The well-known words of Isaiah 52:13 through to the end of chapter 53 continue the theme of the servant of the Lord. As we have seen, the ‘servant of the Lord’ in the immediate context is Israel. Isaiah makes this explicit. But here the theme from the previous three chapters about Israel having paid for her sin is taken up to a higher plain. Previously the point is made that Israel had suffered sufficiently for her sin to have learned her lesson. But now the scope is thrown wide open. Now it is said that the servant of the Lord will “sprinkle many nations”. The imagery is now taken from the temple sacrifices and the sacrifice is evidently a person who is able to justify many by his sacrifice. This can no longer be referring to Israel because it is said of this servant that he was without sin. Hence these words of Isaiah 53, while rooted in an historical circumstance, clearly transcend that immediate context. They predict that one day the sins of God’s people all over the world would be carried by one man. They predict that he will not only suffer and die for the sins of the world but that he would nevertheless live again to see the will of the Lord prosper in his hand. The detail with which these words describe the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is truly remarkable. It was so important an event that God announced hundreds of years beforehand that it was going to happen. These words are about what Jesus did for you.
Thank God for what he has done for you in Jesus Christ.
Read Isaiah 53
