Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Isaiah 42-61 | Date: August 18, 2024 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Introduction

Isaiah 42, and you’ll want to keep your scriptures handy. We’ll look at a few different passages right off the bat here. Isaiah 42, verse 1. Notice the title of the message is “The Servant of the Lord,” and notice the expression regarding the servant in these passages.

Isaiah 42:1: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”

Now if you would, turn over to chapter 49. And now the Lord says: “He who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength,” he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

And then look over at chapter 52, verse 13: “Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.” And then drop down to chapter 53, verse 11: “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.”

The first African Christian came to faith in Christ as a result of a sermon that was preached to him individually from Isaiah chapter 53. We don’t know the man’s name; we know that he was an Ethiopian. We read of him in Acts chapter 8, and the sermon was preached to him by a deacon by the name of Philip. And as a result of that message, he came to faith in Christ. You remember the story. Philip comes upon this Ethiopian official who is riding in his chariot, and he’s reading in the scriptures. Philip steps up, talks to him, and he’s reading Isaiah chapter 53: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.” And then he asks Philip, “Of whom does the prophet speak?” And Luke records for us in Acts chapter 8, beginning at that very point, he “preached unto him Jesus.”

The Servant Songs of Isaiah

The famous prophecy of Isaiah 53 is actually the fourth of Isaiah’s what’s called “Isaiah’s Servant Songs.” They are Isaiah 42, Isaiah 49, Isaiah 50, and Isaiah 52 and 53. There are other passages that speak of the servant, most famously Isaiah 61. There’s actually some discussion among Old Testament scholars which of these passages actually qualify to be counted among the servant songs because he’s such a dominant figure in this section of Isaiah’s prophecy. He appears here and there and everywhere, but these are the passages that mention him specifically, and so they’re referred to as the servant songs.

The term “the servant” appears 40 times in Isaiah. Thirty-one of those times is in this section, chapters 40 to 66. So he’s a dominating figure in this section of Isaiah’s prophecy. The expression “the servant of the Lord” appears only once—that’s in Isaiah 42:19—but other expressions like “his servant,” or “the Lord’s servant,” or the Lord speaking, “my servant,” appear throughout this section. And as I mentioned, he is a dominating figure in this latter portion of Isaiah’s prophecy. But not only in this portion of Isaiah’s prophecy, but also as we’ll see in the New Testament as well. And the servant of the Lord that we read of in Isaiah is such a dominating figure that it’s really a figure that we ought, all of us as Christians, to be very familiar with.

In fact, I was confessing to my wife today or yesterday, whichever that was, that I feel like, having looked through this all again, I feel like I have really missed the ball with you guys, and I haven’t made more noise about this sooner. You’ve heard me refer to the Servant Songs of Isaiah. We’ve referred to them here and there, and we’ve talked about them here and there, but we’ve never had a specific focus on it as it deserves. Well, that’s what we’re going to be doing in the coming weeks. Tonight, we’ll just do an overview: “The Servant of the Lord, Isaiah 42 through 53.” And then next week, we’ll look at Isaiah 42. After that, chapter 49. After that, chapter 50. And then we’re going to take five weeks and work through Isaiah chapter 53 in some detail. And then we’ll look at Isaiah 61 and perhaps some others as well.

The Book of Consolation

As you remember, the prophets—and we’ve seen this in several of them already—are characterized by a message of, first of all, indictment and judgment and woe, and then on the other hand, promise of salvation that will come. Isaiah is like that. He preaches, as we have seen in Isaiah 1 to 39—that’s called the Book of Woes, the Book of Condemnation—where Isaiah preaches primarily this message of judgment against Israel and Judah because of their sin. There are many upshots of promise and hope, and we’ve seen a number of those in Isaiah 2, Isaiah 4, Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9, Isaiah 11. We’ve seen many of those. There are these high points of hope and promise that crop up among that, but overall the burden of those chapters 1 through 39 is that of condemnation and woe.

When we come to Isaiah 40 through 66, this is called the Book of Consolation, or the Book of Comfort, or the Book of Salvation, because now that is the dominating figure when we come here. So in Isaiah chapter 40, it famously begins, “Comfort, comfort my people, says the Lord your God.” And that is the note that dominates throughout this section of Isaiah. There’s still judgment to hear about and all of that, but characteristic of this section is the promise that will come of God’s deliverance to come.

Chapters 40 through 48—this is important for understanding it in its context—Isaiah 40 through 48 envisages Israel in Babylon. They’re not there yet, but Isaiah at the end of chapter 39 has prophesied to King Hezekiah and told him that Israel will be carried off into Babylon. And so these chapters envisage that: Israel in Babylon, but then it also envisages Cyrus, who will come and destroy Babylon and bring Babylon down and set his people free and let them return back. So there’ll be the return from exile because of the work of Cyrus, the Medo-Persian leader who will come.

So there’s the promise then in these chapters 40 through 48 of this release from captivity, from their exile, and they’ll be able to go home. But in those chapters, the problem of sin that brought about the exile is still unresolved. And so when we come to these servant passages, he begins—he’s introduced in chapter 42, and then chapter 49 and following—that issue of sin will be resolved so that the larger problem will be resolved. Not just the end of their exile, but an end to the reason for their exile.

Now, that’s important to notice because, like I say, at the end of chapter 39, we have this prophecy of the coming exile, and then chapter 40 begins with a note of comfort for the people of God, Israel—the comfort, the deliverance that will come. The Lord will bring it. He’ll send them home. He’ll make a highway for them to come home. Typical of the prophets. Now, keep this in mind—we’ve seen this already many times with the prophets in Messianic prophecy—typical of the prophets, they speak with an immediate picture in view, an immediate point of reference in view. And inevitably, almost invariably, they have a long-range view as well, so that this immediate point of reference becomes prospective of one to come.

In this case, the deliverance from exile from Babylon, bringing them home, becomes prospective of a greater deliverance from a greater exile that will come. Even in these passages, they’ll use Exodus language, so they’ll read back to Exodus and use that kind of a language for bringing them out of exile, and that becomes prospective of a greater exodus that will come.

So in, take for example, Isaiah 40, verse 3: “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.'” So this is a prophecy to Israel, picturing them in exile in Babylon. And it says make a flat highway home. There are lots of hills, lots of mountains between Babylon and Jerusalem, but now this poetic language speaks of flattening it all out and let’s make a way home for the exiles to return. That’s the immediate reference.

But already—and I’m sure many of you have caught this already—this is a verse of scripture that is cited again in John chapter 1 with regard to John the Baptist giving this language, “prepare the way of the Lord,” that is initiating the coming of the Lord Jesus. He’s introducing the Messiah. So that exile and that return from exile was prospective of the work of Christ which will return us from a greater captivity as well. So that’s the way these kinds of things work in the prophets generally.

One characteristic of this in Isaiah, in his prophecy, is that that kind of thing goes back and forth. One commentator says it’s almost symphonic, that there’s a movement here and a movement there, and it’s back and forth, and these themes come back and forth together. So there’s the deliverance from Babylon, but that very quickly begins to fade into the background and foreshadows a greater deliverance to come. The Exodus language is used to describe the return, but then pretty soon we’re speaking in grandiose terms that speak of a new and greater Exodus and a greater return.

So for example, again in chapter 41, you have mentioned for us—this is a fascinating passage. This is not our subject, but chapter 41 is a fascinating passage because in 41 and following, again in 44 and 45, he introduces his “anointed” who will come. But this is not Messiah. “Anointed,” the same word is used, but it’s not Jesus. It’s Cyrus that he’s talking about. Cyrus, this pagan, Medo-Persian leader, this general from out east, he’s going to come and he’s God’s anointed and he will bring deliverance for the people. Well, he’ll bring them out, he’ll release them from their captivity in Babylon and let them go home.

But then we turn from chapter 41 to chapter 42. By the way, the Cyrus prophecy is enormously impressive because God not only speaks of his anointed coming, speaking of Cyrus, he names him—Cyrus—who will come. Oh, this is 150 years before Cyrus’s parents were born. This is an amazing prophecy to name the man 150 years ahead. It’s a powerful apologetic for the divine authorship of scripture. And he names it and Cyrus will come. When we get to chapter 42, the servant now is introduced as we’ve read in verse one. So no longer is it just deliverance from Babylon, but we have a longer range deliverance and he’s returning the people not from Babylon, but from the nations. It’s expanding. So the one becomes prospective of the other.

Who Is This Servant?

Who is this servant? The servant of the Lord. Who is it? Well, you’re in church. This is Messianic prophecy; you know the answer is Jesus. But what I’d like to do is see exactly how that is so in the scriptures. And in fact, the identity of the servant in Isaiah is a little bit enigmatic. A little mysterious.

