#1004 Isaiah 42 My Chosen

 

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

3 a bruised reed he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged

till he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his law.

5 Thus says God, the Lord,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;

I will give you as a covenant for the people,

a light for the nations,

7 to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness.

8 I am the Lord; that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols.

9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a New Song

10 Sing to the Lord a new song,

his praise from the end of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,

the coastlands and their inhabitants.

11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,

the villages that Kedar inhabits;

let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,

let them shout from the top of the mountains.

12 Let them give glory to the Lord,

and declare his praise in the coastlands.

13 The Lord goes out like a mighty man,

like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;

he cries out, he shouts aloud,

he shows himself mighty against his foes.

14 For a long time I have held my peace;

I have kept still and restrained myself;

now I will cry out like a woman in labor;

I will gasp and pant.

15 I will lay waste mountains and hills,

and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn the rivers into islands,

and dry up the pools.

16 And I will lead the blind

in a way that they do not know,

in paths that they have not known

I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,

and I do not forsake them.

17 They are turned back and utterly put to shame,

who trust in carved idols,

who say to metal images,

“You are our gods.”

Israel's Failure to Hear and See

18 Hear, you deaf,

and look, you blind, that you may see!

19 Who is blind but my servant,

or deaf as my messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as my dedicated one,

or blind as the servant of the Lord?

20 He sees many things, but does not observe them;

his ears are open, but he does not hear.

21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,

to magnify his law and make it glorious.

22 But this is a people plundered and looted;

they are all of them trapped in holes

and hidden in prisons;

they have become plunder with none to rescue,

spoil with none to say, “Restore!”

23 Who among you will give ear to this,

will attend and listen for the time to come?

24 Who gave up Jacob to the looter,

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,

in whose ways they would not walk,

and whose law they would not obey?

25 So he poured on him the heat of his anger

and the might of battle;

it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;

it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart. Isaiah 42 ESV

Isaiah 42 The Lord's Chosen Servant

1-4. Behold My Servant - The Messiah, who became a Servant, the perfection of it, the beauty of faithful servitude. 

…27and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. 29As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.… Matthew 20: 27-29

…34While Peter was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35And a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to Him! 36After the voice had spoken, only Jesus was present with them. The disciples kept this to themselves, and in those days they did not tell anyone what they had seen.… Luke 9: 34-36

…15“Let it be so now,” Jesus replied. “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness in this way.” Then John permitted Him. 16As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”… Matthew 3: 15-17

He will bring forth justice to the nations - As Messiah He will pay the penalty for sin, satisfying God's justice. At His second coming He will reign in justice, no more wicked rulers, but a King of Righteousness shall sit upon the throne of David. 

…3And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war. Isaiah 2: 3-4

He will not cry aloud or lift up His voice - Isaiah is called the fifth gospel by some, for it shows the disease, and points to the cure. He will describe the suffering servant in vivid detail and contrast to those imperfect servants, that talked but couldn't hear, that saw but couldn't comprehend. He is willing all the way to the cross, and must fulfill every aspect of this to the letter.

…28Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”… Matthew 11: 28-30

…22“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.” 23 When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. 24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”… 1 Peter 2: 22-24

…6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.8By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people.… Isaiah 53: 6-8

A bruised reed He will not break - He comes to the heart broken, those that reach the end of themselves, and instead of finishing them off, instead of condemnation, He lifts them up. He didn't come to save the righteous, but sinners, accused of being a friend of publicans and women of ill repute, called a drunk and a blasphemer, He was ill thought of by the religious proud, the elite.

…18“Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations. 19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear His voice in the streets. 20A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, till He leads justice to victory.… Matthew 12: 18-20

…9When they heard this, they began to go away one by one, beginning with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman standing there. 10Then Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you? 11“No one, Lord,” she answered. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Now go and sin no more.”… John 8: 9-11

Till He has established justice in the earth - He is the rightful heir, all things were made through Him and for Him. He has also added to His deity, humanity, and become the fairest judge and Redeemer. Tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. He bore human grief and sorrow, the God Man, the model servant, living the life we could not and conquering sin and death, for He had not earned the wages.

