Introduction to the Servant Songs
Bring your Bibles with me, if you will, please, to Isaiah 52. We are in the midst of a long series on Messianic prophecy that has taken us from Genesis onwards. We came to the prophet Isaiah, we’ve spent some time in a number of his prophecies, and now most recently we’ve been looking at what are called the servant songs, or songs of the servant in Isaiah’s prophecy. These are prophecies in which this servant as he’s called, the servant of the Lord, is named. Now he shows up actually in plenty of other places in Isaiah, but here in these four passages in particular he’s named: Isaiah 42, Isaiah 49, Isaiah 50, and then Isaiah 52 and 53. We’ve worked our way through the others. And there’ll actually be another that we’ll see, Isaiah 61. He shows up again, Isaiah 63.
These in particular are called the servant songs. And here we come to the subject of the suffering and exalted servant. Isaiah 52, verse 13. As you know, the chapter divisions are not inspired, and once in a while we come across one where it could have been done better, and this was one because this passage begins with 52:13, “Behold my servant,” and goes through the end of chapter 53. And I’ll take the time to read through it all again.
“Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many as were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which had not been told them, they see. That which they have not heard, they understand. Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. While we, like sheep, had gone astray, we’ve turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 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 because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.”
Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, we come this evening again to this marvelous passage in your word, what has been rightly called the Mount Everest of Old Testament prophecy. As we take our time to work through it this evening and in the coming Sundays, we pray that you will, first of all, give us a right understanding of it. Through that, open our hearts to a new appreciation for the glories of our Redeemer and the successful work that He has come and has accomplished for us. We pray in His name. Amen.
The Developing Servant Theme
I’ll review just a couple of items that I mentioned last time. It’s been quite a while, so it might be good to help get our focus back on things. And that is, first of all, we have, as I mentioned earlier, the developing servant theme in Isaiah’s prophecy. In Isaiah 42, verses 1 to 7, the servant is introduced for us and we are told that he’ll be successful and he will be glorified. He will bring forth justice to the nations. So God is a servant. He’s not identified who he’ll be, but we were told in chapter 42 that he will come and he will succeed in bringing justice to the nations.
Chapter 49, verses 1 to 13, again, we have this servant figure. He’s called of God to accomplish a great task. We find in Isaiah 49 that he’ll be a light to the nations. We have a hint in chapter 49 of his humiliation. There will come a time when rhetorically the prophet says that he will say, the servant will say, “I’ve labored in vain.” And then in verse 7 of chapter 49, we read that he’ll be deeply despised and abhorred by the nation, Israel.
And then we come to chapter 50, verses 4 through 11. We have the third servant’s song, and there the servant suffers a humiliation, but he’s also confident of his vindication that will come, and he even challenges there, we saw, even challenges anyone to say otherwise. He’s confident that God will bring him vindication.
That brings us now to the fourth servant song, and that is chapter 52, verse 13, through chapter 53. And here we have both of those themes that we’ve seen in the earlier songs, both his humiliation and his vindication. And here, both of those themes are brought to the fore. This has been called, as I’ve mentioned, the Mount Everest of Messianic prophecies, the greatest of the Old Testament prophecies. We have here a description of the servant’s death, burial, resurrection, ascension, his session, and it’s written in such a way that it could have been written by someone standing at the foot of the cross and someone watching where he would be buried, someone watching the resurrection, the ascension. All of these details are given to us in remarkable precision through this prophecy some 700 years before the time of Jesus.
The Structure Of The Fourth Servant Song
This fourth servant song has five stanzas of three verses each: chapter 52, verses 13 to 15; then chapter 53, verses 1 to 3; verses 4 to 6; 7 to 9; and then 10 through 12. These five stanzas—each of these stanzas is a poem in itself, but they hang together, of course. And I mentioned last time, there’s a symmetry to these stanzas as well that’s worth keeping in mind. There’s alternating themes in each stanza of this song.
The first stanza, chapter 52, verses 13 to 15, is an introductory stanza. It’s kind of a prologue, and it summarizes for us the main themes that we’ll find through the rest of the song. And then in stanzas 2 and 4, they state for us the servant’s suffering. They tell us that he will suffer. They tell us what he will suffer. But then alternating with those, stanzas 3 and 5, they provide for us an explanation of why he’s suffering.
