The Chosen Servant

This post is about the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Servant of Yahweh, as described in his first Servant Song (Is 42:1-7). Through the course of history, we come to recognize the characteristics of this Servant as the Messiah promised by Yahweh through the prophet Isaiah and others. Moreover, we are able to see what was written about Him by the prophet to reveal His activity and identity as Jesus from what was recorded within the New Testament gospels. The Servant’s work, as described in the Song written through the prophet of Isaiah, gives us specifics about what to expect in terms of forthcoming fulfillment. Its implications and purpose have an enormous significance concerning the freedom and enlightenment of humanity for many generations.

Setting & Background

Prior to the Assyrian and Babylonian exile of both Israel and Judah (~740BC), Isaiah wrote a series of four Songs (poems) about the servant of YHWH to describe the coming Messiah’s prophetic and corporate solidarity¹ between Jesus and Israel as they concern God’s people returned to Him. The Servant passages in the book of Isaiah from chapters 42 through 53 describe the context by which the first Song of the Servant becomes revealed. To bring Israel, and His people back to God, the Servant is selected (Is 42:1-7) to make the way (Is 49:1-6) through suffering (Is 50:4-9), and to become a sacrifice which was cut-off (Is 52:13, 53:12) as it was revealed by YHWH in the New Testament while referenced through the prophet Isaiah.²
All four songs of the Servant work together to form a clear view about who YHWH is.

The Chosen Servant

From a careful analysis of the first song, Isaiah 42:1-7 describes the character attributes of the Messiah. YHWH describes His Servant as delightful and the One whom He has chosen to accomplish His redemptive will. He was appointed to bring justice through His sacrifice for the sins of the elect among humanity. To bring the Kingdom of God to the Earth and provide the way (Jn 14:6) by which its people among the nations are justified and put in right standing with God. The Kingdom of God is upon the people of the nations with the Holy Spirit placed upon the Servant of YHWH to accomplish His will by returning His people to Him.            

The Apostle Matthew cited the fulfillment of the first prophetic song of the Servant as a gospel witness to what Jesus spoke about concerning His identity and mission. Where Matthew 12:18-21 calls attention to the Isaiah text about His appointment as the Servant of YHWH. ³ There is no other, but YHWH incarnate eligible to bear the iniquity of us all (Is 53:6) to satisfy God’s justice for the sins of humanity. People within generations of humanity who by faith repent and follow Him.

As Jesus was called to become the light of the nations, His salvation extends to everyone throughout the Earth over time (Is 49:6). This light is perceived to make a way out of the darkness of sin and its consequences. While the restoration of Israel through a Messiah was expected from His people at the time of Assyrian, or Babylonian captivity, various prophets pointed to a much more significant promise. Where both the Jews and Gentiles would come into His Kingdom of a different sort. Through the light of the Messiah to lead people out of the darkness of sin and death into restoration and renewal.

To produce this light referenced in Isaiah’s prophecy (Is 49:6), the significance of Isaiah 42:6-7 is astonishing in both a literal and figurative sense. On the one hand, it is recognized throughout the New Testament; people are spiritually blind, where they well in the darkness of their sin and corruption. Subject to permanent separation from God, people throughout history were without hope. Due to their disobedience, rejection of former covenants, and total alienation, they had no way to return without direct spiritual intervention from YHWH. Groping about without eyes to see, people were lost and no way back to God. ⁴

The people of God needed a restored vision to perceive hope with credibility from the prophet Isaiah, among others. As through His prophets, YHWH reiterated the specific details about the future coming Messiah. Where in the New Testament we are given Jesus as a source of light for our vision as we are made to see. As prophesied, a new covenant was given as a light for the nations to open eyes that are blind, both symbolically and literally.⁵ In fulfillment, through spiritual rebirth, people are able to see the truth of Christ by what He accomplished. In a literal sense, we read of accounts where Jesus physically healed individuals who were blind (Matt. 9:27-31, Mark 8:14-30, John 9:1-41). In both cases, we see God’s concurrent work through the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Christ’s work as the chosen Servant of YHWH.

Implications & Purpose

From long ago, the people of Israel were given details about the Messiah so that they would know what to expect. Both literally and figuratively, the prophet Isaiah provided sufficient details about the Chosen Servant’s work to understand the nature of the new covenant ahead. The transition from the Old Covenants of Adam through David toward a New Covenant through Christ away from the Mosaic Law (Heb 8:13), brought in an age of grace for both the Jews and Gentiles. Where this light in the darkness among the nations would shine to illuminate the way back to YHWH.

Just as His people were held captive in both Assyria and Babylon, they were held captive to sin, which brought them to continued judgment. The people of YHWH repeatedly unable to fulfill their covenant oath would become transformed through Christ’s work in the New Covenant. As explicitly written by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer 31:33, Ezek 11:19, 36:26, Heb 8:10), the hearts of the people would become transformed as they are made to see most often toward spiritual sight, but also at times in a literal way as well. To demonstrate the literal healing of the blind, Jesus physically healed people who were unable to see. As given by the miracle accounts given in the gospels to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah that Christ would open or restore the eyes of those who were blind.

