The main storyline of the book of the prophet Isaiah runs like this. Because Israel, as God’s people, fails to carry out God’s will and plan, God Himself comes down from heaven and, through His chosen Servant, accomplishes His will.
THE FAILURE OF ISRAEL
We read of the failure of God’s people in Isaiah 5:1-4:
1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. (Isaiah 5:1-2)
3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? (Isaiah 5:3-4)
Here the Lord brings His case against His vineyard. But what is this vineyard (Isaiah 5:7)?
7 The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. (Isaiah 5:7)
The vineyard is Israel, God’s people. Why does God plant it on a fruitful hill and take every necessary pain, doing all the farming work around it? Because from it He expects “good grapes,” He expects fruit. But what is the problem with this vineyard? For all His effort, instead of good grapes it yields “bad fruit,” it yields sour grapes. What does this bad fruit stand for?
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. (Isaiah 5:7)
In Hebrew this is a play on words: instead of “mishpat” (justice) — “mispach” (bloodshed); instead of “tsedaqah” (righteousness) — “tse‘aqah” (a cry of distress). But this is not merely wordplay; it is a testimony of how desperate the situation in Israel had become. For all of God’s labor, instead of displaying God’s character, Israel had sunk into sin.
Israel failed in its mission. And what was that mission? To bring salvation to the whole world. What was God’s promise to Abram? That in him “all peoples on earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). What was the fruit expected of Israel — the display of God’s character before the world and the salvation of all nations. But instead of sweet fruit they produced bad fruit, or no fruit at all. In Isaiah 26:17-18 we read:
17 As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, Lord. 18 We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life. (Isaiah 26:17-18)
What was Israel supposed to give birth to — salvation on the earth. And what did it produce? Wind.
The same happened with the kings of Israel. In chapter 7 we read about Ahaz, king of Judah, who, when he was pressed to the wall by the alliance of the Northern Kingdom and Syria, instead of trusting in the Lord chose to place his trust in a political coalition with the king of Assyria (2 Kings 16:7). This led to terrible consequences, for after Assyria conquered Syria and its capital Damascus in 732 B.C., and the Northern Kingdom and its capital Samaria in 722 B.C., in 701 the Assyrian king also devastated Judah and laid siege to Jerusalem itself.
The good king Hezekiah likewise did not prove good enough. In chapters 36 to 39 we read about his prayers and the miraculous answers God gave him. In his day, through God’s intervention, Jerusalem was spared from the Assyrians. But in the end Hezekiah too repeated the mistake of his father Ahaz, for when the crisis had passed, instead of continuing to place his trust in the Lord alone, he trusted in his wealth and made an alliance with Babylon — the very Babylon that later, in 586 B.C., would doom the land to destruction and to the Babylonian captivity.
Because of the hardness of the people’s hearts, even the prophet Isaiah could not bring about change. Although he was God’s prophet, when God appeared to him He warned him that his message would not be well received (Isaiah 6:9-10). And so it came to pass. God sent the prophet Isaiah to His people with the express purpose of bringing them enlightenment and salvation. But when they heard him, they stopped up their ears and refused to obey.
And now I want to ask you: if God wants to bring about change and save the world, and that change comes neither through His people, nor through the kings of David’s dynasty, nor even through His prophets, then what will He do? He will do it Himself. How? For this we turn to the final part of the book of the prophet Isaiah. This part (chapters 40 to 66) is called “the book of comfort.” It is called this because it begins (Isaiah 40:1) and ends with the comforting of God’s people (Isaiah 66:13). In this book we discover how God accomplishes His will — through God’s chosen Servant.
THE IDENTITY OF GOD’S CHOSEN SERVANT
Who is this Servant of God? Let us hear how God Himself presents Him in Isaiah 42:1-6:
1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; (Isaiah 42:1)
I call God’s Servant “chosen,” because God calls Him “my chosen one in whom I delight.” God spoke similar words at the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River (Matthew 3:17).
