Chapter Eleven - The Suffering Servant as the Redeemer (49-57), Part 2
As a result of this chapter, you should be able to:
describe the contents of Isaiah 53-57 as it relates to the outline given in the commentary;
relate Isaiah 52:13-53:12 to its fulfillment in the New Testament; and
correctly interpret Isaiah 52:13-53:12 in light of the Messiah.
This chapter is divided into the following five parts:
the suffering servant of the Lord (52:13-53:12);
restoration of Israel to the place of blessing (54:1-17);
appeal to come to God for salvation (55:1-13);
moral exhortations in view of God's salvation (56:1-12); and
contrast of the contrite and the wicked (57:1-21).
Isaiah 53 has been called the "holy of holies" of Isaiah. The early church writer Polycarp spoke of it as the "golden passional" of the Old Testament. It is a great connecting link between Psalm 22 (psalm of the cross) and Psalm 110 (Christ's royal priesthood). It seems likely that all five of the major Levitical offerings are referred to in the chapter, for the Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of them all.
Keeping as closely as possible to the wording of the passage itself, we can outline it in this way:
The Suffering Servant of the LORD (52:13-53:12)
The Servant Exalted (52:13-15)
The Servant Despised (53:1-3)
The Servant Pierced (53:4-6)
The Servant Cut Off (53:7-9)
The Servant Satisfied (53:10-12)
1. THE SUFFERING SERVANT OF THE LORD (52:13-53:12)
Chapter 53, one of the best known chapters in the Word of God, is the middle chapter of the second section and therefore, the middle chapter of the whole second part of Isaiah. Its position is certainly not accidental. It gives a wonderful prophetic picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The general theme of the second part of Isaiah (chapters 40-66) is "The Comfort of God." The theme of this second section (chapters 49-57) is "The Suffering Servant as the Redeemer." This chapter, the fourth of the Servant passages pertaining to the Messiah, reveals in greater measure than any other portion of the hook the suffering of the Servant.
One should remember that in Isaiah the nation of Israelis sometimes the servant and Christ is sometimes the Servant. Although ancient Jewish scholars regarded the passage as messianic, many modern ones - unwilling to see the prophecy fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth - take the suffering servant to be Israel.
The proofs that the chapter refers to the Lord Jesus Christ are many and varied. That aspect needs to be reviewed once more. The usage of the term Servant of Yahweh in Isaiah some times refers to Israel and sometimes to the Messiah. The one portrayed in this chapter is definitely the Servant of Yahweh (note 52:13 and 53:11), and therefore must be either Israel or the Messiah. It is not correct to bring in some other individual or group, such as Jeremiah or the prophets generally. That would be completely contrary to Isaiah's usage.
Which is it then? Is it not clear that the Servant in this passage is an individual and not a group? Furthermore, there are people speaking in the passage about the Servant. Those who are speaking are Israel, as will be shown. Consequently, the Servant must be the Messiah as in chapters 42 and 49.
Comparison with other prophetic passages shows that this passage is messianic. From Genesis 3:15 on, God in His Word traces the line of descent of the Redeemer and keeps adding details concerning Him. Some passages that can be compared with this one are Psalm 22 (the "psalm of the cross"); Psalm 69; Daniel 9:16; Zechariah 9:9; 12:10; and 13:7. It may also be added that this chapter is the climax to similar chapters in the book of Isaiah itself (42:4; 49:4; 50:6).
The description of what the Servant does simply does not fit Israel or any other entity or person other than Jesus Christ. The whole portrayal is that of a person. Moreover, it could never be said that God laid the iniquity of all men on the nation of Israel (53:6).
There is a consistent uniform tradition about this chapter. The ancient Jews, before the coming of the Lord Jesus, took the passage as messianic. Ryrie mentions that the view of Israel as the suffering Servant did not arise until the twelfth century, although it has since become the leading interpretation among Jewish scholars (Charles C. Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible, NASB, p. 1092). In addition to the ancient Jewish tradition is the tradition of the early church and of the church generally, with the exception of modern rationalistic interpreters.
Add to those lines of evidence the negative one that no other satisfactory interpretation has ever been advanced. Those who deny a messianic interpretation cannot agree on any other meaning.
