While for believers through the centuries, Isaiah 53 has been a point of triumphant joy and profound blessing as it looks at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the truth about it is that this is a sad song.

This is a lament. This is a song of remorse. This is a minor-key hymn of repentance. This chapter actually constitutes the greatest confession that will ever be made in the history of the world by one nation. And as far as Scripture is concerned, there is only one nation that will, as a nation, turn to Christ, and that is the nation of Israel. That is God’s promise to them in the future.

When they do turn to Christ, this will be their confession.

Most people think of this chapter as a future prophecy concerning Christ, and it is that. But it is not written in the future tense. It is not a prophet prophesying what will happen to Jesus. It is a prophet prophesying the salvation of Israel in the future, when they look back and say this about the Messiah they rejected and crucified. It is the lament of Israel when they look back on the Messiah that they have long rejected.

This prophecy’s primary purpose is to say to Israel, “One day in the future, you will turn from your rejection. You will look back at the gospel and at the Messiah and you will realize that you have rejected your only hope, your only Savior. And this will be your lament.”

The Jews since the New Testament time have been profoundly disturbed by this chapter — so much so that in many synagogues it is not read in the normal reading of Scripture. It is skipped. Those who do read it and face it have decided that the suffering Servant here is not the Messiah, but Israel.

They say Israel is the righteous sufferer here, who because of suffering righteously will one day be rewarded for that righteous suffering by being blessed and becoming a blessing to the world. That’s how the rabbis view it. And they do it because they don’t want it to be Jesus, and they have to find an explanation for why the Jews have suffered so brutally for so long. They view this chapter as a tribute to the righteous suffering of Israel from which God will reward them, glorify them, and through which God will bless the world.

But this isn’t Israel. It can’t be. They are neither an innocent sufferer, such as the one described here, nor a voluntary sufferer. They need to recognize that, like every other person in the world, they need one to die to pay the penalty for their sins. They’re unwilling to recognize that.

This is not a revelation that honors Israel for suffering that leads to blessing. This is Israel’s repentance. This is Israel’s brokenhearted lament. This is Israel’s confession by a generation yet to come. And it will come.

So while, in a sense, this looks forward to the event of the death and resurrection — and even exaltation — of Christ, and gives us details about those marvelous realities, in the purest sense it is a look beyond the cross at the conversion of Israel and what they will say when they look back.

There are people — astute people, students of Scripture, theologians, preachers, and writers — who don’t believe in the future salvation of Israel. They don’t believe that the Kingdom will be on earth. They’re not pre-millennial. And my judgment is that they can’t interpret this chapter, because this is the prayer of confession of national Israel at the time of their future conversion.

The book of Isaiah says to Israel, “You will be saved spiritually. You will be saved eternally from sin and judgment and hell. Then you will have the Kingdom — the great Kingdom of Christ.”

You can find more insights into Isaiah 53 in Dr. MacArthur’s book “The Gospel According to God: Rediscovering the Most Remarkable Chapter in the Old Testament.” For a limited time, the book is available for 25% off from The Master’s University’s bookstore, here.

This post is based on a sermon Dr. MacArthur preached in 2012, titled “The Scorned Servant of Jehovah, Part 1.” In addition to serving as the pastor of Grace Community Church and the voice of Grace to You, Dr. MacArthur is the chancellor of The Master’s University in Santa Clarita, Calif. You can learn more about TMU at masters.edu.