53 Who hath believed our message and to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed? 2 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, 4 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 Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth" (Isa. 53:1-9).

Moses outlined the history of Israel from the time of the Exodus through the centuries to the Millennial Age (Lev., chap. 26). Her present worldwide dispersion is set forth in verses 34-39. In verse 39 Moses spoke of the last generation of Israel scattered among the nations, that will pine away in their iniquity and in the iniquities of their fathers. Then, in verse 40, the great lawgiver foretold the national confession of Israel which she shall make in the year 1945-plus. (In a definite year in the future Israel will make this confession. Since I do not know what year that will be, I call it 1945-plus.)

The prediction concerning this confession is found in the following words: "And they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary unto me, I also walked contrary unto them, and brought them into the land of their enemies: if then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity; then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land" (Lev. 26:40-42). Notice the facts that are stated in this quotation. The fathers of Israel commit a trespass against Jehovah when they are in the land. On account of this sin or iniquitous act, the Lord spews them out of the land of their fathers and scatters them among the nations. The last generation of the Hebrew nation scattered among the nations confesses its iniquity and the iniquity of its fathers. When this future generation makes that confession, the Lord remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then gathers them back into their own land. According to this prediction there was some definite, specific act committed by the fathers of Israel while they were still in the land. When they committed this wrong, God spewed them out and scattered them among the nations. When their descendants confess this one iniquitous act, which the fathers committed and of which they likewise are guilty, the Lord then gathers them back into their own land. One should note that Moses used the singular number, iniquity. The last generation of Israel confesses their share in that iniquity and also admits that the fathers committed that iniquitous act in trespassing against God. In this passage Moses does not tell us what that iniquitous act was or would be, but he shows us that the history of Israel and the well-being of the Chosen People are contingent upon the nation's confessing the guilty act and pleading for a restoration to divine favor. Could you, my friend, discover some one single act of wrong-doing that was committed by the Jewish fathers in Palestine and that was the occasion of God's spewing them out of the land? Remember, when they confess this, then Israel's fortunes will change instantly.

The prophet Hosea likewise referred to the same matter. In chapter 5:8-13 of his prophecy, Hosea spoke of transgressions of both Ephraim and Judah against the Lord, and of His punishing them and wounding them and of their being sick (spiritually, of course). They therefore turned to Assyria for help, but the prophet declares that healing cannot be obtained from that source.

Following the law of double reference--the blending the description of an event close at hand with the prophecy concerning one in the remote future--Hosea blended the prediction concerning the spiritual sickness and the wound which the Lord would inflict upon the Chosen People with one yet to occur in the more distant future: "For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly" (Hosea 5:14,15). These verses presuppose that Jehovah is present upon earth, Israel commits some sin against Him; therefore He like a lion, or young lion, tears the nation, goes away, returns to His place, and declares that He will never return till they acknowledge their offence and seek His face. In their affliction they will seek Him earnestly. When Messiah returns to heaven after having been mistreated by the nation, He remains there until Israel acknowledges her sin and seeks His face. According to the prediction she will seek Him in her affliction.

In the prediction which we have just been studying, we see the forecast that Israel will make this confession; but in Isaiah 53:1-9 we have the very confession which the people of Israel will make. Isaiah was carried forward by the Spirit and was set down in the midst of the last generation of Israel scattered among the nations. From this standpoint he makes the confession for the whole nation; in other words, he confesses for it. In doing so he shows the false conception that the nation has entertained concerning Messiah. This is shown in the first three verses, but in verses 4-9 the prophet speaking for Israel states the truth concerning Him.

That this is the confession which the nation in the year 1945-plus will make is clear from the fact that Isaiah in these verses acknowledges for Israel that He, the Messiah, received the stroke which was due to fall upon the Jewish race, and that by His stripes healing has been brought to her. The Jewish people as a race have never learned these facts, but they will, eventually, be taught them. Israel will be convinced of the error of her way and will acknowledge her mistaken views and will state the truth as she learns it. When the people of Israel thus make this confession and plead for Messiah to return, He will do so.

