Isaiah 50 offers us the comparison of Israel’s sin and the suffering servant’s obedience. We start with the stark reality of Israel’s disobedience to the LORD, and how the LORD punished her. Then we turn to the suffering of the LORD’s servant. We have specific mention of the servant’s willingness to suffer. He offered his back to those who would strike him, and his beard to those who would pluck it out. Both these offenses happened to Jesus. While scholars have pointed to the Jewish people as a whole as the suffering servant, this chapter makes that untenable, because the people are unfaithful, while the servant is faithful. We can’t say with absolute certainty the passage references Jesus, but we can say Jesus fits the description better than any character in Jewish history!
Isaiah 51 offers a severe mercy from the LORD to Israel. It starts by reminding us the LORD established Israel from Abraham and Sarah, a couple who were barren until He worked in their lives. From one person “Zion” became many, multitudes of people sprang from one. This was the LORD’s plan, but the people of Zion rebelled. The result? They had to drink the wine of the LORD’s wrath. This came in the form of pagan armies, famines and wicked leaders of their own. Isaiah doesn’t tell us that plainly, but it is implied in the poetry of the chapter. Nevertheless, the LORD has determined Zion will not end by drinking the LORD’s wrath, but they will be comforted, and restored. This is always the LORD’s message: You rebelled, but I will restore. We see that so clearly in our own lives as Jesus’ followers. We rebelled against the LORD, and He sent Jesus to restore us. We can choose to reject the solution, the redemption, the restoration, but the LORD’s work is to redeem and restore us.
As we return to John 9, Jesus and His disciples encounter a man who had been born blind. The disciples asked a question we might ask, “Who sinned? This man or his parents that he was born blind?” After all, being born blind must have been someone’s “fault.” But Jesus responded no one sinned. The man’s situation was so God could be glorified. Jesus healed the man, by spitting on the ground, making mud, and placing the mud in his eyes. Then he told the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. When the man did so, he came back seeing! This caused quite a stir, but not for the reason we might think. While the man was enthusiastic about his healing, the religious leaders were less so. Why? Because Jesus had healed the man on the Sabbath. They contended Jesus was a sinner, because he healed on the Sabbath. The man pointed out God isn’t in the habit of answering sinners. When the Pharisees debated with the man further, he gave them the most amazing and simple answer: This I know. I was blind, but now I see. What a powerful testimony. We who know Jesus all have the testimony. I was spiritually blind, but now I see. I was angry, but now I am at peace. Jesus came to restore us to health and vitality. He does that physically, spiritually, emotionally, and in every way. The results are not always as immediate as with the blind man, who gained his sight, but the results are always there. Over time, we become more and more like Jesus as we live with Him as Lord and Savior. Whatever area of life is our area of need, Jesus calls us to turn to Him to receive wholeness.