A person approaching the passage without previous indoctrination could not help but see the similarity between what is said of the Servant of Yahweh in Isaiah 53 and what is seen of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels. The prophecy and the history fit perfectly. The Servant is misunderstood and rejected; He suffers and dies. His sufferings are vicarious, voluntarily assumed, borne without complaint, and result in a glorious reward. Although the prophets emphasize the glory of the Messiah, He is also predicted as One who would suffer (cf. Genesis 3:15; Psalm 22 and 69; Daniel 9:26; Zechariah 9:9; 12:10; 13:7). Furthermore, the expressions "tender shoot" and "root out of parched ground" strongly resemble titles used elsewhere of the Messiah (cf. 11:1; Zechariah 3:8).
All of those evidences, weighty as they are, are overshadowed for a Christian by the weightier one that the New Testament expressly labels this as a prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ. A large proportion of the references to the book of Isaiah, direct or indirect, in the New Testament are references to this chapter.
When Philip the deacon and evangelist met the Ethiopian treasurer on the deserted road to Gaza, the official asked him concerning this very chapter, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself, or of someone else?" (Acts 8:34) Philip had no uncertainty or hesitation. He answered immediately and unequivocally that it referred to Jesus Christ: "And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him" (v. 35).
That is by no means the only quotation of this chapter in the New Testament. There are at least six direct quotations and a number of other allusions. The direct quotations are as follows:
Isaiah 52:15 is quoted in Romans 15:21;
Isaiah 53:1 is quoted in John 12:38 and Romans 10:16;
Isaiah 53:4 is quoted in Matthew 8:17;
Isaiah 53:5-6 is quoted in 1 Peter 2:22-25;
Isaiah 53:7-8 is quoted in Acts 8:32-33; and
Isaiah 53:12 is quoted in Mark 15:28 and Luke 22:37.
Considering allusions to the language of Isaiah 53, here are some comparisons that show the wide influence of the chapter:
Isaiah 53:5 with Romans 4:25;
Isaiah 53:7 with 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:6 and 7:14;
Isaiah 53:7 and 11 with John 1:29, 36;
Isaiah 53:9 and 11 with 1 John 3:5;
Isaiah 53:8-11 with 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; and
Isaiah 53:8-11 with 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Delitzsch, commenting on this chapter, said:
"All the references in the New Testament to the Lamb of God (with which the corresponding allusions to the Passover are interwoven) spring from this passage in the Book of Isaiah ... The dumb type of the Passover now finds a tongue" (Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah, 2:323).
The passage, which really begins with 52:13, is in five stanzas or strophes, each containing three verses. Some ancient Hebrew scholars have compared the strophes to the books of the Pentateuch:
52:13-15 Genesis - The "seed-plot"
53:1-3 Exodus - Redemption completed
53:4-6 Leviticus - The offerings
53:7-9 Numbers - The testings of earth
53:10-12 Deuteronomy - Summary, with the desert journey past
1.1 The First Strophe (52:13-15)
This first strophe gives a summary of the whole prophecy.
Verses 52:13-14
At the beginning the Lord calls on men to look on His Servant (v. 13). This verse gazes on beyond the Messiah's suffering to the glorious exaltation, also described in Philippians 2:8-11. The suffering, however, must come first (v. 14).
How can one read about the torture inflicted on the "holy, harmless, undefiled" (Hebrews 7:26, KJV) Son of God and Son of Man without being moved? Such torture, as described in Matthew 26:67-68 and 27:27-30, was to bring actual disfigurement to His countenance, such disfigurement as to cause great amazement. The suffering marvelously becomes the pathway to glory. Astonishment at His disfigurement is turned into wonder at His grace (v. 15).
Verse 52:15
Some commentators follow the reading "startle" instead of "sprinkle" at the beginning of verse 15. Alexander discusses this fully and comments:
The real motive of the strange unanimity with which the true sense has been set aside, is the desire to obliterate this clear description, at the very outset, of the Servant of Jehovah as an expiatory purifier, one who must be innocent himself in order to cleanse others, - an office and a character alike inapplicable either to the prophets as a class, or to Israel as a nation, or even to the better class of Jews, much more to any single individual except to One who claimed to be the Purifier of the guilty, and to whom many nations do at this day ascribe whatever purity of heart or life they either have or hope for (Joseph Addison Alexander, Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah, 2:288).
