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The Suffering Servant

Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53 has been called "The Gospel of Isaiah" in no small part because of an incident that happened not long after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Philip, one of the original seven appointed to serve in the Jerusalem church (Acts 6:5), was led by the Lord to encounter an Ethiopian official who was reading from the prophet Isaiah—verses 53:7-8. When the Ethiopian ask Philip who Isaiah was talking about in that passage, "Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him" (Acts 8:35). Philip identified the "servant" in Isaiah 53 as Jesus. The Ethiopian understood Philip's message, believed in Jesus, and was baptized as a new Christian.

It was the understanding of the early church that the suffering Servant described in Isaiah 52:13–53:12 was none other than Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, numerous references in the New Testament letters make references to the suffering Servant in Isaiah 53: 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:6-9; 1 Peter 2:22-25; 3:18. Jewish interpreters of the day believed the "servant" in Isaiah (52:13; 53:11) was perhaps Moses, one of the prophets, or more likely the nation of Israel itself in light of Israel's suffering in captivity by God's judgment. But coupling Isaiah's description of the Servant with the words and works of Jesus make the connection plain—the Servant had to be Israel's Messiah.

The Servant was to be an ordinary person in terms of humanity (Isaiah 53:2), despised and rejected (verse 3), burdened by God with the penalty of our sins (verses 4-6; Acts 2:23), a sacrificial lamb (verse 7; John 1:29), buried among the rich (verse 9: Matthew 27:57-60), brought to life after his death (verse 11)—the parallels are numerous. Even though the four Gospels had not been written when Philip encountered the Ethiopian seeker, Philip didn't need them to explain Isaiah's meaning. He had the heart of the Gospel in Isaiah 53.

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