The Love of a Father, the Obedience of a Son
The redemption of the world
In chapter 49 of Isaiah, we get to listen in on a beautiful behind-the-scenes conversation between the Heavenly Father and His Son. Much of what they say is later revealed to New Testament writers who then revealed it to us, so much of it may sound familiar. Would you like to read along with me?
The Son speaks first:
“Listen to me, all you in distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.” (Isaiah 49:1, NLT)
If you’ve ever been to a Christmas program, you know the story. Before Jesus was born, an angel appeared to his mother’s husband and told him a baby boy was on the way.
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21, NIV)
The name Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew, means “savior” or “deliverer.” Yeshua, also translated Joshua, was a common name in Israel. Israel was in constant need of a deliverer, and parents were always looking, always hoping, that their baby Joshua would be the one.
In Greek, Yeshua became Iesous. And that, for us English speakers and spellers, became “Jesus.”
Every time someone said or says his name, whether Yeshua, or Iesous, or Jesus, or any of the thousands of translations of his name, they were or are calling him “deliverer” or “savior.” And he was. And is.
While the children of Israel were waiting for a deliverer to come and rain fire and brimstone on their enemies, the Father was preparing His Son in secret. The Son said, “He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword.” (Isaiah 49:2, NLT)
Paul knew the power of those words and encourages believers to “take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17) in our stand against the evil one.
The writer of Hebrews tells us why:
For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword… (Hebrews 4:12, KJV)
And when you read the gospel accounts of Jesus’ interactions with the arrogant scribes and Pharisees, you see just how piercing and powerful His words are.
The Father prepared the Son as an arrow, smooth and straight, sure to strike its intended mark: the hearts of those who hear. And then He held him close, tucked His Son away, until the “fullness of time.” (Galatians 4:4)
When the fullness of time arrived, the Father brought Jesus out of hiding in a way most unexpected, yet genius! In the secret and hidden wisdom of God, decreed before the ages for our glory, He sent him in the form of a servant and in the likeness of an ordinary man.
None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (I Corinthians 2:6–7, NIV)
Most who walked the streets with him had no idea who he was. Just some ordinary son of a carpenter, I guess. But the Father told him who he was. He said:
“You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor” (Isaiah 49:3, NIV).
He called him Israel.
We’re used to God calling His nation “Israel.” His people were His servants, and they were chosen to display His splendor. But Israel was the name of a man before it was the name of a nation. The man Israel got his name when he struggled with the angel of God, and God said he prevailed (Genesis 32:24–30)! Because of the man’s tenacity, his name would no longer be Jacob (deceiver) but Israel (one who struggles).
Years later, the descendants of that man were still struggling with God. Stubborn rather than tenacious, they weren’t serving Him and they weren’t displaying His splendor. It was time for the Father to send a new Israel, His Son, to do what the nation of Israel couldn’t do.
The prophet relays another very intimate, quite surprising, exchange. Right here, in black and white, we see how the Son of God felt about his mission: “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.” (Isaiah 49:4, NLT)
Isaiah was prophesying words that would be spoken in a garden 700 years later.
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray. And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:38–39, NLT)
Can you relate to Jesus’ struggles? His sadness? His loneliness? Of course you can. But could you trust the Father and leave it in His hands? I’m not sure I could. But Jesus, yielding to the Father, counted it an honor to do His will and leaned into the Father’s strength.
We may not have to endure what Jesus did, but I think the key to enduring anything is recognizing that we aren’t crying out to a God high in the sky but leaning into a Father who is right beside us.
And then the LORD, His Father — the one who formed Jesus in a human womb to be His servant, who commissioned him to bring Israel back to Him — spoke:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)
It was too small a thing! God’s heart was bigger; His purpose was greater; the Son was stronger and His salvation could reach further, so He said, “Hey! Let’s just save the whole world!”
The Son didn’t go into this mission blind. The Father told him he would be despised, rejected, and subject to traitors and despots. But with incredible patience and the promise of the Father, the Son would wait for the fullness of time, when the end planned since the beginning would be revealed to the waiting world. He would become God’s everlasting covenant to restore the earth and free the people.
When the nation of Israel couldn’t keep the terms of their covenant with God (as none of us could), the man God called Israel became the covenant himself. No longer did fulfillment of the terms of the covenant depend on the grudging obedience of man, but on the willing obedience of the Son. It was that obedience that purchased an eternity of joy for God’s people.
“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)
And when all is accomplished, “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. (Isaiah 49: 9–10)
(Sounds a lot like Psalm 23 to me.)
All because Jesus said, “Yes.”
