Isaiah 53 is not just about the trials and death of the Messiah. It’s also about the exaltation/vindication of the Messiah and the contrite acknowledgment of the Messiah by the people who had rejected Him.
It’s not just about the cross but about the resurrection and ascension, and about the conversion of Jesus’ murderers at Pentecost.
Which is to say: It’s a sacrificial procedure acted out in history, because sacrifice involves not only the death of the animal but its exaltation in smoke and the covering of the worshiper.
Scholars who deny that Isaiah 53 is sacrificial are operating with a truncated understanding of sacrifice.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Lift My Chin, Lord
Lift my chin, Lord,Say to me,“You are not whoYou feared to be,Not Hecate, quite,With howling sound,Torch held…
Letters
Two delightful essays in the March issue, by Nikolas Prassas (“Large Language Poetry,” March 2025) and Gary…
Spring Twilight After Penance
Let’s say you’ve just comeFrom confession. Late sunPours through the budding treesThat mark the brown creek washing Itself…
