Isaiah 53:1-12 (2)

Unto Us: A Suffering Servant

Illustration: Compare to Christ coming not long after Maccabees revolted and pushed out the Greeks. That’s a similar kind of savior which they anticipated. (N.T. Wright)

(The Jews could not fathom a suffering servant as savior and king. After numerous false-Messiah’s death of the individual and failure to expel foreigners from the promised land was certainly a sign that Jesus was not Messiah. What’s the point of waiting so long for him if he dies right after he arrives without killing a single Roman?!)

The Jews expected their savior to destroy their enemies, not to die at their hands. But they failed to realize the significance of the resurrection in their salvation: as Christ defeats death he shows the world empires that their powers, namely death and destruction, are no longer omnipotent. This New Kingdom exists outside of and beyond death and destruction because it exists outside of and beyond this physical world. “You want to kill us? Fine. You want to destroy our churches and homes? Fine. These were merely temporary because our hearts and our homes lie with our savior in eternity, a kingdom for which we long and whose king and that king alone we WORSHIP whether in life or in death.

No foreign emperor had ever waged war against a kingdom that could not be intimidated by death and destruction, but it was that very kingdom which Christ ushered into existence and into which He has welcomed us.