Objection: Isaiah 53 is about Israel, not Jesus — and response

Four responses: (1) If Israel's suffering atones for Gentile nations, it contradicts passages where God uses Gentile nations to judge Israel (Isaiah 10, 29; Jeremiah 30-31) — those nations are not healed by their role as God's instrument of wrath. (2) Isaiah 53 says the servant was stricken "for the transgression of my people" (Israel), so the servant cannot himself be Israel. (3) Isaiah himself calls Israel a people of unclean lips (Isaiah 6); even Isaiah the prophet would not qualify as this sinless servant. (4) In Isaiah 42, the righteous servant is contrasted with Israel as the unrighteous servant; in Isaiah 49:3, the servant is called "Israel" but in verse 5 his mission is to gather and restore national Israel — indicating a singular individual who embodies and redeems national Israel. This is the OT backdrop for why Jesus is portrayed in the NT as the greater, righteous Israel.