So stanza one is an introduction, a summary, kind of a prologue of what we’ll have through the rest of it. Then we have stanza two tells us what he will suffer. Stanza three tells us why that is so, why he suffers. Then stanza four again we are told what he would suffer, and then stanza five tells us again the explanation of why he will suffer, the significance of it all.
And then I mentioned last time, I think, that the song is bracketed in a way that’s worth our noticing. Chapter 52, verse 13, at the outset, we are told, “Behold, my servant will act wisely. He’ll be lifted up and shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.” So the idea of the servant’s success is exaltation. And then look at the end of the song, chapter 53, verse 12: “Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great ones.” Not the same language as chapter 52, verse 13, but certainly the same theme of his success and his exaltation.
So this song describes and explains the suffering that the servant will endure. It tells us why he will suffer, but it announces up front, and then it affirms at the end again, that the sufferings will be the means of his success. And that’s the irony of this passage, and we’ll see that again later this evening. So he’s exalted in triumph and in vindication, but he is still a suffering servant.
This passage is, and I think I mentioned this last time as well, just massively influential in the New Testament. In fact, I think I mentioned to you that we have our words for the doctrine of Christ, it’s our “ology” words. So the doctrine of Christ is Christology. And someone made the observation, I think it’s a good one, that the servant songs were so influential in shaping the New Testament writers’ understanding of Jesus—and in fact, Jesus’ own self-understanding, as he would quote this passage—the servant idea was so influential with them that if you had asked them what is the doctrine of Christ, they might have referred to it, they didn’t have theology words, they might have referred to it, though, as “servantology” because this passage so defines for us the significance of the work of Christ.
One of the most important examples of that is when the Lord Jesus himself cites this passage. Most famously in Luke chapter 22 and verse 37, this is Jesus’ only formal citation of this passage on the eve of his crucifixion. And he quotes for us Isaiah 53 and verse 12. In Luke 22:37 he says, “I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me.” And here he cites Isaiah 53:12: “And he was numbered with the transgressors.” And then he says, “for what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And that verse, as you’ll see, verse 12 of chapter 53, goes on to say, “yet he bore the sin of many.” So we have it on Jesus’ own authority that Isaiah 53 is the key to understanding his passion, his work.
The First Stanza: The Prologue
All right, then we come to this first stanza, verses 13 to 15 of chapter 52, the prologue. Now we saw from the beginning of our studies of the servant songs, back when we were in chapter 42, that the servant is something of an enigma. How do we understand him? He seems at one hand to be Israel, and then yet on the other hand he’s a single figure from within Israel who represents Israel and does for Israel what Israel couldn’t do for herself. Sometimes he’s depicted as suffering in a humiliating way, and yet then on the other hand he’s depicted as succeeding in fulfilling God’s mission, bringing justice to the nations, princes falling prostrate before him, and so on. So how do you figure this figure? How do we understand who he is?
Well, we have that, again, that enigmatic figure and idea when we come to this first stanza. Verse 13: “Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. As many as were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond the human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind, so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.”
All right, verse 13. “Behold my servant.” That word “behold,” we find that in the scriptures often, particularly in the Old Testament. We find it in Isaiah often. The idea of it is, it simply means to look. But the idea is, pay attention. Perk up here and listen. Look at what I’m going to tell you. It’s an introductory formula that’s used when the prophet is about to announce something of great importance or something of unusual significance. You put this on the street level, it’d probably be something like, “Yo, listen up.” And that’s what he’s saying here, is behold, I’m trying to get our attention.
We find this in chapter 7, verse 14: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” It’s the word that’s used when he’s announcing something fantastic that is about to come. We find it in chapter 40, you remember, where the prophet there is expounding on the greatness of God and bringing deliverance to his people: “Behold your God.” We find it in chapter 42, verse 1, where he introduces the servant: “Behold, my servant.” He’ll bring forth justice to the nations. We find it in chapter 43, verse 19: “Behold, I’m doing a new thing.” And now we come, if in chapter 42, verse 1, he says, introducing the servant, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, whom I have chosen,” now we come to chapter 52, verse 13, and he makes not an introduction of the servant, but an announcement about the servant. And he says, “Behold, my servant shall act wisely.”
