This was part of an assignment which I had to complete for school, and I think it would be beneficial to put on here, for who every God leads to read it. It is quite lengthy, and perhaps repetitive but I hope it is helpful, and feel free to comment :)
Isaiah 53 starts in the middle of a section. The section is called The Suffering and Glory of the Servant. This is a number of Prophecies about Jesus Christ, who was the Messiah – the promised saviour for Israel, and who, as we know now, came to take our punishment for our sin, and who died a horrible death and was separated from God for a time, so we can be clean in his sight, and so be with him, as Slaves to him and as his Children.
Verse one:
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Verse one poses a question to the reader. ‘Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?’ This calls us to make a personal response to God’s word. Do you believe? Are you a Christian? If you are, then the arm of the LORD has been revealed to you. This means that God has shown us his plan (in part at least) you have seen it and accepted it – believed. The arm of the LORD means God’s actions, how he has shaped everything for his glory and to bring about your salvation. Calvin points out that Isaiah is here showing his distress that not many do (or will) believe. We should do the same. Are you sorrowful when people you know don’t believe God or trust him? You should be. The other half of the verse notes that it is God who saves. We cannot come to God by ourselves; we need God to save us. (John 12:37-38, Romans 10:16)
Verse Two:
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
Verse Two goes on to speak of Jesus, who was the Christ. It says: ‘He grew up like a tender shoot before him and like a root out of dry ground’. Jesus grew up before God – God knows every single thing we do, he is continually watching us, we must be holy and not sin, like Christ. This points to Christ’s perfection – God watched every single thing he did, yet he was not sinful – he was a root from dry ground. Dry ground here refers to Israel. The Nation had turned its back on God (both when Isaiah was writing, and also when Jesus came). They had turned from God and so they had become unfruitful, dry. Dry ground does not produce fruit, likewise, Israel (or anyone who has rejected God) does not obey God and does not honour and glorify him (which is our purpose in life). They had become ‘useless’, yet God shows his mercy in this. He did not reject them straight away when they turned from him, but instead he sent this root, Jesus, to replenish those who would turn back to God, and to bring about salvation for all who would Repent and Believe. God is merciful to all people; he can make the ‘worst’ or ‘driest’ person fruitful for himself, if we turn to him and accept him (through what Christ has done, and the free gift of Grace given by Jesus’ death).
The second part of Verse Two says:
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
And it states that there was nothing about Jesus that would make us desire him – he was not physically special in any way. Jesus is God. The fact that he came to earth alone shows an unmeasurable amount of love and humility from him, yet he not only came to earth, but he came in the form of a Man, who had nothing that we would desire about him. No Majesty, No Honour, No Glory, The glory that was rightly here was not shown at all times during his earthly ministry – At times, it was evident (walking on water, miracles, etc) but it was also hidden at times. The whole purpose of Jesus’ life was to come and be humiliated for us. The full extent of it was spent in suffering, yet he was still faithful to God, ‘And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8) – The worst kind of death possible. But this was not even the worst part. He suffered full separation from God – the punishment we all deserved because of our sin and that is what hell is: Separation from God – from all that is good, from truth, from hope - Because God is those things. As Christians, we are called to follow Christ’s example. To be humble, to obey God in every area of our lives, no matter what the cost will be, and to withstand suffering, persecution and perhaps even death while doing so.
Verse Three:
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Verse Three Again shows Christ’s humility, and the fact that he was persecuted and lived a life full of suffering. It says ‘he was despised and rejected by men’ this prophecy ties in with other prophecies such as in Daniel 9:24-26 and Psalm 188:22 (Which is also referred to in Matthew 21:42). We must be content with what we have, and be ready to obey God, even if it means we face hardship and trials – persecution, from people, even from family and friends. We are called to put God first in our lives, not ourselves, and to endure any trials that he allows us to be faced with, without sinning or dishonouring him. Again, there was nothing about Jesus that we would find appealing. We should not judge people on how they look, or what they are like, but rather on their state with God, and whether they are obeying him.
Verse Four:
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
Verse Four continues on from Verse three. It ties in with the statement that ‘he was a man of sorrows and familiar with sufferings’ (verse 3) when it says ‘surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows’ (verse 4). Jesus was a man of sorrows, because he took on our sorrows. Infirmities means: A failing or defect in a person's character. It also refers to a disease or sickness which produces weakness. In context, this disease and failing in us is Sin – Disobedience to God. He took on our infirmities – our sins, which make us unclean before God - and he himself became unclean in God’s sight:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Note here that our sin and our sorrows are linked together. When we are sinful, we have no joy and no peace with God. We are separated from him, and need to be reconciled with him. The only way to do this is if Jesus takes our infirmities (sins and faults) and sorrows. We must repent and hand over our sin to him, so that we will be forgiven. No, we will not always be happy once we are Christians, but, God does give joy, and we can look to an eternity of perfect happiness, joy and peace in heaven with him, where no sin can make us sorrowful. Sin is the cause of sorrow. We see this from the very beginning: in the garden, before Adam and Eve sinned, they were happy, and they walked with God, when they sinned, they could no longer walk with God (because of their sin), and they were no longer perfectly happy. This follows through to today, and will continue until God comes again to Judge.
