The Suffering Servant Series

Marla Kiley, from Denver, Colorado, tells the story of an accounting department of a large insurance company. They were working on year-end reports when their computers crashed. So they put in an emergency call to a systems analyst, who arrived three hours later. He was late, because when he first got the call, he began troubleshooting the computer network company wide. Then, when he finally arrived, several clerks cheered, “He's here! Our savior.”

Without a word, the systems analyst turned to leave. Panicked, the accounting manager cried, “Where are you going?”

“I'm leaving,” the analyst said with half a smile. “I remember what they did to the last savior” (Marla J. Kiley, Denver, Colorado. Christian Reader, "Lite Fare;" www.PreachingToday.com).

You call an IT expert when your computer crashes, but what do you do when your life crashes?

That was happening to the nation of Judah, 700 years before Christ. Their sins nearly destroyed them. The world came crashing down upon them, and they were headed for Babylonian captivity.

But Isaiah delivers a message of hope in the midst of all the chaos. He tells of a Savior, a real Savior, who can restore broken people—not only the ancient Jewish people, but people like you and me today. If your life has crashed and you need restoration, then I invite you to turn with me to Isaiah 52, Isaiah 52, where Isaiah introduces us to our real Savior.

Isaiah 52:13-15 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand (ESV).

God’s Servant will “sprinkle many nations” clean from their sin. This is the promise of Messiah, which the New Testament identifies as Jesus. The angel tells Matthew, “You shall call his name Jesus (which means “YHWH saves”), for he will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Is that what you want? Do you Jesus to save you from your sins. Then...

BOW BEFORE JESUS AS YOUR SOVEREIGN KING.

Submit to Christ as your Lord and your God. Surrender to His authority in your life.

Isaiah makes it very clear (vs.13): God’s Servant will be “lifted up” and “exalted.” These words in the original Hebrew language are used only of YHWH God in the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah says, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up (same words we have here), and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1). Then in Isaiah 33:10, YHWH says of Himself, “now I will LIFT MYSELF UP; now I will be EXALTED.” Well, here in Isaiah 52:13, those same words are applied to God’s Servant, and that can only mean one thing. God’s Servant is none other than God Himself. Jesus is Deity!

He is the Sovereign Lord of the universe even though He was disfigured more than any other man, verse 14 says. You see, “[God] became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), but we struck Him and whipped Him and spit on Him. Then we nailed Him to a cross.

People were appalled or astonished at his appearance on that cross, but that astonishment will be turned to awe as He dazzles kings and nations with His cleansing power (vs.15). The word, “sprinkle”, in verse 15 was used of the priests in the Old Testament who cleansed objects and people by sprinkling blood on them (Leviticus 14:7; 16:14-15).

Well here, God’s Servant is seen sprinkling his own blood, shed at the cross, on many nations to sprinkle them clean from their sins. This is what is so amazing. This is what shuts kings’ mouths—that One so disfigured would have the power to forgive sins.

Jesus, as God, is the only one who can forgive sins. So if you want Him to take away your sins, if you want Him to remove the “virus” that caused your systems to crash, then bow before Him as your Sovereign Lord. Like the kings, shut your mouth in his presence, and listen to Him.

Craig Larson talks about the time when his wife worked as a temp at a bank. In the first two weeks that she had the job, she quickly noticed some extremely unprofessional behavior among the team of four people that she worked with and their supervisor. The supervisor, who was a generation older, was very friendly with the younger staff, taking long coffee breaks with them. College-aged staff would sit on her desk to chat and gossip.