Context No. 3648 of 4322 · Isaiah

Isaiah 53:1-12: in context

1Who has believed our message? To whom has the LORD’s arm been revealed? 2For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him. 4Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth. 8He was taken away by oppression and judgment. As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people? 9They made his 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 pleased the LORD to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and the LORD’s pleasure will prosper in his hand. 11After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will give him a portion with the great. He will divide the plunder with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

This is the mountain-peak of Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah, written centuries before the cross, yet describing it with astonishing precision. The Servant is despised and rejected, a man of sorrows; he bears our griefs and carries our sorrows; he is pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities; and by his wounds we are healed.

The heart of the gospel is here: he suffers not for his own sin but for ours. All we like sheep have gone astray, each turning to his own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Our sin was placed upon him; he took the punishment that brings us peace. And he did it silently and willingly, like a lamb led to the slaughter that does not open its mouth. This is love beyond measure: the innocent Servant bearing the guilt of the guilty, making his soul an offering for sin, so that we might be justified and healed. Every line points to Christ, who bore our sins in his own body on the tree.

Do I see in the Suffering Servant my own Savior, who was pierced for my transgressions and bore my iniquities, so that by his wounds I am healed?

Sources

Isaiah 53:5: "But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities... and by his wounds we are healed."
Isaiah 53:6: "All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Isaiah 53:7: "As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn't open his mouth."