Because at first, when God’s servant is introduced, it’s Israel who is God’s servant. Look at, for example, at least nine times Israel is identified as a servant of the Lord. Look, for example, at chapter 41, verses 8 and 9: “But you, Israel, my servant…” There it is. “Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you out.'” All right, you’ll find the same if you’d like in chapter 43, verse 10; chapter 45, verse 5; and several others as well, that Israel is the servant of the Lord. Israel’s called to serve the Lord’s interest in expanding his name through the nations. They, of course, failed in all of that, and that’s the criticism that’s brought against them from the prophet. But Israel is the servant.

But just as certainly, you find the servant spoken of in Isaiah’s prophecies as a righteous individual from within the nation of Israel who is sent to serve the Lord and fulfill his task of bringing Israel back. So there’s Israel the servant, and now there’s this servant figure rising up out of Israel, sort of a representative figure, and he is the one called. So, for example, chapter 42, if you’d like to look at verse 6: “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations.” Well, “the people” is clearly Israel. And now this servant is called to be the covenant for the people to bring them back. Obviously a reference to the new covenant that was promised to Israel.

We have the same in chapter 49. If you’d like to look there, chapter 49, look at verse 3: “He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.'” So there it is again. Israel is the Lord’s servant. But already in verse 5: “Now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him.” And then again, verse 6: “to bring back the preserved of Israel.” So now Israel, the Lord’s servant—rising up from within her is this righteous individual who will bring her back.

So you have rebellious Israel on the one hand, God’s servant who has failed. But then you have God’s servant, this individual, rising up from within Israel, a representative figure of some kind, and he will work and fulfill the Lord’s purpose to bring back Israel. Obviously, Israel doesn’t bring back Israel. It’s this individual from within who does that. And you find that throughout these chapters. I’m not going to chase down more details—I have several here, but I think that’ll just get tedious. But you have the Israel in rebellion on the one hand, God’s rebellious servant, and yet on the other hand, you have the righteous servant who brings them back, who dies on their behalf, who offers himself in sacrifice in their place, and so on. And in fact, in chapter 53, we even have Israel herself saying, “He, the servant, has borne our griefs… He was pierced for our transgressions,” and so on. So we have Israel, God’s servant in rebellion, but God is determined to redeem his people through the work of this righteous servant from within.

Now, there’s one connection here outside of Isaiah that I think is just enormously important and just enormously helpful. If there’s any doubt—if there’s any doubt that he’s talking about the Messiah calling him the servant of the Lord—if there’s any doubt about that, that connection is explicitly made in Zechariah chapter 3. I want you to look there. Zechariah 3 and verse 8: “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: Behold, I will bring my servant the Branch.” Now this is an explicit reference back to Isaiah’s prophecy. We’ve seen it in Isaiah chapter 4, that the branch of David, the branch of the Lord—this is a Messianic term, and here he equates the Branch, the son of David, this branch from the line of David, as in fact the servant of the Lord. Zechariah then makes the equation that we find in Isaiah.

Now what we find in Zechariah there, we find over and again when we come to the New Testament.

The New Testament Interpretation of Isaiah’s Servant

Isaiah 53, the fourth of the servant songs, is cited directly at least seven times in the New Testament, but it has something like 26 allusions to Isaiah 53 throughout the New Testament. We’ll sample a couple of those. Plus there are other references to the servant songs like in Isaiah 61: “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; he’s anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor,” and so on. That is picked up in Luke chapter 4, and it’s Jesus himself who does it.

You remember that dramatic moment in Nazareth? Jesus is in his hometown, he goes into the synagogue, and he’s going to read from the scroll and he asks for the Isaiah scroll. It’s a very dramatic scene and he unrolls the scroll and brings it down to our Isaiah 61. And he starts reading: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor,” and so on. Reads it, rolls it back up. All the eyes were fixed upon him, Luke says. And it’s this dramatic moment Jesus says, “This day, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” I’d love to be in bed at that moment. Places to go back in biblical history, that’s one of my favorites. Jesus himself claiming to be the servant. So there we have it settled on Jesus’ own authority.

But of course, there’s more than that. Jesus’ understanding of Isaiah 53 fits the same way. In Luke 22, verse 37, we have Jesus’ only formal citation of scripture on the eve of the crucifixion. And he says this—so he’s referring to Isaiah 53, verse 12—”He was numbered with the transgressors,” which continues, “and he bore the sin of many.” So Jesus claims that this servant, that he is Isaiah’s servant that he prophesies.

