Isaiah 53:4
Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.
Sermons
Messiah Suffering and Wounded for UsJohn Newton Isaiah 53:4
The Suffering Servant -- IiAlexander MaclarenIsaiah 53:4
A Faithful Minister's SorrowJ. Durham.Isaiah 53:1-12
A Heavy Complaint and LamentationT. Boston, M.A.Isaiah 53:1-12
Christ in IsaiahF. Sessions.Isaiah 53:1-12
Christ Preached, But RejectedIsaiah 53:1-12
Christ Rejected in Our TimeIsaiah 53:1-12
Divine Power Necessary for Believing the Gospel ReportT. Boston, M. A.Isaiah 53:1-12
Do the Prophets BelieveJ. Parker, D.D.Isaiah 53:1-12
Evidences of Non-SuccessT. Boston, M. A.Isaiah 53:1-12
Gentile Prejudice Against ChristIsaiah 53:1-12
Jewish Prejudice Against ChristIsaiah 53:1-12
Ministerial SolicitudeEssex Congregational RemembrancerIsaiah 53:1-12
Preaching and HearingJ. Durham.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Arm of God and Human FaithF. B. Meyer, B. A.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Arm of the LordJ. Parker, D.D.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Arm of the Lord RevealedJ. Durham.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Credibility and Importance of the Gospel ReportJ. Lathrop, D.D.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Gospel-ReportT. Boston, M. A.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Jewish Nation a Vicarious SuffererA. Crawford, M.A.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Jewish Nation was a Type of ChristA. Crawford, M.A.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Jews and Messianic ProphecyIsaiah 53:1-12
The Little Success of the Gospel Matter of LamentationT. Boston, M. A.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Messiah Referred to in Isaiah 53R.W. Moss, D.D.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Might of the Saving Arm, and How to Obtain ItF. B. Meyer, B.A.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Monarch in DisguiseC. Clemance, D.D.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Necessity of FaithJ. Durham.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Offer of Christ in the GospelJ. Durham.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Prevalence of UnbeliefE. Cooper.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Rarity of Believing the Gospel-ReportT. Boston, M. A.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Servant and IsraelA. B. Davidson, D.D.Isaiah 53:1-12
The Suffering SaviourIsaiah 53:1-12
A Sad ConfessionCanon Cook., T.R. BirksIsaiah 53:3-7
Aversion to ChristG. F, Pentecost, D. D.Isaiah 53:3-7
Christ a Man of SorrowsE. Payson, D. D.Isaiah 53:3-7
Christ as a SuffererJ. Stalker, D.D.Isaiah 53:3-7
Christ Despised and Rejected of MenR. Walker.Isaiah 53:3-7
Christ RejectedH. Allon, D.D.Isaiah 53:3-7
Christ the Man of SorrowsEvan Lewis, B.A.Isaiah 53:3-7
Christ's Great Capacity for SufferingH. O. Mackey.Isaiah 53:3-7
Christ's Life a Model for His PeopleC. H. Parkhurst, D. D.Isaiah 53:3-7
Designed and RejectedJ. Higgins.Isaiah 53:3-7
Despised and Rejected of MenS. H. Tindall.Isaiah 53:3-7
FailureC. G. Lang.Isaiah 53:3-7
Failure May be WelcomedC. G. Lang.Isaiah 53:3-7
Handel's MessiahJ. Higgins.Isaiah 53:3-7
Lessons from the Manner of Christ's AppearingH. Allon, D.D.Isaiah 53:3-7
Our Lord's Life Lived in ShadowIsaiah 53:3-7
Sir Noel Paton's Man of SorrowsD. Davies.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Art of Seeing the SpiritualH. Allon, D.D.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Causes of Christ's SorrowsH. Allon, D. D.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Christ-Life in the ChristianC. H. Parkhurst, D. D.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Despised SaviourR. C. Ford, M.A.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Human Race Typified by the Man of SorrowsF. W. Robertson, M.A.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Man of SorrowsIsaiah 53:3-7
The Man of SorrowsRay Palmer, D.D.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Mean Appearance of the Redeemer ForetoldT. Sherlock, D.D.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Mystery of SorrowW. J. KnoxLittle, M.A.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Problems of Life Involve SorrowC. H. Parkhurst, D. D.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Sorrow of LoveC. H. Parkhurst, D. D.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Sorrow of Strained PowersC. H. Parkhurst, D. D.Isaiah 53:3-7
The Suffering ChristIsaiah 53:3-7
The World's Regard for the OutwardH. Allen, D.D.Isaiah 53:3-7
Man's Thoughts of God's SuffererR. Tuck Isaiah 53:4, 5
The Divine Account of the Sufferings of ChristW. Clarkson Isaiah 53:4, 5
Christ the Burden-BearerC. Clemance, D. D.Isaiah 53:4-6
Christ's Love and Man's UnthankfulnessIsaiah 53:4-6
Jesus, Smitten of GodJr. R Macduff, D.D.Isaiah 53:4-6
Luther and BunyanA. Crauford, M.A.Isaiah 53:4-6
Poisons as TonicsA. Crauford, M.A.Isaiah 53:4-6
RedemptionR. V. Pryce, M.A., LL.B.Isaiah 53:4-6
Sadder and Mysterious Aspects of Vicarious SufferingA. Crauford, M.A.Isaiah 53:4-6
Society an OrganismA. Crauford, M.A.Isaiah 53:4-6
StrickenProf. J. Skinner, D.D.Isaiah 53:4-6
The Death of Christ a Propitiation for SinJ. Mason, M.A.Isaiah 53:4-6
The Failure of One the Gain of AnotherA. Crauford, M.A.Isaiah 53:4-6
The Mystery of Our Lord's SufferingsR. Tuck, B.A.Isaiah 53:4-6
The Pressure of the Burden on GodJ. B. Brown, B. A.Isaiah 53:4-6
The Servant of the Lard Pictured as a LeperProf. J. Skinner, D.D.Isaiah 53:4-6
The Suffering Servant of JehovahE. Johnson Isaiah 53:4-6
The World's Majestic FailuresA. Crauford, M.A.Isaiah 53:4-6
Vicarious Sacrifice in the Intellectual WorldA. Crauford, M.A.Isaiah 53:4-6
Vicarious Sacrifice of ChristW. H. Lewis, D.D.Isaiah 53:4-6
Vicarious SufferingA. Crauford, M.A.Isaiah 53:4-6
Vicarious SufferingA. Crauford, M.A.Isaiah 53:4-6














I. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE SUFFERING. It depicts, by simple force of language, its extreme intensity - not a suffering springing from internal weakness of nature, and so withering and dying like a lamp for want of oil, but "like a torch in its full flame bent and ruffled, and at length blown out by the breath of a north wind." It was a diffused suffering, according to the expression of the psalmist, "like water in his bowels, or oil in his bones." "In his person we may see grief in its height and supremacy, triumphant, crowned and arrayed in purple, grief reigning and doing the utmost that it was able." In proportion to the fineness of the nature is the sensitiveness, and in proportion to the sensitiveness, the capacity for suffering. In these words, "stricken, pierced, afflicted, crushed, beaten with stripes," we have a cumulation of strong touches in the picture. Add to this, "smitten of God." The allusion is said to be to leprosy, regarded as a punishment for grievous sin (Numbers 12:9, 10; 2 Kings 15:5; Psalm 51:7). "The measure of every passion is the operation of the agent. We must not measure the Divine strokes by the proportion of those blows which are inflicted by the greatest and most exasperated mortal. Every blow inflicted by the fiercest tyrant can reach no further than the body, and the body is but the dwelling-place, not any part, of the soul. None can reach the conscience but he who made it. God is able, merely by letting a few drops of his wrath fall upon the guilty conscience, so to scald with a lively sense of sin, that the man shall live a continual terror to himself. His own breast shall echo peals of vengeance to him every hour. Suffering must needs be grievous when infinite justice passes sentence, and infinite power does execution" (South). An "unparalleled greatness" of suffering is, then, here indicated.

II. THE VICARIOUS NATURE OF THE SUFFERING. He bore our sicknesses; "the first of twelve distinct assertions in this one chapter of the vicarious character of the sufferings of the Servant." They are "because of our rebellions" and of "our iniquities." The punishment which is the means of "our peace" and welfare fell upon him; we have been healed through his stripes. The iniquity of all has been made to light upon him. "As the avenger of blood pursues the murderer, so punishment by an inner necessity overtakes the sinner (Psalm 40:12; Numbers 32:23; cf. Deuteronomy 27:15). And inasmuch as the Servant, by Jehovah's will, has made himself the Substitute of the Jewish nation, it follows that the punishment of the latter must fall upon him." After all that has been written for ages upon this difficult subject of vicarious suffering or punishment, there remain difficulties not to be surmounted by our reason. How can punishment be transferred? How can the suffering due to the sinner be imposed upon an innocent person? How can any honest mind admit such a confusion of relation, even were it offered, as a means of escape from penalty? The answers to these questions are given in poetic metaphors, and analogies which do not reach to the heart of the matter, and forensic quibbles which are not lovely in connection with spiritual matters. For all that, there is something the heart of all men fixes upon as lovely, Divine, adorable, in the idea of a man laying down his life for his brethren, a patriot for his country. Much of this deep feeling enters into the old legends, often of a woman - an Alkestis, a Makaria, an Hesione; often of a man - a son of Mesa, King of Moab, a Menoikeus, a Curtius. If we begin to criticize, we lose the sense and spirit of these sweet stories. So with the great tradition of the Servant of Jehovah, and with the still greater tradition by which our lives and hearts have been formed.

III. APPLICATION. Every Christian thinks of Christ when he reads these beautiful words. Who but he can inspire us with the willingness to "crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts"? "Nature, indeed, cannot, will not, prompt it; but Christianity, which rises many strains above nature, must and will. The best sacrifice to a crucified Saviour is a crucified lust, a bleeding heart, and a dying corruption. Let the ambitious man lay his pride in the dust, the covetous man deposit his treasures in the banks of charity and liberality, and let the voluptuous epicure renounce his cups and his whores, - and this will be a present to Heaven better than a whole hecatomb; nor could the fruit of his body fall so grateful a sacrifice upon God's altar as the sin of his soul" (South). - J.

Surely He hath borne our griefs.
I. CHRIST'S LOVE.

