Miscellaneous
The audio and the full text of the sermon are below. There are also questions for reflection at the bottom. Feel free to discuss on our sermon discussion group on Facebook.This is part three in a five part series on The Servant Songs. Isaiah 49: 1-13 (NRSV)1 Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away!The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me. 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.’ 4 But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.’ 5 And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant,to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him,for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— 6 he says,‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel;I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’ 7 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers,‘Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’ 8 Thus says the Lord:In a time of favour I have answered you, on a day of salvation I have helped you;I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; 9 saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out’, to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’They shall feed along the ways, on all the bare heights shall be their pasture; 10 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. 11 And I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up. 12 Lo, these shall come from far away, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene. 13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing!For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones. We have spent a fair amount of time on the identity of the servant. It should be clear by now that my own bias is to read the character of the servant as both representing Israel and as finding its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. My belief is that when these words were first prophesied, the prophet was not thinking of the future historical Messiah, but rather of an ideal Israel, an Israel that only God could bring about.As a Christian, I believe God brought about that ideal Israel, not as a small chosen nation, but in the person of His Son. For those who know Jesus and his story, we can’t help but see his likeness when we read the Servant Songs. Isaiah 49:1-13 is full of imagery that will bring up thoughts of our Savior and Lord. Rather than spend more time on the identity question, I’d like us to consider leaning in to how these verses illuminate Jesus for us.There is one problem in that regard with respect to this Servant Song, however—and that’s verse three. In verse three the servant is clearly identified as Israel, and this is difficult to avoid. Is it Israel, or is it Jesus? John Oswalt, in his commentary on Isaiah looks at this issue in a helpful and creative way. According to Oswalt, there are two slightly different ways to read verse three where God speaks to the servant.1. “You are my servant named Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”2. “You are my servant, my Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”Do you see the difference in the second one? In the second version, God is being emphatic as he addresses the Messiah. He says to a specific person (to Jesus), “you are my servant, you are my Israel.” Think about that for a moment. God says to the servant—“you are my Israel.” The servant, Jesus, stands in the place of the true chosen people. There are such connections here for those who follow Christ. Those who are in Christ, those who are members of His body, share in this. The Church, Christ’s people, become the new Israel. We do not fulfill what Christ fulfills, we are not the perfect servant any more than Israel is, except that we have united ourselves to Christ. In Christ, we share in his sufferings and in his exaltation. Christ is the ideal Israel, and the Church which is in Him, is the redeemed people of God, the new Israel. We do not replace Israel of our own accord, but stand in that place because of our union with the servant, our union with whom God has claimed as “his true Israel,” Jesus Christ.Let’s turn to this particular servant song and see what we can learn about Jesus.“Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away!”This servant song is not addressed to the Jewish nation. It is addressed to the people from far away. It is addressed to Gentiles. This is significant, because while we naturally claim that the gospel is for everyone, in practice we don’t always behave as though it is. We might wish to think about who we consider “far away” from God and remember that these words are first and foremost for them. "The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me."The servant is the one speaking these words, through the mouth of the prophet, across centuries, through the lens of Christ. It is quite remarkable. It was not unusual in the ancient world for great leaders to have been spoken of as being chosen before they were even born. It is also not unusual for such leaders to have divinely attributed names. What is striking is how readily these words apply to Jesus of Nazareth, who, though from a royal line if you go back far enough, was essentially a nobody by earthly standard at his birth. An angel told both Mary (Luke 1:31) and Joseph (Mt 1:21) to name their yet unborn child Jesus. The gospels point to Jesus’ salvation mission being given before his birth. "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."Rev. 19:15 “Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.”The sword coming out of the mouth is a strange image. It means that the servant