Christ: the Servant of the Lord

The three areas of redemption accomplish several different goals.

Salvation obtains for us preservation in the Day of Wrath.

Sanctification releases us from the bondages of our sinful flesh and human mind so we may be free to pursue the Spirit-filled life of righteous and holy behavior, and also to bear witness and serve in the Kingdom in the will of God.

Conquest brings us into the fullness of our inheritance as sons of God.

The Book of Isaiah has much to say concerning the Servant of the Lord.

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. (Isaiah 42:1)

Chapter 42, and other chapters of Isaiah, describe the ministry of Christ—Head and Body. Christ is the Servant of the Lord God of Heaven. We are being created the fullness of the Servant, the Body of Christ.

The Servant is the elect of God, as Jesus said: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit" (John 15:16).

The Soul of God "delights" in His Servant. We are being created a delight to the Lord. "I have put my spirit upon him." The reason we have received the Holy Spirit is that we may become part of God’s Servant, God’s Anointed Deliverer of whom the Hebrew Prophets spoke.

"He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." The task of the Servant, Christ, is to judge and bring justice to the peoples of the earth, in addition to establishing Israel as God’s people. The Servant of the Lord will march throughout the earth at the appearing of Christ, destroying sin and liberating the nations of the earth.

The kingdom of darkness will be crushed under the feet of the Servant of the Lord. No vestige of that kingdom will remain. All the earth will abide under the law of Christ. A rod of iron will bring release to those who obey Christ and receive His lordship; but the rod will bring destruction to the rebels.

He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. (Isaiah 42:2)

The Servant of the Lord does not force people and circumstances in his own strength and scheming. He waits on God until the Spirit of God brings all people, circumstances, and things into line with the will of God.

A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. (Isaiah 42:3)

God works patiently with each of His elect until the individual learns to be patient. The Servant of the Lord learns from the Father to be gentle, to minister in patience and love. Many souls can be delivered from the fires of destruction if we do not lose our patience with them.

In the above verse (Isaiah 42:3) there is hope for the weak Christian. It is our conviction that God will save the weak members of the Church and establish them in beauty and glory in the new Jerusalem.

We must keep in mind, however, that there is a difference between the weak Christian and the lukewarm Christian. The weak Christian, as we are using the term, is one who has had little light, has had meager opportunity to grow in the Lord. There is scriptural hope for the weak.

There is no such hope for the lukewarm, careless, foolish believer. He will be vomited from the Lord’s mouth. He will not rise to meet the Lord when He comes. Outer darkness is his destiny.

He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. (Isaiah 42:4)

As we are dying and being resurrected in God we come to many points of seeming failure that tempt us with discouragement and disappointment. Then the touch of God strengthens us and failure is transformed into victory. Encouragement comes forth from the grave of discouragement at the voice of Christ and we receive the eternal strength and patience necessary for accomplishing the will of the Father.

Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant? (Isaiah 42:19)

We must die and be raised in God in order to attain blindness and deafness. We find the same thought in II Corinthians 4:18:

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (II Corinthians 4:18)

As we die in God we are tempted to criticize other people and attempt to place blame on others for our troubles. Also we become vexed because of the wicked, unjust practices in the earth. Our faith is tried because what we see in the natural realm is so contrary to what the Spirit of God is showing us to be the right way to live.

Our task—and it is very difficult at times—is to refuse to look at the things that are seen and to fasten our gaze on Christ. This means we must cease criticizing other people, cease blaming others for our problems, cease fretting over the wickedness in the earth, and cease worrying over the possible outcomes of our impossible circumstances.

The Servant of the Lord is blind and deaf to the people, circumstances, and things that are bringing him into the death and resurrection of union with God. He waits patiently for the wisdom and power of the Father to relieve the pressure.

God’s Servant does not judge after the hearing of his ear or the seeing of his eye. He waits for the Word of the Lord before he passes judgment or responds to a situation. The end result of such obedience is extraordinary fruitfulness and irresistible strength.

The resurrection power and Life of God surround the Servant of the Lord.

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. (Isaiah 43:2)

Here is a portrayal of our conquest experience, our death and resurrection in the Father. We pass through the waters of trials, troubles, denials, discouragements, humiliations, persecutions, and God is with us throughout each painful episode. We pass through the rivers of active opposition, fighting, pressure, envy, but they cannot conquer us because of the resurrection Life from the Father that keeps on protecting us, guiding us, and lifting us up.

We walk through the midst of God’s judgment, but we become judgment-proof by the blood of Christ and by confessing and forsaking our sins. The flames roar up all about us but there is nothing left in us that will ignite. We are becoming pure gold in God and the heat and pressure no longer can harm us. The fiery trials only make us more pure. We are alive forever in Christ.

As to fruitbearing:

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isaiah 27:6)

As to the strength needed for total victory:

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. (Isaiah 41:14,15)

Mountains and hills symbolize the governments of the earth and the powers that rule in the earth. The Servant of the Lord will judge these governments and powers and bring them down into obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. All opposition will be cut into helpless chaff before the onslaught of the Servant of the Lord.