1. The certainty of what is averred of Christ: "Surely."

2. The acts of Christ's obedience, set forth in two words: He hath "borne," He hath "carried."

3. The objects. They are "griefs," "sorrows."

II. MAN'S UNTHANKFULNESS, in censuring Christ and despising Him; and there consider —

1. The persons: "We."

2. The guilt. Esteeming Christ stricken and smitten of God.

( T. Manton, D.D.)

My positions are these —

1. The Lord — electing to perpetuate the sinful race, to endure all the sorrow which Heaven would look upon, and the question which would fall upon His government through the existence of a world so full of wrong and wretchedness, in a universe whose order was his charge — stooped at once, in infinite, tender pity, to lift the burden, and to become a fellow-wayfarer in the sorrowful pilgrimage to which man had doomed himself by his sin. Suffering sin to live on and reproduce itself, with all its bitter fruits, in the universe which He made to be so blest, He needs must become its sacrifice; making the atonement for the sin which He did not on the moment crush, and bearing the burden of the sorrow which He did not at once destroy. And this is Divine love. It must share the sorrow which it allows to live on, though the fountain of the sorrow be a sin which he hates; it must lift and bear the burden which most righteous necessities lay heavily upon erring souls. We none of us know, even dimly, what is meant by "Emmanuel," "God with us. God always with us, incarnate from the hour when He announced Himself as the woman's seed, and the destroyer of her foe. God with us, our fellow in all the dread experience into which our sharing in the sin of Adam has driven us; knowing Himself the full pressure of its burdens, and infinitely more nearly touched than we are by everything that concerns the dark, sad history of mankind.

2. The fellowship of God with the race in the very hour of the transgression infused at once a tincture of hope into the experience of the sinner, and made it, from the first, a discipline unto life instead of a judgment unto death.

3. This first promise to man, this fellowship of God with the sinning, suffering race, whose existence He perpetuated, pledged Him to the sacrifice of Calvary, the baptism of Pentecost, and the abiding of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, with the world.

(J. B. Brown, B. A.)

There are two questions which here suggest themselves —

I. WHAT BURDENS PRESSED ON CHRIST, WHICH COULD NOT HAVE BEEN HIS, UNLESS HE HAD TAKEN THEM UP?

1. By His incarnation He inserted Himself into our race, and by assuming our own nature, He felt whatever sorrows press on man as man

2. By His position He represented our race. As the Son of God, He is Heaven's representative on earth. As the Son of Man, He is our Great High Priest, to intercede with Heaven. Thus all earth's spiritual concerns rested on Him. Could such a work be entrusted to man, and He-be otherwise than "a man of sorrows"?

3. By His own personal sympathy He so felt for man, that He made the sorrows of others His own. His was no heartless officialism.

4. By suffering and sorrow, Christ not only discloses His own human sympathy, but by reason of the two-foldness of His nature, that human sympathy was an incarnation of the Divine!

5. But we have to take one more step, in accounting for the burden which lay upon Christ. He came, "not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life, a ransom for many."

II. WHAT BURDENS DO NOT REST UPON US, THAT MUST HAVE BEEN OURS IF CHRIST HAD NOT BORNE THEM AWAY?

1. The burden of unatoned guilt rests on none! "Behold the Lamb of God that beareth away the sin of the world!"

2. The burden of hopeless corruption of nature need rest on none. When the Son of God came to be a sacrifice for us, He came to be also a Living Root in us. He allied Himself with human weakness, and joined it to His almightiness, that in Him that weakness might be lost, and be substituted by "everlasting strength."

3. The burden of unshared sorrows rests on none. Does our sorrow arise from the sin without us? That pressed more heavily on Christ than ever it can do on us. Does it come from personal trial? Christ's were far heavier than ours. Does it come from the temptations of Satan? He was in all points tempted like as we are. But perhaps it may be said, "By reason of the infirmities of the flesh, I am betrayed into impatience, murmuring and fretfulness and I cannot feel that Christ has lifted off that burden, for I am sure Christ never felt any fretfulness or impatience, and so He cannot sympathize with mine." But, strange as it may seem at first sight, it is just here that the perfection of Christ's sympathy is seen. In this last-named course of sorrow there is a mixture of what is frail with what is wrong. But since Christ's nature was untainted by sin, He can draw exactly the line between infirmity and sin, which sinful natures cannot do. Now, we do not want, and we ought not to wish for sympathy with the wrong, but only with weakness and frailty. How does Christ, then, meet this complex case! Distinguishing most clearly between the two, He looks on the infirmity, and has for it a fulness of pity; He discerns the sin, and has for that fulness of power to forgive it, and fulness of grace to remove it! "In that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted."

4. The burden of dreaded death need rest on none. Christ passed through death that He might deliver them who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage.

5. The great burden of the destiny of the human race rests not on us. Christ has taken that up.

(C. Clemance, D. D.)

Two things are asserted —

I. THAT THE MESSIAH SHOULD SUFFER NOT FOR HIS OWN SINS, BUT FOR OURS (vers. 4-5). This indeed is what His enemies would deny, esteeming Him "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted," for His own sins, His imposture, usurpation and blasphemy. But if we peruse the history of His life we shall find that the sum of all they had to lay to His charge was His presuming to act in a character which really did (but which they would not believe did) belong to him: that the whole course of His behaviour exemplified the most perfect integrity of heart and life, and showed Him to be the spotless Lamb of God, in whom there was no sin. Hence it follows that He must have suffered for the sins of others.

