For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Isaiah 53:1-3

1 Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

A. Find Out:

1. What 2 questions are asked first? v.1
2. What 2 things are we told about his growth? v.2a,b
3. What are we told about his appearance? v.2c,d
4. How did people respond to him? v.3a
5. How was he further described? v.2b
6. Again, how did people respond to him? v.2c,d

B. Think:

1. What do you think the ANSWERS to the questions in v.1 are?
2. What does the picture at the beginning of v.2 convey?
3. What do the rest of the verses tell us about him?

C. Comment:

The servant song continues. The answers to verse one are “No one” and “Israel” and the implication is that of all people Israel should have know, should have understood the servant – but didn’t!

The descriptions of the servant start with his early days. The picture is of him growing in a dry (spiritually) environment. Israel at the time of Jesus was very needy. Yet he is described as a “tender” shoot, implying that he did not reflect the dryness in his nature but was alive, gentle and humble in his spirit. A modern parallel might be to say he was like a first snowdrop in winter.

But then the description indicates that outwardly there was nothing special about him. Men are attracted to handsome super-heroes but Jesus wasn’t like that. Outward looks shouldn’t be the things that attract us. Thus many wrote him off. Humanly he wasn’t a man of presence. The end result was that he was despised and rejected, especially by the spiritual leaders and rulers of the day. The Jewish leaders specifically rejected Jesus and the Gentile rulers couldn’t be bothered to help him. Thus he was rejected and died on a Cross in shame. This was the way of the servant, perfectly fulfilled in Jesus. What was on the inside was beautiful while the outside was ordinary. And mankind looked on the outside and rejected him!

D. Application:

1. Look on the inside of people, not the outside. Be wise.
2. God looks on the inside (1 Sam 16:7).   Be warned.

Passage: Isaiah 53:4-6  

4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

A. Find Out:

1. What did the servant do? v.4a,b
2. Yet how was he perceived? v.4c,d
3. What was dome to him to take our what? v.5a,b
4. What did he bring us in return? v.5c,d
5. How are we described? v.6a,b
6. But what has God done? v.6c

B. Think:

1. How was Jesus misjudged?
2. He died to take what of ours?
3. He died to bring us what?

C. Comment:

This most amazing of the servant songs continues to describe what can only be seen as the work of Jesus Christ. In no one else can the fulfilment of these prophetic words be seen. This is all about Jesus!

The view of Jesus by those who should have been in the know at the time, was that his death on the Cross was right, he was taking punishment that he deserved, this was God’s punishment. In reality he was taking our punishment. All the things that limit us and make us less than the godly and righteous people God designed us to be, were put on him. He took ALL of that!

Because of the things we do where we ‘fall off the rails’ (transgressions), because of our blatant wrongs (iniquities), Jesus died. In dying he took ALL of these things on himself. He was standing in for us, taking our punishment, bringing healing to our lives. Every single one of us is like a sheep that has wandered away from its shepherd, we had wandered away from God and were doing our own thing. We deserved punishment but instead Jesus took it.

This is the staggering truth of the Gospel – we sinned and deserved punishment, but Jesus Christ came and took it for us. Instead of punishment he brought us peace and blessing. All we have to do is believe it and receive it. This is the wonder of the servant.

D. Application:

1. Jesus died to take your sin. Thank him for that.
2. Jesus came to bring us Sonship. Receive it and rejoice.

Passage: Isaiah 53:7-9     

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

A. Find Out:

1. What happened to the servant and how did he react? v.7a,b
2. To what is he compared? v.7c-e
3. Why was he taken and killed? v.8a
4. Yet what is the truth of that? v.8d
5. With whom was he associated in death? v.9a,b
6. Why was it so unjust? v.9c,d

B. Think:

1. What do these verses tell us about the cause of the servant’s death?
2. How do those things correspond with Jesus?
3. What are we told about the death? Ditto Jesus?

C. Comment:

In verses 1-3 the prophet notes the ordinary appearance of the servant and his rejection. In verses 4 -6 he speaks of his punishment-taking role. In these verses he speaks about the actual death.

First he speaks about the servant’s submissive attitude to this death. It was all wrong but the servant remains quiet. In fact he is compared to a lamb going unknowingly to the slaughter.   Jesus of course was God’s lamb (see Jn 1:29).

Next he speaks about the nature of his arrest. Those who took him were oppressors and wrongly judged him. There was nothing right about the way he was taken. The way Jesus was taken by both Jewish and Roman leaders was utterly wrong!

Finally he speaks about the nature of the death. He is lined up with the wicked; it is a death of criminals and he will die alongside criminals, just as Jesus in fact did. But then comes what seems a contradiction, because he will also be aligned with the rich. How can that be? Well of course Jesus was taken and buried in the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea (see Mt 27:57-60).

Yes these amazing prophetic details were given by God through Isaiah centuries before Jesus came, and each detail was perfectly fulfilled in Jesus’ life.

D. Application:

1. God knows and plans the future perfectly. Rest in that knowledge.
2. Jesus died at God express planning – for you. Rejoice in that.

Passage: Isaiah 53:10-12

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

A. Find Out:

1. Why was the servant going through all this? v.10a,b, 11,c,d, 12e
2. Yet what will happen to him? v.10c,d
3. After suffering what will happen? v.11a,b
4. Therefore what will God do? v.12a,b

B. Think:

1. What words are there about suffering in these verses?
2. Yet what indications are there of something better afterwards?
3. What is the goal of this suffering in these verses?

C. Comment:

These verses are incredible. Let’s consider them in the order of the three questions above. First let’s be quite clear about the suffering that is spoken about at every turn. In verse 10 – crush, suffer. In verse 11 – suffering of his soul. In verse 12 – poured out his life. Yes it is quite clear that part of the plan for the servant is death! Purposeful death!

Next, see the hints of something following that death. Verse 10 – he will see the fruit of his work, and his days will be long and he will prosper. Verse 11 – after the suffering he will see life. In retrospect we can clearly see this all referring to the death and resurrection of Jesus, but for those at the time this must have appeared confusing.

Finally the reason for all this. Verse 10 – to make his life a guilt offering. Verse 11 – to justify many and bear their iniquities. Verse 12 – bore the sin of many. The purpose of all this is to carry the sin of the world!

Without a shadow of doubt we have here the Lord making clear his purposes more clearly than in any other verses in the Old Testament, and yet that is only for us afterwards. For those at the time, and indeed right up until after the resurrection, these words must have been very confusing. Why did God speak some seven hundred years before it happened? Just to let anyone with eyes to see, know that he knew and more than that, that is was His divine purpose!

D. Application:

1. Praise God for the wonder of His plan fulfilled through Jesus.
2. Thank Him that you are part of that plan today.