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Isaiah 53:1-5 NKJV

1   Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2   For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3   He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4   Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5   But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed. [/list]



In chapter one of this prophesy, Isaiah described the awful condition of Israel.  He said, "Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters!  They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.  Why should you be stricken again?  You will revolt more and more.  The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints.  From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment." (Isaiah 1:4-6)  

It's an awful picture, is it not?


Key to the indictment are the words, "They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward."   God had given them revival many times, but again and again they turned away from Him to practice the sins of the nations around them – the very sins that led to the expulsion or obliteration of those same nations.


In the 53rd chapter, though, God reveals the solution to this awful problem, a solution that came to fullness in the coming of the Messianic Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the salvation of all the true Israel of God through repentance and faith in Him.  This 53rd chapter, therefore, is the Gospel of Christ 700 years before His birth in Bethlehem!  Israel desperately needed healing.  The Church of our Lord Jesus Christ has received that healing.


The healing here, though, was not primarily physical healing.  To think it was limited to that kind of healing only would cheapen this passage. Though there was indeed restoration during the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, yet the awful conditions described by the prophet were not fully and spiritually healed until the resurrection of Jesus Christ established a new-Covenant Kingdom of peace.  It is that healing to which the prophet primarily refers  


Following His vicarious Death and Resurrection, the awful effects of sin were finally removed for all believers.  "By His stripes we were healed" – of sin-sickness, waywardness, and rebellion. The effects of sin, here likened to "wounds and bruises and putrefying sores" were born by our Savior – "He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows."  Our Jesus, on the Cross, experienced what Isaiah expressed when he said, "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities."

Oh how we ought to thank Him for what He has done!  Oh how we ought to worship Him forever.  Amen

Thank You Al. I love Isaiah 53. I read it frequestly, just to be refreshed in what my Lord has done for me, and all he went through at the cross for me.  

Al... this is a wonderful passage.  I really appreciate all you do here, in printing out these devotions.

They mean so much!

Thank you, Judy, for your kind words.  I pray that our brothers and sisters in Christ may from time to time read that passage and may see the context for the phrase, "By Your stripes we are healed." - that it isn't primarily about physical healing but about the wonderful things our Lord has done for His people.

QuoteThe healing here, though, was not primarily physical healing.  To think it was limited to that kind of healing only would cheapen this passage. Though there was indeed restoration during the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, yet the awful conditions described by the prophet were not fully and spiritually healed until the resurrection of Jesus Christ established a new-Covenant Kingdom of peace.  It is that healing to which the prophet primarily refers.

I want to thank you for this little essay on "Some thoughts" you had reading Isaiah 53, Al.  I really appreciate it and I especially enjoyed the paragraph I've quoted above.

Jack and I often discussed this portion together and often he expressed thoughts similar to yours.

I'm going to read it again and maybe I'll have some questions for you, Al.

I don't suppose it would surprise you at all to hear that I'm not surprised that Jack would have those thoughts!  Oh how I have thanked our Lord for that man!  God has used him - of that I think we can be certain.

Thanks Al.

As I read this A thought came to mind of something I heard nearly 20 years ago on this same portion. The preacher said that the Old Testament 'was pregnant with Christ.' I am sure that your keen mind will enjoy mulling that one over for a while. That is if you have not heard it before.

I have heard it before, Iain - and it is true!  Isaiah in particular is simply resplendent with the glory of our Savior.