I'd like us to look and marvel at an amazing passage of Scripture. It is found in the book of Isaiah and is considered to be one of the clearest descriptions and prophecies of Jesus' person and work contained in the Old Testament.
This passage is commonly referred to as the "Suffering Servant" passage in Isaiah because it pictures the Messiah of Israel – not as a conquering political hero (as some of the people thought He would be) – but as one who would save His people through His own personal suffering.
It is an extraordinary passage because of its accuracy in describing the person, the purpose and the promise of God fulfilled through Jesus Christ – all foretold 700 years before His appearance.
It is incredible because the information contained in this passage could not be applied historically, morally or theologically to any other religious leader in history except Jesus Christ: only He could be the Suffering Servant.
Therefore, the purpose of this study is to marvel and be amazed, as we examine this miraculous prophecy concerning Jesus, the Suffering Servant, as he is described by Isaiah the prophet.
Background on IsaiahIsaiah lived in the 7th century before Christ. After Solomon died, the kingdom of Israel was divided into the Northern and Southern kingdoms. Each kingdom had its own leaders and prophets. Isaiah was a prophet in the Southern kingdom living in Jerusalem.
He was an educated man and came from a leading family and so he served the king's court as minister. Prophets served as religious and political advisors since their leaders sought the will of God in what they did as kings. This was often a source of conflict because many of the kings didn't want to follow the word of the prophets when they received it.
In this capacity, Isaiah lived and served through the reigns of several kings in Jerusalem.
During his lifetime, however, Isaiah saw the Northern Kingdom destroyed and the Assyrian army (which conquered the North) march right to the gates of Jerusalem itself.
He had advised King Hezekiah not to surrender and prayed for the city and an angel stopped the foreign army and saved the city, a high point of his ministry.
His writings are a commentary on the things that took place in his own lifetime but he also prophesied about future events:
- The fall of the Northern ec
Sometimes, however, he described the servant as a person, a man who would come to serve God for a special purpose. In chapters 49-55, Isaiah speaks about this idea of the servant. Sometimes it is the nation, sometimes the individual. The context determines which one. In chapters 52-53, Isaiah talks about the servant as a person and what is amazing is that through his description of the Suffering Servant he gives a perfect account of Jesus' life and ministry here on earth.
One of the reasons why the Bible is reliable is because it contains fulfilled prophecy – predictions of the future accurately described and historically completed. Isaiah 52-53 contains one of the clearest examples of fulfilled prophecy. Not simply the predictions of political events in the next 50-100 years, but an accurate description of the Christ 700 years before He arrived, accurate in every way:
Let's read through the text and see Jesus as the Suffering Servant...
13Behold, My servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
14Just as many were astonished at you,
My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man
And His form more than the sons of men.
Here Isaiah distinguishes between the idea of the nation as servant and the Messiah as servant.
Even though the nation has suffered, the suffering of this individual will be great.
He immediately identifies this person as a servant and as a servant who will suffer – and this is where the idea of the "suffering servant" comes from.
15Thus He will sprinkle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what had not been told them they will see,
And what they had not heard they will understand.
This verse reveals the purpose of the Messiah's ministry and that is to cleanse. The priests would sprinkle the people with the blood of the sacrifice as a way of signifying that the sacrifice covered their sins and cleansed them of moral filth.
The sprinkling of nations is a reference to the idea that the sacrifice of the Messiah would accomplish this not only for the people in the physical presence of the priest but for the entire world.
Even powerful men, like kings, will be amazed because God's plan for saving man (by cleansing him from sin) will finally be revealed through this servant. Romans 16:25 (the mystery Paul speaks of).
Vs. 53:1 - Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Here Isaiah writes as God would Himself be speaking in the first person. God is saying that despite the things that the Messiah would do, there would be disbelief. The prophecy here is that the reaction to what the servant would do would be disbelief and history confirms that despite the miracles and teaching – the Jews first, and then the world, largely disbelieved.
Once started, he goes on to describe the person of the servant.
