read in Psalm 40:6-8: "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is written in my heart." He Himself made His soul an offering for sin. Only in the way of such an offering, of such a perfect sacrifice by the Son of God in the flesh, could there be redemption from sin and death. For God is righteous: He cannot deny Himself. God's justice must be perfectly satisfied. And that justice could never be satisfied unless the guilt of sin were completely obliterated. That guilt of sin could never be removed, except by bearing the terrible wrath of God in the willing obedience of love. Only in such an act of love, only in laying the sacrifice of love upon the altar of God, and that too, as that altar stands in the very depth of hell, lies the obliteration of sin, the satisfaction of God's justice, and therefore the redemption of the brethren.

It is this offering of love which the Servant of the Lord brings upon the cross of Golgotha.

The text refers to this when it declares: "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed." The "thou" in these words refers to God. And the rest refers to the Servant of Jehovah. God, and not men, made the soul of His Servant a trespass offering. For He laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. Nevertheless, Christ was not merely passive. He was active in this entire transaction. He was not merely the object, but also the subject of this offering. When God made His soul an offering for sin, He Himself sacrificed and offered up His soul to God in willing obedience. It is true, Jehovah bruised Him according to His good pleasure, and the Lord put His Servant to grief. Nevertheless, on the part of the Servant of the Lord, He bore our iniquities; and this bearing of our sins was an act of love in perfect obedience to the Father. Always, even in His deepest suffering, even when the sweat of agony was pressed from His brow and His bloody sweat dropped in the dust of the garden, He still continued to say: "I come to do thy will, O God. Not my will, but Thy will be done." And although His blood was pressed out of wounds inflicted by ungodly hands, yet every drop of that blood was willingly, in obedience of love, poured on the altar of God's righteousness and justice. He Who was without sin took the guilt of sin of all His people and the punishment of that sin willingly upon Himself. He, the Person of the Son of God, God of God, Immanuel, Who was powerful to enter into the depth of our suffering as we could never have entered into it, with one offering satisfied perfectly and forever. God indeed made His soul an offering for sin. But when God did so, His Servant willingly sacrificed Himself. He sacrificed His soul. He sacrificed a life that was holy and pure, without sin, and free from corruption. Therefore He could bring the offering that was well-pleasing to the Lord, the trespass offering that was the satisfaction for the sin of all His people.

God bruised Him. He, and not men, ultimately put Him to grief.

At the cross of the Servant of the Lord we behold the manifestation of the eternal good pleasure of Jehovah. That good pleasure shall certainly prosper in the hand of His Servant.

If the cross were only the good pleasure of ungodly men, the accursed tree would be nothing but awful and horrible darkness. Then there would be no positive fruit in the suffering of Christ Jesus our Lord. Then nothing could ever prosper in the hand of the Servant, and all would still be hopeless.

But now it is different. His death is not the end. That it should be the end was indeed the purpose and also the expectation of His enemies. And it would inevitably have been the end, had the cross been the realization of the good pleasure of men. But the good pleasure of God prevails. He prolongs the days of His Servant. He sets the seal of His divine approval upon the trespass offering that was brought on the cross. He hears His prayer. He delivers Him out of the power of the world. He exalts Him out of the depth of death. He causes Him to rise in the glorious, eternal life of the resurrection. Delivered for our transgressions, he is raised for our justification. He is exalted to the highest pinnacle of glory and power and honor. He is exalted as highly as He humiliated Himself deeply. He ascends up on high, taking captivity captive. He receives a name which is above every name, and is clothed with all power and majesty in heaven and on earth at the right hand of the Father. Indeed, His death is not the end. He prolongs His days into ages of ages. And on the basis of His trespass offering He is glorified forever.

Moreover, He shall see His seed. That seed is the same as the seed of the woman which was mentioned in the protoevangel in paradise. That seed is the spiritual seed of the elect, His brethren, who were given Him from before the foundation of the world. It is indeed the spiritual seed of the remnant of Israel, but it is also the spiritual seed of the elect from all nations of the world. Them He draws unto Himself, calling them efficaciously out of sin and death into the fellowship of God's eternal tabernacle. Them He gathers into a church, the house of the living God, by His Spirit and Word. That seed He already beheld as the realization of God's promise to Him in the malefactor on the cross. And that seed He shall gather out of every nation and tribe and tongue, until the last of the elect shall have been called, and the church shall stand in everlasting perfection before the throne of God and the Lamb.

Such is the promise of God to His Suffering Servant when Jehovah makes His soul an offering for sin. Therefore, the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in the hand of His Servant.

That pleasure of the Lord is the realization of His eternal covenant, the revelation of His divine, triune covenant life, the establishment of His eternal house and tabernacle. And to this purpose the Son of God was ordained in the good pleasure of the Lord to be the Servant of Jehovah, in order, as the Firstborn among many brethren, to dwell in God's house forever. For that reason He must at the head of His brethren, pour out His soul unto death, in order that the foundations of God's eternal house may be established in His own righteousness and justice. For that reason the Servant of the Lord must go under in death, in order out of that death to receive His life, the life of the resurrection in eternal glory. And in that resurrection the Servant of Jehovah hears the answer of the Most High from heaven to what He finally said on the cross, "It is finished." For that reason He is exalted, even at the head of all creation, far above all might and power and dominion and every name that is named in this world and in the world to come. For this purpose the Servant of the Lord receives the promise of the Holy Ghost, in order that He may realize and execute the entire good pleasure of Jehovah and perfect the house and tabernacle of God.

Looking at the accursed tree as the work of man, it presents the darkest moment in all the history of the world.

But viewing that same cross in the light, in the eternal and blessed light of God's eternal good pleasure, we rejoice in it as the revelation of the God of our salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord.