The Suffering Servant Part ~ 9 ~ Yesha’yahu 53:5-6

In my last post, we began to examine the Accomplishments of the Suffering Servant in Yesha’yahu53:4. In this post, we continue to examine the Accomplishments of the Suffering Servant in Yesha’yahu53:5-6.

The Servant Died a Substitutionary Death for Our Sins

⁵ But He was wounded because of our crimes, crushed because of our sins; the disciplining that makes us whole fell on Him, and by His bruises, we are healed. ⁶ We all, like sheep, went astray; we turned, each one, to His own way; yet Adonai laid on Him the guilt of all of us. ~ Isaiah 53:5-6 (CJB)

Our passage today is the very heart of the prophecy! The death of the Servant would be redemptive; it was Adonai’s way of securing atonement for you and me. I could not help but remember the worship song: “Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord.”

Yeshua is the Suffering One. He was wounded because of our crimes. Doctors tell us there are five types of wounds. There is a contusion – which Yeshua received when men punched Him in the face. There is a laceration – which He received when the flagellum stripped the skin off His back and shoulders. There is penetration – which He received when a crown of thorns was beaten into His forehead. There is perforation – which He received when the spikes pierced His hands and feet, causing His body to writhe in spasms. Finally, there is incision – which He received when a soldier stuck a spear in His side. [1]

Why did Yeshua absorb those wounds? So that we could be healed.

Yeshua is also the Sin-bearing One. In 1 John 2:2 (see below), we read that Yeshua died not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world. What a shock that must have been. Here, One who had never sinned suddenly took on all of the sin ever committed by everyone who has ever lived. The best estimates are that there are seventy-seven billion people who have lived on this planet. And Yeshua absorbed all of their sins -except the blasphemy of the Ruach, which is a person’s rejection of Him.

The writers of the Brit Hadashah had a lot to say about this short passage:

¹³ The God of Avraham, Yitz’chak, and Ya‘akov, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Yeshua — the same Yeshua you handed over and disowned before Pilate, even after he had decided to release Him. ¹⁴ You denied the holy and innocent one, and instead asked for the reprieve of a murderer! ¹⁵ You killed the author of life! “But God has raised Him from the dead! Of this, we are witnesses. ¹⁶ And it is through putting trust in His name that His name has given strength to this man whom you see and know. Yes, it is the trust that comes through Yeshua which has given him this perfect healing in the presence of you all. ¹⁷ “Now, brothers, I know that you did not understand the significance of what you were doing; neither did your leaders. ¹⁸ But this is how God fulfilled what He had announced in advance, when he spoke through all the prophets, namely, that his Messiah was to die. ~ Acts 3:13-18 (CJB)

³⁰ As Philip ran up, he heard the Ethiopian reading from Yesha‘yahu the prophet. “Do you understand what you’re reading?” he asked. ³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to climb up and sit with him. ³² Now the portion of the Tanakh that he was reading was this: “He was like a sheep led to be slaughtered; like a lamb silent before the shearer, He does not open his mouth. ³³ He was humiliated and denied justice. Who will tell about His descendants, since His life has been taken from the earth?” ³⁴ The eunuch said to Philip, “Here’s my question to you – is the prophet talking about himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip started to speak – beginning with that passage, he went on to tell him the Good News about Yeshua. ~ Acts 8:30-35 (CJB)

²⁵ Yeshua, who was delivered over to death because of our offenses and raised to life in order to make us righteous. ~ Romans 4:25 (CJB)

²⁸ so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to deliver those who are eagerly waiting for Him. ~ Hebrews 9:28 (CJB) Now that is another great promise for us today!!

²⁴ He himself bore our sins in His body on the stake, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness – by His wounds you were healed. ²⁵ For you used to be like sheep gone astray, but now you have turned to the Shepherd, who watches over you. ~ 1 Peter 2:24-25 (CJB)

²  Also, He is the kapparah [atonement] for our sins – and not only for ours but also for those of the whole world. ~ 1 John 2:2 (CJB)

In my next post, we will continue a verse-by-verse examination of The Suffering Servant ~ Part 10 in Yesha’yahu 53:8-9.

Click here for the PDF version.

[1] Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Old Testament Volume 2.