What comes to your mind when you think about what God is like? Where do these come from and do they really come from the Bible? Where did we learn that God is all loving?
We are all theologians. Each one of us have an idea of who God is and what He is like. Before we get into our text, think: What are those texts and influences in your life? Where did you acquire your theology?
(A) Surprised by joy: salvation songs erode self-reliance and cynicism (Isa 42:10-13)
Isaiah 42 is the first of four Servant Songs, which speaks of Jesus, who will bring about God’s agenda to pass. Because God has sent His Servant, His plan of salvation is in motion.
Where are God’s people right now? In Isaiah 40, we read of how God’s people need comfort. In this part of Isaiah, God is addressing His people who are in exile. In this section of Isaiah, God brings this word of comfort to His people while they are in exile.
In Isaiah 42:10, we read of how they are called to “sing to the LORD a new song”. Singing is the desired response to all that God says He will do, and notice also how this is a universal, global response of praise and worship to this God! Now, it’s not always easy to sing God’s praise. Do you sing during your church’s worship service? Why or why not?
In this verse, it is not just individuals that are called to sing, but all the earth. Why would it be appropriate for all the earth to sing God’s praise? Praise and worship is not without reason. We praise and worship because something is done that is deserving of our response. Creation is an argument for praise certainly but is it the reason for praise here? In Isaiah 42:9, we see the reason for this new song. Isaiah 42:10 also hints at the scale of the new thing that God says He will do in the previous verse. The agenda that God is fulfilling is great, personally beneficial enough for it to be appropriate for the prophet to call even the desert, cities and villages to lift up their voice (Isa 42:11).
What do we understand by “a new song”? Is this a call for creativity? This new song is song in response to new things that God is doing. Because we are informed of God’s agenda, we sing this new song!
Is this how you think of Christian worship? Or do you think of it as an expression of something far greater and bigger than ourselves? When we praise God for what He has done, we are a part of His global agenda.
The coming and work of the Servant is described in terms of the metaphor of a mighty man in Isaiah 42:13. He also acts in power. This describes God at work! God’s servant acts in this world with zeal and enthusiasm.
When we read this verse, we should not think that God is passive, uninterested, emotionally disengaged from His people. God feels strongly about His people. He is absolutely committed to what He wants to do for them and bring for them.
Do you think of your walk as a rollercoaster? If so, you might have thought that God has left our walk to us to figure out. Friends, this passage teaches us that our walk is not a rollercoaster. Yes, we may feel this way, but our faith and relationship with Him is objectively dependent on Him, not us. His feelings towards us does not change every day.
See how we are beneficiaries of God’s agenda! This is the way we can bring our emotions to be aligned with what this passage is calling us to! This is also how we can encourage our heart to sing. Are you a cynical Christian? Are you maintaining a distance between you and God that is making singing hard for you? Isaiah 42 teaches us that salvation songs are called for because God does a great act of salvation.
(B) Surprised by when: from appearing forsaken, to being rescued at the right time (42:14-17)
God is the speaker in Isaiah 42:14-17. Here, He cries out like a woman in labour. In Scripture, the cries of labour are cries of hope and eagerness. The speaker kept still and restrained Himself in the past, but now, He will no longer do so (Isa 42:14).
These verses could be challenging for us to come to terms with, but they show us that God has a purposefulness to time that we do not understand. Remember that God doesn’t even exist within the boundaries of time. Thus, when He says that He was waiting, He did not do so without purpose. He waited with a purpose in mind. Even this exile and the waiting of God’s people were a part of His plan.
The Bible is full of examples of God’s people waiting for Him, and it isn’t always easy. Psalm 80 is an example of the kind of desperate prayer that God’s people would have prayed. 2 Peter 3:8-10 also reminds us that the Lord is not slow as some count slowness.
Does this describe your struggle now? Take heart.
In Isaiah 42:14-17, He says that He will do six things. The first five are as follows.
“I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation” (Isa 42:15a)
“I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools” (Isa 42:15b)
“And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know,” (Isa 42:16a)
“in paths that they have not known I will guide them” (Isa 42:16b)
“I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.” (Isa 42:16c)
By clearing the mountains and hills and drying up the water bodies, God is making a pathway for what’s going to happen next. He is making a way for them to return!
In contrast, God will put to shame those who continue to trust in idols (Isa 42:17). This is the sixth thing that He does.
What kind of a God says, “These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them” (Isa 42:16b). God will vindicate Himself despite how His people appear to be forsaken for a very long time. This is what God is like! He is committed to the good of His people. When God doesn’t give you what you want in the time you want and even think that you deserve, remember that He has a plan and purpose that we can trust.
(C) Surprised by who: it is blind Israel who needs saving (Isa 42:18-25)
When we read Isaiah 42:18-20 closely, we see that the servant spoken of is Jacob and Israel that’s also referred to in Isaiah 42:24. This is to contrast God’s perfect Servant with Israel. God sends a greater messenger because his people went astray. God sends one who is perfectly committed to do His will because His people did not obey.
Yet, this servant is both deaf and blind. He sees, but does not observe. His ears are open, but he does not hear (Isa 42:20). God is calling them to pay attention so that they could see what He is going to do.
Isaiah 42:22 describe the physical conditions of their exile. They have been plundered and looted. They also struggle to pay attention to what God is doing (Isa 42:13). It is not easy for them to be sensitive to God’s agenda.
When things are going well, we may feel like God is closer to us and when things are going terribly, we may feel like God is far from us. But, our circumstances cannot be the measure of who we understand God to be. Our theology should not be determined by our circumstances. Isaiah 42 should make this clear for us.
In Isaiah 42:24-25, we see that God was the one who “gave Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers”. How would you describe this God who lets His people suffer? Is the Christian life supposed to be smooth sailing? This passage teaches us that God is also behind the hard things in life because He is sovereign. God’s covenant people also needed to be reminded of how they ended up in exile in the first place — they broke the covenant promise.
Is God behind the hard things of your life? Does He only have power over some things and not other? God is the God prosperity and also profound pain.
Today, we are not better than them or spiritually superior to them. As we read about Israel’s sufferings, we ought to rightly remind ourselves that we are still waiting for final redemption. We are still waiting for God to safely bring us Home. He will work to make a path in the wilderness. We are not living our best life now. We still struggle in our sin and in our flesh, and are still fighting to believe by faith that God is sovereign and at work.
The sinner who first turned away from God needs His salvation. Have you turned from your sins and trusted in Jesus? Do not wait and do so tonight! Our great hope is that we do not belong to ourselves but to Him.
What is God saying to you through these verses? How will you respond to HIs word today?