Verse Five:
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Verse Five is a major verse in this Chapter. It directly outlines what Christ did for us, what the Messiah’s purpose for coming to earth was. He came to die, to be pierced for our transgressions, and be crushed for our iniquities. A Transgression is: A violation of a law, command, or duty, and Iniquity is: A grossly immoral act; a sin, or wickedness. Transgressions and Iniquities mean the same basic thing – our sin. Jesus, God’s Son, came to earth to die for our sin, to take our sin, or disobedience on himself. He was the only one who could do this, because he was sinless before God – throughout his life, he never disobeyed God once, he alone could take our sin, and he was the perfect sacrifice. 1 Peter 3:18 – “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit”. The next part of the verse shows the effects of him taking our transgressions and iniquities. It says: the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. The punishment he took was deserved by us. We deserve every single bit of punishment he got. Every single human being has sinned (Romans 3:23), and we all DESERVE to die eternally and suffer eternally in hell. YET God gave his Son to take that for us. ‘The punishment that bought us peace’. He took all this, which we deserved so that we might have peace with God, be reconciled with him. By his wounds, we are healed – he took our punishment fully, now we can have a relationship with God and be freed from our slavery in sin. Romans 6:23 states that the “wages of sin is death”, because we all sin (Romans 3:23) we all deserve to die, that is our wages for sinning. But Romans 6:23 also states that the “gift of God is eternal life” – God gives eternal life. One interesting thing to note in these verses, is that sin has wages – which are what you get from what work you do, while God offers a gift, which is something you get no matter what you do – God offers us salvation and eternal life through Jesus and it is free. All you have to do is accept, and we do this by repenting and believing in him. Those who do not do this will also die, and suffer for eternity in hell.
Verse Six
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Verse Six is probably one of the most well known verses in the bible, and points out the same applications and truths as verse five. We all sin, and we do this like sheep. Sheep are pretty stupid – they follow each other, even though the one in the lead doesn’t even know anything about what it is doing. When a sheep goes astray, it is cut off from the shepherd; we know that Jesus is the good shepherd (John 10:1-16). A shepherd’s job in these times was to defend his sheep. This involved many things, including fighting off bears and lions (as David tells us 1 Samuel 17:34-35). (Might point out here that David also foreshadowed Jesus as a shepherd, and also as king, and Jesus fulfils prophecy by being a descendant of David, 2 Samuel 7:4-17). We All have gone astray – again, everyone is sinful, everyone disobeys God, which means everyone has rejected God and is his enemy by nature. We all deserve the punishment Jesus took; yes he took it out of love so we would not have to. LORD usually refers to Jehovah, which refers to God as all powerful, as ruler, eternal, self-existent and relational. God, the all powerful creator of the universe saved us, by laying our sin on Jesus, our disgusting horrible sin on his perfect, holy, glorious Son.
Verse Seven
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
Verse Seven is the start of a new section, but with the same theme. Christ was oppressed and afflicted. He was persecuted, mocked, beaten, ridiculed and scorned. He was hung naked on a cross to die, cursed by God and rejected by man, and yet at any time he could have saved himself: He could have opened his mouth and called down legions of angels to defend him, yet ‘he did not open his mouth’ (Matthew 26:53). Now Jesus is portrayed as a sheep, but a simile is used instead of a metaphor. He is not a sheep, but he was like a sheep. This is outlining that Jesus wasn’t following man, he was following God. But referring to him as a sheep here has another purpose, it points to the sacrificial system, and more particularly the Passover lamb, which in Exodus 12, was a sign to the angel of death to pass-over a house and not kill the firstborn inside. Through this God freed his people out of slavery in Egypt, and through Jesus’ sacrificial death for us he frees us from slavery in sin. This prophecy is directly fulfilled by Christ when he is with Pontius Pilate, and he does not speak to defend himself, but rather stays silent. (Matt 27:1-16, Mark 15:1-15, Luke 22:66-23:25 and John 18:28-40.)
Verse Eight.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
Again, the same points, Jesus was oppressed, arrested and judged. Yet he was innocent. He was perfect; He had no sin in him. He had no blemish, no reason to be punished, yet he did so, for those who would turn to him in repentance and belief, and to glorify God. The second line of this verse points out some practical application to us. We need to protest when people are treated unjustly, and we need to work to bring about true justice in the earth. Jesus was cut off from the land of the living, so that we might live and not suffer God’s wrath. The foot note says that line 2 stated who of this generation considered that Christ did these things. We need to think carefully about all God has done for us and be thankful.
Verse Nine
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Verse Nine again prophecies about Jesus, and he fulfils it. The first part states that he would die with the wicked, as a sinner (If grave refers to death here). This is a broader prophecy, which is saying that he would die and be buried like all sinful people. Because of the fall, we all die, and we are all wicked. But the second line states that he would be buried with the rich. We know that Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man who took Jesus’ body off the cross and put it in is own tomb. We see here two things. Firstly, God knows all things, and he is in control of it all – he knew hundreds of years before it happened that Jesus would die and be buried, and he orchestrated events so that this did indeed happen. We also see that it is not impossible for rich men to become Christians, but we need to be generous and use what we have to glorify God, because everything we have (even our tombs) are from him, and this is shown through the example of Joseph of Arimathea.
