Isa 53:3-4 | KingComments | STEP | . Directly upon the amazement of the earthly rulers because of what they see and hear, which is spoken of in the last verse of the previous chapter ( ), now follows the reason why Israel did not believe. The cause lies with themselves. They are the grieving and repentant speakers in the following verses. They lamentingly acknowledge their unbelief. They have heard the prophets speak to them, yet they did not believe. Here the people, that is, the remnant, confess their unbelief in this message . Something as ‘unbelievable’ as the work of the Messiah can only be accepted through the work of the Holy Spirit, Who will also work humiliation and faith in the remnant when they will see their Messiah ( ; ). We have anticipated this confession through the work of the Holy Spirit Who was sent from heaven. We have already confessed our sins and acknowledged Him as the God-given Savior ( ) without having seen Him. As a people, Israel has refused to believe the message that has been preached to them. They have also been blind to the revealed arm of the LORD. His arm speaks of His formidable majesty and power ( ). , according to its meaning, can be read as follows: “Who has an eye for the revelation of God’s mighty deeds that He has accomplished in and to the Messiah?’ In their unbelief, they have failed to acknowledge what God’s power has done in the suffering and resurrection of Christ from the dead ( ; ). Soon the remnant will see it, when they will see Him Whom they have pierced ( ; ). They confess here, prophetically through the mouth of the prophet, that they did not see it. The two disciples from Emmaus ( ) are also a type of the believing remnant. They believe in the glorified Christ, but cannot believe in a suffering and deceased Christ. They believe that the arm of the LORD is revealed when Christ reigns, but they cannot and will not believe that the same arm of the LORD can reveal itself in the suffering and death of Christ. That is why the Lord Jesus taught them: “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” ( ). The evangelist John quotes the first verse of this chapter to indicate that the unbelief of the Jews in the days of the Lord Jesus proves the truth of this verse and fulfills it ( ). By the way, God’s Word proves here in the clearest way that the LORD of Whom Isaiah speaks is the same as the Lord Jesus. John begins the quotation with: “LORD, WHO …?” He asks this question as the messenger of God. It is also the question of the faithful remnant who preached the gospel in the great tribulation and sees so little result. It is the observation of so many evangelists today ( ). If the preaching does not seem to bear fruit, there is a great danger of becoming discouraged. But Paul makes it clear in this quote that the gospel must not only be believed but also obeyed. . Here the Messiah, Christ, is described in His humiliation on earth. The prophet writes in the past tense, as if the events have already taken place. Israel did not believe the message concerning the Messiah and did not recognize the power of God in and to Him, because He is a humbled and to the flesh unattractive Servant. But He grows up before God, that is, under His protection and pleasure (cf. ). God takes care of this tender life. The root of Jesse has been hewn, but there remains a stump ( ), inconspicuous and unrecognizable. The stump stands in parched ground. That speaks of the unbelief of the people. But from the root of this stump grows a shoot or a branch ( ) – a shoot does not grow on a tree trunk but on the root of a tree. There is still life. While Israel does not notice it, the shoot grows before God. This insignificant shoot is the arm of the LORD. They did not realize that Christ grew up before God. The pleasantness of Christ in the days of His youth and His growing up like a tender shoot to a Man is contrasted with the state of barrenness, religious unfruitfulness and slavery of the people. They have seen nothing in His appearance to feel a natural attraction to Him, nothing of splendor or beauty in which their natural feelings have rejoiced (cf. ). When they saw Him, they saw nothing to see, so little was there that was attractive to the natural eye of man. To unbelief there was nothing in Him that made Him stand out among men. There was an inner beauty in Him, but it remained hidden from the mass of the people by their unbelief and was perceived only by faith ( ). “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” ( ). . As “despised and forsaken of men” He has been rejected and abandoned by the people. As “a man of sorrows”, His life was characterized as that of someone characterized by inner grief in experiencing the consequences of sin and the grief around Him. His whole existence was marked by grief. That He is “acquainted with grief” characterizes Him as Someone Who alone is capable of complete familiarity with all forms of sickness as a consequence of sin. The last part of the verse gives even more powerful expression to the attitude of the people as a whole. It shows the character of their contempt. People hide their faces or turn away from what they find unbearable to see. They held Him for a leper. They regarded Him as nothing. All this mentions the deep remorse with which the people will later – when their eyes are opened – remember their attitude toward Him during the days of His flesh. We can summarize as follows: 1. The account about the Servant that is not believed ( ). 2. The Person of the Servant Who is not attractive ( ). 3. The climax is: the Servant is despised ( ).

