The rest of this chapter gives a picture of the suffering Servant, which will:
- Be marred beyond human semblance in Isaiah 52:14, and His form beyond that of the children of mankind. So it speaks of the punishment, the beating, and the pain that He will endure, that He will not even look human anymore after the suffering that He endures.
- Be despised and rejected by men, a man of many sorrows and acquainted with grief. And He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. So it's this idea that the Servant will be rejected by man, will be despised, that people will turn their face from Him, that humanity will reject Him and esteem Him not.
- Be pierced, verse 4, for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. “Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.” So again, we see this idea that He will be punished, He will be pierced, the chastisement will be upon Him, that He will carry the sin and the guilt of many, that He will suffer for it, that it speaks of physical wounds that will take place in His body.
- Not open His mouth, so He will be accused, but He won't speak.
- Die. A grave will be made for Him, so the reality is that He will die, that He will be laid to His death, and that this is what will happen to this conquering Servant when we read the rest of the chapter.
I think reading all of this in the middle, this would definitely reshape my picture of this Servant that's coming, giving a completely different idea than the initial one if I just looked at the beginning verse and the end verse of this conquering King. The idea of a suffering Servant is communicated.
But yet, in it, there is this reality that this was God's choice, and this was for the many; somehow this suffering is what places Him among the mighty. It is what divides the spoil. And that in this death, this rejection, and this pain that the Servant goes through, somehow hope
