Good Friday Vespers, 2019
7 PM Central Daylight Time
The hymn tunes are linked to the hymn name.
The words are linked to the the hymn number.
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Hymn # 172:1-5 O Sacred Head
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 22 p. 128
The Lections
The Sermon Hymn #143 O Dearest Jesus
The Lections
The Sermon Hymn #143 O Dearest Jesus
The Sermon – The Gospel of the Old Testament
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
The Collect for Grace p. 45
The Hymn #153 Stricken Smitten
The Hymn #153 Stricken Smitten
Psalm 22 KJV
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations.
29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this. 
Isaiah 52 KJV
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: forthat which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 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. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 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.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 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.
11 He 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. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
John 19 KJV
Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. 2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, 3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. 4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.
5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! 6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. 7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; 9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. 12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. 13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. 16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. 17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: 18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. 19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. 21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and putit upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. 31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. 35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. 36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. 39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. 42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
For Holy Communion Preparation on Easter Sunday
O Lord Jesus Christ, we thank Thee, that of Thine infinite mercy Thou hast instituted this Thy sacrament, in which we eat Thy body and drink Thy blood: Grant us, we beseech Thee, by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not receive this gift unworthily, but that we may confess our sins, remember Thine agony and death, believe the forgiveness of sin, and day by day grow in faith and love, until we obtain eternal salvation through Thee, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
The Gospel of the Old Testament
Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were
astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more
than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall
shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see;
and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
53
1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of
the Lord revealed?
ΚΥΡΙΕ, τίς ἐπίστευσε τῇ ἀκοῇ
ἡμῶν; καὶ ὁ βραχίων Κυρίου τίνι ἀπεκαλύφθη; (LXX)
2 For he shall grow up before
him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. 3 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. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 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. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his
generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the
transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth. 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. 11 He 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. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion
with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath
poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and
he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
This Suffering Servant song is
often called the Gospel of the Old Testament – for good reason. Of course, the
modernists can see no connection between this passage and Jesus, and children
have no trouble seeing that this is all about Jesus and the cross. This portion
of Isaiah made no sense until the crucifixion of Christ.
Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were
astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more
than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall
shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see;
and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Verses 13 and 14 contradict
each other. First the servant is prudent, exalted, praised and very high. But his
face is injured worse than anyone else has been, and his body is equally
damaged. This foresees the punching and whipping of Jesus. He was slapped and
hit to humiliate Him, and He was whipped with a Roman device where the leather
straps were tipped with stone or metal. This had the combined effect of great
pain, bleeding, and dehydration – before He even took up His cross.
The description continues –
1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we
shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 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.
Our report τῇ ἀκοῇ ἡμῶν is all-important. Those who
pretend to know Paul’s Gospel overlook the importance of this connection with
Romans 10, the Means of Grace chapter. Where does faith come from? It comes
from our report.
“Our report” began when Isaiah was written and the Old Testament expanded
its influence in the Greek Septuagint. It is unlikely that people saw this as
Messianic, quite the opposite effect of Isaiah 40 – the voice of one crying in
the wilderness. But Paul wrote, faith in Jesus comes from the report of His
crucifixion, citing Isaiah 53, quoting Isaiah 53. The link could not be any
stronger.
Lenski, Romans, p. 666, on 10:16 – on who has believed our report?
This question is so pertinent also because it introduces the great
fifty-third gospel chapter of Isaiah which describes the very death and the glorification
of the Messiah. It is the central chapter of Isa. 40 to 66, the very crown of
the great prophetic poem. The very heart of the gospel Israel would not
believe, neither then nor thereafter, not even after the Messiah had already
come.
2 For he shall grow up before
him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. 3 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.
This is so clearly about Jesus
that no one can question it. Here is the paradox – the truth was in front of
everyone for many centuries. It was used in their studies, but no one comprehended
its real meaning. We can see that too in the disciples responding to Jesus’
predictions of His suffering, death, and resurrection (Mark 8, 9, 10 – and parallels).
What we should see in this is
The Report – the entire narrative of what Jesus did to be our righteousness. Do
you believe that Jesus suffered and died for you? That is the next section of
Isaiah.
4 Surely he hath borne our
griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted.5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned
every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 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. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and
who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the
living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
The Ethiopian eunuch was
puzzled by this passage –
Acts 8:30 And Philip ran
thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest
thou what thou readest? 31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide
me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. 32 The place
of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before
his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: 33 In his humiliation his judgment was
taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from
the earth. 34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of
whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
This is the continuing paradox
of the Savior. He appeared to be weak before the forces of evil and Satan, yet
He was strong enough to stand up to their assaults and defeat them. Israel
looked for a conquering priest-king, so they did not see as Messianic. Luther
says in his Good Friday sermon that the proper way to meditate on the cross is
right from this passage – those wounds and bruises are my sins.
5. Fifthly, that you deeply believe and never doubt
the least, that you are the one who thus martyred Christ. For your sins most
surely did it. Thus St. Peter struck and terrified the Jews as with a
thunderbolt in Acts 2:36-37, when he spoke to them all in common: “Him have ye
crucified,” so that three thousand were terror-stricken the same day and
tremblingly cried to the apostles: “O beloved brethren what shall we do?”
Therefore, when you view the nails piercing through his hands, firmly believe
it is your work. Do you behold his crown of thorns, believe the thorns are your
wicked thoughts, etc.
9 And he made his grave with
the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth.
This verse by itself is
contradictory, but it is a paradox because of its truth. Jesus died with two
criminals, so He was destined to be buried with them, but Joseph and Nicodemus
intervened, risking their lives, so Jesus was placed in a rich man’s tomb,
untouched by death. Nicodemus was also buried in carved tomb, so when Jesus
looked upon it, He knew that raising His friend would begin the Passion, and
that He would be in a similar tomb. The explanation [because He had done no
violence] is in complete harmony with the Gospel. The Atoning death was
complete because Jesus was without sin.
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. 11 He 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. 12 Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because
he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the
transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.
Yes this was God’s will, the
plan from the beginning – Genesis 3:15, promised in Genesis 15:6.
All of this
suffering for others, pain for healing – all this will glorify the Son for
being obedient to His Father’s will.
