characteristics of the suffering servant

While the death and resurrection is the climax of these prophetic passages, these aspects of the Suffering Servant were realizedin the Messiahs entire life. In this lesson, we are going to discuss about characteristics of the suffering servant according to Isaiah's prophecy which include: 1.He would be despised and rejected. In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths In Isaiah 48, God accuses the post-exile Israelites of continuing their hollow allegiance and idolatry, which ultimately disqualifies them from being Gods servant to the nations. The Lord may call on us to suffer and even perhaps to die. 2.He would be wounded and face death sentence for peoples sins. For instance, when Jesus reveals that the Son of Man will suffer much, be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes, be put to death and rise on the third day, it is Peter who remonstrates with Him, presumably expressing not only his wishes, but that of the entire group. Not only is his suffering vicariousit is voluntary. But, of course, the suffering of this Servant far outdistanced human vicarious suffering (and it is here the nature of the Servant begins to unfold): his suffering removes sin. This Servant "shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted" (52:13), an image of majesty and awe. At the conclusion of his public ministry, He gathers the disciples in the upper room for the Last Supper at which point He established the Holy Eucharist whereby His disciples would henceforth be able to understand the meaning of His entire life: that is on Good Friday, when He was to be crucified, God would speak his final and complete word about the meaning of love and the mystery of God to the human race. The center of the poem is put in the mouths of a group called we, who tell the story of the servant. MacKay, John R. Isaiah 52:1353:12: An Analysis. Evangelical Quarterly 3 (1931):307-311. The quotation of the Suffering Servant songs in the New Testament makes it clear that the early church understood that Jesus Christ was the Suffering Servant. These words from the institution narrative in the Eucharistic Prayer go back to the most ancient account, the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt. God himself had to carry the sins of his people. He is put to death after being condemned (53:7-9). For those of us who have come to know him by faith this suffering will receive eternal praise. But their messianic expectations for a new King David or King Solomon, who would restore Israel to its proper place in the world, full of power, glory and wealth, was not His mission. You may have noticed that some of the descriptions of the suffering servant could apply to a leper, such as "his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness" (Isaiah 52:14) and "he was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain" (Isaiah 53:3). It is that part of the service of humankind, to which we are all born, and of the reality of which we daily grow more aware. The second stanza begins to trace the development of the theme of suffering, first showing that it raises disbelief and thoughtfulness in the people who observe it. Isaiah told the exiles this would happen through the work of the Suffering Servant (52:1353:12). You have purchased our salvationnow our lives are Yours alone. 3) Jesus finished the work that God had sent Him to do ( John 17:4 ). 213-221. There are several important themes that are found in these passages. God would have to establish His kingdomHis blessed presence would have to break into history, removing the transgressions that kept His people from seeing His face and guaranteeing their heavenly citizenship forever. Summary and Evaluation of Bultmanns View on the Use of Isaiah 53 by Jesus and the Early Church. Indian Journal of Theology 20 (1971):98-108. But there is the application of profitable vicarious suffering on a limited basis, as Peter himself suggests when applying this passage (but only after he states what it fully means). They forget, however, that there are two reasons people endure suffering in this worldjustice and love. 42:1-4; 49:1-7; 50:4-11; 52:13-53) that Jesus combines with the Son of Man prophecy from Daniel 7 to explain the kind of Messiah He is. There are three categories: Splinter Skills where the individual possesses specific skills that stand in . Instead, it focuses on the response of the Israelites to this great announcement of hope. After his rejection and death, we all of a sudden read that the servant will look upon descendants and live long days and see the light and be satisfied (Isaiah 53:10-11). Hopefully youll re-read the four Servant Songs (or the whole book of Isaiah!) 5. And so you will inherita double portion in your land, and everlasting joywill be yours. Munich: Kaiser, 1974. Jesus Christ is the person who endured shame and yet was divinely honored for the purposes of Gods glory (Phil 2:4-10; Heb 1). Its the story of Gods defeat of evil so that you and I can be rescued from the human condition, the death we see all around us, and that which we find inside ourselves. But thats not where the poem goes. he is not born into nobility, but he possesses the characteristics of an noble man. The song is preceded by a scene in heaven where God declares how beautiful are the feet of His messenger who will bring good news and announce salvation (Isa. This piece was originally published in 2000 in Volume 8, Issue 3 of . 53:7). Note the parallelism of this fifth verse: he was wounded for our transgressions and he was crushed for our iniquities. The contrast is between he and our. All his suffering was because of our rebellions and sins. The apostle Peter also identifies the Suffering Servant with Jesus when he declares about Jesus that He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth (1 Peter 2:22, quoting Isa. The unfolding picture of the Servant is predicted to cause astonishment among the nations, and silence the kings of the earth (52:15). Second, the mission involves suffering on behalf of another. