July 20, 2025
Teacher: Paul Mermilliod
BIG TRUTH:
THE SUFFERING SERVANT IS OUR SAVIOR
Isaiah 53:4-5, 11
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. [5] But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed… Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 42:1
Behold my servant…
Big Idea:
The suffering servant is God’s delight.
Isaiah 42:1-4
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. [2] He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; [3] a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. [4] He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.
Big Idea: The suffering servant is God’s delight.
- The servant is chosen and supported by God. (42:1)
- The servant is God’s joy. (42:1)
- The servant is filled with God’s Spirit. (42:1)
- The servant is the hope of the weary and wounded. (42:3)
- The servant will bring about God’s justice. (42:1, 4)
- The servant will be steadfast through suffering. (42:4)
Big Idea: The suffering servant is sent by God.
Isaiah 49:1-6
Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. [2] He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. [3] And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” [4] But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity, yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.” [5] And now the LORD says,he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength— [6] he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Big Idea: The suffering servant is sent by God.
- The servant is God’s messenger to those near and far. (49:1)
- The servant is God’s sovereign plan for salvation (49:1, 5-6)
- The servant knows and declares the truth of God’s Word. (49:2)
- The servant is the means of God’s glory. (49:3)
- The servant’s strength and hope are found in God. (49:4-5)
- The servant is both true Israel, and the rescuer of Israel. (49:3, 5-6)
- The servant is the savior of the nations. (49:6)
Big Idea:
The suffering servant depends on God.
Isaiah 50:4-10
The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. [5] The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. [6] I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. [7] But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. [8] He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. [9] Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.[10] Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
Big Idea: The suffering servant depends on God.
- The servant is both a student and teacher. (50:4)
- The servant’s teaching gives life to the weary. (50:4)
- The servant lives in submission to God. (50:4-5)
- The servant is the rejected prophet. (50:6)
- The servant is the faithful prophet. (50:7-9)
- The servant is the master. (50:10)
Big Idea:
The suffering servant is God’s exalted sin-bearer.
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. [14] As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— [15] so shall he sprinkle many nations.Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
[1] Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? [2] For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. [3] He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. [4] Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. [5] But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. [6] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him; the iniquity of us all. [7] He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. [8] By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? [9] And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. [10] Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. [11] Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. [12] Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Big Idea: The suffering servant is God’s exalted sin-bearer.
- The servant will be exalted. (52:13, 15)
- The servant will be wounded and disfigured. (52:14)
- The servant will be despised, rejected, and humiliated. (53:2-3)
- The servant will be pierced, crushed, and punished. (53:4-5)
- The servant will die. (53:8-9, 12)
- The servant will bear the sin of the guilty. (53:6-8, 12)
- The servant will make sinners righteous. (53:5, 11)
- The servant’s crushing is God’s perfect plan. (53:10)
- The servant will be victorious over sin and death. (53:11-12)
Big Idea:
The suffering servant is Jesus.
Acts 8:35
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.
Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
1 Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Philippians 2:5-11
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Luke 22:27
…but I am among you as the one who serves.
Talk About It
- How do Isaiah’s prophecies point forward to Jesus?
- Where do you struggle to live sacrificially in a way that serves others?
- Talk about Jesus as the suffering servant. Talk about His humility, His sacrifice, His mercy, His suffering, and His love.
give
We respond in worship to God, our Creator and Sustainer, by giving sacrificially and generously. tcbchurch.org/give
respond to the gospel
If you want to know more about what it means to follow Jesus or how to respond to the gospel, visit the Hub in the upper atrium or tcbchurch.org/gospel.
The Bible Together:
