Dear Cornerstone Family,
As we wrap up our series in Titus today, we turn next week to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. For the five Sundays leading up to Palm Sunday and Holy Week, we will spend time in the four servant songs of Isaiah. These four songs provide a vivid glimpse into the ministry, character, and exaltation of the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord. By God’s grace, this brief series will prepare us for the heart-rending and mending climax of the Christian year—the crucifixion and resurrection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Servant Songs of Isaiah
February 18 – The Gospel According to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-13)
February 25 – The Servant of the Lord: Chosen by God and Filled with the Spirit (Isaiah 42:1-9)
March 3 – The Servant of the Lord: Redeemer and the Hope of the Nations (Isa 49:1-7)
March 10 – The Servant of the Lord: Obedient and Faithful to the End (Isa 50:4-11)
March 17 – The Servant of the Lord: Atoning Sacrifice and Peace Maker (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)
March 24 – The Servant of the Lord: The Humble King Fulfilling His Mission (Matthew 21:1-11)
March 31 – Easter Sunday
Speaking of the Christian year, the church refers to the forty days leading up to Easter as Lent. The word “lent” comes from the Anglo-Saxon term for length. Traditionally, the term denoted springtime—the time of year when the days begin to lengthen. At the beginning of the Lenten season (Ash Wednesday, February 14th), the days are shorter and colder. But by the end of Lent, the days are longer and warmer. At the beginning of Lent, everything is brown and dead. But by the end of Lent, the daffodils are poking through the ground and the bright greens of early spring are everywhere.
The change from winter to spring is the whole story of Lent. For Lent is the story of the world’s long winter giving way to the springtime of a new world. Lent points to the fundamental change that the gospel brings—away from a world where death reigns into a new world where life never ends.
There’s a curious story Luke tells about Jesus that starts like this, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to Jerusalem...” (Luke 9:51). You can hear the resolution: Jesus set his face. Jesus knows that if he goes to Jerusalem, he won’t get out alive. Well, at least not without dying first. But in setting his face toward Jerusalem, Jesus focuses his attention on the purpose for which he was sent—to atone for sin and defeat the final enemy, death. In a word, Jesus set his gaze toward the dark winter of the cross because he knew the bright spring of the empty tomb was on the other side (see Hebrews 12:1-2).
In this Isaiah series, it’s my prayer that we will set our face toward Jerusalem. That by entering afresh into the fulfillment of Christ’s mission, we might be readied for participating in Christ’s sufferings, and, in so doing, might attain the resurrection of the dead (Philippians 3:10-11).
Your servant,
