Message Four

Christ as the Servant of Jehovah

Scripture Reading: Isa. 42:1-3; 50:4-7; 53:2-3; 41:21-29;
43:10-11; 44:8; Matt. 12:18-20

1. The source of Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is His divinity (Isa. 42:1, 6; 49:5, 7-8), whereas His qualification is in His humanity, in His human virtues (42:2-4).
2. Isaiah 52:13—53:12 reveals Christ as the Servant of Jehovah not in the Old Testament economy but in the New Testament economy; in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53 is the unique chapter that bears the color, taste, and atmosphere of the New Testament.
3. In the book of Isaiah we have a detailed prophecy concerning Christ as the Servant of Jehovah:
   1. As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ is the One chosen and beloved of Jehovah; He is the One in whom Jehovah delights—42:1; Matt. 12:18:
      1. Jesus Christ, the Servant of Jehovah, was God’s choice among billions of human beings.
      2. Because He was God’s choice, God delighted in Him; hence, He became the delight of God’s heart—3:17; 17:5.
   2. As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ had Jehovah’s Spirit upon Him—Isa. 42:1; Matt. 12:18:
      1. Jehovah’s Spirit is Jehovah Himself; hence, Jehovah’s putting His Spirit upon Jesus (3:16; Luke 4:18; John 1:33) meant that He gave Himself to Jesus and that Jehovah and Jesus, His Servant, are one.
      2. When Christ was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as the economical power for His ministry; with Jehovah’s Spirit upon Him, He announced justice to the nations—Isa. 42:1; Matt. 12:18.
   3. As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ did not cry out or lift up His voice—Isa. 42:2; Matt. 12:19:
      1. Instead of crying out to make His voice heard in the street, the Lord Jesus was calm and quiet; He never made Himself great—cf. John 7:3-9.
      2. In His ministry the Lord Jesus did not strive with others, and He did not promote Himself; He had no fame, and He did not seek to make a name for Himself.
   4. As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ would not break a bruised reed or quench dimly burning flax—Isa. 42:3; Matt. 12:20:
      1. This indicates that He was full of mercy; no matter how much He was opposed, He kept open the door of mercy and grace.
      2. Today some of the Lord’s people are like a bruised reed that cannot give a musical sound, and others are like dimly burning flax that cannot give a shining light; however, the Lord Jesus will not “break” the bruised ones, nor “quench” the ones like dimly burning flax.
      3. The Lord Jesus will select some bruised reeds and dimly burning flax and perfect them so that they become useful in His hand to bring forth justice unto victory—v. 20.
   5. As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ was willing to be humiliated—Isa. 50:6; Matt. 26:67.
   6. As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ was a man of sorrows, despised and forsaken of men; He was not a man of enjoyment and happiness, for His life was a life of sorrows and grief—Isa. 53:2-3.
   7. As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ did not speak His own word—50:4-5:
      1. Having the tongue of the instructed, He spoke according to God’s instructions—v. 4.
      2. The Lord Jehovah awakened Him every morning, awakening His ear to hear as an instructed one—v. 4.
      3. The Lord Jesus was never rebellious; rather, He was always obedient, listening to the word of God—v. 5.
      4. Because the Lord Jesus had the ear and the tongue of an instructed one, He knew how “to sustain the weary with a word”; such a word was able to minister life—v. 4a; John 6:63.
   8. As the Servant of Jehovah, Christ trusted in God and set His face like a flint; in fulfilling God’s purpose, He was strong—Isa. 50:7:
      1. In the matter of fulfilling God’s will, Christ was very strong—John 6:38.
      2. As the Lord Jesus was walking in God’s way to fulfill God’s will, His face was like hard stone—Mark 10:32-34:
         1. When the time of His death was at hand, Christ as the Servant of Jehovah went to Jerusalem willingly, even going before His followers with a speed and boldness that amazed them—v. 32.
         2. This was His obedience to God unto death (Phil. 2:8), according to the counsel of God (Acts 2:23), for the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan (Isa. 53:10).
         3. The Lord Jesus knew that through His death He would be glorified in resurrection (Luke 24:25-26) and that His divine life would be released to produce many brothers for His expression (John 12:23-24; Rom. 8:29).
4. According to Isaiah 41:21-29, Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is for the exposing of the falsehood and vanity of the idols:
   1. Everything except Christ is false, vain, and an idol—42:8; 43:10-11; 46:5, 9:
      1. According to 46:1-2 and 5-7 the idols of Babylon are powerless and useless and cannot be compared to Jehovah.
      2. Anything that replaces God or occupies the position of God is an idol; today’s society encourages people to make idols.
   2. In 1 John 5:21 idols refers to heretical substitutes for the true God and also to anything that replaces the real God; as genuine children of the genuine God, we should be on the alert to guard ourselves from heretical substitutes and from all vain replacements for our genuine and real God, with whom we are organically one and who is eternal life to us—v. 20.
   3. As those who are replaced by Christ and wait on Him to enjoy God’s life power in grace, we are members of Christ and servants of Jehovah with Christ and in Christ in a corporate way; as members of Christ, we are types of Christ bearing a twofold testimony—Isa. 40:31; 1 Cor. 12:12:
      1. We testify that we are nothing, that we have been “fired” and replaced by Christ, and that Christ is everything to us as our reality, centrality, and universality—John 14:6; Col. 1:18; 2:9, 16-17; 3:4, 10-11; Gal. 2:20.
      2. We also testify to the falsehood and vanity of the idols, the head of which is Satan, and to the fact that everything apart from Christ is false, vain, and an idol—Isa. 41:21-29.
      3. That Jehovah is the unique God can be proved only by a group of people who are His witnesses—43:10-11; 44:6, 8; Acts 1:8.