The Servant

Isaiah 53, written 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, is an accurate description of His ministry on Earth.

Isaiah 53

Who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of the dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not.

Surely, he hath borne our grief, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes, we are healed. All of us, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep, before her shearers is dumb, he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people, he was stricken. He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth.

Yet, it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.