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`rides prosperously'. When Nehemiah contemplated the restoration of Jerusalem he prayed, `prosper Thy servant'
(Neh. 1:11) and when opposition reared its head he responded by saying, `The God of heaven, He will prosper us'
(Neh. 2:20). The word `prosper' is found in association with the word `please' already considered in Isaiah 55:11,
where, speaking of His word, the Lord declares, `It shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I sent it' - words that have a specific bearing upon the restoration of the people of Israel. This
prophecy will not be fulfilled until Israel shall say:
`Save now (Hosannah), I beseech Thee, O LORD ... send now prosperity. Blessed be He that cometh in the name
of the LORD' (Psa. 118:25,26) .
With all this positive witness concerning the prosperity of Israel, when once they look upon Him they have
pierced, comes the negative assurance.
`No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper' (Isa. 54:17).
Not only shall the crucified and bruised Christ have risen to die no more: not only shall the purposes of the Lord's
grace be performed, but:
`He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied' (Isa. 53:11).
The word here translated `travail' means, `labour with toil and weariness'. It is found more frequently in
Ecclesiastes than in any other Old Testament book, where the labour that is undertaken by man under the sun
appeared to Solomon to end in `vanity and vexation of spirit'. Here is the blessed contrast: He shall see the glorious
fruits of His weary labour and toil, `and shall be satisfied'. Here again our thoughts are turned to Ecclesiastes,
where we learn,
`The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing' (1:8).
`Neither is his eye satisfied with riches' (4:8).
It is the Psalmist who sees that true satisfaction awaits the day of resurrection, when he cries,
`I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness' (17:15).
Here, moreover, we find that most precious word - so intimately bound up with the ministry of Paul as to be for
ever associated with his gospel to the Romans and Galatians - the word `justify' and, in perfect accord with the
doctrine of those mighty epistles, this justification is based upon atonement;
`By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities' (Isa. 53:11).
`By His knowledge'.- Birks comments on this phrase: `"His knowledge" is commonly taken in a passive sense, for
knowledge of which He is the object ... a pronoun with "knowledge" always denotes the subject, not the object, of
the knowledge'. There is considerable disagreement among expositors as to whether `by His knowledge' means (1)
the believer's knowledge of Him or (2) His own knowledge. And where it is understood as His own knowledge
opinions are divided as to (a), whether it is His knowledge of the Father's will, or of grief (Isa. 53:3), or (b) whether
the words should not read with the preceding sentence, thus, `and by His knowledge be satisfied'. In his
commentary George Adam Smith says that he had not found this reading in any other writing until he found it in
Professor Brigg's translation. The reader of The Companion Bible will see that it has been adopted in the notes on
this chapter. There is much to be said for the reading, more particularly because as G. A. Smith points out, `it is
supported by the frequent parallel in which we find seeing and knowing in Hebrew'. Let it be observed that God's
righteous Servant does not justify the many simply because He Himself was righteous. He justifies the many
because He Himself `bear their iniquities', or as Paul puts it, `justified by His blood' (Rom. 5:9); `Who was
delivered for (because of) our offences, and was raised again for (because of) our justification' (Rom. 4:25).
Now comes the triumph; the crown following the cross; the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should
follow. Those whom He justifies He will also glorify.
`Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong' (Isa. 53:12).