“My servant shall act wisely.” Now that expression in the Hebrew, there’s not an exact equivalent for it in the English. It has the idea of, just as it’s translated here, acting wisely or skillfully, but it also combines with it the idea of succeeding and prospering. Because he has acted wisely, he will prosper in what he does. The same word is used in the famous verse, Joshua 1:8, when Joshua is told that if he will follow the word of the Lord and keep it in his mouth and in his mind, he will prosper and have good success. That’s the idea here. He has in mind that this servant will be successful in the mission that he’s been assigned from the Lord. We saw a hint of that in chapter 42, verse 6: “He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth.” So he’ll act wisely. Because of these actions, he will succeed.
So the first part of verse 13 here begins this fourth song, drawing attention to the success and the ultimate outcome of the servant’s mission. The rest of the verse, verse 13, continues in the same: “He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.” These three verbs are synonyms. There’d be a particular kind of exaltation that he will see. He will not only succeed in accomplishing his mission, but as a result of accomplishing his mission, he’ll be exalted. In fact, he’ll be rewarded, is the idea then.
Now this expression, “high and lifted up,” we find that expression elsewhere in the prophet Isaiah, and each time it has the overtones of deity. For example, Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 1: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.” We find it again in Isaiah 57, verse 15: “Thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy.” This is an expression describing God himself. So the point here has to do with the success of the servant. He will accomplish his mission. He’ll be exalted and rewarded as a result of it. But the language that’s used has overtones of deity with it as well, which of course is something that the New Testament then will expand on in a more clear way. So the announcement is straightforward. It’s important. The servant will prosper. He will succeed. He’ll be exalted. We’re not yet told how. We’re not yet told exactly in what he will succeed. But the mission that he’s given, he will act wisely, he’ll succeed in it. As a result, he’ll be rewarded.
Now, we come to verse 14, and it seems to take a reverse turn. Notice verse 14. But before we get there, keep in mind what we’ve seen: previous hints in the servant songs of a seeming setback in the servant’s mission. He’s going to be successful, but there are also hints of a setback that he experiences. Chapter 49, verse 2: “He made my mouth like a sharp sword, made me a polished arrow,” but I said, “I have labored in vain. I’ve spent my strength for nothing.” And then in chapter 50, in verse 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.”
So we have that just hinted at us, for us, earlier in these songs, but now we come to chapter 52, verse 14. After verse 13 tells us that he will be exalted, he’ll act wisely and succeed in his work and be rewarded for it, now verse 14: “As many as were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.”
Now the word that’s translated here in our version, “astonished,” it means astonished. But it always has negative connotations—horrified. And so the NIV, for example, tries to capture that and translate this “many were appalled,” appalled at you. This word is used elsewhere in those kinds of connotations. Isaiah 63, in verse 5, it’s a judgment scene: “I looked, but there was no one to help. I was appalled. There was no one to uphold.” Ezekiel uses the word in another judgment scene, the judgment on Tyre. He says, “all the inhabitants of the coastlands are appalled at you. The hair of the kings bristles with horror, and their faces are convulsed.”
So the idea here of the astonishment is a negative kind, is something appalling about the servant. Something shocking has happened of this one who was introduced in verse 13 as being successful and rewarded for it. The next clause of verse 14 explains what about him is so appalling: “His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.” So he’s speaking to the extent and the intensity of the servant’s suffering. Such was the abuse that he endured that he scarcely appeared human. Okay, a little hyperbole maybe? But still, there’s something about him, after the way he’s been treated, that he looks monstrous, he looks horrifying. He’s shockingly repulsive. So the Lord’s servant then will succeed, and yet he will suffer, and that in the extreme. And of course, if you’ve read the Bible even once, you can’t read this without thinking immediately of the gospels and their scenes of the passion of Christ and their treatment of him.
That brings us to verse 15: “So shall he sprinkle many nations.” This word “sprinkle” is the one used in terms of ritual sprinkling of blood in the temple. It was a ritual sprinkling that was done for temple cleansing. It was a priestly act for purifying the people, cleansing them, making them acceptable to God. The offer would come, the blood would be sprinkled, and by this priestly act, people were made acceptable to God. And so it says, “Thus shall he sprinkle many nations.” So as a result of his abuse, somehow—still not explained, we’ll get to that in the next stanza, next couple of stanzas—as a result of his abuse, somehow, many nations will be made acceptable to God.
