Isaiah begs the reader and hearer of his words to ask the question, “who is this servant?” If not Hezekiah, if not Israel, if unfound in Isaiah’s world, who can it be? Who is this holy seed, righteous branch, and Immanuel character? The New Testament authors scream “Jesus! Our King is the Suffering Servant!” The implications are immense, but when you live in a world where authority, power, and violence can be so intertwined, is the Suffering Servant a beautiful image or absolute stupidity and weakness? As Christians saturated in the military power struggles from the Cold War to North Korea, which has more weight—our arsenals or our attitudes toward our enemies?