The entire purpose of the promised new covenant was to bring them out of darkness to point them to who He is and what He was chosen to do (John 17:24) as the work of the chosen Servant was to bring the people of God to Him (John 17:4, 6-10). He went about the people of Israel healing them of handicaps and permanent physical conditions. To restore sight to the blind was especially significant because of what it represented in terms of what it meant and what prophecy was fulfilled.

When the Pharisees of John 9:13 learned of the blind man who was healed, they knew what the implications were. Since they were adept at the law and the prophets, they certainly knew of Isaiah’s prophecy written (Isaiah 42:7). The fact they were in witness of a man who had his sight recovered directly informed them that fulfillment of this prophecy had occurred in a literal way. Yet they were in denial (John 9:29) of who Jesus was as the Messiah. Just as the people of Israel rejected their covenants with YHWH, the religious leaders of first-century Jerusalem did the same of their Messiah. In fact, they were blind too as Jesus Himself refers to them as “blind guides” (Matt 23:24). A direct reference to their inability to see the truth of who Jesus is even while He fulfilled prophecy and performed miracles before them. They were blind in a figurative way while in denial.

The song of the chosen Servant in this way involved His work to fulfill prophecy and perform miraculous signs, but also to suffer eventual and thorough repudiation from the blind guides among religious leaders of the time. The religious leadership in opposition to Jesus as Messiah was remarkable even with the bald-faced evidence of what He accomplished, from the testimony of others and that of Himself. The numerous woes cast upon the Pharisees made repeated references to their spiritual blindness throughout the gospel of Matthew and elsewhere. As having further prophetic meaning, Jesus was rejected through the messianic imagery presented by Isaiah as a stumbling block (Is 8:14) and a costly cornerstone (Is 28:16) that was rejected (Ps 118:22).  There was nothing the chosen Servant of YHWH could have done in the fulfillment of prophecies, or through His miraculous signs performed to reach the blind religious leaders that rejected Him. Their self-inflicted condemnation by refusal to accept the truth of the Messiah was in itself an indication that Jesus was who He said He was.

Among the fulfilled prophecies of healing the blind, the Mark 8:22-26 account of the restored sight of a man in Bethsaida gives further context to what Isaiah wrote. This healing had a secondary effect among the Apostles, as demonstrated by taking a wider view of Scripture to understand what occurred. Just before Jesus healed the blind man, He asked His Apostles if they were unable to see because they were concerned about having food to eat. As if they had eyes, but were unable to see, Jesus asked them if they were not able to understand what it is they were able to perceive. What Jesus did to produce food for five thousand people on one occurrence and four thousand on another should have opened their eyes to inform them that He is the Light of the world (John 8:12).

After this confrontation with His Apostles, when they come upon the blind man in Bethsaida, it’s as if he was there to further fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah and demonstrate to the Apostles what it was to have your eyes opened both literally and spiritually. The fact that He performed such a miracle after feeding several thousand people with a few scraps of food should be jarring to the Apostles in terms of His identity and what the prophet Isaiah spoke about Him. Right after this encounter, Jesus asked His Apostles about who He is. To check and see if they got the picture, “but who do you say that I am?” In a not-so-subtle way, Jesus demonstrated before them the fulfillment of the prophecy, and they were certain to know about it from the prophet Isaiah. And before that, among other miracles, they were front-and-center to demonstrable proof about who He is.

It was Peter who finally acknowledged, “You are the Christ.” The magnitude of forbearance, for Jesus to spell it out for His Apostles by miraculous activity was staggering. After all, as the healed blind man in Jerusalem before the Pharisees testified, “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. (Jn 9:32)”

Citations

1. Dr. William Varner, “The Prophet Isaiah.” Lecture Presentation: Masters University, 08/20/2020.
2. J. Daniel Hays, Tremper Longman III, Message of the Prophets (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 125.
3. John Walvoord, Roy Zuck, Matthew, The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1986), 46.
4. John Lange, Philip Schaff, Commentary, The New Creature. Vol. XI., Section III, C, 2(a), (1878).
5. David S. Dockery, Luke: Who is Jesus? Holman Concise Bible Commentary (Nashville: Holman, 1998).

Bibliography

Dockery, David S. Holman Concise Bible Commentary. Nashville: Holman Reference, 1998.
Hays, J. Daniel, and Tremper Longman III. The Message of the Prophets. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.
Jamieson, Robert, David Brown, and A.R. Fausset. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. 1871.
Lange, John Peter, Phillip Schaff, G.F.C. Fronmüller, and J. Isidor Mombert. A Commentary of the Holy Scriptures: 2 Peter. n.d.
MacArthur, John. MacArthur Study Bible NASB. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006.
Varner, Dr. William. “Lecture on the Prophet Isaiah.” Sun Valley: Masters University, 08 20, 2020.
Walvoord, John F., and Zuck Roy B. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1983.