The Book of Isaiah is a remarkable accounting of the history of the relationship people of Israel with God. By the time the people of God were hearing the Word of the Lord from the Book of Isaiah, the Kingdom of David was gone and there were doubts as to whether God would fulfill the promise of a glorious kingdom that would last forever. How can anyone believe a promise of glory when one is in exile, suffering humiliation and dishonor? Who is to blame for this downfall? Where is hope, if any, to be found? Isaiah is quite clear about this.

The Fault Lines of Captivity

As the people of God heard the prophet’s words, there was no place to hide. From the very beginning of Isaiah, they are told that they are corrupt, rebellious, even “laden with iniquity!” (Isaiah 1:4, ESV). Judgment is woven throughout the entire book – sometimes as warnings not to do it again. As God’s people yearned for something better, for perhaps an acknowledgment that they had not been abandoned forever, Isaiah speaks of good news that comes from a holy but redemptive God. The fault is ours. As the people learn to confess their sin and culpability, there comes from the Lord a thundering, “Yes, but…!”

The Horizon of Hope

Judgment is not the last word the people hear. There is a promise of healing, salvation, and restoration. But it does not come as a message of what God wants from us. It is a message that someone will come to be what God wants for us. And what God will do is send a suffering Servant who will bear the guilt, weight, and punishment of the people’s sin and who will be offered as a sacrifice to atone for and remedy the broken condition of humanity. The power of the Lord will be revealed in suffering, but the suffering is not the end of the story. Although the fault is ours, hope is from God and God alone. Because of the willing submission of the Servant, “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. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong” (Is 53:11-12, ESV).

Who is the Suffering Servant?

Much has been written about the identity of the suffering Servant. Some believe that it might have been an unknown person who lived out this description. Some think it may have been Isaiah himself. And others think it may have been the people of Israel themselves. But as John Oswalt points out in both of his commentaries, none of those examples fit the redemptive pattern of Jesus. Thus, whether this is a prophecy or a promise, the description fits Jesus to a “T.”

Hope Fulfilled

The early disciples, as well as the first converts, were steeped in the Old Testament scriptures and promises. They longed for a salvation that would come in the person of the Messiah. It is worth noting that when Jesus announced His ministry in the synagogue in Nazareth, he quoted from Isaiah and then said that the promises of that book had been fulfilled in Him. The reaction of the people was just like the description Isaiah wrote about the Suffering Servant. The Servant is right in front of people, and he was unrecognized.

But after the resurrection, the connection between Jesus and the promise of Isaiah was instant and electric! The gospel writers saw the connection. The apostles saw the connection. One hates to be frivolous during Holy Week, but there seem to have been many disciples slapping their foreheads in delayed recognition.

This Isaiah passage describes who Jesus is and what He does. Many have called the Book of Isaiah the Gospel of Isaiah because of its clear and deep understanding of our human need and the salvation that Jesus alone provides. Only Jesus can do it and He has done it. One of the first missionary encounters recorded (Acts 8:26-40) turns on Isaiah 53, as Philip explains to the Ethiopians how the text he is reading is fulfilled in Jesus.

Our condition

As much as technology tells us that we are always progressing to higher levels of human life, we know that’s not true. We see suffering around us: wars are breaking out globally, political divisions make civic life almost impossible, cities that were once beautiful and a vibrant have descended into a darkness of crime and hopelessness. But the despair pervades more than our national and community settings. Our personal relationships break down, our families split apart, and purpose seems to be missing from our work. And there is no political, economic, or social solution to all of these breakdowns. We cry out with the apostle Paul, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24, ESV)

It is in this sad condition that Jesus comes to us. He is God with us. He suffers with us – He knows what we are going through. This is good to know when we have no words to describe our situation in our prayers. But Jesus also suffers for us. He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  And He rescues us “from the human condition, the death we see all around us, and that which we find inside ourselves. In this story of the Servant’s death and resurrection, we discover the love of God that leads to true life.” (Mackie) And this true life includes living as Jesus, the suffering Servant, lived.

It’s the story of God’s defeat of evil so that you and I can be rescued from the human condition, the death we see all around us, and that which we find inside ourselves. In this story of the servant’s death and resurrection, we discover the love of God that leads to true life.

As good as our rescue from sin and death is, we, as followers of Jesus, are called to live his life. Martin Luther said that because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we can and must go into our neighborhoods as “little Christs.” Philippians 2: 5-11 is poetically brilliant at making the connection between the life of Jesus and our lives. As we preach, it is tempting to jump to what we do rather quickly, but with Suffering Servant description in Isaiah, we must reflect deeply on the sufferings of Jesus before we move on to what a life of suffering may look like for the follower of Jesus. It is important to not let either reflection slip into describing martyrdom.

References

Tim Mackie, “Isaiah and the Suffering Servant,” The Bible Project, accessed 12/11/2023.