Written by Paul J Bucknell on April, 25, 2022
MGL4 The Servant’s Sufferings, Isaiah 53:4-6
“4Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” 5But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) 6All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)
These three verses, tucked deep down in the center of the fourth Servant Song, unfold the heart of the Servant’s plan—the Gospel (see the introduction to Isaiah 53:1-9). Peter and the apostles refer to this important passage that powerfully describes the Messiah’s sufferings. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled” (Acts 3:18).
Isaiah cleverly lays out this important redemptive scheme for those who dare seek its treasures in His Word. What is the treasure? It is the immense and overflowing love of God seen in the offering of His Son. Verses 4 and 6 explain the suffering that surrounds the glorious sacrifice of love revealed in verse 5. Verse 5 expounds the purpose of the Messiah’s suffering from which the love of God pours out to the world, being reborn in the hearts of His people.
1. The Servant’s Sufferings Observed (Isaiah 53:4)
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4).
The prophet leads us further into unexpected territory. In the former verses, we saw how His people rejected His message and He suffered socially. We might wonder why people rejected the faithful Servant of God. Perhaps, they thought He had done something wrong to deserve such treatment.
Isaiah, however, with no thought on offering a beautiful picture of the Servant, uses “Surely” to begin this line to affirm genuine reasons for the Servant’s rejection and suffering. The answers, though not yet fully unraveled, are partially given.
He suffered for our sins, not for His transgressions (He was sinless). As we read on, we might be surprised by the constant repetition of this same thought. The word “our” is repeatedly used in verses 4-5.
In this repetition, he answers part of the riddle. The Servant, though rejected and bruised, does not suffer for His own sin but for ours! We still, however, cannot see why He had to suffer for these people or how His suffering made things better for them. This will be made clearer as we continue to the end of Isaiah 53. For a clearer understanding of these redemptive truths, review the Apostle Paul’s explanation of the redemptive message of Jesus Christ in the Book of Romans.
- Our griefs (4)
- Our sorrows (4)
- Our transgressions (5)
- Our iniquities (5)
- Chastening for our well-being (5)
The Servant “our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried.” The Hebrew word translated ‘grief’ emphasizes pain and disease. This word “healed” can be used in a physical or figurative way. “He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). Matthew 8:16-17 affirms that Jesus’ healing ministry fulfilled Isaiah’s words.
“And when evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases”” (Matthew 8:16-17).
Matthew uses these words to describe Jesus’ healing ministry. This verse falls short of stating that healing is part of the atonement; Isaiah discusses the atonement in the next verse. We should not, however, discard the importance of this ministry for God’s people due to the healing power the Holy Spirit exercises today. People in wealthy circumstances rarely look for supernatural healing but rely on conventional medicine. They unfortunately distance themselves from His healing. As a last resort, they may seek for someone to pray for them, but this should be our starting point not our last resort.
This One carried our griefs and sorrows. All our sorrows disappear as He takes our burdens upon Himself. Griefs, pains, diseases, and even sins, as seen in the next verse, are all borne by the faithful Servant. No wonder that when we look at Him, we see Him as beaten down (stricken). He was indeed smitten by God and afflicted, but it was not because of His own sin but because of ours. Notice Jesus’ argument here in Mark 2:9-12.
“Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,’Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, “Arise, and take up your pallet and walk’? But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.” And he rose and immediately took up the pallet and went out in the sight of all; so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this” (Mark 2:9-12).
This verse reveals a connection between healing and the atonement. If He has the power to heal, then He has the power to forgive. If He can forgive, then He can heal. I wonder if Isaiah 53 was behind Christ’s reasoning: His healing proves He has authority to genuinely forgive.
Christ suffered for us, but He was innocent. It’s a grave error to assume He suffered for His own ills. The Book of Job proves theologically that the righteous can and do suffer. Christ did not suffer for His own wrong. Christ’s virgin birth plays an important part in Jesus’ sinlessness.
