Isaiah 53

CHAPTER 53THEME: The suffering of the Savior; the satisfaction of the SaviorThose who are acquainted with God’s Word realize that Isaiah 53 and Psalms 22 give us a more vivid account of the crucifixion of Christ than is found elsewhere in the Bible. This may be a shock to many who are accustomed to think that the four Gospels alone describe the sad episode of the horrible death of the Son of God. If you will examine the Gospel accounts carefully, you will make the discovery that only a few unrelated events connected with the Crucifixion are given and that the actual Crucifixion is passed over with reverent restraint. The Holy Spirit has drawn the veil of silence over that cross, and none of the lurid details are set forth for the curious mob to gaze at and leer upon. It is said of the brutal crowd who murdered Him that they sat down and watched Him. You and I are not permitted to join that crowd.

Even they did not see all, for God placed over His Son’s agony the mantle of darkness. Some sensational speakers gather to themselves a bit of notoriety by painting, with picturesque speech, the minutest details of what they think took place at the crucifixion of Christ. Art has given us the account of his death in ghastly reality. You and I probably will never know, even in eternity, the extent of His suffering. But none of the ransomed ever knew How deep were the waters crossed, Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed thro' Ere He found His sheep that was lost. Elizabeth C. Clephane, “The Ninety and Nine” Very likely God did not want us to become familiar with that which we need not know. He did not wish us to treat as commonplace that which is so sacred. We should remind ourselves constantly of the danger of becoming familiar with holy things. “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD” (Isa_52:11). Isaiah, seven hundred years before Christ was born, lets us see something of His suffering that we will not find anywhere else. Before going any further, we should pause a moment to answer the question that someone, even now, is doubtless asking: “How do you know that Isaiah is referring to the death of Christ? Isaiah wrote seven hundred years before Christ was born.” Well, that is just the question that the Ethiopian eunuch raised when Philip hitchhiked a ride from him in the desert. The Ethiopian was going from Jerusalem back to his own country, and he was reading the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. We are even told the very place in the chapter where he was reading (see Act_8:32). When I was a little boy in Sunday school, I was given a picture of the Ethiopian eunuch sitting in his chariot, holding in one hand the reins and in the other hand the book he was reading. Well, with a little thought we would realize that it couldn’t have happened that way. This man was an official of the government of Ethiopia. He was going across the desert in style. I am sure that he was under some sort of a shade as he sat there reading. He had a chauffeur who was doing the driving for him. As the Ethiopian was reading Isa_53:7-8 his question to Philip was, “…I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?” (Act_8:34). How can we be sure that Isaiah was referring to the Lord Jesus Christ in the fifty-third chapter? Listen to Philip. He will answer the Ethiopian’s question and our question as well. “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus” (Act_8:35). Also Christ Himself in Joh_12:38 quoted from Isaiah 53 and made application to Himself. And the apostle Paul in Rom_10:16 quotes from this same chapter in connection with the gospel of Christ. My friend, Scripture leaves no doubt that Isaiah 53 refers to Christ. Even more than that, it is a photograph of the Cross of Christ as He was dying there. The first nine verses will tell us of the suffering of the Savior. The remainder of the chapter tells the satisfaction of the Savior. You will find that these two themes belong togethersuffering and satisfaction. Suffering always precedes satisfaction. Too many folk are trying to take a shortcut to happiness by attempting to avoid all the trying experiences of life. I want to tell you that there is no short route to satisfaction. This is the reason I condemn short-term courses that claim they have the answers to all of life’s problems and will equip you with the whole armor of God. Well, that’s not the way God does it.

There is no short route. Even God did not go the short route. He could have avoided the Cross and accepted the crown. That was Satan’s suggestion. But suffering always comes before satisfaction. Phraseology bears various expressions: through trial to triumph; sunshine comes after the clouds; light follows darkness; and flowers come after the rain.

