Reading: Isaiah 49-51, Psalm 119:65-96

One of the hallmarks of the writing of J.R.R. Tolkien is the eucatastrophe, which he defined as “the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears.” In The Lord of the Rings, one of these happy turns is the reappearance of the heroic wizard Gandalf. But the heroes do not recognize him at first, and attempt to attack him. Legolas must apologize that he mistook Gandalf for the corrupt wizard Saruman. Gandalf then replies, “Indeed, I am Saruman… Saruman as he should have been.” In today’s reading Isaiah will reveal the Servant of God as “Israel as it should have been.” It is the prediction of a eucatastrophe in the story, a shocking happy turn that heralds the fulfillment of God’s promises in ways no one expected.

This is the guy. Isaiah knows and has gotten to see more about the coming righteous, anointed king than anyone before him, but nothing he has heard before compares to this. God gives Isaiah direct speech from the Servant, the anointed one that all of the Hebrew Scriptures have been moving towards.

The Servant appears and declares himself called from before his birth to speak a sword and to be a polished arrow, both items are of course weapons, but are also signs of command and authority. But both are hidden, the sword in the shadow of God’s hand and the arrow in a quiver. The Servant is the authority, and has the means to enforce his commands, but this will be hidden. God declares the Servant to be Israel. A new Israel. Israel as it should have been. There is an interchange where the servant appears defeated- he has labored in vain and all has come to nothing.

God gives a long response. First, he elevates the Servant’s task beyond merely the promise to restore Israel. It is too light a thing that you should raise up Jacob and bring back Israel. The Servant’s responsibilities will extend to the whole of the Earth. The Servant will be despised and abhored by the nations, but he will bring them salvation, and their rulers will eventually lie prostrate before him. Then he declares that he will vindicate the Servant’s work, while giving him as a covenant to the people. The language is an interplay of vindication and sacrifice. The Servant delivers, and is the means of deliverance. He is the king, and the weapon by which the enemies of God are destroyed.

Then God turns from the Servant to the people of Zion. Note that from this point on, Isaiah refers to the Servant as Israel, and the remnant of the people of Israel as either Zion, Jacob, or Jerusalem. The name struggles with God and man has been given to the Servant. He will do the struggling now. God answers the people’s complaint that he has forgotten them by telling them that the actions of the Servant will be to restore them all and bring the nations of the world together in their restored land to worship him. Any who oppress them will face God’s wrath. The descendants of Jacob will not be forgotten.

In chapter 50 the Servant speaks again, but sounding a lot like God. He stands as the champion of the people of God, daring anyone or anything to contend with him. He claims Godlike power: his word will dry up the sea, bring darkness in the daylight, and sustain the dying. But he will live in complete obedience, which in verse 6 we see involves being beaten and disgraced, though God will vindicate him. The Servant also issues a warning: do not try to walk by your own light. The Servant has been given the light from God, and those in darkness should follow him. Anyone who tries to fashion their own torch will end up burned by it. He then goes on in chapter 51, telling the people to look back to the rock from which you were hewn, the life of Abraham and Sarah. They were childless foreign wanderers when God called them, and look what he did for them. Ravaged Zion will become like Eden, like the garden of the Lord. Restoration to the perfection of Genesis 1 and 2 is promised.

Finally, he turns his words to the nations. The Servant has brought God’s words, God’s power, and God’s salvation to not only to the people of Jacob, but to the world. This is a declaration of hope, but also a warning. The Servant still carries the sword and he will use it to set up a kingdom of justice. Oppressors will be cast out, those who bore the wrath of God’s justice in the past have been forgiven, but those who continue in disobedience by oppressing those who follow the Servant will be given the bowl of wrath, and the cup of staggering. They will suffer all that the disobedient descendants of Jacob have been suffering in the story so far. The coming of the Servant and the restoration of God’s people does not signal the end of the justice of God. The Servant is Israel as it should have been, and he will not stop until the world is the world as it should have been.