The Suffering Servant

The book of Isaiah is filled with some very powerful stuff. People usually love the book because we get so many prophecies concerning Jesus from it. The first major section of the book though contains prophetic judgments on Jerusalem and Israel’s eventual captors, Assyria and Babylon. Sprinkled in there is hope of restoration after Israel endures exile. The book demonstrates why Israel was deserving of such punishment, but also establishes a great hope in one to come known as God’s Servant.

Isaiah 53 is known as the chapter on the suffering servant, but that is not where the servant is first introduced. The man known as the Servant is introduced in chapter 49. The Servant says to the people that God gave him the name Israel and his mission is to restore the nation of Israel and to be a light to the nations. In the Servant there will be salvation.

In Isaiah 52:13, the story begins to take a turn because this great Servant is called to suffer. In Acts chapter 8, Philip, one of the early church leaders, is called away from Samaria where things were happening to a road out in the middle of nowhere. He ends up meeting this guy from Ethiopia and he is reading from this chapter. The guy’s question is, “Who is the prophet talking about? Himself or someone else?” The next verse says that from that passage, Phillip began preaching Jesus to him.

The Servant suffers rejection from the people (v. 1-3).

Isaiah 53:1–3 NASB95

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 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. 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.

Verse two says that the Servant grew up like a tender shoot, like a root out of parched ground. Earlier in chapter 6, it was prophesied that Israel would be cut down like a tree when their foreign enemies come after them. All that will be left is a stump. But from that stump, a new seed, and not just any seed, a holy seed will grow up from that stump. In chapter 11, a new king is prophesied from the root of Jesse, that is the line of David’s descendants. The Servant of Isaiah 53 is that seed. New growth will come from this seed and the eyes of God will be on Him. This imagery of a single sapling shooting up from an old stump helps us understand the concept of restoration through new growth.

Though the Servant is a holy seed, there seems to be no noteworthy qualities about him that would set him apart from the crowd. Remember when we read Samuel and Israel wanted a king over them and Saul was chosen? He was taller than everyone else, he was good looking, and that seemed to be the qualifications of a leader. Then he is rejected by God for his disobedience and Samuel goes to the family of Jesse, who has a bunch of sons. All are present but one. They all look strong and kingly, but God says no to them all. Samuel asks Jess, “Well do you have anyone left?” And he says, well we got David, but he’s out tending sheep. David comes along and God says, “That’s the one.” There’s almost a reaction of, “Really? He’s it?” David didn’t look the part, but God was looking at his heart.

The Servant would have no attributes that turned heads. You wouldn’t walk the streets of Israel, see this man, and say, “Oh there goes the king” based entirely on his appearance. Have you seen the movie Aladdin? There was nothing special about that dude except he found a lamp and wished to be a prince. Then he enters Agrabah with all his fanfare, drawing a ton of attention to himself. The Servant of Isaiah 53 will not do that. In fact, it seems that if you are not looking, he will go unnoticed. So because the Servant does not meet the expectations of the people, he is rejected. Of course John 1:10-11 says this of Jesus. He came to his own people and they did not receive him. He was rejected. There was a turning of the face away from him.

The Servant suffers in place of the people (v. 4-6)

Isaiah 53:4–6 NASB95

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 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. 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.

Isaiah is recognizing that the suffering the Servant endures is on behalf of the people. His grief and sorrow were not his own. He was taking it on himself. There is in these verse the notion of innocence. He is smitten by God, but did not deserve it. He is pierced through, implying that he dies, but not by his own hand or through some accident or an illness. His death comes from being fatally wounded. Again, this is not for something He deserved, but for the transgressions of others.

But then the prophet says something interesting. The death experienced by the servant is for the benefit of the people. Nobody ever thinks of death as beneficial. Death is a tragedy. It is painful. Maybe someone can find some solace in the death of an evil person, but that is not the case here. The one who dies is not deserving of death. It feels unjust and it should. But it is the people who receive healing from the death of the servant.

