Isaiah’s prophetic word to Israel contains four Servant Songs. You are probably familiar with the fourth of these, which you may well have read during Holy Week as we considered Christ’s sacrifice for us.
Here is the final Servant Song:
13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;[b]
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[c] 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.
Who has believed what he has heard from us?[a]
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[b] by men,
a man of sorrows[c] and acquainted with[d] grief;[e]
and as one from whom men hide their faces[f]
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;[g]
when his soul makes[h] 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[i] 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,[j]
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,[k]
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. (Is. 52:13-53:12)
As Christians it is hard to read this song without seeing it as referring to Jesus. And it is ultimately fulfilled in Christ. But the Servant Songs do not only refer to the coming Messiah, they also speak of God’s call on his people. In fact, in the first Servant Song, God specifically says that Israel is the servant,
But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend; Is. 41:8
But as the songs progress, it emerges that the songs also refer to an individual beyond Israel. As the songs proceed, they become more personal, and they grow in the weight of the calling of the Servant. In Isaiah 41, the Servant is chosen and a friend. In Isaiah 42, the Servant is delighted in, has the Spirit upon him, and a light for the nations. By the time you get to Isaiah 53, we learn that while the Servant “shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted,” he also “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” (Is. 53:3). And finally the Servant is smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed, oppressed, and carries “the iniquity of us all” (Is. 53:6).
So, which is it? Is the Servant a community or an individual? Is the Servant delighted in or smitten? Both.
The Servant ultimately is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews says that “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Heb. 5:8-9). The suffering experienced by the very Son of God was not merely a demonstration of his humility, but was a prerequisite for the sufficiency of his death on the cross.
As Christians we hold onto the incongruent truths that Christ was exalted and despised. But we sometimes miss the seemingly paradox that the Servant Songs refer to Jesus and us. What is true of Christ is true of us.
In praising those who have walked in faith, the author of Hebrews sums up the lives not just of those he lists, but of all who lived by faith, “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two,[a]they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy” (Heb. 11:36-38).
The Suffering Servant is Christ. The Suffering Servant is also you and me, those who walk in his path of exalted rejection. May we not leave the cross behind us as we move past Easter, but keep it ahead of us as our joy and calling.
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