Isaiah 53 (Part 7) – Isa 53:8-9

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Isaiah 53 (Part 7) – Isa 53:8-9

1. and who shall declare his generation?
   1. Declare v. – 1. To make clear or plain (anything that is obscure or imperfectly understood); to clear up, explain, expound, interpret, elucidate.
   2. Generation n. – I. The action of generating. 1. a. The act or process of generating or begetting physically; procreation; propagation of species. b. In passive sense: The fact or manner of being begotten. Manner of descent: genealogy, pedigree.  II. That which is generated. 3. a. Offspring, progeny. b. Descendants, posterity.  5. The whole body of individuals born about the same period; also, the time covered by the lives of these.
   3. The rhetorical question “who shall declare his generation?” implies that it would be difficult to find someone who could explain and make clear Christ’s generation.
   4. The reason that declaring Christ’s generation would be difficult is stated in the next clause of the verse: “for he was cut off out of the land of the living.”
   5. Finding someone who would declare that Christ was begotten by God in the womb of a virgin (sense #1) after He had been unjustly crucified and buried would be difficult.
      1. This is because the Jews believed that the Messiah would be “God with us” (Mat 1:23), that He would abide forever (Joh 12:34), and that He would deliver them from their enemies (Luk 1:68-75).
      2. Who, having just watched Jesus be condemned to death, would stand up and declare that He was the Son of God and the Messiah?
      3. Declaring His generation is what got Jesus killed (Joh 5:17-18).
   6. Finding someone who would explain that Christ had a progeny and posterity (sense #3) would be difficult.
      1. It was prophesied that the Messiah would have children which God had given Him (Heb 2:13 c/w Isa 8:18).
      2. Who, having just watched Jesus be condemned to death, being childless, would stand up and declare that Jesus had children?
   7. Finding someone who would expound on the condition of the people of Jesus’ time (sense #5) who conspired to crucify Him, being innocent, would be difficult.
      1. Jesus’ generation were implacable people who could not be appeased (Mat 11:16-19).
      2. Jesus lived among a generation of vipers (Mat 12:34; Mat 23:33).
      3. He lived in an evil, wicked, adulterous, and sinful generation (Mat 12:39; Mat 16:4; Mar 8:38).
      4. He lived in an unrepentant generation (Mat 12:41).
      5. He lived in a generation which did not seek wisdom (Mat 12:42).
      6. He lived in a generation which was devil possessed (Mat 12:43-45).
      7. He lived among a faithless and perverse generation (Mat 17:17).
      8. Jesus was rejected by his generation (Luk 17:25).
      9. Who would want to declare that generation?
      10. Declaring His generation is what got Jesus killed.
2. for he was cut off out of the land of the living:
   1. Jesus was cut off out of the land of the living, or, in other words, put to death.
      1. Cut v. – 56. cut off. To put to death (suddenly or prematurely), to bring to an untimely end.
      2. The following verses make clear that to be “cut off” is to be “put to death” (Gen 9:11; Exo 9:15; Exo 31:14).
   2. “His life is taken from the earth” (Act 8:33).
3. for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
   1. Jesus the Messiah was “cut off,” but not for Himself (Dan 9:26).
   2. He was put to death for the transgression of the people of God.
   3. Jesus was cut off because He was made a curse for us (Psa 37:22 c/w Gal 3:10, 13).

Isa 53:9 – And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 

1. And he made his grave with the wicked,
   1. Wicked adj. – 1. Bad in moral character, disposition, or conduct; inclined or addicted to wilful wrong-doing; practising or disposed to practise evil; morally depraved. (A term of wide application, but always of strong reprobation, implying a high degree of evil quality.)
   2. Jesus was crucified with malefactors and thieves (Luk 23:33; Mar 15:27-28).
   3. Malefactor n. – 1. One guilty of a heinous offence against the law; a felon, a criminal.
   4. Jesus died and was presumably buried on the same day as the malefactors who were crucified with Him.
   5. In other words, He made His grave with the wicked.
2. and with the rich in his death;
   1. He was buried in a rich man’s tomb (Mat 27:57-60).
   2. Rich men sometimes represent the wicked in scripture (Mic 6:12; Jam 2:6-7; Jam 5:1-6).
3. because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
   1. Jesus was crucified because he had no sin.
      1. If Jesus was a sinner, the Jewish leadership would not have hated and envied Him and would not have persecuted Him (Mar 15:9-14; Act 13:28).
      2. If Jesus was a sinner, He would not have been the Messiah who was sent to die for His people (2Co 5:21; Rom 8:3).
   2. Jesus did no sin (2Co 5:21; 1Jo 3:5; Heb 4:15).
   3. No one was able to justly charge Him with any sin (Joh 8:46).
   4. Convince v. – II. To convict, prove, demonstrate. 4. To prove (a person) to be guilty, or in the wrong, esp. by judicial procedure; to prove or find guilty; to convict of, rarely for, in (an offence or error); = convict
   5. Jesus had done no violence (Heb 7:26).
   6. There was no deceit in His mouth (1Pe 2:22).
      1. Deceit n. – 1. The action or practice of deceiving; concealment of the truth in order to mislead; deception, fraud, cheating, false dealing.
      2. Guile n. – 1. Insidious cunning, deceit, treachery.
   7. Jesus was accused of deceiving people (Mat 27:63; Joh 7:12), but He never did.