Exposition by Max A Forsythe
The chapter before us is truly one of the greatest and most essential passages in all of the Old Covenant. The themes and the prophecies here are quoted and alluded to by all of the New Covenant writers. One commentator observes that every verse of the chapter except verse two is applied to Christ at least once and several more than once. The whole of Jesus' ministry is here from beginning to end. So clear it is, that Phillip used this passage to witness to the Ethiopian court treasurer. Even today, any sincere Jews who are waiting for the Messiah should be referred to these verses. There is so much material in this chapter that the whole of the gospels could be outlined herein and months of preaching and study could not exhaust the prophetic content.
The commentators go on and on endlessly, so what I propose is to simply follow an old outline written in pencil in my study Bible. Here it is, if you would like to copy it into your own Bibles as well. The last three verses of chapter fifty-two points us toward the figure of God’s servant and introduce the grandness of that One life to come. Verse one of chapter fifty-three is a rhetorical question. Verses two and three would tell us who Jesus is. Verses four and five will show us what He will do. Verse six gives us the reason why. Verses seven through nine predict what will happen to Him. Then Isaiah closes in the last three verses by showing us how this is all part of the Lord’s plan.
We begin with the introductory material at the end of chapter fifty-two. Here God would tell us of His servant’s wisdom and the fact that He will be raised, lifted up and exalted. Certainly we are tempted to make very much of those three verbs in the life of our Lord. However, let us be content with a triple Hallelujah of exaltation. This will be no mere man to be praised, but the Lord of Lords and God indeed. And for His wisdom of perfectly doing His Father’s will in everything ,the Lord God of heaven will raise, lift and exalt His only Son to the very throne of heaven.
But who will see this exaltation when Jesus will come? We have a hint here in verse fourteen that very many will be appalled at the mere man Jesus that they can know. Now, we have to be careful here with this passage. On the basis of these words some have concluded that Jesus may have been disfigured. At one time, I may have shared that impression with some of you in a Bible study. Today as this scene unfolds in the midst of a larger passage let us consider the intensity of the beating given to Christ by the Roman authorities. Add to that the horrors of the crucifixion scene and we may easily conclude how the Jews of Christ’s time would reject the possibility of His being the all conquering Messiah that they expected to usher in a final millennial-like reign on earth.
Just as people today recoil at even the thought of getting another’s blood on them because of the Aids epidemic, so would all “reasonable” worldly people reject a beaten, disfigured and dying king nailed to a cross like any common criminal. But it is that very precious blood of our Lord that cleanses instead of infects. Even as His side was ripped open and the blood and water poured out spattering anyone standing too near, it is that very blood which the Lord will sprinkle on the nations to cleanse them from their sins.
Even kings will be humbled because of Christ. “What they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.” Even the common man must come to this same conclusion. This man Jesus came for the very purpose that we are reading about today. Even as His body was beaten to a pulp, His hands and feet nailed to the cross and His last pints of blood released by the point of the soldier’s spear, so has it been necessary to cover our very own sins in order for us to have a hope of heaven through Him.
But, Isaiah hints in the first verse of chapter fifty-three. “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Even when Jesus explained to the disciples what must come to pass and what events will take place, they in their human stupidity refused to believe His own words when He was speaking directly to them. Well may Isaiah ask this question: “Who has believed?” Luther and the authors of the New Covenant interpret these words in the following manner: The kings in the previous verses are dumbfounded because they had not heard or believed spiritually. The second phrase sets the question up for understanding. The power of God’s revealing arm is necessary to comprehend the message. Dr Young would tell us that this “passage clearly teaches that faith is a gift of God and not a work of man’s unaided power. It also teaches that unless God manifests His power, man will not be converted.”
In the next two verses Isaiah reveals the future coming of the Lord. This great Servant of Jehovah will spring up out of the dry ground of the nation. He will not be born to His position in the human manner. Yes, His genealogical pedigree will be perfect, but during His childhood He will live in the shelter of obscurity. He will not be the pampered Son of the palace or temple. He will not be, as we might say in our day, a California Golden Wonder. He will not have the glamorous coiffured blond looks so copied by our media stars. In fact, Isaiah tells us He will be very common. Unlike old King Saul, He will not have the majesty of appearance. Men and women will not be attracted by His appearance.
