Can This Be the Servant?

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Opening Prayer

Abba Father, wedge my heart open and ready. May I submit to Your will and embrace it as my own.

Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12

^[13] See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. ^[14] Just as there were many who were appalled at him- his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness- ^[15] so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand. ^[1] Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? ^[2] 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. ^[3] 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. ^[4] Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. ^[5] 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. ^[6] 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. ^[7] 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. ^[9] 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.

Meditate

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude, / In my place condemned he stood; / Sealed my pardon with his blood. /Hallelujah! What a Savior” (Phillip Bliss, 1838-1876).

Think Further

We have been taught to understand this very familiar passage as a prophecy fulfilled in the suffering and death of Jesus, and rightly so (e.g. Acts 8:29-35). But let’s take a step back to the context of the original message and its readers. Whether it was first heard by Judah’s people in the years following the failed siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib or by the exiles in Babylon, the message would have been bewildering.

The nation was well steeped in a theology that taught that obedience leads to blessing and disobedience leads to cursing (Deut. 28:1,2,15). Here we have descriptions of a servant suffering agony and rejection. Image builds on image, and we are disturbed at such violence and indignity. In the theological context noted above, we would be tempted to think that he must have deserved this outcome. He must have been punished by God for his sins (53:4). But no, we find that he was innocent (9). His pain and suffering were not on his own behalf but on “ours” (4-6,11). His undeserved death brought peace and healing for “us,” God’s people, who had sinned, strayed, transgressed (5,6). So, in fact, the servant’s obedience, even through suffering, did eventually lead to blessing (10-12)! He himself would be satisfied that the new life given to many made his sacrifice complete. And one day even nations and rulers would observe the exaltation of the humiliated one and understand (52:13-15).

The reality of Jesus as the exemplary suffering Servant has given comfort to many of his disciples and helped make some sense of the dilemma of undeserved suffering. In the ultimate expression of God’s upside-down values, it was only because he was willing to die for the sins of others that they could be justified before God. This truly was a wonderful and surprising salvation.

Apply

“He endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne” (Isa 53:4, GNB). How do you feel about this amazing act of grace?

Closing prayer

Blessed Savior, Your finished work on the cross has accomplished forgiveness and deliverance from my sin, and reconciliation with the Father. All I can say is, “Hallelujah! What a Savior!”

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