"OUR INIQUITIES, PAID FOR IN FULL" (An Article by Christian Henry) ~ 9/18/25

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

The 53rd chapter of Isaiah describes a righteous servant who will suffer for His people. He will bear the weight of our iniquities and accept the bruises we deserve, ultimately justifying us in the end. It is perhaps the greatest of all Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. This section of the Prophets, commonly called the “Suffering Servant,” has long been understood by Christians to speak of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

While some Jewish scholars claim that the passage refers perhaps to the nation of Israel itself, or someone like Isaiah, Moses, or another Jewish prophet, Isaiah is clear - he speaks of the Messiah, the One who will shed His blood on our behalf. The shoot springing up out of dry ground (Vs. 2) is no doubt a reference to the Messiah, and, in fact, it is a standard Messianic reference in Isaiah and elsewhere. The Davidic dynasty was to be cut down in judgment like a felled tree, but it was promised to Israel that a new sprout would shoot up from the stump, and the Messianic King was to be that sprout; He will provide the ultimate atonement.

This Savior was prophesied to suffer and die to pay for our sins and then rise again. He would serve as a priest to the nations of the world and apply the blood of atonement to cleanse those who believe. There is only one to whom this prophecy can refer, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who confess Him are His children and are promised the spoils of His victory. Jesus died for our sins, rose again, ascended to the right hand of God, and He now serves as our great High Priest who cleanses us of sin and intercedes for us. Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, is the one Isaiah foresaw and writes about here.

This Savior would be tormented, defiled, and slain on account of our sins and iniquities. The prophet here places himself among the people for whom the Messiah suffered these things, and says that He was not suffering for His own sins, but on account of all His people. Our justification was the ground or motive as to why He suffered on the cross. He did this on behalf of His sheep, an idea which is exhibited all over the New Testament. Jesus will be under such a weight of sorrows on account of our sins that He was, theoretically, “crushed” to the earth by taking on the punishment due to us, designed to discipline and amend our faults. Christ endured the various sorrows that were necessary to secure our peace with God.

With His bruises, believers were reconciled to God and spared from the punishment their sins had earned. The idea conveyed by the word here is that the individual referred to would be subjected to treatment that would cause such a mark; He would be beaten or scourged, just as Jesus was.

How could Isaiah, seven hundred years before the event, predict that the Messiah would be scourged and bruised unless divinely inspired? In the prediction, nothing is vague or general; all is particular and accurate, as if he saw what was done with his own eyes.

And in the end, the healing provided by this Savior is the healing from or pardon of sin and restoration to the favor of God. The Messiah would be scourged in our place, and by that scourging, health would be imparted to our souls.

Sin is not only a crime for which we were condemned to die, and which Christ purchased for us the pardon of, but it is a disease that directly affects the health of our souls. It is also an ailment that Christ provided a cure for. Through the sufferings He underwent, He purchased for us the Spirit and grace of God to mortify our corruptions and put our souls in a good state of health, that they may be fit to serve and enjoy God. By Christ's cross, the dominion of sin is broken, and we are fortified against that which feeds the disease.