When I Survey
H. Hoeksema
Book 6, Chapter 1
The Tongue of the Learned

"The Lord God hath given me, the tongue of the learned..." (Isaiah 50:4)

The following pages are designed as meditations during the lent season. It is customary for the church during lent season to pay special attention to those portions of the Word of God that speak of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. This I consider a very good custom, because the sufferings of our Savior, together with His resurrection, constitute the heart of the gospel of our salvation.

This time we wish to call your attention to certain passages of the prophecy of Isaiah that speak of the Suffering Servant of Jehovah. In the present chapter we wish to discuss the passage that is found in Isaiah 50:4: "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I shall know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned."

The question is, first of all: who is the speaker in the words of this passage? According to his own testimony, he is evidently a learned man. Shall we give him an appointment in one of our worldly universities, perhaps to occupy a chair of philosophy or science? But the trouble is that he speaks of himself, and no one appears to support his testimony. In fact, the following context indicates that almost everyone contradicts him. His contemporaries seem to despise him and hate him, for they smite him on the back, and pluck out the hair, and cover him with shame and spitting. This would appear to be a poor recommendation for a chair in one of our universities or colleges.

Besides, we may well ask the question whether this man has received sufficient education. He testifies of himself that the Lord his God has given him the tongue of the learned, and that he knows how to speak a word in due season. He does not seem to appeal to the background of his education, but he depends upon the momentary inspiration by the Lord God. It is God that awakens him morning by morning. It is He that opens His ear, so that he can speak as the learned. It is not very probable that on the basis of this particular testimony concerning himself he will be received in one of our worldly institutions of learning.

Moreover, he apparently seeks a very strange audience. For he addresses only those who are weary, and not those who are strong in body and mind. And weary students are certainly not fit to attend our institutions of learning. And therefore it seems to be very appropriate to ask the question: who is the man who speaks in this present passage of the fiftieth chapter of Isaiah?

The man assures us that he has the tongue of the learned. This implies, of course, in the first place, that he is a learned man. But in the second place, it means also that he can speak as such. Now a learned man is certainly one that is well instructed and thoroughly educated. His mind is enlightened and trained. He therefore is a man who knows whereof he speaks, a man of true knowledge, who understands his subject and has thoroughly investigated it. He knows the nature of the things whereof he speaks, as well as the manner of their existence. Moreover, he has investigated the source and origin, as well as the character, of the things whereof he speaks. Hence, he is also able to tell you the reason and the purpose of their existence, the "why" and the "wherefore" of them. Then, too, he is able to speak of things he knows. Sometimes those that are learned have no ability to express themselves. They are learned, but they have not the tongue of the learned. But this particular person is very able in that respect. He has the ability to speak of those things which he knows. And, besides, he declares that he is able to speak a word in due season. This man, therefore, according to his own testimony, must be a very able and educated man.

Besides, he also tells us about the audience he prefers to address and to whom he speaks a word in due season. He addresses those that are weary. The weary are those who have toiled hard in the sweat of their brow, and with all their labor have accomplished exactly nothing. They are like a person who attempts to roll a heavy stone up a steep slope to the top of a mountain. He strenuously exerts himself. But all his efforts are vain. For long before he has reached the top, he is exhausted, and the stone rolls down again. The weary are those who have carried heavy burdens, under which they have succumbed. They have labored very hard, until their strength is utterly exhausted, so that they finally sit by the wayside wearily and utterly disappointed, and give up the struggle.

We may note at the outset that this term does not refer to any natural weariness, to men who are exhausted and tired in soul and body in the natural sense of the word. Scripture is not interested in such natural weariness. On the contrary, these weary of whom the text speaks are the same as those to whom reference is made in Matthew 11:28, and whom the Lord Jesus addresses in the well-known words: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." They are the spritually weary. They are those who are burdened under a load of guilt, of the guilt of sin, that makes them worthy of condemnation and death. They are burdened under a load of guilt which they must constantly bear, of which they can never rid themselves: for they can never pay. Perhaps they have attempted to pay their debt by their own good works, by works of penitence; but their conscience found no rest, and they abandoned the attempt. Moreover, they are burdened under a load of corruption and defilement. They feel that they are totally depraved, that they hate God and their neighbor, that they are incapable of doing any good and inclined to all evil. They are oppressed by a burden of suffering and death. For they lie in the midst of death, and they know that they go from death to death until they arrive in eternal desolation. They are in the midst of the world, and they are oppressed by the burden of corruption in that world. They long for righteousness, and they cannot find it. They long for God, but they feel that He has forsaken them because of their iniquities. They long for life, for life in the true sense of the word, for life in fellowship with the living God; but there is nothing but death. And so they are weary, burdened, heavy laden. And they perish under their heavy burden of sin and death.

To them the man who is mentioned in the words of the passage we are now discussing addresses himself. He has a word for them, a word in due season, a word that fits their miserable condition, a word they need and for which they long.

How wonderful!

