Isaiah 53
No other prophet foretold as many things about the coming Christ, as Isaiah did…..in so many details.
He tells about Christ’s birth….Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7
He tells about John the Baptist’ message…Isaiah 40:3-5
But in this chapter, Isaiah gives God’s Word about the life, and ministry of Christ Jesus….as God’s Perfect Servant.
The first thing is……Isaiah is amazed, at the rejection of the One Who comes to save them!
Isaiah 53:1 “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed?”
Here is both a question and exclamation!
What, after so many prophesies telling about the incarnation and work of the Lord Jesus…..you still do not believe what you see, right before you?
John 12:37 “But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him:”
The “Arm of the Lord” is a showing of God’s Mighty Strength….and that was shown again and again in Christ Jesus.
By the miracles He did,….but especially by the powerful “arm” of salvation, which He spoke of,…if we believe on Him.
Isaiah shows about Christ’s life:
Isaiah 53:2 “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.”
Here is the reason Israel did not at first recognize Him….He came disguised as a servant…..of the kingly line, yes…..in Bethlehem, yes…..but lowly.
Even the first words of the Lord we hear are that of a servant…..
(Luke 2:49) “How is it that ye sought Me? Wish ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”
He grew up as “a tender plant”…..which is the word for a “root-sprout”. It means a sprout or sapling from the stump of a cut down tree….
…God had cut down the kingly line of David, because of their continued rebellion….
….yet now….here is a tender plant….unappreciated by most,…of the line of David……beautiful in kindness and purity…but not grand to the eyes of sight.
Yet Christ Jesus grew up “before Him”….before the eyes of His Father…under HIs care and protection.
Isaiah 53:3 “He was 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.”
It is hard to understand their hatred and rejection of the Son of God.
Why did we despise Him? Was it not because He showed us our sins…..and we did not like to see them?
We did not esteem, or honor Him.
To Israel……He came to save, yet they refused to be saved.
He fed five thousand……yet was often hungry and thirsty Himself.
He came preaching the kingdom of heaven was at hand, healing the sick and blind…..yet instead of praise….He was questioned and called names.
He was a man of sorrows….for He saw and felt the sorrow of the sin of this world, as He walked here…..
(He was often grieved at the unbelief and hardness of heart of the people [Mark 3:5])
…….until He bore the penalty of the sin of this world on the cross.
(Though He knew the sorrow of the sin around Him,…..He rejoiced in spirit with the Father, fulfilling the work to remove both the sin and the sorrow of sin. Luke 10:21-22)
This was our Savior’s life here on earth…..(John 1:10-11 “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.
He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.”)
Isaiah then tells of His death….yes, he foretold the Messiah would die….
Isaiah 53:4-5 “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
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.”
All sickness, sorrow, and pain are the effects of sin.
And on the cross, Christ Jesus suffered the penalty for all our sin….pain, grief, aloneness, death….all that we should have borne because I am a sinner…..He did. (Wounded, bruised, chastisement, stripes!)
Yet…..
….what a telling word.
Yet, though He did that, they misunderstood His sufferings….and mocked Him.
They cried out, at the foot of the cross (Matthew 27:42-43) “….He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him; for He said, I am the Son of God.”
Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Here is our guilt….we have gone astray from God.
(“Gone astray” means to vacillate…to stagger or stray because of deception, excitement, agitation, or seduction.
It is a picture of a wanderer, with no fixed destination……lost, but always moving to something else.)
We have turned from Him, and the knowledge of Him. (Romans 1:19-20)
Isaiah 53:7 “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 His shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.”
He was the Lamb of God,….
He was very willing to speak on behalf of the faint and weak…Matthew 14:14-18
He was very willing to encourage and acknowledge faith….Matthew 8:10, 15:28,
He was very willing to speak up so that the disciples would be let go when they arrested Him…..John 18:8-9
Yet, He never spake a word in His own defense…..Matthew 26:62-63
Isaiah 53:8 “He was taken from prison and from judgement: 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.
And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich with His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.”
He had done the rulers no harm…..only spoke the truth….but they sought His life.
He was hurried from arrest, to judgement…..let us be rid of Him.
He was killed…cut off…violently put to death.
They intended His death,…….God intended salvation through His blood and sacrifice.
He was crucified between two thieves….but even there, saving one (Luke 23:39-43)
He was buried in the new tomb given by the rich man, Joseph of Arimathea. (John20:38-42)
On the cross Jesus Christ was a victim…..but in His resurrection He is Victor.
And here is His resurrection and ascension!
All the life, and power that Christ Jesus had before,….and more honor…..is given to Him.
And in the end, this is what God thinks of the life, death, and resurrection of His Son…..for this was ever His plan for the salvation of His people, as it was foretold here:
Isaiah 53:10-12 “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.
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.
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 bear the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
These verses are very precious….for God tells of the delight in His Son, at the cross…
Delight…..because the cross….the sacrifice, was the only way for joy and redemption to come to man….for God is a God of righteousness and justice….and by Christ, God’s righteous demands for justice are met.
Therefore God saves us…..Christ Jesus shall see His seed….those believers which come to Him. (John 1:12, Hebrews 12:2)
God shall prolong His days…..For God raised up Christ from death and the grave….and He shall ever be our Mediator…..justifying us before God. (1Timothy 2:5)
God has promised a Kingdom to His Son,……now, in the hearts of the believers;….
….with whom He shares His grace and glory (Romans 8:14-17)…..
Ephesians 1:17-22 (condensed) “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you….in the knowledge of Him:…
…that ye may know….what is the riches of….His inheritance in the saints,
And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power,
Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places,
And hath put all things under His feet, and have Him to the head of all things to the church,”
…..but also, one day….
….Christ will reign here, over the whole earth.
(Psalm 110:1, Acts 2:34-36)
1 Corinthians 15:24-25 “Then cometh the end, when He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power.
For He must reign till hath put down all enemies under His feet.”
Christ is the Victor…..because He won the victory over sin, the devil, and death.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
As a Servant of God, Christ came lowly, and in humiliation….and won the greatest Victory…..that we might come to God in peace.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 