The virgin birth prevented the sinful nature of an earthly father from being passed down to Jesus. Although we do not understand the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s birth, we must accept it and the conclusion: that He was free from inherited sin and suffered not for His own wrongs, allowing Him to suffer for others. God’s revealed love reaches a crescendo in the following verse.
2. The Servant’s Action Interpreted (Isaiah 53:5)
“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
The introductory ‘But’ emphasizes the true and full interpretation of suffering. It is here that our ‘iniquities’ and ‘transgressions’ are mentioned along with 53:4’s grief and sorrow. He did not carry our sin to empathize with us, as modern man would assert, or merely to be a good example—as much as we appreciate His efforts.
Three times the word “for” is used in this verse, thrusting before our eyes the genuine reasons for what appears unreasonable treatment of the Servant: “for our transgressions,” for our iniquities,” and “for our well-being.” God purposefully sent His Servant with a mission, despite it appearing as a hapless event. Isaiah explains the riddle.
Earlier, we looked at what Christ took upon Himself to help us. We now need to stare at Christ’s own affliction. Though Christ represents His people, we must look careful at how He actively took mankind’s sin upon Himself. Again, repetitious words of pain are used to describe the transference of our sin upon Himself.
“Stricken,” “afflicted,” “crushed,” “chastening,” and “pierced through” became His portion. In summary, He suffered because He has taken our sin upon Himself. When Jesus took our sin, He also took our pain and death. God purposed this act, though difficult it was, because He desired to accomplish the greatest good, His redemptive work.
The word ‘pierced’ brings instant recollection to the ‘pierced’ associated with Jesus Christ’s death—the nails being pierced through His hands and feet, and later the sword to assure His death. He was wounded for our sake.
“And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
The theology of the atonement is stated here. The substitutionary atonement relates how Christ vicariously died in “our” place, that is, He took the penalty of our sins upon His own life. This is a foundational truth explaining the death of Christ on the cross. This one truth holds several assumptions.
(1) That one can die (or suffer) in a way to bring benefit to another.
(2) That sin deserves the sentence of death.
(3) That this righteous Servant’s piercing, crushing, scourging, and death satisfied God’s wrath against us. (cf. propitiation)
These powerful words don’t specifically mention His death (it is later mentioned) because Isaiah engages our attention on the transference of sin and the cost of salvation (i.e., the pain).
He took our iniquity and its penalty upon Himself. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). If He so suffered, then we are set free from God’s sentence of death upon us, bringing salvation. The last stanza, with even more detail, associates the teaching of justification by faith with this suffering, showing that this is His cost, only part of all His benefits for us. As a result of His devotion, love is born into our own lives. We are healed. Grace has been brought to our lives, and now, we live graciously toward others. As Peter said, we “ live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24).
The substitutionary aspect—the transference of sin and guilt—is perhaps most clearly seen in the phrase, “The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him.” “My Servant” took whatever rot we had upon Himself. He cared about our well-being and so took our deserved suffering upon us. Genuine suffering preceded and accompanied His death, which is further explained in the last triad of verses.
Jesus’ bitter suffering splendidly opens as the lovely flower of redemptive. The most inner and delicate parts of a flower are its reproductive organs. It is from here that a flower can spread its fragrance and create other flowers. And so, it is with the Gospel.
When we step closer and look at His sufferings, His love is born in our lives. We can look from afar, we can see the row of beautiful flowers. This is like seeing Jesus as a good teacher. But only when taking a close-up look at His life and sufferings do we perceive the fully glory of His love, and His love born in us. One needs to come closer in faith to touch the heart of the Gospel. We discover His great love when viewing His scourging and death for us; His love is reproduced in our hearts. Like Moses drawing near the burning bush, so we need to draw closer to Christ’s suffering to be fully aware of God’s eternal love.
We have been emphasizing two kinds of lessons from this Fourth Servant Song. We are focusing on the sufferings of Christ (what He endured) but also on the accomplishment of His redemptive work. This extensive description of Christ’s suffering gives us a unique picture of Jesus’ life and attitudes. These verses humble us by pointing out our sinfulness, our unworthiness, and His extreme grace—not just to care for us, but to do something about it. His love fills us, leading us to mercifully and graciously care for others. Philippians 2:3-11 clearly outlines how the wonders of Christ redemptive love should affect our lives, calling us to a godly, humble attitude.
