DAY 292
THE
SERVANT
Isaiah 52:13—53, 54 & 55 and 2 Thessalonians 1
Today we come to a discussion on
the Servant. Before I launch into the text I want you to consider the situation
that Isaiah is “speaking into.” I say “speaking into” because Isaiah is a
prophet. Prophets are called to speak God’s truth to the world, and the powers
of the world—often times kings. [Note prophets are not people who run around
trying to predict the future, centuries from now, nor do they give you the
winning lotto numbers—no, they speak God’s truth.]
Isaiah has been speaking God’s
truth. He started by speaking the truth to the king, and now he is speaking God’s
truth, God’s comfort, to those who will (and have) lost their nation. But here
is where Isaiah is speaking to more than his present day situation. I do not
believe Isaiah thought he was speaking to people centuries and centuries beyond
his time, but God did. Isaiah is speaking to us. Consider for a moment this
question, “What is the fundamental situation and issue that Isaiah is speaking
God’s Word into?”
My answer is as follows: the situation
is the situation that we have read about in the Bible since Adam—it is the
situation that God’s chosen do not follow God and get themselves separated from
God – it is a situation that you and I find ourselves in today. The issue
or question is how can an all powerful God fix it?
Why do I start here? Because what
we are about to explore is the centrality of the Servant…the Suffering Servant…to
God’s plan of redemption. Isaiah has been speaking of it. His words zigzag back
and forth between the “reality on the ground” situation of the people of Judah,
and the “reality yet to happen” of the coming of the One who will put things
right.
The Servant appears in four
different places in Isaiah, and now we have read them all.
1.
The First is in Isaiah 42:1-4: God has put his Spirit upon
him (my mind races to the Baptism of Jesus). These verses tell us that the
Servant will establish justice to the nations – there it is, that
longing, that longing that the Jewish people have for Justice as they are
hauled off to exile – it is the same longing we have, isn’t it! How will the
Servant establish this justice? It is not with power or politics, but “a
bruised reed he will not break.”
2.
The Second place we meet the Servant is Isaiah 49:1-6: This
text is from the Servant’s point-of-view. We read in this section the Mission
of the Servant: to bring back the exiles and to be a light to the Nations…but
how?
3.
The Third place begins to answer that question, it is Isaiah
50:4-9 and the answer is through obedience. This obedience will mean that the
Servant “gives his back to those who strike it” and his “cheeks to those who
pull out his beard.”
4.
The Fourth place is where we find ourselves today; Isaiah
52:13-53:12. It is the longest section on the Servant. I read this each year
after the Maundy Thursday service. We typically have a vigil and I sit and read
this passage, pondering what our Lord was going through that night leading up
to the Crucifixion.
It is this fourth place, this
fourth song, which synthesizes our other heretofore contact with the Servant
and begins to show us the answer to “how, how will God bring justice, how will
God set it right, and how will God set it right knowing full well that whatever
solution He uses must deal with the reality that WE will wander away again?” If
God uses “power and politics” another powerful nation, such as the one under
Kings David and Solomon, will emerge. We already know how that ends. So how?
The answer is the Servant, the Suffering Servant, will pay the debt and ransom
humanity for God. The ultimate “power” is that of completely and freely giving
your life for others – the Servant does just that.
Listen again to the text: “he is
as silent as a lamb” – a Passover lamb (53:7). “He will bear their iniquities” –
(53:11). He is both the priest making the offering, sprinkling (52:15) and the
guilt offering (53:10).
The text culminates in chapters 54
and 55 with Peace and Water…with a cry to Come to the Water.
I invite you to ponder, to
meditate upon Jesus who is our Suffering Servant, as the One who freely gave
himself, as the One in whose wounds we are healed…Come.
Here is a link to “come to the water”
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