1. Some have put this gloss upon the words, "He was wounded for" — i.e., (they say) "by our transgressions," and "bruised by our iniquities." Or, that it was owing to the sins of the Jews that He suffered so much as He did. It was their malice, unrighteousness and envy that was the cause of all His suffering. But this construction is not only apparently forced, but is confuted by the whole scope and tenor of the prophecy. For He is not said to be smitten by the Jews, but for them; nay, that He was smitten of God for them, for it was "the Lord that laid on Him the punishment of their iniquities.

2. Others say that He bore our sins by imputation, and was wounded for our transgressions, because our transgressions were imputed to Him, or reckoned as His. But you will say, perhaps, "Were not our sins then imputed to Christ?" I answer, I find no fault with the word, provided it be rightly understood and explained. If by "imputation" be meant, that our sins were actually made over or transferred to Him, so as to become His, I do not see how this can be conceived possible. "But might they not be reckoned His?" No, for that would be to reckon them what they were not, and what it was impossible they should be. But if by our sins being "imputed" to Christ be understood no more than that the punishment thereof was actually laid upon Him, this is easily conceived, and readily granted: that is what the sacred Scriptures everywhere say. If anything further be necessary to illustrate this affair, we may explain it by the case of the propitiatory sacrifices under the law, all which pointed at or prefigured the great Christian sacrifice under the Gospel. Those piacular victims were of Divine appointment. The sin-offerings, over the heads of which the priest was to confess the sins of the people, were substituted in the room of the offenders, and died instead of those sinners for whom they were offered. The sins of the people were not transferred over to the victim, but the victim was slain for the sins of the people. Leviticus 16:21, 22 must of necessity be taken in a figurative construction: because the sins of a man can in no other sense be transferred to, or laid upon a beast, than by transferring upon it the punishment of them.

3. Others there are who acknowledge that Christ died for us, meaning thereby that He died for our sakes or for our good, and to set us a perfect example of patience and submission under sufferings; but not for our sins, or in our room and stead. But if Christ died for us as our Sacrifice, or as the sacrifices under the law died for the offenders (as He certainly did if they were proper types of Him), then He must have died in our room, and as substituted in our place.

4. Others think, that all those places of Scripture which speak of Christ's death as a "propitiation are to be explained in a figurative sense: that the apostles borrowed those sacrifical terms from the Jewish law, and applied them to the death of Christ, only by way of accommodation or analogy, not that the blood of Christ did really and properly expiate or atone for sin, any more than that of the Jewish sacrifices; but that He only died for us as a pledge to assure us that God would pardon and accept us upon our repentance. To which it may suffice to say, that the apostle does not speak of the death of Christ merely by way of analogy to the Jewish sacrifices, but as typified, represented and prefigured by them (Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 9:13, 14; Hebrews 10:4).

II. THAT THE GREAT END AND DESIGN OF CHRIST'S SUFFERING FOR OUR SINS, WAS TO MAKE OUR PEACE WITH GOD. "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him," etc. These words plainly intimate to us the way whereby our peace is made with God, viz. by our justification and sanctification.

(J. Mason, M.A.)

In these words Isaiah declares the end of Christ's sufferings. The Jews, who put Him to death, did "esteem Him smitten of God," that is, crucified according to the will of God, for attempting to turn away men from the law of Moses. And, to this day, they speak of Jesus as one who suffered according to the law of God, for seducing the Israelites from the faith of their forefathers. The prophet gives a different view of Christ's death. Instead of dying for His own sins, He was wounded for our transgressions.

1. There is no passage of Scripture in which the substitution of Christ's sufferings, in place of those of the sinner, is more clearly revealed than in our text.

2. All agree that men are sinners, and that sin deserves punishment. But when we come to ask how it may be forgiven, and for what consideration God forgives it, we begin to differ. The Trinitarian doctrine is, that the eternal Son of God, the uncreated, and equal with the Father, became incarnate, and suffered the punishment of our sins, as our Substitute; and that for the sake of what He has done, we may be forgiven. They who are opposed to us, on the other hand, believe that Christ, a created being, but still so very exalted that He may be called a God — yet not the supreme God — took our nature upon Him, that He might teach men a purer religion than was ever before known, and set before them a perfect example, and thus draw them away from their sins; so that He saves us from our sins, not by atoning for them, but just as any merely good man does, who so teaches and practises as to lead men from sin to holiness. While engaged in this work, they assert further, that the Jews seized upon the Saviour and put Him to death; and Jesus, to show that He was persuaded of the truth of what He had taught, gave Himself up to die, just as Latimer and Ridley sealed their testimony with their blood; and that thus Christ may be said to have died for us, because He met His death in seeking to do us good. Some go a little further, and believe that God was so pleased with the holy life, and the martyr-death of His Son, that for His sake He is graciously inclined to forgive sin, just as the good conduct of one child may procure favours for an erring brother, for whom he pleads. They expect to be saved through their repentance, by the mercy of God; we expect salvation through the alone merits of the suffering Son of God.

