The audio and the full text of the sermon are below. There are also questions for reflection at the bottom. Feel free to discuss on our sermon discussion group on Facebook.

This is part three in a five part series on The Servant Songs.

Isaiah 49: 1-13 (NRSV)

1 Listen to me, O coastlands,
   pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born,
   while I was in my mother’s womb he named me. 
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
   in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
   in his quiver he hid me away. 
3 And he said to me, ‘You are my servant,
   Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ 
4 But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain,
   I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord,
   and my reward with my God.’ 

5 And now the Lord says,
   who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
   and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord,
   and my God has become my strength— 
6 he says,
‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
   to raise up the tribes of Jacob
   and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
   that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’ 

7 Thus says the Lord,
   the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
   the slave of rulers,
‘Kings shall see and stand up,
   princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
   the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’ 

8 Thus says the Lord:
In a time of favour I have answered you,
   on a day of salvation I have helped you;
I have kept you and given you
   as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
   to apportion the desolate heritages; 
9 saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out’,
   to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
They shall feed along the ways,
   on all the bare heights shall be their pasture; 
10 they shall not hunger or thirst,
   neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,
for he who has pity on them will lead them,
   and by springs of water will guide them. 
11 And I will turn all my mountains into a road,
   and my highways shall be raised up. 
12 Lo, these shall come from far away,
   and lo, these from the north and from the west,
   and these from the land of Syene. 

13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
   break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord has comforted his people,
   and will have compassion on his suffering ones. 

We have spent a fair amount of time on the identity of the servant. It should be clear by now that my own bias is to read the character of the servant as both representing Israel and as finding its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. My belief is that when these words were first prophesied, the prophet was not thinking of the future historical Messiah, but rather of an ideal Israel, an Israel that only God could bring about.

As a Christian, I believe God brought about that ideal Israel, not as a small chosen nation, but in the person of His Son. For those who know Jesus and his story, we can’t help but see his likeness when we read the Servant Songs. Isaiah 49:1-13 is full of imagery that will bring up thoughts of our Savior and Lord. Rather than spend more time on the identity question, I’d like us to consider leaning in to how these verses illuminate Jesus for us.

There is one problem in that regard with respect to this Servant Song, however—and that’s verse three. In verse three the servant is clearly identified as Israel, and this is difficult to avoid. Is it Israel, or is it Jesus? John Oswalt, in his commentary on Isaiah looks at this issue in a helpful and creative way. According to Oswalt, there are two slightly different ways to read verse three where God speaks to the servant.

1. “You are my servant named Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
2. “You are my servant, my Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

Do you see the difference in the second one? In the second version, God is being emphatic as he addresses the Messiah. He says to a specific person (to Jesus), “you are my servant, you are my Israel.” Think about that for a moment. God says to the servant—“you are my Israel.” The servant, Jesus, stands in the place of the true chosen people. 

There are such connections here for those who follow Christ. Those who are in Christ, those who are members of His body, share in this. The Church, Christ’s people, become the new Israel. We do not fulfill what Christ fulfills, we are not the perfect servant any more than Israel is, except that we have united ourselves to Christ. In Christ, we share in his sufferings and in his exaltation. Christ is the ideal Israel, and the Church which is in Him, is the redeemed people of God, the new Israel. We do not replace Israel of our own accord, but stand in that place because of our union with the servant, our union with whom God has claimed as “his true Israel,” Jesus Christ.

Let’s turn to this particular servant song and see what we can learn about Jesus.

“Listen to me, O coastlands, 
pay attention, you peoples from far away!”

This servant song is not addressed to the Jewish nation. It is addressed to the people from far away. It is addressed to Gentiles. This is significant, because while we naturally claim that the gospel is for everyone, in practice we don’t always behave as though it is. We might wish to think about who we consider “far away” from God and remember that these words are first and foremost for them. 

"The Lord called me before I was born,
   while I was in my mother’s womb he named me."

The servant is the one speaking these words, through the mouth of the prophet, across centuries, through the lens of Christ. It is quite remarkable. 

It was not unusual in the ancient world for great leaders to have been spoken of as being chosen before they were even born. It is also not unusual for such leaders to have divinely attributed names. What is striking is how readily these words apply to Jesus of Nazareth, who, though from a royal line if you go back far enough, was essentially a nobody by earthly standard at his birth. 

An angel told both Mary (Luke 1:31 ) and Joseph (Mt 1:21 ) to name their yet unborn child Jesus. The gospels point to Jesus’ salvation mission being given before his birth. 

"2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
   in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
   in his quiver he hid me away."

Rev. 19:15 “Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.”
The sword coming out of the mouth is a strange image. It means that the servant won’t fight with an actual sword, but that his weapon will be his word that he speaks. This is the same for the Church and believers in the Ephesians passage about the armour of God.
Eph 6:17  “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” In John’s gospel, not only is is the word Jesus speaks that has power, but Jesus is himself identified as the living Word made flesh.

The servant is also identified as a polished arrow. The sword is his mouth, or his spoken word. He himself is an arrow. This points to the fact that God will use the servant in a fight. While the expectation may have been a fight against earthly rulers or enemies, in Jesus we find that the fight is with greater powers than that, and the scope of salvation is much larger as well.

The sword and arrow are hidden. They are hidden until the proper time. God is not firing arrows all over the place or flailing with his sword. He has them ready for the opportune moment. Jesus is the one who appears at the right time, almost as if from nowhere, as though he’s been hidden, to strike the fatal blow against evil.

"3 And he said to me, ‘You are my servant,
   Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’"

We have already looked at the idea that God declares Jesus to be the ideal Israel. The last part of this phrase is important: “in whom I will be glorified.” Everything about Jesus will bring glory to God the Father.

"4 But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain,
   I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord,
   and my reward with my God.’"

This speaks directly to the idea of God being glorified, or honoured by the servant. These verses, at first glance, are surprisingly negative. Why would Jesus say this? This points to the apparent futility of Jesus’ ministry in light of his death. This phrase paints a picture of Christ on the cross when He cried “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This phrase shows us the humanity of Christ as he suffered and died. On Good Friday and Holy Saturday, it all seems pointless, all hope seems lost. God’s glory is not on display on these days.

The season of Lent is like this as well. We reflect on our mortality, we are reminded of our sin and our need for repentance, we connect with a Saviour who entered our suffering. Without the resurrection, it would all be in vain, but rest assured—new life is coming.
This is played out in our baptism as well.

Christ is united to us in our suffering and as we are baptized into his body, we suffer and die with him. This ought not be minimized. Do our lives have any meaning? Is it worth it to follow Jesus