Christ, the Suffering Servant 基督，神受難的僕人


[WOTS]
2/9/2018


Christ, the Suffering Servant 基督，神受難的僕人

Isaiah’s Messianic Hope (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

By Dr. Meiman Lai Saidi

Worldwide Outreach Teaching School (W.O.T.S.)

https://WorldwideOTS.org

A Prayer to Prepare (禱告):

Most Gracious Father,

I stand in awe of Your majesty and power. I am amazed at the many evidences of Your Love.     I am humbled to realize that You know everything about me. I open myself to You and ask that You fill me with your presence. As I teach, “Let the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer” (Psalm詩篇 19:14 - 耶和華我的磐石、我的救贖主阿、願我口中的言語、心裡的意念、在你面前蒙悅納。

I pray in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. 奉耶穌基督強有力的名禱告!

 

The Suffering Servant: This week's Scripture passage is one of the four servant songs of Isaiah. Written in poetic style, it is all too literal for us, who live after the coming of Jesus. As we get ready for the 40 days of Lent leading to Easter, it is a good time to review the story of how much our Lord and Savior suffered that we might live.

1. See My Servant: Reading Is. 52:13, 14, 15 & 53:1看!我的僕人 以. 52:13- 53:1

  1. See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
  2. Just as there were many who were appalled at him -- his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness--
  3. So will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.                                 Is.53:1, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?                                                The “servant” is the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. He would be highly exalted because of his sacrifice.

Lord, Let me focus on only your Salvation:     Commentary from N.I.V. (Is. 52:13, 14, 15 & 53:1) This “servant” Messiah, Our Lord, will be exulted because He died for us (More detail in Chapter 53 of Isaiah).

Servant Christ would be “marred beyond human likeness”; but through his suffering, he would cleanse the nations (Hebrews 10:14; 1Peter 1:2)

13.     我的僕人行事必有智慧、(或作行事通達〕必被高舉上升、且成為至高。

14.      許多人因他驚奇、(他的面貌比別人憔悴、他的形容比世人枯槁.)

15.      這樣、他必洗淨〔或作鼓動〕許多國民．君王要向他閉口．因所未曾傳與他們的、他們必看見．未曾聽見的、他們要明白。

53:1, 我們所傳的、〔或作所傳與我們的〕有誰信呢．耶和華的膀臂向誰顯露呢?

 

 

解經: 以賽亞書52:13,14,15 & 53:1       主阿，讓我單單仰望您的救恩:                    這裏的 “僕人” 彌賽亞，我們的主，祂將因自己的捨生被高舉 (在53章中詳細的描述 )

僕人基督將是 〝這形容比世人枯槁，但祂通過祂所受的苦來洗淨萬國 (參希伯來10:14; 彼前1:2)

 

 

Isaiah 52:15 Introduce the detailed picture in the following chapter. Then, make a list of what we are to look for in God’s servant (vv. 13-14). (He was a loyal servant, wise, obeys God, does not argue or talk back, He spoke the truth without fearing its consequences, lifted up, and disfigured.) God didn’t leave Jesus suffering. He brought Him through it to resurrected life.)

Isaiah spoke to people before Jesus’ birth. People were struggling as exiles with no savior. They desperately wanted someone to understand their predicament and relieve their oppression. Isaiah shared his God-given vision of the One who will do just that.

2. Describe God’s Servant Isaiah 53:2, 3, -                                                                                          1) Jesus was an infant, as a peace of a sleeping baby, He as a “tender shoot”     playing with Joseph’s carpentry scraps.                                                                                                  2) A fast forward 33 years, a bleeding man hangs by nailed flesh on a cross until         He slowly suffered to death. God never sends what we expect. Certainly,         nobody expected that a baby or an accused man on a cross would be the   answer to us. Certainly no one expected a savior to die. A song which I like to    sing, “God and God Alone”, the 2nd part was: …He reveals the TRUTH of we       called ‘unknown’. .I remember the rejection, Jesus never used revenge as a response.

   God gave Isaiah this vision more than 700 years before Christ. Now, we could get used to a suffering servant as our mediator and redeemer. Yet, people still turn away from Jesus as their answer, just as they did in Isaiah’s time.