We find the same in other passages in Jesus where he acknowledges it. Matthew 20, verse 28, very famously: “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many,” a clear reference back to the servant song, particularly Isaiah chapter 53. And there are others as well. In the Gospel of John, the “high and lifted up” language that John employs to speak of Jesus—in fact, Jesus himself uses that language about being lifted up. That’s the language of being lifted up on the cross, of course, in John’s gospel. But that’s taken right out of Isaiah 52, the beginning of that last servant song: “He shall be high and lifted up.” And it’s terms of exaltation and glorification, and that climaxes in the cross in John’s gospel—wonderful connections there. A couple of us were talking about that afterwards this morning.

Well, there are other passages as well where Jesus cites the servant songs and claims that he himself is the one fulfilling them. By the way, that’s significant with regard to the claims of some of the critics who have come against Christianity. They like to say that Jesus never claimed to be the servant of the Lord. They don’t like to make the connection to Isaiah 53 in Jesus’ own teaching. They want to say that that was something that the early church made up after Jesus died, and so they invented the connection just to justify what happened. But here we find Jesus himself making that connection and making it very explicit.

In fact, it’s been argued—I won’t go through the details of it—but it’s been argued that the servant songs are likely the shaping factor in Matthew’s gospel. So each section of Matthew’s gospel—Jesus’ infancy, his baptism, his early ministry, his passion ministry, his burial and resurrection—those five sections in Matthew’s gospel, each of them is punctuated by citations from the servant songs in Isaiah, so that it was for Matthew as well, in recording the life of Jesus, he’s seeing the influence of the servant songs.

We get to the book of Acts. Before we get to the account of the Ethiopian in Acts chapter 8, in Acts chapter 3, Peter twice makes reference to Jesus as God’s servant, referring back to these servant songs. In chapter 4, there’s the famous prayer of the early church. When they were being persecuted, they go to God in prayer over it all. They refer to “your servant, Jesus,” referring again to these servant songs.

The servant theme is so prominent not only in Isaiah’s prophecy, but the servant theme is so prominent in the New Testament and particularly in the Gospels, but in the New Testament teaching and the New Testament understanding of the person of Christ and the work of Christ. It is so dominating that some people have suggested—not a few—that the early church didn’t have the “ology” words that we have, you know: theology, the doctrine of God; Christology, the doctrine of Christ; pneumatology, the doctrine of the spirit; soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, and so on. They didn’t have the ology words, but if they had had those ology words, they probably, in speaking of the doctrine of Christ, would not have come up with Christology (Messiahology). They would have had “Servantology,” because this is so dominating in it. I’m not ready to go to the wall for that, but there’s an argument that can be made for that. This is such a prominent passage of scripture and a prominent figure from Isaiah’s prophecy that shapes the New Testament understanding of Jesus.

We have the same when we come to the epistles, probably most famously Philippians chapter 2: “He took the form of a servant.” Many passages that refer to Isaiah 53: “delivered over for our transgressions.” Romans chapter 5: “by the obedience of one, many are justified.” That’s Isaiah 53. Paul cites it explicitly in Romans chapter 10. The apostles learned this, and they’ve learned this from Jesus himself. He affirmed it, and so they understand Jesus as the fulfillment of this prophecy of the servant who will come.

Isaiah’s servant of the Lord, then, is a major factor in Jesus’ own understanding of his mission and his work. And in fact, Paul the apostle explains his own mission in terms of an extension of Jesus as God’s servant. In Acts chapter 13, the apostle Paul cites Isaiah 42 and 49 about the servant of the Lord regarding his own ministry. Luke writes: “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you, [that is to you Jews]. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourself unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.'” And here’s the scriptural support for it: “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles [That’s Isaiah 42:6] that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth’ [That’s Isaiah 49:6].”

Well, you might wonder then, what was the Jewish understanding of this passage? And as I say, the passage is a little enigmatic. It’s a little difficult. It seems to be a mysterious figure. He’s exalted, and he’s God’s servant, and he’s blessed, and he’s successful. And then on the other hand, he suffers and he dies. And it’s hard to pull all that together, I think, before the fact. One Targum we have from the first century AD—this is the Targum Jonathan—refers it to the Messiah, but the idea of a suffering Messiah was so seemingly incongruent that this was never a dominating understanding of Isaiah 53 on the part of the Jews. Most Jews still today understand it in terms of righteous Israel suffering or a righteous individual from within Israel suffering. Some have referred it to Isaiah himself as the one who suffers. Some have referred it to a Qumran teacher who suffers. So the Messianic understanding of these servant songs was never the official position in Jewish interpretation, but there is a long line of rabbis from the 1st to the 16th centuries AD that have identified it as the Messiah. It’s just hard to miss once you see all the details.

