The role of “savior” or “deliverer,” which God’s end-time sons/servants take upon themselves, is grounded in the covenant God makes with individuals and resembles the role of ancient Near Eastern vassal kings. That role reached its full development when Israel became a monarchy out of a need for divine protection. With King David, Jehovah first made a conditional, then an unconditional covenant. After David (Jehovah’s “vassal”) proved exceedingly loyal, Jehovah (David’s “emperor”) confirmed his covenant with David and blessed him unconditionally with land and offspring. Jehovah’s individual covenant with David—called the Davidic Covenant—parallels covenants ancient Near Eastern emperors made with vassal kings.
A conditional clause in these emperor–vassal covenants, however, states that the emperor undertakes to protect not only the vassal king but also the people of the vassal—provided the vassal proves loyal to the emperor. Under that arrangement, the people’s protection depends on whether their current ruler keeps the terms of his covenant with the emperor. So long as the vassal king is loyal to him, the emperor protects them. But if he proves disloyal, the emperor does not. In that sense, the king (the emperor’s vassal) serves as a “deliverer” to his people. The people rely on him for their protection because of his individual covenant with the emperor. When that covenant breaks down, the emperor can’t protect them.
In Isaiah’s end-time scenario, God’s sons/servants assume this “deliverer” role in seeking God’s protection of those who face danger. They do this wherever they minister, at home or abroad. Isaiah defines this deliverer’s role when depicting God’s servant: “Because of his knowledge, and by bearing their iniquities, shall my servant, the righteous one, vindicate many” (Isaiah 53:11). Through that means, God’s end-time servant—a model for other servants—“vindicates” or “justifies” many of God’s people. As a result, instead of perishing in Babylon they come out from among the wicked in a new exodus to Zion.
Two parallel statements—“by bearing their iniquities” and “because of his knowledge” (Isaiah 53:11)—reflect the servant’s role of proxy savior. Because the term “knowledge” (da‘at) expresses a covenant relationship, the servant considers himself answerable—as a vassal to his emperor—for the terms of the Davidic Covenant and its protection clause. To obtain the emperor’s protection of himself and his people, in other words, the servant is willing to answer for his people’s disloyalties to the emperor. His “knowledge” consists of the fact that, under the terms of the Davidic Covenant, if he takes upon himself the curses of Jehovah’s covenant with his people—curses that are rightfully theirs, not his—he may obtain Jehovah’s protection of his people.
When destruction stares them in the face, God’s end-time people thus appeal to God to “relent for the sake of your servants” and refrain from slaying them. God responds, “So will I do for the sake of my servants, by not destroying all [my people]” (Isaiah 63:17; 65:8; emphasis added). In the very hour that God wipes out the wicked he delivers those “vindicated” in an exodus resembling the exodus out of Egypt. He blesses his sons/servants and their dependents even as he curses idolaters, the one category dispossessing the other (Isaiah 63:1–6, 11–14; 65:11–23). Different levels of intercession with God—whether by sons/servants or seraphs—account for God’s people experiencing this end-time “deliverance” and “salvation.”
All such intercessions fulfill the terms of the covenant God makes with individuals on the son/servant level and above. On whichever level intercession occurs, each follows the model of the Davidic Covenant, in which the vassal answers for his people’s loyalties to the emperor. Such intercession is in vain, however, unless the proxy deliverer backs up his mediation with “loyalty” to God and “compliance” with his will in keeping the terms of the covenant. Abraham, Moses, David, and others followed the same pattern of pleading with God for his people’s deliverance by honoring such a proxy covenant’s terms each on his own level. The level of intercession thus determines the degree of deliverance.
