Isaiah as a type of Christ considered himself as Jehovah's servant, a part of Israel, for His glory (Isa. 49:3; Hosea 11:1; Matt. 2:15). We also need to realize that we are a part of today's Israel. Galatians 6:16 says that the church is the real Israel of God. We are releasing sinners for the building up of the church, and we are the church. When we are building up the church as the Body of Christ, we are building up ourselves for God's glory.

In Isaiah 49:4, Isaiah told us that he considered himself as laboring in vain, using up his strength for nothing and vanity; yet he was assured that the justice due to him was with Jehovah and his recompense with his God. I had this kind of feeling and experience in the past. Quite often I felt that I was living in vain and that I had used up all my strength for nothing, for vanity. After serving the Lord for a while, we may feel that we are laboring in vain. We may feel exhausted and that we have used up our strength for nothing in vanity. All the servants of the Lord have the same kind of feeling. On the one hand, in the morning we may be happy, praising the Lord that we are carrying out the top job. Later in the day, however, we may feel that we are laboring in vain for nothing. Despite this, Isaiah said that he was assured that the justice due to him was with Jehovah. I can testify that although people have condemned me and defamed me, deep within I have the assurance that the justice due to me is with Christ. He knows whether I labor for vanity or for reality. The justice due to me is with Jehovah, and the recompense due to me is with my God.

Isaiah 50:4 and 5 speak of the instruction received by Isaiah as the servant of Jehovah—"The Lord Jehovah has given me / The tongue of the instructed, / That I should know how to sustain the weary with a word. / He awakens me morning by morning; / He awakens my ear / To hear as an instructed one. / The Lord Jehovah has opened my ear; / And I was not rebellious, / Nor did I turn back." We should not go to speak to others as professors. We should go to speak as learners, as trainees, as instructed and taught ones. To speak a word to sustain the weary, we must have the tongue of an instructed one. Sometimes I am a little concerned for myself and for the trainers in the full-time training. We may speak like teachers who know something. This actually means that we know nothing. We need to speak with the tongue of an instructed one, a learner. Even though I am teaching, I should teach in humility, considering and confessing that I myself do not know much.

As the instructed ones, we need to be awakened by the Lord morning by morning. This is the real morning revival. He awakens our ear to hear as an instructed one. When the Lord Jehovah opens our ear and speaks to us, we should not be rebellious or turn back. We should take His word and obey. This was Isaiah's attitude as a learner serving Jehovah. This also typifies Christ. The four Gospels show that the Lord Jesus held such an attitude.

Isaiah 50:6-9 shows the life lived by Isaiah as the servant of Jehovah. In these verses Isaiah, as the servant of Jehovah typifying Christ, said, "I gave my back to those who strike me / And my cheeks to those who pluck out the hair; / I did not hide my face / From humiliation and spitting. / The Lord Jehovah helps me; / Therefore I have not been dishonored; / Therefore I have set my face like a flint, / And I know that I will not be put to shame. / The One who justifies me is near; who will contend with me? / Let us stand up together! / Who is my adversary in judgment? / Let him come near to me. / Behold, the Lord Jehovah helps me, / Who is the one who condemns me? / Behold, they will all wear out like a garment; / The moth will consume them." These verses also describe the life lived by Jesus on earth (Matt. 26:67; 1 Pet. 2:23). This was not only Isaiah's word but also the word of the Lord Jesus. Isaiah typified Christ in his receiving of instructions from God. In the life he lived, Isaiah was a real type of Christ.

In Isaiah 41 through 50 we can see three servants typifying one Servant. These three servants—Cyrus, Israel, and Isaiah, are wrapped up with the fourth Servant, the all-inclusive Christ. They all are one, serving Jehovah God for His good pleasure to make Him happy in releasing and raising up God's elect to build God's temple and God's city and to set up God's kingdom, which will be enlarged to consummate in the New Jerusalem. This is exactly what we are doing today.