As is often the case in Isaiah, the salvation brought by the suffering Servant is extended to the Gentiles as well as to the people of Israel. The "many nations" (v. 15) cannot be taken other wise. How wonderful that God has put this exalted experience first to reassure His people that there is no doubt about the outcome of His Servant's suffering! The vicarious atonement was not to be in vain. With the final result in clear view the devout believer can understand something of God's infinite purpose.
1.2 The Second Strophe (53:1-3)
Some Hebrew scholars regard this prophecy as involving Israel, but they have cast Israel in the wrong role. Israel is indeed in the prophecy, but the suffering Servant is not Israel; the wondering speakers are. This is a prophetic picture of Israel's astonishment and remorse in the future national Day of Atonement (see Zechariah 12:10) when national Israel will at last recognize the Lord Jesus as the Messiah.
Verse 53:1
This is the prophetic presentation of their thoughts at that time. They have difficulty immediately comprehending the reality of the Messiah. Who would have believed it, they ask, that this "tender shoot," this "root out of parched ground," this undesired One, this "despised and forsaken" One is really the Messiah after all?
There is difference of opinion about whether the expression "our message" (NASB) or "our report" (KJV) means "the report that we have given" or "the report that has come to us." It appears that the prophet is speaking as a representative of his enlightened people, and that he means the report that he had proclaimed. The expression "the arm of the LORD" impresses on the reader the almighty power of God in bringing about salvation through His suffering Servant.
In that exclamatory question the people admit their former unbelief.
Verse 53:2
The lowliness of the Lord Jesus is described next (v. 2). Although there is reason to believe from other passages of Scripture that the attractive and pleasant characters of the Lord Jesus appealed even to some of the most hopeless of men, this prophecy makes clear what some Christians do not fully comprehend - that the Lord Jesus Christ did not appear in such a way as to attract the natural man. Although the power of His deity was always present and was evident on occasion, there was no mere glamor about Him. He lived His earthly life in humble circumstances, not in worldly pomp. The natural mind is all too ready to construe meekness as weakness and to waste its admiration on the proud and self-seeking. "No beauty that we should desire him" (KJV) is the contemptuous but almost universal verdict, except of those whom the Father in His grace drew toward His beloved Son (John 6:44).
Verse 53:3
It seems inconceivable to some that the Lord Jesus should be so despised. Here and there were the comparatively few disciples, the godly women who ministered to His material needs (Luke 8:2-3), the Roman centurion (Matthew 8:5-13), the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:25-30) and others. But the great mass was ready to cry out "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"
Many who followed Him and thronged about Him in His ministry were only eager to see some exciting miracle or to eat of the supernaturally provided bread (John 6:26). It is also true today as well. Many who speak at length of the "lowly Nazarene" as a great teacher and good man speak only in hollow mockery. When the issue is joined, when the truths of the gospel are considered, when His deity and substitutionary atonement are in question, then they too despise and reject Him. Who can estimate the guilt of a self-righteous leader who sneers at the precious blood of Christ?
There is an important lesson here for believers. We should not seek the approval of a world that despises our Lord or desire acceptance by men who reject Him.
That was Israel's attitude toward the Savior. An almost exact parallel is drawn in the prologue to John's gospel: "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him" (John 1:10-11). We may thank God that many have received Him, called out from among the nations as a "people for His name" (Acts 15:14). This prophecy assures that Israel will eventually come to an acceptance of Him. They will look on Him whom "they have pierced" (Zechariah 12:10). At that time of national repentance they will be sorry for their rejection of Him and will turn to Him in true repentance and faith.
1.3 The Third Strophe (53:4-6)
Verse 53:4
Verse 4 is one of the most controversial verses in the entire chapter. Because the word "griefs" means also "sicknesses," there are many who say that bodily healing is in the atonement, that a Christian does not need to be ill, and that illness is often if not invariably from lack of faith.
The whole tenor of the passage has to do with sin. Of course, its consequences have been and will be dealt with. Bodily infirmity is one of the consequences of Adam's sin visited on the whole human race, but the time for the removal of all physical illnesses has not yet arrived. In the context, the emphasis is on the spiritual "sickness" of sin.
The use made of this verse in the New Testament is instructive. The fulfillment is seen partially in the Lord Jesus Christ's sympathetically entering into the griefs and sorrows of people. Matthew 8:17 is explicit about that; it makes no reference to the substitutionary atonement of Christ, which is clearly in view in Isaiah 53:5-6.
