Message Four

Christ as the Servant of Jehovah

Scripture Reading: Isa. 42:1-3; 50:4-7; 53:2-3; 41:21-29;
43:10-11; 44:8; Matt. 12:18-20

Isa. 42:1-3  Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, / My chosen One in whom My soul delights; / I have put My Spirit upon Him, / And He will bring forth justice to the nations. 2He will not cry out, nor lift up His voice, / Nor make His voice heard in the street. 3A bruised reed He will not break; / And a dimly burning flax He will not extinguish; / He will bring forth justice in truth.

Isa. 50:4-7  The Lord Jehovah has given me / The tongue of the instructed, / That I should know how to sustain the weary with a word. / He awakens me morning by morning; / He awakens my ear / To hear as an instructed one. 5The Lord Jehovah has opened my ear; / And I was not rebellious, / Nor did I turn back. 6I gave my back to those who strike me / And my cheeks to those who pluck out the hair; / I did not hide my face / From humiliation and spitting. 7The Lord Jehovah helps me; / Therefore I have not been dishonored; / Therefore I have set my face like a flint, / And I know that I will not be put to shame.

Isa. 53:2-3  For He grew up like a tender plant before Him, / And like a root out of dry ground. / He has no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, / Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him. 3He was despised and forsaken of men, / A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; / And like one from whom men hide their faces, / He was despised; and we did not esteem Him.

Isa. 41:21-29  Present your case, says Jehovah; / Bring forward your arguments, says the King of Jacob. 22Let them bring forth and declare to us / What will take place; / Let them show what the former things were, / That we may consider them, / And may know the end of them; / Or let us hear the things that are coming. 23Declare to us the things that are coming afterward, / That we may know that you are gods; / Indeed do good or do evil, / That we may look at one another anxiously and be afraid together. 24You are indeed nothing, / And your work is of no consequence; / He who chooses you is an abomination. 25I have raised up one from the north and he has come; / From the rising of the sun he will call upon My name. / He will come upon rulers as upon mortar, / As the potter treads the clay. 26Who has declared it from the beginning that we may know, / And in advance that we may say, He is right? / Indeed there was no one who declared it; indeed no one who let us hear; / Indeed no one who heard your words. 27  Formerly I said to Zion, Here, here they are; / And to Jerusalem, I will give someone who preaches glad tidings. 28But I looked and there was no man, / And from among these there was no counselor, / Who, when I asked, would give Me an answer. 29Indeed all of them are vanity; / Their works are of no consequence; / Their molten images are a wind and a waste.

Isa. 43:10-11  You are My witnesses, declares Jehovah, / And My servant whom I have chosen, / In order that you may know and believe Me / And understand that I am He. / Before Me there was no God formed, / Neither will there be any after Me. 11I, even I, am Jehovah; / And there is no Savior besides Me.

Isa. 44:8  Do not tremble and do not be afraid. / Have I not related to you from that time and declared it? / And you are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? / Or is there any other Rock? I do not know of any.

Matt. 12:18-20  ¡°Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul has found delight. I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will announce justice to the Gentiles. 19He will not strive nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. 20A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench until He brings forth justice unto victory.

                  I.    The source of Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is His divinity (Isa. 42:1, 6; 49:5, 7-8), whereas His qualification is in His humanity, in His human virtues (42:2-4).

Isa. 42:1  Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, / My chosen One in whom My soul delights; / I have put My Spirit upon Him, / And He will bring forth justice to the nations.

Isa. 42:6  I am Jehovah; I have called You in righteousness; / I have held You by the hand; / I have kept You and I have given You / As a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations;

Isa. 49:5  And now says Jehovah, / Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, / To bring Jacob back to Him, / So that Israel would be gathered to Him; / And I will be glorified in the sight of Jehovah, / And My God will be My strength.

Isa. 49:7-8  Thus says Jehovah, / The Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, / To the despised One, the One abhorred by the nation, / The One subjected to tyrants, / Kings will see and arise, / And princes will bow down; / Because of Jehovah, who is faithful, / The Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You. 8Thus says Jehovah, / In an acceptable time I have answered You, / And in a day of salvation I have helped You; / And I will preserve You and give You for a covenant of the people, / To restore the land, to apportion the desolate inheritances,

Isa. 42:2-4  He will not cry out, nor lift up His voice, / Nor make His voice heard in the street. 3A bruised reed He will not break; / And a dimly burning flax He will not extinguish; / He will bring forth justice in truth. 4He will not faint, nor will He be discouraged, / Until He has established justice in the earth; / And the coastlands will wait for His instruction.

