[Biblemat] S) THE SUFFERING SAVIOR OF ISAIAH 53

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is a study from my
files.  Use to the glory of God.

THE SUFFERING SAVIOR OF ISAIAH 53

Written Approximately 700 Years Before Christ: -- Isaiah's re-
port of his prophetic vision must have seemed, even to him,
almost incredible.  He begins it with the words:  "Who has be-
lieved what they have heard from us" (vs. 1)?

     In the preceding paragraph Isaiah had introduced God's
Servant Who would act wisely, be high, lifted up, and exalted
(52:13).  Yet many would be astonished because "His appear-
ance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and His form
beyond that of the children of mankind" (52:14).  Isaiah, how-
ever, expressed confidence that in the future "kings shall shut their mouths 
because of Him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which 
they have not heard
they understand" (52:15).

Isaiah's Incredible Vision Of God's Servant: --

     An Incredible Manifestation: -- "For He grew up before Him
like a young plant, and like a root out of dry gound; He had 
no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and not beauty that we should 
desire Him" (vs. 2).

     An Incredible Reception: -- "He was despised and rejected
by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; as one 
from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we 
esteemed Him not" (vs. 3).

     An Incredible Substitution: -- "Surely He has borne our 
griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken
smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our
transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him
was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His
stripes we are healed" (vss. 4,5).

     An Incredible Imputation: -- "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" (vs. 6).

     An Incredible Submission: -- "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" (vs. 7).

     An Incredible Sacrifice: -- "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, stricken for the 
transgression of my people?  And He 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" (vss.
8,9).

     An Incredible Sequel: -- "Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush Him; 
He has put Him to grief; when His sould makes an
offering for sin, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong
His days; the Will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.  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 iniqu-
ities" (vss. 10,11).

     An Incredible Blessing: -- "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" (vs. 12).

The Mystery: -- What could such a vision mean?  Possibly, 
Isaiah himself did not know.  The apostle Peter wrote, "Con-
cerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was 
to be yours searched and inquired careful-
ly, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them
was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and
the subsequent glories" (1 Pet. 1:10,11).  Peter may well have
had in mind this prophecy of Isaiah for he quotes from it ex-
tensively in this epistle.

     What Isaiah had anticipated concerning the uncovering of
the mystery, Peter affirms had occurred in his own day.  "It
was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves
but you through those who preached the good news to you
by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels
long to look" (1:12).

The Incredible Becomes Credible: -- One of those who preach-
ed the good news "by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven" was
Philip "the evangelist," a word that means "teller of good news" (Acts 21:8). 
 On the road from Jerusalem to Gaza he
encountered an Ethiopian eunuch ho was reading this very
portion of Isaiah (Acts 8:26-33).  It was still a mystery to the
Ethiopian for he had not yet heard the good news.  "Then
Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he
told him the good news about Jesus" (Acts 8:35).

     What had seemed almost incredible to the prophet, and still defies 
explanation by those who have not accepted the
good news, was entirely credible when the Ethiopian heard 
the story of Jesus.  In His birth, humanity, rejection by His
countrymen, His trial, Pilate's acknowledgment of His innocen-
ce, His vicarious death, resurrection, coronation and priestly
intercession Jesus had lived out perfectly the vision of Isaiah.

     "And as they were going along the road they come to some water and the 
eunuch said, 'See here is water!  What
prevents me from being baptized?'" (Acts 8:36).  Several man-
uscripts add verse 37: "And Philip said, 'If you believe with all
your heart, you may'.  And he replied, 'I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God.'"  As evidence of his belief "he com-
manded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the
water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him" (8:38).

     Jesus "Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that
we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  By His wounds
you have been healed" (1 Pet. 2:24).   ------ Sewell Hall in Bibli-
cal Insights, Vol. 7, No. 10, Oct. 2007.

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