Isaiah 53:1-7
SS Lesson for 09/28/2025
Devotional Scriptures: Rom 5:14-21
When we cross from chapter 39 to chapter 40 in the book of Isaiah, we enter what is commonly called “the book of comfort.” The chapters therein include some of the most significant prophecies of Jesus and the impact of his life and ministry. This section begins with a word of “comfort” to God’s people and assures Jerusalem that “her sin has been paid for” and that “she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2). This likely describes how the captivity of the people in Babylon, predicted in Isaiah 39, was to end. There was, however, another more serious and oppressive captivity affecting God’s people: the captivity of sin. This captivity was the primary cause for the heartbreak of exile experienced by both the northern kingdom of Israel (to Assyria in 722 BC) and the southern kingdom of Judah (to Babylon in 586 BC). The solution to this spiritual bondage was described by Isaiah in terms of a “servant” raised up by the Lord to provide the needed deliverance. This is highlighted in what is often called Isaiah’s “servant passages” or “servant songs” since they are written in the style of Hebrew poetry. Four passages from Isaiah are usually included among the servant passages: 42:1-9; 49:1-7; 50:4-9; and 52:13-53:12. In some cases, the length of a given passage may be subject to some variation among Bible commentators. Some commentators include Isaiah 61:1-4 as part of the servant passages. Those verses do not use the word servant; however, the passage was read by Jesus in Luke 4:16-21 and declared by Jesus to be fulfilled in him. Isaiah 53:1-7 (today’s text) is found within what is perhaps the most powerful of the servant passages listed above. That passage of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is quoted seven times in the New Testament (Matthew 8:17; Luke 22:37; John 12:38; Acts 8:32-33; Romans 10:16; 15:21; 1 Peter 2:22) and alluded to there in more than two dozen other places. Some Bible commentators describe Isaiah as using what is called the “prophetic past tense.” This means that even though Isaiah was looking centuries into the future in foretelling these events concerning Jesus, Isaiah spoke as though they had already happened. This is a way of highlighting the certainty of the prediction.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
(Scriptural Text from the New King James Version; cross-references from the NIV)
1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness
2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
10 By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you — I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" when away!
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: "He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. 33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.
22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Isaiah marveled at the message that the Lord had revealed to him, that he and the Israelites were to declare to the world as lights to the nations (Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 43:10-12; cf. Isaiah 53:3-6; Isaiah 16:6; Isaiah 24:16; Isaiah 42:24; Isaiah 52:15; Isaiah 64:5-6; John 12:38; Romans 10:16). It was almost unbelievable.
"It [the rhetorical question, "Who has believed our report?"] does not demand a negative answer, but is designed simply to call attention to the paucity of true believers in the world and especially among the Jews." [Note: Young, 3:340.]
The prophet also was amazed that the Lord had revealed His arm to His people. When the Lord would bare His arm to save humankind (Isaiah 51:9-10; Isaiah 52:10; Isaiah 63:12), that manifestation of His strength was not at all impressive. We might say that when God rolled up His sleeve, the arm that He exposed was not the powerful arm of a weight lifter but a very ordinary looking arm. Nevertheless that arm would prove to be stronger than any other arm. The Arm of the Lord appears here as a person distinct from the Lord Himself, namely, the Servant of the Lord.
"When God made the universe, He used His fingers (Psalms 8:3), and when He delivered Israel from Egypt, it was by His strong hand (Exodus 13:3). But to save lost sinners, He had to bare His mighty arm!" [Note: Wiersbe, p. 60.]
Expositors have called this chapter the holy of holies of Isaiah. It is also the middle chapter in part two of the book (chs. 40-66). Most of the approximately 80 references to Isaiah in the New Testament come from this chapter. [Note: A. Martin, Christ in . . ., part 2, p. 12] It is the most quoted or alluded to Old Testament chapter in the New Testament.
"Beyond question, this chapter is the heart of the Hebrew prophetic writings." [Note: Baron, p. 4. For a history of the ancient and modern Jewish and the rationalistic Christian interpretations of this chapter, with rebuttals, see ibid., pp. 16-47, 143-58.]
