The presentation of the Servant as the suffering Servant of the Lord also anticipates Christ. He did not retaliate to those who caused him suffering. He did not seek revenge for the acts of shame committed against him (Matthew 26:67; John 19:1–3). Rather, he remained meek, even cooperative. In his passive obedience he was perfectly obedient in suffering, both in life and in death, the penalty for man’s rebellion against God’s moral law. This accomplishment would be impossible for any sinner. Only a sinless one could function as the suffering Servant, free of a rebellious spirit and a reluctant heart. The only One who can so patiently suffer is the One without sin, the Christ of God.
1 Of him the apostle Paul said that he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross
(Philippians 2:8). His humble submission unto death was what his Father had commanded him, and so with a resoluteness he set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), following the Lord’s will so that the world would know that he loved the Father (John 14:31).
4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.