Jehovah's Servant (1)

by R.A. Parker; Stoke-on-Trent, England | Category: Jehovah's Servant | Jun 1994

Our Lord Jesus Christ has many excellencies as Prophet, Priest, King and Shepherd, to mention a few. There is one, however, which is presented in the book of Isaiah in the form of similitudes or likenesses. These focus on the Son of God as "My Servant". We often meditate on what the Lord Jesus has done for us, of His love and grace in coming into the world to save us; on what He suffered for our sakes upon the Cross and of the blessings He

has brought to us through faith in His work. All these provoke heart searching thoughts which demand our response to such love and sacrifice on our behalf.

The King's Delight:

It is with awe that we read Paul's masterly account, written under the guidance of the Spirit of God, of the condescending grace of Christ in Philippians 2:6-8. The passage gives us an insight into the mind of Christ

Jesus. Here is the Son who is so ready and willing to be Jehovah's Servant. He was ready to empty Himself of that which He did not regard as a prize. Christ was "on an equality with God" with respect to glory, honour, and majesty, the prerogatives of Deity. Of these things which accompanied the equality but were separable from it, He emptied Himself. So that while He remained in the form of God, having emptied Himself He also took the form of a bondslave. This is the One of whom the Father says:

Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen, in whom My soul delighteth (Is. 42:1).

The delight of the Father in the Son can be traced back to before creation. Solomon in his wisdom is used by the Spirit to reveal such intimate pleasure:

When He established the heavens, I was there ... when He gave to the sea its bound... when He marked Out the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him, as a master Workman: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him (Prov. 8:27, 29, 30).

The marginal reading of verse 30 of the Revised Version gives, "and I had delight continually, rejoicing always before Him" which seems to convey the pleasure of the Son also in the Father. So there was mutual delight in eternity past of Father and Son. When the Son came as Bondservant there was no less delight of the Father, as we read in Isaiah 42:1, nor yet of the Servant who said, "Lo, I am come; in the roll of the book it is written of Me:

I delight to do Thy will, 0 My God" (Ps. 40:7,8).

His life from Bethlehem to Jordan was acclaimed by the Father when He rose from the waters to hear Him say, "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Mat. 3:17). From Jordan to the mount of transfiguration gave equal pleasure when on the mountain top the disciples heard the Father's approbation, "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him" ~at. 17:5). From the mount to the Cross there was nothing to spoil or mar the delight of the Father in the Servant. So that at the end of His bondservice, "it pleased the LORD to bruise Him" (Is. 53:10). Of the Servant, the writer to the Hebrews says, "who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross" (12:2).

Finally, we see how the King's delight was possibly foreshadowed by king Ahasuerus in the book of Esther 6:6-9, who said to Haman, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Royal apparel from the king's wardrobe; a horse to ride upon from the king's stables; a crown royal for his head and to ride by proclamation through the street of the city. In these events we may possibly see the foreshadowing of the future day when all the earth will rise and bring peculiar honours for the King's Servant. But what of the King's reward for "My Servant"?

Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession (Ps. 2:8).

And again we read:

Sit Thou on My right hand till I make Thine enemies the footstool of

Thy feet (Ps. 110:1; Mat. 22:44; Heb. 1:13).

Truly, our appreciation of what Jehovah's Servant did for the King

should take precedence in our hearts over what He did for us. So also then our rejoicing over the King's reward to His Servant will exceed our joy in anything we may receive for our service for Him.

R.A. Parker; Stoke-on-Trent, England | Jun 1994
Jehovah's Servant