Welcome to Week Seven in our series from the book of Isaiah, to the third of the Servant Songs, and to Isaiah chapter 50.
We’ve already seen what God’s servant will do and how he will go about doing it, now let’s examine his character. What manner of individual is he? What can we learn from him?
As with each of the prior weeks, the text of the Servant Song itself is short, found in Isaiah 50:4-9. We strongly encourage you to read the entire passage at least once, if not every day, since we will be focusing on no more than one or two verses each day.
Thank you to my wife Tracy for her work on this week’s prayer guides.
Index to Days 2 through 5
Day 1
A Teacher and a Student
Observe
The servant is given all the knowledge needed to speak as no Scribe or Pharisee ever could. His words are enough to sustain the weary. But the servant is also forever the student, arising early each morning in the way students do, listening to all that is said in the eternal council by his divine Father.
Isaiah 50:4-5
4 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.
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
Matthew 7:28-29
The Authority of Jesus
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
John 3:1-2
You Must Be Born Again
3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
John 7:14-16
14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
Luke 2:41-52
The Boy Jesus in the Temple
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Joshua Gibbs, writing for the Circe Institute, said: St. Gregory Nazianzus once neatly encapsulated the universal nature of Christ with the profoundly pithy maxim, “What has not been assumed has not been healed.” Put another way, whatever Christ did not become cannot be of use to us. Christ is not simply the greatest man, but the cosmic man. He is the sustaining power of the cosmos, and as He dies, so the cosmos dies and is reborn in Him.
That may all seem like abstract thinking and intellectual nonsense, but the point is this: Jesus was the complete man. In him, we can see ourselves perfected. He’s the gold standard. Now you may say “Wait! But Jesus never married so how can he be the gold standard for husbands?” Oh, but Jesus did marry. We are his bride. And no husband ever modeled love to his wife better than Jesus modeled it to his bride, which is the church. And so, with Jesus as the model for the complete person, we see that he was both teacher and student. In the temple story from Luke 2, Jesus was listening and questioning as he learned, and he declared this to be “his Father’s business.” In John 7, where Jesus began to teach in the temple, he answered the amazement of the crowd by saying “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.”
- Being a student is more than attending a school. How are you studying in a way that meets the standard of being about your Heavenly Father’s business?
- Being a teacher is more than standing in front of a class. How are you sharing the Father’s teaching about Jesus and the gospel?
Dear Lord, my teacher, thank you for your patience with me. Thank you for showing me again and again your goodness and the beauty of the gospel, even when I am weary. You were with the Father at the creation of all things, yet you humbly became a man and subjected yourself for a time to the limits of this physical life to redeem us. Lord, open my ears to your teaching, humbly, because you understand my struggles. Use me to give voice to your teaching, boldly, and help me not to turn away. Amen.
Day 2
Patiently Enduring
Observe
The servant patiently endures shameful attack. He makes no attempt to defend himself but instead offers his back to those who would strike him. He allows his beard to be plucked out; he does not turn away from the disgrace of people spitting in his face.
Isaiah 50:6
6 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.
2 Samuel 10:4-5
4 So Hanun took David’s servants and shaved off half the beard of each and cut off their garments in the middle, at their hips, and sent them away. 5 When it was told David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, “Remain at Jericho until your beards have grown and then return.”
2 Corinthians 6:4
4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,
2 Corinthians 1:6
6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.
James 5:7-11
Patience in Suffering
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Commonly an unkind master would whip the back of a servant or a slave to punish them, and an evil master might even do it for sport. When verse 5 has the servant saying he was not rebellious and did not turn backward, it references both looking back on learning as a student and ahead toward what verse 6 describes: facing the fury, shame, and indignity of his suffering. God’s servant Jesus willingly gave his back to be scourged, taking in his stripes the full fury of evil men, then hung on the cross taking the full fury of a righteous God. In oriental society (and Israel is located in western Asia), a man’s beard symbolizes his manhood and masculinity; to have it cut off or plucked out would be shameful. Upon this indignity, the ultimate sign of disrespect was heaped; those persecuting God’s servant would spit in his face. With attacks on his person, manhood, and dignity, there is no manner of suffering that God’s servant did not patiently undertake.
- Why did God’s servant patiently endure suffering?
- What has God given you to patiently endure?
Dear Jesus, I will never fully understand the depth of your suffering. What a mercy that is, for it would overwhelm me. Yet you chose the pain and humiliation of your crucifixion for my salvation. My own struggles are nothing by comparison, but those struggles can still be so hard for me at times. Teach me patience during my struggles and pull me close; teach me to rely on you through suffering. Amen.
