Jan. 04, 2026

Saints & Sinners

Isaiah – The Servant Song of the Savior

 January 3 & 4, 2026

Primary Text: Isaiah 52:13-53:12    

1) Despised and Rejected (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

Isaiah 52:13-53:3: See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.  Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness—so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him.  For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.  Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.  He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  

DQ 1) Why do you suppose God chose to enter this world with an appearance that was neither handsome or majestic?

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2) Pierced for Our Transgressions (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

Isaiah 53:4-8:  Surely, he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  By oppression and judgment, he was taken away.  And who can speak of his descendants?  For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people, he was stricken.  

DQ 2) What is iniquity?  Why was Jesus “crushed for our iniquities”?

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3) A Grave With the Wicked (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

Isaiah 53:9-10:  He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.  Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.    

DQ 3) What was a “guilt offering” in the Old Testament?  

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4) After the Suffering (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

Isaiah 53:11-12: After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.  For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

Philippians 2:9-11:  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  

DQ 4) What does it mean in Isaiah 53:11 that He will be “satisfied”?  

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