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Isaiah 53:6 - Herd Mentality

  • Writer: Chad Werkhoven
    Chad Werkhoven
  • Mar 5
  • 5 min read

Following the herd never leads to the freedom you desire.



Isaiah 53 (NIV)


Our focus today will be on v6, but the chapter that surrounds it is too beautiful to left unread!


53 Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.


Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.


He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was punished.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.


10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11 After he has suffered,

he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, 

and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.


Canons of Dordt

Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election

Articles 1-9

Article 1: God’s Right to Condemn All People

Romans 5:12-14 - Mis-Markmanship

Deuteronomy 28:15-20 - Not A Tame Lion

Genesis 2:15-17 - Or Else

Luke 15:11-16 - Prodigious Deprivation

Psalm 143 - Aggressive Prayer Pattern

Article 2: The Manifestation of God’s Love

Zephaniah 3:14-17 - The Mighty Warrior Who Saves

Lamentations 3:19-23 - Great Is Thy Faithfulness

John 3:16-18 - Simple Beauty

1 John 4:8-10 - This Is Love

Psalm 103 - Praise the LORD!

Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel

1 Timothy 2:1-7 - God Our Savior

Isaiah 52.7 - Good News!

Rom 10:14-17 - The Power of Preaching

1 Cor 1.23-24 - God's Foolishness

Psalm 93 - Mightier Than Chaos

Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel

John 1:9-13 - The TRUE Light

John 3:31-36 - Wrath Removed

John 6:37-40 - Tensegral Theology

John 12:42-50 - Buffet Theology

Psalm 16 - In God We Trust

Article 5: The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith

James 1:13-18 - The Devil (didn't) Make You Do It

Ecclesiastes 7:25-29 - Many Schemes

Ephesians 2:8 - The Gift of God

Philippians 1:27-30 - Granted

Psalm 95 - The LORD is OUR God

Article 6: God’s Eternal Decree

Isaiah 45:21-25 - Irrevocable

Ezekiel 36:24-27 - A Whole New Reality

Romans 9:15-21 - God's Mercy, Not Your Effort

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 - Love The Truth

Psalm 81 - Call To Worship

Article 7: Election

Ephesians 1:3-6 - Before the Foundation

Deuteronomy 7:1-10 - Set Apart

John 17:1-5 - Sovereign Submission

John 17:6-12 - Given

Psalm 115 - God Does What He Pleases

Article 8: A Single Decree of Election

Romans 4:1-8 - One and the Same

Romans 4:9-17 - Chicken or Egg?

Romans 4:18-25 - Faithfully Face the Facts

Hebrews 11:39-40 - Promises Kept

Psalm 33 - God's Control, Authority & Presence


Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith

John 10:22-30 - Listen Up!

2 Timothy 1:7-10 - Passive & Powered

Titus 3:3-7 - Transformed

Deuteronomy 9:4-6 - You're Not That Awesome

Psalm 91 - The Shelter of the Most High

Article 10: Election Based on God’s Good Pleasure


  1. The cause of this undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God. 

    1. This does not involve God’s choosing certain human qualities or actions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation, 

    2. but rather involves

      1. adopting certain particular persons

      2. from among the common mass of sinners

      3. as God’s own possession.


Summary


Last week we read about Jesus being our Good Shepherd, and after being reminded of that, it felt pretty good to be a sheep. Today, Isaiah reminds us as to why it is that the Bible so often compares us to sheep, and it's not a complimentary analogy!


Since many of our readers live in rural areas, you likely have had some sort of experience working with sheep, and you immediately understand how we often we reflect their poor decision making capabilities and tendency to always follow the flock/crowd. It's this contradictory tendency - to crave individual freedom while having deep seated herd mentality - that Isaiah captures in v6, writing that we all, like sheep, have gone astray.


Drawing on another famous Biblical sheep metaphor, we were led by our Shepherd to lie down in green pastures and beside quiet waters, but our sinful instinct sent us walking through the darkest valley. Rather than listen to our Shepherd's voice gently calling us back, we continue to follow the herd that's gone astray.



  Dig Deeper  


It’s easy to blame the herd for your own sin-driven choices. After all, you’re just following the flock, not doing anything all that different from the sheep around you.


But Isaiah’s words cut through that excuse: each of us has turned to our own way. Here’s the irony — those who lead the herd astray, whether in politics, culture, or entertainment, don’t appeal to conformity. They promise individuality, autonomy, and freedom. Yet, in chasing that illusion of independence, people end up marching in lockstep with the herd — unified not by true freedom, but by a shared drift away from the Shepherd who offers it.


But Isaiah doesn't let us wallow too long in our sheep-like guilt before reminding us that our iniquity - that is, the guilt resulting from our sinful wandering - has been laid on him, the one who would become like a sheep for the sheep. Only Jesus wouldn't be like a sheep in the same way we are, He would be the sacrificial Lamb who bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.



  • ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, whose will prospers in the hand of the Suffering Servant;

  • ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will resist following the heard and instead know your Shepherd and listen to His voice;

  • ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Hebrews 2

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