Day 11 The Suffering Servant

Posted on: March 19, 2025
by: Gerrit Dawson, Senior Pastor

Every day, pray aloud worshipfully this golden thread that weaves through the entire tapestry of God’s intent for us.

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,

when I will make a new covenant with the

house of Israel. . . .

I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

They shall all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest. . . .

For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will

remember their sin no more.

(Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34)

Daily Scripture

Isaiah 53:3-12

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.

Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Picking Up the Thread

Fast forward from the exodus from Egypt to the days when a disobedient Israel went into exile in Babylon. Through his prophets, the LORD convicted his people of idolatry and injustice and called them to repentance. Still, they continued to rebel, and the consequences were dire. However, although God banished them to Babylon for seventy years, he threaded hope through Isaiah’s words. A redeeming servant of the LORD would appear. The one true and faithful Israelite. The one who could live, suffer and die on behalf of the many. While elsewhere God had promised a mighty Messiah who would conquer all enemies, in the servant songs of Isaiah he promised a suffering Savior as well.

Once again, a passage from the Hebrew Bible would have remained baffling to the people until Christ came. With the arrival of the Son of God in Jesus, we see that Isaiah 53 makes a clear connection between the unique servant of the LORD and the Lamb of God who takes away sins. This beautiful poetry forms the bridge from the lamb in the stories of Abel, Abraham and Exodus to Jesus the Lamb. The offerings of lambs in sacrifice were always pointing towards a greater reality. Actual lamb’s blood could never fully and finally atone for human sins. The animal offerings foreshadowed a reconciliation with God we desperately needed. But a true restoration to right relationship required a redeemer who could actually represent us as one of us.

Yet the sacrifices were by no means a waste. The centuries of offering animals accustomed God’s people to understanding that one can take away the sins of another. The tracks were laid down for us to apprehend how the servant of the Lord could substitute for us. This one faithful man bore our sins in himself so that he could “make many to be accounted righteous” (Isaiah 53:11).

It is extremely difficult to work out just how the suffering of the Servant could heal us and bring us peace (Isaiah 53:5). But the centuries of the sacrificial system made it possible for the people to realize intuitively that “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” and “with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:6, 5). But only when Jesus came could the glorious truth crash in upon human understanding. Jesus is the vicarious man. The faithfulness he has lived, the atoning death he has died, the very life-giving power of his resurrection can be ours! We become joined to Jesus by the Holy Spirit as we put our trust in him through faith.

Stitching It In

Isaiah 53 draws us in magnetically. Life in this world is full of seasons of loneliness and sadness. Much we love falls away. Beauty gets marred. Evil steals joy. But hope awakes when we read about “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (verse 3). This one does not suffer only for himself. Rather, “surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (verse 4). Jesus takes the weight of the world upon himself. He experiences human suffering in a way that makes him our companion. Even more, he helps us bear the load, to make sense of the pain and have hope in the loss. Though he was the eternal Son of God who could not die, he took up a humanity that could indeed be pierced, crushed and killed. We are sheep that go astray, turning destructively to our own paths (verse 6). But Jesus is the Lamb innocent of all sin who gives himself wholly up even to death, as a sheep led to slaughter (verse 7). In the mysterious exchange of God’s love, he offers up himself to take our sin. Then he gives us his righteousness. Jesus undergoes our suffering in such a way that no sorrows of ours are ever again borne alone. And all our suffering gets folded into his redemptive plan.

Today, come to him with your sins and seek confidently the forgiveness for which he gave his life’s blood. Offer to him your sorrow and see how Jesus takes it just like he did a crown of thorns. Show him your wounds and see him press his nail-scarred hands into yours bringing the warmth of healing love. Go to the Lamb this very hour!

Praying Along the Pattern

What wondrous love is this?

The mighty redeemer arrives as a gentle lamb.

The conquering king lays down his arms.

He takes our rejection deep into himself

Until it kills him.

In this is my life.

He is jeered and slapped,

Scorned and condemned,

Nailed and pierced,

Buried and sealed away.

He becomes the most despicable.