The Obedient Servant: Isaiah 50:4-9
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| The Prophet Isaiah Painting by Michelangelo (1475-1564) |
Introduction
We
find the third of what are called Isaiah’s “Servant Songs” in Isaiah
50:4-11.
You
may recall that the Servant Songs are Hebrew poems or songs in which
Isaiah predicted for the Israelites some details of the character of the coming
Messiah…prophecies fully 700 years before the Messiah’s first advent.
Isaiah’s four “Servant Songs,” found in chapters 42 through
53, are prophetic and give details about the character and purpose of the
Messiah.
These prophecies have in view both the Messiah’s first advent
to suffer and die as that perfect atonement and the Messiah’s second advent and
future kingdom on earth. Isaiah, of course, did not know about two advents, and
therefore some of his prophecies contain elements of both.
The first Servant Song is in Isaiah 42, where he identifies
the Messiah as “My Servant,” who would demonstrate a quiet and patient
demeanor, would bring truth, justice, and comfort to the weak and oppressed,
would be a light to the Gentiles, and would open mankind’s eyes to the reality
and grace of God.
He
introduced the Messiah as the first song opens:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations.”
That first Servant Song ended with the assurance that the
Messiah was sure to come, because God had promised, and He always had kept His
promises.
The
second servant song is found in Isaiah 49. In it, he prophesies that the
Messiah will come in human form, He will be an effective teacher, He will
glorify the Father, was sent to save Israel, He will be rejected, and He will
save all mankind.
This
second Servant Song intermingles the promises of the Messiah to both the people
of Israel in the relatively near term, their exile and return in the two
centuries immediately following Isaiah, and to the Messiah’s message of
salvation to the Gentiles in his first advent, seven centuries after these
prophecies.
Throughout
his prophecies, Isaiah emphasizes the role of the Messiah as the Savior, not
just for Israel, but for all people as well…an idea that the Israelites
rejected.
This
evening, we focus on the third of the four Servant Songs, which concentrates on
the obedience of the Messiah to the will of the Father and contrasts Israel’s
sin and disobedience with the Servant’s obedience. The Servant would be everything
Israel was not: He would perfectly obey God the Father.
We
also see that the Messiah will be persecuted yet vindicated. The verses
preceding this song, vv. 1-3, compare Israel to an immoral wife, and only God
has the power to ransom her. Then, starting in verse 4, the Servant responds to
the instruction of God. He is not rebellious (v. 5), even when His obedience to
God results in suffering. Isaiah expresses the Servant’s confidence in God’s
help and that He will be found innocent (vv. 7-9). The Servant resolves to see
His task to completion, no matter how difficult.
In the prophecies of this song, we find that the Servant’s perfect obedience will lead to His rejection (v. 5). Notice the escalation from the second song, which tells us the Servant would be deeply despised (49:7). Now, in this third Servant Song, it is prophesied that the Servant will suffer physically at the hands of His captors (Isa. 50:6):
“…I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard…”
Seven
centuries later, this prophecy was fulfilled. Abuse and insults were heaped on
Him. He was turned over to the Roman soldiers. His back was beaten, His face
was hit, and He was spit upon (see John 19:1-3; Matthew 27:30). Jesus was
obedient unto death (Philippians 2:8), and the Father vindicated His Suffering
Servant by resurrecting Him.
Let’s
look at the text of the third Servant Song:
4 The Sovereign
Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He
wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being
instructed.
5 The Sovereign
Lord has opened my ears;
I have not been rebellious,
I have not turned away.
6 I offered my back
to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I
did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
7 Because the
Sovereign Lord helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore
have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates
me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who
is my accuser?
Let him confront me!
9 It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me.
Who will condemn me?
They
will all wear out like a garment;
the moths will eat them up.
The Exposition
In
v. 4, we see:
The
Servant Will Be Obedient in Speaking and Teaching
4 The Sovereign
Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
V. 4 is the voice of the Servant. We find the phrase, “Adonai Yahweh,” “the Lord Yahweh,” four times in this song, vv. 4, 5, 7, 9. In each instance, the Lord God enables the Servant: ”
…has given me a well-instructed tongue…” (v. 4), “…has opened my ears…” (v. 5), “…helps me…” (vv. 7 and 9), Not only does “the Lord Yahweh” empower the Servant, but these references authenticate the Servant’s work.The Lord God has given the
Servant the tongue of a teacher (literally “a learned person”). There is and
will be an ongoing communication between God and the Servant—with God conveying
wisdom and the Servant listening — in
order to absorb every word and thought of God the Father, the Lord Yahweh.
