1. Isaiah 50:8 (ESV)
  2. Christocentric focus

Vindication of the Servant

Isaiah 50:8 (ESV)

8 He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.

The suffering Servant’s assurance of his vindication (Isaiah 50:8–9) foreshadows Christ’s similar confidence. In his earthly ministry Christ knew that glorification would follow his humiliation (Matthew 16:21). He saw the final and full unveiling of his glory as happening at the end, when he returns with his angels in the glory of his Father (Matthew 16:27; see also Revelation 1:7). So he saw that his sufferings from obedience were temporary, and so in anticipation of being taken up he resolutely went to Jerusalem (again Luke 9:51), avoiding no form of suffering that he was called to endure. He knew he would be vindicated (1 Timothy 3:16). He walked, therefore, in the darkness of suffering, affliction, and oppression (Isaiah 50:10), trusting in the name of the Lord and relying upon his God.