When thou shalt make His soul (or, When His soul shall have made, or been made) an offering for sin (or trespass offering,—it is the same Hebrew word translated “trespass offering” in Leviticus chapters 5, 7, 14 and else where), 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 fruit of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied (verses 10 and 11).
Faith, here again, is seen to be the ground upon which God deals with man in blessing. On Christ and His work on the cross for our sins, on His shed blood and His resurrection and ascension to heavenly glory, all blessing depends. There must be the realization in my own soul that in Him, through His death for me, for my sins, God is fully and eternally satisfied; if not, I cannot have peace with God. No Cain-like offering of what my hands may bring, or my mind devise will meet my case; I must, like Abel have an offering that cost death (Genesis 4:3-53And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. 4And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. (Genesis 4:3‑5)). Redemption is by the precious blood of Christ alone (1 Peter 1:1919But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:19); Hebrews 9:1414How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)).
He who was cut off out of the land of the living, about Whom the question was asked in verse 8, Who shall declare His generation? shall see a seed — not of natural descent, but God-given children (Isaiah 8:1818Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. (Isaiah 8:18)), redeemed souls whom He in grace has referred to as “My brethren” in Matthew 25 :40.
Apart from these earthly saints, there are those who are being saved in our own times to form the Church of God, the bride of Christ; these He has destined for heavenly glory, and has graciously spoken of them as “My brethren” (John 20:1717Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17)), and we learn from Hebrews 2 :11 That He is not ashamed to call them brethren; no word of Scripture warrants our referring to Him as our Elder Brother, however.
The prolonging of His days, and the pleasure of Jehovah prospering in His hands, refer to the place of Christ in the Millennium. We have noticed this earlier in our readings in Isaiah, and in the Psalms. Philippians 2:9-119Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9‑11) includes that time, but is of much wider scope, as is Ephesians 1:9, 109Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 10That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:9‑10).
We must recall that the mystery of Christ and the Church was not revealed to the Old Testament prophets, and Isaiah in foretelling a coming day of richest blessing on earth, does not take in the wider vision which the Epistles of Paul give.
He shall see of the travail of His soul, first, surely, when the resurrection morning brings to Him, in heavenly bodies all the redeemed up to that time, including the Old Testament saints and all who died in faith up to the founding of the Church (Acts 2), and the Church itself for which in a special sense He gave Himself. But the passage in our chapter refers to an earthly people, the redeemed of the last days, when the gospel we have heard shall be heard no more, and another message of grace shall go out to sinners of the Jews and Gentiles that have never had the opportunity to receive the present gospel.
Heaven and earth will be peopled by those who are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, saved for all eternity from the consequences of their sins. Then, looking upon the result of the travail of His soul, He will be satisfied. Great has been the cost of redemption, and poorly. we often realize how poor is our return to Him for His love, but He shall have all our hearts in that day.
Messages of God’s Love 3/25/1934