Otherwise, the Servant would have nothing to teach His weary people. Because He
listens, however, the Servant has power from the Lord Yahweh to help and care
for the weary.
That is no mean feat,
because the Jewish people have long suffered over many generations—through enslavement,
exile, and domination by cruel foreign powers—and they are described as a weary
people. The Lord Yahweh will commission the Servant to teach them and encourage
them—to bring them hope. That would be impossible except that God makes it
possible.
The Servant is given “…the word that sustains the weary…” (v. 4), and we know that God’s word is powerful and true, whether spoken by God directly, as He did in the creation in Genesis 1, to Moses on the mountain in Exodus 19, by one of the prophets, or by the New Testament authors. In fact, the New Testament describes Jesus, the Servant, with these words in John 1: “…Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” (John 1:14). God still works today through our scriptures and the preaching of the word, our reading and teaching the word, and in our personal evangelism sharing the word with the unsaved.
Moreover, in v. 4 the Servant tells us the Lord Yahweh “…wakens me morning
by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.” God
speaks to the Servant constantly. The sense that we get here is that the Lord
gives the Servant encouragement and instruction each morning. So the Servant
does the will of the Father continually.
To me, this is also a picture of our discipleship, which,
with constant practice, gets easier each day we are devoted to faithfulness. When
we devote ourselves to the word and to prayer today, we find it a little easier
and easier to listen and obey Him tomorrow. We will see what that means in the
Servant’s life when we get to verses 6-9. Those verses show the strength that
the Servant developed through daily discipleship.
In vv. 5, we read that:
The Servant Will Be Obedient to the Father’s Will
5 The Sovereign
Lord has opened my ears;
I have not been rebellious,
I have not turned away.
In v. 4, the Servant tells us the Lord Yahweh “…wakens my ear…”; and now , in v.
5, He repeats that slightly differently, telling us “The Sovereign Lord has
opened my ears…” and that He responds positively, saying: “… I have not been
rebellious, I have not turned away.” The Servant is prophesied to respond positively to the will of the Father…but
in truth, it must be tempting for the Servant to rebel, knowing what would
happen to Him. He proved willing to do the Father’s will and did not “…turn
away.”. We remember that some of the prophets were less faithful. Jonah ran
away. Jeremiah complained. When the Lord called, there may have been times in
our lives when we wanted to resist…to go in another direction.
In
v.6, we learn:
The
Servant Will Be Obedient in Suffering
Instead of turning away from the Father’s will,
the Servant tells us:
6 I offered my back
to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
He ends v. 6 with: “I did not hide my face from mocking and
spitting.” While insults and being spat upon might seem mild compared
with scourging and having one’s beard plucked out, this sort of humiliation was
very degrading in the culture. Unlike our current culture, which is long on
tolerance and short on shame, the people of that time and place took shame
seriously. But even today, we tend not to take insults lightly and would recoil
at being spat upon.
So
let’s pause for just a moment and consider the question…Just who was Jesus?
On
one occasion, when He was teaching in the temple courts, a group of Pharisees
challenged His authority, demanding to know who He was.
His
answer, found in John 8:28-29, bears on this point:
“…I do nothing on my own but speak just
what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he
has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”
We may wonder who would
take offense at the Servant’s ministry in the Jewish culture? Who would cheer
His beating and death? The answer, simply, is that in the Jewish culture at the
time of this prophecy and seven centuries later when Jesus appeared, there was
a strong and mistaken sense of what to expect in the Messiah.
The people did not believe Jesus was the Messiah. The leaders of the community—the priests, scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees—led the Jews to believe that the chief act of the Messiah would be to throw out the Roman rulers, but certainly not a Messiah like Jesus.