The Lord Jesus had compassion on people during His earthly ministry, and healed a great many of them of their physical ailments. But not everyone during the Lord's stay on earth was healed and not all Christians are healed today. Paul had a "thorn in the flesh" that the Lord did not remove (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). On one occasion Paul left Trophimus "sick at Miletus" (2 Timothy 4:20). On another occasion he wrote of Timothy's frequent illness (1 Timothy 5:23).
The time indeed is coming when the whole creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption (Romans 8:21). But that is not what people usually mean when they speak of healing in the atonement.
In this strophe, the believing remnant of Israel continues their musings. Although they, along with so many others, thought the suffering One suffered deservedly, in the future day they will realize that all of what He endured was vicarious - ''our griefs He Himself bore'' has the emphasis on our. What they had considered punishment for His blasphemy was instead His substitution for their own guilt (and ours).
Verse 53:5
The adversative at the beginning of verse 5 draws the contrast between what they had formerly believed about Him and what they now perceived. It was not for Himself, but for us! The verb translated "wounded" in the King James Version is literally "pierced through," as in the New American Standard Bible. It was obviously much more than a wound; it was a violent death.
Here is substitution in the exact sense of the term. Israel in Christ's day thought He deserved to die. He was accused of and condemned for blasphemy. He was considered deservedly smitten of God. Nevertheless, He died not for Himself but for others, and this prophecy is the assurance that Israel someday will realize this blessed truth. That is the heart of the wonderfully symmetrical second part of Isaiah. There is no higher truth than this: that the sinless Son of God died on the cross for sinful man. One can fully understand why Isaiah is called the prophet of the gospel.
Not only was the divine Substitute "pierced through," but He was "crushed for our iniquities" (v. 5). Here is a Hebrew word that means "crushed," "broken," or "smitten." Compare the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 where a synonym is used.
Verse 53:6
One day the Lord Jesus looked compassionately on the multitudes of Israel who were "like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36); "each ... to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). That is what men want. They think they are free and working out their own destiny; instead, they are lost.
God in His infinite grace provided salvation for the wandering sheep. "Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). The expression "caused ... to fall on Him" means literally "to cause to strike with great force," or "with terrific impact." Paul explains it in these words: "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, refers to this passage, reminding believers that they have a Shepherd who is also the overseer of their souls (1 Peter 2:25). It is significant that in this same passage Christ is seen both as the sacrificial Lamb and as the Shepherd of the sheep. That is the culmination of a number of Old Testament passages in which God is seen as the Shepherd of His people (see Psalm 23:1 and 80:1). In the New Testament the Lord Jesus unhesitatingly refers those passages to Himself in his claim to be "the good shepherd" who "lays down His life for the sheep" (John 10:11). He is also the Great Shepherd, risen from the dead (Hebrews 13:20-21) and the Chief Shepherd, who is coming agaln (1 Peter 5:4). Hence, He is seen in His past, present, and future ministries.
1.4 The Fourth Strophe (53:7-9)
The next strophe, speaking of the Servant cut off, is a reminder of the gentleness and patience of the Lord Jesus as the sacrifice.
Verse 53:7
He was not an unwilling victim compelled to go to the cross. He said to those opposing Him: "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:18, NKJV). He also said solemnly to Pontius Pilate, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above" (John 19:11).
He was indeed the voluntary sacrifice. The path from glory to Calvary was illuminated by His "Lo, I come ... to do thy will, 0 God" (Hebrews 10:7, KJV). Here indeed, as Delitzsch so aptly said, the Passover "finds a tongue." All through the centuries since Moses' time the Passover lambs had been killed, all pointing forward to Someone, yet giving only a silent and cryptic witness. Now, that Someone is revealed and the sequence is perfectly clear. It is but a step from Isaiah 53:7 to John 1:29, for John the Baptist announced: "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
In regard to the silence of the Lord Jesus before His accusers one should consult Matthew 26:63-64. This is further elaborated by Peter: "And while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously." (1 Peter 2:23). It was not that He did not speak at all, for He did testify to His deity when the high priest flatly asked Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" (Mark 14:61). He replied plainly, "I am" (Mark 14:62). The point of the prophecy is that there was no complaint from mankind's perfect substitute. He did not open His mouth to complain or repine. He willingly accepted the judgment from His heavenly Father.
