The Gospel According to Isaiah, Part 2, The Suffering Servant Revealed

The Gospel According to Isaiah

Part 2: The Suffering Servant’s Identity Revealed

Who is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah? 

What roles do YHWH and Adonai play in this scene?

We will explore those topics and answer those questions using these verses in this study. 

Isaiah 52:13

Isaiah 42:1

Jeremiah 23:5

Psalm 110:1-2

Ephesians 1:20-21

Philippians 2:9-11

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Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Music: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Robert Robinson and John Wyeth (Public Domain.) Arranged and performed by Ginger Manning. Recorded and mastered by Gordon Manning. 

Transcript

The Gospel According to Isaiah

Part 2: The Suffering Servant’s Identity Revealed

As we begin our study into the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Suffering Servant, I want us to keep in mind that these verses have already been fulfilled, and that they could only be fulfilled in one person, namely Jesus of Nazareth. 

Each individual piece of this prophecy was fulfilled in this one man, and that is what we are going to look at through this study. 

I want all of us to be aware of how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, but I also want us to be able to answer people’s objections with sound, Biblical reasoning so we can cause them to think about their own objections and, hopefully, come to Christ and be saved.

For those who are unaware, we are going to be looking at Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12, but not all of it at once.

Today, we are going to look at just Isaiah 52:13.

Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 

Let us pray.

Father God, we are thankful for another opportunity to come together and study Your Word. As we look into Your Word, help us to learn what You would have us to learn. Help us to understand what Your Word is saying to us today so we may be able to be share it with others. Reveal Your truth by Your Spirit. We ask this in the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

How is it that Jesus has fulfilled the prophecy of the Suffering Servant?

Let us take a look at a few verses of Scripture to answer that question. 

First, let us go to Isaiah 42:1.

Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

This is another prophecy from Isaiah concerning the Servant of God.

These two prophecies are connected because they point to the same person. 

Jesus was sent by God the Father. 

As we see in Matthew 3, at the baptism of Jesus, He fulfills most of Isaiah 42:1 in one instance. 

When He came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended from Heaven in the form of a dove and a voice was heard saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

This lets us know that Jesus is the Servant of Isaiah 42:1 and therefore must also be the Servant of Isaiah 52:13.

With that said, we can continue to look at this verse, and subsequent verses, knowing that the Servant is Jesus.

When we look at verse thirteen, we see different things that Jesus will do, or will happen to Him: He will act wisely, He will be high and lifted up, and He will be exalted.

First, Jesus is said to act wisely.

This is also referenced in another prophecy concerning Jesus in Jeremiah 23:5.

Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 

Here we see that the wisdom with which Jesus deals is connected directly to His reign as King. 

Although Jesus lived a perfect life and practiced absolute perfect wisdom in everything He did in His ministry, during His lifetime there was a time that He was not acting in perfect wisdom.

Luke tells us that He “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

He grew just like all of us.

He was born a baby, grew into a young boy, and eventually grew into the man He was at His baptism when His ministry begins.

However, now that He has ascended to the throne of the Father, He is dealing in His absolute perfect wisdom.

Also, when He comes again and establishes His kingdom here in the new earth, He will act in perfect wisdom and execute justice and righteousness in the land. 

We await that day with great anticipation. 

Secondly, we see that Jesus will be high and lifted up. 

In that great and glorious day when He establishes His kingdom, He will be lifted up higher than any other.

Psalm 110:1-2 show the Father speaking to the Son.

Psalm 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” 

Psalm 110:2 The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 

Jesus being high and lifted up goes right along with the third part of the verse, that of Him being exalted.

Let me read just a few passages of Scripture to you concerning this and you can draw your own conclusions.

Ephesians 1:20-21

Ephesians 1:20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 

Ephesians 1:21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 

Philippians 2:9-11

Philippians 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 

Philippians 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

Philippians 2:11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

What we can see from these verses is that Jesus is not only high and lifted up and exalted, but it is God the Father who has exalted Him into that high and lifted up position.

