Tag Archives: Isaiah

May
06
2012

Past Easter

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With Easter now almost a month past, I find myself reflecting on the church experience with memorizing Isaiah 52:13-52:12 (the “Suffering Servant”). On one level, I have no idea how many participated in learning these fifteen verses. We did not ask anyone to sign up. I was hopeful that many would work on it since it was a shorter passage than the Sermon on the Mount. Yet, the few folks I knew working on it were not able to completely memorize the passage. Maybe the flow of the ESV threw off some who tried; it did take some getting used to. Although I really enjoy using the ESV, maybe a different translation would benefit more people.

On another level, I am very grateful for our pastoral staff, David, Jud, and Billy, who had a hand in weaving the passage throughout the church life during the five weeks prior to Easter. We read the passages together aloud in church. We received emails with the passages to remind us about the church-wide memorization effort. We listened to parts of this “servant song” set to music. We studied all the “servant songs” on Wednesday nights. We used the words of Isaiah to frame our Maundy Thursday and Friday Tenebrae services. I was pleased and encouraged by all the staff did to make this relevant to the church, to bring this passage alive to everyone. It was beneficial to me personally as well. I was not merely learning and studying a passage from a dead prophet. I was seeing the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus again, with fresh eyes, having witnessed the inner thoughts of the “Arm of the LORD” as revealed by Isaiah.

 

Apr
03
2012

Don Carson’s Meditation on the Suffering Servant

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NOW THE IDENTITY OF THE perfect Servant comes into sharp focus. Isaiah 53, or better, Isaiah 52:13–53:12, is the fourth of five Servant songs that describe him. “See, my servant” (Isa. 52:13), God says, echoing the introduction to this Servant in Isaiah 42:1. The “arm of the LORD,” God’s saving power, has been promised in Isaiah 51:9 and 52:10. Now the question becomes, “[T]o whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” (Isa. 53:1). The implicit answer in this high point of Isaiah’s prophecy is that God’s saving power is nowhere more clearly seen than in the work of the Servant. In the previous chapters God has repeatedly promised forgiveness to his people, but its basis has not been established. Here all becomes clear: “my righteous servant will justify many … he will bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11). He is a priest, sprinkling the unclean (Isa. 52:15); he is a guilt offering, removing their iniquities (Isa. 53:10).

The first of five sections (Isa. 52:13–15) anticipates the whole: “My servant will act wisely,” God says, anticipating the conclusion. Beginning with the Servant’s exaltation (Isa. 52:13), this stanza descends to his appalling suffering (Isa. 52:14) and ends with the “sprinkling” of many nations and the stunned reaction to it. “Sprinkling” with blood, oil, or water is in the Old Testament bound up with cleansing, i.e., with making a person or thing fit to come before God. Normally this has reference to Israel or its institutions, but not here: this is for “many nations” (Isa. 52:15). The stunned reaction testifies that God’s wisdom overthrows and confounds all human wisdom (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18–2:5).

In the second and third stanzas (Isa. 53:1–3, 4–6) the speakers are witnesses. God has repeatedly called on his people to bear witness to him (Isa. 43:10, 12; 44:8), but they have been blind and deaf. Now, not only do they attest that the Lord alone is God (Isa. 43:12), but they bear witness to what God has done through his suffering, vindicated, exalted Servant. At first, reactions to him are cautious, and then negative (Isa. 53:1–3). He grew to be despised and rejected by men: “we esteemed him not,” the witnesses say. Indeed, when he was barbarically killed, many thought it God’s providential judgment (Isa. 53:4)—and they spoke better than they knew. But the witnesses come to grasp that “he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities”—a substitutionary lamb (Isa. 53:5–7). In the fourth stanza (Isa. 53:7–9) Isaiah reflects on the Servant’s silent suffering and ambivalent death and burial (Had God accepted his work?), to end in the fifth (Isa. 53:10–12) with resounding affirmation of the purposes of God. God’s Servant will act wisely (Isa. 52:13); “by his knowledge” he will (literally) cause many to become righteous, “and he will bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11). Reflect on Matthew 1:21. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

via Deuteronomy 26; Psalms 117–118; Isaiah 53; Matthew 1 – For the Love of God.

Apr
01
2012

Week 5: Isaiah 53:10-12

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[10] Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes 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 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,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

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.

 

Mar
25
2012

Week 4: Isaiah 53:7-9

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[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.

 

Mar
20
2012

The Servant’s Substitutionary Suffering

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Isaiah’s description of the servant in Isaiah 53:4-6 shifts back and forth between the servant’s work and the resultant blessing on God’s people. The following chart highlights the numerous links.

 

Suffering on behalf of others
VerseThe Servant's PartThe People's Part
Isaiah 53:4he took
he carried		our infirmities
our sorrows
Isaiah 53:5he was pierced
he was crushed
his punishment
his wounds		for our transgressions
for our iniquities
brought us peace
we are healed
Isaiah 53:6laid on himthe iniquity of us all

 

These verses, perhaps as much as any in the Bible, highlight the servant’s substitutionary (vicarious) suffering on behalf of others.

 

(Taken from Sidebar 17.2, page 207, in Encountering the Book of Isaiah by Bryan E. Beyer)

 

Mar
18
2012

Week 3: Isaiah 53:4-6

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[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.

 

Mar
15
2012

The Suffering Servant in the New Testament

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The significant usage of this passage (Isaiah 52:13-53:12) by many New Testament writers provides early testimony to the link the early church made between Isaiah’s words and the life and ministry of Jesus.

 

Links between Isaiah's words and Jesus
Isaiah's Verse(s)New Testament Citation(s)
Isaiah 52:15Romans 15:21
Isaiah 53:1John 12:38; Romans 10:16
Isaiah 53:4Matthew 8:17
Isaiah 53:7-8Acts 8:32-33 (Septuagint)
Isaiah 53:91 Peter 2:22
Isaiah 53:12Luke 22:37

 

(Table taken from Sidebar 17.3, page 211, in Encountering the Book of Isaiah by Bryan E. Beyer)

 

Mar
11
2012

Week 2: Isaiah 53:1-3

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[1] Who has believed what he has heard from us?

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 by men;

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 

Mar
08
2012

Week 1: Isaiah 52:13-15

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[13] Behold, my servant shall act wisely;

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 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.

 

Mar
08
2012

The Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

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Suffering Servant Wordle

This week, our church began memorizing the final song of the Suffering Servant from Isaiah (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). These words from the Old Testament point us to Jesus who suffered and died for us. Our pastor David Hull encouraged all of us to use this passage and this memorization effort as preparation for Easter.

The ESV Study Bible introduces this section with a statement about what Isaiah is revealing and which words we as readers should pay attention to:

Isaiah finally explains how the Holy One can bless sinful people: all the promises of God will come true for them because the suffering and triumphant servant removes their guilt before God by his sacrifice. To be clear on which parties are described, it helps to observe the pronouns: “I” in this passage is typically the Lord, “he” the servant, and “we” the servant’s disciples, who themselves need the servant to bear their guilt (Isaiah 53:4-6), which is why the servant cannot be Israel or the pious within Israel.

 

The “memory moleskine” to use in a notebook is located here. It is one mechanism for keeping up with the weekly Scripture memorization. Reading the passage aloud several times a day has been a great help to me. Recently, I have tried visualizing the scene described within the verses. The brain works incredibly well with images. If you can link a verse or a phrase to an image in your mind, then your chances of retaining the verse will be increased.