Verses 53:8-9
The prophecy proceeds to the thoughtlessness of His generation. "He was cut off out of the land of the living"; condemned by His own people, yet graciously bearing their transgressions. Daniel was likewise to speak later of the cutting off of the Messiah (Daniel 9:26). With what seemingly irrelevant details prophecy is sometimes concerned! Yet that which appears to be irrelevant furnishes proof of the genuineness of the prophecy. There could be no accidental fulfillment of such a prediction as this. He who was crucified between two evildoers was buried in the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew 27:57).
1.5 The Fifth Strophe (53:10-12)
Men see the death of the Lord Jesus Christ only as a tragedy. They imagine a visionary martyr, perhaps ahead of His time, suffering and dying for His ideals. Such an interpretation of Christ's death is a travesty. God's Word shows that what in one sense is a tragedy is also the source of the deepest joy.
Verse 53:10
What Christ suffered at the hands of men was tragic. They took Him and with "wicked hands" crucified and killed Him, as Peter declared (Acts 2:23, KJV). Nevertheless, in and through that tragedy God was working out His sovereign purpose of grace. Isaiah emphasized that in verse 10.
The most mysterious and glorious fact about the death of Christ is that He was God's sacrificial Lamb. In a way that we cannot comprehend, He took our place in bearing the righteous judgment of God against sin. That was the depth of the suffering of the Lord Jesus, which caused Him to cry out in the thick supernatural darkness, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46).
It was from that suffering that His holy soul shrank in the Garden of Gethsemanenot from fear, but from its very holiness. Many brave people have borne great physical and mental suffering unflinchingly, but only the sinless Son of God could endure such suffering. To be made sin - how little any person can know of the effect that would have in the soul of One who is perfectly sinless!
But the Lord Jesus could look beyond the suffering. "Who for the joy set before Him," that is, in exchange for that He "endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). "He will see His offspring," (v.10). The Lord Jesus had in view that great multitude of sons whom He was to bring into glory (Hebrews 2:10). When viewed in this light the death of Christ is not a tragedy or a waste, but the greatest triumph possible. That is proved by the fact that death could not hold Him: "He will prolong His days" (v. 10). The Old Testament in a number of passages foresees the resurrection of Christ, that other essential element of the gospel along with His substitutionary death (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Verse 53:11
"He will see it and be satisfied" (v. 11). How many times in human history men have dared to accomplish stupendous feats all for nothing! Not so with the Lord Jesus. Here is the crown of His atonetnent - "satisfied." The question facing every individual who comes in contact with that truth is, Are you satisfied? To put it even more personally, Am 1 satisfied with what the Lord Jesus has done for me on the cross? By the knowledge of Himself, God's righteous Servant justifies us. He can do that because He already has borne our iniquities. "By him all that believe," the Scripture says, "are justified from all things" (Acts 13:39, KJV).
Verse 53:12
The prophecy closes with the same thought with which it began - exaltation after the suffering. In this brief passage are seen both of the major themes of Old Testament prophecy: "The sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow" (1 Peter 1:11). The spoils of this tremendous and unique campaign are now divided. The Messiah has come into His own. Psalms 2 and 72 are good examples of other prophetic Scriptures speaking of the coming day of Christ's triumph and millennial reign.
It is possible to read a passage such as Isaiah 53 and see it only as a dim and far-off event, something that had meaning to the prophet and the people of Isaiah's time but not to those of the present day, because "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4).
To the seeking heart, the believing heart, the Lord Jesus is revealed in all the sad-joyous tragedy-triumph of His substitutionary, sacrificial death and in all the unalloyed joy and triumph of His glorious bodily resurrection. The Servant of the Lord (Yahweh) is the Christ of Calvary and the empty tomb.
2. RESTORATION OF ISRAEL TO THE PLACE OF BLESSING (54:1-17)
The chapters that follow (54-57) describe the salvation that the Servant has provided through His vicarious death. One should not lose sight of that relationship. The redemption accomplished in chapter 53 is now applied to the nation of Israel and to the individual believer. Because Israel is not specifically mentioned by name in chapter 54, some commentators gratuitously read into it the church as though it and Israel were identical.
