Isaiah, Week 10, Day 4, Isaiah 53:13-53:3
Day Four: Read Isaiah 52:13-53:3
1. What are the contrasting attitudes toward the Servant according to Isaiah 52:13 and 14?
Some will raise him up so that He is exalted. Others were appalled. He will startle many nations; kings will be speechless. They will see things they were never told and ponder things they never heard.
2. Compare the Servant's description in Isaiah 52:14 with Matthew 27:28-31;39-44.
Isaiah 52:14 describes a disfigured person who doesn't look human.
He was not particularly attractive (v2). People saw him and avoided him, despised him. He was a man of pains, well acquainted with illness (v3).
In Mark 9, Jesus comes down the mountain after the transfiguration and Jesus charges them to tell no one what they have seen until the Son of Man rises from the dead. This caused confusion among them, and they asked him about Elijah coming first. Jesus replied that Elijah had come.
Mark 9:12-13: "And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
Mar 9:13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
Luke 17:25: But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
John 1:11: He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
1Peter 2:4-5 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Yes, Jesus did suffer at the hands of his own people in multiple ways. They accused him of crimes against God and the people. They handed him over for suffering and death. His friends betrayed him--Judas most obviously, but also the others fled at his death. He was misunderstood by all, even his close friends, during his time on earth.
1. What are the contrasting attitudes toward the Servant according to Isaiah 52:13 and 14?
Some will raise him up so that He is exalted. Others were appalled. He will startle many nations; kings will be speechless. They will see things they were never told and ponder things they never heard.
2. Compare the Servant's description in Isaiah 52:14 with Matthew 27:28-31;39-44.
Isaiah 52:14 describes a disfigured person who doesn't look human.
They stripped off his clothes and put on him a scarlet robe, wove thorn-branches into a crown and put it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand. Then they kneeled down in front of him and made fun of him: "Hail to the King of the Jews!" They spit on him and used the stick to beat him about the head. When they had finished ridiculing him, they took off the robe, put his own clothes back on him and led him away to be nailed to the execution-stake. Matt 27:28-31
Mat 27:39-44 People passing by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads, along with the leaders and even robbers.3. According to Isaiah 53:1-3, in what way would He suffer? Did this happen? (See also Mark 9:10-12; Luke 17:25; John 1:11; 1 Peter 2:4)
He was not particularly attractive (v2). People saw him and avoided him, despised him. He was a man of pains, well acquainted with illness (v3).
In Mark 9, Jesus comes down the mountain after the transfiguration and Jesus charges them to tell no one what they have seen until the Son of Man rises from the dead. This caused confusion among them, and they asked him about Elijah coming first. Jesus replied that Elijah had come.
Mark 9:12-13: "And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
Mar 9:13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
In reply, Jesus made two things clear. First, He acknowledged on the one hand that Elijah does come (lit., “is coming”) first (before the Messiah) and restores (“is going to restore”) all things through spiritual renewal (Mal_4:5-6). On the other hand this does not remove the necessity for the Son of Man to suffer much and be rejected (cf. Psa_22:1-31; Isa_53:1-12, esp. Isa_53:3).
Second, however, Jesus declared that indeed Elijah has come already. In a veiled way Mark recorded how Jesus identified John the Baptist as the one who fulfilled at Jesus’ First Advent the role function expected of the end-time Elijah (cf. Mar_1:2-8; Mat_17:13; Luk_1:17). Jesus gave John his true significance which John did not even recognize about himself (cf. Joh_1:21; comments on Mat_11:14).
The expression, They have done to him everything they wished, denotes the ruthless, arbitrary suffering and death John experienced at the hands of Herod Antipas and Herodias (cf. Mar_6:14-29). In like manner Elijah suffered persecution at the hands of Ahab and Jezebel (cf. 1Ki_19:1-3, 1Ki_19:10). What these antagonists did to Elijah and John, people hostile to God would do to Jesus.
John the Baptist fulfilled the Elijah prophecy (Mal_4:5-6) typically at Christ’s First Advent. Yet Malachi’s prophecy (Mal_4:5-6) indicates that Elijah himself will also appear just before Christ’s Second Advent (cf. Rev_11:1-19).
Luke 17:25: But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.John 1:11: He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
1Peter 2:4-5 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Yes, Jesus did suffer at the hands of his own people in multiple ways. They accused him of crimes against God and the people. They handed him over for suffering and death. His friends betrayed him--Judas most obviously, but also the others fled at his death. He was misunderstood by all, even his close friends, during his time on earth.
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