Many people think that Jesus came to reward good people and to punish bad people, but the Bible tells us something very different.

And today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg explains how punishment and reward are assessed through God's servant.

I decided let's go directly to servant song number four, which of course you find here in

verse 13 of 52. And in the song of this morning, we were

recognizing the fact that God has spoken and has commissioned his servant. His servant is going to

go on a mission, and that mission is going to be the mission of salvation, and that mission is going to be accomplished.

And there is a sense in which the writer at this point actually begins at the end.

And in this song, I want you to notice just three things.

We're not going to go all the way through 53.

We'll make reference to it,

but we'll be primarily in these closing verses of Isaiah 52. Three words to help us get our

thoughts in order. Exaltation, degradation, purification. All right? And I think that's enough for us, and we can probably have that to remember

taking it into the week. Well, first of all, this notion of exultation. See, my servant will act wisely.

He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. That's why I say to you that there is a sense in which the writer,

the prophet, is beginning at the end, because here he is describing the success of the servant's

mission. And the phraseology that is used here for acting prudently, as it says in the King James Version, or here

as in the NIV acting wisely, is an expression of the accomplishment, if you like, or the success

of what the servant does. And you will notice that the way these phrases are built upon one another,

the servant will act wisely accomplishing his purpose, and he will notice that the way these phrases are built upon one another, the servant will act wisely

accomplish in his purpose, and he will be raised, he will be lifted up, he will be highly exalted.

And one doesn't have to have a very solid grasp of the Bible to recognize that there will be

immediately in the minds of some various phrases from the New Testament.

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