That seems to be God’s way of doing things. Since it is His method, then it is the very best way. Perhaps you are sitting in the shadows of life today. Trials confront you, and problems overwhelm you, and the fiery furnace is your present lot, and you have tasted the bitter without the sweet. If that is your case right now, then let me encourage your heart and fortify your faith by saying that you are on the same pathway that God followed, and that it leads at last to light if you walk with Him. “…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psa_30:5). Now with this in mind, let’s look at the suffering Savior.

Isaiah 53:1

THE SUFFERING OF THE SAVIORThis chapter opens with the enigmatic inquiry: The prophet seems to be registering a complaint because his message is not believed. That which was revealed to him is not received by men, and this is always the sad office of the prophet. When God called this man Isaiah, back in chapter 6, He told him, “You are going to get a message that the people won’t hear. When you tell them My words, they won’t believe you.” That certainly was Isaiah’s experience. God’s messengers have not been welcomed with open arms by the world. The prophets have been stoned and the message unheeded. That is still true today. After World War I, when everyone was talking about peace and safety, it was very, very unpopular even to suggest that there might be another war. Public opinion then demanded that we sink all the battleships and disarm ourselves, because our leaders told us that the world was safe for democracy. There were a few prophets of God in that period, standing in the pulpits of the land.

They were not pacifists, but they did not care for war either. They declared in unmistakable terms that God’s Word said there would be wars and rumors of war so long as there was sin, unrighteousness, and evil in the world. They stated that war was not a skin disease, but a heart disease, and they were proven correct when we entered World War II. When others declared that Christ was a pacifist, they called attention to the fact that He had said that a strong man armed keepeth his palace. I can recall that the church I attended as a boy had just such a minister. He was a faithful servant of Christ, and he sought to please God rather than men.

But his message was largely rejected, and he was not popular with the crowdthey preferred the liberal preacher in the town. But time has now proven that he was right, and current events demonstrate that he was a friend of this nation, not an enemy. He was a prophet of God and could say with Isaiah, “Who has believed our report?” There are a few prophetic voices lifted up right now in America. They are trying to call this nation back to God before it is too late, but the crowd is rushing headlong after another delusion. Personally I am overwhelmed by the marvelous response to our Bible teaching program on radio. But every now and then we are reminded that we are in a Christ-rejecting world. Our program has been put off the air by several radio stations because they did not like our message. One radio manager called in to say that he did not like the kind of “religion” I was preaching. He wanted to know if it would be possible to give something a little bit more cheerful, because mankind was on the up-and-up and getting better and better. They weren’t sinners, and things were not as bad as I seemed to think they were.

This man’s call, and others like it, simply serve to remind us that we are in a Christ-rejecting world, and we must accept it as such and keep on going. We rejoice today that we have as large an outlet as we do. I believe that there are many prophetic voices in our nation today trying to call us back to God before it is too late. In spite of that, the majority of the people are following any Pied Piper of liberalism who has a tune they can jig by and who makes them feel like everything is going to be all right. Paul said the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness. From ideas publicly expressed we are given to know that there are many to whom the preaching of the Cross is foolishness. I admit there is a lot of foolish preaching and offer no apology for it. But God said they would identify the preaching of the Cross with foolishness. This message is a challenge to those folk, for there is a reason for them thinking as they do. God says, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1Co_2:14). Would that they would give God a chance to talk with them! It must be remembered that God does not use man’s methods and ways to accomplish things. God chooses the weak things of the world to confound the mighty and the foolish things to confound the wise. If we were to call in a specialist in a time of illness, we certainly would not expect him to use the same home remedies normally used by us. His procedure might appear foolish to us, but we would follow it faithfully. Then should we not accord to God the same dealing of fairness as we do to the specialist? But we still have to say with Isaiah, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” There is a very definite reason why men do not believe in God’s gospel. Men like to think of God as sitting somewhere in heaven upon some lofty throne. The ancients spoke of the gods whose dwelling was not with mankind. The Greeks placed their deities upon Mount Olympus, and the Romans had Jupiter hurling thunderbolts from the battlements of the clouds. It is foreign to the field of religion that God has come down to this earth among men and that He suffered upon the shameful Cross. That is too much to comprehend. The modern mind calls that defeatismthey do not care for it. A suffering deity is contrary to man’s thinking. However, there is a peculiar fascination about this fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. There we see one suffering as no one else ever suffered. There we behold One in pain as a woman in travail. We are strangely drawn to Him and His cross. He said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (Joh_12:32). Suffering has a singular attraction.

