Isaiah 53:4 - Meaning and Application

These verses give a fuller account of Christ’s sufferings. Much has already been said, but here we see more clearly how low he humbled himself in obedience, even to death on a cross. He carried griefs and sorrows, and he did not turn away from them. Though the burden was heavy and the road long, he did not grow weary. He kept going until he could say, “It is finished.”

He also endured blows and bruises. He was struck, beaten, and afflicted. His sorrows hurt him deeply, especially when God was dishonored and when the Father seemed to leave him on the cross. Along the way, people struck him with words, mocking him, arguing against him, and speaking every kind of evil about him. At the end, they struck him with their hands, blow after blow.

He suffered wounds and stripes. He was scourged, and not with the milder limit the Jewish law allowed, which was no more than forty lashes. Instead, he was beaten according to Roman practice. The beating was likely made harsher because Pilate meant it as a substitute for crucifixion, yet it only led to the cross. He was wounded in his hands, feet, and side. Though God ordered that not one of his bones would be broken, almost every part of his body was torn and bruised. From the crown of thorns on his head to his feet nailed to the cross, wounds were everywhere.

He was also wronged and abused. He was oppressed, meaning he was treated unfairly and harshly. Charges were put on him that he did not deserve, and he suffered as an innocent man. He felt this deeply in mind and body. Yet, while he remained patient, he was not numb to the pain. He shared the grief of the oppressed, who have no comforter, because power is on the side of their oppressors (Ecclesiastes 4:1). Oppression is a heavy burden, and it has driven many wise people to despair (Ecclesiastes 7:7). Still, when Jesus was oppressed, he kept hold of his own soul.

He was also judged and imprisoned, as the words “taken from prison and judgment” suggest (Isaiah 53:8). Since God made him sin for us, that is, treated him as the sin-bearer for our sake, he was handled as if he were a criminal. He was arrested, taken into custody, tried, and condemned according to legal forms. God, as it were, brought the case against him, judged him, and confined him in the prison of the grave, where a stone was rolled to the entrance and sealed.

He was cut off by an untimely death from the land of the living, even though he lived a life full of good works. His enemies killed him, and people might have thought some of those good works were the reason they hated him so much. He was put to death and laid in the grave with the wicked, since he was crucified between two thieves, as if he were the worst of the three. Yet he was buried with the rich, in the tomb of Joseph, an honorable counselor. By human custom, he should have been buried with criminals, but God had already foretold, and providence arranged, that he would have a grave with the innocent and the rich. This set him apart from those who truly deserved death, even in his suffering.

The meaning of these sufferings is just as important. It was a deep mystery that such a holy person should endure such hard things, and people naturally ask, “How did this happen? What evil had he done?” His enemies thought he suffered as he deserved. Though they could not prove anything against him, they counted him stricken by God and afflicted (Isaiah 53:4). Because they hated and persecuted him, they assumed God also hated him and was fighting against him. That made them even more angry. They were like those who say, “God has forsaken him; chase him and seize him” (Psalm 71:11).

People who are justly punished are, in a sense, struck by God, because God rules over justice. So his enemies thought he was rightly put to death as a blasphemer, a deceiver, and an enemy of Caesar. Those who saw him on the cross did not examine his case fairly. They assumed he was guilty of everything charged against him, and that his death proved God had judged him. In the same way, Job’s friends thought Job had been struck by God because his sufferings were unusual. It is true that Christ was struck by God (Isaiah 53:10), or, as some read it, he was God’s own afflicted one, the Son of God, though suffering. But that was not what his enemies meant.

He did nothing at all to deserve such treatment. Though he was accused of misleading the nation and stirring up rebellion, that was completely false. He did no violence, but went about doing good. And though they called him a deceiver, he never earned that name, because there was no deceit in his mouth (Isaiah 53:9; 1 Peter 2:22). He committed no sin, and no guile, or trickery, was found in his words. He never failed in word or deed, and his enemies could not answer his challenge, “Which of you can prove me guilty of sin?” Even the judge who condemned him admitted that he found no fault in him, and the centurion who carried out the execution said he was surely a righteous man.

