Isaiah 53:1-4

Mr. Moody was once asked whether his creed was in print. In his own prompt way, he replied, «Yes, sir; you will find it in the fifty-third of Isaiah.» A condensed Bible is in this chapter. You have the whole gospel here.

Isaiah 53:1. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

Nobody ever does believe either prophets or preachers except through the work of God's Spirit and grace. The Lord's arm must be revealed, or else the truth proclaimed by his servants will never be accepted. All the prophets speak in these words of Isaiah, as if they all stood together, and lifted up this wail, «Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?»

Isaiah 53:2. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

This is Israel's King, the long-promised Messiah; yet when he comes to Bethlehem, see what «a tender plant» he is! Look at the house of David, almost extinct; and see what «a root out of a dry ground» is «The stem of Jesse's rod.» When Jesus comes before the sons of men, dressed in the garb of a peasant, a poor man, a sorrowful man, a man who had not where to lay his head, notice how men say, by their actions, if not in words, «There is no beauty that we should desire him.»

Isaiah 53:3. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

We rightly sing,

«Rejected and despised of men,

Behold a man of woe!

And grief his close companion still Through all his life below!

«We held him as condemn'd of heaven,

An outcast from his God;

While for our sins he groan'd, he bled,

Beneath his Fathers rod.»

His own people, ay, his own chosen ones, turned away from him; and you and I did so till God's grace changed our hearts, and opened our eyes. But why was he «despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief»? Why was the Prince of Israel such a suffering man? He had no sin for which to be chastened. There was no evil in his nature that needed to be fetched out with the rod of correction. Oh, no! The answer is very different:

Isaiah 53:4. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

What a joyous note there is in that sorrowful line, «With his stripes we are healed»! Glory be to God, we are healed of our soul-sickness, cured of the disease of sin, by this strange surgery, not by stripes upon ourselves, but by stripes upon our Lord!

Isaiah 53:6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

The general sin of the race, the special sin of the individual, all gathered, heap upon heap, mountain upon mountain, and laid by God on Christ. We sometimes sing,

«I lay my sins on Jesus,

The spotless Lamb of God;

He bears them all and frees us From the accursed load.

I bring my guilt to Jesus,

To wash my crimson stains White in his blood most precious,

Till not a spot remains;»

and I will find no fault with that hymn; but the real laying of sin upon Jesus was effected by God himself: «The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.»

Isaiah 53:7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

He never pleaded for himself. At the earthly judgment-seat, he said not a word for himself, so that even Pilate «marvelled greatly.» Oh, the eloquence of that silence! Truly it was golden. Omnipotence restrained omnipotence. Christ held himself in as with bit and bridle. «As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.»

Isaiah 53:8. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Therefore he was allowed to be buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea. He was no felon, whose body must be cast out to the kites and jackals; but «He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.»

Isaiah 53:10. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Wicked men slew our Lord, and their crime was the blackest in the world's history; but, unconsciously, they were carrying out « the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.» «It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.» Christ died for others, but he lives again; and through him a godly seed shall live for ever and ever: «When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.» He is made to prosper because he died.

Isaiah 53:11. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:

His death-pangs were birth-pangs: «the travail of his soul.» He sees the multitude that shall be born through his death, and he is content.

Isaiah 53:11. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;

Dear hearer, will he justify you? Do you know him? If you know him so as to trust him, he has justified you; you are a justified man tonight. «Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.» «By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.»

Isaiah 53:11. For he shall bear their iniquities.

They kick against this doctrine nowadays. They cannot bear it; yet it is the very marrow of the gospel, Christ bearing sin that was not his own, that we might be covered with a righteousness which is not our own, but comes from him. Paul, by the Spirit, put this great truth thus, «For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.»

Isaiah 53:12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Thanks be unto God for this great sacrifice!