5.28.26 – Isaiah 53, Part 4: He Gave Us an Example

Isaiah 53 does not end with a crushing death. It ends with His days prolonged and the will of the Lord prospering in His hand. "After the anguish of His soul, He shall see and be satisfied." That is not the language of remaining dead. He goes down, is cut off, and is buried with the wicked—but death does not have the final word. The writer of Hebrews names what is happening here: He holds His priesthood by the power of an indestructible life (Hebrews 7). That is the same life Peter preached: "It is impossible for death to hold Him" (Acts 2).

Put this together: the servant carries our sicknesses, our pains, and the forces of death we cannot carry. He goes into the wreckage where sin has done its worst. He bears it. He dies under that weight. And then the life that emerges is stronger than the death He carried. That is the center of Isaiah 53—not God as punisher. And that is not a smaller story than penal substitution; it is much bigger.

Finally, verse 12: "He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors." The word intercession comes from the same root as paga—meeting, contact, mediation. The servant is not a punishment receptacle; He is the meeting point. This is where the people's iniquity is confronted, carried, and brought before God. This is the imagery of the advocate, defender, mediator—Moses on the mountain, the righteous one standing in the breach.

So the opening gave us the misinterpretation. The middle showed us carrying away sicknesses, the discipline of the Son, the meeting of iniquity, the real death, and the real vindication. And the close reveals that what looked like punishment is actually intercession. The servant entered the place of transgressors, bore what belonged to many, and made intercession. He became the meeting place between God, sin, and the people.

God intended to heal. If everything I have just said is true, what does this mean for us? The Apostles do not sit back admiring that as the endpoint. So what does Peter do with Isaiah 53? He says, "You were called to this because Messiah also suffered for you, leaving an example so that you might follow in His footsteps" (1 Pet. 2:21). And he quotes Isaiah 53—the verse right before "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that you might be healed" (1 Peter 2:24). Here is what Peter says, and here is what he does not say: He does not say, "Jesus suffered so you don't have to." He says, "Jesus suffered for you, leaving an example that you might follow in His footsteps."

You know how, when someone says something really encouraging, people respond, "Preach it, brother!" But Peter says: Jesus suffered so I would know how to suffer. Penal substitution says Jesus suffered, so I don't have to. Peter says He suffered, so I might know how to. We are not duplicating Jesus' work. We are not atoning for the world. We are not creating resurrection life by trying harder. Jesus' death is unique. His death does what only His death can do. But His unique death becomes the pattern for the lives of those bound to Him. So Isaiah 53 says: The servant suffered. He bore our sins. He carried sickness. By His wounds we were healed. He poured out His soul unto death. He made intercession for the transgressors. All that is in the text. What is not in the text is the claim that God needed someone to punish so divine wrath could be prevented and forgiveness could become legally possible.

That gives us a much bigger story for you—a story that matters to you right now: the righteous one entering death, dealing with the condition created by sin, carrying it faithfully, bringing healing, being vindicated by God, and His indestructible life becoming the pattern of life for the people He saves. He goes ahead of you, not instead of you. This is the calling of Jesus to His disciples.

Not my favorite topic, but it is His example. May His grace be sufficient for all of us!

Shalom,
Alan