Expectation Of A Suffering Servant!

December 12

Expectation Of A Suffering Servant!

Even while the kingdom of Judah (in southern Israel) is being overthrown by the Assyrians in 701 BC, a preacher named Isaiah is faithfully sharing a message from the Lord God.  The Word of God for the people is a promise of a Savior who is coming.

However, the Savior who will come to set all things right is not the kind of savior the people have experienced in the past.  This Savior will suffer.  This Savior will sacrifice.  This Savior will live as a servant.  This Savior will restore our relationship with the Lord God through a healing that only He can provide.

Isaiah refers to the Savior who is coming as the suffering servant.  In Isaiah 53:5 the preacher writes; “But he (Suffering Servant) was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.”

The suffering this Servant Savior will endure can transform you and me.  Isaiah says, “…by his bruises we are healed.”  The healing about which Isaiah speaks is a forgiveness of our sins, a cleansing of our wrongdoings, a washing away of the stains of our wrongs.

With the Assyrian Empire bearing down to overthrow the kingdom of Judah, this was not the kind of Savior the people expected or even wanted.  The people expected an inspiring and good king, a strong and strategic military leader, a savior who would bring quick vengeance. 

Instead, the promise of God through Isaiah is for a suffering servant who is wounded, who is crushed, who is punished, who is bruised.  The promise of God did not fit with the people’s expectations because the people were focused more upon their own inconvenience, discouragement, and suffering than upon trusting the Lord God’s gift of a Savior.

What we expect from the Lord God does not always align with what the Lord God wants to do, how the Lord God wants to do it, and when the Lord God wants to accomplish it.  Our misplaced and uninformed expectations often lead us to be skeptical of God’s promises, doubtful of God’s plan, and hesitant to embrace God’s Son, Jesus our Savior.

In the end, our expectations can cause us to miss out on the joy of watching the Savior change lives and change our world.  We miss out on the cleansing of our lives, the forgiveness of our sin, and the healing of our brokenness.  Like the people of Judah, we can end up living with a weak faith, a false hope, and very little peace and joy.   

In a couple of weeks, we will gather for all kinds of Christmas celebrations.  Your celebrations may include delicious food, great friends, and loving family.  Your celebrations may include all kinds of decorations and traditions as well as beautiful music and worship at your church. 

My prayer is that in addition to all these celebrations, you will remember that 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, there was a preacher named Isaiah who shared God’s promise of a Savior born to bring forgiveness, restore hope, and demonstrate a life of holiness.  God promised a suffering servant who would suffer so you and I could be delivered into a living relationship with the living God.

I invite you to focus upon the promise of the coming of the Suffering Servant, our Savior Jesus, this Christmas.  The Suffering Servant comes to bring hope and peace as well as love and joy to a broken world and to people who believe there is more to life than what they are experiencing today.

I pray the delight of the Lord will overflow in your heart today and every day before your Christmas celebration arrives.      

Take Delight In The Lord!

Doug