Surely
he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:4
Isaiah 53 [1.] Who has believed our message?
To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
For he grew up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of dry ground.
He has no good looks or majesty.
When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised,
and rejected by men;
a man of suffering,
and acquainted with disease.
He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;
and we didn’t respect him.
Isaiah 53 [4.] Surely he has borne our sickness,
and carried our suffering;
yet we considered him plagued,
struck by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought our peace was on him;
and by his wounds we are healed.
Meaning:
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is the fourth of Isaiah’s “Servant Songs.” It describes a Servant of the Lord who is despised and rejected, who suffers terribly, and who is finally exalted. In this verse the speakers, representing God’s people, look back and realize the astonishing truth: the Servant’s suffering was not his own punishment. He was carrying their burdens.
- “Surely he has borne our sickness”
The word “surely” marks a moment of discovery. The people had seen the Servant as “a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease” (Isaiah 53:3). Now they confess that the sickness he carried was “our sickness,” and the suffering “our suffering.” The language of bearing and carrying comes from the world of sacrifice, where a substitute takes on what belongs to another.
- “Yet we considered him plagued, struck by God”
Many assumed that great suffering must be a sign of God’s judgment for a person’s own sin. Job’s friends reasoned this way. Those who watched the Servant suffer thought he was being punished by God for his own wrongdoing. They were right that he was struck, but wrong about the reason. The next verse explains: “But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5).
- Fulfilled in Jesus’ healing ministry
Matthew quotes this verse after describing an evening in Capernaum when Jesus “cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases’” (Matthew 8:16-17). Jesus’ compassion for the sick showed that he was the promised Servant, who had come to carry the weight of human misery.
- Fulfilled at the cross
The deepest fulfillment came when Jesus suffered and died. Sickness and death entered the world through sin, and the Servant bears both the sin and its consequences. John the Baptist pointed to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Through his death Jesus defeated the power of death itself (Hebrews 2:14-15).
The Significance of Isaiah 53:4
- Not abandoned in suffering
This verse assures believers that Jesus knows our pain from the inside. He did not stand at a distance from human suffering but carried it. Those who suffer can bring their sorrows to him.
- Healing now and in the future
Jesus still heals, though not always in the way or at the time we ask. Every healing is a foretaste of the day when God “will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4). The verse also corrects the idea that suffering always means God is punishing someone for their own sin.
Cross-References:
Matthew 8:17: "He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases." Matthew’s fulfillment quotation.
Isaiah 53:5: "But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities." Why the Servant suffered.
John 1:29: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" The Servant identified.
Conclusion: Isaiah 53:4 reveals that the suffering Servant carried the sickness and sorrow of others, though people thought God was punishing him for his own sins. Matthew saw this fulfilled when Jesus healed the sick in Capernaum, and the cross revealed its full meaning. The verse assures us that Jesus shares our suffering and bears what we cannot, pointing to the day of complete healing.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible