Who Is the Suffering Servant?: a Look at Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53 has come under intense scrutiny concerning the Messiahship of Y'shua (Jesus). The debate centers on one question: Is the servant described in passage Israel, or is it Y'shua? Let's see what the text says.

What the text says:

  1. The servant in Isaiah is portrayed as God's servant. (Isaiah 52:13)
  2. This servant "will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted (52:13)." It is important to note that these words are the same words used to describe Adonai as in Isaiah 6:1-3.
  3. The servant doesn't look successful at first (52:14-15).
  4. This scenario then becomes reversed. ". . . Kings will shut their mouths because of him" (52:15).
  5. The servant will "sprinkle many nations" (52:15).
  6. The servant's message is not accepted (53:1).
  7. The servant was rejected (53:2-3).
  8. The servant's suffering brings atonement. His suffering brings us peace and our iniquity is placed on him (53:4-6).
  9. The servant will submit to suffering (53:7).
  10. The servant will die (53:8).
  11. The servant will be raised to life, exalted, and richly rewarded (53:10-12).

Could this servant be Israel?

This servant is making atonement for God's people. Isaiah 53:11 goes on to state that "my righteous servant will justify many." If Israel has the problem that needs the atoning sacrifice, Israel cannot make the atonement for itself. This would violate a clear principle we find in Torah. Although something must die for one's sin, the sacrifice must be a substitute for oneself.
sheep

We all like sheep have gone astray. - Isaiah 53:6

It is important to note that the servant was "cut off from the land of the living" (verse 8). Like all guilt offerings (verse 10), the object which brings atonement had to die. That brings us to an important point. Even if Israel could atone for itself, when did it die? The nation of Israel, the Jewish people, has never died. Israel has not been cut off from the land of the living.

Isaiah 53 paints a picture of a servant who is obedient to God. Even though God is laying on him the iniquity of His people, the servant does not "open his mouth" (verse 8). Israel's history, current and biblical, has shone it, like everyone else, rebels from God's will. God compares Israel to a prostitute in the book of Hosea. Isaiah 6:5 also shows Israel had "unclean lips." Israel's offenses are many in God's sight (59:12). From Masada to the Warsaw ghetto uprising, history does show us that Israel does "open its mouth."

As we mentioned before, the life of the servant is a "guilt offering" or a "trespass offering" (53:9). In the Torah, a guilt offering had to be without blemish (Leviticus 6:6-7). The life of the servant is given as the offering, so that life must be perfect. Israel's life has not been perfect. Although all nations have sinned, this still disqualifies it from being a guilt offering.

Israel (and all humanity as well) has the problem. It must make atonement through a perfect guilt offering. We now see that the picture of the servant is a picture of a perfect person taking on our sin. It is the Redeemer of Israel, who "bore the sin of many" (53:12). Who could the servant be?
Click on here to see that the traditional Jewish interpretation of Isaiah 53 does not leave room for Israel. Even the rabbis of old have identified the servant as the Messiah of Israel.

Could this servant be Y'shua?

  1. "He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted."
    "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man(Y'shua) must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." - John 3:14-15
  2. "He was pierced for our transgressions." - Isaiah 53:5
    "there they crucified him. . ." - Luke 23:33
  3. "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth." - Isaiah 53:7
    "When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate asked him, 'Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?' But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge-to the great amazement of the governor." - Matthew 27:12-14
  4. "By oppression and judgment he was taken away." - Isaiah 53:8
    Look to Mark 14:48-65 for a fulfillment.
  5. "For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken." - Isaiah 53:8
    "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Messiah died for us." - Romans 5:8
  6. "He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death . . ." - Isaiah 53:9
    "Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left." - Matthew 27:38
    ". . . he gave the body to Joseph [a man of wealth]. So Joseph brought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock." - Mark 15:45-46
  7. "...thought he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth." - Isaiah 53:9
    "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
  8. "For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." - Isaiah 53:12
    "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." - John 1:29
    "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Messiah Y'shua, who gave himself as a ransom for all men-the testimony given in its proper time." - 1 Timothy 2:5
    Y'shua came to "be a ransom for many." - Matt. 20:28 and Mark 10:45

Furthermore, Isaiah 52:15 states that the servant "will sprinkle many nations." We know from the Torah that sprinkling was used in rituals that required cleansing and sanctification. The word for "nations" in Hebrew is goyim, meaning "gentiles." So we can see that this servant will also cleanse many Gentiles. We know that Y'shua has transformed and sanctified the lives of many Gentiles.

The further we study the passage, the clearer it is becoming. Y'shua is the perfect servant sent by God.

Written by Geoff Robinson.