2For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
He grew like a plain plant not in a royal garden, but without special care. This refers to the humble birth of Jesus, who although He was king, chose to be born in a manger, of poor people. His early years were not spent as a king, in splendor with attention paid to Him, but in obscurity, living under submission to His parents. In His later life during His public ministry, He spent much time avoiding:
Religious leaders who wanted to trapand kill Him. His final night was spent alone in anguished prayer and His last day a long ordeal of suffering, rejection and painful death.
4Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.In these three verses, Isaiah explains the purpose of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. In three short verses are contained the core of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Most of the Old Testament is written in poetic form and Isaiah is no exception. One poetic device used was to repeat the same idea in a variety of ways (Parallelism). Here Isaiah explains that the Messiah would die for the sins of men; he explains it in three ways:
- He would car
- 7He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.In this verse, Isaiah returns to describe the spirit with which the Messiah would enter into this suffering: Unlike the nation of Israel which suffered because of its rebellion and did not bear its punishment willingly or without complaint. The individual servant, the Messiah, would accept His suffering without complaint or resistance. His suffering was not due for His own sins but as a command of God for the sins of others, and for this reason He bore it quietly and without resistance for to resist was to resist God and to refuse was to lose man's opportunity for salvation.
8By 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
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?Here is another poetic device. After describing the person and the purpose of the Servant, the author (God) asks a question of the readers. Once the Messiah was unjustly killed and taken away, who among His own generation (or people) realized that it was for their own sins this had happened, and not His own? Once again, the idea of disbelief and misunderstanding is brought up. The Jews did not believe He was the Messiah and rejected the idea that His death was for their sins. They considered Him a blasphemer and trouble-maker until the end (even to this day).
9His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.Yet, the writer says that even in death He would be justified. Evil men and criminals were buried in common graves – cut-off from their people but even though He was considered this by the people, Jesus would be buried in a proper grave. We know that the Lord was removed from the cross by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, and buried in a new tomb near the place where He died – not in a common grave, (John 19:38-42). Even though He died like a criminal, He was buried … like a just man.
In the last verses, the promise or result of the Messiah's suffering is explained. Again this is explained in different ways.
10But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.The Servant will live to see His descendants, those who will come after Him. God's will, will be done through Him (the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand).
11As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.The Servant, through His suffering, will live to see the justification (forgiveness, salvation) of those who come after Him.
12Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.
He will be considered great because of His work as atoning sacrifice and mediator between God and sinners.
In other words, because of His suffering, the servant will save many, will Himself live to see these and will be exalted by God.
SummaryIn this passage, written 700 years before the appearance of the Messiah, Isaiah describes perfectly three things that we now know about the Christ, Jesus:
His personality – Isaiah's description of His attitude, how He was perceived and treated and how He reacted could not fit any Jewish forever has fallen on Him. As marvelous as it is, Isaiah's prophecy could at best describe what a person could look forward to, could hope for in the future. While he lived, they had only the sacrifice of animals to appease their consciences for sin (and this only reminded them of sin, it didn't cleanse their guilty consciences).
We, on the other hand, have the blessing of having seen his prophecy fulfilled and have, today, access to the sacrifice of the Messiah to wash away our sins, to guarantee our salvation and to protect us against the judgment to come. What he through the miracle of prophecy saw, we through the word of God have access to now – the opportunity to be saved through Jesus Christ.
Jesus said it Himself in Mark 16:16, "Those who believe and are baptized will be saved."
God's Purpose for Suffering in Job...
Suffering is not always a punishment for sin;
I tend to blame myself whenever I experience life’s adversities. I connote suffering with sin, foolishness, and poor decision–making. When trials come, my automatic response is “What did I do wrong?” Suffering, however, is not always God’s disciplinary action.
“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1–3 ESV)
Job suffered not because he had committed a specific sin.
“And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”” (Job 1:8)
When we face hardship, we should examine ourselves to correct any wrong conduct or thinking. But when we suffer, it is not always God’s discipline. So when others suffer, we should not quickly conclude that God is punishing them for sin.
We need to calmly accept suffering from God;
Job lost almost everything in a short period of time. Onlookers presumed that his loss was supernatural and wrought by God himself. Note the four successive reports in Job 1:13-19.
