The Astonishing Servant of Jehovah

By David R. Ferguson     In the final portion of the Book of Isaiah, a dramatic shift occurs. No longer is it the book about condemnation for Judah’s and Israel’s rebellion, chapters 40 through 66 of Isaiah are all about grace and salvation, and grace and salvation. Now, who’s going to bring this grace and salvation to the world? Who’s going to be the one to provide this deliverance? The answer is the Servant of the Lord, the Servant of the Lord. I say it twice because that’s how Isaiah says it. That’s how Jesus is designated here. The Hebrew word used is ebed, and it means slave or servant. It’s used many hundreds of times in the Old Testament. So what we have here from Isaiah is a prophetic Messianic reference to Jesus as the Slave of Jehovah, the Servant of Jehovah. He’s the One Who will bring salvation. He’s the One Who will bring us comfort. He’s the One Who will bring us the forgiveness of sins. He’s the One Who becomes the theme of this final section of the Book of Isaiah.     Now let’s go to chapter 53 for a moment, with just that kind of broad picture. And you will find in verses 13 of 52, “Behold My Servant, Behold My Servant,” My ebed, My Slave. This is the same designation that has been indicated much earlier in this section of the Book of Isaiah. This is the fourth of specific prophecies regarding this Servant to come. Chapter 42 is one, chapter 49 is another, and chapter 50 verses 4 to 11 is the third. This here is the fourth of what we would call Isaiah’s Servant songs, or Servant prophecies.     Now in this presentation of the Servant before us, the Prophet calls on us to look at this Servant and be astonished. This is the most complete, most powerful, and most important revelation of the Messiah in the entire Old Testament, right here in front of us in Isaiah.     In Isaiah 53, we read of the Suffering Servant to come. “All 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. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He didn’t open His mouth. 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. By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and as for His generation, who consider that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of My people to whom the stroke was due. His 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. But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief.”     May God bless you in the knowledge that His Servant died for you! May this knowledge grant you further peace in knowing that Jesus is the way of life to life eternally in Heaven!

- David R. Ferguson preaches for the Mentor Church of Christ in Mentor, OH.  He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://mentorchurchofchrist.com/ or davidferguson61@yahoo.com