Verse Ten
Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
This verse begins the conclusion of the chapter. Again, we see here that God is in control of these events. It was the LORD’s will to crush him, it was God’s will that Jesus would die, and be an offering for sin. Jesus whole life was an offering for sin, his whole ministry on earth was to bring us to him. The second half of the verse refers to the fact that Jesus’ offspring are those who are saved through his death. God knew we would be saved through Jesus’ death, and that is why it was his will for it to happen. It is good to point out here that God’s will has two branches. God did not ‘want’ an innocent man to suffer, he did not like that his only Son had to die for our sin, but it was his will for this to happen, to bring about his gory and our good. God lets bad stuff happen to us so that we will be shaped to be more like him (Be holy and godly), and so that he will get more glory. He does not like it that bad stuff happens to us, but he allows it so that he may bring good out of it. (Genesis 50:20 – “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”) God’s will prospered through Christ’s death.
Verse Eleven.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
This verse shows the end to the story, and again prophesies of the Messiah. After he suffered refers to after it was finished. We know that God’s wrath was completely satisfied when Jesus cried out ‘it is finished’ and breathed his last (John 19:30). After this, after all our sin had been paid for, Jesus would see the light of life. This could refer to three things, and I think it does indeed refer to all of them. Firstly, Jesus would return to heaven, the place we go to have eternal life with him when we die. He says that he goes to heaven to prepare a place for us (for Christians) and so he does this and is satisfied. Another possibility is that it refers to his resurrection, and in this case it is another prophecy that was fulfilled, because he did indeed rise from the dead on the third day. The final option is that he will see the salvation he bought about and be satisfied. Of course, God knew the end result of Jesus’ death, but once he had died, Jesus was re-united with God once more and so could see again the effects of the salvation he wrought for us. Jesus was fully man and fully God. In some ways, he was limited as a man, yet he still had divine power and wisdom. and so after he died, he could again see the results of his death, and be satisfied by them. The footnote for line three says that some translations say that ‘through knowledge of him’ he will justify many. Both of these translations point out vital information. The one which is written ‘by his knowledge righteous servant will justify many’ states that God saved us through his knowledge and this again points to him being completely wise and all knowing. This means that God never allows anything to happen to us without using it for its full amount, because he is all wise, he knows what is best and we need to trust that he will do that, and he will because he is goods and loving (if we are his people). The other translation ‘by knowledge of him my righteous servant will justify many’ States hat we are justified (or forgiven) by knowing Christ and repenting of our sins and turning to him, and fighting hard not to do them any more. We will fail, but Christ has paid the price for us in this, and we will be forgiven.
Again, it states that Jesus will bear our iniquities. He offers full forgiveness to us, through him we can be completely washed clean of our sin.
Verse Twelve
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
This verse points out what God does for Jesus, and also in part what he will do for us in heaven. He gave Jesus his portion among the great. Jesus was exulted after he was humbled. He suffered for us, he became a man and was surrounded for sin, and then was humiliated by us and rejected by God, but when it was finished, ‘God exalted him to the highest place, and gave him the name above all names’. This applies to us in a way. If we humble ourselves before God, admit our utter depravity and undeservingness to him, he will forgive us for our sins, and if we humble ourselves and obey him, doing his will and being holy, he will exalt us in heaven, and he will reward us with hundreds of times more then we have lost for him. (Matt 19:29). It also says that he will divide the spoils among the strong. This points out that Jesus, being God is strong, he is all powerful, and he deserves all spoils and glory (Him being God). This again applies to us, if we overcome, if we are willing to die for God, he will bless us and give us honour and riches (in heaven). The next two lines again point out Jesus’ humbling and what he did for us, as the reason for him being exalted as he will be. Christ bore the sins of many, he took our sin, to accept this gift, repent and believe, turn to him and live your life for him, for his glory. Anything less will result in your destruction, and you getting exactly what you deserve, an eternity in hell, separate from God.
This passage has many many truths in it. It is full of application, and of teaching, as well as prophecies and proofs that Jesus was indeed the promised saviour. It points out many features of who God is: he is kind and loving and merciful – willing to sacrifice his own Son who he loves, for us, even though at the time we were still his enemies. But it also points out that God is Just, Pure and Perfect: He will not hesitate to destroy anyone who will not turn to him; He will come again to judge the righteous and the unrighteous. God kept all of these promises, promises of love, and he will keep the ones about judgement as well.
Isaiah 53 points to Jesus as the messiah and prophecies about who he was, and that he would come to save. He would be a root from dry ground, hope and salvation for those who would come to him. Goodness out of total depravity. Jesus was the prophesied Messiah and only one response to him leads to life. So ‘repent and believe, for the kingdom of God is near!’ Mark 1:15.
