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JESUS THE SUFFERING SERVANT
THURSDAY, MAY 4
Philippians 2:6-7

Isaiah 53

 

“…and took upon him

the form of a servant…”

 

JESUS THE SUFFERING SERVANT
 
Jesus was conceived and born into this world in a lowly stable in Bethlehem, for there was no room for them at the inn. He did not come with the fanfare of a highborn king, surrounded with riches and glory. Though He is indeed our King, yet His purpose in His first coming was to come as a suffering servant. He was born into a humble carpenter’s family, entering this world in a most modest and unassuming setting. He led an obscure childhood, submitting Himself to the authority of human parents.
 
As Isaiah 53:2-3 prophesied: “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
 
He was a servant, in the sense that He came in submission to God the Father. His whole purpose was to do the will of the Father who had sent Him. As Jesus explained in John 5:30: “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” He came to fulfil the covenant established before the foundation of the earth, that He would willingly come to live this perfect life as a man, and then to die as a propitiation for our sins.
 
In so doing, He was also humbly serving man. As Jesus also explained to His disciples in Mathew 20:28: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered (served) unto, but to minister (serve), and to give his life a ransom for many.” His whole purpose was one of service, whereby He gave His all, as a servant would, in humble obedience to his master. He did this willingly out of love, for a rebellious and sinful people who did not even acknowledge Him. Has there ever been a more humble servant than Jesus?
 
THOUGHT: Will I still serve if the people I am serving despise me?
PRAYER: Father, as I meditate more about the sacrifice of Christ, may Thou teach me to be selfless and humble as He was.

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