won’t fight with an actual sword, but that his weapon will be his word that he speaks. This is the same for the Church and believers in the Ephesians passage about the armour of God.Eph 6:17 “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” In John’s gospel, not only is is the word Jesus speaks that has power, but Jesus is himself identified as the living Word made flesh.The servant is also identified as a polished arrow. The sword is his mouth, or his spoken word. He himself is an arrow. This points to the fact that God will use the servant in a fight. While the expectation may have been a fight against earthly rulers or enemies, in Jesus we find that the fight is with greater powers than that, and the scope of salvation is much larger as well.The sword and arrow are hidden. They are hidden until the proper time. God is not firing arrows all over the place or flailing with his sword. He has them ready for the opportune moment. Jesus is the one who appears at the right time, almost as if from nowhere, as though he’s been hidden, to strike the fatal blow against evil."3 And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’"We have already looked at the idea that God declares Jesus to be the ideal Israel. The last part of this phrase is important: “in whom I will be glorified.” Everything about Jesus will bring glory to God the Father."4 But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.’"This speaks directly to the idea of God being glorified, or honoured by the servant. These verses, at first glance, are surprisingly negative. Why would Jesus say this? This points to the apparent futility of Jesus’ ministry in light of his death. This phrase paints a picture of Christ on the cross when He cried “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This phrase shows us the humanity of Christ as he suffered and died. On Good Friday and Holy Saturday, it all seems pointless, all hope seems lost. God’s glory is not on display on these days.The season of Lent is like this as well. We reflect on our mortality, we are reminded of our sin and our need for repentance, we connect with a Saviour who entered our suffering. Without the resurrection, it would all be in vain, but rest assured—new life is coming.This is played out in our baptism as well.Christ is united to us in our suffering and as we are baptized into his body, we suffer and die with him. This ought not be minimized. Do our lives have any meaning? Is it worth it to follow Jesus if it leads to the cross? Should we unite ourselves to him if it means suffering and death? If it means humiliation or ridicule? It can seem freeing to think about entering the waters of baptism to die to an old way of life, but we cannot rush the new life on the other side. We must acknowledge that the death is real, that the loss must happen, and in the time of loss, it may very well feel pointless. At the bottom of the baptismal waters we drown, and for what? Has anything changed? Did I accomplish anything by uniting to Christ? Maybe I should have just kept going at life on my own.The answer to these questions is not simply “resurrection,” but “trust in God for resurrection.” What we do in baptism, in uniting ourselves to Jesus, is dying with him and trusting God for what’s next.Notice the rest of the verse. The servant doesn’t claim new life after his life is spent. Rather, he says “surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.” He simply aligns himself with God, and hopes in him. This is what Jesus did, and what we need to do."5 And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant,to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him,for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—"Verse 5 is a very fast summary. “And now the Lord says…” We will get to what God is going to say in a moment, but first, let’s build this up… get ready.Remember, life, work, ministry had felt futile, everything had felt like defeat, but the servant is trusting in God. “And now the Lord says…”The Lord who formed me in the womb to be his servant—so this life and even death can’t be futile."…Who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob/Israel back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength."You have to hear these words being said. There is no other way with these words. They can’t be just read, they demand to be proclaimed by a great preacher. They must be put in the mouth of Jesus and heard by our ears. There is a building to these words and the contrast they being to built from the previous verse.God is about to speak into what felt like futility, death, insignificance. There is the servant, this Jesus, crucified, defeated, dead in a tomb, gone. But God is about to speak. The God who formed Jesus in the womb to be his true servant. The God who formed Jesus to bring his people Israel back to him.We must hear Jesus saying these words, in the moment when the stone of the tomb is rolled away and he is risen."And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant,to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him,for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—6 he says,"Let’s pause there for a moment—“he says.” Go back and think about the build up of the previous section. Make sure you have that build up. Everything seems lost until the stone is rolled away and the servant emerges."Then God says,‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel;I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’ "All in vain? No! God’s salvation obliterates any thought of Jesus’ life being futile. He is a light so that God’s salvation