                II.    Isaiah 52:13¡ª53:12 reveals Christ as the Servant of Jehovah not in the Old Testament economy but in the New Testament economy; in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53 is the unique chapter that bears the color, taste, and atmosphere of the New Testament.

Isa. 52:13-53:12  Indeed, My Servant will act wisely and will prosper; / He will be exalted and lifted up and very high. 14Even as many were astonished at Him¡ª / His visage was marred more than that of any man, / And His form more than that of the sons of men¡ª15So will He surprise many nations; / Kings will shut their mouths because of Him; / For what had not been recounted to them they will see, / And what they had not heard of they will contemplate. 53:1Who has believed our report? / And to whom has the arm of Jehovah been revealed? 2For He grew up like a tender plant before Him, / And like a root out of dry ground. / He has no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, / Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him. 3He was despised and forsaken of men, / A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; / And like one from whom men hide their faces, / He was despised; and we did not esteem Him. 4Surely He has borne our sicknesses, / And carried our sorrows; / Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, / Smitten of God and afflicted. 5But He was wounded because of our transgressions; / He was crushed because of our iniquities; / The chastening for our peace was upon Him, / And by His stripes we have been healed. 6We all like sheep have gone astray; / Each of us has turned to his own way, / And Jehovah has caused the iniquity of us all / To fall on Him. 7He was oppressed, and it was He who was afflicted, / Yet He did not open His mouth; / Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter / And like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers, / So He did not open His mouth. 8By oppression and by judgment He was taken away; / And as for His generation, who among them had the thought / That He was cut off out of the land of the living / For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? 9And they assigned His grave with the wicked, / But with a rich man in His death, / Although He had done no violence, / Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10But Jehovah was pleased to crush Him, to afflict Him with grief. / When He makes Himself an offering for sin, / He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand. 11He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied; / By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant, will make the / many righteous, / And He will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will divide to Him a portion with the Great, / And He will divide the spoil with the Strong; / Because He poured out His life unto death / And was numbered with the transgressors, / Yet He alone bore the sin of many / And interceded for the transgressors.

              III.    In the book of Isaiah we have a detailed prophecy concerning Christ as the Servant of Jehovah:

                          A.    As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ is the One chosen and beloved of Jehovah; He is the One in whom Jehovah delights¡ª42:1; Matt. 12:18:

Isa. 42:1  Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, / My chosen One in whom My soul delights; / I have put My Spirit upon Him, / And He will bring forth justice to the nations.

Matt. 12:18  ¡°Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul has found delight. I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will announce justice to the Gentiles.

                                      1.    Jesus Christ, the Servant of Jehovah, was God¡¯s choice among billions of human beings.

                                      2.    Because He was God¡¯s choice, God delighted in Him; hence, He became the delight of God¡¯s heart¡ª3:17; 17:5.

Matt. 3:17  And behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.

Matt. 17:5  While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight. Hear Him!

                           B.    As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ had Jehovah¡¯s Spirit upon Him¡ªIsa. 42:1; Matt. 12:18:

Isa. 42:1  Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, / My chosen One in whom My soul delights; / I have put My Spirit upon Him, / And He will bring forth justice to the nations.

Matt. 12:18  ¡°Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul has found delight. I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will announce justice to the Gentiles.

                                      1.    Jehovah¡¯s Spirit is Jehovah Himself; hence, Jehovah¡¯s putting His Spirit upon Jesus (3:16; Luke 4:18; John 1:33) meant that He gave Himself to Jesus and that Jehovah and Jesus, His Servant, are one.

Matt. 3:16  And having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him.

Luke 4:18  ¡°The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to announce the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who are oppressed,

John 1:33  And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

                                      2.    When Christ was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as the economical power for His ministry; with Jehovah¡¯s Spirit upon Him, He announced justice to the nations¡ªIsa. 42:1; Matt. 12:18.

Isa. 42:1  Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, / My chosen One in whom My soul delights; / I have put My Spirit upon Him, / And He will bring forth justice to the nations.

Matt. 12:18  ¡°Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul has found delight. I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will announce justice to the Gentiles.

                          C.    As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ did not cry out or lift up His voice¡ªIsa. 42:2; Matt. 12:19:

Isa. 42:2  He will not cry out, nor lift up His voice, / Nor make His voice heard in the street.

Matt. 12:19  He will not strive nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

                                      1.    Instead of crying out to make His voice heard in the street, the Lord Jesus was calm and quiet; He never made Himself great¡ªcf. John 7:3-9.

