This is the first study in the season of Advent. The Latin word for Advent, “Adventus” means “coming”. Advent is the season where we as Christians prepare ourselves for Christmas, which celebrates the coming of the Servant, the Messiah King, the Promised Christ; and not only that but also in eager anticipation for Christ’s second coming.
As a bit of recap, this part of Isaiah is the book of comfort, addressed to the Jews in exile in Babylon, a period of darkness, suffering, and oppression. Foretelling of two unexpected servants – Cyrus, the king of Persia who will be God’s instrument to bring them back to Jerusalem; and another Servant who comes not just to restore Israel, but to be a light and salvation to the nations. This second servant is none other than Jesus Christ.
Yet, in their exile and their waiting, the Jews were susceptible to despair and doubt. “Has the Lord forgotten us? Have we been abandoned and cast aside?” God’s response to them, as we saw last week, is a firm and emphatic “no”. Though they are scattered and their land lies desolate, God has not forgotten his covenant and will bring all the Jews back to the promised land.
Friends, waiting is hard. Today, we are still waiting for Christ to come and make all things new. Being faithful while waiting is harder. Waiting faithfully for a long time, when you are facing suffering, trial, and opposition or attack is even harder. If you know older saints in church, perhaps reach out and ask them how they wait so faithfully.
When the promises seem faint and far away, how can we wait faithfully? Our text for today brings us to the third of the four Servant Songs, and offers us wisdom for this task.
(A) God’s Call Challenged: An Unfaithful and Faithless Israel Rebuked (Isa 50:1-3)
In this chapter, the Lord speaks to Israel and refutes their accusations with rhetorical questions. In Isaiah 50:1, the two images used are that of divorce and also debt or slavery. These are images that Israel is familiar with. Deuteronomy 24:1 mentions the conditions for divorce. Slavery was also a part of their economic structure, when one is unable to pay back and owes someone.
In Isaiah 50:1, God asks Israel if He has divorced them or sent them into slavery. He likens the exiles to Israel’s mother. This points to the provision in Deuteronomy where if a man finds his wife to be unfaithful and having an affair, he can send her away with a certificate of divorce. This refers to the provision of slavery, where those who are in debt and unable to pay can sell themselves or their children into indentured servitude to repay their debts.
Thus, we can infer that Israel’s accusation of God is that He has divorced her and sent her away permanently, despising their marriage covenant. Secondly, they accuse God of selling them into slavery, as if he is inadequate to provide for them.
The answer to both these silent accusations is a ‘no’. Israel’s separation and exile is not final; and God is not indebted to another but still has authority over them.
In Isaiah 50:2a, another accusation that seems to be answered is the accusation that God is impotent and unable to save them. God also points out that it is not because of a lack of power that they are still in exile. By His word alone, He commands the waters and the sky. The images of the sea and the rivers evoke memories of the Exodus — where He split the Red Sea and turned the Nile to blood. He turns the sky dark.
The real reason for their predicament is their sin (Isa 50:1b). The text tells us that they were sold for “their iniquities”, not any debt that God owed. Their mother (the exiles) were sent away because of ‘their transgressions’. They were the ones who had first broken and despised the marriage covenant; God had every right to send them away.
In fact, God had promised beforehand in accordance to the Mosaic covenant (c.f. Deut 4:25-28), that if they were to break His commandment and provoke him to anger, He would scatter them from their land.
In Isaiah 50:2, God continues his rhetorical questioning to answer their charge. If you now accuse me of abandoning you, why is it that when I sent people to you, none of you heeded my call to repentance? God had also promised that if they were to seek Him and turn to Him, He would deliver them (c.f. Deut 4:29-31). Yet, even though he repeatedly sent the prophets, they did not repent or turn to Him.
God effectively says, you have not been brought back from exile, not because I’ve gone back on my promises, not because I’m unable to bring you back. Rather, it’s because you did not repent of your sins. This quote from Bible scholar, John Alexander Motyer, sums it up well: “Divorce accuses unfailing love of failure; slavery accuses sovereign power of weakness and sovereign resources of inadequacy. The truth, however, is very different, for it was all a matter of due reward of sins.”
