Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 53

Verses 1-12

The Passion of the Messiah Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12 reveals the sufferings of Christ Jesus on the Cross to the greatest degree of any place found in Holy Scriptures. When such a description of God’s great sacrifice is placed with a book of judgment against His children, we begin to see how great is God’s love towards them. Even while God was judging them, He was preparing to send His Only Begotten Son to Calvary in order to pay the penalty for their wicked sins. Such love is summed up in John 3:16.

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

I saw this tremendous truth found with this passage as was comforting our three-year old child. My wife had sent our child out of the kitchen because of her misbehavior. I heard her crying in the hallway and went to comfort her. Although I stood with my wife in the need for discipline, I felt a father’s love within me. I wanted restoration. The child had been banished from the kitchen and I was trying to bring restoration so that she could be reunited in fellowship with her mother and thus, reenter the kitchen. (February 2, 2004)

It is in this fullness of love that the God of Israel can both judge His people while preparing to send His Beloved Son to atone for their sins. The tremendous judgment in the book of Isaiah reveals God’s depth of holiness that is beyond our capacity to understand. But in the same way, His tremendous love in sending His Son is also beyond our ability to comprehend. Such a contrast of God’s holiness and love will only be understood as we spend eternity in Heaven getting to know our loving Heavenly Father and as we are taught of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made in leaving Heaven to die on the Cross for the sins of a disobedient people.