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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

Suffering Servant Part 1
00:00 / 05:16

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.

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