Listen to the Servant (Isaiah 50:4-52:12)
The sermon outline can be found in the ministry guide.
Besides my wallet, keys, and mobile phone, one other item I constantly have with me are my earphones. I often use my earphones, whether I’m commuting, at work, or exercising. Many of us use earphones to block out the noise around us. They create a little oasis of quiet — allowing us to enjoy our music undisturbed by the noisy world. Some of our earphones come with “active noise cancelling” technology. The geeky side of me did a little research to learn how it works. Bear with me here: Earphones with active noise cancelling have a tiny built-in microphone and electronics that pick up and analyse the ambient noise. The earphones then create the exact opposite sound wave that cancels out the sound wave of the surrounding noise. So, all you hear is the music from your earphones, and not the noise coming in from the outside. Clever, right?
When it comes to the Christian faith and matters concerning our spiritual condition, wouldn’t it be helpful to also have some sort of “active noise cancelling”? “Faith comes by hearing”, the Bible tells us. Jesus repeatedly urges us to listen, saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”But the noise of our lives can deafen us to what we should be hearing from God and his word. For instance, the constant droning of our fears, anxieties and worries can make it harder for us to listen to God. Even now, your mind may be wandering as you think about the coming week. Perhaps you are dreading work tomorrow, or you may be worried about the impending results of a medical check. Some of us may be anxious about where we will have lunch afterwards. The noise from the distractions and diversions of life can crowd out the voice of God. What hinders us from listening to God? How can we be better listeners?
Listen to the Servant who listens to the Lord.
Our passage focuses on the One who unfailingly listens to the Lord. Isaiah tells us about the Servant of the Lord, who is the perfect listener. This Servant listens to God and speaks for God. Therefore, to listen to God, we must listen to His Servant. These verses are like “spiritual noise cancelling”. They dampen the noise of our lives, enabling us to be quiet before the Lord as we listen to and learn from His Servant. This is the big idea: Listen to the Servant who listens to the Lord. First, we will learn about who the Servant is. Second, we will consider why we should listen to Him.
Who is the Servant we should listen to (Isa 50:4-11)
Isaiah 50:4-9 contain the third of Isaiah’s “servant songs”, which tell us about the Servant whom God will send. As we have seen so far in Isaiah, our idols cannot save us. Only the Lord saves, and He has promised to do so through His Servant. The first Servant Song in Isaiah 42 tells us about the gentle and lowly Servant: “He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench” (Isa 42:2-3a). He will glorify God by being “a light for the nations” (Isa 42:6). He will establish God’s just and righteous rule in the earth (Isa 42:4). The second Servant Song in Isaiah 49 speaks of the LORD working through His Servant to bring salvation to the end of the earth. Although it seems as if the Servant has laboured in vain, God will ensure His success.
Isaiah 50 focuses on how the Servant faithfully listens to the Lord. The song is in the first-person. How do we know it’s the Servant who is speaking? Isaiah 50:10 explains this is the voice of (the Lord’s) servant. From these verses, we learn three things about Him: He is the obedient Servant, the victorious Servant, and the trustworthy Servant. First, He is the obedient Servant. Look at Isaiah 50:4-5. The Servant listens daily to God, who enables Him to hear “morning by morning”. He has been taught by the Lord to pay careful attention to His word. He is not rebellious. The Servant humbly obeys, even to the extent of suffering for the Lord. Look at Isaiah 50:6. The Servant submits to God’s will, enduring injustice. He suffers not due to disobedience, but because He obeys.
What a stark contrast with disobedient Israel! Israel was supposed to be God’s obedient servant. But Isaiah 42 describes them in this way: “Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.” Like Israel, God created us for Himself. We were made to glorify God with our lives. But, like rebellious Israel, we too have disobeyed God. Instead of listening to God, we have listened instead to the world, to human wisdom, to our sinful and selfish desires, to our fears and anxieties. Whose voice speaks loudest in our lives? Is it God’s or someone else’s?
But God, in His amazing grace and love, sent an obedient Servant to save us from our disobedience. We deserve God’s judgement and wrath. But the obedient Servant suffered for undeserving sinners, so that all who trust in Him can be made right with God. The suffering Servant saves. He is also the model disciple. Being a disciple means listening to God’s word every day, morning by morning. Being a disciple means obeying the Lord, even if He brings us through troubles and trials. Being a disciple means denying ourselves and taking up our cross. Because the Servant first obeyed, He has paved the way for us to follow in His footsteps.
