SERVANT LEADERSHIP - The Blue Letter Bible Institute

Servant Leadership – Lesson 17 10
The Suffering Servant by Clark Van Wick
offspring; He is going to be dead. Do you follow me? So, there is nobody to carry on His
line because of the Suffering Servant aspect of His life. “For He was cut off from the land
of the living;” that of course speaks of His death. Daniel 9:26 talks about the fact that
“Messiah would be cut off; not for Himself, He was to die.” In the Old Testament, as in
Zechariah 12:10, it prophesies “that we would look on Him whom we have pierced.”
Psalm 22 talks about the crucifixion of Messiah; Isaiah 53 talks about this fact as well,
and Daniel 9 talks about the death of Messiah. It is difficult to escape the fact that the
Lord’s servant would suffer and die. He would be cut off form the land of the living.
Isaiah 53:8 says, “For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.” We have seen
that as recorded in the New Testament. Why was He smitten, why was He stricken? It
was for our sins and for our transgressions. And Isaiah 53:9 says, “They made His grave
with the wicked,” pointing to Luke 22:33 when Jesus died between the two thieves on the
cross. Matthew 27:57 says, “But with the rich at His death;” this of course points to
Joseph of Arimathea, the rich man who put Jesus in his own newly carved tomb. Why? It
was because “He had done no violence nor was any deceit found in His mouth,” as we
have already looked at in 1 Peter 2:22-23.
Now, we have looked at His death and we already understand that. Let’s come to the
seventh thing that Isaiah discusses and that is His righteousness. In Isaiah 53:10-11,
Isaiah talks about His righteousness.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise [crush] Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed,
[Which speaks of us, the byproduct of His death, His offspring]
He shall prolong His days,
[Which is an interesting concept because we just read that He would be
cut off, He would die, and yet His days will be prolonged. This is a
beautiful picture of the resurrection of the Messiah. Do not let anyone tell
you that the resurrection is not found in the Old Testament. It truly is
sprinkled throughout and you can see it clearly.]
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
In other words, Messiah is going to accomplish the will of God. “The pleasure of the
Lord, God Almighty shall prosper.” It shall go forth in Messiah’s hand because He will
do the will of God. We looked at that in John 4:34 when Jesus said, “My food is to do the
will of Him who sent me.” John 6:38 says, “I came down from heaven not to do my will
but the will of Him who sent me.” In Luke 22:42 Jesus said, “Not My will, but Thy will
be done.” So constantly, Messiah will be accomplishing the will of God.
Isaiah 53:11 says,
He shall see the travail [or the stress] of His soul,