Hunter and Wellum: The Messiah-Servant will do two things in his death.

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Isaiah gives layers of images and words here. But verse 11 focuses them into a laser beam to draw our attention: “By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.” The Messiah-Servant will do two things in his death. First, he will take what is ours—our iniquities. And second, he will give us what is his—his righteousness. He will provide an obedient covenant partner.

All of this points us ahead to the future death of Messiah Jesus. The crowd at the cross sees a bloody, weak man who must die. With Isaiah’s prophetic insight, we see the Lord of glory, Immanuel, God with us, the divine Son become man on the cross, dying to take our sin and to give us his righteousness. As the New Testament will say, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). On the cross, the black hole of the human heart devoured the light of the world, but as John wrote, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Hunter, T., Wellum, S., & Dever, M. (2018). Christ from beginning to end: how the full story of scripture reveals the full glory of christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

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