may reach the end of the earth. We tend to be so small in our thinking. We don’t simply unite ourselves to Jesus so we can feel better, or overcome an old life for ourselves, and get one that is a bit better than before. We don’t united to Jesus to make progress in our spiritual life.When we unite to Jesus, we are uniting to a global salvation mission. When we unite to Jesus we are one with the One. At the darkest moment, when all seemed lost, God speaks about how this has all been done according to his plan so that the entire world may know his salvation. "7 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers,‘Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’" Here the servant is identified as deeply despised and abhorred by the nations. It is easy to become confused about the use of the word “nations,” because sometimes it can mean “Gentiles,” as in other nations that are not Israel, and sometimes it can imply mean “people,” or “the masses of people,” or more simply “the mob.”This is what happens to Jesus. He is despised by the mob. At the end of his life there were very few followers who stood by his side.But in this verse is the promise of radical reversal. The rejected one will be the one who is in the end honoured even by the greatest rulers.8 Thus says the Lord:In a time of favour I have answered you, on a day of salvation I have helped you;I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,God continues to speak to the servant of the promise of salvation. The servant has been given as a covenant to the people, to all people. Covenant is a promise that binds two or more parties to one another. The primary covenant between God and Israel was that he would be their God and they would be his people. They would remain faithful to one another. This basic understanding of covenant is why so often the relationship between God and his people is describe in terms of a marriage. Even one of the images for the church is the Bride of Christ. God says to the servant “I have given you as a covenant.” He doesn’t say, “to fulfill the covenant,” or “to teach about a new covenant,” or “to get the people to renew their covenant,” but “as a covenant.”Jesus is the covenant itself, much like the law was considered the substance of the covenant. The law described how to remain faithful in covenant with God. Jesus does more than this. Jesus makes us as though we are faithful even when we are not always faithful. Jesus makes us righteous, makes us right with God. Jesus is the glue of the relationship between us and God. He is the covenant that binds us with God. To be in Christ is to be in faithful covenant relationship with God.The rest of the Servant Song plays out the results of Jesus being given as the true servant. Listen to the freedom given, the imagery of new life and new possibility. God’s promise to use goes beyond simply saving us—His promise extends to what life is like for us after we let him pull us out of our darkness."I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; 9 saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out’, to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’They shall feed along the ways, on all the bare heights shall be their pasture; 10 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. 11 And I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up. 12 Lo, these shall come from far away, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene. 13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing!For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones. "The significance of this cannot be overstated. There is a return in the final two verses to those who are far off, and how they are invited to come close. God, through his servant, will deliver comfort to his people. His compassion is on those who suffer.Who is it who is far off? Who is it that needs words of hope and promise that God is compassionate and gracious? (Perhaps you can think about inviting them to hear about the hope and compassion God offers in Jesus. Invite them to come here on Easter Sunday. What better day than to hear about the grace of God) You may not know who is truly far off and suffering. So, even if you suspect, invite anyway. In Christ, the end of suffering is promised. His resurrection promises a final victory over every evil power that opposes God and his rule of justice and love. Think of what this message may mean for someone who is stumbling in darkness unaware of the beautiful light of the servant Christ.Pay attention, people from far away. Pay attention, for there is good news.Questions for Reflection1) What do you think it means for God to call the servant “my Israel”? What does it mean for God to declare Jesus to be the “true Israel”?2) How do you understand verse 2 where the servant is identified with hidden weapons?3) Verse 4 states: “But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.’” How do you understand this in with respect to Jesus’ life, death and resurrection?4) What do you make of the contrast between global salvation through the servant, and the servant’s description of his labour being for nothing? Does this have any impact on how you see your own life as a follower of Christ?5) “When we unite to Jesus, we are uniting to a global salvation mission.” How do you understand this statement? What does this statement mean for our behaviour as Christ followers?6) This Servant Song is addressed to people who are far away. Who do you know who are far away from God? How might that person respond if they had the opportunity and were willing to listen to the words of this Servant Song?