Bible Study Evangelista - The Servant Songs: Episode 5: Ears to Hear, Servant Song 3

Category: Lent, Servant Songs Tag: Bible reading, lent, obedience, prophecy, suffering

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us that “Whom the Lord loves he chastises” (12:6). In the third Servant Song centuries before, Isaiah prophesied that the Lord’s Servant would endure suffering without complaining. By embracing sorrow without losing heart and by accepting discipline as instruction, the Servant would gain a share of the holiness of God.

As a result, the student would become a teacher. Having learned at the feet of the loving and merciful Lord, the Servant now instructs the nations in the ways of obedience and discipleship. But most of all, he models fidelity and long suffering. Remarkably, the Servant’s sufferings have not led him to turn away from God; he neither feels abandoned nor betrayed. Confidently, he stands before those who mock him, knowing their power will wear away like a threadbare garment, while God’s help lasts forever. The proof of discipleship, he says, is walking in darkness without any light, save that of faith in the Lord! Woe to those who walk by their own light, trusting neither the Lord nor his Servant. They do so at great peril, he says, risking utter destruction.