Do you believe that God is faithful to his Word and to his people? Do you believe that God has the power to save? The Jews have been oppressed in exile, and rightfully so for they had broken God’s covenant. They are weary. They have lost faith. They have given in to despair. And they point the finger at God, saying he is not there.
What about us? We may not be oppressed by a foreign power. However, when we face difficult times, we may be tempted to think that God is not there for us. Rather, God tells us that he disciplines those He loves – it is not punishment but discipline. Are you tempted to doubt God and point your finger at Him, accusing Him of abandonment?
(B) God’s Call Obeyed: The Steadfast Servant Who is Taught by God (Isa 50:5-9)
The text changes voice again, this time to the voice of the Lord’s servant. We read that the Servant has been given the tongue of those who are taught in order that he may “know how to sustain with a word him who is weary”. Who is weary? It is the Jews, in exile, who are weary of waiting. God sends his servant to comfort his weary people, to sustain them, uphold them, bear them up, give them strength to persevere.
What a powerful word! It is also important for us to consider who is teaching this.
We also see that day by day, God gives an awakened/opened ear to hear as those who are taught. This happens consistently and over time, and certainly, someone is doing the teaching. It enables him to hear as those who are taught.
The Lord God awakens the Servant’s ear and also gives Him the tongue to speak. And this is a sustained, day by day effort. His speech is effective and can sustain the weary.
Note that the word “hear” here is the Hebrew word, “shema”. It is an active listening – that we hear and obey. There are sometimes when we hear something, we ignore it or don’t take action. Like when our parents nag at us to pick up our laundry, or do our work, or go get a job. ‘ya lah’. This is different. If you shema, you hear the command and obey.
But what does the Servant hear? What is the command that God gives?
From our previous studies, we recall that the Servant’s task is to bring salvation to God’s people, to deliver them from darkness.
In obeying God’s word, the Servant suffers opposition and humiliation from his opponents (c.f. Isa 50:5-6). They will hit him (“strike”), they will shame him (“pull out the beard”, “disgrace and spitting”), but the servant will not shy away from them and bear their humiliation.
How would you describe His attitude of obedience? We are told what he does not do – he did not rebel, he did not turn backward. His obedience is steadfast, though the task is downright unpleasant.
My friends, what sustains you in your daily life, when life gets tough? What or whom do you rely on? Do you struggle with being steadfast in obedience to God’s commands? You who are weary, are you sustained by the words of Christ, God’s chosen servant? Hear Christ’s words, He says to you – come to me all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Now for some of us, we may think — but when I struggle, I pray. And I still feel discouraged. Realistically, discouragement is part of the Christian experience. But we must ask ourselves some deep and searching questions. Can you honestly say of yourself, that you “hear [God] as those who are taught?” How familiar are you with your Bible? How familiar are you with what the Bible tells you about the depth of your sin, about the sovereignty, wisdom, holiness, and power of God? How familiar are you with the promises that he has made to his people, of the promises he has fulfilled? How familiar are you with the hope that you have if you are in Christ Jesus? How familiar are you with the promises that will fully come true on the day of Christ’s return?
My friends, if you struggle with discouragement, and you struggle with obedience to God’s word… then maybe you have to ask yourself – have I been nourished and fed with His Word? Are you engaged in regular (daily) spiritual discipline, reading the word and meditating on it? Are you regularly sitting under good and faithful teaching in your local churches, or in your small group Bible studies?
Isaiah 50:7-9 lay out the reason for the Servant’s confidence. It is because the Lord God helps and the Lord is near. Notice how Isaiah 50:8-9a uses courtroom language. The servant is put on trial, charged for crimes he did not commit. The servant is confident that he has not been disgraced, he will not be put to shame, that he will not be declared guilty, and that he will be vindicated (cleared of blame/guilt, justified).
