Many people proclaim that they are Christian. Yet, Christian means to follow Christ. How many really want to follow the suffering Servant? True, a lot of people want to believe they are saved from hell. Others want God to be their “go to” Sugar Daddy whenever they have a problem. But how many want to really follow Jesus, He said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. (Matthew 16:24)
Take up our cross? Surely, He does not mean that now? After all, isn’t He to give us the desires of our heart? Ah, yes, most certainly if we are delighting our self in Him. But how do we do that? If we truly are delighting in Him, we take up our cross. Cast aside our self-centered desires for foolish pleasures that can never satisfy. Then, He gives us the desires of our heart. The central desire being Himself. He is all that we truly need; but to fully grasp that truth we need to fully see and know the suffering servant. If all we see is the Glorious King, then all too quickly we can become frustrated confused and demanding.
Behold the Suffering Servant Victorious
The book of Isaiah at times is the prophet speaking God’s word and other times it is God speaking through the prophets words. Minor detail. Both are the inspired word of God; but at times is God speaking as first person and other times Isaiah is first person. Well as we come to Isaiah 52:13-15, God is first person and He begins with, “Behold my Servant”. He draws us to look upon His son, with face disfigured from the beatings. The blood pouring down from the crown of thorns dripping into His eyes and His swollen lips. The skin on His body, torn by the leather straps covered with nails and glass.
Behold, My Servant shall [d]deal prudently (act wisely)
He shall be exalted and [e]extolled and be very high. (Victorious) Isaiah 52:13.
WE are bid to behold Our Victorious Suffering Servant. And in beholding to desire Him above all other treasure. For when we really see His suffering then we may glimpse at the price He so willingly paid for us. We, who deserved to die can look upon Him high and lifted up. But we must first behold His as the suffering servant of God, so we might grasp the depth of His love for us. Only then are we willing to pickup our cross to follow Him.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider. Isaiah 52:15
The Suffering Servant Scorned
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no [a]form or [b]comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no [c]beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and [d]rejected by men,
A Man of [e]sorrows and acquainted with [f]grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Isaiah 53
Knowing our Savior was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief why would we believe our lives following Him would be any different? Except, this. We find our joy in Him. His love, grace, and presence are more precious than anything else. We must long to be with Him.
Suffering Servant-Willingly Sacrificied
4 Surely He has borne our [g]griefs
And carried our [h]sorrows;
Yet we [i]esteemed Him stricken,
[j]Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded[k] for our transgressions,
He was [l]bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes[m] we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord [n]has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Willingly He laid down His life for you and for me. He is the redeemer of our soul. The only one who can transform us from death into life. Spiritually we are all dead until we come to Him, believing Him, accepting Him as our Savior and King.
Suffering Servant-Afflicted
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from [o]prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And [p]they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Isaiah 53
No lying, no deceit. He did not protest as He was scourged and taken to the cross; because He, above all, knew the debt He was paying for us. Certainly, He understood the horror of sin within each of our hearts, the darkness that separates us from God. He could fully see the depths of evil that pulled us from Him.
Isaiah 53:
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to [q]bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 [r]He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the [s]spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
The Father is satisfied
Verse 10, first of all – the Father is satisfied. Notice how the verse begins and ends – “with the will of the Lord.” Here is the heart of God the Father. Here is the inner driving burden of the Father. This is His plan and His purpose and His decree. It is the will of the Lord to crush Him. He has put Him to grief. We could translate that, “It pleased the Lord to crush Him.” The good pleasure of God rests on the Servant as He bore our sin at Calvary. It was, after all, the Father’s plan. …. The Father Himself we learn purposed the cross. He sent His Son in pursuit of the accomplishment of His will. It pleased the Lord. It was the will of the Lord to crush Him. Jesus has never needed to persuade the Father to love you, believing sinner.
It was the love of the Father that sent Him on His saving errand. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” The cross, you’ve heard me say it before, the cross is the pulpit of the Father’s love. “God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” “How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure.” [1] David Strain
The Father’s will accomplished. It was the Father’s will to crush Him—His beloved son. Why? Because it was the only way that our rebellious hearts filled with sin could be saved. His Justice was Satisfied. Righteousness was Satisfied.
The Suffering Servant Satisfied
And the Servant Satisfied. Jesus saw down through the corridors of time and loved you and that love was enough that He willingly would die for you. He loves you and delights in you. How wonderful to think. He delights in just being with you, day in and day out. Furthermore He desires to be with you eternally, always present, delighting in His love for you.
He intercedes for us daily, always desiring us to be the fullest reflection of who He knows we can be. Oh, how He loves me.
And because of all that, we who know Him as Lord and Savior, we are satisfied. He is our greatest treasure.
When you are with Jesus, when you are in Jesus, the glory that really belongs to Him enfolds you too. He brings you in, makes you His prize and His delight. You’re engulfed in His greatness and in Him, in heaven’s glory, we will never need for anything else again. He will be all satisfying. The Father is satisfied, the Servant is satisfied, we are satisfied.[2]
Therefore Because of the Suffering Servant
So, let me ask again. Do you really know the Suffering Servant of God? He is all you need to satisfy the longings of your heart. “Behold my servant”, God asks of us.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace–[3]
And because of that:
Every morning when I wake up
I put a smile on my face
And I remember that I’m special
Cause Jesus Loves me every day
Oh,oh,oh,oh ooh oh oh
Oh, How He loves Me[4]
He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
..how great Your affections are for me.
And oh, how He loves us oh
He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
.. how great Your affections are for me.
And oh, how He loves us oh,
He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way
That He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD?
If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you to go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.
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Disclosures
©Effie Darlene Barba, 2020
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. Furthermore, I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
CREDITS
Portrait of Christ courtesy of Ronin Ron’s Custom Art
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Strain, David, The Servant Satisfied, Sermon from First Presbyterian Church, Jackson Mississippi, December 16,2014. https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/the-servant-satisfied/ accessed 11/15/2020
[2] Ibid
[3] Helen Howarth Lemmel, https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/645 Accessed 11/15/2020
[4] John Mark McMillan songwriter; https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/davidcrowderband/howheloves.html