"Who hath believed our message? and to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed? 2 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 faces he was despised: and we esteemed him not" (Isa. 53:1-3).

In verse 1 of this passage we see that the people of Israel will, in amazement and in chagrin, ask: "Who hath believed our message? and to whom hath the arm of Jehovah been revealed?" It is most difficult to translate the Hebrew word rendered by "our message." This is in the passive voice and means that which we have heard. By this rhetorical question they will mean to affirm that practically very few of the nation believed the message concerning the Messiah and His salvation, which has been told to it from the time of His first appearance onward.

The reason that Israel does not believe the message that is brought to her is that Messiah, upon His making His first appearance on earth, does not meet her expectations. From other passages of scripture, we know that the Jews were looking for a military leader who would institute a revolt against their oppressors and would lead them to victory and national independence. Thus the Messiah does not appeal to them as a military leader. He does not manifest any of those characteristics that are essential for a warrior. The prophet therefore, according to verse 2, foretold that Messiah would grow up before God as a tender plant out of a dry ground. There would be no military bearing about him that would cause the nation to accept Him as the leader of a revolution against their oppressors. Moreover, according to verse 3, He is despised and rejected of men. He is holy, spotless, undefiled. His preaching is of the highest type and of the loftiest character. Sinful men are not attracted to Him; Men love darkness rather, than light because their deeds are evil. He exposes their sinfulness and therefore He is despised. Being in the world which He made, He was not recognized by men. He therefore becomes acquainted with grief, with sorrow and distress. The leaders of the people hide their faces from Him and consider Him as of no value.

For one to get the true pictures of the Messiah as He is presented in verses 1-3, a person must, in his thinking, take his place with the penitent remnant of Israel in the year 1945-plus. One must assume that Israel knows the facts concerning the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came in the first century and was rejected by the Jewish people because they were looking for a political Messiah, whereas He did not come to play that role at His first appearance. If anyone will thus think of these verses as an Israelite will in the year 1945-plus and will look back to the first century at Jesus of Nazareth, he will put all of the verbs of the passage in the past tense. They should thus be rendered. The Hebrew verbs do not have the time element. This is to be gathered from the drift of the thought and the facts of the context. In these verses the penitent remnant of Israel will tell the world what the Jewish nation has thought of the lord Jesus Christ ever since His first appearance. They will acknowledge that they had this low estimate of Him, and that the whole nation, with the exception of the minority who believe on Christ, have rejected Him. By the year 1945-plus the truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ will have been given to the nation of Israel. Her eyes will be open. She will see facts and truths as they are. She will therefore make the following confession, which will be true to facts:

"4 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 Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth" (Isa. 53:4-9).

The remnant will confess that notwithstanding their incorrect idea concerning the Messiah, He was indeed and in truth their long-expected Deliverer and Redeemer. Moreover, they will have been taught the truth and will accept it as correct that He bore the griefs or the sicknesses of the nation; that He carried their sorrows, when He made His appearance upon earth nineteen hundred years ago. Nevertheless they confess that they esteemed Him as one stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Moreover, they also will have learned about the actual crucifixion and will state that, when He was pierced on the cross, He was thus wounded for the transgressions of the nation, and that He was bruised for their iniquities. In other words, the chastisement that was to fall upon them for their sins fell upon Him. The idea of substitution is woven into the very warp and woof of this revelation. That the peace and the welfare of the nation was involved in His crucifixion, they will admit.

Then the nation of Israel will confess that "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." In what sense do all go astray? Let us remember that this is the confession of the remnant of Israel in the year 1945-plus. These people will confess that the nation as a whole, from the time of Messiah's first coming until the time that they receive the truth have gone astray, in that they have misunderstood the Messiah and did not recognize Him when He came the first time. Furthermore, they will admit that the nation turned from Him to its own way. Notwithstanding that fact the Lord Jehovah laid upon Him the iniquity of the whole race. In other words, He tasted death for every man and made possible the way of salvation for all who will come to God by Him. In the light of the facts of the context, we must hold to this interpretation of this most important verse. It is therefore incorrect for us to take this passage out of its connection and apply it to men in general. It is true that men refused to retain God in their knowledge and drifted away from Him. Hence they went astray. This teaching is found in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. But what Isaiah in 53:6 says has specific reference to Israel's not recognizing her Messiah and of her being led astray in regard to Him and of her having rejected Him through the centuries.