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1)
God’s Servant is filled with the Holy Spirit and serves in His power, leading, and anointing. Moreover, He is responsible not only for Israel, but for all the nations. Do you remember the story of the vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7? God’s Servant will succeed in the very thing in which Israel as a nation failed. He will be appointed as a “covenant for the people” and a “light for the Gentiles”:
6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, (Isaiah 42:6)
The writers of the New Testament are emphatic that the prophecies about God’s chosen Servant refer to Christ. According to the evangelist Matthew, Christ fulfills Isaiah 42:1-4. He quotes this prophecy word for word in his Gospel (Matthew 12:14-21). The fact that the New Testament writers apply the passages about God’s chosen Servant to Christ greatly helps us in interpreting them. In them we can confidently see predictions of the deity of Jesus, His character, and His mission.
LISTEN TO ME!
Having seen how God presents His Servant, let us also hear how the Servant presents Himself in Isaiah 49:1-6:
1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. (Isaiah 49:1)
Notice what God’s chosen Servant says in verse 1: “Listen to me.” “Listen” is a common prophetic summons. The prophet’s audience must pay attention to what he says, because he speaks God’s words. But no prophet ever fixes attention on himself. Only the Lord says: “Listen to me.” The phrase “listen to me” is used by no other prophet except Isaiah, and Isaiah uses it exclusively of the Lord (Isaiah 46:3,12; 48:12; 51:1,4,7; 55:2). How could the Servant address people in a way that only God may address them? There can be only one answer — God’s Servant is God.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” (Isaiah 49:3)
God’s Servant is called “Israel” because He is a descendant of the patriarchs and of David. He will act as their representative, as the ultimate realization of everything the nation of Israel could ever have been (Matthew 2:15). God’s Servant will serve not only Jacob and Israel, but the whole world. He will be light and salvation for all the nations. The next verse is sometimes spoken of as the Great Commission of the Old Testament.
6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)
SUFFERING SERVANT
This salvation, however, would cost Him unjust accusations and humiliating suffering. And so an astonishing obedience was required. In Isaiah 50:4-9 we read:
4 The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. 5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away. 6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. (Isaiah 50:4-6)
God’s chosen Servant will suffer and will even be offered up as a sacrifice. This is very hard to grasp, given that we already know He is God. But we see it foretold most clearly in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. Someone has called this passage “in the shadow of the cross.” There is no other place in the Old Testament that so precisely describes the crucifixion of Christ and its meaning. The passage begins by unmistakably underscoring the divine nature of the suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:13-15).
13 See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. (Isaiah 52:13)
Just as God, who is seated “on a high and exalted throne” (Isaiah 6:1), so also His Servant “will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.”
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— 15 so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand. (Isaiah 52:14-15)
All of this is cause for wonder and amazement. How can this most exalted and divine person suffer and become so disfigured — a disfigurement caused by blows, dishonor, and humiliation (Isaiah 53:1-3)?
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:1-3)
God’s chosen Servant is a Substitute — yes, He suffered, but He suffered not for Himself, but for us (Isaiah 53:4-6):
4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)
As a sacrifice for us, Christ not only endured unspeakable suffering, but was also killed. Death is the climax of His redemptive work (Isaiah 53:7-9).
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7-9)
The sacrifice of God’s chosen Servant is perfect. It fully satisfies God and is sufficient ground for our justification and salvation (Isaiah 53:10-12).
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10-12)
God’s chosen Servant will die, but through that death He will set free from sin all who place their trust in Him. This is the gospel. It is no accident that Isaiah is called the fifth evangelist, or the gospel prophet of the Old Testament.
There is a short story by an anonymous author called “The Long Silence.”
THE LONG SILENCE
“At the end of time, billions of people were seated on a great plain before God’s throne. Most of them shrank back from the bright light before them, but toward the front there were also groups who spoke angrily — not cowering in cringing shame, but defiantly.
‘How can God judge us? What does He know about suffering?’ snapped a young brunette. She rolled back her sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. ‘We endured terror… beatings… torture… death!’
