Isaiah 53 is one of my favorite Bible passages. While studying this chapter and believing for my own healing, Isaiah’s words gave me a picture of Jesus and what He did for me at the cross. Isaiah was a Hebrew prophet who is believed to have lived about 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 53 transports me back over 2,000 years and enables me to see and feel what Jesus experienced. Isaiah provides details of the suffering and paints a picture of what Jesus accomplished so many years ago. While in Israel, I learned that many Jewish people believe Isaiah 53 shows the suffering of the nation of Israel.
Isaiah 53 shows me a Servant who suffered and died for my sins and sickness; others may see something different. Let’s look at the description of some of these verses and you, along with the Holy Spirit, can draw your own conclusions.
The Servant was humble
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. (Isaiah 53:2)
The Servant was rejected
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. (Isaiah 53:3)
The Servant took our sins and sickness
[brackets show the Greek and Hebrew definitions]Surely He has borne our griefs [sickness, weaknesses, and disease], And carried our sorrows [pain of body or mind – physically and mentally]; Yet we esteemed Him stricken (to be stricken by disease), Smitten [wounded, beaten, attack, destroy, smitten with disease] by God, and afflicted [bruised with, put down] 5But He was wounded [desecrated, pierced, wounded fatally, to violate, to humble oneself] for our transgressions [sins], He was bruised [crushed, shattered, to allow oneself to be crushed] for our iniquities [guilt]; The chastisement for our peace [well-being, completeness, soundness in body, health] was upon Him, And by His stripes [wounds, blow, bruise] we are healed [made whole]. (Isaiah 53:4-5)
The Servant suffered silently
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)
The Servant suffered a humiliating death
He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. 9And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. (Isaiah 53:8-9)
Pray that God reveals the truth relating to what Jesus did at the cross and how He wanted you to live healed and whole.
~Donna Jones