Isaiah 50 begins another of the Prophet’s well-known “Servant” Texts. And perhaps this Unit is the clearest of them all … so far!

No doubt, Jesus is in view!

Let me share a couple of verses. See if you agree that our Lord is the Speaker, via the miracle of Bible Prophecy.

“The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” Isaiah 50:5-6

The word picture about the “opened ear” indicates “voluntary servanthood.” Jesus was not FORCED to come to earth and die on the Cross! Rather, He (gladly) did it out of Love. Primarily (I think) love for His Father … then also love for us lost sinners! (See Exodus 21:6 and Deuteronomy 15:7, for the servant’s “pierced” ear concept.)

Then … “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” Is this not certainly our Lord Jesus Christ, at the Cross? Notice please … He “gave” Himself!

John 10:17-18 … Jesus preaching … “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”

Wow!

Then one more verse today, pure dynamite!

“For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.” Isaiah 50:7

Jesus was that DETERMINED to go to Calvary! He adamantly set His Face … like a flint!

And though He was (in the estimation of the men and women on the Scene) shamed and disgraced and belittled … in His Own Heart and Mind … He was the Victor!

“Not confounded!”

“Not ashamed!”

How so, in the face of all apparent data?

Because … of the Reward that awaited Him, at the Right Hand of His father in Heaven!

Here’s my proof Text … “Jesus , Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

Luke 12:50 adds to our discussion as well. Did Jesus “shrink” from the Cross, even at Gethsemane?

No!

He welcomed it!

“But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!”

Wow, almost “I can’t wait until it (the Cross) be accomplished!” The verb here is “teleo,” as in “It is finished!”

The more I learn about Jesus, the more I admire and adore and worship Him!

The Darling Son of God!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

.