Pain draws us all together. When you and I see some poor creature groaning in misery and covered with blood, our hearts instinctively go out in sympathy to the unfortunate victim. Somehow we want to help. That is the reason the Red Cross makes such an appeal to our hearts. Our sympathy is keen toward those who are war’s victims, or the victims of twentieth century civilized barbarism. Pain places all of us on the same plane.

It is a common bond uniting all the frail children of suffering humanity. Therefore look with me upon the strange sufferings of the Son of God. Let Him draw our cold hearts into the warmth of His sacrifice and the radiance of His love. Isaiah enlarges upon his first question by asking further, “To whom is the [bared] arm of the LORD revealed?” “Bared arm” means that God has rolled up His sleeve, symbolic of a tremendous undertaking. When God created the heavens and the earth, it is suggested that it was merely His fingerwork. For instance, Psa_19:1"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork." That word handiwork is literally “fingerwork.” Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage used to say that God created the physical universe without half trying. When God created the heavens and the earth, it was without effort.

He merely spoke them into existence. When He rested on the seventh day, He wasn’t tired; he had just finished everything; it was completed. But when God redeemed man, it required His “bared arm,” for salvation was His greatest undertaking. One of the objections offered to God’s salvation is that it is free. If by that is meant that for man it is free, then this is correct. Man can pay nothing, nor does he have anything to offer for salvation.

The reason that it is free for man is because it cost God everything. He had to bare His arm. He gave His Son to die upon the cross. Redemption is an infinite task that only God could perform. Salvation is free, but it certainly is not cheap. Now we have brought before us the person of Christ. We are told something of His origin on the human side.

Isaiah 53:2

Christ was a root out of a dry ground. This means that at the time of the birth of Christ the family of David had been cut off from the kingship. They were no longer princes; they were peasants. The nation Israel was under the iron heel of Rome. They were not free. The Roman Empire produced no great civilization.

They merely were good imitators of great civilizations. There was mediocre achievement and pseudoculture. The moral foundation was gone. A virile manhood and a virtuous womanhood was supplanted by a debauched and pleasure-loving citizenry. The religion of Israel had gone to seed. They merely performed an empty ritual, and their hearts remained cold and indifferent.

Into such a situation Christ came. He came from a noble family that was cut off, from a nation that had become a vassal to Rome, in a day and age that was decadent. The loveliest flower of humanity came from the driest spot and period of the world’s history. It was humanly impossible for His day and generation to produce Him, but He came nevertheless, for He came forth from God. Let me use a ridiculous illustration. Christ coming where He did and when He did would be like our walking out in the desert in Arizona, without a green sprig anywhere, and suddenly coming upon a great big head of iceberg lettuce growing right out of that dry, dusty soil. We would be amazed. We would say, “How in the world can this head of lettuce grow out here?” It would be a miracle. The coming of Christ was just like that. His day could never have produced Him. Evolution has always tried to get rid of the Lord Jesus, because it cannot produce a Jesus. If it can, why doesn’t it? The interesting thing is that He is different. Therefore He is the root out of a dry ground. Now the prophet focuses our attention immediately upon His suffering and death upon the cross. “He hath no form nor comeliness [majesty]; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” Some have drawn the inference from this statement that Christ was unattractive and misshapen in some way. Some even dare to suggest that He was repulsive in His personal appearance. That cannot be true because He was the perfect man. The Gospel records do not lend support to any such viewpoint. It was on the cross that this declaration of Him became true in a very real way. His suffering was so intense that He became drawn and misshapen.