As a result, the Servant is described as determined and steadfast (‘I have set my face like a flint’), and his tone in addressing his opponents is bold and confident, almost taunting. The Servant’s determination and obedience is rooted in his confidence in God’s helping presence.
The end outcome of those who oppose the servant is that they will “wear out like a garment”, the “mother will eat them up”. They will not last. His face is set like a flint – he is faithful to the end.
As Christians, with the benefit of the New Testament revelation, we know that the Servant refers to Jesus. Scripture tells us that Jesus, though being equal with God, did not consider equality a concept to be grasped, but emptied Himself to take the form of a servant. He heard and obeyed in humility.
Jesus during his time on earth suffered temptation throughout his earthly ministry. Scripture tells us that He is our great High Priest, who was in every way tempted as we were, yet without sin. God’s presence was ever with him, and because he was sinless, indeed who can declare him guilty?
Even in the garden of Gethesemane, when faced with the terrible task of the cross, Jesus resisted temptation so much that he sweated drops of blood. Yet he said, not my will but yours be done. He was not rebellious, he turned not backward.
Jesus endured shame, scorn, and humiliation on the cross, and even rejection and abandonment from his disciples. Yet, He was faithful to his mission. Jesus was steadfastly obedient to the end. This is our Saviour, this is our God!
Because of Jesus’ steadfast obedience, we can have confidence to likewise be steadfast and obey. Unlike Jesus, we are not divine, and we are not sinless. But because of Jesus’s work, our sins are paid for and his righteousness becomes ours. We become righteous in God’s eyes.
We also have the Holy Spirit with us as our Helper, He is present with us and in us. He is able to strengthen us for the tasks we need to do.
When we face opposition for our obedience, we do not need to fear because we know our ultimate destinies are secure in Christ.
Can you say with utmost confidence like the servant that ‘I know I shall not be put to shame’? Do you know that your God is near to you?
(B) God’s Call to Choose: Obey the Servant and Live; Walk by Your Own Light and Perish (ISA 50:10-11)
Two categories of people are described in Isaiah 50:10-11. The first group are those who fear the Lord, who obey the voice of the servant, who walk in darkness (Isa 50:10a). They trust in the name and character of the Lord and rely on Him. Nothing is mentioned here about what happens to the first group. But we know from Isaiah 50:7-9 that they will not be put to shame.
The second group kindle a fire and equip themselves with burning torches. They rely on their own fire and light, and their ultimate end is that they will be cursed to torment. Their destiny is the same as those in Isaiah 50:9.
Here we have a clear warning that there are two ways to live. We can choose, despite being in darkness and seeing no way out, to trust in the name, the character of the Lord. Trust in who He is, what He is like, and obey His voice. We know we will not be put to shame. Or we can choose to be self-sufficient, rely on our own efforts. The end of that is torment.
What are some of the ways that you are tempted toward self-sufficiency? Are you tempted to keep up good behaviour, to Christian activity, to depend on that to be accepted before God? There is no light but in Jesus alone.
Are you struggling with a difficult circumstance at work, where you are pressured to compromise your integrity, or to break God’s commands to keep your job? Or perhaps, are you in a period of unemployment, having difficulty finding a job? Or are you perhaps struggling with working long hours to get high pay, but having no time to sit in God’s presence and be with his people and engage in Ministry?
We combat these temptations only through the Word of God. Trust that God is sovereign, that He knows what you need, that he is good, that he will provide, and that when you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all these things shall be added unto you also (Matthew 6:33)
Do you have friends or family members who are unsaved, for whom you see little to no hope for their salvation? God says to you – is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? (Isaiah 50:2)
God speaks throughout Scripture to our various needs. If we do not know from God’s Word how reliable, how good, how strong, how sovereign He is, then we will not rely on Him. We will rely on our own feeble strength.
We started this study considering the question of how we can wait faithfully. Friends, we need to follow the model of the servant, and be taught by God’s word.