Isaiah 53 - Introduction

Chapter 53 The Demise And Rising Again of the Servant.

The chapter that follows overflows with examples of all the extremes of suffering and condemnation that could be poured out on someone. Commentators regularly try to select one aspect or another as being the overriding factor, but by doing so fail to recognise the point that the writer is making, which is that He suffered all that could possibly be laid on or experienced by someone of all the ills of the world. He piles word upon word in order to ensure that we recognise that here was One Who took on Himself the totality of all men's miseries, namely, the miseries which accrued to them because of sin. To put it simply and profoundly in the words of Paul, ‘He was made sin for us', and thus bore in Himself the consequences of that sin.

This is neatly brought out in the description of His burial. He would be buried both with the wicked, the criminal, the outcast, and with the rich man, the equally wicked but outwardly respected. In Him was summed up man's total sinfulness. While we may certainly consider the meaning of the parts, we fail to understand the writer's purpose if we do not recognise that the suffering and consequences described are the lot of all men as summed up on only One. Such a unique situation could only apply to Someone Who was totally unique.