The path may be painful, but it will finally lead to blessing. This brings us to the second characteristic of the Servant: He is the victorious Servant. Look at Isaiah 50:7-9. The Lord GOD will vindicate Him. God will declare His obedient Servant righteous and ultimately deliver Him from suffering. God Himself will right all the wrongs done to His Servant. Although He has to endure humiliation for a while, the Servant will finally be honoured and exalted by God. The Servant will be justified and glorified.
Because the Servant hopes in God, He has set His face like a flint. He is determined to do God’s will, for He trusts God’s help. His resolve is not due to the absence of pain, but His confidence in God’s presence. So, for the joy set before Him, the Servant endured suffering and shame. He was obedient to the point of death, even a disgraceful death.
We can be sure that our obedience to the Lord will not be in vain. Since God has sent His Servant to save us, we can be confident that God will help us.
If we trust in the Servant to save us, then we too will share in His victory. In Him, we shall be justified and glorified. The affliction we endure in this life, when compared with the eternal weight of glory that awaits us, will seem light and momentary. Beloved, we can be sure that our obedience to the Lord will not be in vain. Since God has sent His Servant to save us, we can be confident that God will help us. Thanks to the Servant’s obedience and victory, we can be right with God. Because the Servant has conquered, we are more than conquerors through Him.
Israel was in a dark place. Because of its sin, God had sent the nation into exile. And even after the return, the problem of Israel’s sinfulness still remained. Like Israel, we too walk in the valley of the shadow of suffering, sin and death. In the darkness, where can we turn to for light and hope? Take Isaiah 50:10 to heart: “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.” This recalls what Isaiah 9 says: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light… For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The Servant is also the promised Son and King. Therefore, look to Him and be saved. He is the obedient Servant. He is the victorious Servant. And, third, He is the trustworthy Servant. To fear the Lord means to obey the voice of His servant. So, listen to the Servant who listens to the Lord.
Isaiah 50:11 warns us: Don’t try to save ourselves. In our pride, we want to be self-sufficient. We do not want to depend on God, because we want to be free to live our way. So, we equip ourselves with burning torches and to walk by the light of our fire. But why insist on trying to find our way in the dark when God offers us the light of the world? “There is a way that seeks right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Prov. 16:25). Self-sufficient self-salvation will only end in judgement. God warns those who would rather trust in themselves than to turn to Him, “You shall lie down in torment.”
But the Servant speaks strength and comfort to those of us who trust in Him. Look back at Isaiah 50:4: The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Because the Servant listens to the Lord, He is able to encourage others. The Servant is a Prophet who speaks life-giving words to us, enabling us to press on until the end.
In the fullness of time, Jesus came to preach the good news of God’s salvation. In these last days, God has spoken to us by His beloved Son. So, we ought to listen to Him! As Peter said, only Jesus has the words of eternal life. Where else can we go? Only the gospel of Jesus can lift us up when we are downcast. It comforts us in our pain and sorrow. It strengthens us in our weakness. It gives us hope in the darkness of discouragement, disappointment and despair.
Beloved, may we also follow the Servant by sustaining one another with God’s word, especially when our brothers and sisters are weary. May God teach us and give us tongues that build others up. Seek to know God’s word that we may know how to sustain others with the word. Speak God’s truth in love to one another. As Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Why we should listen to the Servant (Isa 51:1-52:12)
Isaiah urges us to listen to the obedient, victorious and trustworthy Servant. The rest of our text gives us five reasons why we should listen to Him. These verses are addressed to God’s people. They pursue righteousness and seek the LORD (Isa 51:1). They know righteousness and have God’s law in their heart (Isa 51:7). God is their God and they are His people (Isa 51:15-16). But it is difficult to live as God’s people in a fallen world. The noise of life can drown out God’s voice. In Israel’s case, they were fearful, anxious and discouraged. So, these five reasons encourage us to persevere in listening to the Servant of the Lord. They function like spiritual noise cancelling, so that we hear God more clearly.
(1) Listen because the Lord saves (Isa 51:1-8)
When our hearts grow cold and we become dull of hearing, fresh reminders of God’s goodness encourage us to listen to the Lord. Isaiah 51:1-8 contain three exhortations to “listen” (Isa 51:1,4,7). Each one highlights specific ways in which the Lord saves. God’s grace motivates us to listen to him. The first call to listen in Isaiah 51:1-3 speaks of how God will renew and restore His people. They have been spiritually barren, producing thorns instead of fruit for God. But God can comfort and transform His people. Look at Isaiah 51:3: “He makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD.” God can renew creation, reversing the effects of the fall. He turns sorrow to joy, mourning to songs of thanksgiving, curse into blessing. God can turn fruitlessness to fruitfulness.