   We find it easy to point fingers at those who don’t accept Messiah. Jesus deserves a lifted-up place in our hearts, especially when He does not occupy that place in our world. When we allow Him first place in the way we set agendas, talk with our children, seek His counsel, and go about our business, we become tools God can use to lift up Jesus now, not just at the end of this world.

   3) See His Wounds: I agreed with Debbie Salter Goodwin, an author of Our Suffering Servant, said, Pain is not my friend. I have a low tolerance for it. What you call a 5 on the pain level goes up to 8 for me. … There were no tricks at Calvary. The pain was real and excruciating. When we take our place in the crowd who called “Crucify!” and understand that our sin pounded the nail into His hand as if we held the hammer, we begin a journey to belief in Jesus as the Lamb who took away the sin in my broken world.            I will never forget when that truth exposed my complacency. I sat in a Good Friday service prepared to take my piece of paper with my name on it up to the cross and pound a nail through it. When I tried to lightly tap it into the wood, it wouldn’t stay. I had to hit the nail with force, that same force that drove my stubbornness. When I did, I realized how I stood guilty before the cross. As I accepted my part in Jesus’ pain, I also understood His participation in my pain as well.

2. Reading and Explore the Word- Isaiah 53:2, 3, “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.  3, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Commentary from NIV, Isaiah 53:2, 3

There was nothing beautiful or majestic in the physical appearance of this servant, Christ. Israel would miscalculate the servant’s importance—they would consider him an ordinary man. But even though Jesus, would not attract a large following based on his physical appearance, he would bring salvation and healing. Many people miscalculate the importance of Jesus’ life and work, and we need faithful Christians to point out Jesus’ extraordinary nature.

Questions and Answers:

1)      Why did people have trouble believing Isaiah’s message? (People had been waiting for the One God would send so long that they had begun to doubt God’s promise.)

2)      How important is it to believe the message Isaiah brought? (John 1:12, Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” & 1st John 5:11, 12.

 

2. 讀經文: 以賽亞書53:2, 3, “他在耶和華面前生長如嫩芽、像根出於乾地．他無佳形美容、我們看見他的時候、也無美貌使我們羨慕他。3, 他被藐視、被人厭棄、多受痛苦、常經憂患。他被藐視、好像被人掩面不看的一樣．我們也不尊重他。

經文解說 Isaiah 53:2, 3

假如基督很是英俊，會有誤會說祂是靠美貌吸引人，可是在這一位僕人的形體上看不到佳美和威嚴。以色列低估了這位僕人的重要性，他們將祂看為普通人。雖然靠祂的相貌吸引不了一大群人來跟隨，耶穌卻帶來救續和醫治。許多人低估了耶穌的生活和工作的重要性。我們基督徒要向群眾指出上帝那不同尋常的特質。

問和答:

1)      為何人們不信以賽亞之話？          (人們等上帝要送來的應許，救贖主之來臨太久了，所以就開始懷疑。)

2)       相信以賽亞的話是何等的重要嗎？請看 (約翰1:12, 凡接待他的、就是信他名的人、他就賜他們權柄、作　神的兒女。)           約翰3:16, “神愛世人、甚至將他的獨生子賜給他們、叫一切信他的、不至滅亡、反得永生。” & 約一書五章11, 12節。

3. Our Four Situations Depart from God: 我們的四個境況與神隔絕Isaiah 53:4-6

    Predicament 我們的 (處、苦、窮境) 與神隔離: Isaiah 53:4-6, Isaiah used four different words to talk about our separation from God:

1)      Infirmity虛弱, Infirmity is another word for disease or physical limitation.

2)      Sorrow 悲苦, because we are diseased and unhealthy where sin is present.

3)      Transgression 跨越規則, crossing God’s line.

4)      Iniquity不法不義, wrong action and includes immorality.                                        However, when we understand how we crossed the line that God set down to protect us from this predicament; we are ready to call any attitude or action that took us across that line, sin. 我們的苦境是虛弱,  悲苦, 跨越規則, 和iniquity 不法不義. 都容易越過標準而侵犯自己，所以與神隔離就是罪。

Jesus Was Sacrificed for Us: Jesus was SACRIFICED once but it affected us forever. Jesus will purity us from all unrighteousness if we confess our sins.

