The Servant Of Isaiah 49 In Luke-Acts Series

Two weeks ago, we worked our way through Isaiah 49:1-6. When I taught on it, I said that these are the words of God's exilic prophet. The prophet feels like his ministry has been a waste of his time and energy. It's accomplished nothing. And God responds to him, not by arguing with him, or criticizing him, but by promising the prophet an even greater ministry. I know it's not very nice of me to expect you to remember in detail what I said two weeks ago, so let's start today by rereading these words:

(1) Listen, O coastlands, to me,

and pay attention, O far-off peoples:

Yahweh, from the womb, has called me; ["from the womb" is focused]

from the belly of my mother He has mentioned/made known my name,

(2) and He made my mouth like a sharp sword.

In the shadow of his hand He has hidden me,

and He made me like a sharpened arrow.

In his quiver He has hidden me,

(3) and He said to me,

"My servant, you [are]; ["my servant" is focused]

Israel, whom in/by means of you I will glorified," [same phrase, preposition+verb Isaiah 44:23]

(4) while I said,

"For no reason I have labored; ["for no reason" is focused]

For emptiness (Genesis 1:2)/nothingness (Isa 40:17, 23; 41:29; 44:9; 45:19) and futility (Ecc. 1:2), my strength

I have spent. ["my strength" is focused]

However, my judgment [is] with Yahweh,

while my compensation [is] with my God/Elohim,"

(5) and now He has said-- Yahweh, The One forming me from the womb as a servant for him--

to return Jacob to himself,

while Israel to himself would be gathered,

that I would be honored/"heavied" in the eyes of Yahweh,

while my God has become my strength--

(6) He has said,

"Too light/trivial it is for you to be for me a servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob,

while the preserved ones of Israel to bring back,

and I hereby give you as a light to the nations, [the qatal is a performative speech act?]

to become my salvation/victory to the end of the earth.

So the exilic prophet is given a ministry that will have a global impact. He will not only bring Israel back to God, but he will also somehow be a light to the nations. And he will somehow become God's salvation, up to the end of the earth.

How exactly God will accomplish this through this prophet isn't explained in these verses. But that's God's response to the prophet.

Now, everything I've just said to you is a highly contested statement within the church, and within the field of biblical studies. Many weeks ago, I talked about a scholar named Bernard Duhm, who ripped four different passages out of Isaiah 40-55, and he called these passages the "Servant Songs." He argued, after ripping them out of their context, that these songs are mysterious, and that they have no context. It's weird, right, how when you take verses out of context, that they seem like they have no context.

The vast majority of biblical scholars, for 100 years after Duhm, went down the wrong path, chasing his bad idea. And many evangelicals accidentally built in part on Duhm's theory, and they tried to say that the servant in all four songs is Jesus. These four passages turn into something that had no relevance to God's exiled people. They are simply a future prediction of a messiah.

Now, when we look back at these six verses, keeping this in mind, we see that parts of them could be said about Jesus. They are open to being understood that way. We can imagine God making Jesus' mouth into a sharp sword, and God making Jesus into his polished arrow. We know that God used Jesus to call Israel to repentance, and to turn Israel back to himself. We know that Jesus was light and salvation, offered not only to Israel, but up to the end of the earth.

Parts of this fit really well. And I'm not trying to be sneaky about it, or bait you. It's all true.

But if we stop to think about the flow of the passage as a whole, we see that Isaiah 49 can't be directly, exclusively, exhaustively, about Jesus. My guess is that for most of you, me saying this isn't a big deal. But a few of you, perhaps, find yourself shaken by this, so let me just explain that a little.

Whoever is speaking in this passage, is describing words he said to God, a ways into his ministry. He's serving God, and it's not going well. Israel is stubborn, and rebellious, and not listening. And so the speaker feels he's poured out his strength for nothing. My guess is that he doesn't feel like he's failed God. He's done exactly what God has told him to do. He's done a good job. He's been a faithful servant (in a way that the servant of Isaiah 42:18-20 was not). But it was an impossible mission.