3/24/2019

Pastor Rusty Milton

"Suffering Servant, Part 2"

Isaiah 49:1-7 ESV

In Isaiah 49, the prophet foretells Israel's national unbelief in the face of their Messiah's ministry. Despite this, however, God the Father assures his "suffering servant" that he will redeem not only many in Israel, but many from the nations of the world as the fruition of his ministry. In a smaller way, many believers share in the struggle Christ faced when we see the fruits of our ministries on earth seem to fail. But like Christ, we must trust that the results or our labors are in God's hands. When discouraged, we should not smother our troubles or feelings, but should pour out our hearts to God. Moreover, we should exhort ourselves to not be controlled or overwhelmed by our grief, but should fix our hearts on God and his ability to reap the harvest of His ministry through our lives.

Isaiah 49:1-7 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Servant of the Lord

49 Listen to me, O coastlands,
    and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called me from the womb,
    from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
    in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
    in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”[a]
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
    I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
    and my recompense with my God.”

5 And now the Lord says,
    he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
    and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
    and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

7 Thus says the Lord,
    the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
    the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
    princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”