God’s Idealized Servant • 03.23.25
God’s Idealized Servant
Isaiah 50:1-11
Behold God’s answer for humanity’s faithlessness
- Man’s faithlessness invites God’s rebuke and reminder
- The Servant is everything faithless men are not
- The Servant trusts the Lord for vindication
- We must determine whom we will trust
Manuscript:
Good morning, church family! (Introduce self + welcome guests)
Dismiss 4th + 5th graders
Ushers + Bibles (Isaiah 50; page _)
Two weeks ago, I stood before you preaching from Isaiah 48. As we began that sermon, I pointed out that the whole segment of Isaiah 40-47 had revealed the incomparable greatness of Yahweh in comparison to the futility of their idols. It is Yahweh who has foretold the exile and then brought it to pass. It is Yahweh who has foretold their rescue via Cyrus of Persia and then brought it to pass. No idol can foretell the future or bring anything to pass. Surely, they would take all this wonderful truth to heart and allow it to transform them into worshipers of the One, True God!
Of course, you now know, that is not what happened. As we heard in chapter 48, despite all the evidence of God’s greatness, the people continued in their sin. This has been the perpetual struggle of Israel and truly of all of humanity since the first sin of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden. We are bent towards our own desires and self-will. Rather than perceiving the truth about God and turning towards him, we continue in stubborn disobedience, going our own way… just like Judah in Isaiah’s day.
But thankfully, that is not the final word in God’s relationship with us. As we heard from Pastor Jack in chapter 49, the Lord has a Servant, One who had been kept hidden in his quiver for the right moment. His “secret weapon” if you will.
Isaiah 49:2–3 (ESV)
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
God even gave this Servant the name Israel, signifying that He was the Idealized Servant who would succeed where the nation had fallen short. And we joyfully heard that it would be through this Servant that God would accomplish his grand plan of redemption. He would be a light for the nations, that God’s salvation would reach to the ends of the earth! Through this Servant people from many nations would come to know the Lord. It was a marvelous revelation that should have left the nation of Judah rejoicing in God’s grace; however, instead they grumbled yet again:
Isaiah 49:14 (ESV)
14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
You would hope that they would get it through their thick heads that God has not abandoned them! But they are stuck on that idea. And so, God had Isaiah go into great detail about how He had not forgotten or forsaken them. If only they would listen and obey! God will deliver them in His plan and His timing… A day is coming when those who oppose God will be destroyed and those who trust God will be saved.
And that is where we pick up today. God interacting with the nation who is consistently grumbling at Him and accusing Him of forgetting/forsaking them. How will He respond? And how does God’s Idealized Servant fit into it all? And what does this have to do with us today?
Don’t worry, we’re going to get to all these questions as we study God’s Word. Let’s turn our attention to Isaiah 50.
Isaiah 50:1–3 (ESV)
Thus says the Lord:
“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
with which I sent her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.”
God continues to declare to the nation that he had not forgotten her, nor was it any lack on his part that had caused their present situation. By using a series of questions and real scenarios from their culture, God contends with them that he has neither divorced them, nor has he sold them off to pay his debts. The real reason they are in exile is due to their own unrepentant sin! They were the ones who broke the covenant with God and have now reaped the results of discipline.
In fact, God further contends that he repeatedly came to them and called to them, but there was never an answer. He sent prophet after prophet, whom they rejected or failed to obey. He faithfully disciplined them throughout their generations, yet they persisted in their rebellion.
Is their situation due to God lacking ability to redeem or that He is powerless to deliver? What are the answers to those questions in verse 2? NO and NO! God invites them to pay attention – “BEHOLD, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth their covering.”
Far from being unable to redeem or powerless to deliver, He is the LORD over Creation! With merely His words he changes the face of the planet. Look outside in the sky – He is the one who designed it all! Such a God lacks nothing, and, like Darth Vadar, he finds their lack of faith disturbing! 😊Sorry I couldn’t resist the low-hanging Star Wars dad joke.
Where were we? Ah yes, I was about to share our aim for our study today… I want to help us…
Behold God’s answer for humanity’s faithlessness
As we’ve already begun to see from verses 1-3…
- Man’s faithlessness invites God’s rebuke and reminder
God will not allow Judah to condemn Him, as if He were the problem! The real problem is humanity’s faithlessness or sinfulness that led them into exile. Thus, God rightly rebukes them for their lack of faith. They repeatedly rejected His efforts to lead them to salvation and righteousness.