God has done it before. Look at Isaiah 51:2. God reminds Israel of His past faithfulness. When God called Abraham, he and Sarah were childless. But God, who gives life to the dead, kept His promise to bless them with a child. From an elderly, barren couple, God has raised up the promised offspring and countless descendants.
Listen to the Lord and trust in His saving power, for He is able to make all things new.
Listen to the Lord and trust in His saving power, for He is able to make all things new. I recently watched a documentary about a pastor in Japan who used to be a gangster in the Yakuza, a Japanese criminal organisation. But he became a Christian in prison while reading the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. Once, he violently destroyed lives. But now, this pastor is grateful to be used by God to bring life to others. Many of us can also testify to God’s goodness in rescuing us from sin. In Christ, we are a new creation. We have been raised with Christ to new life, to bear fruit for God.
Isaiah 51:4-6 tell us the Lord saves the nations. His salvation has gone out. The coastlands, which refer to the faraway Gentile nations reaching even to the ends of the earth, hope in God. They wait for God to make bare His arm and show His saving power. Therefore, listen to the Servant for He comes to bring God’s salvation to the world.
Indeed, God’s righteousness has drawn near to us, just as He promised in Isaiah 51:5. We are made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness. Therefore, we need not fear man. Look at Isaiah 51:7-8. So much of our fear and anxiety is fuelled by our worry about what others think of us. Will they like us? Will they think well of us? We often seek affirmation and approval at school and work, among our family and friends. But God reminds us that in the eternal scheme of things, man’s approval counts for very little. So, fear not the reproach of man. God calls us to follow His faithful Servant, who endured the world’s disapproval because He trusted in God’s approval. So, don’t live for man’s approval. Do not be dismayed if others oppose us for following Jesus. The world’s opinions and judgements do not last, because man himself is fleeting. Instead, listen to the Servant because the Lord saves. His righteousness will be forever.
(2) Listen because the Lord hears prayer (Isa 51:9-11)
Prayer is faith’s response to God. We pray God’s promises back to Him and hold Him to His word.
These verses record the response of God’s people to God. There is honest wrestling here. They know God’s promises, yet they are wondering why He has not yet taken action to fulfil His word. They yearn for the day when Isaiah 51:11 will become a reality. Prayer is faith’s response to God. We pray God’s promises back to Him and hold Him to His word. Hence, God’s people boldly call God to wake up (Isa 51:9). They implore Him to awake and save them, just as He did when He redeemed Israel in the Exodus. Isaiah likens Egypt to the dragon Rahab, a mythological monster who was associated with the chaos of the sea. Save us now, God, please! Save us, just as you defeated Rahab in the past when you parted the sea and rescued your people from Egypt.
Like Old Testament Israel, we also look forward to the full fulfilment of God’s promises. Jesus has already come, but He has not yet come again to finish the work He begun in us. How long, O Lord? When will you save your people completely, so that suffering, sickness, sin and death are fully and finally removed? We yearn for the day when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. When death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.
So, listen to the Servant because the Lord hears prayer. God hears us when we grapple with His promises by faith. He will accomplish an even greater exodus and salvation. God’s faithfulness in the past is solid ground for our present faith and future hope. So, look back by faith to the cross, which guarantees our hope. Listen to the Servant of the Lord, who hears us when we cry out to Him.
(3) Listen because the Lord comforts (Isa 51:12-16)
God answers His people. Their repeated request for God to “awake, awake” is met with God’s double assurance that He Himself is with them. Look at Isaiah 51:12 — “I, I am he who comforts you.” Our comfort does not depend on our circumstances but on God. We may think God is asleep because the deliverance we hope for does not immediately come. Do we think God either does not know or does not care? But God does not have to be woken up, for He is always working for the good of His people. He is our help, especially when life is tough and we struggle with discouragement. But when forget God, we fear man. Israel has forgotten the LORD, (their) Maker. As a result, they fear continually all the day (Isa 51:13). Are we constantly worried and anxious because we have forgotten God?
God comforts us by reminding us of who He is and who we are in relation to Him.
