The Suffering Servant

   “WHO has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” (Isaiah 53: 1,2)

     Thus begins one of the most awesome prophecies about the coming Messiah by the prophet Isaiah about 700 years before the coming of Jesus Christ. Other prophecies in the Old Testament paint the picture of the Messiah as a conquering warrior king who will set up the Jewish kingdom after the model of kings David and Solomon. This is why so many of the religious community in Judea were unable to recognize Jesus, because they were looking for the wrong Messiah. Of course, both pictures are correct! He was to come first as a suffering servant and He is coming back again as a King of Kings and Lord of lords when He returns for His church!

    I don’t remember the name of the speaker I was listening to many years ago but he stated that the Jewish scholars in Jesus’ time were aware that there were two different pictures of the Messiah but they chose to only teach the scriptures that depicted the warrior king and not the one in Isaiah 53.

Let us look briefly at these magnificent verses:

    “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from a Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Verses 3,5)

    Isn’t that at perfect picture of how the majority of the religious leaders and the Jewish people responded to Jesus? His fellow Nazarenes tried to throw Him off a cliff! (Luke 4:29) The Pharisees were constantly badgering Him and looking for an excuse to stone Him ( John 10:31,39). He was scourged by the Roman’s because of our sins and He was finally crucified on a wooden cross for our iniquities. (Mark 15:15)

    “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned each one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.” (Verses 6,7)

   We are all sinners that have gone astray, each trying to go the way we want to go regardless of Gods commandments and wishes. But God chose to sacrifice His Son rather than to punish each one of us. Did Christ plead His innocence before Herod, Caiaphas, or Pilate? No! Before Pilate and Herod He did not say a word! (Matthew 27:14, Mark 15:3-5, Luke 23:9)

  “And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He has done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. Yet it had pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. (Verses 9,10a)

   He was on the cross with two thieves but buried in the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea (John 19:38). He had never committed a single sin and was therefore the perfect sacrificial lamb for the sins of the world. It was Gods plan from the beginning of time and God was pleased with His Son for fulfilling that plan.

   “By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. (Verses 11b-12)

   From the time that these prophecies were proclaimed there was no one who did these things until Jesus did them and no one since has done these things either! Jesus, The Messiah, The Christ, is the only one that “poured out a His soul unto death” and “has borne the sins of many”. Jesus is the Suffering Servant who died on that cross for your sins and mine. Jesus is the one who arose from the dead, ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of the Father and is coming back again! Hallelujah, Hallelujah, and Amen!

PRAY 

1.   Thank you precious Jesus for showing us through Your word that You are, indeed, the Messiah that was proclaimed throughout the entire Old Testament to Your people.

2.   Thank you for showing us what an awesome and loving God You are that You were willing to walk among us and show us who You are and how we are to live our lives to bring You glory.

3.   Forgive me Lord of my unfaithfulness and laziness in living for You. Help me today to be filled with Your Spirit and to be obedient to Your leading.