Childs on Isaiah 53 and the vicarious suffering of the servant:
Yet the point of the Isaianic text is that God himself took the initiative in accepting the servant’s life as the means of Israel’s forgiveness. In the first divine speech (52:13), the “success” of the servant is promised because of what God had done. This proimse was hidden, never before told (v. 15), but Israel finally understood it as a revelation from “the arm of the LORD.” The role of the servant resulted in Israel’s forgiveness because of God’s acceptance of the servant’s obedient suffering. Israel not only recognized the freedom that the servant had won for it, but in the experience of encountering the hidden plan of God, was itself transformed into the new Israel, which shared in the coming redemptive age. Aleady the scene for Israel’s restoration was set as God designated the servant as the embodiment of Israel (49:3), through whom God would be glorified and the nation would be gathered again to him. When seen in the light of the unfolding drama of God’s plan to redeem Israel in chapters 40-55, the vicarious role of the servant lies at the very heart of the prophetic message and its removal can only result in losing the exegetical key that unlocks the awesome mystery of these chapters.
- Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 418.
