THE SUFFERING SERVANT OF THE LORD
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
ISAIAH 53 : 1-7
Key Verse
“All we like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all to fall on Him.”
Isaiah 53:5
INTRODUCTION
It is a very good thing to be a servant of the Lord God. This position guarantees you will be successful in whatever role you are called on to play, for God faithfully supports His servants who follow His instruction. This does not mean you will not suffer but it means your reward will be great and you will know for sure you will have eternal life and always be with God.
The Lord Jesus is a prime example of what it means to be a servant of the Lord. He volunteered to come to earth as a human being, live among men, do a ministry that was essential to the survival of mankind, heal men, show them what God the Father was like. He was the beneficiary of the strong arm of God and so He worked tirelessly to carry the message of the Gospel to his nation. In addition, He selected Apostles to carry the message of the Gospel to all the nations of the world for all men on earth had sinned, displeased god, and disobeyed all the time. All men would therefore have to learn how to live to please God and obtain all the blessings of salvation. But this was an extremely tough job that Jesus took on, for He was opposed by all the satanic forces that attacked His human nature that He had when He came to earth as a human being. But despite all these attacks from Satan, his demons, and the evil men that ruled the nations Jesus did not turn away from His appointed tasks. He was faithful. He was obedient to the will of His Father.
So He suffered a lot. What made this worse was that the disciples and the people in the nation did not believe the difficulties their Messiah and Saviour would experience. They did not believe the teachings of the prophets, and they did not remember what Jesus had told them would happen.
Since He was not born in a palace and His parents were not rich and famous, the ordinary people did not think He was the Great Messiah they had expected, even though they benefited from all the miracles of Jesus. He healed their sicknesses, fed them, taught them and comforted them. Even those close to Him had a hard time believing what Jesus taught them about how He would suffer and die in order to bear their sins and protect them from the wrath of the Father.
Maybe you have the same type of experience when you do good things for those around you but they do not really appreciate it, and do not follow the commandments of God that tell them they should live and show love for the brethren. You have to remember you are working for God and He will provide for you and reward you for faithful service..
Jesus was faithful. He took on Himself all the suffering people would have to experience at the judgment. The people abused Him, tortured Him, beat Him badly, and He never flinched or turned away, and never complained. He was silent and did not attack His tormentors back.
So God the Father resurrected Him after He had been crucified, and exalted Him and honoured Him. He would be in charge of the entire universe and would correct all that was wrong with the evil people. But before the exaltation and the glory He received He suffered faithfully. He did this because He loved men, women, and children, and would gladly give up His life to take the punishment for sins they would experience. This is great love. God will give us the ability to show this great love to others. He will keep, guide, and protect us for God knows our life might be difficult and we might suffer. He has promised not to give us more troubles than we can bear. So trust Him and remain faithful and steadfast as Jesus was.