Surely this paradox, so baldly stated, is meant to be an enigma to
startle and to rouse curiosity. This dead Servant is to see of the
travail of His soul, and to prolong His days. All the interpretations
of this chapter which refuse to see Jesus in it shiver on this rock.
What a contrast there is between platitudes about the spirit of the
nation rising transformed from its grave of captivity (which was only
very partially the case), and the historical fulfilment in Jesus
Christ! Here, at any rate, hundreds of years before His Resurrection,
is a word that seems to point to such a fact, and to me it appears that
all fair interpretation is on the side of the Messianic reference.
Note the singularity of special points.
a. Having died, the Servant sees His offspring.
The sacrifice of Christ is the great power which draws men to Him, and
moves to repentance, faith, love. His death was the communication of
life. Nowhere else in the world's history is the teacher's death the
beginning of His gathering of pupils, and not only has the dead Servant
children, but He _sees_ them. That representation is expressive of the
mutual intercourse, strange and deep, whereby we feel that He is truly
with us, 'Jesus Christ, whom having not seen we love.'
b. Having died, the Servant prolongs His days.
He lives a continuous life, without an end, for ever. The best
commentary is the word which John heard, as he felt the hand of the
Christ laid on his prostrate form: 'I became dead, and lo, I am alive
for evermore.'
c. Having died, the Servant carries into effect the divine purposes.
'Prosper' implies progressive advancement. Christ's Sacrifice carried
out the divine pleasure, and by His Sacrifice the divine pleasure is
further carried out.
If Christ is the means of carrying out the divine purpose, consider
what this implies of divinity in His nature, of correspondence between
His will and the divine.
But Jesus not only carries into effect the divine purpose as a
consequence of a past act, but by His present energy this dead man is a
living power in the world today. Is He not?
The sole explanation of the vitality of Christianity, and the sole
reason which makes its message a gospel to any soul, is Christ's death
for the world and present life in the world.