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Isaiah 50

Chapter 50

Read Is 50:4-11.
This time we will enter chapter 50; the third part of the complete picture of the Servant of God.

Reading the verses 4-11 we easily will draw the conclusion that this prophecy about the Servant points at the obedience of Jesus Christ. The apostle John writes much about Jesus’ obedience to God fulfilling His will. We therefore concentrate this Sunday on the Gospel of John in which we see the obedience of the Son to the Father.

First I want to link the verses in Isaiah to some verses in John.

Is 50:4,5 describe that the Servant of God learns obedience by listening to the Lord God.
Jn 5:19 tells us that the Son could not do anything of Himself then just doing those things that He sees the Father doing. The Son never took independent action.
Jn 5:30, 6:38: Jesus only seeks the will of His Father. Also His coming down to earth was because of the will of the Father, as we also know from Psalm 40:8. He delights in doing the will of the Father; the Father’s will is engraved in His heart.
Jn 8:28 shows us that Jesus only spoke those things that were taught by the Father. This is remarkably aligned with Is 50:4!
Jn 12:49,50: Jesus knows only one authority in speaking: He obeys the commands from the Father. Here we observe something very important: Jesus tells us in verse 50 the reason why He obeys to the Father’s command: because the Father’s command is everlasting life! I will come back to this great statement later.
In Jn 14:10: Jesus goes one step further: He says that because the Father dwells in Him, He automatically does the works of the Father.

So we saw that the Sons full obedience to the Father was brought into practice by seeking the will of the Father, by acting when He sees the Father acting, by speaking when He hears the Father speaking.
From the Father’s side we saw the next verbs: teaching the Son and dwelling inside the Son.

Then we go the next verse: Is 50:6: the prophecy is saying that the Servant even under vile treatment remains obedient, without withdrawing. And we know that this prophecy became true as we can read in all the Gospels, for example in Mt 26:67,68 and 27:27-31. Jesus remained submissive to the Father’s will to accomplish the salvation work for mankind.

Is 50:7: the Servant was so sure of the Lord’s God help that He resolutely determines to stay steadfast by whatever hardship might await Him. Even when the reality seems to demonstrate the opposite He counts on the help of His God.

Is 50:8,9: the Servant even welcomes the adversary to come because He has full confidence in the Lord’s God support.

Is 50:10,11 are calling us to follow the example of the Servant that we have seen in the preceding verses: to fear the Father, to trust the Father and to rely upon the Father.
Also the alternative is described in verse 11: when we do not apply the attitude of the Servant in our life and we follow our own way and make our own plans and listen to our own heart we will end-up in eternal torment.

Creating through obedience
Read Jn 1:1,2.
The Word that was with God from the very beginning points at the Lord Jesus who has been in the Fathers presence from far before the creation of the universe. He has been the Son from the very beginning; One of the Trinity.

The functions within the Trinity can be simply described as God as the Thinker, the Son as the Executer and the Holy Spirit as the Confirmer. In many places we can read that the Lord Jesus, the Son, the Executer, has indeed created everything that exists:
1 Cr 8:6 teaches us that all things are from the Father, but are through the Son and through the Son we live.
Cl 1:16-17 tells us that all material and spiritual things are created by the Son and for the Son. Everything is created for His pleasure and glory.
Hb 1:2 shows us that God made the worlds through the Son.

Keeping these verses in mind we start to understand the meaning of the Word that was with God: the Word stands for the executing power by which the universe was created. The Word is personified by the Son. The Word is related to the Divine Reason behind all things. In other words: God the Son was able to create all things because He was in direct contact with God the Father.

Now we jump to the book of Proverbs.
Let’s read Prov 8:22-31. Here we see again the close relationship between the Son and the Father before the Creation. Verse 30 says that the Son was the master craftsman. Why? Because of the fact that the Son was so close to the Father, the Father could demonstrate Him how to be a craftsman. The Father showed Him preparing the heavens, drawing the boundaries of the waters, establishing the clouds, marking the foundations of the earth. By seeing this, the Son was able to perform the real action, making the real Creation. Just remind the verse Jn 5:19: the Son could not do anything of Himself then just doing those things that He sees the Father doing! Just through obedience the universe has been created!

This is the right moment that we can join the word obedience with the word wisdom.
The definition of wisdom is the ability to understand God’s word and God’s will and skilfully apply that understanding.
Here we discover the secret of Jesus’ obedience as the Servant in Isaiah, and as the Son of God in the gospel of John. He applied the wisdom in a perfect way as He has always been doing that when He was with the Father from the beginning. He already applied wisdom when making the universe: He utilized that what He had seen from His Father.

