Fresh out of college in May 2004, I was worshipping in church on a Sunday when my pastor made the assertion, \u201cThe death of Christ and resurrection that followed is the central event of human history.\u201d I remember pausing and thinking, \u201chmmm, those things are important. But the central events in human history? That seems like an overstatement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Twenty years, one marriage, four children, one seminary degree, and years of pastoral ministry later, I have come to see with ever-increasing clarity how true that statement is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cross and resurrection are the centerpiece of the life work and accomplishment of Jesus Christ, God the Son incarnate. Jesus’s death and resurrection followed His perfect life, in which He completed the work God gave Him to do (John 17:4, Heb. 2:10, Heb. 5:8\u20139). The New Hampshire Confession sums up well the impact that Jesus\u2019s person and work has for God\u2019s people: \u201che is every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate, and an all-sufficient Savior.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n This month, Christ Over All<\/em> is looking at sightings of the cross in the Old Testament, taking time to look at passages and theological themes that foreshadow Calvary. In 1 Corinthians 15:3\u20134, Paul spoke of the death and resurrection of Christ as matters of \u201cfirst importance,\u201d that Jesus carried out \u201cin accordance with the Scriptures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isaiah 52:13\u201353:12 is one such passage of Scripture, and my task is to feature this text\u2019s revelation of the substitutionary atoning work of the servant of the Lord. I will do this through a look at the text\u2019s epochal and canonical<\/a> contexts, a review of the passage\u2019s immediate context, the New Testament authors\u2019 use and interpretation of it, and Jesus\u2019s application of the passage to the institution and observance of the Lord\u2019s Supper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buckle your seat belt: what follows is a glorious redemption road for God\u2019s people!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What did Isaiah 53 mean to the nearly exiled Jews to whom it was first written? Can its context then<\/em> enhance our understanding of it now<\/em>? Yes\u2014abundantly so! We begin therefore by looking at key aspects of the epoch (or era) of redemptive history the text was written in and elements of the passage that carry forward central, recurring themes from earlier Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Mosaic Law\u2014which God gave at Mount Sinai (Exod. 20:1ff) following His deliverance of His people from Egypt\u2014included blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Knowing the corruption of fallen humanity, God graciously built into this law\/covenant the provision of blood sacrifices to cover sin. This atoning provision is seen most significantly in the institution of the Passover (Exodus 12) and the annual observance of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The people of Israel would prove to need such atonement. Story after story in the Old Testament shows God\u2019s people testing his patience and proving his faithfulness by their repeated sin and open disregard for him and his promises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isaiah 1\u201339 records the consequence of Israel\u2019s repeated, flagrant disobedience: exile from the Promised Land. Hope is not lost, however: Isaiah 40\u201355 speaks of a future return from exile for God\u2019s people. This promised return would have two stages: one physical\u2014release from captivity (Isa. 42:18\u201343:21) and the other spiritual\u2014forgiveness of sins (Isa. 43:22\u201344:23).[1]<\/a> This work of redemption is accomplished by and through a figure revealed as the servant of the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four passages in Isaiah in particular\u2014known as the Servant Songs\u2014provide details about the servant who would come to deliver God\u2019s people:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Isaiah 52:13\u201353:12, Isaiah describes the physical and spiritual deliverance to come with the Hebrew word ga-<\/em>al<\/em>. In English, the word is translated redeem, meaning \u201cto buy back.\u201d[2]<\/a> This passage centers on the redemptive work of the servant of the Lord, buying back God\u2019s people from slavery to sin and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isaiah 52:13\u201353:12 is quoted seven times and alluded to another 34 times in the New Testament, across the gospels, Acts, letters and Revelation.