This study explores the message related to the Messianic Servant in Isaiah 50, 52, and 53.
The figure of the Messianic Servant is a core theme in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 52 and 53 constitute a great song about the Servant. There are many discussions among scholars about the identification of the servant in the song. Some consider that the servant in those chapters represents Israel. However, the book of Isaiah itself provides some insights to help us make a clear, positive identification of the servant as the Messiah. The song first identifies the Messiah as the King (Isa. 52:7, 8); second, it identifies the Messiah as rescuer and redeemer (Isa. 52:9-15); and finally, it identifies the Messiah as the Suffering One (Isaiah 53).
Three main topics are explored in this study: (1) the Lord as servant; (2) the Messiah, the Suffering Servant; and (3) the Messiah, the Redeemer and the King.
Part II: Commentary
The Lord as Servant.
As we study the song of the servant (Isaiah 52 and 53), we need to study the previous chapter as well. Isaiah 50 is introduced by the expression “Thus saith the LORD” (Isa. 50:1). It is the Lord who says, “I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness. . . . I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering” (Isa. 50:2, 3). In the following verses, “the Lord” states that “the Lord GOD has done” this. The Lord declares that the Lord God “hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary” (Isa. 50:4); “The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious” (Isa. 50:5); “The Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded” (Isa. 50:7); and “The Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me?” (Isa. 50:9).
The next verse (Isa. 50:10), which is expressed as an explanatory parallelism, is introduced:
A. “Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant,
B. who walks in darkness and has no light,
A’. yet trusts in the name of the LORD and relies upon his God?” (NRSV).
It is clear that servant is parallel with the Lord in A, just as God is parallel with the Lord in A’.
Ellen G. White comments on this chapter: “Through Isaiah, [Christ] prophesied of Himself, ‘I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not My face from shame and spitting’? Isaiah 50:6.”—The Acts of the Apostles, p. 225.
The Messiah, the Suffering Servant.
Isaiah 52 and 53 present, in several stages, one of the best portraits of the Messiah. First, these chapters present the Messiah as King (Isa. 52:7, 8) and second, the Messiah as Rescuer and Redeemer (Isa. 52:9-15). A third stage follows, showing us the Messiah as the Suffering One (Isaiah 53). This study starts with the last stage because it seems that the author puts these stages in reverse order.
If we follow the inspired interpretation, there is no doubt that this Suffering Servant is the Christ. The Gospel of John states, “This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: ‘LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?’ . . . These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him” (John 12:38, 41; NASB).
It is clear that the sacrifice of the Servant is a substitutionary death, as evinced by the text:
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried” (Isa. 53:4, NASB).
“He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. . . . And by His scourging we are healed” (Isa. 53:5, NASB).
“The LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isa. 53:6, NASB).
“By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11, NASB).
Ellen G. White writes, “Paul showed how closely God had linked the sacrificial service with the prophecies relating to the One who was to be ‘brought as a lamb to the slaughter.’ The Messiah was to give His life as ‘an offering for sin.’ Looking down through the centuries to the scenes of the Saviour’s atonement, the prophet Isaiah had testified that the Lamb of God ‘poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors’ (Isaiah 53:7, 10, 12). The Saviour of prophecy was to come, not as a temporal king, to deliver the Jewish nation from earthly oppressors, but as a man among men, to live a life of poverty and humility, and at last to be despised, rejected, and slain. The Saviour foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures was to offer Himself as a sacrifice in behalf of the fallen race, thus fulfilling every requirement of the broken law. In Him the sacrificial types were to meet their antitype, and His death on the cross was to lend significance to the entire Jewish economy.”—The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 227, 228.
The Messiah, the Redeemer and the King.
The song of the Servant in Isaiah 52 emphasizes another two stages of the Messianic Servant’s work.
After the vicarious atonement made by the Servant, the redemption of His people is possible. “If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring” (Isa. 53:10, NASB). This is also the imagery of Isaiah 52 (starting in the second half of verse 9). The scene of the redeemed people no longer includes the image of the Suffering Servant but, rather, the image of a brave warrior, who “has bared His holy arm” (Isa. 52:10, NASB). The holy arm is the symbol of His power, which makes the rescue of His people possible.
The scene here in Isaiah 52 impresses us with its power and majesty. At its heart is the image of a commander, the exalted leader: “He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted” (Isa. 52:13, NASB).