Isaiah equates the people with sheep who have gone astray. We see the common shepherd and sheep motif. Sheep are not smart animals. The reason the shepherd’s job exists is to ensure the sheep stay together. Left to their own devices, sheep wander. They scatter. A shepherd is necessary to keep the sheep from walking into danger. So the sheep, having walked away from the shepherd, place themselves in danger only to have the Servant take the punishment on their behalf. This is substitutionary atonement. This is the innocent taking the place of the guilty. We are halfway through this chapter and it is already pretty clear how this prophecy has been fulfilled.

The Servant was cut off (v. 7-9)

Isaiah 53:7–9 NASB95

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. 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? 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.

Now there are attempts to claim that this passage is not prophetic about Jesus. They will claim that Jesus was not silent and that he was very vocal when people opposed him. That much is true, but listen to what the gospel writers say about him when he was finally arrested.

Matthew 26:62–63 NASB95

The high priest stood up and said to Him, “Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?” But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

Matthew 27:12–14 NASB95

And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer. Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.

Mark 14:61 NASB95

But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

Mark 15:4–5 NASB95

Then Pilate questioned Him again, saying, “Do You not answer? See how many charges they bring against You!” But Jesus made no further answer; so Pilate was amazed.

Luke 23:9 NASB95

And he questioned Him at some length; but He answered him nothing.

John 19:9 NASB95

and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

The Servant, when accused, oppressed, and violence done against him, provided no response. There was no protest. We see that the Servant’s oppression is unjust. It is only just if he is guilty. But the preceding verse shows that though this event was future for Isaiah and his audience, he was numbered among the transgressors. This unjust treatment of the suffering servant was for our benefit. Verse eight says that the stroke was due for the transgression of the people, yet they were not the one to receive it. The Servant was the substitute the people did not deserve.

His grave was assigned with wicked men, but he was buried among the wealthy. The tomb that he would be laid in was not a tomb for the common criminal. The tomb would have been for a more prominent person. What do we see when we get to the New Testament? Jesus is buried in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea. What kind of person goes out and buys a burial plot before they die? Someone who has the money to spend. Do you know who doesn’t go out and buy burial plots before they die? Criminals. So in Matthew 27 a man named Joseph allows Jesus to be buried in a tomb he owns. This shows that though Jesus died the death of a criminal, he was not buried as one. He was not the man his accusers were claiming him to be.

The Servant’s just reward (v. 10-12)

Isaiah 53:10–12 NASB95

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. 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. 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.

When it says here that the Lord was pleased, it is not that he was pleased in the event itself, but in its outcome. The Servant is made a guilt offering. If you recall, a guilt offering is described in Leviticus 5:14-19 and was made as reparations toward God. The guilt offering was made usually when someone deprived the rights of another or desecrated something holy. The offering was used to pay God back for wrongdoing.

But then it says that he will see his offspring and prolong his days. Here is the question: how can this be if the Servant is dead? Remember he was fatally wounded. It said he was buried. If this is the result of his affliction, how is this possible? It would seem that though resurrection is not expressly stated, there seems to be an anticipation of it. And who are his offspring? Jesus didn’t have any children. But what does John 1:12 tell us? Everyone who believes in Jesus is given the right to become a child of God.

The next line says He will prolong His days. This can only apply if the Servant is still alive. If this prophecy is to fit Jesus, then he must still be alive. We know Jesus to be the Son of God. He was with God in the beginning and he was God. It is very important for us to understand that Jesus has been eternally existent with God. Eternity is his and will always be. Jesus is both God and man. Jesus the God has always been. Jesus the man will always be.

The reward for going through the anguish described is the satisfaction of accomplishing what it does. It accomplished justification for the many. Justification before God is made possible because he bore their sins. His reward is that he is alotted a portion with the great. He is king over heaven and earth.

He who knew no sin became sin for us so we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Because Christ was obedient and identified himself as a criminal, though he wasn’t, He purchased a pardon for everyone who trusts in him for salvation.

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