- “Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
- While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
- While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
- While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:20–22)
Job understood that God was the source of his blessing. God has the sovereign right to bestow blessing on whomever he chooses. He also has the rightful authority to withhold blessing and bring calamity on whomever he chooses. However God ordains, he remains sovereign and worthy of worship.
We need to be like Job. We need to calmly accept and submit to God’s sovereign will. When God blesses us, we rejoice in humility. When he brings tribulation, we trust God and bless him. We affirm God as infinitely powerful, wise, and good.
We can express our grief to God through prayer;
In chapter 2, we see Job’s suffering intensify. God allowed Satan to attack Job with a painful skin condition.
“So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.” (Job 2:7–8)
Job’s agony intensified. God brought no immediate relief. As Job’s affliction worsened, he became confused. Doubt crept into his heart, and he felt alone and helpless. Like any man, Job became disheartened.
When the heat comes, we can get discouraged. But see Job’s response.
First, Job resisted all temptation to curse and blame God.
“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10b)
Second, Job cried out to God in anguished prayer.
Job laments to God. His anguished prayers are recorded in poetic speech in the remainder of the book.
“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.” (Job 7:11)
Agonized prayer to God is not sin nor a sign of immaturity. It is a natural response of a child relying on his heavenly Father. God wants us to pray to him in dependence and humility.
Friends and family may fail us in our greatest need;
“With friends like these, who needs enemies?” (Old English Proverb)
Job’s wife and three friends stood beside him at the apex of Job’s suffering. All of them failed to comfort Job. Read what Job’s wife urged.
“Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”” (Job 2:9)
Job’s three friends also failed to help.
- Eliphaz told Job that the innocent do not suffer. (4:1-21) Therefore, Job must be guilty. He called Job foolish (5:1-7), and he encouraged Job not to despise God’s discipline (5:17-27).
- Bildad told Job that God does not reject the blameless (8:1-22), and God puts out the light of the wicked (18:1-21). He accused Job for being wicked and blameworthy.
- Zophar told Job that he deserves worse (11:1-20), and wicked men like him will suffer (20:1-29).
Neither Job’s wife nor his three friends brought any consolation. Their advice was neither helpful nor correct. Their words lacked encouragement and hope. They failed Job when he needed them the most.
Lesson 5: God uses suffering to teach us about him.The book’s central theme is not Job’s suffering. Rather, the focus is God’s revelation of himself during Job’s suffering. God uses suffering to instruct us. In the last chapter, Job summarized what he learned about God.
“Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”” (Job 42:1–6)
Job learns six important truths about God.
- God is omnipotent. (42:2a) He can do all things. Therefore, he has the power to remove our suffering if he chooses.
- God is sovereign. (42:2b) His will is always accomplished. No purpose of God can be thwarted. He is always in control. Therefore, our suffering is a part of his sovereign plan.
- God is omniscient. (42:3) While our knowledge is limited, God knows everything. He needs no counselor. Therefore, he is perfectly wise as he allows our suffering to continue.
- God is independent. (42:4) He does not need anything. He does not benefit from our counsel and advisement. He does not need encouragement to increase His grace, mercy and love. However, we are completely dependent on God. Therefore, we must come to God with our questions, concerns, and needs.
- God has revealed himself. (42:5) God has made himself known to us through his creation, his providence, and his special revelation. Therefore, God uses suffering to reveal more of himself.
- God is holy. (42:6) We see our true standing with God when we understand his holiness. Therefore, he expects us to come before him in humility and repentance.
God wants us to learn what He had taught Job. Meditate on these basic truths about God when you face suffering.
Final Thoughts on Suffering from the Book of JobThe book of Job may not remove the sting of our present suffering. But I hope we can meditate on these truths to prepare ourselves for our next trial. The right perspective will help us respond properly to God in our time of need.
- Suffering is not always punishment.
- Suffering needs to be calmly accepted.
- God wants us to express our grief in prayer.
- Friends and family may fail you.
- God uses suffering to teach us.