Apr. 13, 2025

                                                      Isaiah 52:13-53:12

                              “The Substitution of The Servant for the Sinner”

April 13, 2025                                                                                               Dr. Don Bazal

Who is The Servant?  The Lord Jesus Christ.

 Who is the sinner?  All – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”:  Romans 3:23.  

         The fourth Servant Song is written in poetic form.  Psalm 23 is sometimes 

    referred to as “the pearl of the Psalms” and Isaiah 53 as ‘the pearl of the 

    Prophets’.   To write concerning this precious portion must be with some 

    reticence, even reluctance due to the subject before us.  The intensity and 

    severity of the suffering of the Servant leads us beneath Calvary. Franz 

    Delitzsch, a great German scholar, said, ‘It looks as if it had been written 

    beneath the cross of Golgotha.’ Luther said that every Christian ought to be 

    able to repeat it by heart.  Augustine said, ‘Me thinks Isaiah writes not a 

    prophecy but a gospel.’ (Melvin Wishart) Polycarp said of Isaiah 53: “It looks as 

    if it had been written beneath the cross of Golgotha”.  Here is the full 

    expression of the vicarious/substitutionary atonement of Jesus taught in 

    Scripture.

THE SETTING OF THE SONG

      The book of Isaiah has been called the Bible within the Bible.  Isaiah has 66 chapters.  There are 66 books in the Bible.  Isaiah is divided into two parts, Chapters 1-39 and Chapters 40-66.  Note Isaiah mirrors the start of the New Testament: Matthew 3:3. Isaiah 66:22 ends the book with Revelation 21:1 reflecting this.   Isaiah shows the whole of the New Testament with the Servant Songs being the focus presenting Jesus as the core and central focus of Isaiah.  The fourth Servant Song has a total of 15 verses made up of three verses each with each stanza increasing in length.

THE SUBJECT OF THE SONG

 Luke 22:37 – For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, ‘And He was numbered with transgressors’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment.” – Isaiah 53:12

 Acts 8:26-33,37 – But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This isa desert road.) 

 ²⁷ So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” ³⁰ Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

“He was led as a sheep to slaughter; And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He does not open His mouth. ³³ “In humiliation His judgment was taken away;
 Who will relate His generation? For His life is removed from the earth.”

³⁷And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

THE SERVANT’S SUCCESS WILL COME THROUGH SUFFERING: Isaiah 52:13-15

 Jesus will have success as The Servant and success as our Savior.

 I Peter 3:18 – For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

 Joshua 1:8 – This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.

John 17:4 – I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.

 Ephesians 1:20-21 – He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

 John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,  that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

 Revelation 7:9,14 –  After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;. . .¹⁴ I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

53:1-3 – MAN’S RESPONSE TO THE SERVANT

 53:4-9 – THE SERVANT’S RESPONSE

 Exodus 3:9 – Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

 Exodus 3:7 – The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.

 I Peter 2:23 - 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;

John 1:36 - and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

 I Peter 2:24a - and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we 

might die to sin and live to righteousness;

THE REWARD OF THE SERVANT:  52:10-13

 Revelation 7:9 – After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;

 Genesis 22:8 – Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

 Revelation 1:8 – “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

 I John 4:10 – In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 Luke 1:30-33 – The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

 Acts 4:12 – And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

 Ephesians 1:10 – with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him

 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”