The prophet’s aim was to present so vividly the task and methods of the true servant of Jehovah that all would recognize a personal call to duty.  He emphasizes three distinct yet related elements in the mission of the servant.  They were:  (1) To free the prisoners from their captivity, whether imprisoned by walls of stone or brick or under the tyranny of fears and false ideas. (2) To restore the scattered tribes of Israel and thus to lay the foundations for a renewed national life that would furnish concrete evidence to all the world of Jehovah’s power to deliver. (3) To go beyond the narrow bounds of their race and to bring to the nations that were groping in the darkness of heathenism the knowledge and truth that had been imparted to Israel.  Thus the unknown prophet laid the foundations for that Kingdom of God, that dominion of God in nature and in the minds of men that was the guide and inspiration of all later prophets and the goal for whose realization the Great Teacher and Prophet of Nazareth labored and died.

The prophet places great emphasis upon the training of Jehovah’s servant.  He declares that from birth Jehovah formed him to be his servant.  In [50:4-7] he is spoken of as a trained disciple attentively listening to the words of his divine teacher, never rebelling at the bitterness of the needful discipline, but ever seeking to prepare himself to give to the fainting a word of help.  The steadfastness with which he endures shame and bitter wrongs is the evidence of his ability as a disciple and an essential part in his preparation for his exalted mission.

V. Methods of Jehovah’s Servant.  In accomplishing his task the servant is to use definite instruction, but his teaching is to be illustrated by his own character and attitude.  By the voluntary, uncomplaining endurance of ignominy and suffering he is to do Jehovah’s work and win the grateful recognition, not only of his divine Master, but of all succeeding generations.  Through a keen analysis of life the prophet had attained to a clear appreciation of the inestimable value of voluntary self-sacrifice.  He saw that it was the most effective means of uplifting the race and leading mankind to accept God’s mastery over their minds and lives.  The truth here presented is illustrated in human experience as clearly to-day as in the past.  The self-denying service of parents is absolutely essential if their children are to attain to the noblest manhood and womanhood.  Only through the self-sacrificing labors of those who love their fellow-men can social evils be removed and society attain its highest development.  The low standards in the business and professional world can be raised only as certain men, with the spirit and courage of the ancient prophets, make their own personal interests and popularity subservient to the rigorous demands of justice.  It is the law of life that he who would elevate the standards of his associates and thus lead men to the fullest realization of the divine