One of the astounding things about Scripture is that it confirms that Christ is who He says He is - namely the Son of God - and one of the beautiful things about Christ is that He confirms that Scripture is what it says it is - namely the word of God. We’ll show you what we mean using Isaiah 52:13-53:12.
People have called this passage the heart of the Bible, and I’m inclined to agree. Written 700 years before the birth of Christ, it outlines in painstaking detail the suffering that the Messiah would go through in a way that can only apply to Jesus. It’s so specific that when Jewish anti-Christian apologists claim that this is about Israel as opposed to the Messiah - which many do - they are embracing an interpretation of the text which basically did not have a following for the first thousand years after its creation. But let me highlight a few of the key verses and how they apply more specifically than even most Christians could imagine to the life, death and resurrection of Christ.
The passage opens with a summary of what you’re about to read:
‘Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.’
The New Testament follows exactly this pattern for the life of Christ: his humble life culminating in a sacrificial death before his final victory. Most Jews expected the Messiah to be a victorious, conquering king at every step, but the fact is that if they had given more attention to this passage, they would have recognized that the journey to that victory was not a straightforward one. After all, Isaiah 52:14 says:
‘As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind”
This is not to say that Jesus was physically the most damaged human of all time - if someone fell into a woodchipper they would be physically worse-off. But it is to say that they were shocked and appalled by the level of damage done to His body. If you had seen Him on the cross, you would have asked how a human body could endure such brutality.
But what is the purpose of God sending such a servant? Why would he be sent to be brutalized beyond comprehension? Verse 15 introduces the purpose of this suffering, claiming:
‘so shall he sprinkle many nations.’
The connotations here may not be immediately obvious, but sprinkling is a reference to the sacrifices of the Mosaic covenant. The ancient Israelites would have picked on the meaning of “sprinkle” in the context of their Mosaic system of sacrifices. In this system, the tabernacle, the priests, the people, the books and just about everything else involved in worship needed to be sprinkled with blood to atone for the sins of the people, and without such a sprinkling, access to the presence of God and any forgiveness of sins was impossible. Those who deny that Christ’s death was a sacrifice for sin will need to wrestle with the numerous claims this passage makes that this was exactly what it was.
Such an idea sets apart Christianity as unique. Let me ask a question: which other religion even claims that their founder would be able to do something like this? In a world of gurus and prophets, only one religion claims that the death of its leader could remove the guilt of sin. And it does this hundreds of years ahead of time.
And what is perhaps more astonishing to the Jewish mind was that this sprinkling was not just for them; this death would not merely be for the sins of Israel, but for ‘many nations’. This servant would be sent to save more than just the Israelite nation.
The following words pose a challenge to many Jewish readers, because they have such an awareness of about the Messiah being a great King and Ruler, but in Isaiah 53:3 says:
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.
Some were so perplexed by this that they posited two Messiahs, a kingly one they named ‘The Son Of David’ and a suffering one, ‘The Son Of Joseph’. Of course, Jesus manages to fulfill both of these roles, the first with his incarnation and death, and the second with his resurrection and coming reign.
Another clear indication in this verse is that the Messiah would be rejected by His people. There is no other way to read this text than that, quite simply, the Israelites would not honor Him, ‘esteem Him’ as the Messiah.
The next few verses are a deep-dive into the events surrounding Christ’s final moments, the means and purpose of His death, and what it would accomplish. There’s more here than we have space for in a brief article, but verses three and four of Isaiah 53 once again reiterate the placing of our sins and the wrath those sins deserve upon this Messiah. He ‘bore’ griefs, ‘carried’ sorrows, was ‘pierced for our transgressions’ and the ‘chastisement that brought us peace’ was upon Him and ‘his stripes’ heal us: all of this once again emphasizing the substitutionary atoning nature of His work. Furthermore, these phrases outline the three punishments given to Jesus as he was crucified. He was pierced with nails, he was bruised with beatings, and he was striped with the Roman flagellum.
Verse seven speaks of Christ’s silence before His accusers:
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.
As they lined up false witness after false witness to accuse Him of all manner of evil, Jesus could have refuted them in an instant. But that would have derailed the execution He would need to endure to atone for sins, and so He chose silence. What a man.
In verses eight and nine, we are told where this leads:
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
There is much in this. Firstly, the Messiah had to die. In fact that word, ‘cut off’, was a specific legal term. If someone committed a crime that was worthy of death, then they were to be cut off from the land of the living. Secondly, as you look closer, it may strike you as strange that his grave was made ‘with the wicked’ but he was also ‘with a rich man’ in his death. But think about it: he was crucified between two criminals, and yet after his death, his body was interred in the grave of Joseph of Arimathea - a rich man.
Now given this context, the next verses, with which I will close this article, speak volumes, because though the story of this Messiah does contain death, it does not end with it. What are we told?
...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.
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.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
This Messiah shall die, but after his death, then He will live. He will ‘prolong His days’. God’s will shall ‘prosper in His hand’. He will ‘see and be satisfied’ and have a ‘portion with the many’. The story ends not with the Messiah’s demise, but his return, his victory, and the salvation of the world. This is prophetic foretelling of not only the events of Jesus’ crucifixion but their theological meaning. When you consider this and other prophecies from the Old Testament it’s not hard to see how Paul and Apollos were able to win many Jews to Christ by debating them in synagogues over the topic of OT prophecy fulfilled in Jesus.
Not only is Isaiah 52:12-53:13 good news, but as we said at the beginning, it is remarkable evidence for the supernatural origin of the Bible, and the divine Lordship of Jesus Christ. His life proves the Scriptures to be God’s word, and the Scriptures prove Him to be God.
See this prophecy unpacked in even more detail, with objections answered, here.
Co-written by Mike Winger and Jamie Bambrick
