Isaiah 53:1

JESUS CHRIST; GOD'S SERVANT

We should not be surprised at this title assigned to the Holy Messiah in the Sacred Scriptures, because there is a magnificent profusion of names and titles bestowed upon the Son of God by the inspired writers of the Bible. A mere glance at these cannot fail to impress any thoughtful student.

NAMES AND TITLES: Isaiah prophetically referred to Jesus as Immanuel (Isaiah 7:13); Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6); God's Servant (Isaiah 52:13). Moses referred to him as The Seed of Woman (Genesis 3:15); The Seed (singular) of Abraham (Genesis 28:14, and Galatians 3:16); Shiloh (Genesis 49:10); The Star out of Jacob, The Scepter out of Israel (Numbers 24:17); That Prophet Like Unto Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15); The Son of David (2 Samuel 7:12,14); The Lord of David, The Priest Forever After the Order of Melchizedek (Psalms 110,4); The Judge of Israel, The Ruler in Israel Whose Goings Forth are Known of Old, from Everlasting (Micah 5:2-4); The King of Israel (Zechariah 9:9); The Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2); The Son of David, The Son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1); The Dayspring from on High (Luke 1:78); Saviour, Christ, The Lord (Luke 2:11); Jesus (Luke 2:21); Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews (Matthew 27:37); Jesus Christ the Son of God (Mark 1:1); Son of God Most High (Mark 5:7); God (10 New Testament references use this title for Christ; see John 1:1,18; 20:24, etc), My Beloved Son (Matthew 3:17); Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1,2); Christ Jesus our Lord (1 Timothy 1:12); our Lord Jesus Christ, The Blessed and Only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:14,15); The Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4); The Rose of Sharon, The Lily of the Valley (Song of Solomon 2:1); The Bright and Morning Star, The Root of David (Revelation 22:16); The Firstborn of the Kings of the Earth (Psalms 89:27; Hebrews 12:23); the Day Star (2 Peter 1:19); Our High Priest, Our Surety, Our Advocate, Our Intercessor (Hebrews 7); Christ Our Righteousness (Romans); The Mediator of the New Covenant (1 Timothy 2:5); Head Over All Things, Head of the Church Which is His Body (Ephesians 1:22); The Good Shepherd (John 10:11); The Bread of Life, The Water of Life, The Living Water, The Way, The Truth, The Life, The Light of the World, The True Vine, The Resurrection and the Life (from the Gospel of John), The Apostle and High Priest of our Confession (Hebrews 3:1); The Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4); The Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls (1 Peter 1:25); The Branch (Zechariah 3:8; 6:12); The Author of Eternal Salvation (Hebrews 3:9); The Author and Finisher (Perfecter) of our Faith (Hebrews 12:2); The Son of Man (Daniel 7:15); The Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1:11, KJV); The Living One (Revelation 1:18, ASV); and The Amen (Revelation 2:14), etc.

Of course, the above list is by no means all of the names and titles the Scriptures associate with the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind; but these are sufficient to indicate the comprehensive extent of them.

This chapter is concerned solely with the prophecies relating to that Ideal Servant, the True Israel of God, the Seed Singular of Abraham, who alone would bring the promise of redemption to fallen and sinful humanity and provide a way for the renewal of their lost fellowship with God. In Him is the life eternal, and "No man cometh unto God" except through Him (John 14:6).

We shall not engage in any defense of the interpretation of this chapter, which by unanimous consent of all scholars, Jewish and Gentile alike, was understood as descriptive of the sufferings of Christ for the first 1,150 years of the Christian era, at which time, Jewish writers began efforts to ascribe it to some other; and since then a very few so-called "Christian" writers have accepted some of the Jewish postulations.[1] However, this defection of nominally Christian commentators to the Jewish interpretation is absolutely unworthy of any study whatever. The true interpretation is so obvious, so unanswerable, so absolutely certain, that it is a waste of time to explore allegations of Satan and his followers to the contrary.

The whole song of the servant includes the last three verses of Isaiah 52 and twelve verses of this chapter (Isaiah 53).

