Isaiah 52:13 - Meaning and Application

Here, as in other places, the prophet moves from promises of later help to the greater salvation that the Messiah would bring in God’s time. The promise of Christ’s coming was meant to strengthen faith in deliverance from Assyria, and the prophecy of Christ’s death and resurrection was meant to confirm the promise of return from Babylon. Both of those rescues pointed ahead to the great redemption, and the prophecies about them looked forward to it.

This prophecy, which begins here and continues to the end of the next chapter, points clearly to Jesus Christ. The ancient Jews understood it as speaking of the Messiah, though later Jews worked hard to twist it. Some of our own writers, no friends of the Christian faith, have tried to make it mean Jeremiah, but Philip settled the matter when he preached Christ from this passage to the Ethiopian official (Acts 8:34-35). Here, then, God shows Christ as both appointed and fitted for his work.

God owns Christ as his servant, the one he sent and will uphold. Christ does his Father’s will, seeks his Father’s honor, and serves the good of his Father’s kingdom. He is also fully fit for the task, because he acts wisely. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding rests on him (Isaiah 11:2), and in carrying out our redemption, the wisdom of God was shown in a hidden and wonderful way (1 Corinthians 2:7). When Christ was on earth, he always acted with perfect wisdom.

The prophet then gives a short view of both Christ’s suffering and his glory. Many were shocked at him, as they had been at David when trouble made him a wonder to others (Psalm 71:7). People were stunned to see the rough treatment he received, how bitterly they opposed him, and how shamefully he was treated. His face was badly disfigured when he was struck, slapped, crowned with thorns, and did not hide his face from shame and spitting. He was a man of sorrows, and his face was made ugly by the abuse he suffered, even though he was truly fairer than the children of men. Never was any man treated so harshly.

Yet God also exalted him greatly, and exalted him because he humbled himself. Three words are used for this in Isaiah 52:13: he will be exalted, lifted up, and made very high. God will raise him up, people will honor him, and he will be higher than all. He will succeed in his work, and that success will bring him great honor.

Many nations will be blessed through him, not the Jews only. He will sprinkle many nations, meaning the cleansing blood of his sacrifice will reach their consciences and make them clean. He suffered and died, and so he opened a fountain for cleansing (Zechariah 13:1). He also sprinkles many nations through his teaching from heaven, which comes down like rain and dew. Moses’ teaching did this for one nation only (Deuteronomy 32:2), but Christ’s teaching reaches many nations. He does this also through baptism, the washing of the body with clean water (Hebrews 10:22). So this promise was fulfilled when Christ sent his apostles to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, or sprinkling them.

The great rulers of the world will also show him respect. Kings will shut their mouths at him, meaning they will no longer speak against him as they once did, mocking and blaspheming his holy words. Instead, they will accept his ways of setting up his kingdom and will receive his teaching and laws with humility and reverence. When Job had finished speaking, even wise men were silent before him (Job 29:9, 29:22). So too, kings will see and rise up (Isaiah 49:7).

Through him, the mystery hidden since the beginning of the world will be made known to all nations, leading to the obedience that comes from faith, as Paul says (Romans 16:25-26). What had not been told them they will see. The gospel reveals new and unheard-of truths, and that will draw the attention and respect of kings and kingdoms. Paul applies these words to the preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles (Romans 15:21): those who had never been told will see, and those who had never heard will understand.

These truths had long been kept secret, and the people who would receive them had long lived in darkness. But now they will see and understand the glory of God shining in the face of Christ, what they had not been told before and had not heard. The gospel reveals what no human wisdom could discover, nothing philosophers could invent, nothing diviners could find, and nothing pagan oracles could tell. Much had already been said about the Messiah in the Old Testament, and many had heard those promises. Yet, as with the queen of Sheba and Solomon, what they will see in Christ will be far greater than what they were told. Christ did not meet the expectations of those who imagined a Messiah after their own thoughts, but he surpassed the hope of all who looked for the Messiah God had promised. According to their faith, and even beyond it, he was for them.