[3]<\/a> John Stott, quoting Joachim Jeremias, notes that \u201cNo other passage from the Old Testament, was as important to the church as Isaiah 53.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter Gentry provides the following helpful overview of the literary structure of Isaiah 52:13\u201353:12<\/a>:[5]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The first stanza sets up the descriptions and interpretations that follow. Let\u2019s look at some details of these sections and how the authors of the New Testament interpret them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isaiah 52:13 says the servant of the Lord \u201cshall be high and lifted up, and<\/a> shall be exalted.\u201d The gospel author John identifies the \u201clifting up\u201d of the servant with the humiliation of Jesus on the cross (John 3:14), while Luke focuses on Christ\u2019s exaltation (Acts 3:13). Isaiah 52:13 thus predicts Jesus\u2019s death and resurrection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Paul engages in evangelistic work, he quotes Isaiah 52:15 to speak of the spread of the gospel to all nations, \u201cThose who have never been told of Him will see, and those who have never heard will understand\u201d (Rom. 15:21 and 1 Cor. 2:9). Jesus\u2019s work on the cross opens the gospel offer to all nations: whosoever will may<\/a> come (Rev. 22:17). Salvation is available to those who believe in Him (John 3:16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul quotes Isaiah 53:1 in Romans 10:16, noting that some will reject this gospel: \u201cLord, who has believed what he has heard from us?\u201d[6]<\/a> In Isaiah 53:2\u20133, Isaiah calls the servant \u201ca man of sorrows\u201d who was \u201cdespised and rejected\u201d by men, which Paul alludes to in his account of Christ\u2019s incarnation in Phil. 2:5\u201311 (Phil. 2:7 specifically). This \u201cman of sorrows\u201d is beautifully described in the song of that name<\/a>, written in 1875 by itinerant evangelist Philip Bliss:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Man of Sorrows! What a name Isaiah 53:4\u20136, the center of this passage, provides one of the most clear and important descriptions in all of Scripture of this Savior\u2019s atoning work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verse 4 says \u201cSurely he [the servant] has born our griefs.\u201d Peter alludes to this verse in 1 Peter 2:24, \u201cHe himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,\u201d communicating the idea of substitution. Peter also quotes the beautiful conclusion of Isa. 53:5, \u201cby his wounds you have been healed\u201d (1 Pet. 2:24b). The healing in view here is first and foremost<\/a> spiritual in nature as the context of Isaiah 53 makes clear\u2014the servant is pierced for our transgressions (Isa. 53:5). Wounds being healed sometimes has physical healing in view as well (as I\u2019ll consider below)<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1 Peter 2:25, Peter alludes to the comparison of God\u2019s people to the wandering sheep of Isa. 53:6, \u201cFor you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.\u201d Though we are the ones who have gone astray through sin against a holy and benevolent God, Jesus is the one who bears the punishment for our sin \u2013 ultimately by<\/a> the hand of that God (Isa. 53:6; cf. Acts 2:23, Acts 4:28).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter\u2019s interpretation of Isaiah 53 accords with Jesus\u2019s self-description as the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep (Cf. John 10:10\u201311). Indeed, the central accomplishment of the cross is penal substitutionary atonement from the wrath of God, making God both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matthew records Jesus casting out demons and healing the physically sick as a fulfillment of Isa. 53:4 \u201cby his wounds you have been healed\u201d (Matt. 8:17). The New Testament authors interpretation of \u201cby his wounds you have been healed\u201d in Matthew and 1 Peter helps shed light on the nature of the inbreaking of God\u2019s kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus\u2019s work centered on the proclamation of the gospel and atoning sacrifice on the cross, satisfying His Father\u2019s just wrath against sin and opening the way to restored relationship with Him (Matt. 16:21\u201323, John 17:22\u201323; Mark 1:15, 8:31\u201333; Luke 9:22, John 12:24, John 13:33). Along the way, Jesus did signs that lent credibility to His message and marked the inbreaking of His kingdom, such as casting out demons, healing the sick, even giving life to the dead (Matt. 4:23, Luke 7:22).