Such threshing and beating small is impossible until the Church is ready to become God’s "worm." "Wormology" is one of the more important branches of theology.

We may not enjoy the thought of becoming God’s worm. We do not mind being termed lions or eagles or some other animal that commands respect. But worms? Never!

It is impossible for the Christian Church to bring about the Kingdom of God in the earth other than by becoming a worm. Being a worm has nothing to do with compromising with the world or with currying favor with man. God’s worms never attempt to build anything with the help or approval of the flesh. We do not need so much as a shoelace from the world. The less we lean on the arm of flesh the more fruitful and powerful we shall be.

Being a worm in the true sense means being meek in the sight of God. It means allowing our rights and privileges to be removed unjustly and not resorting to scheming and trickery in the attempt to bring about our own victories.

Being a worm means waiting on God and allowing Him to deny us our desires and to bring us into unpleasant situations. The worm does not murmur or seek to justify its position. The worm is God’s worm, not man’s worm. Our attitude and approach toward God must be one of humility and patience. Worms are humble and patient.

We are not to strike back as does a rattlesnake. We are to keep on burrowing through the messy problems and circumstances under which we nearly are suffocated. In Christ we never suffocate because He raises us up continually.

For two thousand years the major segment of the Christian Church has attempted by means of its own wisdom and strength to accomplish the work of the Kingdom and to impress the world with the rightness and power of its cause. The Church desires to convince the world that the Church is of God and should be esteemed and its statements obeyed.

All such attempts are futile because the methods employed are contrary to the mind of God. In the last days, just before Christ appears, the holy remnant of the Church will understand that God works through our death of consecration and our stern obedience to Christ.

Our task is to allow God to have His way in us, to be perfectly obedient. Then the Holy One of Israel will come thundering forth, bearing witness of Himself through the Body of Christ. When He does—and the Scripture promises He shall in the last days—the Body of Christ will be filled with glory and multitudes of earth’s peoples will be brought into the righteous ways of the Lord.

In that hour of worm-like dependence the Church, having wrestled with God to the death, hardly will notice that all its desires are being fulfilled in abundance. Now, as was true of Jacob, the eyes of God’s saints will become so fixed on God that everyone and everything else will fade into secondary importance.

The Church will become enraptured with the Person of Christ. The single-minded, adoring contemplation of Christ will bring all other persons, circumstances, and things into proper perspective. Such gaining of perspective is true of each of us today who is willing to trust God to the point of ceasing to grasp our own desires and allowing our worship of Him to ascend to first place in our faith and thoughts.

How we enter conquest. The third area of redemption, that of self-denial, is the most trying and difficult of the three deaths and resurrections. Yet, self-denial, the bearing of our personal cross, is the only route to the greatest fruitbearing and the greatest power and glory in Christ.

Are we willing to be brought to the point of ultimate obedience? How does one come to this place of obedience to the Father?

First, we must give our consent to such obedience and faithfulness to God. It is necessary that we tell the Lord Jesus with our mouth we are determined, by the wisdom and strength He provides, to follow Him with a perfect heart.

It also is helpful to tell others of our determination. When the situation is appropriate it is neither proud nor boastful to state that Jesus is our Lord and that by His grace we will serve Him with our whole life. Our verbal statement of our determination will help to strengthen our resolve, and will challenge others in our group who may need that extra bit of encouragement from us to push them over the line of indecision into the ranks of the conquerors in Christ.

Pursuing the life of victory in Christ does not require unusual will power, spirituality or any other extraordinary resource on our part. Every Christian should be—and can be—an overcomer in the Lord. Our part is to obey Christ when He commands us to do something. God’s part is to make it possible for us to perform our act of obedience.

The concept that there is a "permissive" will of God for the disciple of Jesus who will not obey God’s "first" will for him, is utterly false. The only true disciple of Christ is the person who is following Jesus with singleness of purpose. The indecisive, halfhearted, guilt-ridden "profession" of Christ we see about us is not Christian discipleship as described in the Scriptures.

There are many fine people who have come into our churches and who are upset about the sin in the earth. They may have received Christ as Savior and been baptized in water. But until they receive Christ as their personal Lord they are not disciples of the Lord. They are not victorious saints, and the rewards assigned to the victorious saints will not be given to them. When God begins to speak through His prophets some of these people will leave the assembly.

Only the disciple is the true Christian. The remainder are churchgoers who subscribe more or less to the truths of the Kingdom.

In certain instances the believers have been deceived into assuming that indecisive playing around the edges of the faith, halfway measures of obedience, are acceptable to God the Father. Most assuredly they are not! God, in His love, is waiting for us to climb out of the valley of decision. Either we are obeying Christ or we are not obeying Christ. There is no middle ground.

Each member of the Body of Christ must learn to bear endlessly with people who are attempting to come into a right relationship with God through Christ. We must always be full of encouragement, patience, understanding, toward the less fervent Christians.

We shall live to see the day when all the wishy-washy, halfhearted compromising is swept away by the broom of destruction. There will be no more wavering between two opinions. In that day there will be no person joined to the Body of Christ, to the Servant of the Lord, who has any reservations about going through the full death and resurrection God requires.