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. As a disciple, his every day begins with obedient listening; he is in intimate communion with God, sharing God's own heart. Acts 5:41 is another place where glory is IN (not after) the experience of shameAnd they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. This is also Pauls logic throughout 2 Corour shame is the demonstration of Gods glory. He experiences suffering and affliction (53:3). This question is never directly answered in Isaiah. If that resonates with you, we invite you to join us.. World leaders offer a stunning confession: "Because of my people's sin, they [the Jews] were afflicted." Here the text makes absolutely clear that the oppressed Servant is a collective nation, not a single individual. Furthermore, the suffering Servant is clearly an innocent victim throughout this passage. The messiah's justice-restoring salvation is a means to the end goal of God's name being rightly honored. One cannot say enough about the importance of this inspired book. He has a PhD in Semitic Languages and Biblical Studies. The response to the suffering Servant is so true to life. Phoenician Elements in Isaiah 52:1353:12. In Near Eastern Studies in Honor of W. F. Albright. But if we submit to Gods will and sacrifice self for others, or for the building up of the faith of others, we shall then be living out the love of Christ in this world, and please our heavenly Father. We hear that his death was actually the opposite of failure. This was not the kind of Messiah they were expecting. 53:5-12: He was wounded for our transgressions and tortured for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole and by his blood drawn by the whip we are healed He poured out his soul to death and he was counted among the transgressors; yet he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Before him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. The beginning of the poem is in the voice of God and belies a deep sense of relation between God and the servant. It is a message of God's saving grace. Strengths Job was singled out by God as someone who "is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." He performed sacrifices on behalf of his family in the event anyone inadvertently sinned. When they see Gods plan work out, when they look on him whom they pierced, they shall see what they had not been told, they shall understand what they had not heard. 53:9). What is so remarkable is that although he was afflicted and oppressed, he did not open his mouth. While some have claimed him to be Isaiah himself or another Old Testament persons or even Israel itself, only Jesus make sense since He alone fits all that is said about the Servant of the Lord. John Calvin comments on today's passage as to why salvation through the Suffering Servant is so despised the world over: "The loftiness of the mystery is a reason why it scarcely obtains credit in the world. The truth is that suffering is part of Gods p[an to remind us of the human predicament we share, to bring up out of ourselves in sympathy and patience, and to eventually fit us for glory. Tenacity ("stick-to-it-ness") This, more than anything else, has beaten many a would-be . An indepth study of Isaiah 53: The Suffering "Righteous Servant" By Serge Lazar. Pp. As Professor William Farmer notes in his book The Gospel of Jesus, this little passage is of the greatest importance because it defines the essence of the gospel in terms of salvation through forgiveness of sins according to the scripture. It is to Isaiah specifically that this phrase according to the scriptures refers; after all the gospels were not yet written. Guilty Israel, who not only ended up in exile for their sins, but also killed Gods servant sent to them, is pronounced righteous, not for anything they have done, but because of what the servant did on their behalf. Vicarious suffering is not a curse. He skips the birth of Jesus and dives quickly into presenting his public ministry. 8:31-33). A little later, Jesus will repeat the same prophecy to them, but they will still refuse to hear what He is saying because they are too busy deciding who will be most important in the Kingdom (Mk. Gods honor isultimate purpose of the servants ministry, Gods motivation for choosing and empower the servant. People might see and say, God forsakes his own. Gods response is what we find in Isaiah 41-47. It is that kind of pleasure. Learn how your comment data is processed. Regarding the importance of a subtext, Farmer writes in literary criticism, a subtext is one so well known that it is banal to cite it explicitly. 4), it is clear that Jesus understood Himself and His mission in the light of the prophecies in Isaiah and in particular the Suffering Servant. Some in the history of the Church have done that, considering martyrdom, no matter how contrived, to be the highest good. Nicholas, great point here! There was nothing appealing or attractive in his appearance that would make Israel rally to him. Payne, D. F. Recent Trends in the Study of Isaiah 53. IBS 1 (1979):3-18. He does not identify the Servant in his prophecy, but we who know the Lord Jesus Christ can see that it is He. (Isa 45:16-17, NIV), Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;do not be discouraged, for you will not suffer disgrace;for you will forget the shame of your youth,and the disgrace of your widowhood you will remember no more. Like many of the apostles works, First Corinthians reminds us how dysfunctional the early church was. What is described here is the ideal Sufferer, the Suffering Servant. In other words, God would have to do this work through the Messiah, a holy King who could atone for the sins of His people and establish them in righteousness. But it cannot remove sin. Kings are astonished that he, of all people, should be so exalted. He is the one whom the Lord has chosen, in whom He is well pleased and upon whom His spirit rests. Success is knowing the will of God an doing it. Verse two describes his beginnings: like a tender plant in a parched ground. We have heard of Spirit-empowered leaders before in Isaiah, the messianic King from the line of David, described as the shoot from the stump of Jesse in Isaiah 11:1.
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