Our Messiah for Eternity: Isaiah 53:1-12

Periodically throughout this year looking at connection points and prophecies that are connected with Jesus and His ministry, we have pulled verses and excerpts out of one chapter in Isaiah. This is because, as we moved through Jesus’ ministry, and the Old Testament prophecies overlaid on Jesus’ ministry, this single chapter referenced events that occurred throughout Jesus’ ministry. Actually, when looking at this prophecy, it contains a much bigger picture of Jesus’ ministry than what the gospels include in the first century.

Since this prophecy is so powerful when looked at as a whole, while we looked at a few parts of it earlier in our year, I intentionally saved the bulk of this prophecy and passage for this episode. This prophecy summarizes Jesus’ ministry in a way that is especially powerful and in a way that nicely concludes this year’s focus for our podcast episodes.

With this said, let’s read our passage and discover what Isaiah draws our attention to regarding the Messiah. Our passage is found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah, chapter 53, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, Isaiah writes:

¹ Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
³ He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

⁴ Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
⁵ But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
⁶ All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.

⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
⁹ His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰ But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
¹¹ As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.

Overall, in my mind, this prophecy is amazing. Not only does this prophecy give us a picture of Jesus during His early years, specifically that there wasn’t anything about Jesus’ appearance that would be abnormal or extraordinary, this prophecy also describes how Jesus would experience suffering in a way that would be difficult to comprehend. To top it off, this prophecy strongly hints at resurrection, and it gives us a picture of Jesus’ ministry following His return to Heaven.

Let’s move through some of these details together.

In verse 2, Isaiah describes what Jesus’ appearance would be:

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. (v. 2)

Everything in Jesus’ appearance was to be normal or average. Jesus would not be overly good looking, or overly repulsive. While Jesus would act in a unique way, and while Jesus would speak powerfully, by all appearances, He was to be very average. I suspect this detail is true when those in the Nazareth synagogue get into a disagreement about Jesus because they are familiar with His very normal and generic childhood – that is, following Jesus’ return from Egypt.

The impression I receive from this part of the prophecy is that every physical detail about our Messiah was to be relatable for us. It would do God no good if Jesus appeared to be physically superior to humanity in every way, and it would also open a case against God regarding Jesus being given an unfair advantage in the fight against sin. Instead, I suspect that the deck was clearly stacked against Jesus in as many ways as possible, if for no other reason than making His ministry and sacrifice credible to the on looking universe.

Next, Isaiah’s prophecy describes Jesus’ rejection and His grief. While we don’t get the picture that Jesus was overly emotional, there are a number of places where Jesus does display emotion. Twice, Jesus is recorded as shedding tears, and twice, Jesus appears angry and clears the temple. John’s gospel shares Jesus’ rampage through the temple near the beginning of His ministry, and several of the other gospels describe Jesus’ emotion and anger towards the commerce and dishonesty happening in the temple during the week leading up to His arrest and crucifixion.

Isaiah describes our Messiah stepping in and bearing our griefs and our sorrows on Himself, even if there were those in that culture, and at times throughout history, who believed Jesus’ death was a result of God punishing Him.

According to Isaiah in verse 5, it was for our sake that Jesus faced ridicule and death:

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed. (v. 5)

Moving forward to the second half of this prophecy, we see a picture described of the Messiah staying silent when being accused, and accepting the punishment meant for others.

However, it is how this prophecy ends that is the most amazing in my mind.

In the second part of verse 10, Isaiah writes the following phrases:

If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. (v. 10b)

In these phrases, we discover hinted at the truth that following Jesus’ sacrifice, there would be a resurrection. The truth of Jesus is that because Jesus gave His life as a guilt offering for each of us, He is able to see the results of this decision, He will last forever, and God’s pleasure, or we might say God’s favor, will rest on Jesus.

To finish off this prophecy, in verse 12, Isaiah writes:

Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors. (v. 12)

Because Jesus gave His life for us, God gives Him a portion with the great. Because Jesus stayed silent when He was accused, He is able to speak up and intercede on behalf of all who have sinned. Because Jesus poured out Himself to death, all of God’s people are able to receive new life.

This is the great news about Jesus, and it is the amazing gift God’s people look forward to receiving when Jesus returns to bring us home!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life. Purposefully choose to place your faith, hope, trust, and belief in Jesus’ sacrifice to cover your sins and move forward in life with the knowledge that when we have allied ourselves with Jesus, He is actively interceding on our behalf.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow personally closer to God each and every day. Through prayer and Bible study, open your heart to God’s Holy Spirit and let Him transform your life into the life He created you to live.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!