3. Now let us go on to see how this great doctrine of our Church is sustained by Scripture.

4. But again, we ask attention to the fact, that Christ's sufferings were not so much from man as from God, not bodily so much as of the soul. How do we account for this? If He was seized upon by the Jews, and died merely as a martyr, would God have withdrawn His presence from Him in His last agonies Would He not then have had, as other good men have had, the brightest views of the Divine presence and comfort? But it was just the reverse. "The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all." "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him." It is said God made Christ's soul, not His body alone, an offering for sin; it was foretold that it should be mental, not merely corporal suffering, that He should endure. And such, in fact, was the case.

5. How can these facts be explained on the Unitarian system?

(W. H. Lewis, D.D.)

I. THE NEED (ver. 6). Sheep, but astray; through following their own inclinations. Divine pity is on the selfish and the lost.

II. THE MEANS.

1. The reality of the redemption seen in the fact that Christ died. He did not die for His own sin; "I am innocent of the blood of this just man," said His judge. He did not die through His own feebleness; "I have power to lay down My life," etc., said Christ. He did not die by accident; "the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all:" it was the will of the Father, and foretold, and a fact.

2. The form of the redemption.(1) The humiliation of Christ. The humiliation of Christ teaches the intensity of sin. Where sin is not felt His humiliation is misunderstood. "We did esteem Him stricken," etc.(2) The substitution of Christ. The substitution of Christ teaches the wealth in our redemption; where Christ is not known in His Divine nature the riches of salvation not fully appreciated.

III. THE EFFECT (ver. 5).

1. Sin atoned for, iniquity borne away.

2. Peace. "The chastisement of our. peace was upon Him." "Being justified by faith we have peace."

3. Healing. We are free from sin to be the servants of God. The depth of His love the measure of our obligation. As that cannot be fathomed our obligation can never be fully realized.

(R. V. Pryce, M.A., LL.B.)

Great is the power of vicarious suffering in its endless varieties. By the struggles and the obstinate questionings of deep souls the world of ordinary men is redeemed and elevated. It is by His suffering prophets that God most truly saves the world. By the untold miseries of Job, by the deep grief of Isaiah, by the piercing sorrows of Paul, by the weary restlessness of Augustine, by the fiery agonies of Luther, by the sore trials of John Bunyan, by the spiritual travail of Wesley and Whitfield, by the brave endurance of Theodore Parker, by the torn heart of Robertson of Brighton, by the manifold diquietudes and internal gloom of the great army of bewildered doubters and baffled pioneers — by all these we have been led from the house of bondage and the city of destruction, from the valley of the shadow of death, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

(A. Crauford, M.A.)

Luther and Bunyan: — By their "agony and bloody sweat." it is given to sympathetic souls in every age to deliver the world to some extent. Thus by the stripes of Luther John Bunyan was healed. From Luther's commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians Bunyan received peace and victory.

(A. Crauford, M.A.)

with its far-reaching influence, pervades the whole world. Assuredly this is not due to any after-thought of God. It is an essential part of the original arrangement. "No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

(A. Crauford, M.A.)

The English Deists certainly erred in rejecting the true inner meaning of the doctrine of salvation by vicarious suffering. The Deists did not realize the truth that society is an organism. And our perception of this fact in the present day enables us to appreciate the real meaning of the doctrine of vicarious suffering. This truth shines all the more clearly, owing to the light of modern science, which has discredited the old Deism even more effectually than Bishop Butler did.

(A. Crauford, M.A.)

Some of these aspects are so unspeakably sad that it is only in the light of a future life that I can bear to gaze upon them. We do but skim over the surface of the deep mystery of vicarious suffering, unless we recognize the fact that the spiritual world is full of wasted lives, of marvellous abortions, of grand and heroic failures, of illustrious scapegoats dying in the bleak wilderness of ignominy and defeat, bearing away the sins of the many, and yet by them misunderstood, condemned, and anathematized. In many respects these outcast scapegoats of the spiritual world are the truest saviours of our race, though by commonplace religionists they "are numbered with the transgressors," and die unhealed and unredeemed, and "make their graves with the wicked."

(A. Crauford, M.A.)

are a sorrowful hint of God's inexhaustible resources.

(A. Crauford, M.A.)

I suppose that no thoughtful person would think of denying the fact that predestined failure is the lot of many noble natures here on earth. They are stepping-stones on which others "rise to higher things." Of each of them we might truly, affirm that he is thus addressed by others, "Bow down, that we may go over. And, in meek obedience, he complies; so that we write concerning him, "And thou hast laid thy body on the ground, and as the street to them that went over." Such souls are scapegoats of the race, bearing away the deficiencies and the sins of many into the wilderness of isolation, despondency, and disaster. They drink to the very dregs the cup of ancestral sinfulness, and their brethren thereby escape that fatal heritage of the soul. It seems as if it were necessary that they should be lost, in order that others may be saved. Consciously or unconsciously, they suck out the poison from the wounds of the human race.

(A. Crauford, M.A.)

I In the intellectual world it is often expedient that one man should be sacrificed for the race. For instance, David Hume's total want of spirituality, though extremely injurious to him individually, was probably highly beneficial to the race in one way, viz. by showing to what monstrous conclusions intellect by itself was likely to lead. And the very infirmities and aberrations of the intellect, in some men, are full of instruction for the race at large. Unrestrained imagination often mars or destroys the life of its possessor, as did that of Rousseau, but adds much to the world's abiding mental wealth.