…26And to the one who overcomes and continues in My work until the end, I will give authority over the nations. 27 He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery just as I have received authority from My Father. 28And I will give him the morning star.… Revelation 2: 26-28

…21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes. 22Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, 23so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.… John 5: 21-23

…26For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. 27And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice… John 5: 26-28

5-9. Who created the heavens and stretched them out - He identifies Himself again as the Creator, and also the stretcher of the heavens. He has placed limits on all things, the universe will only go so far, and men without God cannot see the Heaven above the heavens.

I will give You as a covenant for the people - Jesus is the Mediator of a new covenant. God, in His sovereignty, promised in the garden a seed that would be wounded, but in the process crush Satan's head, destroying sin, the lie. In His covenant with Abraham we see a unilateral upholding, in that Abraham sleeps while God walks between the halves. This was no new thing to God, for this was His plan from eternity, but the Messiah will bring the greatest light to all of this. When the people were led out from Egypt, God gave Moses the law, and that covenant said, "do this and you shall live." The people verbally agreed to keep the law. Now remember, His Seed, the Messiah had already been promised, so it is the goal of the covenant of Moses, the covenant of the Law, to teach men of their transgression and to point to Christ as the sole source of their confidence. There was nothing imperfect in the law for that purpose, to expose sin, to push men to repent, yet to save men, for that it was imperfect and never intended. The new covenant is the full revelation of the Gospel in Christ, the conquering of sin and death, the fulfilling of the law, the only satisfying sacrifice for sin. The law was good and it's failings are found in men, but it is also beautiful lest anyone be deceived and think themselves just according to all that is written in the law. Jesus had to come to fulfill this covenant as no man was ever able.

16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. 17Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 18For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.… Matthew 5: 16-18

But as it is, Christ[b] has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

8 For he finds fault with them when he says:[c]

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah,

9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers

on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

For they did not continue in my covenant,

and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my laws into their minds,

and write them on their hearts,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor

and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

for they shall all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest.

12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,

and I will remember their sins no more.”

13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Hebrews 8: 6-13 ESV

To open the eyes that are blind - Jesus fulfilled this physically with healing, but also spiritually for those that were in darkness, but God was calling to salvation. 

…13Leaving Nazareth, He went and lived in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 15“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—…

…16the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.” 17From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. Matthew 4: 13-17

…4Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of Me.”… Matthew 11: 4-6

…24including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? 25As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,” 26and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”…

…27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 28For the Lord will carry out His sentence on the earth thoroughly and decisively.” 29It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.”…

30What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,… Romans 9: 24-32

10-13. Sing to the Lord a new song - This is the song sang by those who have by faith heard, seen and believed in Christ, the manifestation of God's redeeming grace.

…8When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”… Revelation 5: 8-10

Kedar and Sela - Kedar was the name of one of Ishmael's sons, and associated with Arabia. Sela means rock and was the capital of Edom, Edom being Esau, Jacob's brother, sons of Isaac.

14-17. Held my peace - A note of God's timing and patience.

…3So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world. 4But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons.… Galatians 4: 3-5

Like a woman in labor - These things are coming or close at hand, first the silent, suffering servant, meek and lowly, as men should walk before Him, and then Christ second coming as the Lion of Judah.

I will lay waste - As judge He will bring righteousness and devastate this evil world's system.

And I will lead the blind - He will bring light into the world, and those that were previously in darkness shall see the way in Him.

 Who trust in carved idols - The inventions of men, their hopes will put them to shame.

18-25. Who is blind, but My servant - We see the contrast between the Servant (Messiah), and Israel, the servant that is deaf and blind, though they had the law, the testimonies and the prophets, yet they did not serve and were not a light to those around them. Again, Christ will have to make this way for them, do what they did not, live the life I couldn't, for apart from Him we can do nothing. 

…12Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ 14In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.… Matthew 13: 12-14

He sees many things, but does not observe them - The spiritually dead cannot find such light within themselves, it has to be given to them.

…3You saw with your own eyes the great trials, and those miraculous signs and wonders. 4Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.5For forty years I led you in the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.… Deuteronomy 29: 3-5

This is a people plundered and looted - God not only sees this, but knows because He has removed His protection in order to punish their disobedience and uphold His law.

It burned him up - When Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem he burned down the city, but it was God Who sent him.