It kind of brings us to what we see often in the New Testament of the word “mystery.” A mystery is not something mysterious and hard to understand. A mystery in the New Testament sense is a secret—something you can’t know until it’s revealed. And we find passages in the New Testament that speak of this: “the mystery has now been revealed, it was hidden before.” Then you have other passages that speak of the mystery as being revealed in the prophets. And it’s just this funny thing is—was it back there or wasn’t it? And I think the bottom line of understanding the New Testament doctrine of the mystery is: yeah, it was back there, but it was hidden. It was hidden in plain sight, and nobody got it until after the fact. Once Jesus came and he gives the interpretations and you look back, the apostles now can say, “There it was,” and they can stand in front of the Jewish audience and say, “Look at your scriptures, see it? There it is.” And I think that’s what we have here with difficult to put it all together until after the fact.

Conclusion

Well, I was going to take, I wanted to take time to read through all of these passages together. We don’t have the time. If you want to write them down, it’s chapter 42:1-7; chapter 49:1-13; chapter 50:4-11 (Was that too fast? I’m sorry); 42:1-7; 49:1-13; chapter 50:4-11; chapter 52:13 through chapter 53:12; and then if you want as well, Isaiah 61:1-3.

So at least looking back on it with your New Testament glasses, you can’t miss: this is Jesus. The servant. He is one who will, according to chapter 42 and 49, be a covenant for the people and a light to the Gentiles. In chapter 52, he is the one in whom the Lord delights. In chapter 42, he’s the one in whom the Lord delights. In chapter 53, he will establish justice in the earth. We find the same in chapter 49 as well. In chapter 53, verse 4, he’ll take the sins of others to himself to secure forgiveness for them. In chapter 53, verse 10, he’ll make God’s purpose for world history succeed in the earth; he’ll make many righteous. Isaiah 61—we find in Luke chapter 4—he is the one who will open the eyes of the blind, proclaim liberty to the captives.

You get through reading all of these details of what the servant will do and who he is, and you have, at least looking back after the fact, who else could it be but Jesus? No one else fits all of these qualifications. And so what we have in these servant songs is the gospel of Christ proclaimed centuries—seven centuries—ahead of time.

Still though, it is true that before the fact, the servant is something of an enigmatic figure. He’s Israel and yet he’s an individual within Israel. Well, which is it? He’s a mighty figure, he’s exalted. Chapter 42, verse 1: “I put my spirit upon him, he’ll bring forth justice to the nations.” Chapter 51: he’s the mighty arm of the Lord. Chapter 52, verse 13: he’s high and lifted up and exalted. And yet, the same figure, chapter 52, verse 14, is beaten such that his appearance is marred beyond human semblance. Chapter 53, verses 2 and 3: there’s no majestic bearing about him at all. He’s despised and rejected by men. Chapter 53, verse 7: rather than being the successful conqueror, the one who successfully accomplishes the purposes of God, he seems to be portrayed as passive and defeated, like a lamb that’s led to the slaughter, like a sheep that before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.

And so it might seem, before the fact, it might seem in all of these prophecies taken together that we have here presented a would-be—a would-be royal figure who failed. Within a larger flow of the Old Testament, within even Isaiah’s servant songs themselves, and then particularly when we come to the New Testament, the whole riddle, the whole enigma unravels. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ who in weakness and by defeat, defeated the enemy and accomplished God’s saving purpose. One of the great themes of the Bible, this great reversal, this great irony that through weakness and through defeat, Jesus accomplishes the saving purpose of God. And so what we have in all of these songs taken together is a thoroughly gospel-shaped song of the Messiah who will come.

Well, there are other passages as well where the Messiah appears, the servant of the Lord appears as distinguished from Yahweh, the Lord, and yet is described in terms that belong to the Lord himself only—brings us back to the theme of Jesus’ humanity and his deity in one person and so on. What we have here in these songs then is the gospel proclaimed ahead of time. He is, as Isaiah told us back in chapter 7, he’s Emmanuel, God with us. God come to save.

And what we’ll do then in the following weeks is work our way through these songs in some detail. I wanted to give you just a broad overview of it this evening and introduce you to this marvelous subject, massive subject in Isaiah and then in the New Testament as well. But we’ll take that up again next time. All right, let’s stand and be dismissed in prayer. Pastor Greg, would you pray for us, please?