He also carried himself under suffering in a way that showed he was not dying as a criminal. Though he was oppressed and afflicted, he did not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7). He did not even plead his own innocence. He freely offered himself to suffer and die for us, and he raised no objection. This removes the shame of the cross, because he chose it willingly for great and holy purposes. By his wisdom he could have avoided the sentence, and by his power he could have resisted the execution, but it was written, and it had to happen that way. He received this command from his Father, and so he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, without resistance. As a sheep is silent before shearers, and even before the butcher, so he opened not his mouth. This shows both his patient endurance under pain (Psalm 39:9), his meekness under insult (Psalm 38:13), and his willing obedience to his Father’s will: “Not my will, but yours be done. Lo, I come.”

By this will, we are made holy. Christ gave his own soul, his own life, as an offering for our sin.

It was for our good, and in our place, that Jesus Christ suffered. Isaiah states this clearly and fully, using many strong expressions. First, it is certain that we are all guilty before God. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Isaiah 53:6). All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, each one in his own way. The whole human race lies under the stain of original sin, and each person also has many actual sins.

We have all wandered from God, our rightful owner. We have turned away from him, away from the purpose he made us for, and away from the path he set before us. We have gone astray like sheep, which tend to wander and are unable, once lost, to find their way home. That is our true condition. We are bent toward turning back from God, and we cannot return to him on our own.

This is not only our misery, that we stray from the green pastures and expose ourselves to danger. It is also our guilt. We offend God by going away from him, because each of us turns to his own way. In doing that, we put ourselves and our own will against God and his will, which shows the evil of sin. Instead of walking obediently in God’s way, we have stubbornly turned to our own way, the path of our own heart, where our corrupt desires and passions lead us. We have set ourselves up as our own masters, deciding for ourselves what we will do and what we will have.

Some understand this to mean our own particular evil way, as different from the evil ways of others. Sinners have their own sin, their favorite sin, the one that clings closest to them, the one they especially love and excuse.

Second, our sins are called our sorrows and griefs (Isaiah 53:4), or perhaps our sicknesses and wounds. The Septuagint translates it as our sins, and so does the apostle Peter (1 Peter 2:24). Our original corruption is the sickness of the soul, a lasting weakness and disorder. Our actual sins are the wounds of the soul, which cause pain to conscience, unless conscience has been hardened and made dull.

Our sins are also called griefs and sorrows because all our griefs and sorrows come from sin. And our sins deserve every grief and sorrow, even the most severe and lasting ones.

Third, our Lord Jesus was appointed, and he agreed, to make satisfaction for our sins, and so to save us from the punishment they deserve.

He was appointed to do this by the will of his Father, for the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. God chose him to be the Savior of poor sinners, and he chose that they should be saved in this way, by Christ bearing their sins and the punishment for them. It was not the exact same suffering we should have endured, but it was fully equal in worth, enough to uphold the honor of God’s holiness and justice in ruling the world.

Notice, first, the way we are rescued from the ruin sin brought on us. Our sins were laid on Christ, as the sins of the worshiper were laid on the sacrifice, and as the sins of all Israel were laid on the head of the scapegoat. Our sins were made to meet on him, as the margin says. The sins of all he came to save, from every place and every age, came together on him, and he was struck because of them. They were made to fall on him, as some read it, like those who rushed at him with swords and clubs to arrest him.

The laying of our sins on Christ means that they are taken off us. We will not fall under the curse of the law if we submit to the grace of the gospel. Our sins were laid on Christ when he was made sin, that is, a sin offering, for us, and when he redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. In this way, he made himself able to give rest to all who come to him heavy with the burden of sin. See Psalm 40:6-12.

Second, notice who appointed this. It was the Lord who laid our iniquities on Christ. He planned this way of reconciliation and salvation, and he accepted the payment Christ would make in our place. Christ was handed over to death by the determined plan and foreknowledge of God. No one but God had authority to lay our sins on Christ, because the sin was committed against him, and the payment had to be made to him. It was also because Christ, on whom the iniquity was laid, was his own Son, the Son of his love, his holy servant Jesus, who knew no sin.

Third, notice for whom this atonement was made. It was the iniquity of us all that was laid on Christ. In Christ there is enough merit for the salvation of all, and a sincere offer of that salvation is made to all, which leaves out no one except those who shut themselves out. This shows that this is the only way of salvation. All who are justified, made right with God, are justified because their sins are laid on Jesus Christ. And however many their sins may be, he is able to bear the weight of them all.

Fourth, he also agreed to do this. God laid our iniquity on him, but did he consent? Yes, he did. Some think the next words in Isaiah 53:7 should be read this way: It was demanded, and he answered. God’s justice called for satisfaction for our sins, and Christ offered to make that satisfaction. He became our surety, meaning our guarantor, not by being originally bound with us, but by stepping in as one who takes legal responsibility for another’s debt. “Let the curse fall on me, my Father.”

