Isaiah 42:1-13, Servant Song #1

We tried to lay out the basic idea of the Servant Songs of Isaiah: the Messiah came according to the will of God and to be the Servant of God.  What do we see of Jesus of Nazareth in this first song?

·       Isa. 42:1 is fulfilled in the opening event of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  At His baptism, the Father proclaimed Jesus to be His “Elect One in whom My soul delights” (“this is My Son in whom I am well pleased), and the Father “put My Spirit upon Him” (John saw the Spirit descend as a dove).

·       Also in 42:1 we see the “long term” effect of the ministry of God’s Servant.  “He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.”  God had promised Abraham that through him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3).  This was always the loving plan of God.  He chose one nation through whom the Savior would come.  But that Savior was always “the Savior of the world” (Jn. 1:29; 3:17; 4:42; 1 Tim. 4:10; 1 Jn. 4:14).  This emphasis is strong in the Servant Songs.  The frequent references to the “coastlands” (42:4,10-13) are speaking of those nations around the Mediterranean occupied by the Gentiles.

·       In 42:2-4 describe the personality of the Servant, and it fits Christ perfectly.  The Servant will not come to bully or push His way to rule the nations.  Rather, it will be Jesus the “meek and lowly” (Mt. 11:29).  Again, as Phil. 2 says, “being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself” (2:8).  Yet, in His meekness He was not weak or ineffective.  “He will not fail nor be discouraged.”  What a great description of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

·       In 42:5-6 that “endurance” is coupled with the fact that “God the LORD,” the Creator who called the Son, will keep Him until He finished the work.  The “work” mentioned in v6 is the New Covenant, made with Israel (“to the people”) and extended to the Gentiles.  Through this covenant, and it’s “circumcision of the heart” promised in Deut. 30:6, blind eyes will be opened, prisoners delivered, and a light turned on for those in darkness (42:7).

·       42:8-9 reminds us that in all this God will be known and glorified.  Even in Isaiah’s day, this prophecy of the Incarnation of the Son was something alluded to in the past (a “former thing”) but will be something new.

Sometimes 42:10-13 is included in the Servant Song.  It seems in v10 He is not telling the Servant to sing (although He could be) but rather all peoples to be singing the new song that has made it to Kedar (fierce, nomadic Ishmaelite tribe in the Arabian desert) and Sela (a “rock” city, perhaps a reference to Petra) and the coastlands.  “Oh for a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemer’s praise; the glories of our God and King, the triumphs of His grace.”