Is it any different in our day? Do we have any right to shake our fists at God and say, “It’s your fault my life is the way it is!”? Absolutely not. It is humanity’s faithlessness and sin that has brought brokenness into this world. And we are contributors to that problem. We even read in the New Testament a reminder of this principle:
James 1:13–15 (ESV)
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
It is a necessary rebuke that we hear in Isaiah 50 to stop blaming God and take ownership for our own sin/faithlessness. He is faithful to call you to repent and follow Him; have you repeatedly ignored his call and continued to go your own way? This is worth wrestling with this morning.
And God graciously pairs this rebuke with a reminder that He is the LORD and able to save. He lacks NOTHING on his part to be able to save Judah in their day or you today. But you must heed his call and turn to him in faith and repentance. The problem for Judah is their persistence in unrepentance.
Thankfully, God always knew this would be a problem and he had a plan for it – His Idealized Servant. Let’s pick back up in verse 4 and be reintroduced to this Servant. Listen for how different the Servant is from the blind, deaf, and dumb nation of Judah.
Isaiah 50:4–9 (ESV)
4 The 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.
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6 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.
7 But 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.
8 He 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.
9 Behold, 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.
In the middle of addressing the faithlessness of men, we have the Lord’s Idealized Servant introduced again. He was first revealed back in chapter 42 as the one God chose and delights in, who has His Spirit and will establish justice in the earth. Then in chapter 49 he was further shown as the one through whom salvation would reach the ends of the earth. Now, in chapter 50, we find that the Servant is…
- The Servant is everything faithless men are not
- He is teachable
Notice he has the tongue and ear of those who are taught. He has been trained under the Lord God’s instruction. Unlike Judah, who was blind, deaf, and dumb, the Idealized Servant is willing and able to see, hear, and speak truth.
The way this is phrased is that the Servant is daily taking in the truth of the Lord so that he might know God and speak in a way that sustains the weary. Pay attention – if God’s Idealized Servant commends the practice of daily taking in God’s truth, why would we think that it should be any different for us?! The answer is it shouldn’t be… we need to position ourselves to daily sit under God’s truth in His Word.
In the NASB translation it sounds like this:
Isaiah 50:4 (NASB95)
The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
To listen as a disciple. The tongue of disciples. There is a major difference between the Servant and faithless men. He is a disciple – one trained by the Sovereign Lord every single day – and they are not. And his discipleship will result in being able to sustain the weary with a word. He will know and speak words of life! Not only that but the Servant is…
- He is obedient
The Servant tells us that he was not rebellious and did not turn backwards. What a stark contrast to Judah who repeatedly turned from God to pursue her idols! This Idealized Servant had an open ear, which was another way of saying he heard and obeyed. This is a necessary requirement for the Servant because the Bible is quite clear that the only one who can stand before the Lord is one who is holy as he is holy.
If there is ever going to be salvation provided to the nations and justice established in the earth, then the One who accomplishes it must be perfectly obedient to God. An honest assessment of our own lives immediately rules any of us out! The same was true for the people back then. We are left wanting for a perfect Savior, someone outside of us who can accomplish what we could never do in our own imperfections! Through Isaiah, such a One is being increasingly revealed to us.
We also see from verse 6 that the Servant is…
- He is meek
- He is willing to suffer
Meekness conveys both humility and gentleness. It is the character of someone who is not arrogant or overly concerned with themselves. It is the posture of a true Servant who is willingly obeying His Sovereign God. This character quality is displayed when the Servant willingly endures unrighteous abuse at the hands of others rather than resisting them.
If you know your Bibles well, then you probably have all sorts of connections firing in your brains! This is exactly how the Jews treated Jesus during his arrest and crucifixion.
Mark 15:15–20 (ESV)
15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him.
18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.
Unlike the people of Isaiah’s day, we have the privilege of the entirety of God’s Word available to us. We know that the Idealized, Suffering Servant of Isaiah is none other than Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God who came to save us from our sins! How incredible that God allowed Isaiah to write about Jesus ~700 years ahead of time in such clear terms. *pause*
And Jesus, the Idealized Servant, is the perfect Israel. He joyfully learned from the Father. And he was humbly obedient to the Father, even when it resulted in his crucifixion and enduring the wrath of God on our behalf.
He was able to do this because, as he said in Isaiah 50:7-9:
Isaiah 50:7–9 (ESV)
7 But 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.
8 He 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.
9 Behold, 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.
As we continue to behold God’s answer for humanity’s faithlessness, we see…
- The Servant trusts the Lord for vindication
Twice he states, “The LORD God helps me.” This is the source of His hope. He trusts the Sovereign God to protect and keep him through opposition and suffering.
Something that I found fascinating as I studied this further, is that the disgrace spoken of here is not necessarily referring to the way others treat him but rather the disgrace of failing to carry out his task or keep his word. The Servant will not fail at saving God’s people or establishing justice on the earth because he trusts God to help him stand fast. He has firmly set his face on the call given to him, and he will not be distracted from it.