(A. Crauford, M.A.)

The spiritual poisons of individuals are often turned into tonics for the race.

(A. Crauford, M.A.)

Stricken, smitten of God
Smitten as with a loathsome leprosy — the curse-mark of judicial vengeance upon Him, for so it is rendered by St. , We thought Him to be a leper.

(Jr. R Macduff, D.D.)

is the expression used when God visits a man with severe and sudden sickness (Genesis 12:17; 1 Samuel 6:9), especially leprosy, which was regarded as pre-eminently the "stroke" of God's hand (Job 19:21; 2 Kings 15:5; Leviticus 13:3, 9, 20), and the direct consequence of sin.

(Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)

That the Servant is pictured as a leper is suggested by several particulars in the description, such as His marred and disfigured form, and His isolation from human society, as well as the universal conviction of His contemporaries that He was a special object of the Divine wrath; and the impression is confirmed by the parallel case of Job, the typical righteous sufferer, whose disease was elephantiasis, the most hideous form of leprosy. It has to be borne in mind, of course, that the figure of the Servant is, in some sense, an ideal creation of the prophet s mind, so that the leprosy is only a strong image for such sufferings as are the evidence of God's wrath against sin.

(Prof. J. Skinner, D.D.)

I. THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS — MAN'S EXPLANATION OF IT. "We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted." And it is impossible to say that this is other than a fair view to take from man's position and with man's knowledge.

1. Let us try and realize the process of mind in a man who was told of Christ's sufferings and death, but had no knowledge of His personal innocence; no conception of Him as the "spotless One," separate from sinners. Such a man would only decide that He was "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." To such a man it would be plain enough that God has established an immediate connection between sin and suffering. And yet we know, we feel, that this explanation of the mystery of our Lord's sufferings is insufficient and incorrect. It does not lift the veil. It is altogether too commonplace. Good enough if Christ were a fellow-man. Worthless — nay, wholly wrong — if He be the spotless Lamb of God; if He be the Son of God with power.

2. Then let us try to realize the process of mind in a man who has some knowledge of Christ's life, and especially of His personal innocence, as one who "did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." Such a man might say, Christ's sufferings were a specially and extraordinary Divine judgment. "He was smitten of God." Such a knowledge of Christ's life would convince the man that Jesus must have been a most amiable and excellent person, an obedient Son, a loving Friend, a gentle-hearted Brother; one who could claim to be a firm and wise moral Teacher. The man would feel sure that the influence of such an one as Jesus must have been very great upon His age. The fast departing moral life of Judaism ought to have had its flickering flame fanned afresh by the presence and teachings of such a Master-Spirit. And then, as he saw Him despised, persecuted, and at last put to the ignominious slave's death of the cross, what could he think about it all But this? It was a sad calamity, one of those mysterious Divine judgments that seem to come in every age, and puzzle sorely the sons of men. Man can only say of the sufferer — "Smitten of God." In this way a man might fairly regard the innocent Jesus. Nay; this, too, is insufficient; it is but the beginning of an explanation. A calamity! Yes, but only a seeming calamity, seeing that by dying He conquered death, "led captivity captive," and "opened the kingdom of heaven you to all-believers." "Man cannot of himself explain the mystery of Christ's sufferings. But he can be humble, and. learn so much of the mystery as God may be pleased to reveal.

II. THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS — GOD'S EXPLANATION OF IT. "He was wounded for our transgressions," etc.

1. We may first notice that God sustains man's view, that the sufferings of Christ were His appointment; but He further declares that they were an unusual and altogether singular appointment.

2. Then God's explanation declares that the sufferings of Christ bore no relation whatever to His own guilt.

3. God affirms, further, that Christ suffered as the Representative or Substitute, for others. Is it any wonder that an absorbing love should grow in our souls toward this vicariously-suffering Saviour? In the restoration of man to the Divine favour; in the great and gracious work of "reconciliation," we can recognize three stages —(1) A loving purpose cherished in the deep heart of the Holy Father, that He would recover, deliver, and save His lost, rebellious, prodigal children.(2) That Divine and loving purpose effectually wrought out by God s well-beloved and only begotten Son, in His incarnate life, labours, sufferings, sacrifice and death.(3) The third stage is yet incomplete. It is the voluntary and hearty acceptance, by the long sought children, of the redemption thus gloriously wrought for them.

(R. Tuck, B.A.)

