First light on a stony hillside: a low stone sheepfold with the flock asleep inside, and one young white lamb standing alone outside the wall, the sky above pale and empty.

The Servant and Zion

Isaiah 53

Has anyone ever taken the blame that was yours?

12 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restoredChapter 53
56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

The Suffering Servant

Isaiah

Who has believed our message?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Isaiah

Close at ground level on a hot, bare slope: one tender green shoot rising out of cracked, sun-dried earth beside an old gray root.

He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no stately form or majesty to attract us,

no beauty that we should desire Him.

Isaiah

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

Like one from whom men hide their faces,

He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

Isaiah

Evening at the doorway of a plain stone village house, warm lamplight inside: two rolled sleeping mats and a rough wooden crutch left leaning on the outside wall, footprints in the dust of the lane.

Surely He took up our infirmities

and carried our sorrows;

yet we considered Him stricken,

struck down by God, and afflicted.

Isaiah

Isaiah

We all like sheep have gone astray,

each one has turned to his own way;

and the LORD has laid upon Him

the iniquity of us all.

Question

Quick question

Healing by His wounds, and sheep that went astray: one apostle wrote both lines to believers who were suffering for doing good.

Which apostle quotes 53:5–6 to believers suffering unjustly?

Isaiah

Spring on a flat rock shearing floor in the hills: a ewe lying quiet and still on her side, half her fleece lifted away in one thick creamy piece, more sheep waiting calmly in a stone pen behind.

He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet He did not open His mouth.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,

so He did not open His mouth.

Isaiah

By oppression and judgment He was taken away,

and who can recount His descendants?

For He was cut off from the land of the living;

He was stricken for the transgression of My people.

A Grave Assigned

Isaiah

A rock-cut tomb in a garden hillside at dusk, its entrance closed by a stone.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with a rich man in His death,

although He had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Isaiah

Morning in the open court before the temple, the altar smoking behind: an unblemished young ram tethered by a short cord to a stone ring in the paving, calm, no one near.

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him

and to cause Him to suffer;

and when His soul is made a guilt offering,

He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days,

and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

God

God

After the anguish of His soul,

He will see the light of life and be satisfied.

By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many,

and He will bear their iniquities.

God

An empty road of packed earth winding over the Judean hills at first light, the hilltops gold and mist in the valleys, no one on it.

Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great,

and He will divide the spoils with the strong,

because He has poured out His life unto death,

and He was numbered with the transgressors.

Yet He bore the sin of many

and made intercession for the transgressors.

0:16

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Lord Jesus, You were pierced for my transgressions and crushed for my iniquities. I went astray, and the LORD laid my sin on You. Thank You for the peace I could never earn. Amen.

One song, five stanzas

Whiteboard

The song begins and ends with the Servant lifted high, and at its center He carries what we deserved.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 53

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A verse to carry with you

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

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