"It is unusually symmetrical. There are five paragraphs of three verses each. It begins and ends with the Servant's exaltation (first and fifth stanzas); and set within this is the story of Christ's rejection in sections two and four, which in turn frame the centerpiece (stanza 3, Isaiah 53:4-6), where the atoning significance is expounded. God and man, reconciled, share the telling. Note the `my' and `our' of the outer sections (one and five) and the `we' and `our' of Isaiah 53:1-6."[2]

"The word `our' in Isaiah 53:1 raises the question of who the proclaimers are. Hailey gave the same answer to this that Kidner gave in the quotation above: "The message is to be identified as the messianic message of God through Isaiah."[3]

Isaiah 53:1-3

THE SECOND STANZA

"Who hath believed our message? and to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed? For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised; and we esteemed him not."

As Cheyne pointed out, there is a peculiarity in these three verses that one word in each of the three verses is quoted in the second half of each verse. "Thus: in (1), the word is `who,' `whom'; in (2) the word is `he'; and in (3) the word is `despised.'"[4]

In this paragraph, the surpassing glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is hidden behind obscurity, poverty, humiliation, misery, and shame; and this is the great example that "God's thoughts and God's ways are as much higher than those of men as the heavens are higher than the earth," as Isaiah would more fully elaborate in Isaiah 55:8.

In Isaiah 53:1, the language suggests that "no one" believed the report, or hearkened to the Word of God; but the apostle Paul's word shows that the statements here are hyperbole; for he said, "Not all hearkened to the good tidings" (Romans 10:16). Those who hearkened were the apostles of the New Testament Church and those who followed their leadership. Nevertheless, the very small percentage of the Old Israel who believed and obeyed the Son of God fully justified the hyperbole. A similar use of this figure of speech is seen in Luke 7:29-30, as compared with Matthew 3:5.

"As a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground ..." (Isaiah 53:2), Here are given the conditions of Jesus' earthly environment which seem to be revealed as the reason why he had no comeliness or beauty that would cause him to be desired by men.

We cannot believe that the physical unattractiveness or ugliness of the Son of God are meant by the lack of beauty or comeliness on his part. The tremendous attractiveness of Jesus for the great women of that era who knew him absolutely denies any denial of the power and magnetism of his personality (Luke 7:37,38; 8:1-4, etc.) Likewise the appeal that Jesus had for the rugged fishermen of Galilee, and the authority of his strong right arm with the whips when he drove the money changers out of the temple; none of these facts will harmonize with an unattractive countenance or any form of personal "ugliness." No! What is meant is that none of the trappings of wealth, office, social status, or any other such things which are so honored among men, belonged to Jesus.

"As a root out of dry ground ..." (Isaiah 53:2). What is the "dry ground" here? "This refers to a corrupt age and nation, and the arid soil of mankind."[5] Both the nation of Israel and all of the nations of the pre-Christian Gentile world were at this time judicially hardened by God Himself; and nothing could have seemed more impossible to the citizens of that dissolute age than the fact that God's Holy Messiah would be born to humble parents in some obscure village, and that the salvation of all the world would be available through that Child alone!

The lack of beauty and comeliness spoken of here has been the occasion of all kinds of derogatory statements about Christ. For example, Wardle stated that the passage means: "He was despised, pain-stricken and diseased, so that men turned away from him in revulsion."[6] No word in all the Bible justifies such a statement as this. The emphasis upon the lack of beauty and comeliness refers not at all to the physical appearance of Jesus except during those terrible scenes of Holy Week, during which he was denied sleep, beaten unmercifully by a Roman chastisement, mocked some six times in all, crowned with a crown of thorns, tortured to death on the Cross, compelled to carry the cross till he fainted, being struck in the face with a reed, reviled and spit upon! This was the time when his visage was marred, and the last vestiges of his physical beauty perished under the venomous, inhuman treatment of Satan and his sons who put him to death.

"Despised and rejected of men ..." (Isaiah 53:3). Archer rendered this as, "Lacking men of distinction as his supporters."[7] This harmonizes with the fact that a tax collector and common fishermen were among his apostles, whereas distinguished persons like the rich young ruler turned away from him. "Men still persist in avoiding facing the `real Jesus,' preferring what they call `the historical Jesus' who would not trouble them with the Cross."[8]