Isaiah 53:10

Isaiah 53:10

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.

a. NLT: But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life,

and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands.

b. NIV: Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

c. Amplified Bible: Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief and made Him sick. When You and He make His life an offering for sin [and He has risen from the dead, in time to come], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, and the will and pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

d. Septuagint: The Lord also is pleased to purge him from his stroke. If ye can give an offering for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed:

e. Stone Edition Torah/Writings/Prophets: HASHEM desired to oppress him and He afflicted him: if his soul would acknowledge guilt, he would see offspring and live long days and the desire of HASHEM would succeed in his hand.

1. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him…”

a. [Yet it] pleased [Strong: 2654 chaphets khaw-fates'; a primitive root; properly, to incline to; by implication (literally but rarely) to bend; figuratively, to be pleased with, desire:--X any at all, (have, take) delight, desire, favour, like, move, be (well) pleased, have pleasure, will, would.]

b. [the] LORD [Strong: 3068 Yhovah yeh-ho-vaw'; from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

c. [to] bruise [him] [Strong: 1792 daka' daw-kaw'; a primitive root (Compare 1794); to crumble; transitively, to bruise (literally or figuratively):--beat to pieces, break (in pieces), bruise, contrite, crush, destroy, humble, oppress, smite.]

1). What a profound statement for Isaiah to make, that it pleased God to crush his Son. It can only be explained by Scripture.

a). Hebrews 10:1-10 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

10:6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

10:8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;

10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

b). The Scriptures clearly show that the reason Isaiah would write that “it pleased the LORD to bruise” to crush His Son, is because it would forever deal with the sin problem. All of the sacrifices were a shadow of the image to come. The sacrifices could not make the participants perfect because it was not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Only the blood of Christ could do it. This is why the Scriptures declare that it pleased God to crush His Son, because His sacrifice would take away our sins!

2). I am reminded of another passage in Hebrews that states Jesus’ attitude toward the cross.

a). Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

3). The “joy that was set before him” is redeemed man.

a). Luke 15:8-10  Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

15:9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

4). Jesus went through agony in the garden of Gethsemane because he was going to be separated from the other two persons of the Triune Godhead for the first time in eternity.  

5). The spirit behind these passages are all through the Old Covenant.

a). 1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

b). Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

c). Micah 6:6-8 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

6). The ministry of Christ also emphasized this principle.  

a). Matthew 9:9-13 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

9:10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

9:11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

2. “…he hath put him to grief…”

a. [he hath put him to] grief [Strong: 2470 chalah khaw-law' a primitive root (Compare 2342, 2470, 2490); properly, to be rubbed or worn; hence (figuratively) to be weak, sick, afflicted; or (causatively) to grieve, make sick; also to stroke (in flattering), entreat:--beseech, (be) diseased, (put to) grief, be grieved, (be) grievous, infirmity, intreat, lay to, put to pain, X pray, make prayer, be (fall, make) sick, sore, be sorry, make suit (X supplication), woman in travail, be (become) weak, be wounded.

1). Amplified Bible: “He has put Him to grief and made Him sick…”

2). This repeats the truth that Jesus bore our sicknesses and diseases while He was on the cross.

3. “…when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed…”

a. when [Strong: 518 'im eem a primitive particle; used very widely as demonstrative, lo!; interrog., whether?; or conditional, if, although; also Oh that!, when; hence, as a negative, not:--(and, can-, doubtless, if, that) (not), + but, either, + except, + more(-over if, than), neither, nevertheless, nor, oh that, or, + save (only, -ing), seeing, since, sith, + surely (no more, none, not), though, + of a truth, + unless, + verily, when, whereas, whether, while, + yet.]

b. [thou shalt] make [Strong: 7760 suwm soom or siym {seem}; a primitive root; to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically):--X any wise, appoint, bring, call (a name), care, cast in, change, charge, commit, consider, convey, determine, + disguise, dispose, do, get, give, heap up, hold, impute, lay (down, up), leave, look, make (out), mark, + name, X on, ordain, order, + paint, place, preserve, purpose, put (on), + regard, rehearse, reward, (cause to) set (on, up), shew, + stedfastly, take, X tell, + tread down, ((over-))turn, X wholly, work.]

b. [his] soul [Strong: 5315 nephesh neh'-fesh;  from 5314; properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental):--any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead(-ly), desire, X (dis-)contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart(-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-)self, them (your)-selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will, X would have it.]  [The KJV translates Strong's H5315 in the following manner: soul (475x), life (117x), person (29x), mind (15x), heart (15x), creature (9x), body (8x), himself (8x), yourself (6x), dead (5x), will (4x), desire (4x), man (3x), themselves (3x), any (3x), appetite (2x), miscellaneous (47x).]    

c. [an] offering for sin [Strong: 817 'asham aw-shawm'; from 816; guilt; by implication, a fault; also a sin-offering:--guiltiness, (offering for) sin, trespass (offering).]