So when he was arrested, he agreed with those into whose hands he gave himself that his disciples should be released: “If you seek me, let these go their way” (John 18:8). By his own willing choice, he made himself responsible for our debt, and it is a great mercy for us that he did. So he restored what he did not take away.

Having taken on our debt, he then suffered the penalty. Solomon says that anyone who guarantees a debt for a stranger will suffer for it. Christ, as our guarantor, suffered for us. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4). He did more than submit to the ordinary weakness of human nature and the common troubles of human life, which sin brought into the world. He endured the greatest distress when he said, “My soul is deeply grieved.”

He made the troubles of this present life heavy for himself, so that he could make them lighter and easier for us. Sin is the bitter root and pain inside all suffering and misery. Christ bore our sins, and so he bore our griefs too. He carried them off from us, so that we would never be pressed beyond measure. This is quoted in Matthew 8:17 and applied to Christ’s compassion for the sick who came to him for healing, and to the power he used to heal them.

He did this by suffering for our sins (Isaiah 53:5). He was wounded for our transgressions, to make atonement for them and to buy our forgiveness. Our sins were the thorns on his head, the nails in his hands and feet, and the spear in his side.

Wounds and bruises are the results of sin, what we deserved and what we brought on ourselves (Isaiah 1:6). Yet these wounds and bruises, though painful, do not have to be deadly. Christ was wounded for our sins, and he suffered deep pain for our rebellions. He was crushed for our iniquities, our guilt and crookedness. In other words, our sins were the reason for his death.

Isaiah says the same thing in Isaiah 53:8. The punishment that should have fallen on us fell on him. Some read it this way: He was cut off because of the sin of my people, to whom the punishment belonged. He was handed over to death for our offenses (Romans 4:25). That is why the New Testament says Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, meaning according to this Scripture as well (1 Corinthians 15:3).

Some take the phrase to mean that he was struck by the wicked hands of my people, the Jews, who were God’s people in name, and he was crucified and killed by them (Acts 2:23). But the clearer meaning is the first one, and Daniel’s prophecy strongly supports it. The Messiah was promised to finish transgression, put an end to sin, and make reconciliation, that is, bring peace with God, for iniquity (Daniel 9:24).

The result for us is peace and healing (Isaiah 53:5). We have peace because the punishment that brought us peace was placed on him. By accepting that punishment, he removed the hostility between God and man and made peace through the blood of his cross. Since sin made us hateful to God’s holiness and exposed us to his justice, God is now reconciled to us through Christ. He does more than forgive us and save us from ruin, he brings us into friendship and fellowship with himself. In that way, all good comes to us (Colossians 1:20). Christ is our peace (Ephesians 2:14).

We also have healing, because by his wounds we are healed. Sin is not only a crime that deserved condemnation and death, it is also a disease that destroys our souls. Christ provided the cure. By his sufferings, he purchased for us the Spirit and grace of God, so our corrupt desires, the sicknesses of the soul, can be put to death. He also gives our souls a healthy state, so we can serve God and be ready to enjoy him. His cross also teaches and strengthens us. Its truth and power give us strong reasons against sin, so sin loses its rule over us.

What this meant for Christ was his resurrection and his lasting honor. This removes the shame of the cross. He gave himself to die as a sacrifice, like a lamb, and God showed that his offering was accepted by raising him from the dead (Isaiah 53:8). He was taken from prison and from judgment. He had been held in the grave under a judicial process, as though under arrest for our debt, and judgment seemed to have gone against him. But by God’s command, he was brought out of the grave. An angel was sent to roll away the stone and set him free. So the judgment against him was overturned, and this is our comfort as well as his honor. He was delivered for our offenses, and he was raised again for our justification, our being declared right with God. Releasing the surety, the one who stood in our place, meant release of the debt.

He was also preferred and exalted. “Who shall declare his generation?” can mean his age, his continuing life, or the length of his life. He rose so that he would die no more. Death has no more authority over him. He who was dead is alive forever, and no one can fully describe that endless life into which he rose. He is lifted up because he became obedient to death for the sins of his people. We may also take the words to mean his spiritual seed, his believing people. Who can count the vast number of converts that will be brought to him through the gospel, like the morning dew? Let us pray for this generation, as Moses prayed for Israel, that the Lord would greatly multiply them and bless them as he has promised (Deuteronomy 1:11).