What sort of learning does this man have, that can appeal to the spiritually weary? Does he, perhaps, have a word of natural knowledge, a word of science? Does he know all about the science of astronomy, and can this comfort those that are under the burden of sin and death? Has he made a thorough study of nature, and will he perhaps explain to them that all their troubles, all their sicknesses and pains, all their miseries and death are after all perfectly natural? Is he learned in the science of mathematics, so that he can mathematically demonstrate that they have nothing to worry about? Can they perhaps put their trust in him because he is learned in all the languages of the world? We know better. Not all the science and philosophy of the world can help the spiritally weary, the sinner who lies dead in sin and misery. But when all the learned philosophy of the world falls short, and utterly fails, the one who has the tongue of the learned, according to the text, begins to speak. He alone speaks a word in due season to the weary, that is, at the right time -- a word that can help and comfort them, that affords strength and courage to the weary.

We ask: why? What is there, then, in the word of this learned man which all the knowledge of the world cannot bring?

The answer in brief is: it is a word of redemption and deliverance. This all the science and philosophy of the world does not and cannot have. It has no word of comfort for those who are spiritually weary. In fact, it despises the weary. It cannot do anything with them or for them. The weary are miserable, and long for redemption from sin and death. They sigh, perhaps, that the Lord has forsaken them. But the Lord answers: "Not I have forsaken you, but your iniquities make separation between Me and you. These must first be put out of the way. Then, and then only, even death and desolation will flee away." They need redemption and deliverance. And this no earthly science and philosophy can ever offer them. It can probably explain to a certain extent how things are; but it can never overcome them. It can investigate the causes of death and all kinds of diseases and sufferings. It can also bring a measure of relief, a partial and temporary removal of the evil. But sin and death remain. It can tell you all about the causes of upheavals and catastrophes in the world. But it can offer no cure or remedy for them. Over against them all they stand entirely powerless. The word of redemption and deliverance, the one word for which the weary long and wait, the tongue of worldly science can never speak. But this is exactly what the man who is mentioned in the passage of Isaiah speaks to the weary, to us, who are dead in sin and misery. When they cannot see through the darkness, then he speaks the word of light. When they cannot see through the night of sin and suffering and death, of all the misery of the world, then he speaks to them the word of redemption and deliverance. For he opens for the weary pilgrim in the midst of the world the hope of a new world, and he says to them: "There will be no night there: no sin, no death, no misery, but eternal life and joy in the presence of God."

Who then is this man who has the tongue of the learned?

You know the answer. He is the Christ of God.

He is the one who, in the prophecy of Isaiah, is repeatedly referred to as the Servant of Jehovah.

It is true, the concept servant of Jehovah in the prophecy of Isaiah has different connotations. But principally they all concentrate around the Christ of God, Jesus, Jehovah-Salvation.

Sometimes the term refers to Israel of the old dispensation, to the entire nation. Thus, perhaps, we may interpret Isaiah 44:21: "Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me." Sometimes the reference is to the elect remnant in Israel, as undoubtedly is the case in Isaiah 44:1-3: "Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." This is also the case in Isaiah 45:4: "For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by my name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me." The one who is addressed here, and of whom it is said that the Lord has surnamed him, even though he did not know Him, is Cyrus, the king of Persia, through whose hand Jehovah would deliver Israel from the bondage of captivity. But sometimes the concept servant of Jehovah refers to the prophet as he represents Christ, the Servant of Jehovah par excellence. This is evident from Isaiah 42:1-4: "Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, til he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law." It is evident, therefore, that centrally the concept servant of Jehovah refers to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ, according to the testimony of all Scripture, is our Chief Prophet. He is the true subject in all the old dispensation, the one who declares the name of God unto His brethren, and reveals unto us the full counsel of redemption. He is the same as that Wisdom that is speaking in Proverbs 8, Who was "set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." And as He functioned in the old dispensation, speaking through and in the prophets, so He came personally in the fulness of time, to dwell among us and to speak to us face to face and mouth to mouth. For "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) And, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him." (John 1:18) He speaks, and is able to speak, of heavenly things. For He is the one that "came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." He is the light of the world, that shines in the darkness. And they that follow Him shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 3:19, 8:12, 12:35,36,46) He is the true and faithful witness, Who receives not testimony from men, but Whom the Father Himself bears witness as being sent from Him. (John 5:33ff) He speaks the words of eternal life, and His words are spirit and are life. (John 6:63,68) His doctrine is not His own, but the Father's Who sent Him. And if any man will do the will of God, he will surely acknowledge that Christ's doctrine is of God. For "he that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory, but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him." (John 7:16-18) He speaks the things which He has seen with the Father. (John 8:38) And He always glorifies not Himself, but the Father. (John 17:4) Or, as the words of this particular passage in Isaiah have it, this Man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who has the tongue of the learned, speaks only as He hears from the Father, God wakeneth Him morning by morning, and He wakens His ear to hear as the learned.

