Tonight and for these next weeks of our Lenten mid-week worship services, we’re going to be focusing our mediations on the prophet Isaiah’s fourth “servant song,” commonly known as the “Suffering Servant.” Specifically, tonight’s text is taken from Isaiah 53:1 and reads as follows: “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
The Book of Isaiah has often been described as a “miniature Bible.” It has 66 chapters – just as the Bible has 66 books. The first 39 chapters – and remember that there are 39 books in the Old Testament – focus on the judgment and condemnation of a sinful, idolatrous people. The final 27 chapters – and remember that there are 27 books in the New Testament – turn from judgment to hope, for the Messiah is coming to save His people.
The entire “suffering servant song,” which begins at chapter 52:13 and concludes at chapter 53:12, is quoted more frequently in the New Testament than any other Old Testament passage. It is often described as the “gospel of the Old Testament.” Martin Luther once wrote that Isaiah prepares his people “to expect the coming kingdom of Christ, of which he prophecies more clearly and in more ways than any other prophet.” In Chapter 53 – the chapter where we begin tonight – Luther wrote that Isaiah “even describes Christ’s passion together with his resurrection from the dead, proclaiming his kingdom as powerfully and as plainly as if it had just happened, already at that time.”
As if it had just happened, already at that time. Think about those words for a minute. Isaiah made his prophecies some 700 years before Christ, and yet he sounds like an eyewitness to something that had just happened. You know, it’s very easy to dismiss the Bible – Old and New Testaments alike – as nothing more than historical textbooks. And yes, Scripture does include a wealth of historical names and events and details. As we have been studying in our Bible Classes, Moses lived thousands of years ago and led the Children of Israel out of Egypt – that’s a historical fact. King David lived thousands of years ago – another fact. Solomon built the Temple thousands of years ago – fact. Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead 2,000 years ago – there’s another one. We can read the Bible from front cover to back and we’ll find facts, we’ll find history, we’ll find stories that seemingly ended a long, long time ago. In fact, as we gather here on Ash Wednesday and begin the Church’s season of Lent, we already know what’s going to happen.
Let’s listen to Isaiah’s words again, written 700 years before Jesus was born. “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” In the Old Testament, references to “the arm of the Lord” or to “the Lord’s right hand” were powerful reminders of God’s power. Psalm 89:10: “You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.” Jeremiah 32:17: “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” Isaiah 40:10: “Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him.” The arm of God frequently denotes the God of Israel reaching out in action and might to save His people and punish their enemies. The Jews especially saw God’s mighty “arm” at work as He led them out of Egypt and destroyed Pharaoh’s armies in the waters of the Red Sea.
But now the arm of the Lord is being revealed in a new form. God is again reaching out to rescue His people from the forces of evil which threaten to overwhelm us. God’s arm is again in action, bringing salvation and blessing to us. Yet the arm of the Lord now reaches out to us in such a strange form. His arm does not look powerful or mighty but weak, as it takes the shape of our suffering Savior:
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
(Isaiah 53:2–3)
God’s salvation is being made revealed through a man who is like a tender plant struggling to survive in the bone-dry desert. This man faces opposition all around Him. He is rejected, even hated – a man who knows pain and suffering. When people see this man, they hide their faces from Him. They are shocked, they are appalled, and they turn away. In this picture He has no outward beauty or visible majesty that would attract us to Him.
This is the portrait that the prophet Isaiah paints of Jesus Christ. As an infant, King Herod tried to kill Him, so His parents had to flee with Him to Egypt. When they returned, they settled not in Judea, but in Nazareth. Nazareth in Jesus’ day was a small, insignificant town – so small and insignificant that it isn’t even mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament. People in Judea actually despised people who came from Nazareth – in fact, when Nathanael is called by his friend Philip to follow Jesus, Nathanael sarcastically asks if anything good can come out of Nazareth.
As Jesus began His ministry, even His hometown of Nazareth rejected Him and the people of Nazareth tried to push him off a cliff. Jesus Christ went through life hungry and thirsty, tired and weary. He was harassed by the crowds when they could get what they wanted from Him, but scorned and shunned when He would not give them what they demanded. Even His own brothers were skeptical.
Yet the prophetic message God spoke through Isaiah is that this despised and rejected man is actually the “arm of the Lord!” This man of sorrows who looks so weak is the embodiment of God’s strength and determination to save us and deliver us from our sins. This is the astounding message. It is incredible, hard to believe. Who can believe it?
When Isaiah asks “who has believed?” the answer is quick to fly from our mouths. We have believed. We have been brought to faith by the grace of the Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead. We believe that we will join Him and all believers in heaven when he returns – this time in absolute and total power and glory – to judge the quick and the dead.
Many people in our world do not believe our message of Jesus Christ. It is easy, I think, to see why. Who wants to admit that we are sinful creatures and that our sin, if not forgiven, will forever damn us to hell? Who wants to admit that we desperately need help – someone to rescue us from the eternal death that we justly deserve? Who wants to admit that we need a rescuer like the suffering Savior we see portrayed in our Scripture reading this evening?
Evangelist Billy Graham once said that we should think of the Bible as “a love letter that God has sent to you – specifically to you.” Remember the words that we hear when we receive the Lord’s Supper: “This is my body, which is given for you. This is my blood, which is shed for you.” For you. For the forgiveness of sins! For you, God’s beloved and redeemed children.
God, in His infinite wisdom and everlasting love, sent His beloved Son, His only Son, to be the suffering servant for you. “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Think about these words of Isaiah during these next days and weeks of the Lenten season. Think about these words of God during these next days of Lent. Ponder them as you think about Jesus Christ, the suffering servant who came to serve you and to save you. Pray about them. Contemplate how this “love letter” from God helps you understand how deeply Jesus loves you as a believer … and how deeply He loves even those who are not yet believers. Remember … again … how the suffering servant has called you to be his own beloved child and how he cradles you against all harm in his mighty arms.
“Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” I’ll let you provide the answer.
Note: This sermon was freely adapted from a sermon series entitled “Our Suffering Servant” (Christopher W. Mitchell, published by Concordia Publishing House).
Return to Pastor page
