In Isaiah 53 we read about a figure called the Suffering Servant. This Servant is described as the ideal King of Israel who will use his power to help the people, and is willing to lay down his life for others.
The Servant Song is about the full measure of evil and injustice being unleashed upon the world.
But the Servant Song is about more than just suffering. It is also about suffering that matters, that is redeemed, about suffering that bears fruit, and about a new work of God that appears just as all hope is lost.
And this is all because the Servant Song is about the ideal King of Israel, who stands in for his people as a kind of substitute and does for them what they cannot do for themselves.
What we can do for ourselves, however, is begin to trust in Jesus as we die to ourselves a little more each day. We can give up selfish impulses and learn from him what it’s like to live backwards, where the last are first, the hungry are filled, and the humble are exalted.
Adapted from Why God Died