His message was not what the people wanted to hear.In
John 6, Jesus tells His followers that those who trust in Him will need to show
the same sacrifice and commitment as He would experience…but many of them
responded, “This is a hard saying; who can accept it?” (John 6:60). Jesus
replies, “…there are some of you who do not believe,” (6:64). Then John tells
us, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed
him” (6:66).
We
know that His message ultimately led to His death. He knew this would happen,
but never held back on His teaching. Many times, in fact, we see Him
confronting the scribes and Pharisees in the temple, with crowds around them
listening.
He
was blunt and honest with the people in urging them to trust in Him completely,
not to expel the Romans, but to trust Him for eternal life with the Father.
Matthew
reports that He laid it out bluntly for them, quoting Jesus in chapter 10:
37 “Anyone who loves
their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does
not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39
Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake
will find it”
(Matthew 10:37-39).
And
to a people who envied those among them with wealth and power, He says, “Blessed
are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
In
addition, the Jews were steeped in the tradition that righteousness meant
following the letter of the law and the hundreds of additions to the law their
rabbis added. But Jesus taught that righteousness consisted not of following
the letter of the law, but a matter of an internal spiritual commitment.
He
said:
21 “You have heard
that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who
murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone
who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment…” and
27 “You have heard
that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you
that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with
her in his heart”
(Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28).
It’s
not just His words of commitment that must affect us, but also His words and
ministry to those who are weary and burdened; burdened, sad, hurting inside, and discouraged. He is ministering to us right now.
Back
to the Servant Song…
In.
vv. 7-9, we learn:
The
Messiah Will Be Obedient in Accomplishing His Purpose
7 Because the
Sovereign Lord helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
The
Messiah says, in verse 7, “…I have set my face like flint.” Flint is a
hard, dense rock. The simile here is that the Messiah would not be swayed from
His purpose. In the gospels, we find this to be true of Jesus, who was not
swayed from His purpose by hardship, opposition, or betrayal. Jesus did not
have just a strong sense of purpose, but a perfect sense of purpose. In v. 7,
He alludes to God’s help….Knowing that God the Father
leads Him, He feels neither disgrace nor shame. So He can say Therefore
have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. He has a solid confidence that God will vindicate him in
the long run, so he is able to endure suffering in the short run. We
find in the gospel accounts that though people sought to mock and shame Jesus,
He persevered, because, as He tells us in v. 8: “…He who vindicates me is
near…”: and thus He can say: “Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me!”
In
v. 8, the Servant challenges all comers, as if He is
in a courtroom battle:
8 He who vindicates
me is near.
Who then will bring charges against me?
Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser?
Let him confront me!
He has God the
Father as his defense counsel, so He has nothing to fear. He boldly dares his
opponents to confront Him, and it is clear here that his earlier failure to
resist violence in v. 6 reflected the principle of strength, rather than a
helpless surrender to the crowd’s violence.
So He can say in
v. 9:
9 It is the
Sovereign Lord who helps me.
Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
the moths will eat them up.
The Servant does
not fear his own fate. He is confident that His enemies will find themselves
worn out and eaten up.
The Servant is a
model for us in demonstrating confidence in God the Father…in His case, confidence
of vindication…and in our case, confidence in our Savior’s promises of love and
care and an eternal existence in His presence. Despite our weaknesses, we can
stand boldly without shame and disgrace as we trust in Him in the present and
for our future, just as God delivered His people in the past.
Conclusion
I
don’t want for us to study the prophecies just to gain knowledge. We want to
know them so that we can be more like our Savior and Lord, so we can understand
Him and know and do His will. Jesus prayed for us in John 17:18: “As You
sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
So
the question my question for us all this evening is…What do we know about His
will for us from this third servant song?
First,
we must be like Him in speaking and teaching: share the gospel message,
encourage and admonish each other, use our communication to build the kingdom,
not criticize, gossip, and judge others.
Second,
we need to listen to what God has to tell us, through the Bible, through our
interactions with each other, and through the inner voice of God. We must not
turn away from His voice, and not just to request Him to act, but pray for a
better understanding of His will for us.
Third
is suffering, learning to deal with life’s circumstances righteously and to do
God’s will regardless of the consequences to our pride.
Finally, we need to commit to being steadfast in purpose: doing God’s will and pursuing righteousness regardless of hardship, opposition, embarrassment, or even betrayal.
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