John 7:3-9  His brothers therefore said to Him, Depart from here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may behold Your works which You are doing; 4For no one does anything in secret and himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, manifest Yourself to the world. 5For not even His brothers believed into Him. 6Jesus therefore said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify concerning it, that its works are evil. 8You go up to the feast; I am not going up to this feast, because My time has not yet been fulfilled. 9And having said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

                                      2.    In His ministry the Lord Jesus did not strive with others, and He did not promote Himself; He had no fame, and He did not seek to make a name for Himself.

                          D.    As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ would not break a bruised reed or quench dimly burning flax¡ªIsa. 42:3; Matt. 12:20:

Isa. 42:3  A bruised reed He will not break; / And a dimly burning flax He will not extinguish; / He will bring forth justice in truth.

Matt. 12:20  A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench until He brings forth justice unto victory.

                                      1.    This indicates that He was full of mercy; no matter how much He was opposed, He kept open the door of mercy and grace.

                                      2.    Today some of the Lord¡¯s people are like a bruised reed that cannot give a musical sound, and others are like dimly burning flax that cannot give a shining light; however, the Lord Jesus will not ¡°break¡± the bruised ones, nor ¡°quench¡± the ones like dimly burning flax.

                                      3.    The Lord Jesus will select some bruised reeds and dimly burning flax and perfect them so that they become useful in His hand to bring forth justice unto victory¡ªv. 20.

                           E.    As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ was willing to be humiliated¡ªIsa. 50:6; Matt. 26:67.

Isa. 50:6  I gave my back to those who strike me / And my cheeks to those who pluck out the hair; / I did not hide my face / From humiliation and spitting.

Matt. 26:67  Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists, and others slapped Him,

                           F.    As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ was a man of sorrows, despised and forsaken of men; He was not a man of enjoyment and happiness, for His life was a life of sorrows and grief¡ªIsa. 53:2-3.

Isa. 53:2-3  For He grew up like a tender plant before Him, / And like a root out of dry ground. / He has no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, / Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him. 3He was despised and forsaken of men, / A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; / And like one from whom men hide their faces, / He was despised; and we did not esteem Him.

                          G.    As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ did not speak His own word¡ª50:4-5:

Isa. 50:4-5  The Lord Jehovah has given me / The tongue of the instructed, / That I should know how to sustain the weary with a word. / He awakens me morning by morning; / He awakens my ear / To hear as an instructed one. 5The Lord Jehovah has opened my ear; / And I was not rebellious, / Nor did I turn back.

                                      1.    Having the tongue of the instructed, He spoke according to God¡¯s instructions¡ªv. 4.

                                      2.    The Lord Jehovah awakened Him every morning, awakening His ear to hear as an instructed one¡ªv. 4.

                                      3.    The Lord Jesus was never rebellious; rather, He was always obedient, listening to the word of God¡ªv. 5.

                                      4.    Because the Lord Jesus had the ear and the tongue of an instructed one, He knew how ¡°to sustain the weary with a word¡±; such a word was able to minister life¡ªv. 4a; John 6:63.

John 6:63  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

                          H.    As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ trusted in God and set His face like a flint; in fulfilling God¡¯s purpose, He was strong¡ªIsa. 50:7:

Isa. 50:7  The Lord Jehovah helps me; / Therefore I have not been dishonored; / Therefore I have set my face like a flint, / And I know that I will not be put to shame.

                                      1.    In the matter of fulfilling God¡¯s will, Christ was very strong¡ªJohn 6:38.

John 6:38  For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.

                                      2.    As the Lord Jesus was walking in God¡¯s way to fulfill God¡¯s will, His face was like hard stone¡ªMark 10:32-34:

Mark 10:32-34  Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus led the way before them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that were about to happen to Him: 33Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and to the scribes. And they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles, 34And they will mock Him and spit at Him and scourge Him, and they will kill Him. And after three days He will rise.

                                                a.    When the time of His death was at hand, Christ as the Servant of Jehovah went to Jerusalem willingly, even going before His followers with a speed and boldness that amazed them¡ªv. 32.

                                                b.    This was His obedience to God unto death (Phil. 2:8), according to the counsel of God (Acts 2:23), for the fulfillment of God¡¯s redemptive plan (Isa. 53:10).

Phil. 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of a cross.

Acts 2:23  This man, delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, through the hand of lawless men, nailed to a cross and killed;

Isa. 53:10  But Jehovah was pleased to crush Him, to afflict Him with grief. / When He makes Himself an offering for sin, / He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand.

