Bible Talks - Sunday Night Church
Jesus - The Suffering Servant
Sunday, 01 December 2002
1 Isaiah 53 and the fulfilment of prophecy
Although it would seem to go against everything that our post-modern claims to stand for, people are fascinated with prophecy. Take Nostradamus for example. Entering that in an internet search engine and you immediately discover more than 275,000 sites on the Internet dedicated to his writings.
And remember all the hype over the turning of the new millennium?
Well, Isaiah 53 is a wonderful example of prophecy – but not the doom and gloom of Nostradamus. Rather it’s a great example of God’s faithfulness, as we see such clear fulfilment of something written over 700 years before the event. However, this is an exciting chapter for more reasons than its predictive prophecy.
2 The Servant Song
The chapter is one of several sections of Isaiah called the Servant Songs. This song is the most significant, and actually begins at 52:13 – as we just read… Let’s look quickly at the main ideas that surface in this chapter and the picture that is painted of the Servant:
The appearance of the the servant features strongly throughout the passage – but it never tells us what he looked like!
’his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance’ 52:14
He had no ‘beauty or majesty to attract us to him’ v2
But this is closely tied to the them of the Servant being Rejected by man and God:
He was ‘despised and rejected by men’ v3
He was ‘striken by God… and afflicted’ v4
The servant’s ‘value’ was clearly not in his appearance as such, nor in what happened to him as such – In that both are written about in strong negative terms from a human perspective. In particular, for someone to be rejected by God was a severe judgment that would normally be a signal for all godly people to reject him too.
But as we move on, it becomes clear that what was happening to the servant, was actually for our benefit! V5 & 6 speak about the servant’s sacrifice for us:
Sacrifice for us:
‘Pierced for our transgressions’ v5
‘Punishment that brought us peace’ v5
’the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all’. v6
Victory beyond death:
But… the gloomy and depressing picture will come to an end. Although the servant dies as a sacrifice for the people of God, ‘He will see the light of life’ v11
So the Servant will actually beat death – although all the implications of this are not drawn out here…
3 The Servant in Isaiah
But who is this servant?
There is a great deal of discussion about this question. There are many – even some Christian churches who teach that the Servant is Israel. That is certainly the dominant view amongst Jews and even some Muslims.
But if we approach this chapter in the way we should approach the whole Bible we come to a different conclusion.
We need to allow God word to speak for itself. That is, we need to seek to understand what the writer was seeking to say to his original readers, we need to allow the text to speak for itself, taking it – at least partially – at something close to face value. And we need to be aware of what the rest of the Bible says about this passage.
And it’s this last principle that really confirms to us a couple of very important facts: Firstly, that the Servant is not Isaiah.
We can come to this conclusion quite easily, because elsewhere in Isaiah, we learn that this Servant deals with the sin of Isaiah,
as we read in 6:7 (“6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." )
Secondly, neither is the Servant Israel – as is popularly understood by Jews and Muslims, because again, elsewhere in Isaiah we learn that the Servant deals with Israel’s sin: 40:2. (Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.)
In fact, it’s not until this chapter in Isaiah that lots of the loose-ends regarding these themes of atonement and forgiveness are tied up. Much of what Isaiah has been writing up to now only makes sense when this chapter reveals so much more about the Servant.
Who is the Servant? If we look ahead 700 years, we see this wonderful prophecy fulfilled in Jesus…
4 The Servant in the New Testament
(a) The connections
The connections are prolific and precise.
Jesus came in obscurity and poverty. Nothing is told of his appearance. He was despised and rejected – a man of sorrows. He did no violence, nor deceived anyone. His trial was a miscarriage of justice. He didn’t speak up in his own defence. He was executed, with criminals; pierced with nails and a sword; and placed in a tomb owned by a rich man. He was stricken by God, crying out “My God, my God…”
He arose again from the grave.
Who else could this be – but Jesus?
If you’re in any doubt, notice that Jesus described himself as the servant in Luke 22:37 - It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors'”; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment."
as did the early Christians in Acts 8:32-3 - 32The 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. 33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." 34The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.”.
Did you pick that up? Peter used Is53 to evangelise the eunuch!
(b) The significance
However, the connections are deeper. It is not merely the facts, but their meaning and significance. Jesus understood that he must suffer, die and rise again. He spotlighted these things again and again. In at least one instance, he described his mission in Isaiah 53 terms in Mark 10:45 - - For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.".
He is the sacrificial lamb spoken of in John 1:29 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!, (and Revelation 5, etc.)
The New Testament gives central importance to the cross and resurrection of Jesus - eg. 1 Cor 15:1-4 - [Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…. ]
The whole NT resonates with the Servant Song. We don’t need ‘proof-texts’ to see fulfilment – it is everywhere. It is a perfect example of the bible authenticating itself!
But this is far more than just a nice reminder of the nature of Jesus’ mission, or a pleasant lesson on the authenticity of biblical prophecy. The Servant of Isaiah 53 speaks as powerfully to us now, as He did in Isaiah’s time, because it’s [written for us]
5 The Servant in the year 2002
(a) Written for us (1 Peter 1:10-12)
1 Peter 1:10-12 - Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
What an encouraging thing that the story of our salvation was written hundreds of years before it took place.
We not only rejoice in God’s saving work, but in his promise-keeping faithfulness. When we read sections like Isaiah 53, and realise how it was fulfilled in Jesus, our confidence in God is deepened. We can see in a vivid, undeniable way how God has kept His promises to His people down through the centuries.
If it was true for the 700 years between Is 53 and Jesus coming, it can be true for us today.
Israel was called to faith in God’s Servant without seeing the full picture, whereas we see things now in the light of day, and the benfit of 2,000 years of hindsight.
These words were written for us.
Have you – will you – put your trust in the Servant? Do you really trust Him – firstly for your eternal life, but also in your day to day life? How do you show that?
(b) Life and lifestyle
If we do claim to really trust in the Servant, then it has to have an impact on our lives. Consider how Peter applies some of Is 53 to us in his first letter:
”To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:21-25 (NIV)
Not only does the servant give life, but he transforms life. “That we might die to sins and live for righteousness”
The death of Jesus is a once for all, non-repeatable event. Yet, at the same time, it is the example of life to be copied again and again.
So the question for us is: how do we see our transformed lives?
What pratical difference does living for righteousness make?
How does it show in our life as a church?
