The Mocking and the Spitting

Isaiah 50:4–11

The last parts of Isaiah talk about a special person, the Servant of the Lord, who some people in the New Testament say is Jesus. This part of Isaiah talks about the best kind of life to live, where to get the strength to live it, and why it works. It shows how the Servant obeyed God, kept going even when things were hard, and how God showed he was right even when he was suffering. It also shows the difference between relying on ourselves and relying on God, which helps us understand what Jesus came to do and the rescue he offers us.

1. The life we’re supposed to live

Jesus, the ultimate Servant of the Lord, shows us a life of service that has two main parts. First, His role as a great counselor is shown by how He gently and kindly helped people who were tired and hurt, and we should try to be like that. Second, His strength and bravery when people were against Him, because He knew who He was in God, shows us we should be both gentle and brave. We need God’s spirit for this, and it shows us the life we should try to live.

2. Where to get the strength to live that life

Being a follower of Jesus is like being in a teaching hospital, where you learn from experienced doctors, just like we learn from the Bible. Jesus is a perfect example of someone who used the Bible as a guide for everything in life. The Bible is absolutely true, which challenges people who say they believe in Jesus but don’t agree with some things in the Bible. So we need to depend on God’s Word more than our own ideas.

3. Why that strength works

Understanding the Bible isn’t just about knowing the stories, it’s about getting the main message of the good news. The Bible talks about “costly grace,” which means God’s love for us cost Him a lot, shown by Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. This should change our lives deeply, making us want to fight for what’s right and live bravely and gently, letting the message of costly grace change our everyday lives.