This verse elaborates on the humble nature of the Servant’s person and ministry (cf. Isaiah 52:14). Instead of appearing as a mighty oak or a flourishing fruit tree, the Servant would grow up before the Lord as a sucker, a normally unwanted shoot that sprouts up from a root (cf. Isaiah 11:1; 1 Samuel 16:5-13). The Hebrew word, yoneq, literally means a "suckling," but Isaiah used it figuratively here in a horticultural sense to describe a tender sucker. [Note: Baron, p. 70.] Gardeners usually snip off such shoots as soon as they appear because they rob nourishment from the main plant. A parallel figure is a sprig that sprouts up in a barren landscape. Usually these little sprigs die very quickly from lack of moisture. The synonymous descriptions point to the apparently earthly, natural origin of the Servant, with a family tree, and to the arid spiritual environment in which He grew up.
The Servant, moreover, would have no striking appearance that would draw the attention of people and make them think, Wow, look at him! There would be nothing about His appearance or His conduct that would attract people to Him as a distinctive, special person (cf. David, 1 Samuel 16:18). [Note: See Delitzsch, 2:307, n. 1.]
"Deliverers are dominating, forceful, attractive people, who by their personal magnetism draw people to themselves and convince people to do what they want them to do. People who refuse to follow that leadership frequently find themselves crushed and tossed aside. This man does not fit that picture at all." [Note: Oswalt, The Book . . . 40-66, p. 382.]
Jesus entered the world as a baby, not a king. He was born in a stable, not a palace. He asked the great preacher of His day to baptize Him; He did not announce the beginning of His ministry publicly and summon everyone to come to Him for baptism. Even John the Baptist did not recognize Jesus for who He was at first; He blended into the crowd and was not outstanding.
"While there is reason to believe from other passages of Scripture that the winsome character of the Lord Jesus appealed even to some of the most hopeless of men, yet this prophecy makes clear that which some Christians have not fully comprehended, that the Lord Jesus Christ did not appear in such a way as to attract the natural man. While the power of His deity was evident on occasion, and His presence was no doubt always commanding, there was no mere glamour about Him." [Note: A. Martin, Christ in . . ., part 2, page 15.]
The English word "despised" carries strong emotional overtones, but its Hebrew source means to be considered worthless and unworthy of attention. The Servant would not be the object of scorn, Isaiah meant, though He was that (Mark 10:33-34; Luke 18:31-33), as much as He would be hastily dismissed. One writer believed the primary meaning is that the Servant would provoke abhorrence.
"No person in the history of the Jews has provoked such deep-seated abhorrence as He who came only to bless them, and who even on the cross prayed, ’Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ . . . And all through the centuries no name has provoked such intense abhorrence among the Jews as the name of Jesus." [Note: Baron, p. 74.]
People would reject Him because they would not see Him as having any significance for them (Isaiah 6:10; John 1:10-11; John 12:37-41). They would not give Him a second look.
"The chief men of His nation who towered above the multitude, the great men of this world, withdrew their hands from Him, drew back from Him: He had none of the men of any distinction at His side." [Note: Delitzsch, 2:314.]
People would also avoid the Servant because He would appear to them as one who had His own problems. Since He knew pain and grief, others would conclude that He was not in a position to help them. He would appear to them as a loser, and who goes to a loser for help or looks to one for leadership? This description does not mean that the Servant would always be sickly and morose (cf. Isaiah 1:5-6). It means that the way He presented Himself would not lead people to look to Him for strength.
"When all that the human eye saw and the human mind apprehended was added up the result was zero." [Note: Motyer, p. 429.]
"Thus the revelation of the arm of the Lord that will deliver the Lord’s people is met with shock, astonishment, distaste, dismissal, and avoidance. Such a one as this can hardly be the one who can set us free from that most pervasive of all human bondages: sin, and all its consequences. To a world blinded by selfishness and power, he does not even merit a second thought." [Note: Oswalt, The Book . . . 40-66, p. 384.]
People typically disregard those who suffer as they serve the Lord, as they continue to despise and reject the Servant.
