The Saviour’s Twofold Mission to the Weary:
Reaching Out to All Who Are in Bondage to Sin and Death
Isaiah 50: 4-9

DIVISION OVERVIEW: Isaiah 49:1 - 59:21
The Suffering Servant of God, the Saviour of the World

Isaiah now turns to some of the most significant prophecies in the Old Testament, prophecies of incomparable magnitude. No doubt, they are among the most quoted. The subject is the Saviour, the coming Messiah, who would come to earth as the humble Servant of God and give His life for the sins of the world.

The Saviour’s mission is to save; His call to every person in the world is to be saved. No matter how wicked or wretched a person is, Isaiah proclaims the hope of deliverance and of a glorious future to all who will repent and turn back to God. The great invitation of the Saviour is not only to the Jew, but to every person on the face of the earth. All may come and drink freely of the living water offered by Him, for the price of their redemption has already been paid.

No greater messages have ever been preached than those of Isaiah’s prophecies — the good news of the Suffering Servant of God dying for the sins of the world. The Messiah can save, and He will save. He will save all who truly trust in Him, repent of their sins and follow in His steps of righteousness. This is the glorious message preached by Isaiah, the prophecies of the great Deliverer, the Suffering Servant of God, the Saviour of the world.

Isaiah 50: 4-9 The Saviour’s Twofold Mission to the Weary: Reaching Out to All who are in Bondage to Sin and Death

The Saviour was given a very special mission to the weary. This is the third of four Servant songs that predict the coming Servant or Saviour of the world (chs. 42:1-7; 49:1-7; 50:4-9; 52:12-53:12). Four times in this passage the Servant refers to the Lord God or Sovereign Lord, who sent Him on His mission. In each reference the Servant tells how the Lord God met His every need as He carried out His assigned duties (v. 4, 5, 7, 9). As the Scripture and outline show, His mission was twofold: to preach to the weary and to suffer for the weary:

1.   First, the Messiah’s mission was to share God’s Word with the weary (v. 4). Who are the weary? They are those who are...
•   tired
•   unhappy
•   exhausted
•   discontented
•   downtrodden
•   disgusted
•   unable to go on
•   overworked
•   traumatized
•   oppressed
•   being seduced
•   feeling tempted
•   experiencing misfortune
•   suffering hardship
•   seeking to become acceptable through works, idolatry or false worship

Anyone who is suffering under the weight of heavy pressure, stress or burdens is a person who is weary. But there is wonderful news: the Saviour was sent into the world to meet the needs of the broken and oppressed. The Lord God of the universe, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, gave Christ the very words to share with them. God taught His Servant the words to preach and teach so that He could help sustain them. Note the claim of the Saviour, God’s Servant: every morning of His life, the Lord awakened Him and quickened His ear to hear the Word of God. The Saviour then taught the Word of God. The Saviour did not rebel against the Lord God or turn His ear away from God’s instructions. Everything God taught the Saviour to say and do, Jesus Christ said and did for the sake of the weary.

John 5:19 Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

John 5:30 “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”

John 6:38-40 “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”

John 8:28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.”

John 14:31 “But the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. ‘Come now; let us leave.’”

Heb 10:9-10 Then he [Christ], said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

2.   The Saviour’s mission was to suffer for the weary (vv. 6-9). When Christ died on the cross, He willingly gave Himself up to die as the ransom for the people’s sins. He suffered as their substitute: in their place, in their stead, in their behalf. Willingly, He offered His back to be scourged, beaten until there was very little flesh left. He offered His cheek to the sinners of the world, and they pulled out His beard. Voluntarily, He offered His face to be spat upon by all who rejected Him as God’s Servant, the Saviour of the world (see Mt. 26:67: 27:26. 30: Mk. l4:6; 15:16-20; Lk. l8:32; Jn. l8:22; 19:1).

Yet through all the suffering, the Saviour remained obedient and steadfast to the mission given Him by God. He set His face like a stone to suffer death so that the weary of the earth could be saved. Because Christ remained faithful, obedient to the Father’s will, God helped Him by making sure He would never be shamed or disgraced by failing in His mission! Christ would be triumphant in accomplishing His purpose. Down through the centuries, the weary of this earth turned to the Saviour by the millions to be delivered from the heavy weight of sin and the stressful burdens of this earth.

In His trial on earth, the Saviour and Servant of God was falsely accused. But the Saviour knew this important fact: God would vindicate or prove Him right (vv. 8-9). The Lord would justify Him because He was sinless. He had always lived a righteous and just life as He shared God’s Word with the people. Therefore, God would make His mission triumphant. The weary of the earth who placed their trust in Him would be saved, but the Saviour’s accusers would be like a garment that falls apart due to age or from being eaten by moths. They would not last but, rather, would face the judgment of the Lord God.

Mat 8:17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”

Mat 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.”

John 8:32 “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 19:17-18 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others — one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Rom 6:16-18 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Rom 6:22-23 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom 8:1-2 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Isa 53:4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. ♣

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