<\/p>\n\n\n\n God will one day consummate this physical restoration of creation in the new heavens and new earth\u2014where there will be no more tears, sickness, pain or even death (Isa. 65:19\u201325, Rev. 21:3\u20134)\u2014a work He accomplishes in and through Jesus (Col 1:20)[7]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n We are not guaranteed physical healing in this life\u2014though God does sometimes choose to work in that way. We are, however, guaranteed such healing in the life to come, when God will unite our souls with our physical bodies in a glorified and perfected state (Rom. 8:23, 30; 1 Cor. 15:42\u201344).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Isa. 53:7\u20139, we learn more about the perfection and innocence of the servant of the Lord who takes the punishment God\u2019s people deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The servant is taken away \u201clike a lamb that is led to the slaughter\u201d (Isa. 53:7) and killed for the transgression of God\u2019s people (Isa. 53:8). When John the Baptist lays eyes on Jesus, he alludes to this passage, \u201cBehold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!\u201d (John 1:29). Revelation 5 also alludes to Isaiah 53, describing a lamb who had been slain to ransom a people for God by His blood (Rev. 5:6, 9). This servant, this lamb, is innocent of any transgression\u2014as 1 John 3:5 attests, \u201cin him there is no sin\u201d (citing that phrase in Isaiah 53:9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The point is clear: the type of the spotless Passover lamb (Exodus 12) is fulfilled by the antitype of Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God (1 Pet. 3:18). All through the Old Testament, God covers <\/em>His people\u2019s sin through repeated blood sacrifices (Gen. 3:21; Lev. 4:3\u20134, 13\u201317, 22\u201326; 16:11, 15\u201316). The author of Hebrews explains that Jesus enables the forgiveness <\/em>of sins (Heb. 9:22) through a one-time blood sacrifice (Heb. 9:26, 10:12) that accomplishes eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12).<\/p>\n\n\n\nIsaiah\u2019s Epochal and Canonical Context<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Servant of Isaiah<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
1. Peter Gentry, The Atonement in Isaiah\u2019s Fourth Servant Song (Isaiah 52:13\u201353:12)<\/em>, The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, \u201cThe Atonement in Focus,\u201d Vol. 11, No. 2, Summer 2007, 21.<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Servant Songs in Isaiah<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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2. Gentry, The Atonement in Isaiah\u2019s Fourth Servant Song, 21.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Immediate Context and New Testament Authors\u2019 Use and Interpretation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
3. Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey, Andrew Sach, Pierced for Our Transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution<\/em>, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007), 61\u201363.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
4. John Stott, The Cross of Christ<\/em>, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986) 2nd<\/sup> edition, 2006, 145.<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
5. Gentry, The Atonement in Isaiah\u2019s Fourth Servant Song<\/em>, 24.<\/a><\/h6>\n\n\n\n\n
Prologue: substitutionary work for people of all nations (Isa. 52:13\u201315)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Pains in Life (Isa. 53:1\u20133)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
6. Romans 10 teaches that the gospel of Christ will spread through verbal proclamation by His followers. Here and elsewhere in Scripture, we see that some will receive that gospel, while others will reject it (Luke 10:1\u201312, 1 Cor. 2:6\u201314, 2 Cor. 2:14\u201316). By implication, we are to share with all people indiscriminately, knowing that God will save some.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nFor Us (Isa. 53:4\u20136) <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What about physical healing?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
7. Pastorally, we must help people understand both that God grants spiritual healing to all who seek it in Jesus, and that He sometimes grants physical healing, while at other times He does not. Pastors are to pray for physical healing (Jas. 5:14\u201316), and call people to trust God with their physical state all the while knowing that because they are in Christ by faith nothing can separate them from God\u2019s love (Rom. 8:31\u201339). And<\/em> we live with the hope that eventually all God\u2019s people will receive physical healing as well through bodily resurrection from the dead.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Pains in Death (53:7\u20139)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n