There is a wonderful reason for His exaltation: it is because of the ultimate success of His mission. The Lord announces the exaltation of His servant because of His satisfactory substitutionary death for the sins of both His guilty people and the Gentiles (see F. Duane Lindsey, The Servant Songs: A Study in Isaiah [Chicago: Moody Press, 1985], p. 138).
Although His “visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men,” He nevertheless “sprinkle[s] many nations,” and “the kings shall shut their mouths at him” (Isa. 52:14, 15).
All nations will be witnesses to His exultation, for as we read, he shall be exulted “in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isa. 52:10).
The next stage in the song (even though, technically speaking, in the order of actual appearance in the book of Isaiah, this section comes first) is the Messiah as the King. The Messiah has redeemed His people; the work is complete. Now the messengers of the King “saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isa. 52:7). “Your watchmen lift up their voices, They shout joyfully together” (Isa. 52:8, NASB), and as it is announced before, of “the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end” (Isa. 9:7).
God does not merely redeem His people from oppression, affliction, and the enslavement by foreign nations, especially Babylon, and bring them back to their homeland, Jerusalem. God also sends Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as the Suffering Servant to die on the cross to redeem His people and all human beings who receive Him from the bondage of sin. One day, He will take His redeemed home, and then He will reign forever.
The SDA Bible Commentary states in this regard: “The deliverance here foretold was, first, that of literal Israel from the nations that oppressed them (see on Isa. 40:1; 44:28 to 45:13), and then the greater deliverance from sin and all evil through the Suffering Servant (see on chs. 41:8; 42:1) of ch. 53, that is, the Messiah. . . . His power to deliver His people, and later the triumph of the gospel prove that He, and not Satan, reigns.”—Volume 4, p. 287.
Part III: Life Application
In this lesson, we have studied the Messiah as the Suffering Servant. Why do you think the Lord decided to reveal Himself to us as a Servant? Read Isaiah 52 and 53 in order to get some ideas.
How do you understand Isaiah 53:10: “The LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief” (NASB)? How does the apostle Paul help us to understand this mystery, as relayed in this verse: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21, NASB)?
Our hope is that the God who delivered His people in the past is coming in the near future to take His people to the New Jerusalem. According to the book of Isaiah, many kingdoms came upon the stage of this earth’s history, but eventually, they passed away.
What about the kingdom of the Messiah? How long will the kingship of “the Son of Man” stand? Read Daniel 7:14: “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”
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Study Focus: Isaiah 50, 52, 53
Part I: Overview
This study explores the message related to the Messianic Servant in Isaiah 50, 52, and 53.
The figure of the Messianic Servant is a core theme in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 52 and 53 constitute a great song about the Servant. There are many discussions among scholars about the identification of the servant in the song. Some consider that the servant in those chapters represents Israel. However, the book of Isaiah itself provides some insights to help us make a clear, positive identification of the servant as the Messiah. The song first identifies the Messiah as the King (Isa. 52:7, 8); second, it identifies the Messiah as rescuer and redeemer (Isa. 52:9-15); and finally, it identifies the Messiah as the Suffering One (Isaiah 53).
Three main topics are explored in this study: (1) the Lord as servant; (2) the Messiah, the Suffering Servant; and (3) the Messiah, the Redeemer and the King.
Part II: Commentary
The Lord as Servant.
As we study the song of the servant (Isaiah 52 and 53), we need to study the previous chapter as well. Isaiah 50 is introduced by the expression “Thus saith the LORD” (Isa. 50:1). It is the Lord who says, “I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness. . . . I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering” (Isa. 50:2, 3). In the following verses, “the Lord” states that “the Lord GOD has done” this. The Lord declares that the Lord God “hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary” (Isa. 50:4); “The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious” (Isa. 50:5); “The Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded” (Isa. 50:7); and “The Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me?” (Isa. 50:9).
The next verse (Isa. 50:10), which is expressed as an explanatory parallelism, is introduced:
A. “Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant, B. who walks in darkness and has no light, A’. yet trusts in the name of the LORD and relies upon his God?” (NRSV).
It is clear that servant is parallel with the Lord in A, just as God is parallel with the Lord in A’.
Ellen G. White comments on this chapter: “Through Isaiah, [Christ] prophesied of Himself, ‘I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not My face from shame and spitting’? Isaiah 50:6.”—The Acts of the Apostles, p. 225.
