The title of this article will immediately be recognized by most of our readers as being taken from Isaiah 53:1111He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11): “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” This is, no doubt, referring to the Lord Jesus, who will in a coming day be completely satisfied, as He sees the full results of His work on the cross. To have His church in glory with Him and like Him and to see His earthly people blessed and once again enjoying their God-given inheritance will indeed cause our Lord and Master to be satisfied. He had created all things and could pronounce them “very good,” yet man, seduced by Satan, had spoiled it all and brought ruin and chaos into that beautiful scene. But the “seed of the woman” was to bruise the serpent’s head, and at the cross, by seeming weakness and defeat, the Lord Jesus nullified Satan’s power. He fulfilled Psalm 69:44They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. (Psalm 69:4): “Then I restored that which I took away.”
More than this, man will be more blessed than if sin had never entered this world, for if sin had never been permitted to enter, we would never have known the depths of the love of God nor His purposes concerning His beloved Son. The hymn puts it well:
“Though our nature’s fall in Adam
Seemed to shut us out from God,
Thus it was His counsel brought us
Nearer still, through Jesus’ blood.
Little Flock Hymnbook, #104
The word used here for “satisfied” is used a number of times in the Old Testament and is variously translated “satisfied,” “full,” “filled,” and “satiated.” It has the thought of there being no more room for anything else that could be given. How precious to think that the heart of our blessed Lord will indeed be satisfied with the result of His work!
Recovery From Ruin
But let us think for a moment what will have taken place before all this blessing is unfolded in that day! Most of us are familiar with our having undertaken some difficult and lengthy work, possibly to make something in which we were very pleased. But then we saw another come in and spoil it all, sometimes by accident and sometimes, sad to say, with intent. All that we had labored to perfect (at least, according to our ideas of perfection) was ruined, and sometimes to the point of being irreparable. So also we can, to a small extent, enter into God’s thoughts when He saw the world, which He had brought back to a state of order and beauty, plunged into ruin by the introduction of man’s sin. More than this, His creature man, created in His own image and likeness and able to hold communion with Him, was now estranged, hiding among the trees of the garden.
And how long was the process of recovery! Thank God, in a past eternity His grace had already found a way, not merely to repair the damage, but to exalt His beloved Son and to bring man into even greater blessing. But there must first be the testing of man for four thousand years, to prove His total ruin. Then there must be the sending into this world of God’s Son. Let us quote Isaiah 53:1111He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11) in full:
“He shall see of the fruit of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant instruct many in righteousness; and He shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:1111He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11) JND).
During His lonely pathway through this world, the Lord Jesus did indeed instruct many in righteousness, giving out the principles of His kingdom, comforting and sympathizing. But how dull of hearing were His listeners, even the best of them! How often they misunderstood or failed to grasp His meaning! And the greater number rejected Him outright, although happy to profit by His gracious words, His miracles of healing and His feeding of their bodies.
But then came the bearing of their iniquities — a work that only He could do, and which took place on the cross during the hours of darkness. The suffering was that which only He and the Father could estimate; it was beyond human comprehension. Yet He went through it all, until that victorious cry, “It is finished!”
High Priestly Sufferings
But in all this we must not forget His high priestly sufferings, for many of His sufferings, outside of the suffering for sin, were to show us how much He loved us and in order that He might be a “merciful and faithful high priest” (Heb. 2:1717Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17)) for the believer. He went through every kind of suffering that a sinless Man could endure, for He was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:1515For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)). He learned the cost of obedience: “Yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:88Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; (Hebrews 5:8)) — obedience that took Him all the way to the cross.
Yet, as we have seen, He will have (we speak reverently) no regrets. All that He went through will be deemed worth it all in that day, as He views the blessed results! Surely all this can only draw out our praise and adoration!
Our Part
But what does it all mean for us? We will surely share in all that He has won for us, and we will enjoy for all eternity the place we have on His throne with Him. But does it have a voice of encouragement for us now? We have been called to serve Him during our time down here, and perhaps the greatest privilege is to minister to His sheep. When Peter was restored in his soul, the Lord’s instruction to him was “feed My lambs” and “feed My sheep” (John 21:15-1615So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (John 21:15‑16)). In the same way, He has committed to us the privilege of feeding and encouraging that which is dearest to His heart. But there is a cost involved, for as another has said, “If you wish to be happy, preach the gospel; if you wish to shed many tears, serve the saints of God.” To serve the people of God is not an easy pathway, and it never has been. Moses could break down under the weight of caring for the children of Israel, while Paul, when speaking of his sufferings for Christ, ended by mentioning “the care of all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:28). Perhaps this was a greater burden than all that came from without, for he identified with the weak and the offended (vs. 29), seeking to feel what they felt. No doubt as to his own person, he was neither weak nor offended, yet he sought to feel as others who perhaps were not as spiritual as he.
Participation With Others
Surely our service cannot begin to approximate that of the Master, yet, in whatever measure we follow Him, we will walk in His steps and experience what He experienced. How many times the servant of Christ, while enjoying Him, will seek to impart that joy to others, only to find that they are unable to grasp it or, worse still, are not even interested. We see an example of this in Paul, who mourned over the Corinthians because of their carnality and lack of growth in spiritual things. Likewise He could labor with the Galatian assemblies and could “travail in birth again” (Gal. 4:1919My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, (Galatians 4:19)) until Christ was formed in them. He had to warn the Colossians about becoming involved in philosophy and man’s ideas, all of which threatened to displace Christ in their hearts. Finally, at the end of his life, he had to tell Timothy that “all they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). Those in the area of perhaps His greatest labors were now turning their backs on “all the counsel of God” that he had so faithfully passed on. This was, no doubt, a most severe trial, and perhaps the hardest to bear.
Another, writing more than 150 years ago, expressed it well:
“I believe that those who have the thoughts of God in this world will be always sad and always happy, apart from their own faults; happy because they enjoy in their thoughts communion with their God; sad, because these thoughts are not a reality round about them; and as they progress, they will work for God with more patience, will be more content with Himself, and will not link their fair ideal so much with man. It will not have lost its value (far from it), but they will see it more in its source, less in its being realized.”
Sorrow and Joy
So it was with our blessed Lord. He was surely the man of sorrows — the One who suffered not only bodily, but also in His soul, because of His love — but He was also the man of joy, for it was “the joy set before Him” that gave Him to endure the cross, “despising the shame” (Heb. 12:22Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)). There was a joy in doing the Father’s will and a joy in looking forward to the results of the work He was doing. So also it is with us. If we seek to follow our blessed Lord, we will find that same joy, even in suffering, for here in Hebrews 12 it is not the atoning sufferings that are in view, but rather the suffering and shame associated with the cross. Christ is here presented as an example for us.
The Blessed Results
In that coming day, we will see, no doubt more than we ever thought, the blessed results of following Him faithfully. It is easy to become discouraged in the way and perhaps to take a less faithful path by seeking an easier way. More than this, we may become offended and disillusioned, feeling that perhaps our labor is in vain. If such thoughts come before us, let us remember our Lord Jesus and faithful servants like Paul, who went on to the end. In that day we too will see, not those who are failures or dull of hearing, but rather every saint of God in all the perfection of Christ Himself. More than this, we will surely see that “our labor was not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58), for we will see blessing up there that was not revealed to us down here. As with our blessed Master, we will be satisfied in that day.
W. J. Prost