Consider what the Gospel of Luke tells us about Jesus:
Luke 9:51–53 (ESV)
51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
Jesus’ face was set (like a flint – unmoving/unwavering) toward Jerusalem, the place where he must go to complete the grand redemption plan of God! How incredible to hear of the Servant’s commitment to the Lord in Isaiah and then see it play out in Jesus’ life!
Jesus knew that His Heavenly Father was near to him. He trusted that the Father would vindicate him. Though he would be unjustly arrested, condemned and killed, he would not be found guilty because he would complete the mission he had been given, and God had declared him well-pleasing and innocent!
What I again found fascinating is how many of those at the end also recognized Jesus’ innocence. Listen to Judas’ last words:
Matthew 27:3–4 (ESV)
3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” …
Or how about the testimony of Pilate’s wife?
Matthew 27:19 (ESV)
19 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”
Or Pilate’s own conclusion after examining Jesus?
John 19:4 (ESV)
4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”
Even though Jesus was ultimately crucified, the common refrain, even among sinners, was that he died an innocent man. None could declare him guilty, just as foretold in Isaiah 50. In fact, as the Servant predicted in Isaiah 50:8, “All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.” Those who oppose the Servant are temporary and will not last. Judas, the Pharisees, Pilate and the Romans would not last. Their opposition to the Idealized, Suffering Servant would result in their downfall in the end. But the Servant died in righteousness and rose again in righteousness! Just as it was foretold in the final Servant song in Isaiah 53.
What is your response to this amazing truth? Are you carefully considering what you are hearing today? God openly foretold His grand plan of redemption hundreds of years in advance. He spoke openly about the details of this plan, including, as we are hearing today, the character and calling of the Idealized Servant who would accomplish His plan.
What is the appropriate response to such revelation? Awe and wonder to say the least. “What a mighty God!” “What a sacrificial Savior!” But it must move beyond this to worship and obedience. Consider the bold and direct ending to this chapter in verses 10-11:
Isaiah 50:10–11 (ESV)
10 Who 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.
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the torches that you have kindled!
This you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.
Whew! After all that has been said about this Idealized Servant, the final question is, “Who fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant?” That is the question Judah needed to wrestle with and the question that you need to do business with this morning. Do you fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servant? *pause*
To fear the Lord is to have a reverence and awe of Him that leads you to follow/obey him. We are told in the beginning of Proverbs:
Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
If you do not have a right view of God that leads you to tremble before Him due to His utter holiness and majesty, then you will struggle to humble yourself before Him and obey Him in all of life. It is the fool who does not fear God and therefore despises wisdom and instruction.
Are you a fool or a wise man/woman? Whether or not you fear the Lord reveals the answer. Unfortunately, many in the nation of Judah did not fear the Lord and they chose to live selfish lives in pursuit of their idols.
Notice that fearing the LORD is also in parallel with “obeying the voice of his servant”. They go hand-in-hand. If you fear God appropriately, then you will also listen to the words of his servant and do them. After all He is God’s answer for humanity’s faithlessness! At the end of this journey we’ve been on today is this point of decision…
- We must determine whom we will trust
The call from God is to fear Him and obey the voice of his servant. Again, those two concepts are linked! Because the Servant speaks what he hears from God, to obey him is to obey God. Again, this is fulfilled by Jesus:
John 14:23–24 (ESV)
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
Jesus, the Idealized Servant, speaks for God. To obey Him is to obey God.
The last two verses of this Servant Song in Isaiah 50 identify two types of people in our world. Those who trust God and obey the Servant, and those who trust in themselves and do not obey the Servant.
Interestingly, both categories of people are given some hard news. Isaiah calls those who trust God to do so even as they walk in darkness, likely speaking of suffering and pain. Trust God, even when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Fear no evil because God is with you. As your Good Shepherd, allow his rod and staff to comfort you. Walk in obedience, even when it seems hard, or the way seems scary! God is with you. He sustains you!
Commentator John Oswalt puts it this way:
Those who follow this Servant may indeed walk with him into the darkness of frustration, injustice, humiliation, and abuse. But this does not mean they should forgo their reliance on God. Through all the ages the children of God have equated God’s blessing with comfort and a sense of well-being. But that was not the way of the Servant.
So the challenge is again and again: do not cast away your confidence. Wait on the Lord. Put your hope in him. Trust in the reputation and the character (the name) of the Lord, and rely on your God. This is the example that we have in the Servant, as has just been powerfully expressed in vv. 5–7. Thus the prophet is saying to his people, people who are wondering whether their dark situations are evidence that God has forgotten them (cf. 49:14), that they must trust God in the darkness if they are to become the servants of God they are called to be, in the image of the Servant who declares God’s way to them.