3. The Servant’s Situation Applied (Isaiah 53:6)
“All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isaiah 53:6).
Some people, trying to catch up with what has been described in the former verses, wonder what do “our transgressions” and “our iniquities” imply about our lives? They can easily understand our griefs and pain mentioned in 53:4, but not the sin mentioned in 53:5. Isaiah further applies these thoughts to us in this verse. Though Christ might have suffered horribly, it does us little good, unless we can agree with God’s perspective of our lives, from which repentance comes.
Man tends to think better of himself than he actually is. The scriptures give a clear record of our actual lives, “All of us like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way.” Mankind as a whole is rebellious and does not want to give ear to their Creator’s words. Each of us, has sought our own ways. Sin has many definitions; transgression and iniquity (insisting on doing things our way rather than God’s) are two used here. Simply put, we are perverse, falling far short of God’s expected standard (Rom 3:23).
Unless we confess our sin and seek healing, no healing is provided. This is the importance of this verse. It highlights our need for the Servant’s work. We can say it is the reason for His suffering. If we did not sin, then there would be no need for His suffering, but the source of the grief, pain, and sin He bore truly stems from our own sinful nature.
Note what the Lord did. “The LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” This is most remarkable. Though it seems unjust for one to suffer for another’s sins, the difference in this case is that Jesus took our sins upon Himself voluntarily. By voluntarily, I mean we did not give Him these pains and sins. We had no means to do this. Instead, “the LORD,” no doubt referring to the Father, imputed mankind’s sins upon His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God took this redemptive act upon Himself to secure a redeemed people, later mentioned.
It seems unreasonable that one could suffer in our place, but that is the fact of judgment. He took our penalty of death upon Himself. He became the propitiation or atonement for our sins. It seems highly unlikely that one so righteous would suffer so much for a wicked person like us. That is the great love of God exhibited in Christ’s crucifixion, the amazing story of love that will never end, extending outward to the ends of the world.
Jesus suffered terribly on the cross. It seemed as if God was displeased with Him, but, in fact, Jesus died to do His Father’s will. He lived and died for others, not because of any disapproval from God against Him personally but because God’s love might redeem His people and be born in their lives. We first need to acknowledge our sins, however, before we can ever discover the glorious love of God in Christ.
Summary: Sins, Guilt, and Consequences
There is a great difference between guilt and the consequences of sin. He wonderfully provides for our forgiveness of that guilt by taking our guilt upon Himself. This is the reason the New Testament says that we are “in Christ.” We hide ourselves in Him.
But what do you do as a Christian when you sin? Of course, we feel the guilt and shame of the sin. Some Christians consider themselves second-class Christians because of some past sin. They do not think that the Lord will talk to them as before. We certainly have grieved the Lord, again and again. Perhaps, you are like me who have repeatedly battled with some sin. I was tempted to give up. The evil one, with malice, said to me, “You are no good.” But the truth of His sacrifice taught me to find full forgiveness for all of my sins, again and again. He took our sins upon Himself.
I personally find that many Christians fall into a half-zealous Christian life because they have somehow thought that they no longer deserve or can gain God’s full love and forgiveness. Our earthly fathers might have thought we failed them and rejected us, but God’s sacrifice is good for all who believe. There is no new sacrifice needed for new sins; we only need to remind ourselves that He took “all” of our sins upon Himself.
It is helpful to think of a father and son relationship when we think about guilt and forgiveness. When the child sins, his guilt causes him to avoid his father, even though he still is his father’s son. But when they approach each other, and the son acknowledges his sin and asks for forgiveness, the father forgives him. I often provide a hug and statement acknowledging their forgiveness. Forgiveness does not mean there are no consequences, either in our lives or others, but it does mean acceptance and restoration.
