Introduction:
When you’re studying Isaiah 53 it’s like you are standing on holy ground (Exodus 3:5)
There are approximately 80 references to Isaiah in the NT and most come from this chapter. It is quoted or alluded to more than any other chapter of the OT.
This chapter has been called, “The Gospel according to Isaiah.”
It deals with the Suffering Savior...Jesus Christ. Had the religious leaders of Jesus day recognized that Jesus was the fulfillment of this chapter they would have accepted Him as their Messiah. The problem was that they weren’t looking for a Suffering Savior they were looking for a Conquering King to throw off the Roman oppression and restore Israel’s national sovereignty.
To illustrate that this chapter is about Christ...tell the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8).
D.L. Moody described the paradoxes of this chapter: “Despised, yet accepted and adored. Poor, yet rich. To die, yet to live.” He indicated that “The Rabbis said there must be a double Messiah to fulfil this chapter.”
The context of this chapter really begins in Chapter 52:13-15 and is made up of five stanzas or sections containing three verses each.
- A Surprising Savior (52:13-15)
- A Rejected Savior (53:1-3)
- A Suffering Savior (53:4-6)
- A Righteous Savior (53:7-9)
- A Sovereign Savior (53:10-12)
Read through the chapter and point out that every aspect of Christ as found here:
- Christ’s birth (53:2)
- Christ’s life (53:3)
- Christ’s suffering (53:4-6)
- Christ’s death (53:7-8)
- Christ’s burial (53:9)
- Christ’s resurrection (53:10)
- Christ’s exaltation (53:12)
As this prophetic chapter reveals, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus was no accident. This was the work of our sovereign God to provide salvation/redemption for all mankind (Acts 2:23)
Illustration:
- Look to the cross and see its width…it is wide enough to include you and everyone else, too.
- Look to the cross and see its length…it is long enough to reach you where you are.
- Look to the cross and see its depth…it is deep enough to give you life and life more abundant.
No matter how you look at it, or how you measure the immeasurable love of God…you will find that it is more than enough for anyone who would approach this God of grace and mercy.
According to Isaiah...Christ brings at least four things to us through His suffering:
- Peace (v. 5)
- ...With God
- cf. Romans 3:10-18; Ephesians 2:1-3
- Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2)
- cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19
- ...With others
- For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:14-18)
According to Isaiah...Christ brings us:
- Healing (v. 5)
- This is actually best understood as a metaphor for the forgiveness of our sins.
- It has been argued by some that physical healing is in the atonement (and it is in the eternal scheme of things), but to suggest that God must heal today on the basis of this passage is an unfortunate misreading of the obvious intention of the text. The entire context deals with the problem of our transgressions and iniquities and the means of our peace that we may be spiritually healed.
- That is certainly how Peter explained the text:
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:21-25)
- In view of the spiritual provision that is met by the atonement of Christ, it should be understood as, “by his stripes we are forgiven.”
According to Isaiah...Christ brings us:
- Righteousness (v. 11)
- Justification is a legal term that indicates someone who is declared righteous, even though they are still in a sinning state.
- It involves the imputing of Christ’s righteousness to us.
- Jesus took our sins and gave us His righteousness.
- For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
- One of Paul’s favorite phrases is, “in Christ.” Our righteous standing before God is because we are “in Christ.”
- “And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6)
- For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)
- For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)
- There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)
- For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
According to Isaiah...Christ brings us:
- Intercession (v. 12)
- The intercession here refers to Christ pleading for men before the Throne of Mercy as our Redeemer and High Priest.
- The “intercession for transgressors” began on the cross and it continues until the last day.
- Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. (Romans 8:34)
- Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Romans 7:25)
- My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)
- Moses interceded for his people and offered his life in exchange for them. This is an example of what it means for Christ to intercede for sinful mankind. (cf. Exodus 32:32)
Closing Illustration:
Bryan Chapell tells this story that happened in his hometown: Two brothers were playing on the sandbanks by the river. One ran after another up a large mound of sand. Unfortunately, the mound was not solid, and their weight caused them to sink in quickly.
When the boys did not return home for dinner, the family and neighbors organized a search. They found the younger brother unconscious, with his head and shoulders sticking out above the sand. When they cleared the sand to his waist, he awakened. The searchers asked, "Where is your brother?"
The child replied, "I’m standing on his shoulders"
With the sacrifice of his own life, the older brother lifted the younger to safety. The tangible and sacrificial love of the older brother literally served as a foundation for the younger brother’s life.
Jesus took our place on the cross. We are standing on the shoulders of the salvation God has made possible through His Son. What a sacrifice! He didn’t have to do it! He chose to do it for each one of us!
