Isaiah 53

Notes

Ver. 1-3. How few truly believe the gospel record concerning Jesus Christ! How few experience his gracious power, or behold his heart-captivating glory;—who, in his humbled estate, under the special care and protection of Jehovah, sprung from the humble family of David in the likeness of sinful flesh without any external glory or pomp—and was all along oppressed with miseries and griefs, and quiet contemned and hated by men, especially the Jewish rulers and people! 4-9. But notwithstanding our reckoning him persecuted by God as a notorious criminal, he as our Saviour, by whom it had pleased the Lord to pardon our iniquities, suffered, in the most patient manner, because of our manifold sins, that he might expiate them, and secure our eternal salvation:—to manifest which Jehovah not only allotted him honourable interment, but quickly released him from his grave, and made him the mediatorial Parent of all who believed in his blessed name, in that very age so remarkable for wickedness. 10-12. In consequence of bearing our iniquities, and the sufferings thereof, which our Father, in love to us, inflicted upon him in his soul and body, that he might thereby make full atonement for our sin, he is rewarded with everlasting life and honour; and has, to his infinite satisfaction, a living church of Jewish and Gentile converts, whom he instructs, and through his own sacrifice, justifies and saves. And while he is enthroned far above all principalities and powers, he erects, extends, and establishes his spiritual kingdom on earth, and his kingdom of glory in heaven.

Ver. 1. The main object of the sacred writer in this whole prophecy is to set forth the glorious person and work of the Messiah. To do this effectually, the mode in which his glory was exhibited and his work accomplished during his incarnation must be described. Hence it is necessary to exhibit the depth of his humiliation. One part of his humiliation consisted in his being despised and rejected of men. 'He came unto his own, and his own received him not.' The reality of his advent and of his mission was denied by the Jews. It is this sad fact which the prophet predicted in the opening words of this chapter. P.——Our report. The report of the 'sprinkled nations,' both Jewish and Gentile believers, ch. 42. 15, who declared what they 'both had seen and heard of the Word of Life,' 1 Jn. 1. 1-3. C.

Ver. 2. Before him—before the Lord. Plant—a scion or sucker, a descendant of a reduced family. When we shall see him—both Jews and Gentiles, nations and kings, ch. 42. 15. C.

Ver. 3. We hid as it were our faces. 'As one that hideth his face from us' (Lowth), in shame and grief, as mourners were wont to do. See 2 Sa. 15. 30; Eze. 24. 17. C.

Ver. 8. 'From imprisonment and judgment was he taken away, and who shall bear witness to his genealogy,' whereby, as 'son of David,' he is heir of the throne at Jerusalem: as 'Son of God,' heir of all things. 'Therefore (because there was none to witness the truth or judge righteously) he was cut off,' &c. C.——This is a passage of very great difficulty. The explanations given of it by commentators are widely different. Perhaps the following may be its true meaning:—He, the Messiah, was quickly taken away to execution after a short confinement and a formal, though unjust, official trial. Yet who, among those by whom he was there surrounded (his generation), considered that he was cut off from the land of the living—that he was smitten for the transgression of my people? The idea is, that neither the injustice of his sentence, nor the great object of his sufferings and his death, excited the least thought among those who saw him. With reckless indifference he was seized, beaten, tried, condemned, and crucified. P.

Ver. 10. When thou shalt make, &c. 'When thou (O Jerusalem, ch. 52. 14, that killest the prophets, Mat. 23. 37) shalt make his soul (through false witness and false judgment, ver. 8) an offering for sin.'—He (my risen servant) shall see his seed—his spiritual children. C.

Ver. 11. By his knowledge, &c. 'By the knowledge of him (or himself, i.e. the Messiah) shall he, my righteous Servant (the Messiah), justify many.' The idiom is Hebrew, and is very expressive. The term 'knowledge' denotes a full acquaintance with Christ and his saving plan. It is the same idea which the apostle Paul brings out in Phi. 3. 10. 'That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.' Christ himself says, 'This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent,' Jn. 17. 3. P.

Ver. 12. Therefore will I divide, &c. 'Therefore will I give him the multitudes for his portion, and the mighty for his spoil'—his spiritual trophies of victory and reward: multitudes of every people converted and brought to glory; Satan and the grave vanquished and spoiled. C.

Reflections.—Alas! that Jesus Christ and his gospel should be so little known to the hearers of it! But nothing less than almighty grace can make us either know or believe in him. God exactly verified his predictions and promises in the whole sacrifice and exaltation of our Redeemer. Though carnal apprehensions of him lead men to contemn, reject, and blaspheme him, infinite was his love in undertaking, obeying, and suffering the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God! How great was our Father's love in sending him to us, and placing our burdens on his infinitely well beloved, his only begotten Son! And sweet, full, firm, and lasting is that forgiveness, that redemption, which comes through the blood, the intercession of God in our nature, and from Jehovah's infinite and unchangeable love. In the ratified promises of the new kingdom, an extensive and firm foundation is laid for that faith by which we do and must receive Jesus Christ, as made of God to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And the rewards of our obedience of faith are all gloriously wrapped up in the blessed reward of Jesus Christ!