49:1–53:12 Section
The messages of Isaiah 49:1–6; 50:4–9 and 52:13 – 53:12 talked more about God’s servant. It isn’t known for sure who this servant was at the time of these prophecies. It may have been the prophet Isaiah. It may have been someone who helped God’s people while they were in exile. God set the servant apart to do God’s work.
That work was to bring Jacob’s family line back to God. This meant that the servant would help God’s people live the way God wanted them to. They would truly live as God’s people and be faithful to him. It also meant that the servant would help them return from exile to their land.
The servant’s work was also to be a light for the Gentiles. This way everyone on earth would know God. Everyone would trust God to be their Saviour.
The servant didn’t do his work by using violence. He was gentle and spoke the words God taught him. His words were like a sword. He was treated badly. He suffered and was put to death because of the sins of God’s people. He was willing for this to happen even though he hadn’t done anything wrong.
In this way he became a sin offering for God’s people. Suffering in this way is different from the pattern that Job’s friends had noticed. They had noticed that people who did foolish and sinful things were made to suffer. God’s servant was suffering even though he hadn’t done sinful and foolish things. He was suffering in order to help God’s people.
God’s servant showed that suffering for others can lead to their salvation. This helped Jesus’s followers understand the work that Jesus did when he died on the cross. Many New Testament writers used words from these chapters about God’s servant to describe Jesus.