The Christian disciple carries his cross as a soldier. He marches after Christ. He is a son of God. He endures hardness. His mind is girded with resolve to obey Christ through the suffering that comes his way. He renders immediate obedience as soon as he is certain Christ indeed has spoken.

He wastes no time counting the cost. He is up and after Christ each day. He seeks the will of Christ with his whole heart. He is dependable, steady, faithful unto death.

In the areas of imperfection in his life he submits meekly to the rebuke and chastening of his Lord. If you ask him if he is doing the will of Christ he will answer, "Yes!" His conscience is clear. His heart does not condemn him.

If there is only one such person on the earth, then there is only one disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth. If there are ten such people on the earth, then there are ten disciples of the Lord Jesus. There are ten true Christians.

Many are being saved from wrath; still others are following on through sanctification to increased knowledge of the redemption that is in Christ. In the present moment of history, God particularly is interested in developing the quality of obedience. Total obedience on the part of each saint is essential to the successful conduct of the Battle of Armageddon.

They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: (Joel 2:7)

After we have given mental and vocal consent to becoming servants of Christ we must set ourselves to accept the joys and sorrows that will come to us. The Father most certainly will take us at our word and bring us successfully through the many experiences necessary for perfecting us in His Person and will.

There is a price to pay for such glory. All precious things have a high cost.

The cost of not following the Lord Jesus with a perfect heart is far greater than the cost of obedience. The waters of eternal life are freely given but we have to turn away from Satan in order to receive them. The price of not obeying the Lord Jesus is the loss of our inheritance as a son of God. We ought to consider many times what we are doing before we sell our inheritance as a son of God for the relationships, circumstances, and things of the world.

Do not lightly regard the fact that Christ, the King of Glory, is offering to you the joy and blessing of the Fullness of His Presence, His very throne.

The development of obedience in us must run so deep that our mental and vocal consent are the merest beginning. The Spirit of God assumes the task of developing obedience in us. Then the hammering commences.

The Ark of the Covenant was overlaid with gold, representing the fact that our glorious house from Heaven will "swallow up" our mortal flesh (II Corinthians, Chapter Five).

Also, our deepest inner being is becoming the gold of God’s Substance. We are being created the Mercy Seat, the Lid of Reconciliation, the place of the Presence of the Consuming Fire of Israel, the eternal throne of God, the covenant of God with people.

The Mercy Seat must be hammered into shape, it cannot be cast into shape from a mold. Moment after moment, day after day, month after month, year after year, the hammering on our Christ-filled personality continues. Will it never cease?

Each painstakingly aimed hammer blow touches some nerve, some point of our old nature. The old passes away and the shaped-and-refined new takes its place. It is not a fun-filled game.

With endless patience God taps, taps, taps, taps. We are brought down to the border of discouragement. We come close to despair. God watches carefully for the breaking point to see if we are getting too close to the edge of collapse.

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. (Isaiah 57:15,16)

Day after day. Day after day. Is there no end to the hammering? The Lord Jesus smiles patiently having experienced the hammer blows Himself.

Our will is ground in the mill of God and the Substance of Christ is "beaten small" and pounded into our will until the two wills are indistinguishable. Each will is present, vital, undamaged, honed to razor sharpness. The two wills, Christ’s and ours, have been beaten fine and pounded together until God has been formed in us and is dwelling in us both to will and to do His good pleasure.

Let us rejoice because the throne of glory is being fashioned in us. Also, the defense of the glory, the wall of the new Jerusalem, the eternal resistance to all sin, is being created in us (Isaiah 4:5).

Covering the Mercy Seat are the two Cherubim of Glory. One is judgment and the other is mercy. Judgment and mercy. The fullness of God’s judgment and the fullness of God’s mercy. God does not sit on the Mercy Seat. God dwells between the Cherubim of Glory. There is no need for God to sit anywhere for He is All-energy, All-power, All-authority, All-goodness, All-wrath, All-mercy. God is everywhere and Everything at once!

Christ is seated on the highest throne of glory and we are seated together with Him and in Him. However, in order to maintain our place in Him, to keep possession of our crown, we must allow the Father to bring us into obedience, into the fullness of death and resurrection in Himself.

We are to follow the Holy Spirit in all matters. We cannot take hold of the program of redemption and manage it. Each of us has been called to a different place in God’s Kingdom. The full extent of our death and resurrection in God will depend on the place of responsibility and service to which we have been called. The calling of the Lord God of Heaven is upon us. Our task in life is to respond wholeheartedly to that call.

The first and second deaths and resurrections are somewhat the same for everyone. We all must accept Christ and be saved, and we all are commanded to renounce sin completely and to learn to live in the Spirit of God.

When we come to the area of conquest, while it most certainly is true that each of us must say "Yes" to Jesus when He speaks to us, yet the working out of death and resurrection in God varies from person to person.

There is only so much forming and testing we can stand. To aspire beyond our measure is to be plagued with spiritual ambition. Spiritual ambition runs perilously close to Satan’s rebellion. Let us be content, rather, with what is required of us as an individual. The accompanying challenges will prove to be as difficult as we are able to endure.

Back to Three Deaths and Three Resurrections: Vol 3