Like our Senators of the last century, He probably could not win a popular election. Let me explain what I mean. Up until the first decade of our twentieth century, our Senators were chosen by the State legislators. Suddenly, by constitutional amendment they had to win popular elections in the various states. Sadly, many of the very capable Senators who could win office in obscure out of the way congressional districts could not appeal to the wide variety of voters state wide. So within a decade the very occupants of the Senate were ruthlessly pruned for a new crop of more golden boys who could please the fickle masses and appeal to the faddish feminist issues of world peace and alcoholic prohibition. If you find that idea offensive, may I refer you to a recent article in a major news magazine which observes that looks in our time are more important for popular success than any other asset. It is good that the very common Christ has not appeared in our day. For just like the times of Christ, the Messiah would still be “despised and rejected by men.” One last example of the problem here. Even in the last century, a gawky, lumbering obscure politician from Illinois found it necessary to grow a beard to please the national audience when he was surprisingly voted into the White House.
Next we must turn our attention to what the Messiah will accomplish when He comes to a world that mostly will, and has, rejected Him. Today, one of the most likely occupational hazards is carpal-tunnelitis. It can be very painful and sadly limit the use of a person’s hands and wrists. In the last two centuries when mechanical work was first being introduced, there were more horrid hazards from the chemistry and tools of industrialism. Many hands, fingers and body parts were literally crushed beyond repair in an age when worker’s compensation was unheard of. If you really want to understand this passage you would have to visit the sick wards of various veteran’s hospitals scattered around the country. There in those places, you could have met the invisible veterans of every war who have been placed out of public view for their own emotional and physical health. There for a generation or more have the sad remains of once young soldiers been cared for with as much dignity as possible. But even worse than their case, Isaiah would tell us what will happen to the Lord’s own anointed. Our Messiah will be disfigured, smitten, afflicted, pierced and crushed because He will take up our infirmities, because He will carry our sorrows.
Why was He so disfigured on the cross? It was precisely because He took our stripes, He took the punishment for all of our sins. The weight of our sins bore down heavily upon His shoulders and because of what we have done, He descended into Hades. Even as the worldly looked upon the cross they assumed that Jesus deserved everything that He got. They considered Him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But they missed the whole point. Look at the gospel of grace in the last phrases of verse five. “The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Why did He have to go to the cross, the worldly may wonder? Isaiah tells us in verse six. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” And how this iniquity was laid on Him is explained in the next few verses. In His oppression and affliction, He did not open His mouth. By this oppression and judgment he was taken away. Isaiah invokes the image of slaughtered animals to demonstrate the tragedy of the events of the crucifixion. Like an animal, was the Lord of life treated by His contemporaries. But even as the Lord God allowed this to happen, there was a purpose noted at the end of verse eight. Even in the depths of this description we are reminded once again that the Lord would use this tragedy to redeem His own people. But even as the worldly consigned the Christ to a grave, His Father would cause His burial to be honored by righteous members of the ungodly Sanhedrin.
Isaiah goes on to finish this passage by explaining God’s providential plan to raise Him and lift Him up, and thereby to exalt Him above all common and noble men for the glory of the Godhead and the honor of the gospel message. We see clearly in verse ten that the crushing of the Servant will satisfy all of the guilt offerings of the Temple practice. In spite of the cutting off from descendants mentioned in verse eight, the Servant will indeed see His offspring and the will of the Lord God will prosper in Christ’s administration. And by His suffering and knowledge the Servant will justify many because He has borne their sins.
Because of Christ’s fulfillment of God’s sovereign will, He whom the world may consider only a minor prophet, He - even Jesus will have a portion among the great. And because He poured out His life unto death, He will be exalted because He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Even for us. May we praise the God of heaven for all that Christ has accomplished, even as God purposed and revealed long before the events reported here came to pass.
“Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” We know, don’t we? Praise the Lord Almighty for all that He has done, even in our own hearts, so that we have comprehended the message before us today. And if there be any in our midst who know not these things truly, may the fact of the publishment of these glad tidings centuries before the fact convict you of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Resources Used:
Ellis, Charles..
The Wells of Salvation.
Thomas, Derek..
Welwyn Commentary Series: God Delivers.
Uprichard, Harry.
A Son Is Given.
Young, Edward J..
The Book of Isaiah.
The Holy Bible.
New International Version (1984 Edition)
NOTE: I am not able to automatically
recommend any future editions.
Christ Covenant Reformed (Presbyterian Church in America) -
Box 13926 - Columbus, OH 43213
(c) 2001
12 November 1994
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.