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Today's reading
December 20, 2024
Picture: Suffering Servant Part 1
Isaiah 49:1-3, 5-6, 14-16; Isaiah 50:4-6; Isaiah 52:7-10, 14
As Israel eagerly waits for their rescue from Babylon, they must begin to contemplate who they will become as a nation. For the last 70 years they had been experiencing physical oppression, but for hundreds of years prior and even now they were suffering from spiritual oppression. The nation of Israel was meant to become the servant of God. They were separated by Him to teach all nations His ways. But they had become wicked servants, giving their hearts to the gods of the nations that they were meant to reveal the truth of the Holy One of Israel to. Looming questions about their identity remained. Did God even want to deliver them from this oppression? Was His rescue from Babylon a passionless response of obligation to His promise?
"But Zion said, 'The LORD
has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.;"
​
Isaiah 49:14 (ESV)
God's answer is emphatic.
"Can a woman forget her
nursing child,
that she should have no
compassion on the son
of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
Behold, I have engraved
you on the palms of
my hands;
your walls are continually
before me."
​
Isaiah 49;15-16 (ESV)
God's heart towards His people never waivers. However, God would need an obedient servant whose defining act would cause oppression to cease. Isaiah paints a picture of this servant throughout chapters 49-52.
"Listen to me, O
coastlands,
and give attention, you
peoples from afar.
The LORD called me from
the womb,
from the body of my
mother he named my
name.
He made my mouth like a
sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand
he hid me;
he made me a polished
arrow;
in his quiver he hid me
away.
And he said to me, 'You
are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be
glorified.'
​
And now the LORD says,
he who formed me from the
womb to be his
servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be
gathered to him--
for I am honored in the
eyes of the LORD,
and my God has become
my strength--
he says:
'It is too light a thing that
you should be my
servant
to raise up the tribes of
Jacob
and to bring back the
preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light
for the nations,
that my salvation may
reach to the end of the
earth.'"
​
Isaiah 49:1-3, 5-6 (ESV)
Although the name Israel is used this will not be the nation of Israel. Instead, this servant, hidden away and prepared for a specific moment in time would embody all that Israel was meant to be. In fact, His primary purpose was to raise up the children of Israel and shine the light of salvation to all nations.
​
This servant would only say what he had learned from God.
"The Lord GOD has given
me
the tongue of those who are
taught,
that I may know how to
sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he
awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are
taught.
The Lord GOD has opened
my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward."
​
Isaiah 50:4-5 (ESV)
Despite His obedience this servant would become despised.
"I gave my back to those
who strike,
and my cheeks to those
who pull out the
beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting."
​
Isaiah 50:6 (ESV)
​
The rage towards this servant would swell, culminating in an act of violence that would cause onlookers to
gasp at its brutality.
"As many were astonished
at you--
his appearance was so
marred, beyond
human semblance,
and his form beyond that of
the children of
mankind--"
​
Isaiah 52:14 (ESV)
So how can this battered servant deliver Israel? Just before the climax of this section of scripture is reached, Isaiah pauses. He paints a picture of Israel as a city that has been sieged. An evil army has surrounded it. But someone has come to their aide and drawn the evil army out to a mountain pass to do battle. As the city awaits their fate, the watchman is perched on a tower focused on a mountain pass to see a messenger coming who would share the news of the final battle. Finally a figure emerges from the peaks.
"How beautiful up the
mountains
are the feet of him who
brings good news,
who publishes peace, who
brings good news of
happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, 'Your
God reigns.'
The voice of your
watchmen--they lift
up their voice;
together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
the return of the LORD to
Zion.
Break forth together into
singing,
you waste places of
Jerusalem,
for the LORD has
comforted his people;
he has redeemed
Jerusalem.
The LORD has bared his
holy arm
before the eyes of all the
nations,
and all the ends of the
earth shall see
the salvation of our God."
​
Isaiah 52:7-10 (ESV)
​
As the messenger draws near, shouts of joy rise. The servant has gone to battle, and defeated the oppressive army. This servant has secured salvation to all who suffer under the oppression of sin. I wonder who the servant could be?
This is Christmas to you.