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God’s Suffering Servant
Intro
Our middle son, Declan, just had a birthday on Tuesday.
He turned 5 years old.
When Corrie and I finally chose the name Declan to be his first name we still had arguments about what his middle name would be.
I knew what I wanted his middle name to be and she didn’t like it.
So as a place holder, during the pregnancy, I called him Declan “The Destroyer.”
It was a funny name that I thought fit him.
Unfortunately, it fits him all to well.
It’s almost as if at the giving of that nickname he took on the charateristics of “The Destroyer”.
Usually, if something in the house breaks, it’s because of Declan.
Now this is silly, but I like to think that my deeming him Declan “The Destroyer” prophesied his personality.
And at times, I wished I would have called him Declan “The Mild.” or Declan “The Obedient.”
or Declan “The Perfect.”
Now as much as I would like to think that I had the power to dictate my children’s personality, I do know that that isn’t how things work.
God is the author of life.
He is the creator and through his providence, he bestowed us with Declan the Destroyer.
What does this have to do with this morning’s message?
Well even though I don’t have the power or insight to prophesy something that is going to happen, God does.
In fact, In the text that we are going to look at this morning, God used Isaiah to prophesy Jesus’ coming, his life, death, and resurrection.
And this prophecy wasn’t written just a few years before Jesus’ coming.
Or during Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus.
No, this prophecy is recorded some 700 years before Jesus’ coming.
God outlined what his Servant would look like.
How he would behave.
What his people should expect.
How he would be exalted.
and How much he would suffer.
One of the most pressing questions we need to ask is how can sinful man be reconciled, or brought into a relationship with, a holy God.
And the answer is found in Jesus, God’s Suffering Servant.
God’s Servant Predicted
Isaiah has 4 Servant Songs predicting the coming of God’s Servant.
This is the last of them in the text.
Here God is predicting his servant coming.
Not only that, he is declaring that this servant is going to be successful.
We can all hope and dream about doing great things.
We can aspire to being successful.
We can pray that things are going to get better.
Only God can declare, promise, and demand that things are going to be one way or another.
And here his servant is going to be successful.
Up to this point we don’t know what that will look like.
We don’t know how success is going to be obtained.
But we do know that it is going to happen.
God’s servant is going to be successful, because he is serving God.
He loves and obeys God.
And because of that love and obedience, God is going to exalt him.
In the end, regardless of what happens, this Servant is going to be lifted high.
He is going to be made much of.
He is going to be upheld and exalted by God’s own hand.
It doesn’t mean that his life is going to be easy.
It doesn’t mean that following God is going to be painless.
In fact, spoiler alert, in the next sections we are going to see that this Servant’s Exaltation comes through his humiliation.
Part of that humiliation is going to come through some sort of disfigurement.
He is going to be so disfigured that he is appalling to look at.
He disfigurement caused him to not even look human.
At times in my life, I have watched some boxing and MMA (mixed martial arts) fights.
I remember watching the end of some of those fights and trying remember who fought who.
Their eyes are swollen, their noses are bleeding, broken teeth, they are unrecognizable.
I imagine this when I read about the Servant of God being disfigured and not resembling a human being.
He is beaten, bloodied, and bruised.
Horrendous, hideous, and horrifying.
Despite being appalling to the people, this servant is going to do something amazing.
He is going to sprinkle the nations.
We aren’t told what he is going to sprinkle on the nations.
But we can infer from the word “sprinkle” and the context that this is referring to the blood sacrifice done in the tabernacle and the temple.
And what was happening when the priests were sprinkling blood in the tabernacle and temple.
They were making atonement for the sins of the people.
They were making an offering to God.
Now this was limited to the Israelites and the converts to Jewish Beliefs.
But here we see that this sprinkling is going to be extended to the many nations..
People from all tribes, all tongues, and all nations will be cleansed by the power of the blood.
So this sprinkling is sacrificial and cleansing imagery that is being used.
And the Servant’s willingness to obey even in the circumstances of pain and disfigurement cause even those in a position of power and rule to stand in awe.
To stand and not say anything.
Isa 52:15 “... Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.”
This is true in the Life of Jesus.
Pilate refused to act to save Jesus’ life.
He even washed his hands of the Incident.
Likewise, Herod found no guilt in Jesus either.
But instead of fighting for Jesus they stood silent and witnessed his crucifixion.
They stood confronted by the King of the universe and shut their mouths at the injustices done on him.
Despite the fact that God said his servant was going to be lifted up and greatly exalted, this was going to have to be done through suffering.
Through the pain of Rejection.
Rejection of the very people he came to save.
Rejection of the Servant
This section begins with two questions
Isa 53:1 “1 Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
The people speaking here are those that have believed in the Promised Servant.
And so far the Servant didn’t meet any of their expectations.
So b/c he hasn’t met any of their expectations it’s hard to believe that this guy is the guy they were waiting for.
So as these Believing Israelites are trying to convince and help their brothers and sisters understand they are met with rejections b/c of unbelief.
But the reality of Jesus is hard for many to accept.
The way is narrow and the path is straight.
To follow Jesus means to lay aside your fleshly desires and take up the yoke of Jesus.
It means to offer your body, mind, and soul as a living sacrifice.
Daily giving God all that you are, desire, and want to be.
It means loving God with all that we are and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
It means giving of ourselves, our time, our talents, and our finances.
But we willingly do that b/c he extends to us salvation.
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