The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture:
"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth. In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. Who can speak of His descendants? For His life was taken from the earth" (Acts 8:32-33).
The Ethiopian is reading from the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, written by the prophet Isaiah in about 700 B.C. Isaiah foretells the success and glory of God's special "Servant" (for example, Isaiah 52:13). Yet Isaiah 53 then describes in great detail the Servant's horrible death - "His life was taken from the earth" (Acts 8:33; Isaiah 53:8). The surprises continue. Isaiah's prophecy then foretells the Servant's pleasure in the results of His death.
After the suffering of His soul, 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 (Isaiah 53:11).
Why will the Servant feel satisfied? Because His sacrifice will "justify" people (make them right with God). How? He will lift from sinners their load of iniquity (sin) and place that load on Himself.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." He will bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:6,11).
The Servant Himself is innocent and pure (Isaiah 53:9). Why should He take our sins on Himself? Isaiah 53:10 says, "The Lord makes His life a guilt offering." This wording is truly remarkable since Isaiah followed the Law of Moses. In that Law, the term "guilt offering" always applied to flawless animals killed for people's sins. God hated the sacrificing of humans. Yet, by God's power, Isaiah foresaw a human as the "guilt offering"! God would sacrifice His Servant to rescue "us all" from our sins.
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