In another group a young man of African descent lowered the collar of his shirt to bare his neck. ‘What about this?’ he said hotly — showing an ugly rope burn. ‘Lynched, not for any crime, but only because I was black!’
In another group there was a pregnant schoolgirl with a sullen look: ‘Why should I have suffered?’ she muttered. ‘It wasn’t my fault.’ Far off, across the plain, there were hundreds of such groups. Each of them had a grievance against God for the evil and suffering He had allowed in His world.
How fortunate God is to live in heaven — where all is a blend of goodness and beauty. There, where there is no weeping, or fear, no hunger or hatred. What does God know of all that man is forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pleasant, tranquil life — so they said.
So each of these groups sent forward its own representative, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a black man, a person from Hiroshima, someone crippled by arthritis with terribly twisted limbs, a child born with deformities.
In the middle of the vast plain they took counsel together. At last they were ready to present their charge. It was quite well thought out.
In order for God to gain the necessary qualification to judge them, He would have to endure everything they had endured. Their verdict was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man.
Let Him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of His birth be called into question. Let Him be given work so hard that even His family would think He had lost His mind. Let Him be betrayed by His closest friends. Let Him be falsely accused, tried before prejudiced jurors, and condemned by a cowardly judge. Let Him be tortured. At the last, let Him know what it means to be utterly alone. Then let Him die in such a way that there can be no doubt He is dead. And let there be a great number of witnesses to confirm it.
As each of the representatives of the various groups pronounced his portion of the sentence, loud shouts of approval rose from the crowd.
When the last one had finished his part of the sentence, a long silence fell. No one uttered a word. No one stirred. Suddenly everyone realized that God had already endured this very sentence.”
ANOINTED CONQUEROR
From the passages in “the book of comfort” we see that God’s chosen Servant is not only a sufferer, offered up as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity, but also God’s anointed conqueror. In Luke 4 Jesus applies Isaiah 61:1-3 to Himself. He is God’s conqueror and His servant.
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
It is remarkable that when Jesus applied this prophecy to Himself in the synagogue in Nazareth, He stopped in the middle. He announced that He had come to proclaim “the year of the Lord’s favor,” but He did not go on to “the day of vengeance of our God.” When will Jesus proclaim that day? At His Second Coming. Until then we continue to live in the year of the Lord’s favor. This is, in fact, the jubilee, the fiftieth year. What happened in that year of jubilee? Debts were forgiven, slaves were set free, and property was restored. This is the era of God’s grace in which we live.
THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD
But in Isaiah 63:1-6 Isaiah looks toward the horizon and asks:
1 Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? (Isaiah 63:1)
Bozrah is the capital of Edom, and Edom symbolizes all of God’s enemies.
Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? (Isaiah 63:1)
He is “robed in splendor” — this shows that He is of royal descent. Who is He?
“It is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save.” (Isaiah 63:1)
This is the Lord. But His garments are splattered with red. Why?
2 Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? (Isaiah 63:2)
But why would a royal figure be treading grapes?
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. (Isaiah 63:3)
God’s chosen Servant does not come from the grape press, but from the defeat of all His enemies. The red on His garments is not from grapes, but from blood. And that blood is the testimony of victory over His enemies.
4 It was for me the day of vengeance; the year for me to redeem had come. 5 I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm achieved salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me. 6 I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.” (Isaiah 63:4-6)
The same imagery is used in the book of Revelation 14:17-20 and 19:11-16. These references remind us that God’s wrath will be poured out upon His enemies at the Second Coming of our Lord. Jesus is coming soon! Are you ready to meet Him?
What neither Israel nor anyone else could do, He did — God’s chosen Servant — our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified for our sins and rose again for our justification. He ascended to intercede for us before the Father, and one day He will return to establish His kingdom over all mankind. On the one hand He suffered, but on the other He conquers, sets free, and repays. He is the suffering servant and the anointed conqueror. He is the One through whom God accomplishes His will. Therefore let us receive Him, worship Him, and serve Him. Amen!