The Servant

Isaiah 52.13-53.12
 
He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions
            52.13       Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
      he shall be high and lifted up,
      and shall be exalted.
            14       As many were astonished at you—
      his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
      and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
            15       so shall he sprinkle many nations.
      Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
                  for that which has not been told them they see,
      and that which they have not heard they understand.
53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
      And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
            2       For he grew up before him like a young plant,
      and like a root out of dry ground;
                  he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
      and no beauty that we should desire him.
            3       He was despised and rejected by men,
      a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
                  and as one from whom men hide their faces
      he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
 
            4       Surely he has borne our griefs
      and carried our sorrows;
                  yet we esteemed him stricken,
      smitten by God, and afflicted.
            5       But he was pierced for our transgressions;
      he was crushed for our iniquities;
                  upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
      and with his wounds we are healed.
            6       All we like sheep have gone astray;
      we have turned—every one—to his own way;
                  and the LORD has laid on him
      the iniquity of us all.
 
            7       He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
      yet he opened not his mouth;
                  like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
      and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
      so he opened not his mouth.
            8       By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
      and as for his generation, who considered
                  that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
      stricken for the transgression of my people?
            9       And they made his grave with the wicked
      and with a rich man in his death,
                  although he had done no violence,
      and there was no deceit in his mouth.
 
            10       Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
      he has put him to grief;
                  when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
      he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
                  the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
            11       Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
                  by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
      make many to be accounted righteous,
      and he shall bear their iniquities.
            12       Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
      and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
                  because he poured out his soul to death
      and was numbered with the transgressors;
                  yet he bore the sin of many,
      and makes intercession for the transgressors.
 
 
I want you to read this passage very carefully, which is why I included it in full here.  It is awesome.  What is more, this was written hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth, yet it’s all about Jesus.  These are prophecies and implications which are beyond Jesus’ ability to fulfill if He were nothing more than a human being trying to claim the title of Messiah for Himself. 
Which means that when we consider the odds of these prophecies and implications (many of which are beyond a person’s ability to control or manipulate), we’re left with one conclusion: that this, the Servant, is directed by and from the Lord.
 
So let’s focus on the passage.
The passage is all about the Servant, the “arm of the Lord,” who has been promised.
That Servant we know to be Jesus.  He arrives, as we know, in a quiet and unassuming way.  Not as a conquering military leader, nothing attractive about His appearance, and as we know from the Gospels, predicted here in Isaiah, that He was rejected and took on all the sin and suffering of humanity. 
The Servant has come to take away the sins of the world, but all He faced in His work and ministry was constant rejection by the people, and ultimately, Jesus died at the hands of those He came to save.
 
Verse 10 is stunning when you pause to soak it in.  Why did all of this happen to the Servant, to Jesus?
It did not occur as a result of accidental circumstances.
This happened on purpose, the suffering of the Servant was intended, in fact, it was God’s intention.
It was the will of the Lord to crush Him (53.10).
Why?
When the life of the Servant is given as an offering for guilt, then the will of the Lord is realized.
The Servant, in His suffering and death, makes it possible for us to be counted righteous by bearing our sin.
John Oswalt, in his commentary on the passage, put it this way: “The Servant did not come to tell people what God wants; rather, he came to be what God wants for us.”
 
The Servant comes to take away the sin of the world.
 
This is an incredible victory!  In fact, that’s the point here in the work of the Servant.  Victory is something that is stated clearly at the beginning and at the end of the passage. 
There is no question about the outcome of the work of the Servant.  It’s a complete and total victory, one which we could not even have begun to imagine.
The verses between the beginning and the end of the passage are hard to read and look like total defeat, but that’s not the case.  In the Servant’s faithfulness, victory is won.
 
And here’s the stunning thing that you and I need to realize today.  When we entrust our lives to Jesus, we share in His victory.
 
Colossians 1:19–20
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
 
My encouragement to you today, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed by all that is unfolding around you, is to take a moment to read through this passage again.
God loves you my friends, we see it written all over these pages.
 
God bless you, and know that you are constantly in my prayers.
Scott