That this Servant of Jehovah has the tongue of the learned, so that He knows the things heavenly and eternal, and so that He can speak a word to the weary in due season, He explains from the fact that it is the Lord His God Himself Who teaches Him. For this is evidently the meaning when He says: "He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." And again, in verse 5 of the same chapter: "The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back." We understand, of course, that when this Servant of the Lord tells us that the Lord wakeneth Him morning by morning, and that He openeth His ear, He speaks in His human nature. And this wakening and opening of the ear of the Servant of the Lord is done directly and immediately. We must remember that this Servant is the Person of the Son of God, Who is eternally in the bosom of the Father. He is the eternal Word, the express image of the Father's substance, the effulgence of His glory. He is God of God, Immanuel, Who knows the Father with an infinitely perfect knowledge. It is this Person of the Son of God, Who from eternity to eternity is essentially and truly God, Who also assumed the flesh and blood of the children, Who took upon Himself our nature and united that human nature with the divine in His own Person. In Him, therefore, there is the closest possible union of God and man, the most intimate fellowship between the divine and the human natures. In Him the Person of the Son, very God, lived with us, walked with us and talked with us, thought in our mind, willed in our will, had human desires and human passions, human love and human sympathies, human joy and human sorrow. He spoke to us by a human mouth and in human language. He had the tongue of the learned. He is the most perfect Servant of the Lord, the most perfect Prophet conceivable. Who could be more excellently equipped to be our Prophet and Teacher than He, Who knows the Father by the inseparable union of the divine and human natures? Who could be more able than He, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit Himself is the co-author of the divine counsel, to make known unto us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption? He knows the Father as none other could possibly know Him. His human consciousness is constantly and perfectly enlightened and filled with the knowledge of God from within. He perfectly knows and understands the revelation of the Father in the Holy Scriptures. For He is not only the chief subject of all that is revealed in Holy Writ, but also with the Father and the Holy Spirit He is Himself its author. Because of the union of the divine and human natures, the knowledge of God in Christ is direct and immediate. It is complete and perfect in the highest conceivable sense of the word. In the darkness of the world He is the light. Over against the lie of the false prophet He is the truth. Always He is the faithful witness. God wakeneth Him morning by morning, and He openeth His ear. Therefore, when He speaks, He indeed speaks with the tongue of the learned.

And of what does this Servant of the Lord speak?

He speaks of eternal and heavenly things.

O, indeed, He also speaks of things earthly and things temporal. But when He does speak of them, He always brings them into relationship with, and views them in the light of things eternal and heavenly.

He speaks to us of redemption, which He Himself accomplished as the Suffering Servant of Jehovah when He died on the accursed tree, and rose again on the third day. On the basis of His own atoning work, He speaks to us of perfect righteousness and justification in the forgiveness of sins. To the weary, to those who are burdened under the load of guilt and sin and corruption, He speaks of perfect deliverance and eternal glory. He speaks of the wonder of God's eternal love and of His eternal counsel, according to which He has chosen His own from before the foundation of the world, in order that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love. He speaks of God as the unchangeable and faithful One, Who will certainly preserve His own unto salvation, even unto the end, so that they can never finally fall back into sin and corruption and death. And He speaks of Himself as the Servant of Jehovah, as Him that is sent of the Father in order to accomplish the Father's will. And that will of the Father is that He must become the Suffering Servant, that He must die and shed His lifeblood for His sheep on the accursed tree, that thus He might redeem the sheep whom the Father hath given Him; that He must be raised from the dead, and exalted in the highest heaven, clothed with all authority and power in heaven and on earth, and that thus, as the mighty Lord, He must deliver His people from sin and death unto everlasting life and glory. And He assures us that He has and shall have the complete victory over sin and death and corruption, that He shall surely justify and sanctify us, raise us from the dead, and glorify us with the glory which He had before the world was. For He speaks of the new heavens and the new earth, in which righteousness shall dwell and in which the tabernacle of God shall forever be with men.

In one word, this Servant of Jehovah speaks of the unchangeable and faithful and unconditional promise of God to His people.

This Word He spoke to the weary from the very beginning of the world. He spoke this Word throughout the old dispensation, directly, as in the protoevangel in paradise, through the angels that are desirous to look into these things, and through the prophets of the Old Testament. He spoke this Word when He dwelt with us in the flesh, through the mouth of Immanuel, God with us. He Himself spoke this Word to the weary through the apostles in the new dispensation. And this same Word is still being proclaimed by the church, even to the utmost ends of the earth.

But remember that it is always His Word, the Word which He speaks to those that are weary and heavy laden, even when it is proclaimed by the church. Never must it be presented as a mere word of man. For man's word has no power. Even though a man proclaim the gospel, unless the Servant of Jehovah, Christ Himself, speaks through that word that is proclaimed to the hearts of the weary, his word is powerless. Nor may it ever be presented as a sort of mere offer, which man can either accept or reject by his own free will. For man is in darkness. He is corrupt, and can never understand the things of the Spirit of God. He will not, and cannot, and cannot will to hear the Word of the Servant of Jehovah. All he can do is despise and reject it. But when He Himself speaks His own Word to the weary and heavy laden, when He Himself calls them through the gospel out of darkness into His marvelous light, when by His Word of power He Himself calls them, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest", then those who are heavy laden realize how really weary they are. Then they repent and become truly sorry for their sins. Then they long to be delivered and take hold of the promise of God's covenant. And then, and then only, they come to Him, are redeemed and delivered from all the burden of their sin and death, and are filled with the glad hope of glory in the eternal tabernacle of God with men.