KJV Isaiah 53:4 “Yet we did esteem Him stricken…”
NASB Isaiah 53:4 “Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken…”
KJV Isaiah 53:7 “Yet He opened not His mouth.”
NASB Isaiah 53:7 “Yet He did not open His mouth.”
KJV Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him”
NASB Isaiah 53:10 “But the LORD was pleased to crush Him”
The “Yet” of Misunderstanding and Malice
Isaiah 53 is the Mt. Everest of Old Testament prophecies of the suffering Messiah. It embraces His life, moral character, suffering, and ultimate glory and honour. We have all been taught that the structure of the chapter (and we can include the final three verses of Isaiah 52) can be divided into sections of three verses each.
Other approaches to analyzing and appreciating the chapter have also been suggested and are worthy of note. For example, the repetition of “soul” in verses 10-12. Each carries with it a different nuance of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus at Calvary.
Then there is the expression “yet,” as noted above. In the first mention, it follows upon the failure of the nation to appreciate their Messiah. Misunderstanding, coupled with malice, viewed Him as having come under the chastening government of God. The nation looked at Him with a sense of righteous indignation. The expression “yet” seems to carry the thought that even though He was a root out of the dry ground, a tender plant growing up for His Father’s pleasure, they failed to appreciate Him. They did not “believe the report” or see the “Arm of the Lord” as it was being revealed to them.
The “Yet” of Meekness and Majesty
The second mention of “yet” follows an account of His suffering (vv 4-6) and His abuse. Despite oppression and affliction wrongly inflicted upon Him, He opened not His mouth. Despite being led as a Lamb to slaughter and a sheep to shearing, He was in total control of His tongue. If in verse 9 there was no guile in His lips, here there was no complaint or vindictive response from those lips.
In these verses, we are informed not only that He suffered but also why He suffered (for sins), how He suffered (silently), His manner (submissively), and its depth (sensitively).
Meekness is absolute surrender to the will of God. That meekness was seen throughout His life but is seen in all its brilliance in the Garden as He gives Himself over to the soldiers. Yet His majesty is seen moving in parallel with meekness. His majestic “I am” causes all to fall back in awe. His moral strength in the control of His lips is a mark of the majesty of the Man.
The “Yet” of Mercy and Munificence
The final mention of this word embraces the mercy and grace of God. When we took the very Son of God and led Him like a beast to the slaughter, when we abused and battered Him when we were worthy of a flood of judgment exceeding that of Noahic proportions, at that very time, it was the will of God to crush Him beneath the load of judgment that those very sins merited.
The God of heaven did not find pleasure in the suffering of His Son. The thought of “pleased” is that it was His will, His purpose from eternity past. Despite all the beauty found in Him and all the ugliness found in us, it was His will to bruise His Son. He put Him to grief, a grief so intense and of such a depth, that we can never plumb.
Read the “Celine Dion and God” story here.
Consider
Note as well the three mentions of “grief” in the chapter.