Fully Devoted: Israel, Act 2Sample

The Suffering Servant

Throughout this time of exile, the prophets of God reminded the people that God was not done with them. In the middle of what probably seemed like a hopeless situation, these prophets spoke hope into the people. The warnings and calls to repentance transitioned to reminders that the God of their ancestors still cared about them and had plans for them.

One of these messages of hope came from the prophet Isaiah. Toward the end of the book of Isaiah, we’re introduced to the “servant songs.” These are poems written about a servant of God who has been chosen to bring justice to the nations. In the process though, this servant of God will be abused and mistreated, but in the end, the servant will be rewarded and shalom will be restored. 

The earliest interpretation of these verses identified the “servant of God” as the nation of Israel: God’s chosen nation called to be the vehicle through which God would bless the world—a nation that had repeatedly been assaulted and oppressed by the other nations. A nation that during this time was in exile! But in the end, these songs point to the day when the servant would be rewarded for his faithfulness in the suffering and the day when all the wrong things would be set right. 

For the Jewish people, these servant songs were a powerful reminder that God had not abandoned them. That even in the middle of their suffering, God was still working. And just as He always had, God would use this time in exile to draw the people of Israel closer to Him and form them into the kind of people that can bring the shalom and justice of God to the rest of the world. 

At some point along the way though, another interpretation began to arise. A movement started gaining energy around the belief that these passages were referring to the Messiah, the chosen one of God, the descendant of David, through whom the restoration of Israel would come. 

This is the interpretation that the evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) saw Jesus as the fulfillment of. They believed and proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah. In their eyes,  Jesus was the promised King who would bring restoration to Israel and justice to the nations. 

Where did they get that idea? Well, at the Last Supper, Jesus quoted from one of these servant songs and said that it was going to be fulfilled in Him. Just before going to the cross, Jesus told His disciples that what was written about Him was reaching its fulfillment (Luke 22:37).

He quoted from the very end of the servant song found in Isaiah 52 and 53. This is the poem that speaks of the “suffering servant.” It describes the servant of God being raised up, disfigured, rejected, despised, and pierced for our sins. We’re told that the punishment he endured is what brought us peace and that his wounds brought us healing. He was “led like a lamb to the slaughter.” 

Do you see it yet? The similarities between this servant of God and Jesus? 

Jesus was raised up on a cross. He was beaten by Roman soldiers until His face was a bruised and bloody mess. He was rejected by the crowd who would rather see Jesus crucified than a murderer named Barabbas. Nails pierced His hands and feet to pin Him to that rugged wooden cross. And the Christian belief is that through His death on the cross, Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb, made it possible for us to be rescued from the punishment of sin and to have our relationship with God healed. 

Even in the Exile, God was planting seeds of hope for His people that a day would come when the Messiah would bring peace and justice to the land. 

Journaling Questions  

• What verse or verses stuck out to you today? Take some time to write those down. Why did they stand out?  
• When you think about Jesus taking the form of a suffering servant, what does that tell you about the way God approaches power? How does that change the way you think about power?  
• Are there instances you can think of where you tried to use power for your own good rather than the good of others? How might things have been different if you had taken the posture of a servant?

Memory Verse

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 NIV