The Suffering Servant: An Exegesis of Isaiah’s Third Servant Song
Pastor Everhard began by reading the following scripture from Isaiah 50:
3I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.”
4The Lord GOD has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6I 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.
7But the Lord GOD helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
8He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
9Behold, the Lord GOD helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
10Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the voice of his servant?
Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on his God.
The following are highlights from his 42 minute sermon on the third Servant’s Song in Isaiah [Emboldening, underscoring and bracketed statements are mine]:
- Everhard describes Isaiah’s portrayal of Christ in his book as a master painting a picture of the Messiah with words, sermons, metaphors, imagery, songs
- Isaiah’s picture of the Messiah becomes clearer to readers as they progress in his book
- Pastor Everhard quickly reviews some of the significant scripture regarding the Messiah, e.g., Isaiah 7 (the virgin birth); 9 (His name, Wonderful Counselor…); 11 (the stump of Jesse, surviving after the kingly line was cut off in the exile)
- He also briefly reviews Servant Songs 1, Isaiah 42 wherein the Servant was described by the blessings that He would bring: coming in light with power and truth, opening the eyes of the blind, freeing the prisoners…
- Isaiah 49, the second Song wherein His mission was to bring back the tribes of Israel to their God via repentance and faith; about his global mission regarding the Gentiles
- This third Servant’s Song is about His personal suffering, He begins in verse 9, with a soliloquy (one person speaking a monologue to an audience)
- He comes to sustain with a word to him that is weary
- 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
- If you were expecting a deliverer, you’d likely not be expecting him to conquer via personal suffering
- World conquerors briefly discussed: Alexander; Stalin; Hitler…via communism, socialism…
- The methodologies of the aforementioned was based on violence, brutality, terror, destruction
- But the Messiah will gather the nations to the glory of God using His own suffering
- “He gave His back,” meaning, he exposed His back to attackers – explained via current cultural metaphors
- “Gave” indicating the slander, flogging, brutality He absorbed from the Pharisees, Romans, self-religionists, the prideful…
- Rationale for the flogging before His crucifixion
- “Those who pull out the beard,” a reference to His receiving shame and humiliation
- Christ’s followers will suffer similarly: Romans 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
- We will enter into such suffering if we try to walk faithfully with God in this world, for example: Philippians 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
- Or, Acts 5: 40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
- Ephesians 6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God… having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
- Among the armor of God, there is no armor for the back, that because we are to follow our Messiah and suffer whatever the world would heap upon us because we are associated with Him
- Matthew 10:21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
- Isaiah 50:7 But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint,
- Like flint: speaks of the resolve, willingness, determination of Christ to receive suffering (the metaphor of setting His face like flint further explained and compared to Luke 9)
- Types of suffering from a previous sermon reviewed: mortal, transgressive and providential; he added a fourth in this sermon, voluntary suffering
- Voluntary suffering is when we expose ourselves to suffering because we must, as when a firefighter enters a burning building or a police officer arrives on a crime scene
- Christ volunteered to suffer vicariously for us; He will be vindicated by His Father, as verse 8 states
- Application: we can 1) Spend our entire lives pleasing ourselves, as do the hedonists, the narcissists, the selfish; or, 2), you can live to please other people, such as the man-pleaser; the co-dependent, or the people pleaser; or, 3), you can do what the Messiah did in Isaiah 50, live for the ultimate vindication of the Father
- At some point, you will have to choose who you want to live for
- 10Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the voice of his servant?
Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on his God. - Is that you? Are you willing to align yourself with His suffering?
- One of Pastor Everhard’s fears is that Christians in our culture are not ready for the resistance that may be ours very soon
- Meditate on verse 10
Dr. Matthew Everhard is an ordained Presbyterian minister in the PCA, and a Jonathan Edwards scholar. He is Pastor of Gospel Fellowship PCA, North of Pittsburgh.
Video: www.youtube.com/c/GospelFellowshipPresbyterianChurch
Matthew is a writer for Modern Reformation. www.modernreformation.org
His book A Theology of Joy: Jonathan Edwards and Eternal Happiness in the Holy Trinity (Fort Worth, TX: JESociety Press, 2018) is available here: https://amzn.to/2rceqkl
He is a graduate of Malone University, (BA) Ashland Theological Seminary (MAPT), and Reformed Theo Sem. (DMIN).