Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our peace fell upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him. (Isaiah 53:4-6)

Isaiah 53 serves as a summary of the gospel, in the sense that it is a summary of what is necessary to believe for a sinner to be saved from judgment and forgiven for sin.

But it’s more than that. It is the most profound of all revelations given to a prophet. But at the same time, it is more than just a prophecy of Calvary, more than just a prophecy of the cross of Christ. It goes beyond that; it is set in the context of the end of human history, long after the cross, beyond our day today, to that time in the future at the end of human history when Israel, as a nation, will turn to Jesus Christ.

They will believe in Him and they will be saved. Christ will return, destroy the ungodly on the face of the earth, inaugurate the kingdom, take believing Israel and redeemed Gentiles into that kingdom, and fulfill all kingdom prophecies from the Old Testament.

We’re going beyond Calvary to the end of the age, and we’re hearing in this chapter a confession of the Jews at the end of human history as they look back on the cross and realize how wrong they were about Jesus Christ, and how they misjudged that most monumental of all events.

This is the only way that anyone can be saved, and it is the only way that Israel will be saved. There is no salvation for anyone unless they believe the truth about Jesus Christ, repent, and embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior. And that is exactly what a future generation of Jews will do: They will embrace Him, and they will see His death as a vicarious death for them, followed by resurrection and exaltation.

This chapter is the confession they will make at that future time. But it is also the confession that every saved sinner has to make. These are words that, in some way, have been in the minds and mouths of every believer.

The tone of the chapter is heartbreakingly sorrowful. Why? Because that future generation of Jews is going to look back and realize that coming to faith in Jesus Christ has taken so very long, and they have loved their Messiah so, so very late.

This is a genuine confession, and I want to show you why we know that. It’s characteristic of any confession that is saving. It is a true and honest confession for salvation.

Here, the sinner takes full responsibility for his sin. That will be true of the national confession of Israel in the future, but it is true today in every individual that comes to true saving faith in Jesus Christ. There is a genuine and honest confession of sin, in which the sinner takes complete responsibility.

The chapter is full of the words “we” and “us.” They acknowledge that they themselves are the problem. That is acknowledged in any true act of repentance.

They take full responsibility for their unbelief and the condition their unbelief has placed them. They take full responsibility for the sins that they have committed. They take full responsibility for the effects and the consequences of those sins.

In every true and saving confession, there is no blame on anyone else. The sinner accepts full responsibility. Every penitent must.

So here we have a genuine model for true repentance. They recognize they are sinful, and it’s their responsibility. And they also recognize there is the One who can provide the only salvation, and that one is the Righteous Servant who died in their place. That’s the heart of this confession.

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 Substituted Servant, 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.