“Then Moses said, ‘What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, “The LORD has not appeared to you.”‘ … ‘If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.’ … So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped” (Exod 4:1, 8-9, 31). Israel’s biggest obstacle to freedom was neither the cruelty of Pharaoh’s taskmasters nor the brutality of his soldiers who were killing their innocent babies, but their lack of faith in the God of Israel and in the redeemer whom he had sent. In this passage, however, we see a patient and persistent God who, in order to fulfill all his promises, is willing and able to use every sign at his disposal to overcome their unbelief. And this, dear friends, is perhaps the biggest and most encouraging lesson of Passover. God will, in the end, conquer the hearts of his people so that they will believe in him and in the one whom he has sent. “When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses” (Exod 14:31). “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.’ Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD” (Exod 19:9).
The Servant of the LORD as the Arm of the LORD
What’s the connection between “the arm of the LORD” and “the servant of the LORD”? In the story of the exodus, they represent respectively God’s divine power and His human vessel. The arm of the LORD symbolizes the LORD’s strength and might in His bringing His people from slavery to freedom, while Moses as the LORD’s instrument was called His servant.
The difference between the two is clear. The first is divine, and the second is human. Against this backdrop, it is surprising to discover that in Isaiah chapters 40 to 53, the motifs of the arm of the LORD and the servant of the LORD are used in a way that both demonstrates their distinctiveness but also brings them to a point of correlation which is as significant as it is unexpected.
In those chapters the use of both the motif of arm of the LORD and servant of the LORD is noteworthy. Each of them is charged with its own individual import, and they represent, as in the story of the exodus, the power of the LORD on the one hand and his human instrument on the other. We will look briefly at each, starting with the servant of the LORD.
