Two weeks ago, we began a short series looking at some passages found in Isaiah, which focus on an individual who is never named but is simply ‘the servant of the Lord.’ These passages, found in chapters 42, 49, 50 and 52-53, are collectively known as the servant songs. So far we have looked at the three servant songs found in chapters 42, 49 & 50. Tonight we are going to look at the fourth and final one in Isaiah 52 & 53.

Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12 followed by Fanfare ‘See my servant!’

Well, there we have our last Fanfare moment in this series of talks – by now you’ll all be getting quite used to them, and will hopefully be sitting up and taking notice that God is using these fanfare moments to tell the world about his servant. In this final servant song, God is announcing something so absolutely amazing – something so earth shattering that many people just cannot or don’t want to believe it. And this should not surprise us in that as chapter 53:1 tells us: Who has believed our message?

You see, God’s plan of salvation is unlike anything humans could ever contemplate. Who, in their right mind, would come up with such a plan – and what is this plan? Isaiah 52-53 tells us about this plan. Put simply, God’s plan was that his chosen servant – ‘the’ servant, should die. Let’s face it – if we were God, we’d probably have our chosen servant triumphing over every situation, so that there could never be any doubt who was at work, but God’s plan completely reverses human logic. It’s so scandalous in fact, that only a Fanfare moment will do to announce it – people have got to sit up and take notice.

If we recap for a moment, we saw in Isaiah 49, that the servant’s work didn’t go unhindered but faced opposition – in verse 4 we read I have laboured to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. We then saw this same opposition intensify in Isaiah 50:6 where we read I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard! I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. But as bad as all this is, the opposition and oppression goes from bad to worse. To help us consider what happens to ‘the servant’, and instead of only reading the passage, we’re going to use some excerpts from Handel’s Messiah whose words are taken from this passage.
Excerpt 1: He was despised: 36sec –2:23
He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. (53:3)

Excerpt 2: Surely He hath borne our griefs: 25sec - end
Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (53:4)
He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities:
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. (53:5)

Excerpt 3: And with His stripes we are healed: beg-25sec
And with His stripes we are healed (53:5 – wounds = stripes)

By the time that Handel wrote this, He knew of course, who fulfilled this – he knew who Isaiah was talking about, and that is Jesus – and this is who the whole of Messiah is about. Now of course, we too recognise that it is only Jesus who has fulfilled this servant song – Jesus went through all that’s described in this passage – he was treated like a common criminal, as a wicked man, even though He has done nothing to deserve it. God the Father laid on His own Son – ‘the’ servant our sin so that we could have salvation. His punishment made it possible for us to have peace with God as verse 53:5 says: the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed.

Of course, this is a wonderful truth and we rejoice that we are able to have a relationship with God. But so often, it is easy to take for granted the horrendous nature of Christ’s suffering and not allow ourselves to think too closely about what it cost Christ to give us salvation. And in case you think it’s not possible for that to happen, let me tell you about a conversation I once had with someone in Watford whilst I was working at the church there. A visitor came in and said that they thought that we in St Mary’s were wrong to be focusing on Jesus’ death. For them it was all about celebrating Jesus’ resurrection and his victory over sin and death – they described this as a love affair with God.

You see, their understanding of God’s plan of salvation failed to allow for the fact that Jesus’ death was absolutely necessary for them to experience this love affair they said they were having, because God’s chosen servant, as we have seen in the servant songs of Isaiah, could not achieve the task God called him to without facing that opposition that culminated in death.

One of the ways in which we can make sure we don’t go down the road of forgetting is to allow ourselves to meditate on Christ’s suffering, and to help us to do this tonight, we’re going to watch a short video clip.

‘Jesus of Nazareth + Song’ clip

The demonstration of God’s love for each us – it speaks for itself. However, we know that Jesus’ death was not the end of him – and if we return to tonight’s servant song, we discover that it too ends on a positive note. In verses 11 & 12, we read: After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life, and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong.

In other words, it is not all doom and gloom for the servant. Yes, he has to go through dreadful suffering, but God promises here that his chosen servant will be rewarded. And part of this reward is seeing humanity being able to enjoy a relationship with God once more. As we just read in verse 11, by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Think also for a minute of what Jesus said on the cross in John 19:30 - It is finished. In that final breath before his death, Jesus knew that he had completed God’s plan of salvation.

Having completed this work, Jesus as we know was raised from the dead, and if we look at the beginning of this servant song, we can see that this is promised in Isaiah 52:13 He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Now it is true that this raising and lifting up is a two-edged sword because Jesus was raised and lifted up on the cross but he was also raised to life again, and we know that He is now highly exalted and receives the worship of both heaven and ours down here on earth. Only the one who truly fulfilled the role of ‘the servant’ of God is worthy of that worship.

Philippians 2: 5-11