The Servant’s humble appearance and unattractiveness were for the benefit of humankind. It was the consequences of our sins that He would bear, not those of His own sins (cf. Matthew 8:17). Yet onlookers would consider that God was striking, smiting, and afflicting Him for His own sins. This is a typical response to suffering. People often conclude that a person is suffering because he or she has done something bad, and God is punishing him or her. This was the viewpoint of Job’s friends. Because the Hebrew word for stricken, nagua’, refers to smiting with leprosy in 2 Kings 15:5, a tradition arose among the Jews that Messiah would be a leper. This view also appears in some of the ancient Greek versions. [Note: Young, 3:346.] The Servant did not just suffer with His people but for them. His atonement was substitutionary.
Who were the people that Isaiah had in mind when He described the benefits of the Servant’s work? Were they only those who would become the people of God by faith in the Servant, or were they all people? Isaiah did not make this distinction in His prophecy. He did not contribute to the debate about limited and unlimited atonement. What he wrote does not enable us to solve the question of for whom Christ died.
It becomes clear in this stanza of the song that the Servant’s sufferings were not His own fault, as onlookers thought. They were for the sins of humankind and resulted in our healing. Furthermore, He would not merely suffer because of the sins of the people, because He was one of them. He would suffer in their place. The substitute nature of His sufferings is clear in the descriptions Isaiah presented, in the context of the arm of the Lord references, and in view of the nature of sin. Since sin is against a holy God it does not just require physical suffering, which Israel had experienced in abundance, but spiritual suffering: separation from God. Animal sacrifices covered human sin only temporarily, but a perfect sinless human sacrifice was necessary to remove the sin of humanity (cf. Hebrews 9:13-14).
"But" continues the contrast between the Servant and the rest of humankind. He would not only experience affliction for us but injury as well. "Pierced through" and "crushed" describe extreme distress resulting in death (cf. Isaiah 51:9; Job 26:13; Psalms 109:22; Lamentations 3:34). The Hebrew words behind these terms are the strongest ones in that language for violent and excruciating death. [Note: Delitzsch, 2:318.] Transgressions are willful and rebellious sins, and iniquities are sins that result from the perverted quality of human nature due to the continuing effects of the Fall.
"Thus, Isaiah 53:4 demands the noun ’substitution’, and Isaiah 53:5 adds the adjective ’penal’." [Note: Motyer, p. 430.]
Looking back from the Cross, we can see how appropriate these terms were in view of the death Jesus died, death by crucifixion. It was God who was behind the piercing and crushing of the Servant (Isaiah 53:6; Isaiah 53:10). It was as though the Servant took the whipping that we deserved for being rebellious children (cf. Romans 4:25; 1 Corinthians 15:3; Hebrews 5:8; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 2:24-25).
"This is not a matter of a raging tyrant who demands violence on someone to satisfy his fury. It is a God who wants a whole relationship with his people, but is prevented from having it until incomplete justice is satisfied." [Note: Oswalt, The Book . . . 40-66, p. 388.]
"What else, we ask again, can these words mean than that He suffered vicariously? Not merely with, but for others? By no exegesis is it possible to escape this conclusion." [Note: Baron, p. 89.]
What the Servant would do in bearing the consequences of humankind’s sins would bring about positive results for many people. This shows again that the Servant’s sufferings were not just with His people but for them. He would bear away sins so people could experience healing and well-being (Heb. shalom, the fullness of God’s blessing). This is far more than just physical healing; the whole passage is dealing with redemption from sin. [Note: See Bruce R. Reichenback, "’By His Stripes We Are Healed,’" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41:4 (December 1998):551-60, for a helpful study of how the Old Testament views the linkage between sin, sickness, suffering, and death, contrasted with modern views.]
But does it include physical healing? Is there healing in the atonement? Does what the Servant did guarantee physical healing for every believer? Ultimately it does. Eventually we will experience good health since poor health is one effect of sin. But immediately it does not in every case. We have yet to enter into all the benefits of Christ’s death for us, and must continue to struggle with some of the consequences of the Fall until we see the Lord. [Note: See Baron, p. 86.]
A simile now reinforces the point just made. Sheep are notoriously shortsighted; they go after the next clump of grass without regard to where their feet may lead them. They are also self-centered; their only thought is how they can satisfy themselves with no concern for the welfare of other sheep. Consequently sheep often get lost. Humans are the same.
