Isaiah 53:7-12

This Servant Song emphasizes that the Messiah will suffer greatly in the place of sinners, both Jew and Gentile.  But it is equally clear that His death is not the end.  Again, the Servant is the Messiah and fits perfectly Jesus of Nazareth.

However, when we compare Isaiah 53 with the life of Jesus, the prophecy springs to life and takes on the reality of a historical personality. … Both Israel and her Messiah were called to be God’s servant, but Israel failed to accomplish her divine mission; whereas, the Messiah, the obedient servant of God, did accomplish the mission which the Father entrusted to Him.⁵

Consider how the passage continues to speak clearly of the Lord Jesus.

·        v7: Jesus stood silent when accused (Mt. 26:63; 27:12).  Only when required to acknowledge His claims was He compelled to speak (e.g. Jn 19:7).

·        v8: Jesus, the Son of God, appeared at the judgment seat of men (Mt. 26:65f).

·        v9: How remarkable is this passage?  The other thieves crucified with Jesus were almost certainly buried in unmarked graves for that was the Roman way.  But true to the prophecy, God intervened through Joseph of Arimathea.  Note that this burial with the rich is the beginning of the exaltation of Christ.  It is tied to the faithful obedient life of “My righteous Servant” (v11).

·        v10: The suffering of the Servant pleased the Lord because it provided an offering for the sins of mankind whom God also loved.  The reward for the Servant is that He prospered in His work.  And what work was that?

·        v11: It was the provision of justification.  The righteous Servant brings righteousness to the sinner.  The Messiah truly is “a Branch of righteousness” whose will be called “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jer. 23:5-6).

·        v12: The Servant will prosper because He has faithfully and obediently done the work in our place.  He was numbered with the transgressors (not as a transgressor).  He made intercession for the transgressors, standing between the sinner and his holy God, providing satisfaction in our place.

In spite of the assertions of the rabbis and of some non-Jewish theologians that vicarious suffering is morally objectionable and unacceptable, this is exactly what the Scriptures teach. … The whole sacrificial system symbolizes substitution, of the innocent for the guilty.⁶

Abraham’s faith was counted for righteousness; he was justified (Gen. 15:6).  King David knew the blessing of righteousness on his account that came from someone else.  That someone else is the Son promised to Eve (Gen. 3:15), to Abraham (Gen. 15:1-5) and to David (2 Sam. 7:16).  It is God’s Son, “Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:1-4).