People
Isaiah
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Afflicted, Bear, Bore, Borne, Carried, Considered, Diseased, Diseases, Esteem, Esteemed, God's, Griefs, Infirmities, Ourselves, Pain, Pains, Plagued, Punishment, Regard, Seemed, Sickness, Sicknesses, Smitten, Sorrows, Stricken, Struck, Suffering, Surely, Whereas, Yet
Outline
1. The prophet, complaining of incredulity, excuses the scandal of the cross
4. By the benefit of his passion
10. And the good success thereof

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 53:4

     2206   Jesus, the Christ
     2351   Christ, miracles
     2422   gospel, confirmation
     4906   abolition
     5802   care
     5952   sorrow
     7440   scapegoat
     7773   prophets, role

Isaiah 53:2-4

     5879   humiliation

Isaiah 53:2-7

     2036   Christ, humility

Isaiah 53:3-4

     5567   suffering, emotional

Isaiah 53:3-5

     5568   suffering, causes
     8276   humility

Isaiah 53:3-7

     5564   suffering, of Christ

Isaiah 53:3-10

     2354   Christ, mission

Isaiah 53:3-12

     5426   news
     8356   unselfishness

Isaiah 53:4-5

     5127   back
     5297   disease
     5298   doctors
     5333   healing

Isaiah 53:4-6

     2424   gospel, promises
     6684   mediator
     6750   sin-bearer
     6752   substitution

Isaiah 53:4-11

     2315   Christ, as Lamb

Isaiah 53:4-12

     1680   types
     6616   atonement, in OT

Library
October 7. "He Opened not his Mouth" (Isa. Liii. 7).
"He opened not His mouth" (Isa. liii. 7). How much grace it requires to bear a misunderstanding rightly, and to receive an unkind judgment in holy sweetness! Nothing tests a Christian character more than to have some evil thing said about him. This is the file that soon proves whether we are electro-plate or solid gold. If we could only know the blessings that lie hidden in our lives, we would say, like David, when Shimei cursed him, "Let him curse; it may be the Lord will requite me good for his
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Suffering Servant --iv
'It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.'--ISAIAH liii. 10. We have seen a distinct progress of thought in the preceding verses. There was first the outline of the sorrows and rejection of the Servant; second, the profound explanation of these as being for us; third, the sufferings, death and burial of the Servant. We have
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Suffering Servant --V
'He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; and He shall bear their iniquities'--ISAIAH liii. 11. These are all but the closing words of this great prophecy, and are the fitting crown of all that has gone before. We have been listening to the voice of a member of the race to whom the Servant of the Lord belonged, whether we limit that to the Jewish people or include in it all humanity. That voice has been confessing
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Suffering Servant --vi
'Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.'--ISAIAH liii. 12. The first clause of this verse is somewhat difficult. There are two ways of understanding it. One is that adopted in A. V., according to which the suffering Servant is represented as equal to the greatest conquerors.
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Suffering Servant-I
'For He grew up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3. He was despised, and rejected of men, a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and as one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.'--ISAIAH liii, 2, 3. To hold fast the fulfilment of this prophecy of the Suffering Servant in Jesus it is not necessary to deny its reference to Israel.
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Suffering Servant-ii
'Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5. 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. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid (made to light) on Him the iniquity of us all.'--ISAIAH liii. 4-6. The note struck lightly in the close of the preceding
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Messiah Despised, and Rejected of Men
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief. T he heathen moralists, ignorant of the character and perfections of God, the true dignity and immorality of the soul, and the root and extent of human depravity, had no better foundation, for what they call virtue, than pride; no higher aim in their regulations, than the interests of society, and the conduct of civil life. They expressed, indeed, occasionally, some sentiments of a superior kind; but these, however just
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Sin Charged Upon the Surety
All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. C omparisons, in the Scripture, are frequently to be understood with great limitation: perhaps, out of many circumstances, only one is justly applicable to the case. Thus, when our Lord says, Behold, I come as a thief (Revelation 16:15) , --common sense will fix the resemblance to a single point, that He will come suddenly, and unexpectedly. So when wandering sinners
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Messiah's Innocence vindicated
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. L et not plain Christians be stumbled because there are difficulties in the prophetical parts of the Scriptures, and because translators and expositors sometimes explain them with some difference, as to the sense. Whatever directly relates to our faith, practice, and comfort, may be plainly collected from innumerable
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Messiah Suffering and Wounded for Us
Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: ..... 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. W hen our Lord was transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared in glory and conversed with Him. Had we been informed of the interview only, we should probably have desired to know the subject of their conversation, as we might reasonably suppose it turned upon very interesting and important
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

April the Second "On Him!"
"The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." --ISAIAH liii. Let me tell a dream which was given by night to one of my dearest friends. He beheld a stupendous range of glorious sun-lit mountains, with their lower slopes enfolded in white mist. "Lord," he cried, "I pray that I may dwell upon those heights!" "Thou must first descend into the vale," a voice replied. Into the vale he went. And down there he found himself surrounded with all manner of fierce, ugly, loathsome things. As he looked
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Religion a Weariness to the Natural Man.
"He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him."--Isaiah liii. 2. "Religion is a weariness;" such is the judgment commonly passed, often avowed, concerning the greatest of blessings which Almighty God has bestowed upon us. And when God gave the blessing, He at the same time foretold that such would be the judgment of the world upon it, even as manifested in the gracious Person of Him whom He sent to give it to us. "He hath no form nor
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Crucifixion.
"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 shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth."--Isaiah liii. 7. St. Peter makes it almost a description of a Christian, that he loves Him whom he has not seen; speaking of Christ, he says, "whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Again he speaks of "tasting that the
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

Of Justification by Christ
It has been objected by some, who dissent from, nay, I may add, by others also, who actually are friends to the present ecclesiastical establishment, that the ministers of the Church of England preach themselves, and not Christ Jesus the Lord; that they entertain their people with lectures of mere morality, without declaring to them the glad tidings of salvation by Jesus Christ. How well grounded such an objection may be, is not my business to inquire: All I shall say at present to the point is,
George Whitefield—Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

