Our Hero Who Sets Things Right

https://youtu.be/l71NseTj9Q0

Isaiah 50: 4-11 (VOICE Bible) -

“The Lord, the Eternal, equipped me for this job— with skilled speech, a smooth tongue for instruction. I can find the words that comfort and soothe the downtrodden, tired, and despairing. And I know when to use them. Each morning, it is God who wakes me and tells me what I should do, what I should say. The Lord, the Eternal, has helped me to listen, and I do as He says. I have not been rebellious or run away from God’s work. But it’s been hard. I offered My back to those who whipped me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not turn away from humiliation and spitting. Because the Lord, the Eternal, helps me I will not be disgraced; so, I set my face like a rock, confident that I will not be ashamed. My hero who sets things right is near. Who would dare to challenge me? Let’s stand and debate this head-to-head! Who would dare to accuse me? Let him come near. See here, the Lord, the Eternal, helps me—who could possibly win against me? All my accusers will wear out like a ratty old moth-eaten shirt. So, you who are listening, do you acknowledge the Eternal One as God? And do you take seriously what the servant of God has to say? If you are enveloped in darkness, with no light to see, take confidence in the name of the Eternal One; rely on your God. Ah, but if you’ve tried to go it alone, the light by which you go is your own consuming fire, And the torches you light will be your undoing.”

I’m super excited about this post because I feel God has put such beauty and power in this passage that He wants us to live by. That He did live by. First, to really get the power of this passage, we have to understand Who is speaking. Obviously, since we are reading in Isaiah about the prophecies he spoke on behalf of God, it is easy to assume it is either Isaiah and/or God speaking. However, in this passage it is actually Jesus who is speaking through Isaiah. If we read the first verse from this passage, verse 4, in another version, the Amplified, it reads this way: “The Lord GOD has given Me [His Servant] the tongue of disciples [as One who is taught]...”. “His Servant” is the Messiah, the One to come, Jesus. We see God refer to Jesus, through Isaiah, in just a few chapters earlier, as His Servant.

Isaiah 42:1 - “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My Chosen One in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.”

Jesus also referred to Himself as “the one who serves” in Luke‬ ‭22:27, just to show one of the times He referenced Himself as “the Servant”. Once I, fully, understood who was speaking it, obviously, brought a new light and depth to this passage. A depth that goes so deep we could be here for hours together digging through it all. So, as I have pondered and even written and deleted, multiple times, what it is, specifically, God is trying to show us and say through these verses, I feel at it’s core, it’s a passage that not only brings to light what Jesus dealt with but, even more so, how He dealt with it. The reverence and surrender that Jesus had to God comes screaming off the page and knocks the breath out of you. Obviously, from reading the Gospels and being taught the Gospels in church my whole life, I know the sacrifice and surrender that Jesus lived while here on Earth. I’ve read and heard the passage from Philippians 2:6-8, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!”, and I’ve been challenged by it time and time again. But there is something about this Isaiah passage. Something that strikes me deeper. I think it’s because I see, to the point of feeling, the depth of Jesus’s humility. The depth of Jesus’s surrender. But it doesn’t stop there. After I feel what Jesus did, I can fully soak in how Jesus got through it. Here Jesus shows us that every morning, every morning, He, who was fully God, did not move, did not think, before He had spent time with God. He actually studied the Word of God. Jesus. Being the very nature God did not move a single day without studying the Word of God. Verse 4 tells us in the Amplified Bible, “That I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple [as One who is taught]”. Why did Jesus awaken each morning with the Word of God? To “know how to sustain the weary with a word”. To “find the words that comfort and soothe the downtrodden, tired, and despairing. And know when to use them”. To “know what He should do and what He should say”. Do you feel it now? Feel it in your spirit? Do you feel the yearning? A yearning to be that. To do that. To want every word and every action to be of the Lord. From the Lord. It’s an understanding that if Jesus felt He needed that every morning, if He felt He needed to adopt an attitude “as a disciple, as one who is taught”, then how much more do we? Reading these words makes my spirit yearn to have that depth of a relationship with the Father, so that every day I am more aware of who and what is around me. I mean, don’t you feel that Jesus was so aware of His surroundings, to the point of knowing when someone touched His robe and power went out from Him to heal (Luke 8:43-48), because of the time spent with God each morning? He saw people that others did not. He loved people that others did not. He cared for people that others did not. He spoke to people, with words of comfort and challenge, in a way that others did not. Don’t you feel that yearning to be that in our world today? To have the right words to say? The right way to say them? With the right kind of love? Whether it be a perfect stranger or someone in your home? The only way we do that, is to emulate Jesus’s humility shown here. Our hearts and spirits yearn for it. Whether you are a follower of Christ or not. There is a yearning to love. This passage just helps us to see, and ultimately feel in our souls, that yearning is best fulfilled through living like Jesus did. In surrender to God. That surrender may take us down daunting roads, like Jesus tells us here. Roads that may have us experience humiliation or ridicule. Jesus’s road involved people spitting on Him, ripping at His beard, beating Him with whips, and ultimately death. Ours may involve being shunned or being called names. Being mocked or teased. As Jesus said, it will be hard to be in full surrender to God. To humble ourselves to such a level that our every word and deed is His every word and deed. And to understand, like He did, that kind of surrender may lead us down roads of suffering. But Jesus didn’t leave it there. He didn’t leave us with words that make us feel hopeless and dejected in our surrender. He left us with words that we need to allow to soak in. Soak into our spirits and lift us up. Read verses 7-9 again and allow the words of Jesus to soak in.

“For the Lord GOD helps Me, Therefore, I have not been ashamed or humiliated. Therefore, I have made My face like flint [a rock], And I know that I shall not be put to shame. He who declares Me in the right is near; Who will [dare to] contend with Me? Let us stand up to each other; Who is My adversary? Let him approach Me. In fact, the Lord GOD helps Me; Who is he who condemns Me [as guilty]?”

Jesus’s surrender and humility did not equate to meekness nor shyness. It lead to confidence and boldness. He knew God was there for Him. He met with Him every morning, so He was constantly reassured from the truth He read in the scrolls filled with God’s words. Words like:

Deuteronomy 31:8 “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Psalm 55:22 - Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Joshua 1:9 - Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Isaiah 41-10-13 - Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Jesus knew, even as He was being beaten. Even as He was being hung to a cross. He knew God was with Him. Like The VOICE Bible says in verse 8, He knew “My hero who sets things right is near”, therefore, “Who would dare to challenge me? Let’s stand and debate this head-to-head! Who would dare to accuse me? Let him come near. See here, the Lord, the Eternal, helps me—who could possibly win against me?”

Jesus had confidence that no matter what things appeared to be on the outside, nothing could harm Him. So, they could beat Him. Shame Him. Ridicule Him. Take every swing verbally and physically that they dared. Nothing would stand against Him. Not because He wasn’t feeling the suffering, pain, and ridicule. He was. But because, His confidence, His identity, was set firmly and squarely in the Lord so nothing man could do could ever touch Him. Like Jesus says at the end of this passage in Isaiah “So, you who are listening, do you acknowledge the Eternal One as God? And do you take seriously what the servant of God has to say? If you are enveloped in darkness, with no light to see, take confidence in the name of the Eternal One; rely on your God.”

There will be times in our journey that we will feel “enveloped in darkness with no light to see” but, like Jesus, because we spent time with the Lord every morning, we will have “confidence in the name of the Lord and rely on our God”. Not our own light that is “like a consuming fire and will be our undoing.”