Who Are You Listening To?
Palm Sunday OT, Isaiah 50:4-9a
Back to Isaiah. Where last week we were walking just after one of the “Servant Songs,” this week we are right in the middle of one. Think with me. Some 700 years before the birth of our Savior, God through Isaiah is concerned with giving his OT people a picture of who their Savior will be. But he does it through the guise of someone who would be a faithful servant in the midst of their current exile. Verses 4-5 speak of someone who hears and speaks. But he doesn’t speak just any words, but rather those that he hears from the Lord GOD.
The character of the one hearing and speaking is impeccable. None of the people around me day to day are like that. How about you? No, this one listens and speaks and “was not rebellious” (v. 5). Isaiah goes on to describe one who not only does not turn his back on his God, but he “gave his back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting” (v. 6). Beautiful. Kind of. Are you getting the picture who this servant might be?
This servant sets his face like flint to the purposes of God (cf. Luke 9:51) and stands to contend with his enemies knowing that he will be vindicated in the end by his LORD. Verse 9 begins, “Behold, the Lord GOD helps me,” and in that you hear faintly the closing of Psalm 22 that begins in the pains of, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”
If it sounds to you like God was setting his people up for something and someone good, you’re reading well. Look, says Isaiah for one that listens to God unfailingly and then speaks his word without fear. Sounds like Moses from Deuteronomy 18 crying, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers---it is to him you shall listen” (Deut. 18:15). Hear o Israel! Hear o Church!
- To whom are you and I listening in these crazy days? On any day?
- Remember and beware: Not all who claim to speak for the Lord or who use the Bible speak for the author. How is your discernment quotient? Cf. Hebrews 5:11-14
- Read Isaiah 50 today. Do you see your Savior?
