Isaiah 53:4

The verses in Isaiah 53:4-5 emphasize how much Jesus suffered on the cross of Calvary for the sins of all mankind. These verse say, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Notice carefully all the words that are used just in these two verses to describe how much Jesus suffered for you. These are words of sorrow, words of torment, and words of suffering: “griefs,” “sorrows,” “stricken,” “smitten of God,” “afflicted,” “bruised,” “chastisement,” “stripes.” Isaiah 52:14 also said, “His visage was so marred,” and Isaiah 53:2 says, “when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” Christ did so much for us. When we came to Christ, He made us beautiful in His eyes; and He did so by allowing Himself to be made ugly and undesireable in the eyes of the world.

Isaiah 53:5 leaves no doubt as to why Jesus died on the cross of Calvary. He died because of our sins. He died to pay the price for sin. He died to bear our punishment in our place. Isaiah 53:5 tells us 4 times this very fact. It says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” He did so much for us. Is there not something that each of us can do for Him? Sylvanus D. Phelps who lived from 1816 to 1895 wrote a beautiful hymn that expresses this thought. It is called “Something for Thee.” Some of the words to that hymn are as follows:

“Savior, thy dying love, thou gavest me.

Nor should I ought withhold, dear Lord, from Thee.

In love my soul would bow, My heart fulfill its vow,

Some offering bring thee now, Something for Thee.

At the blest mercy seat, Pleading for me,

My feeble faith looks up, Jesus, to thee,

Help me the cross to bear, Thy wondrous love declare,

Some song to raise, or prayer, Something for Thee.

Give me a faithful heart, Likeness to thee.

That each departing day, Henceforth may see

Some work of love begun, Some deed of kindness done,

Some wanderer sought and won, Something for Thee.”

It is important to note that Isaiah 53:4 says that Jesus was “smitten of God.” The torments that Jesus suffered from human beings were terrible, but not near as terrible as what He had to suffer at the hands of God the Father. Remember that when Jesus was hanging on the cross of Calvary, one of the seven statements that He made was, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Somehow during those hours that Jesus was dying on the cross, He suffered the pangs of hell in paying the price for sin. One of the worst sufferings of hell is to be separated from God and thus separated from all that is good forever and ever. Jesus suffered in your place and for your sins, and thus He was “smitten of God.” Speaking of Christ, the Bible says in Second Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” The greatest and closest relationship that exists in the universe: the bond between the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit was broken during those hours that Jesus actually became “sin for us.” The amount of suffering that this separation caused Jesus is beyond our imagination.

The last part of Isaiah 53:5 says, “with his stripes we are healed.” The word that is translated “healed” in this verse comes from a Hebrew word that is used in the Old Testament both for physical healing, and in a symbolic way for mending anything that needs to be fixed including spiritual healing of the soul. Isaiah 53:5 probably has a double meaning. Of course, it refers to the healing of the soul because all of Isaiah chapter 53 is telling us about what Jesus did to take away our sins. But it also refers to physical healing because Jesus was and is the Great Healer. When He walked the earth, He healed sickness wherever He went. For example, Jesus said in Mark 2:9-11, “Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy), I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed and walk.” The Bible says about Jesus in Matthew 4:24, “And his fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.”

Today, Jesus can still heal. No matter what physical malady that you may have, you can pray to Jesus about it, and if He wills, He can heal you of anything because He is the Great Healer. Should you believe in healing? Yes. Get the best medical treatment that you can, and also believe that Jesus can heal you. But beware. There are some false teachers who claim to be healers. They try to claim the power to heal unto themselves. They are false. Only Jesus can heal, because only Jesus died for sin. Only concerning Jesus can we say, “with his stripes we are healed.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Of course, in this verse people are compared to a particular characteristic of sheep. God made all animals in the animal kingdom for a reason. We learn several lessons from sheep, and one of those lessons is the fact that sheep need a shepherd. Without a shepherd, they will go astray. A self-willed human being will always think that going his or her own way is a good thing, when actually it is a very bad thing because it will take them away from the shepherd. Jesus said in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”

Isaiah 53:7 takes sheep as they were used in the Old Testament and relates them to an important truth about the Messiah. It says, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her sheerers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” Of course, like other animals, a lamb cannot speak. It cannot speak when its wool is sheared, and it cannot speak when it is taken to the slaughter house. Jesus could speak, but He did not. To say that Jesus “opened not his mouth” refers to the judgment and the crucifixion when Jesus did not speak on His own behalf even though He was innocent. Pontius Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent and Pilate marveled that Jesus did not speak up about His own innocence. Concerning Pilate’s conversation with Jesus, the Bible says in Matthew 27:13-14, “Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marveled greatly.” Jesus knew that He had to suffer, and He knew when and how to suffer from a spiritual standpoint. Too bad that more believers do not know how to do that. The Bible says in First Corinthians 4:12, “And labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it.” It says in Second Corinthians 1:5, “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” And it says in Philippians 1:29, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 53:8, “He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation” for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” It is amazing how many details about the crucifixion of Christ are given in this part of the book of Isaiah. It was written over 500 years before Christ was born. Of course, because the book of Isaiah is part of the Word of God, every word is true and accurate whether it deals with events that were contemporary with the prophet Isaiah or with future events. Jesus was judged by Pontius Pilate. Jesus was put into prison and then taken from prison to be put to death. Isaiah 53:8 reminds us one more time just exactly why Jesus died: “for the transgression of my people.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 53:9, “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” The statement that Jesus “made his grave with the wicked” is probably a reference to the fact that Jesus was crucified with two criminals. On the hill of Calvary there were three crosses. Two men were given the death penalty, and they hung there on each side of Christ. But in their midst was the holy and innocent Son of God. The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost arranged for Jesus to be crucified with these sinners in order to be symbolic of the fact that Jesus came to identify with sinners and to take their sin upon Himself. That is why Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized in water. John gave to sinners the baptism that was based upon repentance from sin. Jesus did no sin, and yet He took the baptism of repentance. Jesus identified Himself with sinners at the beginning of His ministry in His baptism, and Jesus identified Himself with sinners at the end of His ministry in His crucifixion.

“He made his grave with the wicked.” And he made his grave “with the rich in his death.” This undoubtedly refers to the fact that Jesus, being penniless, was nevertheless buried in a rich man’s grave. The Bible says in Matthew 27:57-60, “When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.” Jesus died and then rose again. You also will die. Trust in Jesus as your Savior while you have time.

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