Isaiah tells of the comfort of God for Israel, but that comfort is extended by God's grace to the whole world. Christians can be thankful that through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ every believer, whether Jew or Gentile, can now enter into the spiritual benefits of His death. However, that does not alter the fact that God has made national promises to Israel that He has not made to any other nation.
Verse 54:1
In chapter 54 the nation is seen as a barren, desolate wife restored to fellowship and blessing. One can readily see the figurative language in a passage such as this. Israel is more than once compared to a wife. The interpretative principle that must be insisted on is that figurative language does not change the overall literal fulfillment of prophecy. The most basic principle of Bible interpretation is at stake, and those who deny any future blessings for the nation of Israel have cast themselves adrift on a hopeless sea of allegorism, without chart or compass.
There is a partial fulfillment in the return of the people from the Babylonian captivity and their reinhabiting of cities that had been in ruins, but the complete fulfillment will occur in the millennium. To view this as a missionary passage and see it in the present spread of the gospel throughout the earth is contrary to the New Tes tament pattern.
Young points out that Isaiah does not make as much use of the figure of the marriage relationship as do Jeremiah and Hosea. Hosea narrates the poignant story of his own wife's unfaithfulness, desertion, and eventual restoration as an analogy to the unfaithful nation of Israel leaving her Husband. The coming back is stressed here in this passage of Isaiah.
Verse 54:2
Israel's dwelling is compared to a tent that is being enlarged (v. 2), perhaps looking back to the manner of life Abraham and his immediate descendants - the tent signifying their pilgrim character on the earth.
Verses 54:3-6
Many Gentiles will undoubtedly be surprised and disappointed to find that Israel is to have the leading place among the nations of the world (v. 3). God has a relationship to Israel that He has never had and never will have to any other nation - "thy Maker is thine husband" (v. 5, KJV). His name is stressed: Yahweh of hosts (no doubt a reference to the heavenly armies, as in Luke 2:13). The New International Version seems somewhat bland and inexact in consistently translating Yahweh of hosts as LORD Almighty, thereby losing the differences of the original.
Further emphasis is placed on the Lord as the Redeemer, and then Isaiah's characteristic expression is used - "the Holy One of Israel." How wonderful to be assured that this great God who has this special relationship by covenant with Israel is also "the God of all the earth" (v. 5).
Paul speaks of that in his consideration of the place of Israel in God's purpose:
"I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression be riches for the world and their failure be riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! For if their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" (Romans 11:11-12, 15)
That passage from Isaiah, as well as many others, speaks of the "acceptance" ("receiving," KJV) of Israel, its restoration to the place of blessing in the earth. It cannot help but affect the nations and the whole world.
Verses 54:7-10
God's severe judgment on Israel is viewed as "but for a brief moment" (v. 7) in comparison to the glory that is to come. The "moment" in which He hid His face from them is contrasted with the "everlasting lovingkindness" (v. 8) that He will manifest to them in the future. God reminds them of His promise to Noah that the earth would never again be destroyed by a flood (v. 9), and draws a parallel that once His judgment has been executed on faithless Israel He will restore her and will not repeat the judgment.
Verses 54:11-17
In regard to verses 11-17 Ryrie comments, "The full accomplishment of what is described here for Israel awaits the millennial age." (Charles C. Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible, NASB, p. 1095)
Israel's situation as described in the closing verses of the chapter is like that of all justified people in all ages: "Every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn" and "their vindication is from Me" (v. 17). As Paul exclaims con cerning the saved:
"Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us (Romans 8:33-34)"
3. APPEAL TO COME TO GOD FOR SALVATION (55:1-13)
This section of nine chapters (49-57) has as its major theme "The Suffering Servant as the Redeemer." As has been seen, the heart of the section is chapter 53. The chapters following that climactic provision of redemption show its application, first to Israel (54:1-17) and then in the appeal going out to all the world (55:1-13).
Verse 55:1
God's Word is filled with such gracious appeals. The only requisite for coming to Him is a burning thirst (cf. John 7:37 and Revelation 22:17). This is no ordinary thirst, but rather the "hunger and thirst for righteousness" of which the Lord Jesus spoke (Matthew 5:6).
In this context the appeal is addressed primarily to Israel, but in its application it is as broad as the human race. Everyone who seeks the Lord in the manner described here will surely find Him.