Now, chapter 53, verses 4 through 6, in particular, will explain all of this for us in explicit terms. But already we’re informed of the servant’s mission and the nature of that mission. He will make atonement for many nations. So, verse 15, many will be appalled at this marred and disfigured priest who makes purification for sin. Through his suffering, many nations will be made acceptable to God.
So verses 13 to 15 are something of an irony. He’s exalted, and yet he’s abused. He’s successful, and yet he’s defeated. Seems incompatible. The net of it all seems to be that before he’s exalted, he will be abused and he will suffer. But somehow through that suffering, he will succeed. And by that suffering, succeed and be rewarded for what he has done.
Verse 15 then continues: “Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.” Kings will shut their mouths. The idea there I don’t think is just simply surprise. The idea of surprise you usually drop your mouth open. There’s some idea of shock and surprise here. But what he’s describing here is someone who is speechless. There’s no words to explain what they now hear and see. That’s how he explains it: “Kings shall shut their mouths because of him.” Why? “For that which has not been told them, they see. And that which they have not heard, they understand.”
He’s speaking here in reference to the Gentile nations. Unlike Israel, the Gentile nations didn’t have prophets coming to them explaining what God would do through his promised king. But now, that which has not been told them, they see. And that which they have not heard, they now understand. They’ve come to realize it. And hearing this news, this truth that is entirely new to them, they’re speechless—shut their mouths. What do we say at such a thing? So he’s speaking here to the worldwide saving results of the servant’s saving work. He’ll sprinkle many nations, and as that saving virtues of his work goes to the nations, Gentiles will just shut their mouths. Who could have imagined that God would do this?
Interestingly, the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 15 picks up Isaiah 52 verse 15 as informing and shaping his call to the work to the Gentiles. You remember Paul’s distinction was he was the apostle to the Gentiles. In Romans 15 verse 18 he says, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience. As it is written,” and here he quotes Isaiah 52 verse 15, “those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”
So in stanza one, then, we have a summary of everything that we’ll find in more detail throughout the rest of the song. The servant will act wisely. He’ll be prudent. He will succeed in his mission. But first, he will suffer. Many will be appalled at him at the extremity of the suffering. But in his suffering, he’ll cleanse and sanctify many nations. As a result, he will be exalted.
The Theme Of Exaltation In The New Testament
Now, when we come to the New Testament, of course, this theme is picked up. We read there in the New Testament many times of the exaltation of Christ as a consequence of his saving mission. This is something that pops up quite often in the New Testament, that Jesus, as a result of his saving work, is rewarded for it. We have this in Matthew 28, verses 16 and following, the so-called Great Commission. Jesus says all authority—now he doesn’t say all authority is mine—he says, “all authority has been given to me.” He has done something to achieve a reward for which all authority now belongs to him. The context there is all important. It is Jesus post-crucifixion, post-resurrection, and now having accomplished his saving work as the mediator, declares that he’s done it, he has succeeded, and now all authority is his.
We find this in the famous passage in Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 through 11, where Jesus, who is in the form of God, took upon him the form of a servant. There’s our servant language. He humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death on the cross. “Therefore, therefore,” because of his work that he has done, God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name.
So that’s how this works out then when we come to the New Testament. In the Gospel of John, it shows up in a fascinating way. And this is something that I’ll have to unpack further in a separate message, but I’ll give you just a taste of it. John picks up the language of Isaiah 52 and verse 13. And not just John, but Jesus picks up the language of Isaiah 52:13. In particular, the “lifted up” language.
So remember now, Isaiah 52, verses 13 and following, we have this irony. He’s exalted and yet he’s abused. He’s successful but he’s defeated. And somehow he’s exalted as a consequence of a successful work in which he appears to be defeated. In Isaiah 52, verse 13, “Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.” So he is speaking of the exaltation and the success of the servant. What’s particularly interesting is the way that language is picked up in the Gospel of John by Jesus himself.
