Isaiah 53
BSB
The Suffering Servant
(Acts 8:26–40; 1 Peter 2:21–25)
1Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no stately form or majesty to attract us,
no beauty that we should desire Him.
3He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
Like one from whom men hide their faces,
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
4Surely He took on our infirmities
and carried our sorrows;
yet we considered Him stricken by God,
struck down and afflicted.
5But He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,
and by His stripes we are healed.
6We all like sheep have gone astray,
each one has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid upon Him
the iniquity of us all.
7He 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 her shearers is silent,
so He did not open His mouth.
8By oppression and judgment He was taken away,
and who can recount His descendants?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
He was stricken for the transgression of My people.
A Grave Assigned
(Matthew 27:57–61; Mark 15:42–47; Luke 23:50–56; John 19:38–42)
9He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with a rich man in His death,
although He had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him
and to cause Him to suffer;
and when His soul is made a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days,
and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11After the anguish of His soul,
He will see the light of life and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many,
and He will bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great,
and He will divide the spoils with the strong,
because He has poured out His life unto death,
and He was numbered with the transgressors.
Yet He bore the sin of many
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Introduction
Isaiah 53
The two great things which the Spirit of Christ in the Old Testament prophets testified beforehand were the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, Pe1 1:11. And that which Christ himself, when he expounded Moses and all the prophets, showed to be the drift and scope of them all was that Christ ought to suffer and then to enter into his glory, Luk 24:26, Luk 24:27. But nowhere in all the Old Testament are these two so plainly and fully prophesied of as here in this chapter, out of which divers passages are quoted with application to Christ in the New Testament. This chapter is so replenished with the unsearchable riches of Christ that it may be called rather the gospel of the evangelist Isaiah than the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah. We may observe here, I. The reproach of Christ's sufferings - the meanness of his appearance, the greatness of his grief, and the prejudices which many conceived in consequences against his doctrine (Isa 53:1-3). II. The rolling away of this reproach, and the stamping of immortal honour upon his sufferings, notwithstanding the disgrace and ignominy of them, by four considerations: - 1. That therein he did his Father's will (Isa 53:4, Isa 53:6, Isa 53:10). 2. That thereby he made atonement for the sin of man (Isa 53:4-6, Isa 53:8, Isa 53:11, Isa 53:12), for it was not for any sin of his own that he suffered (Isa 53:9). 3. That he bore his sufferings with an invincible and exemplary patience (Isa 53:7). 4. That he should prosper in his undertaking, and his sufferings should end in his immortal honour (Isa 53:10-12). By mixing faith with the prophecy of this chapter we may improve our acquaintance with Jesus Christ and him crucified, with Jesus Christ and him glorified, dying for our sins and rising again for our justification.
Cross-references: 1Pet 1:11 · Luke 24:26 · Luke 24:27 · Isa 53:1 · Isa 53:4 · Isa 53:6 · Isa 53:10 · Isa 53:8 · Isa 53:11 · Isa 53:12 · Isa 53:9 · Isa 53:7