The Messiah, the Suffering Servant.
Isaiah 52 and 53 present, in several stages, one of the best portraits of the Messiah. First, these chapters present the Messiah as King (Isa. 52:7, 8) and second, the Messiah as Rescuer and Redeemer (Isa. 52:9-15). A third stage follows, showing us the Messiah as the Suffering One (Isaiah 53). This study starts with the last stage because it seems that the author puts these stages in reverse order.
If we follow the inspired interpretation, there is no doubt that this Suffering Servant is the Christ. The Gospel of John states, “This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: ‘LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?’ . . . These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him” (John 12:38, 41; NASB).
It is clear that the sacrifice of the Servant is a substitutionary death, as evinced by the text:
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried” (Isa. 53:4, NASB).
“He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. . . . And by His scourging we are healed” (Isa. 53:5, NASB).
“The LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isa. 53:6, NASB).
“By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11, NASB).
Ellen G. White writes, “Paul showed how closely God had linked the sacrificial service with the prophecies relating to the One who was to be ‘brought as a lamb to the slaughter.’ The Messiah was to give His life as ‘an offering for sin.’ Looking down through the centuries to the scenes of the Saviour’s atonement, the prophet Isaiah had testified that the Lamb of God ‘poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors’ (Isaiah 53:7, 10, 12). The Saviour of prophecy was to come, not as a temporal king, to deliver the Jewish nation from earthly oppressors, but as a man among men, to live a life of poverty and humility, and at last to be despised, rejected, and slain. The Saviour foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures was to offer Himself as a sacrifice in behalf of the fallen race, thus fulfilling every requirement of the broken law. In Him the sacrificial types were to meet their antitype, and His death on the cross was to lend significance to the entire Jewish economy.”—The Acts of the Apostles, pp. 227, 228.
The Messiah, the Redeemer and the King.
The song of the Servant in Isaiah 52 emphasizes another two stages of the Messianic Servant’s work.
After the vicarious atonement made by the Servant, the redemption of His people is possible. “If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring” (Isa. 53:10, NASB). This is also the imagery of Isaiah 52 (starting in the second half of verse 9). The scene of the redeemed people no longer includes the image of the Suffering Servant but, rather, the image of a brave warrior, who “has bared His holy arm” (Isa. 52:10, NASB). The holy arm is the symbol of His power, which makes the rescue of His people possible.
The scene here in Isaiah 52 impresses us with its power and majesty. At its heart is the image of a commander, the exalted leader: “He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted” (Isa. 52:13, NASB).
There is a wonderful reason for His exaltation: it is because of the ultimate success of His mission. The Lord announces the exaltation of His servant because of His satisfactory substitutionary death for the sins of both His guilty people and the Gentiles (see F. Duane Lindsey, The Servant Songs: A Study in Isaiah [Chicago: Moody Press, 1985], p. 138).
Although His “visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men,” He nevertheless “sprinkle[s] many nations,” and “the kings shall shut their mouths at him” (Isa. 52:14, 15).
All nations will be witnesses to His exultation, for as we read, he shall be exulted “in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isa. 52:10).
The next stage in the song (even though, technically speaking, in the order of actual appearance in the book of Isaiah, this section comes first) is the Messiah as the King. The Messiah has redeemed His people; the work is complete. Now the messengers of the King “saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isa. 52:7). “Your watchmen lift up their voices, They shout joyfully together” (Isa. 52:8, NASB), and as it is announced before, of “the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end” (Isa. 9:7).
God does not merely redeem His people from oppression, affliction, and the enslavement by foreign nations, especially Babylon, and bring them back to their homeland, Jerusalem. God also sends Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as the Suffering Servant to die on the cross to redeem His people and all human beings who receive Him from the bondage of sin. One day, He will take His redeemed home, and then He will reign forever.
The SDA Bible Commentary states in this regard: “The deliverance here foretold was, first, that of literal Israel from the nations that oppressed them (see on Isa. 40:1; 44:28 to 45:13), and then the greater deliverance from sin and all evil through the Suffering Servant (see on chs. 41:8; 42:1) of ch. 53, that is, the Messiah. . . . His power to deliver His people, and later the triumph of the gospel prove that He, and not Satan, reigns.”—Volume 4, p. 287.
Part III: Life Application
What about the kingdom of the Messiah? How long will the kingship of “the Son of Man” stand? Read Daniel 7:14: “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”