Jesus is the Suffering Servant King

In the New Testament we find that Jesus who is without any doubt the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53. We see that Jesus Himself believed this too. It’s not just coincidence that He quotes from the prophet Isaiah more than any other prophet in the New Testament. In fact, the prophecies of Isaiah are not just limited to the suffering of Jesus, but refer to His entire ministry. But it’s the death of Christ that is the entire focus of the New Testament writers as they point to the prophecies of Isaiah’s “suffering servant.”

Let's read Isaiah 53: “Who hath believed Our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; he hath put Him to grief: when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

As we read these passages we can’t help but see what the prophet has written. He wrote as if he were an eyewitness to the passion of Jesus Christ. This Christ, the coming Messiah, Jesus is not just a king, no when we look at Him what do we see? We see that He comes to us as a servant. A servant to whom God is “pleased to place His righteous wrath upon. One who came and stands in our place. One who receives the chastisement that was due to us for our iniquity; He takes on Himself the iniquity of all of His chosen people. Look and see Jesus; God’s Suffering Servant, “wounded for our transgressions.” Yes, and “smitten of God, and afflicted.” It’s not a pretty sight! No because when we look at Him we see that “His visage’ (His features, countenance, face) ‘was so marred’ (damaged, defaced, blemished, mutilated, maimed, scarred) ‘more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men” (verse 14). So disfigured was His “visage,” so “marred” were His features, not by the hand of those who abused Him, but by the sin and iniquities that He carried on Himself on our behalf. And God, who cannot look upon sin, turned away from Him, and the “Suffering Servant” cried out, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?”

In the Revelations 5:2-6, the Apostle John sees a vision, and he hears an angel cry out saying, “who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?” and we are told that “no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.”

And John said that he “wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.” Then we read that “one of the elders” came to him and comforted him saying, “weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.”

And immediately we see a change in the mood, from one of sorrow and foreboding to one of joy and expectation, as John turns to see the spectacle. When he turns he sees that “midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.” And having taken the book He alone is able to break the seals and open the book, and to gaze at it’s contents!

But this is no “suffering servant,” what he hears is a conquering King! Why this is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah!” The “Suffering Servant” and the “Royal King” are in fact one and the same person! But when he turns what does he see? He Sees not a Lion, but a “Lamb slain!” And He is “standing in the midst “of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders.” And He comes and takes “the book of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne.” And immediately “the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.” And everyone there sang a “new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation,” having made us to be “kings and priests” unto our God, that we should “reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:7-10). Here is the Lion, the King of kings, and He is the Lamb of God, who through the strength of His righteousness is the “Suffering Servant” who is the reigning King of kings, and Lord of Lords!

Elder Thomas McDonald