이사야 Chapter 53

Translation: ESV

1

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Key Message

The gospel of the cross is hard to believe because it transcends human understanding.

▸Chapter 53 is the heart of the Suffering Servant Song.

Chapter 53 is the heart of the Suffering Servant Song. 'Who has believed what he has heard from us?'—this is a message that is hard to believe. That the Messiah suffers, that salvation comes through the cross, goes beyond human common sense. This is the scandal of the gospel.

Related Verses

so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 'Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?'But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?'
2

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

Key Message

God came in a way completely different from what the world expects.

▸The servant's appearance: not beautiful.

3

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Key Message

The one rejected by the world is the Savior of the world.

▸Humanity's rejection of the servant: despised, rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

4

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

Key Message

Substitution: the servant bore our sins and suffering in our place.

▸The principle of substitution begins: 'Surely he has borne our griefs'—the servant suffers not for his own sin but for ours.

5

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Key Message

Christ's suffering is substitutionary atonement for us—this is the heart of the gospel.

▸This is the heart of Isaiah 53 and the most important messianic prophecy in all of Scripture.

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.

Key Message

God laid the sins of all humanity on the servant—this is the heart of atonement.

▸'All we like sheep have gone astray'—the universal sinfulness of humanity.

7

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Key Message

The servant's voluntary silence completes the suffering of salvation.

▸'He opened not his mouth'—the servant's silence.

9

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Key Message

The servant's innocence and the specific manner of his death were prophesied.

▸'No violence, no deceit'—the servant's innocence.

10

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Key Message

Atonement is God's plan, and its result is resurrection and eternal life.

▸'It was the will of the LORD'—atonement is God's sovereign decision.

11

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Key Message

The servant sees the fruit of his suffering—many made righteous—and is satisfied.

▸'Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied'—when the cross's suffering bears fruit, the servant finds satisfaction.

12

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Key Message

The servant dies as a transgressor but is exalted, and prays for transgressors to the last.

▸The conclusion of chapter 53.