The cross was not a pretty thing; it was absolutely repulsive to view. Men have fashioned crosses that look very attractive, but they do not represent His cross. His cross was not good to look upon; His suffering was unspeakable; His death was horrible. He endured what no other man endured. He did not even look human after the ordeal of the cross as we saw in the previous chapter. He was a mass of unsightly flesh. Naturally, we are eager to learn why His death was different and horrible. What is the meaning of the depths of His suffering?

Isaiah 53:3

THE SATISFACTION OF THE SAVIORAt this point let me quote verse Isa_53:3, which speaks of Christ’s grief. Christ is identified as “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” and the inference is that Christ was a very unhappy Man while He was here upon this earth. To fortify this position a few isolated incidents are quoted which speak of His weeping. Now I want to correct this impression if I can. In verse Isa_53:4 it says that “he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” Notice that it was our sorrows and our griefs that He bore. He had no grief or sorrow of His own. He was supremely happy in His mission here upon earth.

In the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said of Him “…for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross” (Heb_12:2, italics mine). These pictures that show Him looking long-faced and very solemn misrepresent Him. Even on the cross He joyfully took our place. He made that cross an altar upon which He offered a satisfactory payment for the penalty of your sins and mine. Willingly He died there, for in verse Isa_53:7 we read, “as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” Perhaps you are saying to yourself, “Preacher, that does not make sense to me. I do not believe that, nor do I care for that sort of religion. I do not want God to make a sacrifice for me. I did not ask Him to do it.” Well, it is true that you did not ask Him to do it, but let me ask you a very plain and fair question. I am sure that you will agree that man has gotten this world into a very sad predicament today. The wisdom of man has failed to settle the issues of this life. Have you ever thought that man may be wrong about the next life when he dismisses God’s remedy with a snap of the fingers? Vain philosophy and false science have not solved the problems of daily living. Since they are wrong in so many other areas, they may also be wrong about the Bible. Suppose for a moment that God did give His Son to die for you and that He did make a tremendous sacrifice. Grant that the Cross is God’s remedy for the sin of the world and that it is the very best that even God can do. Suppose also that you go on rejecting this gracious offer of salvation. Do you think that you can reasonably expect God to do anything for you in eternity? If God exhausted His love, His wisdom, and His power in giving Christ to die and patiently has waited for you to turn to Him, what else can He do to save you? What else do you suppose God can do for you, or for anyone, who rejects His Son? He would come again at this moment and die again if that would be the means to save you! It is no light thing to turn down God’s love gift to you. This does not end the gospel story. We do not worship a dead Christ; we worship a living One. He not only died, He rose again from the grave in victory. He ascended back into heaven. At this moment He is sitting at God’s right hand, and the prophet says:

Isaiah 53:4

He was “smitten of God, and afflicted.” The prophet was so afraid that you and I would miss this that he mentioned it three times: “The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him.” “He hath put him to grief.” Consternation fills our souls when we recognize that it was God the Father who treated the perfect Man in such terrible fashion. Candidly, we do not understand it, and we are led to inquire why God should treat Him in this manner. What had he done to merit such treatment? Look for a moment at that cross. Christ was on the cross six hours, hanging between heaven and earth from nine o’clock in the morning until three o’clock in the afternoon. In the first three hours man did his worst. He heaped ridicule and insult upon Him, spit upon Him, nailed Him without mercy to the cruel cross, and then sat down to watch Him die.

At twelve o’clock noon, after He had hung there for three hours in agony, God drew a veil over the sun, and darkness covered that scene, shutting out from human eye the transaction between the Father and the Son. Christ became the sacrifice for the sin of the world. God made His soul an offering for sin. Christ Jesus was treated as sin, for we are told that He was made sin for us who knew no sin. If you want to know if God hates sin, look at the Cross. If you want to know if God will punish sin, look at the Darling of His heart enduring the tortures of its penalty.