God comforts us by reminding us of who He is and who we are in relation to Him. He is the sovereign, all-powerful, faithful covenant-making, promise-keeping God Look at Isaiah 51:15: “I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of hosts is his name.” He has redeemed us to belong to Him. Look at Isaiah 51:16. He puts His words in the Servant’s mouth. He keeps the Servant in the shadow of His hand. God guards His Servant so that He succeeds. Because the Servant is secure, our salvation in Him is also safe. God says to us, “You are my people.” Recall Jesus’ words to His disciples, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. (John 10:27-30)”
(4) Listen because the Lord removes his wrath (Isa 51:17-23)
God’s double assurance in Isaiah 51:12 is followed by three pairs of double exhortations to God’s people: “Wake yourself, wake yourself” (Isa 51:7); “Awake, awake” (52:1); “Depart, depart” (Isa 52:11). In light of God’s comfort and assurance, this is how we ought to respond to Him. The people thought God needed to awaken, but it is actually they themselves who should wake up and see who God is and what he is doing. When we are spiritually sleepy, we lose heart because we fail to see God’s grace and mercy to us. Here, Isaiah encourages a discouraged people who have borne the painful rod of God’s discipline. They have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His wrath (Isa 51:17). God has brought them very low, as part of His process to purify His people. Having suffered devastation and destruction, they now despair of comfort.
God disciplines us for our holiness, that we might see our need for His grace. Biblical discipline is not punitive but redemptive.
Beloved, there will be seasons when we experience God’s discipline. God brings us low to convict us of our brokenness and to turn us away from sinful pride and self-sufficiency. God disciplines us for our holiness, that we might see our need for His grace. Biblical discipline is not punitive but redemptive. It is a wake-up call from God prompting us to return to Him. God has graciously sent His Servant to save us from what our sins deserve. Therefore, we should listen to Him because the Lord will remove His wrath from us. Hear these encouraging words in Isaiah 51:22: Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of His people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more.” God will take the cup of His wrath away from Israel and pour it down the throat of the nations that oppressed His people. God will not keep His anger forever. He pleads and intercedes for us. God seeks His people’s redemption and restoration, not destruction.
We deserve God’s wrath because we have all sinned against Him. Rather than worshiping our Creator, we have worshiped the creature and created things. But instead of giving us the punishment we deserve, Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath for us. He prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. (Matt 26:39)” Jesus is the Servant who suffered and died to remove God’s wrath from us, if we trust in Him. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. 53:6)”
(5) Listen because of the Lord’s good news (Isa 52:1-12)
We should listen to the Servant of the Lord, because He brings good news. Look at Isaiah 52:3. The people were sold for nothing, disgraced and degraded by their sin. But the Lord will redeem His people without money (Isa 52:3). The price paid for our redemption is exceedingly precious, far greater than anything money can buy. Our salvation is priceless. It says in 1 Peter 1:18 — “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ”. In Christ, we are God’s treasured possession. God’s eternal Son gave His life for us. Shouldn’t we listen to Him and love Him because He first loved us?
Our purpose as God’s church is to display His glory by being a holy people.
Look at Isaiah 52:1-2. Because of God’s redemption, Jerusalem is encouraged to awake, awake. She can replace her mourning clothes with the beautiful garments of a radiant bride. God will cleanse His people’s sins and create a holy people. God delights in His redeemed people. Beloved, Jesus has set us free from slavery to sin and death, that we might be holy as God is holy. Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her…so that He might present the church to himself in splendour … that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5:25-27). Beloved, our purpose as God’s church is to display His glory by being a holy people. Therefore, as members of this local church, all of us ought to care for one another’s spiritual wellbeing and relationship with the Lord. Love the church and cultivate her beauty, for she is the bride whom Christ loves.
Look at Isaiah 52:7-10. Rejoice over the return of the Lord to Zion. The Lord Himself will come to save His people. Indeed, God has sent His Son to save sinners. Jesus died and rose from the dead, conquering sin and death. He has been exalted to the Father’s right hand. Jesus is Lord! Our God reigns. This is the heart of the good news. In Christ, we have forgiveness and eternal life. He has brought salvation to the ends of the earth. Now, Jesus calls us to go and make disciples of the nations. Beautiful are the feet of those who go out with this gospel! We have a wonderful privilege of telling others the good news that Jesus is Lord. Encourage those who labour for the gospel — our Sunday school teachers and nursery volunteers, our missionaries. Pray for the Weekender. Around 50 pastors and church leaders from around Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Nepal). Be hospitable to them and encourage them.
How should we respond to the good news? Look at Isaiah 52:11-12. Leave Babylon behind. Repent of our sins — our worldliness and idolatry. Turn back to God, who promises to go before us. Trust Him to protect and provide for us. Do not be distracted by the noise of the world. Listen to the Servant whom God has sent. Only Jesus saves.