There is, undoubtedly, no Old Testament passage with fuller meaning and richer significance than that of Isaiah 53. In a mere twelve verses, the prophet Isaiah signals a momentous triumph to come for the Lord’s people — only coming, however, by the Lord’s Servant himself suffering a crushing and defeating blow. Notwithstanding one’s interpretations of the actual (or intended) identity of the Suffering Servant, the Messianic overtones of Isaiah 53 are too brilliant to ignore or pass by without careful consideration. Though its citations in the New Testament are not as numerous as other Old Testament references, Isaiah 53 is unmistakably woven into the fabric of apostolic thought. “Allusions to the passage,” writes Kenneth Litwak in an article for the