The LORD calls His people to behold His Servant high and lifted up on the cross in divine glory. Although His appearance did not attract us to Him, His suffering has sprinkled us with His cleansing blood so that we can truly see the only God. Men despised and rejected Jesus and hid their faces from Him. He suffered this willingly; all our sin and shame and pain were placed upon Him in order to give His healing and forgiveness to us. Jesus endured this great shame and suffering to the point of death, and He was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Yet Isaiah not only saw Jesus’ suffering and death; he also saw Jesus’ resurrection. The LORD’s will was to crush Jesus in order to then prolong Jesus’ days. By His work as the Servant of the LORD, Jesus has accounted us righteous.
Rev. Mark Barz, pastor at Crown of Life Lutheran Church in San Antonio, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Isaiah 52:13-53:12.
“The Fifth Evangelist” is a series on Sharper Iron that goes through Isaiah 40-66. Though Isaiah lived one hundred years beforehand, he writes to the people of God in exile in Babylon to assure them that their God reigns and will rescue them through the work of His servant. These promises are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, whose work Isaiah proclaims vividly seven hundred years beforehand.
Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen.
Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund, where your investments help support the work of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit lcef.org.
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions
13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;[a]
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so shall he sprinkle[b] many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?[c]
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected[d] by men,
a man of sorrows[e] and acquainted with[f] grief;[g]
and as one from whom men hide their faces[h]
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;[i]
when his soul makes[j] an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see[k] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,[l]
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,[m]
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 52:13 Or shall prosper
- Isaiah 52:15 Or startle
- Isaiah 53:1 Or Who has believed what we have heard?
- Isaiah 53:3 Or forsaken
- Isaiah 53:3 Or pains; also verse 4
- Isaiah 53:3 Or and knowing
- Isaiah 53:3 Or sickness; also verse 4
- Isaiah 53:3 Or as one who hides his face from us
- Isaiah 53:10 Or he has made him sick
- Isaiah 53:10 Or when you make his soul
- Isaiah 53:11 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll he shall see light
- Isaiah 53:12 Or with the great
- Isaiah 53:12 Or with the numerous
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. esv.org