“But living for God means I have to die to myself!” Yes, trust Him, rely on Him. “My family/friends are going to mock me for following you.” Trust Him, rely on Him. “But I thought things would get easier and go my way if I followed you!” No, trust Him, rely on Him. “I don’t like what I’m seeing in my life and in the world around me!” Trust Him, rely on Him.
As you follow in the Servant’s footsteps of trusting and obeying God you will be an excellent ambassador on this earth. Sitting under God’s teaching day-by-day as a disciple will produce good fruit in you. You will learn to respond well in the face of sin and suffering. You will grow as a disciple-maker who leaves a legacy for the Lord. Embrace this calling and whole-heartedly pursue it! Trust in and follow the Servant – He is God’s answer for our faithlessness.
The alternative is to trust in self, which does not end well according to verse 11. Those who kindle their own fire (torch) and seek to guide themselves by it…. Well, the result is being opposed by God and lying down in torment. The eternal outcome of relying on self rather than God is eternal death in hell. That is no small thing. Which is why Isaiah is trying to warn his people against choosing this path! The path of self-reliance does not end well.
If you’re here this morning and you are not actively fearing God, learning from him, trusting in Him, and obeying the teachings of Jesus, His Servant, then I want to counsel you to repent before it’s too late. Draw a line in the sand today and confess, “Lord, I know I haven’t been living for you. I want that to change. Please rescue me from my sin and help me to obey you starting right now.” Whether that’s a cry of faith for the very first time or a cry of repentance after a season of walking in darkness, take that step. Look to Jesus and live.
For those of you who are diligently seeking after the Lord and desiring to be a faithful servant for Him, I want to encourage you to keep running the race of faith well. That is what we are called to do as we fix our eyes on Jesus.
Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
May we fix our eyes on Jesus this week. May we actively identify and lay aside the hindrances, the temptations, and the sins that trip us up in our race of faith. May we see Jesus’ joyful obedience to the Father in rescuing us from our sin and may we delight to run with endurance the race that is set before us. Whatever it is you’re going through. Whomever God is putting in your path to minister to. In all things – trust and obey Him. And if you’re not quite sure what that should look like, it certainly starts with the same steps we saw in verses 4-5 – daily discipleship from the Father through His Word. Ask God to give you ears to hear and a heart to obey as you open his Word each day to learn the way of truth and righteousness.
Communion
We are going to close out our services today by worshiping the Lord through the celebration of communion or the Lord’s table.
Communion is an opportunity for Christians to remember all that the Lord has done for us through his death, burial, and resurrection. This is an opportunity for Christians to remember that we have embraced the promised hope of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and salvation of our souls!
We will celebrate by partaking of both the bread and the cup as a symbol and reminder of Jesus’ body broken in our place and his blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Communion is an opportunity to remember how great a price was paid so that we could be saved from our sin. It is a sobering, yet joyful celebration for Christians. Sobering that the Son of God would give himself for us as a ransom. Joyful that he did, and the result is a living hope that cannot be taken from us! Jesus is victorious; therefore, we have the hope of heaven with Him!
At this time, I’d like to invite the ushers forward with the elements.
Before we pass them, I want to share the biblical requirements for joining in this celebration.
This celebration was given by Jesus to his followers. We invite anyone who has trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation to join us in this celebration today. If your faith is not in Jesus Christ alone, then we would encourage you to let the elements pass by you and simply consider what you’ve heard so far during the service this morning and reflect on what is keeping you from trusting him for the forgiveness of your sins and salvation of your soul.
The second requirement we see in Scripture is a call to examine ourselves. This is the idea of making sure that you’ve confessed any known sins and sought to turn away from it. It would not be wise to partake of the table if you have sin in your life for which you are not repentant. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11 that taking the table while living in sin is eating and drinking judgment on yourself. I would ask you not to do that, for your sake and the sake of God’s glory. Instead, I would encourage you to use this time to confess that sin and make a plan to address it right away. If you know you need to be reconciled to someone else in this church, please take care of that during this time. The table is time to protect the unity of the church.
The ushers are going to pass the elements now as we have a time of silent reflection and prayer to prepare for the table. Please use this time to reflect on all that we’ve talked about today and to prepare yourself to take communion by confessing and repenting of any known sin. After the elements have been passed, I’ll lead us in prayer and taking communion together.
Ushers pass elements
Silent prayer. Corporate prayer.
1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (ESV)
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Take bread.
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Take cup
Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus!
Last song – Thank You Jesus for the Blood
Dismissal – reminder about Family Chat