Expiation
Now, Jesus Christ has been made by God an offering for sin; and oh that to-night we may be able to do in reality what the Jew did in metaphor! May we put our hand upon the head of Christ Jesus; as we see him offered up upon the cross for guilty men, may we know that our sins are transferred to him, and may we be able to cry, in the ecstasy of faith, "Great God, I am clean; through Jesus' blood I am clean." I. In trying now to expound the doctrine of Christ's being an offering for sin, we will begin
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

Sin Laid on Jesus
I hear no dolorous wailings attending this confession of sin; for the next sentence makes it almost a song. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." It is the most grievous sentence of the three; but it is the most charming and the most full of comfort. Strange is it that where misery was concentrated mercy reigned, and where sorrow reached her climax there it is that a weary soul finds sweetest rest. The Savior bruised is the healing of bruised hearts. I want now to draw the hearts of
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 12: 1866

Our Expectation
But, my brothers, he is not dead. Some years ago, someone, wishing to mock our holy faith, brought out a handbill, which was plastered everywhere--"Can you trust in a dead man?" Our answer would have been, "No; nobody can trust in a man who is dead." But it was known by those who printed the bill that they were misrepresenting our faith. Jesus is no longer dead. He rose again the third day. We have sure and infallible proofs of it. It is an historical fact, better proved than almost any other which
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Death of Christ
Taking our text, then, as a guide, we propose to visit Calvary, hoping to have the help of the Holy Spirit whilst we look upon him who died upon the cross. I would have you notice this morning, first of all, the cause of Christ's death--"It pleased the Lord to bruise him." "It pleased Jehovah to bruise him," saith the original; "he hath put him to grief." Secondly, the reason of Christ's death--"When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin." Christ died because he was an offering for sin. And
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

The Friend of Sinners
Our text, in its threefold character, shows the intimate connection which exists between Jesus and sinners, for in none of its sentences is there meaning unless there be a sinner, and unless Christ has come into connection with him. It is this one point which I want to work out this morning, and may God bless it to many a sinner's troubled conscience. "He was numbered with the transgressors; he bare the sin of many, and he made intercession for the transgressors." It is for transgressors all the
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 8: 1863

Eighteenth Day. Patience.
"He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter."--Isa. liii, 7. How great was the patience of Jesus! Even among His own disciples, how forbearingly He endured their blindness, their misconceptions and hardness of heart! Philip had been for three years with Him, yet he had "not known Him!"--all that time he had remained in strange and culpable ignorance of his Lord's dignity and glory. See how tenderly Jesus bears with him; giving him nothing in reply for his confession of ignorance but unparalleled
John R. Macduff—The Mind of Jesus

List of Authorities
CHIEFLY USED IN WRITING THIS BOOK. Alford: Greek Testament. Von der Alm: Heidn. u. jüd. Urtheile über Jesu u. die alten Christen. Altingius: Dissertationes et Orationes. Apocrypha: S.P.C.K. Commentary on. The Apocryphal Gospels. Auerbach: Berith Abraham. Bacher: Die Agada der Babylon. Amoräer. Bäck: Geschichte des Jüd. Volkes u.seiner Literatur. Baedeker: Syrien u. Palästina. Bähr: Gesetz über Falsche Zeugen nach Bible u. Talmud. Barclay: City of the Great
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

What Messiah did the Jews Expect?
1. The most important point here is to keep in mind the organic unity of the Old Testament. Its predictions are not isolated, but features of one grand prophetic picture; its ritual and institutions parts of one great system; its history, not loosely connected events, but an organic development tending towards a definite end. Viewed in its innermost substance, the history of the Old Testament is not different from its typical institutions, nor yet these two from its predictions. The idea, underlying
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Consolations against Impatience in Sickness.
If in thy sickness by extremity of pain thou be driven to impatience, meditate-- 1. That thy sins have deserved the pains of hell; therefore thou mayest with greater patience endure these fatherly corrections. 2. That these are the scourges of thy heavenly Father, and the rod is in his hand. If thou didst suffer with reverence, being a child, the corrections of thy earthly parents, how much rather shouldst thou now subject thyself, being the child of God, to the chastisement of thy heavenly Father,
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Believe and be Saved
It is the Holy Spirit alone that can draw us to the cross and fasten us to the Saviour. He who thinks he can do without the Spirit, has yet to learn his own sinfulness and helplessness. The gospel would be no good news to the dead in sin, if it did not tell of the love and power of the divine Spirit, as explicitly as it announces the love and power of the divine Substitute. But, while keeping this in mind, we may try to learn from Scripture what is written concerning the bond which connects us individually
Horatius Bangs, D.D.—God's Way of Peace

Links
Isaiah 53:4 NIV
Isaiah 53:4 NLT
Isaiah 53:4 ESV
Isaiah 53:4 NASB
Isaiah 53:4 KJV

Isaiah 53:4 Bible Apps
Isaiah 53:4 Parallel
Isaiah 53:4 Biblia Paralela
Isaiah 53:4 Chinese Bible
Isaiah 53:4 French Bible
Isaiah 53:4 German Bible

Isaiah 53:4 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Isaiah 53:3
Top of Page
Top of Page