Luke 22:37

“For I say to you, that this which is written must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was reckoned with transgressors', for that which concerns me has fulfilment.”

And this was because what the Scriptures had said about the Servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53 must this night be fulfilled in Him. He must be reckoned among the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12). He must go forward to an unjust death, rejected by men and bruised by God. And there He must offer Himself up as a guilt offering for the sins of men (Isaiah 53:7; Isaiah 53:10), bearing as a result their transgressions and iniquities (Isaiah 53:8; Isaiah 53:11), and as a consequence putting many in the right so that they could be accounted righteous (Isaiah 53:11). Indeed this was the divine necessity, and it must have fulfilment, and that fulfilment was about to take place in Him. Note the twofold stress on its fulfilment. What was to happen was ordained by God.

Strictly speaking this quotation should have awakened them to what was happening. They would know Isaiah 53 well enough, and we cannot doubt that Jesus had drawn it to their attention (compare Acts 8:32). They must often have wondered at the sufferings of the one described there. And He had constantly warned them of what was to happen to Him. They should have put the two together. But they were so unready to accept that such consequences could come on Jesus that they just could not comprehend it.