Day 3
Stone-faced
Observe
The Lord God sustains the servant as he endures shameful attacks stone-faced. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that the servant himself is Lord. He will receive all glory and honor then, but now, in his flesh, he needs the strong arm of the Lord to help him.
Isaiah 50:7
7 But the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
2 Corinthians 4:7-18
Treasure in Jars of Clay
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 11:24-28
24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
Patient endurance of suffering for its own sake would only be misery for the duration. God helps his servant, and the result is a stone-faced rejection of disgrace and shame. Hebrews 2 says Jesus “despised” (dismissed, scorned) the shame of the cross because of the great joy set before him. That great joy, dear brothers and sisters, is you! You might understandably say this is a divine skill we could never appropriate, but Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, says what he has faced is “light momentary affliction” compared with eternal glory it is producing. In the same letter, he lists some of the things he has endured, and it seems impossible to consider them in any regard, light or momentary. We judge rightly the harshness of having to endure suffering patiently, but we regard too lightly the purpose for which it is done.
- What is something so precious to you that you would diminish or dismiss the pain associated with obtaining it?
- What makes it that precious to you?
Heavenly Father, what a wonder it is that you hear my every prayer and hold me up through every trial. You guide me through every time of darkness. Even Jesus, your precious son, went through darkness and cried out to you. You are faithful Lord. I pray that you will sustain this faithless servant, that I will endure suffering in a way that looks a little like you, and it will be for your glory. Amen.
Day 4
Never Alone
Observe
God’s servant is always aware of the closeness of the one who vindicates him. Vindication not in the sense of removing accusation, but in the legal sense of being judged and declared right. The servant is near to the one who will declare him innocent and righteous; it is a triumphant declaration. Assured of being judged right, God’s servant is ready for the conflict.
Isaiah 50:8
8 He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
Hebrews 10:32-36
32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
Hebrews 13:5-8
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Romans 8:31-39
God’s Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is a statement of confidence by God’s servant. He knows God is close and will judge him right (made evident by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and his subsequent ascension into heaven). The hatred of opposition will reach its highest point at his suffering and death on the cross but will not diminish his confidence. On the contrary, the challenge to his adversary to stand and face him carries with it a note of defiance.
- What can make you lack confidence in God or his nearness to you?
- What effect does it have when you are confident in God, his nearness to you, and his judgment of you as right?
Dear Lord, at the very worst times in my life I have felt alone. But you are with me always. Help me to look for you first and always. Help me to sense your presence. Help me to believe each day this truth from your word: that you are my savior and you are near. Give me compassion for those who suffer around me, those who need to know the hope of salvation, and use me to bring your message of the gospel. Amen.
Day 5
Short-lived
Observe
All those who would accuse the servant are short-lived. Like moth-eaten clothing hanging in a closet, they fall apart and are forgotten. God’s servant stands forever and no one can accuse him of any failure.
Isaiah 50:9
9 Behold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
Psalm 102:23-28
23 He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he has shortened my days.
24 “O my God,” I say, “take me not away
in the midst of my days—
you whose years endure
throughout all generations!”
25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their offspring shall be established before you.
Job 13:28
28 Man wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.
James 5:1-2
Warning to the Rich
5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
When I was a young man, I recall hearing the men who led the churches and Bible studies I attended saying, “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good.” They meant well, of course, seeking to encourage those to whom they ministered in paying attention to practical matters, especially those that pertained to the faith. I think, though, as pendulums do, this one has swung too far. We have become so concerned about managing this present life’s demands and concerns that we’ve lost some of the wonder and awe that our destination should rightly inspire. God’s servant here calls up two images for us: garments worn out by use and those destroyed by moths. When you wear something long enough, it grows threadbare. Everywhere you go, you rub off a little bit of that garment, leaving tiny bits of it clinging to every chair and swept away in the water at each washing. By its use, it is gradually and inevitably destroyed even while fulfilling the purpose for which it was made. Should we seek to protect them by storing them so they won’t wear out, they will be destroyed by external forces like the moth. No matter how long the grind of this life takes, it is an immeasurably tiny flicker compared with eternity. God’s servant gives evidence of having an eternal perspective, and so should we.
- When you think about living forever with God, what question or questions do you have?
- How does keeping eternity in mind change how we live this life?
Eternal Father, as I consider this world and the brevity of life, I am overcome by your glory. In every way that I am poor and weak, you are powerful. As this body is frail, you are strong. As my life is fleeting, you are eternal. Yet you look past my sin, inadequacy and failure at your perfect son, and you judge me clean and worthy, and you call me your friend because of Jesus. What a wonder. Thank you, Jesus.