Isaiah 42 (v1-4)

Tucked away in Isaiah 40-66 are 4 “Servant Songs.”  The first is here in Isaiah 42:1-9.  These songs are remarkable and comforting.  In Isa.41:8 God called Israel His servant.  But in these songs the Servant is the Messiah.  This connection between Israel and the Messiah is intentional.  The Messiah, God’s Elect One (v1) is everything God had desired to see from the Elect Nation.  

This first song emphasizes the meekness and calling of the Servant.  By meekness we do not mean weakness but rather quiet strength.  We see the Servant quiet and gentle, not breaking a charred piece of grass.  And yet He will not fail or be discouraged until He has fulfilled His purpose.  

His purpose (v6-8) is reminiscent of Jesus words in the synagogue (Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61:1-2.)  To accomplish these things God has put His Spirit upon the Servant.  The song reminds us that it is God the Creator (v5), the Sovereign LORD (v8) who will do this.  (Meditate on v5 and what it says about creation, that God stretched out the heavens and spread forth the earth.  This reveals something of the way in which God did the creating work of Genesis 1.)

He has accomplished what He said He would do in the past (e.g. deliverance from the Assyrians); He can be trusted to do these new things (v9).  We who live in this age between the first and second comings of Jesus would do well to remember this.  God fulfilled His word concerning the first coming; He will faithfully keep His word concerning the second coming.

Because God promises to do this the nation is called to praise Him (v10-13).  He will hold His peace for a long time (v14) but without doubt He will pour out His blessing on His people.  The nation has been deaf and blind spiritually (v18-20) but the day will come when God will exalt His law (v21).  The obstinate nation will have been judged (v21-25).  But through the Servant Messiah they will be brought to the place where by their righteousness they Honor God and His law.

There is a critical truth here that we must understand in it’s application to Israel as well as to ourselves.  God’s faithfulness in exalting His law does not come at the expense of the law.  He does not weaken His law so that men can honor it.  Rather, as Romans teaches us (Rom. 8:1-4), God’s law will be fully satisfied by the humble Servant-Messiah.  Through the Messiah the Servant-Nation will no longer live in disobedience.  

Let us remember this.  God does not sacrifice His holiness so we who are sinners can be saved.  What He did through Jesus, in His death and resurrection, He did “that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:21-26).  Having judged the believer’s sin in Christ on the cross, God can justify (declare righteous) the sinner who believes in Christ.  Oh, the love of God; the grace of God; the mercy of God.