‏ Isaiah 53:3-4

Despised

Isa 53:1. Directly upon the amazement of the earthly rulers because of what they see and hear, which is spoken of in the last verse of the previous chapter (Isa 52:15), now follows the reason why Israel did not believe. The cause lies with themselves. They are the grieving and repentant speakers in the following verses. They lamentingly acknowledge their unbelief. They have heard the prophets speak to them, yet they did not believe. Here the people, that is, the remnant, confess their unbelief in this message . Something as ‘unbelievable’ as the work of the Messiah can only be accepted through the work of the Holy Spirit, Who will also work humiliation and faith in the remnant when they will see their Messiah (Eze 36:25-27; Zec 12:10-14).

We have anticipated this confession through the work of the Holy Spirit Who was sent from heaven. We have already confessed our sins and acknowledged Him as the God-given Savior (Eph 1:12) without having seen Him.

As a people, Israel has refused to believe the message that has been preached to them. They have also been blind to the revealed arm of the LORD. His arm speaks of His formidable majesty and power (Isa 40:10 ; Isa 50:2 ; Isa 51:5 ; 9 ; Isa 52:10). Isa 53:1b, according to its meaning, can be read as follows: “Who has an eye for the revelation of God’s mighty deeds that He has accomplished in and to the Messiah?’

In their unbelief, they have failed to acknowledge what God’s power has done in the suffering and resurrection of Christ from the dead (Rom 1:4; Eph 1:20). Soon the remnant will see it, when they will see Him Whom they have pierced (Rev 1:7a; Zec 12:10). They confess here, prophetically through the mouth of the prophet, that they did not see it.

The two disciples from Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35) are also a type of the believing remnant. They believe in the glorified Christ, but cannot believe in a suffering and deceased Christ. They believe that the arm of the LORD is revealed when Christ reigns, but they cannot and will not believe that the same arm of the LORD can reveal itself in the suffering and death of Christ. That is why the Lord Jesus taught them: “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” (Lk 24:25-26).

The evangelist John quotes the first verse of this chapter to indicate that the unbelief of the Jews in the days of the Lord Jesus proves the truth of this verse and fulfills it (Jn 12:37-38). By the way, God’s Word proves here in the clearest way that the LORD of Whom Isaiah speaks is the same as the Lord Jesus. John begins the quotation with: “LORD, WHO …?” He asks this question as the messenger of God. It is also the question of the faithful remnant who preached the gospel in the great tribulation and sees so little result.

It is the observation of so many evangelists today (Rom 10:16). If the preaching does not seem to bear fruit, there is a great danger of becoming discouraged. But Paul makes it clear in this quote that the gospel must not only be believed but also obeyed.

Isa 53:2. Here the Messiah, Christ, is described in His humiliation on earth. The prophet writes in the past tense, as if the events have already taken place. Israel did not believe the message concerning the Messiah and did not recognize the power of God in and to Him, because He is a humbled and to the flesh unattractive Servant. But He grows up before God, that is, under His protection and pleasure (cf. 1Pet 2:4). God takes care of this tender life.

The root of Jesse has been hewn, but there remains a stump (Isa 11:1a), inconspicuous and unrecognizable. The stump stands in parched ground. That speaks of the unbelief of the people. But from the root of this stump grows a shoot or a branch (Isa 11:1b) – a shoot does not grow on a tree trunk but on the root of a tree. There is still life. While Israel does not notice it, the shoot grows before God. This insignificant shoot is the arm of the LORD.

They did not realize that Christ grew up before God. The pleasantness of Christ in the days of His youth and His growing up like a tender shoot to a Man is contrasted with the state of barrenness, religious unfruitfulness and slavery of the people. They have seen nothing in His appearance to feel a natural attraction to Him, nothing of splendor or beauty in which their natural feelings have rejoiced (cf. 1Sam 16:6-7).

When they saw Him, they saw nothing to see, so little was there that was attractive to the natural eye of man. To unbelief there was nothing in Him that made Him stand out among men. There was an inner beauty in Him, but it remained hidden from the mass of the people by their unbelief and was perceived only by faith (Jn 1:14). “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (Jn 1:5).

Isa 53:3. As “despised and forsaken of men” He has been rejected and abandoned by the people. As “a man of sorrows”, His life was characterized as that of someone characterized by inner grief in experiencing the consequences of sin and the grief around Him. His whole existence was marked by grief. That He is “acquainted with grief” characterizes Him as Someone Who alone is capable of complete familiarity with all forms of sickness as a consequence of sin.

The last part of the verse gives even more powerful expression to the attitude of the people as a whole. It shows the character of their contempt. People hide their faces or turn away from what they find unbearable to see. They held Him for a leper. They regarded Him as nothing. All this mentions the deep remorse with which the people will later – when their eyes are opened – remember their attitude toward Him during the days of His flesh.