John 3, verse 14: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” Now let me clarify something here. There are two or three different Greek words that are used for “lifted up.” Usually the word is lifted up like he lifted up his eyes or he lifted something from the ground. They have a couple of words that are always used for that. This particular word in Isaiah 52, verse 13, in the Septuagint—that is the Greek translation of the Old Testament—it uses another word that doesn’t ordinarily connote a literal lifting up of something. It has to do with lifting up in the sense of exalted. So his heart was lifted up or he’ll be exalted, he’ll be like here, he’ll be high and lifted up. It’s a language of exaltation.
That’s the word that Jesus chose in John 3 when he says, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up.” Again, John 8, verse 28, Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He.” And again, the language is that of exaltation, lifted up the Son of Man. Most importantly, most explicitly, John 12, verse 32, where Jesus says, “When I am lifted up from the earth,” there is a literal lifting up from the earth, “I will draw people to myself.” And then John adds the interpretive comment: “This he spoke concerning which death he would die,” lifted up from the earth on the cross. And yet, speaking of being lifted up in a literal sense on a cross, he uses this word which connotes exaltation.
Some of you may remember that chorus that was written. It’s a contemporary chorus written probably 40, 50 years ago. “Lift him up, lift him up. Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I’ll draw men unto me.” Anybody heard that song? Nobody’s heard it. Oh, well, I guess that’s a poor illustration. We used to sing that in churches and there was some controversy around it because the song itself seems to be speaking of Jesus being exalted. And so the song seems to encourage, if you exalt Jesus, he’ll draw people to himself. And then others would come by and criticize the song and say, “No, the lifting up that Jesus was talking about in that verse means lifting up on a cross. He’s crucified, he’ll draw people to himself.”
And so there’s this back and forth. And what wasn’t recognized very often is that both sides were half right. It’s a double entendre. And John is famous for this, where he uses a word with kind of a pun and a turn of the—he has an obvious meaning, but then it also has another more subtle meaning. And when it comes to Jesus being lifted up on the cross, lifted up from the earth on the cross, he uses the language of exaltation. Exalted on a cross. What sense does that make? Exalted on a cross.
That fits actually with another parallel theme in the Gospel of John where Jesus speaks of his “hour.” “My hour is not yet, my hour is coming.” And the hour that he is speaking of, this hour of his, this moment of his success, is the hour of his death. And then just before his death, he’ll use the language of his glory. “Father, glorify your son.” He’s speaking of his crucifixion, the hour of his glory, the moment when he succeeds, the moment when he’s lifted up and exalted.
And so we have here, in the Gospel of John, this double entendre, it’s a turn of words where Jesus is exalted on a cross, and there in his utter humiliation and defeat, Jesus is exalted in glory for accomplishing the work that God had given him to do and there he succeeds in bringing people into his kingdom.
This helps us inform, informs for us—when I was taught theology the first time and undergraduate work were taught the successive states of the Son of God: the state of his glory, the state of his humiliation, the state of his exaltation. And it’s very helpful to recognize that. And when we’re taught that, we’re taught to recognize that the resurrection is the turn. You’ve got the state of his humiliation—that’s his incarnation, his suffering, his death—and it turns on the resurrection where he’s exalted now in glory. But when we look closely at the language of the Gospel of John, where he picks up this language of exaltation from this servant song, we’ve got to tweak that a bit. His exaltation doesn’t begin in his resurrection. His exaltation begins at his cross.
And there he succeeds in accomplishing the mission of salvation. There he sprinkles many nations and makes men and women the world over acceptable to God, because as the song will tell us, he bears their iniquities. So his defeat, his defeat is the means of his success. His defeat is the means of his exaltation. This is why the older theologians, you’ve heard me say this many times, older theologians in the early centuries would speak of Jesus reigning from a cross as though it was a throne. Here he accomplishes the divine mission of salvation.
Of course, that’s picked up many times in the New Testament, most graphically in Revelation chapter 5, where the lion, the lamb, takes the scroll from the sovereign’s hand, and all of heaven breaks out into cheers. “You are worthy to take the scroll.” Why? “Because you were slain.” What makes him worthy, what makes him worthy of our praise is that he was slain and has redeemed for himself a people from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. Well, chapter 53 then, verses 1 through 12, we’ll explore that more fully and in graphic details. But there we have in summary what he will tell us in more detail later on.