Isaiah 53: can I get an Amen?

Can I get an Amen?

Isaiah 53

Who has ¹believed what we have heard?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,

and like a root out of dry ground;

he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him,

and no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by 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.

1. Who “can say amen” (believed)

How many of you know that the Hebrew word “amen” in not meant to be a way of signing off from prayer? Amen means to trust or believe. It is to be certain about something. In this passage, the word “believed” has been translated from the Hebrew word “amen.”

“What we have heard” is from the Hebrew word “shemuw’ah” (shem-oo-aw’). By itself, it just means, something heard, like an announcement. In this passage, Isaiah put a “lamed” prefix on the word. Lamed is a Hebrew letter that is a pictograph for a “shepherd’s staff” used to guide cattle toward something. Jesus (Y’shu-ah in Hebrew) is the shepherd of the souls of we who believe in Him. When a word has a lamed prefix it will be translated as “to” or “for” (but not always, as in this passage). The last letter of “shemuw’ah” is the Hebrew letter “hey” which communicates that God has made it fruitful (think, fruit of the spirit). Strangely enough, Isaiah has removed the letter hey and replaced it with the combination letters, tav-nun (tav pictures a sign from God and was originally written with a picture of a cross, and nun (pronounced noon) is generally said to be a sprouting seed, but some teachers have told me that it is a picture of a path with a goal that we are walking toward.

The “arm” is symbolic of strength. It is YHVH’s (the LORD’s) strength that is being reported. The English passage asks, "to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?" However the Hebrew word “revealed” is prefixed with the letter nun which communicates “we will.” As a sprout, nun tells us “this is not yet mature”, We cannot yet see the goal but we will trust the great shepherds arm to guide us to the goal, the kingdom of Heaven and Jesus our king.

4 Surely he has borne our grief (sickness, Deuteronomy 7:15)

 and carried our sorrows (pain, as in childbirth);

yet we esteemed him stricken, (stricken is to hit in the face, smitten is a slap)

smitten by God, and afflicted (afflicted is to be humbled with words-nagged or brow-beaten, “by God” because the people who claim this do not know the LORD well enough to call him by name, only by position).

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions (rebellion),

he was bruised for our iniquities (perversion-immoral evil);

upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,

and with his stripes (welts, bruises, cuts) we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray (we are not walking in “the way”);

we have turned everyone to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him (the alaph-tav or alpha and omega) the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter (loving the hand that holds the knife),

and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb (silent, no begging for understanding),

so he opened not his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off (Daniel 9:26) out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression (rebellion) of my people?

9 And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence (nothing wrong),

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him;

he has put him to grief;

when he makes himself an offering (gives his life) for (my) sin,

he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his (my-the offspring-believers) days;

the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;

11           he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied;

by his knowledge (Hebrews 12:2) shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous;

and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;

because he poured out his soul to death,

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession (Hebrews 7:25) for the transgressors (those who go their own way).

On Isaiah 53:8 he carried our grief and sickness.

Deuteronomy 7:15 And the LORD will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict upon you, but he will lay them upon all who hate you. 

From Isaiah 53:8 On being "cut off" from the land of the living.

Daniel 9:26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war; desolations are decreed. 

From Isaiah 53:11 The "knowledge" of Y'shu-ah was the joy that was before him as he faced and endured the cross.

Hebrews 12:2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

From Isaiah 53:12, Y'shu-ah makes intercession (an action verb, someone who settles disputes by pleading for someone. He can do this because his blood paid the penalty for my sin. Sometimes I hear people who believe "Jesus" pleads to God on our behalf, but I suspect that Y'shu-ah, who knows what my sin cost him, pleads to me to stay the course, The Way of righteousness. 

Hebrews 7:25 Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 

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