114 - The Despised Redeemer

Isaiah 52

The Lowly Servant

Isaiah 53 may easily be considered to be the brightest gem in the Old Testament.  To those of us, so trained, it is easy to see the wounded, bleeding and resurrected Messiah; and that is all we see.  

Polycarp the Lysian calls this chapter "the golden passional of the Old Testament evangelist." 

Delitzsch says of it, "It is the centre of this wonderful book of consolation (ch. 40-66), and is the most central, the deepest, and the loftiest thing that the Old Testament prophecy, outstripping itself, has ever achieved". 

Mr. Urwick remarks on it, "Here we seem to enter the holy of holies of Old Testament prophecy—that sacred chamber wherein are pictured and foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow". The Pulpit Commentary.

Consider this though, these words are also in the Jewish Bible, but most Jews do not accept that their Messiah is spoken of here.  What do they do with these words?  The later Jews ... applied the prophecy (1) to Jeremiah; (2) to king Josiah; (3) to the people of Israel. The Pulpit Commentary.  

They have a strong argument if one makes the word he mean Jacob or in a wider sense "Israel".  Much of what is written in this portion fits Israel, but 53:9, He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth, very plainly says that this portion cannot refer only to the nation of Israel.

A simple reading of Isaiah 52:13-54:10 shows that the sentiments here go much deeper than can be applied to any ordinary person or even to any nation.  In fact, the description so perfectly fits the Messiah that some have postulated that this portion was written after the death of Christ and then inserted into the book of Isaiah.

The Servant Will Be Exalted

Behold, My Servant shall rule well; He shall be exalted (He has sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Hebrews 1:3, and extolled, (in Christendom across the world). 

Christ may not have been handsome, as Sallman painted Him.   The church before the time of Constantine pictured to itself the Lord, as He walked on earth, as repulsive in His appearance; whereas the church after Constantine pictured Him as having quite an ideal beauty. Keil & Delitzsch.

He has no form nor majesty that we should see Him, or even take notice of Him, nor an appearance that we should desire Him. 52:14-15; 53:2.  Some men have a commanding aura and people flock to them; Christ by nature or appearance was not such a person.

Did the neighbour's kids tease Him?  Did fellow businessmen taunt Him?  Did the ladies of the village demean Him?  Had He been shortchanged in the appearance department?  He was hated and rejected; his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering.  No one wanted to look at him. We despised him and said, "He is a nobody!" 53:3 CEV.  When we saw Him coming along the sidewalk, did we walk across the street so that we would not need to meet Him?  This was His unfortunate lot in life, but in His death on the cross, it was infinitely worse.

Just as many were astonished at You, before the day of your trial you were not much to look at, but because of your torture (so much was the disfigurement from man, those who beat him, His appearance and His form from the sons of mankind); 52:13.  This severity of torture is what the Romans and Jews inflicted on him!  Picture the prophet, Isaiah, sitting at the foot of the cross on Calvary, and there he sees the Redeemer as he hung upon the accursed tree, after he had been buffeted, and crowned with thorns, and smitten, and scourged, and crucified, when his face was covered with bruises and with gore, and his frame and features distorted with agony. The Pulpit Commentary.

so He sprinkles from many nations. 52:15.   Bible translators do not agree as to how this should be translated and Bible commentators disagree on what it means. 

My servant will make nations worthy to worship me; CEV
so he sprinkles from many nations; Modern King James
So shall he startle many nations. JPS 

1. Aben Ezra says it means, "God will pour out their blood and take vengeance on them."  
2. The Jewish Targum writes, "he will scatter many people."
3. Gill, in evangelical fashion, writes, "the blood of Christ, called the blood of sprinkling, by which the conscience is purged from dead works, (see Heb. 9:14) and the heart from an evil conscience, and by which multitudes of many nations are justified and sanctified." 

the kings shall shut their mouths at Him; in astonishment of His accomplishments; He has procured salvation for the human race!   He was as a root out of a dry ground; His prospects were bleak.  His was not a healthy home environment in which to flourish; even His brothers did not believe Him.  

This man, whom the human race treated with such disgrace was the man, about whom Jehovah said, Behold, My servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. 52:13