Today we will look at the fourth and most famous of the Servant Songs; it’s with the fourth song that we most clearly see the Servant as one who suffers.
Though this song may be more associated with Lent or even Good Friday, we should understand that to properly anticipate the Christ, Isaiah’s song of the Suffering Servant must be heard.
Isaiah begins his song by announcing that the Servant will succeed, prosper, and be exalted,  But considering what will follow in the rest of the Song, We may see this as a worrying hint as to what lies ahead.
when Isaiah says that the Servant will be “lifted up,” Jesus speaks, in his final week of ministry of being “lifted up.” “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. (John 12:32–33)
This middle portion of the fourth Servant Song is the prime example of why the book of Isaiah is often called the “Fifth Gospel.”
The first Christians saw the suffering and vindication of Jesus throughout Isaiah 53, and thus these verses appear repeatedly in the Gospels and Epistles. Isaiah’s Suffering Servant poem contain the narrative contours of the Passion story. The Servant is depicted as the arm of God sent to bring salvation to Israel. Jesus is God, coming to rescue us.
As the Servant becomes a public figure, he is ultimately rejected and despised, wounded and bruised, oppressed and afflicted. Finally the Servant, Jesus, is put to death.
In the middle portion of the song, the poet asks how the unjustly executed Servant could have a future, but in the closing lines of the song we are told that the Servant does indeed have a future—a glorious future.
The conclusion of the poem speaks both of the death of the Servant (“he poured out himself unto death”) and his glorious future (“he shall see his offspring”).
Today, as we come into advent, we wait for our Peaceable King who was wounded for our transgression and bruised for our iniquities.
As I read this long song in the intended three parts. At the end of each section take some time to allow the words read to permeate your soul. I encourage you to invite the holy spirit to speak to you in whichever way The Spirit knows you need.
In the haste of the Christmas season it is good for us to slow down and remember what it is we are
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