Isaiah 42:1-4; Phil. 2:5-8, Jesus Served His Father

As we have been working our way through the 24 hours leading to Jesus’ death, an underlying theme has been this line from Mk. 14:21: The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him.  In light of this we take the next few posts to review the “Servant Songs” of Isaiah.  These songs in a very special way reveal the relationship of the Father and Son, and their arrangement involving the Incarnation.

The “mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ” (Col. 2:2) was established in eternity past as we read briefly in Psalm 2:6-9.  But these songs give additional detail to that short passage, and thus are a real centerpiece of what was written of Christ in the OT.

Servant Song #1, Isa. 42:1-9

The Servant is not our servant but God’s Servant.  (The fact that it is Christ and not Israel – both are spoken of as God’s servant in Isaiah – will be noted in the second song.)  In my view we make the story of the cross of Jesus too much about “us.”  It’s as if Christ was our servant.  There’s a line in a gospel song, “when He was on the cross I was on His mind.”  I often hear the argument, that we must be special given the price that Christ paid for our sins. 

You may be wondering, “what is wrong with these things?”  So note that I said: we make it “too much” about us.  Jesus was the Servant of His Father.  His struggle in the Garden was not, “Father, help me to love the sinner.”  It was, “Father, not what I will but what You will.”  I’m sure when you stop and think about it you will agree that the burning passion of Jesus’ life was to do what the Father gave Him to do, to finish the work His Father commanded (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38; 17:4; Lk. 4:43). 

Let me remind you of the “7 Steps in Christ’s Humiliation” in Phil. 2:5-8.  1) He was God.  2) He emptied Himself (did not give up His deity but rather all the prerogatives of deity).  3) Took on the form of a bond-servant.  4) Came in the likeness of men.  5) He humbled Himself (took on the lifestyle of a humble person.)  6) Became obedient to death.  7) Became obedient to death on a cross.  I know we are talking about the Trinity, One God in Three Persons, all equal in everything that it means to be “God.”  But in that magnificent relationship, Jesus became the bond-servant to the Father.  The Father’s plan was: become a Man, a humble Man, and die the death of a criminal. 

The plan of the Father was borne out of the love of God for sinners.  “For God so loved the world! that He gave His only begotten Son.”  “In this the love of God was manifest, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (1 Jn. 4:9).  The end result is that, yes, of course, Jesus had a great love for the sinner.  He said, “Greater love has no man but that he lay down his life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13).  But Jesus came to be the Servant to carry out the Father’s will.