The Coming Servant, Part 4: Isaiah 52.13-53.12 (6)

Pray Psalm 110.5-7.
The Lord is at Your right hand;
He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.
He shall judge among the nations,
He shall fill the places with dead bodies,
He shall execute the heads of many countries.
He shall drink of the brook by the wayside;
Therefore He shall lift up the head.

Read Isaiah 53.12.

Reflect.
1. What is being divided, and among whom? 

2. What reason is given for this dividing of the spoil?

Meditate.
A reward awaits the Servant through His terrible suffering. “Because He poured out His soul unto death,” “was numbered with the transgressors,” and because “He bore the sin of many” and “made intercession for the transgressors”, the Servant will receive the spoils of victory from God. 

And not just the Servant, but “the many” as well.

I want to translate the first part of verse 12 as follows: “I will make an allotment to Him among the many…” The Hebrew word, אֲחַלֶּק, “I will make an allotment,” recalls the dividing of the land of promise under Joshua. Joshua received the land of promise as the Lord’s allotment for His people. Similarly here, the spoils of victory go to the Servant. What are these “spoils”? The earth and all creation, reconciled to God by His Servant, and now being made new by apportionment to “the many” (2 Cor. 5.17-21).

The verse continues, “and He will apportion the mighty as plunder…” The Servant spreads the wealth (cf. Dan. 7.13-18). As Joshua apportioned the land to the tribes, so the Servant apportions the spoils to the “many.” Jesus declared Himself to be in the plundering business in Matthew 12.22-29. He is taking the world back from the devil. He shares the riches of His plundering with “the many” – those who follow Him. This was symbolized by the two miracles of the loaves and fishes and will be fully realized by the faithful at the banquet table of the Lord (Rev. 19). 

But there is a sharing of the spoils even now, as the Lord, following the example of Joshua, entrusts His faithful ones with an “allotment” of space – let’s call it a Personal Mission Field – in which, by His Word and Spirit, He unfolds His rule of righteousness, peace, and joy with increasing goodness, beauty, and truth (2 Cor. 10.13-18). In His followers, and throughout their Personal Mission Fields, Jesus intends to fill the world with Himself (Eph. 4.7-10), for He, in the Person of His Spirit, is the great spoil of victory given to all who trust in Him (Is. 44.1-5).

Jesus foresaw this even as He suffered. He was able to endure His trials because of the joy that awaited Him beyond them. Just so, we must press on through our trials, knowing that through them we may realize more of His Kingdom and Presence (Heb. 12.1-11; Acts 14.23).

One more point, and this hints at the magnitude of the Servant’s achievement: He bore the sin (חֵטְא) of the many. Would we not expect this to be rather “sins”? Surely “many” have more than one “sin.” But the Hebrew is singular. Whereas under the old covenant, the system of sacrifices and offerings could only cover sins for a season, it could not take away the problem of sin – the heart-rooted condition of rebellion against God that leads to all sins. But the Servant, by His suffering, not only forgives the sins but removes the condition of sin– He boreour sin away – thus making this time of plunder and spoil and Kingdom advance a new season of liberation. This was typified in the deliverance from Egypt and the return from Babylon, but now it is truly accomplished through the suffering and resurrection of Jesus. Now we may increase in the righteousness, peace, and joy of Christ’s rule on earth as it is in heaven, for sin has been defeated by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Prepare.
1. What “apportionment” has the Lord given you? Are you filling your apportionment with Him?

2. Why do we say that Jesus is the spoil of victory? How do we receive and enjoy that spoil?

3. How can believers encourage one another in enjoying the spoils of Christ and advancing His Kingdom within our Personal Mission Fields?

And this fruit swallows up all the shame of the death of Christ, that his majesty and glory may be more clearly seen than if we only beheld him sitting in heaven; for we have in him a striking and memorable proof of the love of God, when he is so insulted, degraded, and loaded with the utmost disgrace, in order that we, on whom had been pronounced a sentence of everlasting destruction, may enjoy along with him immortal glory. John Calvin (1509-1564 AD), Commentary on Isaiah 53.12

Thank You, Jesus, for sharing Your victory and spoils with me! Help me today and every day to…

Pray Psalm 110.
As you pray, contemplate the work of Jesus, as He sits at the right hand of the Father – what it is, who it involves, and where it is headed. Commit yourself to your calling in that ongoing work of Christ.

Sing to the Lord.
Psalm 110 (Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
“Sit by Me at My right hand,” the Lord says to my Lord, 
“Until I make Your foot stand on all who hate Your Word.” 
From in His Church the Savior rules all His enemies; 
while those who know His favor go forth the Lord to please. 

Filled with the Spirit’s power, in holy robes of love,
from early morning’s hour they serve their Lord above. 
Christ reigns a priest forever, the King of Righteousness 
and King of Peace who ever His chosen ones will bless. 

The Lord at Your right hand, Lord, in wrath shall shatter kings, 
when judgment by His strong Word He to the nations brings. 
Then, all His foes defeated, He takes His hard-won rest, 
in glorious triumph seated with us, redeemed and blest!

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).