 It should be obvious from the outset that a discussion about the identity of the servant of Isaiah 53 is only a question because the prophet Isaiah doesn't explicitly identify who the servant is. So for example, if you go to Isaiah 41, Isaiah actually does identify who the servant is. When you go to Isaiah 42, there are clear indicators who the servant is. When you go to Isaiah 49, it seems very clear who the servant is, but yet when it comes to Isaiah 53, starting from 52-13, it's not that clear and seemingly the prophet could have saved forests of paper if he would have just added one word when it comes to the identity of the servant. And the question I want to discuss tonight is why did he leave it out? Why did the prophet leave out who the servant really is? Starting from chapter 40 in Isaiah, Isaiah starts to comfort the Jewish people on behalf of God. Isaiah 40 opens with a call to console God's people and where he says, speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her, for her time of exile is fulfilled and her iniquity has been forgiven, for she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all of her sins. And the prophet goes on to tell us that the glory of God will be revealed and all flesh together will see that the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Continues in verse 9, ascends upon a high mountain, O herald of Zion, raise your voice with strength, O herald of Jerusalem, raise it, fear not, proclaim to the cities of Judah, behold your God. And so what this is telling us is that in a future messianic age the Jewish people together with the rest of the world will witness how God is revealed to all and how the truth of the Torah will be revealed to all and how everybody will come and ultimately recognize the light of the Torah and they will see the vindication of God's servants who were ridiculed throughout the ages and yet remained steadfast committed to God. And so who are those servants? Who are these servants that God promises exaltation to at the end of time when God will be exalted? What we find from Isaiah chapter 40 and on is a consistent message that ultimately God's might will prevail and all other powers will be proven empty and that the hope of those who have trusted in the Lord will ultimately be vindicated. And this is ultimately a comforting reassurance to people who have been in exile for way too long. You see what ultimately is the hope of every committed servant of God is that God's will should ultimately be done here on earth. It's that ultimately all that we've been working for should really bear fruit. They tell a story about a guy who was in prison for about 30 years and they had put on him this noose or whatever it was, this string that he would have around his body and he'd have to walk around this millstone and it was hard work, hard labor, but he was doing this for 30 years while he was in prison and throughout the 30 years he never complained. This is, you know, you do the crime, you got to do the time and, you know, he put on this heavy thing because he felt he was doing something and the story goes that after 30 years when he was let out they took him downstairs to the basement and they showed him that this big millstone that he'd been turning and turning at the bottom there's this little, this little gadget or whatever that was just spinning around doing absolutely nothing and the story goes the man fainted on the spot had a heart attack and he died because ultimately nobody wants to feel that they're investing their time, their effort, their energy, sacrificing one sacrifice after the other just to feel that they're going to fail and what we find throughout the scriptures is that many of God's servants, sometimes the prophets felt that they had failed in their mission, they tried so hard to spread the message of God and yet they felt it wasn't landing, it wasn't making the effect that they wanted and so therefore all those hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who throughout their lives had given themselves to God and to God's ultimate purpose are feeling that this exile is so long it might never finish, we might never get there and Isaiah comes and promises them and assures them that in the future there will be a vindication, God will ultimately be revealed the whole world will be filled with the knowledge of God like the waters cover the sea and you know who's going to take part in that joy and in that jubilation and in that exaltation, all the servants of God, all those throughout the history who have committed themselves to God and so perhaps this is why Isaiah 53 never mentions who the servant is, why? It's very simple because you want to know who the servant is, the servant is Israel, the servant is the Messiah because he also commits himself to make God's will done on earth to make sure that God consciousness is spread throughout the world, it also refers to the prophet Jeremiah, it also refers to the prophet Isaiah, it refers to every single servant and that's why when we look at Isaiah 53 and we see the exaltation of the servant and how ultimately he will be vindicated for holding true to the message of God and to his trust in God we will understand why it was left blank, why it didn't associate itself only with one individual because it applies to every servant of God.