By what vain conceit can you and I hope to escape if we neglect so great a salvation? That cross became an altar where we behold the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. He was dying for somebody elseHe was dying for you and me. Listen to the prophet:

Isaiah 53:5

The phrase “with His stripes we are healed” may cause questions in your mind. Of what are we healed? Are we healed of physical diseases? Is that the primary meaning of it? I am going to let Simon Peter interpret this by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. 1Pe_2:24 says, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” Healed of what? Peter makes it quite clear that we are healed of our trespasses and sins.

Now notice that marvelous sixth verse. It begins with “all” and ends with “all.” “All we like sheep have gone astray"not some of us, but all of us. What is really the problem with mankind? What is your basic and my basic problem? It is stated in this clause: “We have turned every one to his own way.” That is our problem. Man has gone his way, neglecting God’s way.

And the Scripture further says: “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Pro_14:12). Another proverb admonishes: “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Pro_3:6). Although our Lord Jesus said, “…I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Joh_14:6), we have turned every one to his own way. “And the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah is making it clear that when Christ died on the cross He was merely taking your place and mine. He had done nothing amiss. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He was the Substitute whom the love of God provided for the salvation of you and me. Surely our hearts go out in sympathy to Him as He expired there upon the tree. Certainly we are not unmoved at such pain and suffering. We would be cold-blooded, indeed, if our own hearts were not responsive. It is said that when Clovis, the leader of the Franks, was told about the crucifixion of Christ, he was so moved that he leaped to his feet, drew his sword, and exclaimed, “If I had only been there with my Franks!” Yet, my friend, Christ does not want your sympathy. He did not die to win that. He didn’t die to enlist us in His defense.

Remember that when He was on the way to the cross and the women of Jerusalem were weeping for Him, He said, “…weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children…. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” (Luk_23:28, Luk_23:31). He did not want their sympathy, and He does not want ours. Someone may be thinking that He died a martyr’s death. He did not die a martyr’s death, for He did not espouse a lost cause! He did not die as martyrs who in their death sang praises of joy and confessed that Christ was standing by them. Compare His death to that of Stephen’s. Stephen in triumph said, “…Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” (Act_7:56). Our Lord didn’t die like that. He was forsaken of God. He said, “…My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mat_26:46). His death was different. He died alonealone with the sins of the world upon Him. Someone else may feel like saying what a wonderful influence the death of Christ should exercise upon our lives. As we contemplate His life and death, most assuredly we ought to be persuaded to turn from sin. However, that has not been the experience of men. By the way, how did it work in your life? That view will not satisfy as an explanation of this verse: “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.” None of these will suffice to explain His death, for He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He took our place.

Isaiah 53:11

We have a living and rejoicing Savior, for His suffering led to satisfaction. He took our hell that we might have His heaven. He is happy, for down through the ages multitudes, yes, millions, have come to Him and found sweet release from guilt, pardon for wrongdoing, and healing from the leprosy of sin. Christ said there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, and that number can be multiplied by millions. Think of the joy and satisfaction of Christ today! We have a happy Christ, a joyful Christ, and it is going to be fun to be in His presence. You can bring added joy to His heart by accepting the gift of eternal life that He longs to give to you. He is not asking anything of youHe wants to give you something. It is for “…him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom_4:5). All you have to do is accept Him right where you are. He invites you to the foot of the cross where you will find forgiveness for your sins. May this be your prayer and mine: Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand The shadow of a mighty Rock Within a weary land; A home within the wilderness, A rest upon the way, From the burning of the noontide heat, And the burden of the day. Upon the cross of Jesus Mine eye at times can see The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me: And from my stricken heart with tears Two wonders I confess The wonders of redeeming love And my unworthiness. Elizabeth C. Clephane, “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” What a marvelous prayer this is for a sinner to pray! It makes it very clear that all men will not be saved, that all men must accept the Substitute or they will be lost. It also makes clear that the total depravity of man is taught in the Bible, that we are in no condition to save ourselves. All without exception are involved in guilt, and all without exception are involved in sin, and all without exception are guilty of straying, and all without exception have turned away from God, and all without exception have chosen their own way.