The Chosen Servant

A couple lines from a song by David Crosby:

It was one of those great stories, you can’t put down at night,

The hero knew what he had to do and wasn’t afraid of the fight

So goes the song about a hero…we should all be so fortunate to have a song celebrating our accomplishments!

Our text this morning is the first of what are called the “servant songs” of Isaiah, celebrating the coming and work of the greatest servant…and the greatest single act…in history

Once I read the text, and recognizing that we are now at week two of Advent, I’ll be opening with the prayer of Thomas Cranmer, 16th century Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII:

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son, Jesus Christ, came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal.

This prayer hints at something the early church—when/as it began to celebrate Advent—acknowledged: There had been one coming of the Savior—the celebration of which is near; there would be a second one—to which we look forward!

We’ll examine the identity of the Servant, empowerment of the Servant, and the actions of the Servant

The Identity of the Servant

Most scholars identify this portion of the chapter as strictly Messianic—therefor, the reference is to Jesus

This thought it somewhat complicated with a thorough reading of chapters 40-41, in those, the servant in view is Israel or Judah, or even the patriarch Jacob—as the all-inclusive patriarch

An identity as the Messiah is the ONLY one that makes sense

Adding to that and proving out the “…in whom my soul delights” concept we could look at two NT incidents

The first at Jesus’ baptism

Matthew 3:17 ESV

and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

The second at the mount of transfiguration

Matthew 17:5 ESV

He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

The baptism scene also has God’s spirit descending like a dove and resting upon Jesus

That should set that to rest if there were any doubt

The Empowerment of the Servant

We can drive ourselves crazy here with arguments about Jesus’ subordination to the Father—which we can prove; and compare it to His equality with the Father---which we can also prove from Scripture

There is an argument, almost as old as Christianity, about “eternal functional subordination”

Doc. Cornett buys into it, so I lean toward it…but it’s not directly related to this topic

We can also state quite clearly that when the Spirit came to rest on Jesus, the time of His ministry began; we will consider that as functionally, the point at which He was empowered for His unique ministry

Though there are apocryphal accounts of Jesus actions—or antics—as a youth, they’re at best fanciful, at worst heretical...and we discount them entirely; the only thing we know FROM SCRIPTURE is the event at the temple at some point before he would have been considered a man

The Actions of the Servant

We first note that this is written in a poetic form—that should be a clue, we can look for parallelism, among other things; but parallelism jumps out pretty clearly

The attitudes/attributes

These set up the actions themselves

In vv 3-4 we have an attitude or attribute followed by an action—sort of a double parallel—with a slight twist on the second one

In v. 3, the servant—though empowered by the Father’s Spirit will not act harshly…even toward already damaged items

In v. 4, he will have the fortitude to continue until the goal is reached

The actions

Starting in v. 1, He will bring forth justice to the nations…note that it’s plural—we can wonder if the original recipients caught that, being God’s chosen people/nation, and wondered what other nations may have been in view

In v. 3, He will faithfully bring forth justice

in v. 4 the concept of justice is expanded upon

It will be established in the earth

…and the coastlands wait for it

There are a few terms that need some expansion

Justice is the first

Divinely righteous action, whether taken by humanity or God, that promotes equality among humanity. Used in relation to uplifting the righteous and oppressed and debasing the unrighteous and oppressors.

Here it’s used in a judicial way—it’s helpful to remember that our God is a God of absolute justice

Our understanding of justice may not agree with His…His is always correct, and His justice will be the final justice

The idea of the Coastlands

Hmmm, what’s that all about

Best understanding is the far-reaching, and then not in view, lands of the Gentiles

When this prophecy was uttered into a Jewish culture, God’s blessing was not thought to EVER extend to the Gentiles…but it would, with the coming of Jesus, do so

We must be reminded that Jesus directed His apostles to take the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth…to the edges…the coastlands

This Is Important Because?????

We start by understanding that God the Father had this all planned from before He set this thing called “time” in motion

This is not “one of those great stories” as Crosby wrote—it is the GREATEST story

The Son, the Servant of this text, was obedient to come, even to suffer the death on the cross which paid for our sins

It is this Servant who has established Justice

JUSTICE??? you may ask—where is justice, I see no justice, I see no peace

What on earth does this all this mean?

God’s Kingdom is in this world, but it is a world dominated by Evil; this is where the completion of the Advent comes into view…and should give us great relief

Whatever is going on upon this earth, however chaotic it may be, there is a plan for resolution

God is sovereign

We see clearly in Scripture that Christ is coming again; His kingdom on earth will be fully established

Which brings us to the reality of the Advent

As Cranmer’s prayer references—that we may rise to eternal life

He has in view the resurrection, we think of our Lord’s words in John 11 25-26

John 11:25–26 (ESV)

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

So, the Advent brings us opportunity…and promise

The opportunity for salvation—forgiveness for ALL our sins, for which we would otherwise be held responsible

…and the promise that those who do believe will NEVER die

What a glorious thing we celebrate!

…and in the meantime…looking to the concept of justice and the peace that we look for…with Christ in our life we can experience peace…peace that the world cannot give

The holidays are a tough time, or can be; a life with Christ is one in which you can make it through anything

With that promise of eternal life, the promise of resurrection, we can have the understanding that we will comprehend justice as God’s justice…and be able to then experience a peace that only God can give—the peace that passes all understanding