Proverbs
The book of Proverbs, and also Ecclesiastes, are called Wisdom Literature.
Wisdom Literature is part of the Old Testament truth.
The Priests gave the Law, explaining what is right and what is wrong.
The Prophets passed on the Word of God, telling His directives.
And the wise man, like Solomon, gave the Counsel of God in the Wisdom Literature.

Knowing the Counsel of God gives insight in God’s way of thinking. And this is exactly that what the book of Proverbs is pointing at. When we know God’s thoughts and we apply these in every day life we will be sure of blessings and satisfaction. The recurring promise of Proverbs is that the wise (the righteous people who obey God) will live longer, will prosper, and will experience joy and the goodness of God. The fools and the wicked on the other hand, who are guided by their own heart-desires, will suffer shame and death. The book of Proverbs calls man to live as the Creator intended him to live when He made man. Proverbs is not superficial or external because it contains moral and ethical elements stressing upright living as a result of a righteous relationship with God. These elements are not morally and ethically just by themselves but are just because they come from God.

Solomon had got abundant wisdom from God when he had requested it (1 Kngs 3:9-12) and the book of Proverbs is the clear results of it. But, as an example how difficult it is to apply wisdom in life, we just can look at the end of Solomon’s life where we see that he pitifully fails when he, stimulated by all his foreign wives, started to worship idols. All the lessons in his Proverbs he regrettably forgot himself.
It is only Jesus Christ, when He was on earth, Who was personifying the Wisdom (1 Cr 1:30,31) in a perfect way! He applied the real wisdom to the fullest and pleased and glorified God the Father by His way of living.

Application
How are we going to deal with the biblical wisdom as we have seen that was and is present with the Lord Jesus? What lesson is there for us when observing obedience of the Son to the Father?
I think it is for everyone clear that also we have to strive to obtain this wisdom and obedience! All the more since we know that we will please the Father and consequently blessings will be poured out in our lives.

Perfect obedience
Let’s again resume what we saw in Proverbs.
Prov 30:2-4 says it in a nice way. Proverbs 30 has not been written by Solomon but by Agur, who was most probably one of Solomon’s pupils. Agur shows in the first few verses that he understood very well the principle of true wisdom: one can be very stupid and know nothing. But when he knows God and His Son then he possesses the true wisdom and has gained more then the wisest man on earth.
In other words: it is not the most important thing to gain much knowledge in our education, at school, in our studies, in whatever. Even gaining knowledge of the Bible does not give added value if it is not accompanied with finding and obtaining wisdom!
Proverbs is saying that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of true knowledge (1:7) and that the fear of the Lord leads to life (19:23) in abundance.
Agur states that if we understand Who the Creator of all is, Who is in control of all, and Who is the Father and Who is the Son, we have got the baseline. When we get this Divine understanding and apply it, we obey God and we will receive what God has originally intended for us: eternal life through the Son; Jn 17:3.
Remember what we saw in Jn 12:50: Jesus obeyed to the Father’s command because the Father’s command is everlasting life.

Blind obedience?
Does this mean that we have to be obedient to God in a blind way? No, I don’t believe so. In the contrary: perfect obedience is originating from that what we see from the Father and the Son! Remember that Jesus said that He could not do anything of Himself then just doing those things that He sees the Father doing (Jn5:19). And as we read in Prov 8: the Son was able to create the universe only when He had seen the Father doing it.

This is what we have to learn practicing in our lives: first of all to observe the Lord Jesus and His life as written in the gospels. Like the Son has had the Father as His example, we have to have the Son as our example! Like the Son watched the Father always so we have to watch the Son always.
How do we do this? By reading the Word everyday and asking the Holy Spirit to give understanding in our hearts while reading. In 1 Cr 2:6-16 we see that we have the mind of Christ to help us understanding the things of God.

Secondly we should not take independent action. Since the Lord Jesus has bought our lives for a high price, He is the Owner and He has the authority in all the details of our lives. As soon as we stay for a decision to make we have to pray for His guidance. As the Son never did anything of His own and always waited for the Father’s help, we have to stay away from immediate action and always wait for His help. Perfect obedience means being patient!

Now we return to Is 50.
Read again verse 5. As the Lord opened the ear of His Son every morning to instruct Him, He wants to open our ears so that we can receive His lessons for life. With this attitude the Son was able to stand any adversary, any persecution without being ashamed because He trusted on the Father’s help.
Verse 11 presents the alternative: if we try to escape moral and try to illuminate our spiritual darkness by man-made religion, we will destruct ourselves forever.

It is up to us; it is each one’s responsibility to choose or not for true wisdom that brings eternal life.

Let we just focus on our Lord Jesus Christ, our great example that show how God wants us to be!