"Sheep tend to travel together, so if the leading sheep turns aside from the path for grass or some other purpose, usually all the sheep do so. They tend to follow the lead sheep which is often dangerous. Similarly all Israel [even all people] had turned aside (cf. 1 Peter 2:25) from following the Lord, from keeping His commandments." [Note: J. Martin, p. 1108.]
But Yahweh would cause the consequences of our natural sheep-like tendencies to fall on the Servant. Rather than every person having to bear the consequences of sin himself or herself, as Job’s friends argued he or she must, God would make His Servant suffer for the iniquity of all sinners (cf. Leviticus 16; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22-25).
"Under the Law of Moses, the sheep died for the shepherd; but under grace, the Good Shepherd died for the sheep (John 10:1-18)." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 61.]
Suffering in God’s service is frequently vicarious. It often involves suffering because of the sins of others as well as for our own sins.
In spite of God’s punishment for sin, the Servant would bear it without defending Himself (cf. Isaiah 42:2-3; Isaiah 49:4-9; Isaiah 50:5-7; Jeremiah 11:18-20; Jeremiah 12:1-3; Matthew 26:63; Matthew 27:12-14; Mark 14:61; Mark 15:5; Luke 23:9; John 19:9). He would allow others to "fleece" Him and even kill him without even protesting (cf. Acts 8:32-33; 1 Peter 1:18-19). Israel protested God’s shearing of her (Isaiah 40:27; Isaiah 49:14; Isaiah 63:15). He would not be a helpless victim but one who knowingly and willingly submitted to death (cf. Luke 9:51). Jeremiah used the same figure to describe himself-but as a naive person who did not know what would happen to him (Jeremiah 11:19). The sheep metaphor is apt because the Israelites used lambs as sacrificial animals to cover their sins (cf. Genesis 22:7-8; Exodus 12:3; Exodus 12:5; Leviticus 5:7; John 1:29).
"The servant . . . does nothing and says nothing but lets everything happen to him." [Note: David J. A. Clines, I, He, We and They: A Literary Approach to Isaiah 53, pp. 64-65.]
"All the references in the New Testament to the Lamb of God (with which the corresponding allusions to the passover are interwoven) spring from this passage in the book of Isaiah." [Note: Delitzsch, 2:323.]
Isaiah continued the sheep metaphor, but applied it to the Servant, to contrast sinful people and their innocent substitute. Here it is not the sheep’s tendency to get lost but its non-defensive nature that is the characteristic feature. The prophet stressed the Servant’s submissiveness, His innocence, and the injustice that others would deal Him.
(Adapted from URL:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dcc/isaiah-53.html)
The Introduction called attention to the words to be continued as three discouraging words. In the sense of salvation history, the ‘to be continued’ of the Old Testament has been superseded by the ‘it is fulfilled’ of the New Testament (Matthew 26:54-56; Luke 24:44; etc.). As we consider Isaiah’s ministry to King Hezekiah (as seen in lesson 1) and compare it with the content in Isaiah 53, we see the twofold nature of a prophet’s ministry. One may be called forthtelling, in which the prophet proclaimed God’s message to those of his own surroundings. The other may be labeled as foretelling, in which the prophet looked forward in time to declare God’s plan for the future. This plan, which included the ministry of the suffering servant, impacted not only the original audience but also the entire world. In each role, God’s prophet was “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). It is instructive at this point to call attention to a New Testament passage cited in lesson 1: John 12:41. In that passage, the apostle John describes Isaiah as one who “saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.” In that lesson, the focus was on the glory that Isaiah saw by means of his vision of the Lord “high and exalted” in his heavenly temple (Isaiah 6:1). In Isaiah 53, Isaiah also foresaw Jesus’ glory, but in a completely different way. This was the glory seen when Jesus was high and lifted up on the cross (John 12:32-33). This is the glory of both God’s love and his holiness (Romans 3:21-26), demonstrated in an act that was looked upon with disdain and disgust by the people of Jesus’ day. It was, as the apostle Paul put it, one of “the foolish things of the world” that God used to “shame” the wise and the mighty (1 Corinthians 1:27). Some commentators have proposed that the cross reveals glory to God in the lowest. That is the glory of Jesus that Isaiah saw in our passage today. And as a result of the servant’s suffering, death, and resurrection, we worship him in the highest (Ephesians 1:18-23).