1). Many Bible scholars teach that in Isaiah 53:10 where the Scripture says , “…thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed…” and in Isaiah 53:11 where it says, “he shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” that it is referring to his physical and soulish life only and that this took place in totality on the cross before Jesus died. Others teach that Jesus did partake of spiritual death, forsaken of the Father, but that it was momentary and before Jesus died physically Jesus was no longer forsaken of the Father. These good men of God teach that ALL of the substitutionary work of Christ took place on the cross [The NLT and the NIV follow that thought.]  They believe that when Jesus uttered the words of John 19:30 “…It is finished…” immediately before he died it meant his substitutionary work of redemption was complete. But many other Bible scholars teach there are too many other passages in the New Covenant that reveal the total work of redemption was not completed when Jesus died. For example, the resurrection did not happen until three days later and Jesus still had to put His sinless blood on the mercy seat in Heaven.  I believe that Scripture is referring to more than just his physical life here, it is that, but it’s more than that. His suffering is physical, spiritual, and mental/emotional/soulish, it is all included in this offering. As we know from Scripture, man is spirit, soul and body [1 Thessalonians 5:23]. Other than perhaps Deuteronomy 6:4, 5, this three part division of man was not clearly revealed through the Scriptures until the New Covenant was given. It seems to me that because man could not get born again until Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead to establish the New Covenant, it was not necessary to give that revelation. We also know from Scripture that when the Bible speaks of death it is referring to separation. In physical death the spirit and soul leave the physical body, and the body begins to rot, but the spirit and the soul continue to exist. Whether a person goes to heaven or hell, the spirit and soul go together. In light of this reasoning, when the Scripture speaks of the “soul” of Christ being made an offering for sin, it is referring to the whole man, spirit, soul and body. I personally believe that this offering for sin was accomplished by the sufferings he endured from immediately before his arrest until sometime before his resurrection three days later, including his suffering in hell.

a).  Psalm 71:20, 21 Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

71:21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.

b). Psalm 88:1-7 O lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:

88:2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;

88:3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

88:4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:

88:5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

88:6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

88:7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

c). Acts 2:25-31 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

2:26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

2:28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

d). Ephesians 2:4-6 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

2). This offering for sin is also discussed in the first half of the next verse (Isaiah 53:11). When Christ’s life/soul is being made an offering for sin, the “seed” is in view. This means two things.

a). It is referring to what Jesus knew what the result of his sacrifice would accomplish, that is the redemption of man.

(1)  Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

b). It is also referring to the substitutionary nature of the offering, i. e., Jesus was suffering for my sins. I was crucified with him.

3). This part of the verse has to be looked at with the beginning of the next verse in Isaiah 53:11. Both parts will be combined as seen below and gone into further in the next verse study.

a). Isaiah 53:10, 11 “…when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed…he shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.”

4. “…he shall prolong his days…”

a. he shall prolong [Strong: 748 'arak aw-rak'; a primitive root; to be (causative, make) long (literally or figuratively):--defer, draw out, lengthen, (be, become, make, pro-)long, + (out-, over-)live, tarry (long).]

b. [his] days [Strong: 3117 yowm yome; from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb):--age, + always, + chronicals, continually(-ance), daily, ((birth-), each, to) day, (now a, two) days (agone), + elder, X end, + evening, + (for) ever(-lasting, -more), X full, life, as (so) long as (... live), (even) now, + old, + outlived, + perpetually, presently, + remaineth, X required, season, X since, space, then, (process of) time, + as at other times, + in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), X whole (+ age), (full) year(-ly), + younger.]

1). The substitutionary work of Christ is clearly what is being stated. The sinless Christ is being offered but it is the seed, unredeemed man in view, the result is the prolonging of his days, the resurrection, the redemption of man and Eternal life. This is what is being prophesied in Psalm 71 and fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ.

a). Psalm 71:20, 21 Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

71:21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.

b). Ephesians 2:4-6 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

5. “…and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”

a. [and the] pleasure [Strong: 2656 chephets khay'-fets; from 2654; pleasure; hence (abstractly) desire; concretely, a valuable thing; hence (by extension) a matter (as something in mind):--acceptable, delight(-some), desire, things desired, matter, pleasant(-ure), purpose, willingly.]

b. [of the] LORD [Strong: 3068 Yhovah yeh-ho-vaw'; from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

c. [shall] prosper [Strong: 6743 tsalach tsaw-lakh' or tsaleach {tsaw-lay'-akh}; a primitive root; to push forward, in various senses (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive):--break out, come (mightily), go over, be good, be meet, be profitable, (cause to, effect, make to, send) prosper(-ity, -ous, - ously).]

d. [in his hand] hand [Strong:3027 yad yawd;  a primitive word; a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etc.), in distinction from 3709, the closed one); used (as noun, adverb, etc.) in a great variety of applications, both literally and figuratively, both proximate and remote (as follows):--(+ be) able, X about, + armholes, at, axletree, because of, beside, border, X bounty, + broad, (broken-)handed, X by, charge, coast, + consecrate, + creditor, custody, debt, dominion, X enough, + fellowship, force, X from, hand(-staves, -y work), X he, himself, X in, labour, + large, ledge, (left-)handed, means, X mine, ministry, near, X of, X order, ordinance, X our, parts, pain, power, X presumptuously, service, side, sore, state, stay, draw with strength, stroke, + swear, terror, X thee, X by them, X themselves, X thine own, X thou, through, X throwing, + thumb, times, X to, X under, X us, X wait on, (way-)side, where, + wide, X with (him, me, you), work, + yield, X yourselves.]

1). The “pleasure of the LORD” of course is bruising Jesus, but then he says that the pleasure or the bruising “shall prosper in his hand.” I am reminded of Isaiah 55.

a). Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

2). The verse declares God’s word will not return void but it shall accomplish and prosper what God wants it to, and the context of Isaiah 53 is the substitutionary redemptive work of God in Christ. I cannot help but include a part of the next verse in this point, that is “…by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” The sum of what we see here is the pleasure [the substitutionary death of Jesus], and the knowledge of it will prosper and not return void, because by the knowledge of it, shall my righteous servant [Jesus] justify many [by the preaching of the gospel.]