Verses 55:2-3
The appeal stresses the fact that God's salvation cannot be bought. it must be received only as a free gift of God's grace. "By grace ... through faith ... not of works" (Ephesians 2:8-9, KJV). "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23, KJV).
The individual who (ignorant of God's free gift) is seeking to earn or pay for that which can never satisfy, is brought up short by the admonition of the Lord: "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? ... Listen carefully to Me ... Incline your ear and come to Me" (vv. 2-3). God promises an everlasting covenant (v. 3), undoubtedly a reference to the "new covenant" announced in Jeremiah 31:31 and referred to in the New Testament by the Lord Jesus as well as by the writer to the Hebrews (Hebrews 10:16-18) The "sure mercies of David" (v. 3, KJV) are evidently the "faithful mercies shown to David" (NASE).
Verses 55:4-5
F.C. Jennings, after quoting Acts 13:32-34 where Paul in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia refers to this passage on the "sure mercies of David," says this:
Do we not see that no "mercy" could be made sure" for poor sinning Jews, still less such poor sinners of the Gentiles as you and I are, my fellow-sinner - my fellow-saint - except in our sins being forever put away in sternest justice; and they have - they have! "He was delivered for our offenses, and was raised for our justification": and high above principalities and powers, He sits, whose sacred Head was weighted with our sins ... Verses 4 and 5 tell us that those mercies go far beyond Israel, for "He is not the the God of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also (F.C. Jennings, Studies in Isaiah, p. 647).
Jennings goes on to say that some do not regard this as a gospel-call, since it is God who seeks man. But God seeks men by leading them to seek Him (see John 6:37, 45). As an anonymous hymn writer said:
I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me; It was not I that found, 0 Savior true; No, I was found of Thee.
Verses 55:6-11
The seeking of the Lord (v. 6) is connected with the idea that God is infinite, that His thoughts and ways are utterly different from those of sinful man (v. 8). The Lord Jesus promised that the one who drank of the water He gave should never thirst again (John 4:14). This whole passage is founded on the solemn declaration of God. Is there any doubt that His Word will be fulfilled? None whatever is His own assurance: "My word ... shall not return to Me empty" (v. 11). All the glorious prophecies of blessings flowing from the suffering of the Servant will be fulfilled.
Verses 55:12-13
The chapter closes with a poetic description of millennial joy. Nature is seen as celebrating the glories of its Creator. There is an intimation in Romans and elsewhere of the wonder of the creation when it is freed from the Adamic curse. The millennial earth will be indescribably more wonderful that the present earth - the same planet but renewed and glorified by the power of Almighty God, and with His reversal of the judgment brought on it after Adam sinned.
Those who deny, reject, or slight the millennium are leaving out a very important part of God's redemptive program. It is essential that God be glorified here on earth in the same locale in which He has been disobeyed and rejected. The Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered and died on this planet, must reign over it. The millennial joy of the chapter may be compared with the song of salvation in chapter 12 and with some of the millennial psalms, such as 46, 72 and 98.
4. MORAL EXHORTATIONS IN VIEW OF GOD'S SALVATION (56:1-12)
Verses 56:1-2
Salvation always brings with it the obligation of godly living. Because God's salvation is about to come, His people need to be prepared for it spiritually. This righteousness is described here in an Old Testament setting of Sabbath-keeping, but the eternal principle is not hard to find. It is the principle of trust in God and obedience to Him (vv. 1-2). True worship, even in the Old Testament economy of ceremony and symbol, was in reality a matter of the heart.
Verses 56:3-5
The mention of the "foreigner" (vv. 3-6) shows that the blessings of the millennial kingdom will be extended to the Gentiles. Christ's reign will be worldwide. In the face of many passages that stress it, it seems strange that so many interpreters completely evade the issue. Generally, the reason seems to lie in a nonliteral hermeneutic and theology that does not acknowledge dispensational distinctions. If people would simply accept the truisms that Israel is Israel, the Gentiles are the Gentiles, and the church is the church, many exegetical problems could be avoided.
God's special concern for the eunuchs, who could not have a natural posterity and who were excluded under the law from the congregation (Deuteronomy 23:1), is expressed verses 3-5. "An everlasting name which will not be cut off" is not just an eternal remembrance of those people by others but signifies their personal eternal life.
