The exile raised the question: Can we forfeit the promises of God? Can God’s people fail in such a way that God will abandon them? In the Servant Songs, God demonstrates that not only will He remain committed to His people, He will willingly choose to endure horrific suffering in order to free His people from their sinful hearts and make them righteous before Him.
| Theme | Passage | Summary | Key Verse |
| Consolation | 40:1-11 | God comforts His people because all their sins have been pardoned. The grace God offers is more than double the sinfulness. | 40:2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. |
| Consolation | 40:12-31 | God — who measures the waters in the palm of His hand — is too great to fail and He cares for His people by name. | 40: 28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. |
| Redemption | 42:1-4 | The Servant’s task was to establish true justice: freedom from a sinful heart and he succeeded. | 42:1 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. |
| Redemption | 49:1-13 | The Servant had confidence that God was faithful to His promises, even though the Servant had no visible evidence. | 49:4 But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” |
| Redemption | 50:4-11 | The Servant trusted that God would get him through the school of suffering. | 50:7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. |
| Redemption | 52:13-53:12 | The Servant willingly suffered our death for us and God will exalt him and give him eternal glory. | 53:6 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. |
| Deliverance | 54:1-10 | Because of His Servant’s work, God will establish a new land, a new seed and a new city which far surpass the old. | 54:1 “Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD. |
| Deliverance | 54:11-17 | God’s new City will be secure, based on righteousness, and victory is guaranteed because God will never again turn His back on His people. | 54:17 no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD. |
| Deliverance | 55:1-5 | God invites you to partake of this banquet:the life offered by his Servant. It’s glorious, it’s free, it’s available, and it will truly and completely satisfy the deepest longings of your soul. | 55:2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. |
| Deliverance | 55:6-13 | To enter the banquet, we need only turn from our sins and return to God. God is accessible, He will have compassion on us, and we can have utter confidence that all He has promised will come to pass. | 55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. |
Series: Isaiah: Servant Songs
Study Resources: Isaiah Bible Study Resources
Photo by Jacob Meyer on Unsplash
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