In verses 7 and 8 we see a clear picture of a mock trial and the injustice through which Messiah was caused to pass when He was on trial before His enemies. Israel will acknowledge that Messiah recognized the injustice, that He was aware of the whole situation; but that He, like a lamb before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth in protest against such unrighteousness. Moreover, in this confession, the people of Israel will acknowledge that it was by oppression and judgment He was taken away, and that there was no one of His Generation who understood the situation clearly enough and who had the moral and spiritual courage to stand up for Him against the great iniquity that was condemning Him.

Israel will also confess that in Messiah's being cut off out of the land of the living, He was being executed in behalf of the people of Israel. From other passages we see that it is for the sins of the whole world. But since this passage is Israel's penitential confession, she naturally will pour out her heart to God and tell him that none of the nation recognized that Messiah was suffering the stroke of judgment instead of allowing it to fall upon the people.

In verse 9 we see the death and burial of King Messiah. His enemies select His grave among the wicked, intending to heap ignominy and shame upon His name and a perpetual reproach. However, as He dies there is a rich man who champions His cause. He is therefore with the rich man in His death or, literally, dyings. When we read this in the light of the historical fulfillment, we see that the rich man of whom the prophet spoke was none other than Joseph of Arimathea, who, when Christ was dead, went to Pilate and asked for His body. The request being granted, he took the body of Jesus down and with hasty preparation laid it in his own new tomb in which never man had been laid. Thus ends the penitential confession of the remnant of Israel. But a second version of this same confession is to be found in Isaiah 63:15-64:12.

The Divine Interpretation of Messiah's Atonement

"10 Yet it pleased Jehovah 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 Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors: yet he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors " (Isa. 53:10-12).

After the prophet told us what the nation of Israel will confess in the future when its eyes are opened to the facts concerning the messiahship of the Lord Jesus and His being the Redeemer of the world, he in verses 10-12 of this chapter gave us the divine interpretation of Messiah's execution. Although there was no violence nor deceit in His mouth, Jehovah was pleased to bruise Him. He, the Lord Jehovah, had Him put to grief. In the plan and purpose of God, Messiah was to suffer and to taste death for every man. He was to become a curse for us and bear the brunt of the wrath of God against sin in our behalf. Those who engage in the rejection and execution of King Messiah of course acted upon their own initiative. Nevertheless, in what they did, they were carrying out the plans of God. The Apostle Peter explained on the day of Pentecost that those Jews to whom he was speaking on that occasion, by the hands of lawless men (Romans) put the Lord Jesus to death, and in their doing this they were simply carrying out "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God." (See Acts 2:23). Although by His overruling providence they were carrying out the divine plans and purposes, yet those who put Him to death were responsible in that they sinned against light and committed one of the most horrible crimes, or the most heinous deed of the centuries.

In the Almighty's having Messiah put to death, He was having Him to make His soul "an offering for sin." John the Baptist had this thought in mind when he, in pointing to the Lord Jesus, said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29).

According to Isaiah 53:10 after the Messiah makes Himself an offering for sin, He comes to life; for, " ... he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand." This refers to His post-resurrection life and activity. He conquered the foes of the human family, came forth from the grave, bringing life and immortality to light through the gospel, and at the same time He brought to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

Some people have thought that Christianity is a failure. Not so! Messiah, by His omniscience, looked down through the corridors of time and saw an innumerable company of people who desire truth and who want to be in fellowship with God. Thus, according to the prophecy, "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." According to the same verse it is "by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities." No one can believe on Him of whom they have never heard. It is therefore necessary that the gospel of the grace of God and of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ be preached to men. The Lord told Cornelius that he should send to Joppa for one man whose name was Simon and who would tell him words whereby he and his household might be saved. Thus it is by the knowledge of the Saviour that men are brought into right relationship with the Deity. When they accept Jesus Christ as their personal sacrifice, He bears their iniquities and they go free.

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