The Suffering Servant III. (Isaiah 53)

Between Good Friday and Easter Monday, we have had ample opportunity to reflect on what Jesus had achieved for us in His suffering, death and resurrection. As we move into the post-Easter period, the question remains what the implications of all this are for us. How are we to live as God’s redeemed people, as the ones who recognise that ‘He was pierced through for our transgression and was crushed for our iniquities’ (Isa 53:5)?

What Jesus has achieved is unique yet, interestingly, Phil 2:5-11, which has strong links to Isaiah 53 and probably reflects on that chapter, connects the pattern of humiliation and exaltation in Jesus’ earthly career and His underlying attitude (Phil 2:6-11) with how Christians should behave (Phil 2:3-5). The implication is that we too will experience the pattern of suffering and vindication as we follow in His footsteps. In other words, Isaiah 53 applies to us too.

It makes sense, for instance, that if our priority is not our own advancement, but a concern for others, there will be those who take advantage of our position and grasp what we refuse to take. The OT already shows this pattern in David’s life. God anointed him, but his rival, Saul, would not relinquish his power. When David had the opportunity to kill Saul and grasp the throne thereby ending his suffering, he refused and instead trusted that God in His time would grant him what He had promised. It is also possible that God deliberately sets us on such a path of a downward arc, so that our trust in Him may be tested. God closed Hannah’s womb, and she endured mocking from her husband’s other wife (1 Sam 1:6). Yet she sought the Lord and was vindicated when her son, Samuel was born. Her song demonstrates a similar divine reversal that we see in the career of the Servant (see esp. 1 Sam 2:7-8). Further, suffering may turn out to be for the benefit of others. This is visible in David’s and Hannah’s life to some extent,[1] but most supremely in the life of Joseph, who became a slave and a convict in Egypt (Gen 37:3; Gen 39:1, 20), then rose to the highest honour after Pharaoh (Gen 41:41) and ultimately, all this brought deliverance for his family (Gen 45:5). In Jesus, of course, we see all these elements: His refusal to grasp power unless given to Him by God (Matt 4:8-10, see my post here), His suffering that tested His trust in God and which also benefitted us in the salvation He brought.  

There is then a close connection between the pattern in the life of the OT people of God, which prefigures Jesus’ life, which in turn is the model by which Christians should live. It is worth considering then if the mission is also shared across these groups. We have seen that the mission of Israel as the Servant was taken over by a representative individual, who also had the additional task of bringing Israel back to God. However, because of their hard-heartedness, this representative Servant could only break down their resistance through His innocent suffering. Interestingly, beyond Isaiah 53 which identifies a group who recognised the Servant’s true mission, the singular Servant (either as collective Israel or as a representative individual) disappears and we only read of servants.[2] Can it be that the original role of Israel as Servant (to be a light to the nations) is passed on to this faithful group? Isaiah does not explain, but the NT parallel is illuminating. We have seen especially in the portrayal of Jesus in Matthew that He takes on the role of Israel (see my post here). I have also noted how His innocent suffering becomes a trigger that opens the eyes of some to a deeper spiritual reality of what He has achieved (see my post here). Finally, on his ascension Jesus commissions his followers to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19-20) and thereby carry on His work. Thus, we may conclude that the mission of the Servant is passed on to the faithful followers.

When we look at the rest of the NT, particularly at Paul’s ministry, we may note how making disciples is not simply a proclamation, but a life that that demonstrates the same pattern that we observed in Jesus. In other words, suffering and giving one’s life (whether literally in persecution or figuratively in the sense of putting God’s priorities before one’s own wishes), plays an instrumental role in helping others to new life. One might think of missionaries who give up the comfort of their home to minister to people in a different culture and can experience uncertainty in their finances and future. In areas of the world where Christians are persecuted, some pay with suffering and with their very life so that others might be saved and have new life. Paul’s description of his ministry echoes the language and concepts of Isaiah 53, when he talks of his weakness (2 Cor 4:7), of his sufferings and yet victory (2 Cor 4:8-10) as well as giving his life so that through his death others may live (2 Cor 4:12). Read this way, Isaiah 53 expresses the pattern visible elsewhere in Scripture, namely that self-giving in the service of God produces the fruit of life for others.

If we re-read Isaiah 53 in this light, some features are unique to Jesus’ ministry such as making vicarious atonement for our sin. However, many of the expressions in the poem can legitimately be read in a non-vicarious sense as well. For instance, bearing someone’s grief or sin (Isa 53:4, 12) may not have a vicarious sense (e.g. Ezek 4:4), but involve bearing the consequences of their grief and sin. Further, in Isa 53:10, what is most often translated as ‘guilt offering’ can simply mean reparation, i.e. an action that repairs the damage done, what ultimately leads to reconciliation and the mending of a relationship.

I want to emphasise that I do not at all wish to take away the immensity of meaning of what Jesus had done, but I believe that there is value in re-reading this poem in the light of our own experience as Christians. For this reason, I reproduce the NASB below, but swap out the singular for the Servant with plurals, to help us see ourselves in it. I have also tweaked the translation (all legitimate options) for the same reason. Given my comfortable life, I must admit that I am challenged by the implications of this. Even if our lives do not involve such dramatic suffering, may we see ways in which we can give of ourselves so that others may be saved.

Isa 52 ¹³ Behold, My servants will gain wisdom and prosper,
They will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
¹⁴ Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So their appearance was marred more than anyone
And their form more than other people.
¹⁵ Thus they will startle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of them;
For what had not been told them [the kings] they will see,
And what they had not heard they will understand.

53 ¹ Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² For the servants grew up before God like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
They had no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon them,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to them.
³ They were despised and forsaken of others,
A people of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like those from whom others hide their face
They were despised, and we did not esteem them.

⁴ Surely our griefs they themselves bore,
And our sorrows they carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed them stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
⁵ But they were pierced through for our transgressions,
they were crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon them,
And by their scourging we were healed.
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 them.

⁷ They were oppressed and they were afflicted,
Yet they did not open their mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So they did not open their mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment they were taken away;
And as for their generation, who considered
That they were cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
⁹ Their grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet they were with a rich man in their death,
Because they had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in their mouth.

¹⁰ But the Lord was pleased
To crush them, putting them to grief;
If they would render themselves as reparation,
They will see their offspring,
They will prolong their days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in their hand.
¹¹ As a result of the anguish of their soul,
They will see it and be satisfied;
By their knowledge the righteous ones,
My servants, will lead the many to righteousness,
As they will bear the iniquities of others.
¹² Therefore, I will allot them a portion with the great,
And they will divide the booty with the strong;
Because they poured out themselves to death,
And were numbered with the transgressors;
Yet they themselves bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors. (NASB amended)

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[1] The lesson David learnt about holding onto power and privilege loosely made him the kind of king who, apart from his sin with Bathsheba, became the ideal for godly rule. Hannah’s commitment to dedicate Samuel to the Lord meant that out of her suffering came blessing for others through Samuel’s ministry.

[2] Isa 54:17; Isa 56:6; Isa 63:17; Isa 65:8-9, 13-15; Isa 66:14.