Verses 56:6-8
The calling of the Gentiles ("the foreigners," v.6) in that future day again strikes the note of universality (not universalism, for not all will be saved). It is reassuring to know that people of all nations will be gathered together in our blessed Lord's millennial kingdom to worship in the Temple, which is primarily a "house of prayer" (v. 7). The Lord Jesus quoted from this verse when He cleansed the Temple: "And He said to them, 'It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer''; but you are making it a robbers' den''' (Matthew 21:13; cf. Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46).
Verses 56:9-12
A contrast is made in the closing verses of this chapter (vv. 9-12) between the believing ones previously described and the false prophets, who are called blind watchmen and "dumb dogs unable to bark." Thinking only of their personal gain (material, not spiritual), they are "shepherds who have no understanding" (v. 11). A number of times in Scripture the people of God are compared to sheep and their leaders to shepherds. The example of the shepherd who fleeces the flock instead of feeding the flock is well attested. Just as the sheep have turned to their own way (53:6), so too the shepherds "have all turned to their own way" (56:11).
5. CONTRAST OF THE CONTRITE AND THE WICKED (57:1-21)
Verses 57:1-2
When God's salvation is made known to men, there are always those who accept it and those who reject it. There were those in Isaiah's day and afterward who would not be warned concerning the judgment that was to come in the captivity. They could not or would not understand that the righteous man who died was being "taken away from the evil to come" (v. 1, KJV).
Verses 57:3-13
The description of sins and follies is horrible in its forthrightness, including sex orgies and the slaughter of infants in sacrifice (v. 5). Jennings observes:
Under such repellent terms is simple departure of heart from the Lord pictured. Oh, how little is thought of that among men! No laws are aimed at it; no court takes notice of it; Society is very lenient to such violators; but well may we be sure, and lay it to heart, that the same unfaithfulness on the part of our God's present "witness," the professing Church, is not looked at with any greater complacency this very day. Let us not think for a moment that "our God" who is also "a consuming fire," can endure complacently in Christendom what He so abhorred in Israel, nor that greater privilege diminishes responsibility; it vastly enhances it (F.C. Jennings, Studies in Isaiah, p. 664).
Verse 57:14
The repentant and lowly of spirit are in sharp contrast to the apostate portion of the nation just described. God is preparing the way for the former by preparing for their restoration and eventual millennial glory.
Verses 57:15-18
Isaiah contains passages of transcendent beauty concerning the personality and majesty of the Lord. They are transcendently beautiful because they are true and present God in His condescending grace. Although He is "the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy" (v. 15), He is willing to live with "the repentant and lowly of spirit."
Earthly sovereigns are thought of as dwelling with the exalted and proud; the great Sovereign of all dwells with the humble believer. That is a consolation and an encouragement to the trusting heart. However, there is danger that the believer will fasten his thoughts on himself rather that on God and as a result lose his humility. A real view of God, such as Isaiah has described from his own experience in chapter 6, will provoke repentant and humility.
Verse 57:19
The pronouncement of peace to the far and the near (v. 19) sounds parallel to the teaching in Ephesians concerning the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is peace, made peace, and came and preached peace to the near (Israel) and the far (the Gentiles), and "broke down the barrier of the dividing wall" (Ephesians 2:14, cf. vv. 11-22).
Verse 57:20
The contrast to the repentant is described in the concluding verses (20-21). This refrain echoes the one at the end of chapter 48, and in both instances marks off a sectional division.
One might almost think that God is describing the present day. Certainly there is increasing restlessness abroad in the world. People run here and there seeking satisfaction in this or that, trying this panacea and that nostrum, but remaining without peace and rest. One does not have to be a vile criminal in the eyes of men to fall into the classification described here. The contrast is between the repentant and the wicked, between the repentant forgiven sinner and the unrepentant, unforgiven sinner. A person is either one or the other. The New Testament shows that rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most wicked and reprehensible of all sins:
"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18)
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36)
Verse 57:21
True peace of any kind can come only through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, who has been prophetically described in this section as the suffering Servant of Yahweh. The section closes with the refrain, echoed from 48:22: "'There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked."'
6. REFERENCES AND RECOMMENDATION FOR FURTHER STUDY
An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophetic Books, Chapter 6, Moody Press: Chicago, 1986 Edition, by C. Hassell Bullock.