Let us go back to Psalm 110:1 and look at the original language to get some better insight into what I am saying.

Psalm 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” 

At the beginning we see the LORD: capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D.

This is the English translation of the Hebrew name of God, YHWH.

Then we see another title used for God throughout the Old Testament, Lord: capital L, little o, little r, little d.

This is the English translation of the Hebrew name of God, Adonai.

Now, obviously the Father does not sit around talking to Himself. 

I know sometimes I am guilty of talking to myself, but I seriously doubt that David would put a conversation that the Father had with Himself in Scripture.

Looking at the original language it is quite clear here that YHWH is having a conversation with Adonai.

Some people may try to stop me right here and say that they are the same. 

However, I want you to see something here.

YHWH is speaking to Adonai telling Him to, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Who is at the right hand of the Father?

According to the vision that Stephen had as he was being stoned, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

This is a reference to Jesus, the Son of Man.

Now, if Stephen saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and YHWH said to Adonai, “Sit at my right hand,” is it not plausible that Jesus is given the Hebrew title of Adonai?

This coincides with what we see in Philippians 2.

Philippians 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 

Philippians 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

Philippians 2:11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

God the Father, YHWH, has highly exalted Him (that is, Jesus) and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, which we see is Adonai.

The Father, YHWH, has given Jesus, the Son, the name of Adonai; the Father has exalted Him, according to Ephesians 1, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named.”

Unfortunately, I was well into my Christian walk before I learned this. 

When we look at our original verse it all comes so very clear.

Isaiah 52:13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 

God the Father, YHWH, is talking to Isaiah, who should then forward the conversation to the nation of Judah.

He tells Isaiah that the Servant will set up a kingdom and rule with perfect wisdom. 

He also tells Isaiah that the Servant will be high, lifted up, and exalted, not by man but by YHWH Himself. 

There has only been one person in the history of the world who meets these qualifications, that is Jesus of Nazareth.

When we realize that the Son was sent by the Father, we realize just how important the rest of this passage of Scripture becomes to our lives.

When we get to Isaiah 53:6 and see that “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

And Isaiah 53:10 and see that “it was the will of the LORD to crush him…”

When we see these verses saying that it was God the Father, YHWH, doing these things to the Servant, to His own Son, the cross should come even more alive and relevant to us.

We should begin to understand that it wasn’t just the beating and mocking that Jesus withstood from the Jews, or the torture He endured at the hands of the Romans, but it was His own Father’s will for these things to be done.

Now, this is where modern liberals jump in and say that the cross was some sort of divine child abuse.

I have actually heard that argument.

People actually believe that it was abuse on the part of the Father to put Jesus through the cross because of the words in Isaiah 53.

However, I have to counter that thought process with this, it is not abuse but love of the humanity that they created together in their own image that drove them to have this plan, put it into motion, and offer to us salvation from sin.

The cross is not a place of pain.

Yes, it caused Jesus pain.

Yes, it caused His disciples pain.

Yes, it caused His mother pain to watch Him die on that cross.

Yes, I even believe that it caused some of the Romans pain to see what happened that day.

However, all the pain that was caused in those long, agonizing hours, became a fleeting memory three days later when that tomb opened up and He came out, resurrected in His glory. 

He now sits at the right hand of the Father.

He is high and lifted up.

He is exalted.

He has been given the name that is above all other names, Adonai.

And He awaits the day, as do we all, that the Father says, “It is time.”

When that is done and the final days of this earth have been completed, then a new heaven and new earth will be known.

Then He will establish His earthly kingdom and rule with perfect wisdom.

I know that we have been waiting for that day for almost two thousand years now, but that is okay. 

The time we wait will seem so small in comparison to the time we will spend in His presence.

All I can say is, even now, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Let us pray.

Father God, we thank You that You have raised up Jesus and given Him the name and title of Adonai. We thank You that Your Word is revealed to all of us and is opened to us by Your Spirit. We ask that You continue to open Your Word to us and give us understanding. We ask this in the Name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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