耶穌為世人贖罪:耶穌一次獻祭，功效是永久的。一次的贖罪，全部罪都赦免。 有人用雞、鴉每年求神赦免，但耶穌的贖罪一次即成。

As Debbie Salter Goodwin said was very true: “Israelites brought sheep to be slaughtered as their guilt offering for sin. Isaiah said God prepared us from Jesus who would become our sacrificial lamb, our guilt offering. When we claim our guilt, the sacrifice becomes our gift.”

Key Word: Isaiah 53:5, he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

鑰句: 以53:5…他為我們的過犯受害、為我們的罪孽壓傷．因他受的刑罰我們得平安．因他受的鞭傷我們得醫治。

Read Isaiah 53:4-6,                                             讀以簺亞53:4-6,

  1. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
  2. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
  3. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.                

Questions and Answers: Is. 53:4-6:
  1. 他誠然擔當我們的憂患、背負我們的痛苦．我們卻以為他受責罰、被　神擊打苦待了。
  2.  那知他為我們的過犯受害、為我們的罪孽壓傷．因他受的刑罰我們得平安．因他受的鞭傷我們得醫治。
  3. 我們都如羊走迷、各人偏行己路．耶和華使我們眾人的罪孽都歸在他身上。                                     

問和答: 以簺亞書53:4-6,

 

 

 

 

 

1) What words does Isaiah use to describe our predicament (處、苦、窮境)?         How do they help you understand the different results of sin (v. 4)? (Infirmities as in illness and disease, sorrows because sin brings pain, transgressions because we cross the line God established, iniquities meaning wrong attitudes and actions that separate us from God.)  

2) Why did Isaiah compare our predicament with sheep?                                                       (Like sheep we wander, get lost, get into trouble that we can’t get out of, etc.)

3) What can suffering produce in the life of a Christian? Read 1st Peter 4:13. (If we allow Jesus to carry our suffering and carry us through suffering, we will have more of Jesus in us afterwards. His strength produces endurance; His mercy grows gratitude; His presence shares comfort.)

4. God’s Solution Isaiah 53:7-12: Life Suffering Carriers with Jesus

Many read this passage and set it aside as something they have already accepted in their lives through forgiveness for sin. They are grateful for salvation and embrace the personal holiness they are called to because of it.

But there is another message that we shouldn’t miss. Jesus suffered real pain, more than many of us ever will. His very human, earthy-world experience, He understands our suffering. He entered into it in a way no one else can. He carried more of it than anyone else ever has. He accepted the suffering so He could share its transformation.

Just before Jesus took His last breaths on the cross, He asked the question so many still ask today: Why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46). The answer God gave in that moment was silence! Does it surprise you that it is the same answer we receive to our why questions? Yet, God did answer. He brought Jesus all the way through His pain, suffering, and death to raise Him to life. God couldn’t have accomplished this transformation by giving Jesus a way out. Instead, He gave Jesus a way through. It is the same for us.

Take another look at Jesus and His suffering. The cruel Romans, the wayward Pharisees, and all the nameless people who sided with them are only part of the story. Jesus responded to all (the torturous whipping, the humiliation, the cruel, nerve-splitting nails, and the slow, oxygen-deprived death) without railing against anyone who participated in His torture. He did it for you. He carried your sorrows too. He embraced your sin.

If God could take an ugly, unfair, torturous death and transform it into resurrected life, what do you think He could do with your pain and soundness?

要點POINT: We all have journeys that can defeat us with pain, separation, rejection, abuse, disease, and death. God didn’t leave Jesus in His worst, isolated, pain-filled moment and He won’t leave you there, either. God says “Let me lift you up as you take my Suffering Servant as your Advocate in your journey.” An advocate takes up your cause, counsels your direction, understands your predicament and helps you find a way through. - By Debbie Salter Goodwin.我們生活之旅程也有苦衷、分離、被拒絕、受欺壓、或生病、或死亡；上帝說，在你的生活旅程中若你擁護基督這位我受難的僕人，我也必高舉你。”此擁護 (既傳福音)，神將指引您前面的路。以賽亞的異象使我們看出，上帝改變我們和給我們的，遠超過我們所求的。The vision of Isaiah reminds us that God comes with what we don’t expect in order to transform more than we thought to ask.