Isaiah 52:13–15

Isaiah's last twenty-seven chapters fall into three groups of nine. The centre section is chapters 49-57, and the centre chapter of that centre section is Isaiah 53, which really begins with Isaiah 52:13. So the prophecy of the One who is Jehovah's Servant, who goes even into death for the transgressions of God's people and comes forth in resurrection, lies at the heart of everything.

God's Servant showed God's wisdom by acting wisely in this world, and so He was "exalted and extolled" and made very high. In life and death He proved to be the wisdom of God. He glorified God on the earth and finished the work God gave Him to do. Then God set Him at His own right hand in heaven, "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named…" (Ephesians 1:20-21).

Verse 13 really begins the subject of Isaiah 53. The wisdom and prudence of Jehovah's Servant, treading His way to glory through scenes of suffering service, so as to bring blessing for others, is before the mind of the Spirit. We see the "sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow."

Isaiah 52:13 shows Messiah as God's Servant, "exalted and extolled" and very high. Yet the next verse presents Him with His appearance "so marred, beyond human semblance, and His form beyond that of the children of mankind." The exaltation of Jesus after His work on earth and on the cross gives the key to the puzzle.

This was the rule of Messiah's glory, as He said, "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." All Scripture teaches the same: glory now must take a resurrection form, just as life must do. The life and the inheritance of those whom Jesus represented, and for whom He gave Himself up, had both been forfeited. Death and the curse had come upon them. So Jesus, to regain both, had to pass through death. He could win a condition of life, a kingdom and glory for Himself and His saints only by destroying, through death, the one who had the power of death.

Many who profess to believe try to make the nation the prudent servant here, so as to shut out our Lord Jesus Christ. Was it a nation or an individual who had "His grave" appointed with the wicked? Could it be said of the nation suffering for its own sins, "for the transgression of My people was He stricken"? No; none but our blessed Saviour ever answered, or could answer, to this prophecy, spoken over seven centuries before He came.

The earlier Jewish interpreters did not dispute that this passage speaks of the Messiah… Even now the prayers used in synagogues everywhere bear the clearest witness to the same truth. For instance, at the Passover they pray in these words: "Hasten and cause the shadows to flee away. Let him be exalted and extolled and be high, who is now despised. Let him deal prudently and reprove and sprinkle many nations."

None ever went so low as this suffering Servant of God, when He atoned for our sins; none can ever go so high; He is Head over all things.

It looks on to the day of the world-kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ. Then He will come out before every eye as the Lord of lords and King of kings, sharing with others the fruits of His victory… The day is hurrying on when the fullness will have come in, and so Israel shall be saved. Only then will this vision (Isaiah 52:13 — 53:12) be fulfilled as a whole.

The older Jewish interpreters did not dispute that this passage applies to the Messiah… Even now, in the prayers used in synagogues everywhere, there is the clearest witness to the same truth… Later writers dread the way their fathers applied this prophecy to the Messiah. So they have invented two ways of escape: they apply it either to some notable man like Josiah or Jeremiah, or to the Jewish people, who are called "My servant" elsewhere in the prophecy. But it is no use. This section is so exactly and exclusively applicable to our Lord that these efforts only prove the will of unbelief and its failure… This Servant of Jehovah has been humbled among men, but God has vindicated Him — and indeed He Himself is God.

Here the exalted Messiah of Israel is before us. He was once covered with shame. He was bent down to a humiliation that no other man has ever known, before or since. So many were struck dumb with astonishment, or rather perhaps with disgust — "shocked" at Him. They had looked for a Messiah who was altogether different. His lowly appearance and the surroundings of His life and work disappointed them at first. Then His meek acceptance of insult and suffering drew out all their malice and dislike.

This is especially striking in the case of the Roman soldiers — men who did not even know the Scriptures existed… Many things they did fulfilled the Word. For instance, His face was to be "marred more than any man," according to Isaiah 52:14, and the crown of thorns and the beatings fulfilled this.

His sufferings were so real and so intense that they visibly marred His whole form, as well as His face. Jehovah's Servant acted with perfect wisdom and care. Yet deep and painful sorrows were His. Shame, beatings and untold suffering came upon Him before His exaltation.

The mind of the Spirit of God was filled with the spiritual anguish that would be His, "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3) — a spiritual anguish that marred His very features.

This very moving verse refers to the treatment our Lord received at the hands of sinful men. In itself, it has no part in the work of redemption… The Lord's treatment at the hands of sinful men, and His bearing our sins under the hand of a holy and righteous God, are almost inseparably brought together in these verses. Both happened at the same time… Yet we must be clear that not one thing men did to Him had any part in the work of redemption. Men took Him and treated Him just as these verses foretold. It was then that God entered into the question of our guilt.

The general sense of these three verses that close Isaiah 52 is perfectly clear. This meek and lowly Servant of Jehovah went down to unheard-of depths of humiliation. He is going to come out in a power and splendour that will astonish all mankind. His exaltation in the heights will match the depths into which He went. Now, who believes that?

Here Jehovah looks at Jesus' smitten form and sets it before us in a way that moves the heart. He celebrates the glory to which all this humiliation and suffering were to lead Him. It is written of Him: "he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name." For this was the rule of Messiah's glory, as He said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

This phrase has tormented the critics. Some of the old versions took the word as expressing amazement. The idea is people starting from their seats when they suddenly see some great person they never expected. But "sprinkling" is the literal meaning, however we apply it. On the common view, the very humiliation He endured for the gracious work of redemption answers the surprise many felt long ago at the cleansing of many nations still to come.

Some translate "astonish" instead of "sprinkle." But if we keep the word "sprinkle," we should connect it with the same word in Ezekiel 36:25. There it clearly has the force of an act of blessing toward Israel.

A like astonishment will come to many nations when the kings of the earth are silent in His presence (verse 15). In the day of Christ's glory they will realise that the One they see so glorious is none other than He whom men crucified and killed. On earth, the Servant of God was silent before the great of the earth. He was silent before the high priest, before Pilate and before Herod. In the coming day, the great of the earth, the kings, will be silent before Him, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

What could fit this prophecy less than the facts of Josiah, Jeremiah, or the Jewish people? Neither the king nor the prophet had a destiny you could fairly set into this remarkable contrast. First comes deep shame, then wide and lofty glory before subject nations and kings. It is true, as we have often noticed in this prophet, that "my servant" sometimes applies to Israel. But the context always gives clear marks that make the decision easy. Chapter 53 settles it. There the distinction is plain between the Individual in question and the people who did not value Him. For He bore their griefs and carried their sorrows.

This therefore cannot apply at the present time, except in a general way. The apostle only uses the principle of the closing words of verse 15 for his own going out with the gospel. He went where no one had gone before, where no sound of Christ may yet have reached (Romans 15:21). But he in no way treats this as the fulfilment of that oracle.

Romans 15:21 quotes Isaiah 52:15. Its prime application is the glory of Christ shown to the nations when He comes in power and majesty. But the gospel brings home to the souls of men an anticipation of that glory, a sight of it by faith before it is revealed. This is what moved the apostle's heart so deeply. He grasped the Word of God by faith, and that faith longed to see the same faith awakened in souls who had heard nothing of Christ before.