                                                c.    The Lord Jesus knew that through His death He would be glorified in resurrection (Luke 24:25-26) and that His divine life would be released to produce many brothers for His expression (John 12:23-24; Rom. 8:29).

Luke 24:25-26  And He said to them, O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory?

John 12:23-24  And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Rom. 8:29  Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers;

              IV.    According to Isaiah 41:21-29, Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is for the exposing of the falsehood and vanity of the idols:

Isa. 41:21-29  (see reference at beginning of study outline)

                          A.    Everything except Christ is false, vain, and an idol¡ª42:8; 43:10-11; 46:5, 9:

Isa. 42:8  I am Jehovah, that is My name, / And I will not give My glory to another, / Nor My praise to idols.

Isa. 43:10-11  You are My witnesses, declares Jehovah, / And My servant whom I have chosen, / In order that you may know and believe Me / And understand that I am He. / Before Me there was no God formed, / Neither will there be any after Me. 11I, even I, am Jehovah; / And there is no Savior besides Me.

Isa. 46:5  To whom will you liken Me, / And with whom will you make Me equal / And compare Me, that we should be considered alike?

Isa. 46:9  Remember the former things of old, / That I am God and there is no one else; / I am God and there is no one like Me,

                                      1.    According to 46:1-2 and 5-7 the idols of Babylon are powerless and useless and cannot be compared to Jehovah.

Isa. 46:1-2  Bel has bowed down; Nebo stoops; / Their idols are on beasts and cattle; / The things which you carry are a burden, / A load for a weary beast. 2They stoop and have bowed down together; / They are not able to escape the burden; / But they themselves have gone into captivity.

Isa. 46:5-7  To whom will you liken Me, / And with whom will you make Me equal / And compare Me, that we should be considered alike? 6Those who lavish gold from the purse / And weigh silver in scales / And hire a goldsmith, and he makes a god¡ª / They bow down and even worship it; 7They lift it up on their shoulder; they carry it / And set it in its place and stand it up. / It will not move from its place; / Someone even cries out to it, and it does not answer, / Nor save him from his distress.

                                      2.    Anything that replaces God or occupies the position of God is an idol; today¡¯s society encourages people to make idols.

                           B.    In 1 John 5:21 idols refers to heretical substitutes for the true God and also to anything that replaces the real God; as genuine children of the genuine God, we should be on the alert to guard ourselves from heretical substitutes and from all vain replacements for our genuine and real God, with whom we are organically one and who is eternal life to us¡ªv. 20.

1 John 5:21  Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

1 John 5:20  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

                          C.    As those who are replaced by Christ and wait on Him to enjoy God¡¯s life power in grace, we are members of Christ and servants of Jehovah with Christ and in Christ in a corporate way; as members of Christ, we are types of Christ bearing a twofold testimony¡ªIsa. 40:3 1; 1 Cor. 12: 12:

Isa. 40:31  Yet those who wait on Jehovah will renew their strength; / They will mount up with wings like eagles; / They will run and will not faint; / They will walk and will not become weary.

1 Cor. 12:12  For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.

                                      1.    We testify that we are nothing, that we have been ¡°fired¡± and replaced by Christ, and that Christ is everything to us as our reality, centrality, and universality¡ªJohn 14:6; Col. 1:18; 2:9, 16-17; 3:4, 10-11; Gal. 2:20.

John 14:6  Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

Col. 1:18  And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things;

Col. 2:9  For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,

Col. 2:16-17  Let no one therefore judge you in eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of the Sabbath, 17Which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ.

Col. 3:4  When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.

Col. 3:10-11  And have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.

Gal. 2:20  I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

                                      2.    We also testify to the falsehood and vanity of the idols, the head of which is Satan, and to the fact that everything apart from Christ is false, vain, and an idol¡ªIsa. 41:21-29.

Isa. 41:21-29  (see reference at beginning of outline)

                                      3.    That Jehovah is the unique God can be proved only by a group of people who are His witnesses¡ª43:10-11; 44:6, 8; Acts 1:8.

Isa. 43:10-11  You are My witnesses, declares Jehovah, / And My servant whom I have chosen, / In order that you may know and believe Me / And understand that I am He. / Before Me there was no God formed, / Neither will there be any after Me. 11I, even I, am Jehovah; / And there is no Savior besides Me.

Isa. 44:6  Thus says Jehovah the King of Israel, / And his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts, / I am the First and I am the Last, / And apart from Me there is no God.

Isa. 44:8  Do not tremble and do not be afraid. / Have I not related to you from that time and declared it? / And you are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? / Or is there any other Rock? I do not know of any.

Acts 1:8  But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.