Isaiah begins chapter 53—a continuation of the fourth Servant Song—with two questions. Both imply what he is about to report had been dismissed or missed by many: “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (1).
The reference to the “arm” of the Lord being revealed echoes a theme highlighted in the previous chapters. Back in Isaiah 40 we learned that the Lord was coming with might and His arm was “rules for him” (40:10). The Lord’s “arm” is a metaphor speaking of His power to rescue and rule. In the previous chapter, we were told the Lord’s arm would bring salvation in a globally overt and obvious way: “The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (52:10).
Now in Isaiah 53, we are surprised to read that the powerful, saving intervention of God (“his bared, holy arm”) was somehow missed by most people. God had indeed flexed His holy arm to bring salvation, but this amazing work of God had not been perceived by all. Isaiah indicates that only those to whom it was revealed (by God!) recognized it.
One reason people missed God’s saving work was that it came in an unexpected way. God’s salvation, brought about by His Servant, came in a barren, dry time. Verse 2 tells us that the Servant “grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground.” Conditions were arid and inhospitable. Further, the Servant wasn’t a person who naturally grabbed attention: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (2). The Servant wasn’t one of the beautiful, naturally impressive people.
Worse yet, this Servant was actively “despised and rejected by men” (3). His life and ministry were not shielded by the Lord who sent Him (50:5-6). He experienced great “sorrows” and “grief” in life. Instead of looking to him, many who look away (“hide their faces”). Especially when “his appearance” would be “marred beyond human semblance” (52:14). This Servant of the Lord, though he would “act wisely” (52:13), would still be “despised” not “esteemed” (3).
In fact, the only way he was esteemed (appraised, assessed) was as an example of someone punished by God: “yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted” (4). What “we” (Isaiah encompasses us all in his indictment) missed was that all the trouble and sorrow in the Servant’s life was derived from all of us: “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (4). Here is the first indication that the Servant suffering is vicarious; it’s on our behalf.
So that we don’t miss it, Isaiah highlights the substitutionary suffering of the Servant on our behalf is restated in three ways in verse 5: “he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.” He suffered in our place, for our healing (“with his wounds we are healed”—5).
Lest we think the Servant’s suffering was unnecessary, Isaiah emphasizes our universal sinfulness in verse 6. Like wandering sheep, “everyone” of us has “gone astray.” Rather than going God’s way, we’ve turned aside to our own paths. This turning from God is the “iniquity” that the Lord “has laid on him.” The “iniquity” that caused Israel to be “sold” into captivity (50:1) is now “borne” and “carried” by the sinless (“righteous”—11) Servant.
As previously indicated in the third Servant song, the Lord’s servant accepts the crushing blow of suffering willingly (50:5-6). In fact, he receives it silently. Verse 7 twice reminds us that “he opened not his mouth.” Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep silent before its shearers, the Servant does not speak to revile or threaten those who hurt him (1 Peter 2:23). He does not use his instructed “tongue” (50:4) to defend himself. He submits to the Lord’s Word and will (50:5).
How would the Lord’s servant come to suffer on our behalf? Verses 7-9 reveal his suffering comes through “oppression” and “judgment.” Although the Servant has done “no violence” and spoken “no deceit”, powerful people “cut him off out of the land of the living” (8-9). Those who afflict him or who see him afflicted (“his generation”—8) don’t consider that the Servant is suffering on their behalf (“for the transgression of my people”—8). When he is dead, they bury him “with the wicked and with a rich man” (9). How the Servant could be buried in a common grave of those considered wicked and, at the same time, be buried with the rich, is not explained here (but comes to light clearly in the burial of Jesus!).
Another paradox arises in verse 10. Having just explained that the Servant dies at the hands of oppressors, Isaiah now declares the Servant dies by “the will of the Lord” (10). In fact, “he has put him to grief” (10). The Lord orchestrates this suffering of His Servant. But there’s more to it. The Servant himself is somehow laying down his own life: “when his soul makes an offering for guilt” (10). The Servant offers his own life (“soul”) as a guilt offering—for the iniquity of others.
So, the Servant’s death is somehow the result of the Lord’s will, his own offering, and the oppression of people.
Out of the sadness and suffering of the Lord’s servant comes surprising good. Verse 10-12 reveal the outcome of the Servant’s death. Once again, we are in for a surprise. The Servant, though killed, “shall see his offspring,” and “prolong his days” (10). Death is not the end of His story.
What’s more, “the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand” (10). Because of his substitutionary death, “many” will be “accounted righteous” (11). Their iniquities, borne by the Servant, are now forgiven. The Servant himself is honoured by the Lord, given the spoils of His victory (12). All this comes “because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors” (12). The Servant fulfilled the will and purpose of God by bearing “the sins of man” and making “intercession for the transgressors” (12).
Who is this righteous, suffering, victorious Servant? That is the question an Ethiopian court official, who had just read this text, asked Philip. “Then Philip opened his mouth (with in instructed tongue!) and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus (Acts 8:35). Jesus is the sinless, suffering, dying, living, victorious Servant of the Lord!
Behold Your God
The Lord made His Servant suffer to save His people. Isaiah 53 asserts the staggering truth that the Lord was ultimately responsible for His righteous Servant’s suffering and death: “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief” (10). Why would Lord cause such grief for His “righteous one”? For us! That’s the amazing answer given in this chapter. Through the Servant’s death he made “many accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities” (11).
The Lord accomplished His will through the sinful choices of humans. While the Lord Himself was the ultimate cause of the Servant’s suffering and death, sinful humans were the immediate cause. The Servant of the Lord experienced “oppression and judgment” (8) though “he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth” (9). Here we see an example of what theologians calls “compatibilism”—God working through the choices of humans to accomplish His will even as they accomplish their will. Peter may have been making a reference to Isaiah 53 in his Pentecost sermon: “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23). God does indeed draw straight lines using crooked sticks.
The Lord’s Righteous Servant is the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53 must have been puzzling to many of its original readers. How could God’s Servant suffer so unjustly? Why would the Lord cause this to happen? How could the Lord’s Servant be both crushed by the Lord and oppressed by sinful men? How could the Servant die and still “prolong his days”? How could He be buried both with the wicked and with a rich man in his death (9)? All these questions would be answered seven centuries later in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. No one else has ever come close to fulfilling the precise prophetic words contained in Isaiah 53. Jesus is the Lord’s Suffering, Risen Servant.
Here Am I
I am deeply grieved my sin caused the Servant of the Lord to suffer. Isaiah 53 exposes the lie that we are basically good people in God’s eyes. All of us—everyone—has turned away to our own ways (6). It was our sin—my sin—that God laid on His Servant (6), causing Him such “grief” (10) and “anguish of his soul” (11). His blood is on my hands. Oh, Lord forgive me.
I am deeply grateful the Lord and His Servant made a way for many to be account righteous. Although we are all transgressors, the Lord has made a way for us to be “accounted righteous” (11). The substitutionary death of the Servant was a guilt offering for my iniquities (10). He was cut off so my sins could be carried away. Oh, Lord, thank You!
I will join with the forgiven to forever sing the praises of the Lamb who was slain. Revelation 5 gives us a glimpse of the hosts of heaven bowing and singing the praises of the “Lamb” (5:8, 13): “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (5:9). Oh, Lord Jesus, praise You.
Rick and Linda Reed 