Isaiah 52:14–15

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.