We can summarize Isa 53:1-3 as follows:

1. The account about the Servant that is not believed (Isa 53:1).

2. The Person of the Servant Who is not attractive (Isa 53:2).

3. The climax is: the Servant is despised (Isa 53:3).

Substitutional Suffering

We now come to the core of the message in this second main part of the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 40-66, which consists of three parts of nine chapters each. Of these three parts we are in the middle part of nine chapters, Isaiah 49-58. In this part we are now in the middle chapter, Isaiah 53. This center consists of five parts or stanzas of three verses, of which we are now in the third and middle (Isa 53:4-6). Its content is the Lord Jesus Who, as the perfect Servant, takes the place of the failing servant, Israel, both in His life and in His death. In this whole song, the Servant takes in His suffering as the Substitute the place of Israel.

For the sake of clarity, it is good to point out that it is not ‘solidarity’ suffering with the suffering of mankind, as modern theologians claim, but substitutional suffering for penitent sinners. It is, as Isa 53:10 unequivocally states, a guilt offering.

Isa 53:4. In Isa 53:4-6 the remnant goes even deeper into the subject. They confess that His suffering has been of a totally different nature than they have assumed. He has not suffered because of His own sins, as they have assumed. He did not commit blasphemy when He called Himself God’s Son. Christ suffered because of their sins. The suffering of the cross is now in sight. The change in their view is characterized by the opening word “surely”.

The statement “our griefs [or: sickness] He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried”, expresses even more fully what was mentioned in the previous verse in connection with this about Him. It tells how the Lord in His own Person has borne suffering that was not His. Matthew cites this in connection with His acts of healing and deliverance (Mt 8:16-17). This statement does not speak of His substitutional atonement, but it does refer to it. The Lord Jesus would not have been able to take away griefs, or sickness, if He had not taken away its core, sin, on the cross.

Isa 53:4 brings us to the cross, for only there can the statement “stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” refer to. “Stricken” reminds us of the plague of leprosy. What was not the case with Him was the case with Miriam (Num 12:10), Gehazi (2Kgs 5:27) and Uzziah (2Chr 26:20). In their blindness, the Jews saw His suffering as the punishment for His own sins, which, according to them, had to be particularly numerous and great. In particular, we should think of the accusation of blasphemy, which He would have committed by equating Himself with God.

Isa 53:5. But now, under the power of the revelation of the great facts, they come to a complete change of opinion. We notice this in a peculiar way in the series of emphatic personal expressions in the plural which follow. “Pierced” and “crushed” are the strongest words to describe a violent and frightening death. There is emphasis on “our”.

In clear words the doctrine of substitution is described here: Someone receives the punishment that others have deserved in their place, so that they can go out free (1Pet 2:24a). A simple doctrine, but an unimaginable truth.

The chastisement inflicted on Him by God is one that has served to our peace – the Hebrew word for peace, shalom, is summarizing, and describes not only a peaceful state, but a welfare in general, prosperity and well-being and inner peace and rest. It is a punishment that has this effect for us.

This curious contradiction is also found in the wounds or scourging inflicted on Him, from which healing has originated for us. The wounds are the wounds that God inflicted on Him (1Pet 2:24b) and not those of the Roman soldiers who flogged Him. They are the marks of Divine judgment. The healing, the spiritual health we have received, is explicitly contrasted with the chastening or strikes of God to which He was subjected.

Isa 53:6. Now the climax of the confession comes from a deeply affected conscience on the part of the repentant people. He who leaves the Lord has no contact with others. Everyone goes his own way. They acknowledge that they have gone astray like sheep and express their awareness of the great grace in the overwhelming fact that “the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him”. It has fallen on Him as a huge burden. He cared about our fate, but what an enormous burden fell on Him as a result. All our sins were laid on Him by God. He confessed them all one by one before God. Thus that entire burden is removed from the sight of God (cf. Lev 16:21).

The LORD takes the initiative here. He wanted the suffering of His Servant for the salvation of the sinful people who deviated from Him. Israel turned away from Him, but He did not turn away from His people. He let the sin of the people come down to the Man of His pleasure. In Isa 53:4 the substitutional suffering of the Servant is the choice of the Servant Himself. Here in Isa 53:6 it is what the LORD has chosen to do. The suffering of the Servant is not beyond the will of the Servant and the will of the LORD. On the contrary, it is the express will of the Servant, Who, when He comes into the world, says: “Behold, I have come … to do Your will” (Heb 10:5 ; 9).

What the people will soon acknowledge with regard to going their own way, is true for the whole human race. Man has replaced God’s will with his own will. He has gone “his own way”, placing himself in the center instead of God. In this general state of guilt and misery the grace of God has intervened. He has sent His Son to lay upon Him the full weight of iniquity (Rom 8:3; 2Cor 5:21) and the righteous anger that goes with it. Every person who confesses his sins may know that Christ has accomplished this work for him as well and shares in this gracious act of God. The sins of the impenitent sinner are not part of this atoning work.