Transcript The Servant Songs of Isaiah Who is the Servant: the Jews

The Servant Song
of Isaiah 53
Who is the Suffering Servant?
The Battle between Jewish and
Christian scholars for the
Heart of their faith.
Ghettos
Persecution
s
Discrimination
War
s
The Holocaust
Bombings
Dispossession Sufferings
Munich
Kristelnacht
massacre
The Jewish View of Israel
as God’s Suffering Servant
It is one thing for Christians to claim New
Testament texts as their own, but another
thing entirely to also claim many texts in the
Old Testament. Jews resent this because it
amounts to a claim that the Jewish Bible is
full of prophecies that point to Jesus as the
Messiah. Jesus taught just that. (Luke 24:27)
Isaiah 53 is the heart of Christianity, and
speaks of the sufferings of Messiah Jesus
in the most intricate detail. No wonder Isaiah
53 has become a biblical battleground!
The Christian View
of
the Suffering Servant sees
Christ’s torture and crucifixion
It is a view that takes in the ‘mountain
peaks’ of prophecy, which include Isaiah 53
Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12 is the highest
peak of Messianic prophecy.
The Servant is mentioned twice
before the first Servant Song of
41:8,9, and nine other times
between songs (in 42:19 x 2; 43:10;
44:1,2; 44:21 x 2; 44:26; 48:20).
The first Christians, who were
Jews, saw Israel as God’s servant
nation in these texts, but quoted
from Isaiah 53 when proclaiming
Jesus as the promised Messiah.
The Christian View of the Servant
__________________________________________________
The Jewish View
of the Servant
Prophetic peaks, or a suffering
people – which?
New Testament references to Isaiah 53:
Isaiah 53:1 with John 12:38 & Romans
10:16. Isaiah 53:2-3 with Mark 9:12. Isaiah
53:4 with Matthew 8:17. Isaiah 53:5,6 with
1 Peter 2:24. Isaiah 53:9 with Matthew
27:60. Isaiah 53:10 with Mark 10:45 &
14:24. Isaiah 53:12 with Mark 15:28. Isaiah
53:12 with Luke 11:22. Isaiah 53:7,8 with
Acts 8:30-35. Isaiah 53:12 with Luke 22:37.
If Jesus was not the Suffering Servant of
Isaiah 53 these texts would all be wrong.
Those who deny that Isaiah 53
portrays Jesus as the Suffering
Servant reject quotes from it by
the gospel writers Matthew, Mark
and Luke, Philip the evangelist,
the apostles Paul and Peter, and
by Jesus himself. But Christians
believe that all scripture is Godbreathed. (2 Timothy 3:16)
Rabbinical scholars see Isaiah 53 as
picturing the sufferings of the Jewish
people, and interpret the first part as
exclamations of Gentile kings at “the
end of days.” The sufferings of the
Jewish people certainly are portrayed
in the figure of the Servant (as they are
in the other songs). But Christians see
Jesus as epitomizing that pain in his
suffering for the sin of all mankind,
and in his alienation from his Father.
• So, who is the Suffering
Servant of Isaiah 53 – is it
the Jews, or is it Jesus?
• Answer: It is both.
• But only Jesus matches the
description in every detail!
He is the Greater Servant.