The word for “behold” begins and ends the section that we read here. This text shows us what God wants us to lift our eyes from, and turn towards. To behold and to look, is to fix our eyes on what God calls us to do.
(A) Behold spiritual reality (Isa 42:1a)
Isaiah 42 begins with the word “behold” and this word has been used repeatedly in the previous chapters. In Isaiah 40, it pointed to the supremacy of God. Isaiah 40:9 called the people to behold their God. This God comes with might (Isa 40:10), and they are to see how the nations are like a drop from a bucket (Isa 40:15). This God is great, for He created the stars.
Isaiah 41 then calls the people to behold, and see the ruin of idols. God will put to shame all who are “incensed against you” (Isa 41:11). He also pledges to make of them a threshing sledge (Isa 41:15). Idols and their work are less than nothing (Isa 41:24) and are all a delusion (Isa 41:29).
Why does God need to point to His supremacy and also how He will act to destroy the idols? At this point, the people of God are in exile. They have lost their land, and even the tabernacle has been stripped of all its furnishings. As Psalm 106:47 writes, what kind of people call God to save and gather them from among the nations? It’s a people that have been scattered.
How does this apply to us today? To be in spiritual exile is not very different from being a Christian in our world. Yes, we are God’s chosen and favoured people but frankly, we are often weak and messy. We may not look as prosperous as the rest of the world, and they may even look like they are doing better without God.
It is to those people that Isaiah is writing to. He is writing about a reality that is more real that this world. To look at ultimate reality is to look away from the world and the reality that we think is all there is. Isaiah calls us to look at God and His promises. Peter also picks up on this idea and refers to his readers as those in exile in 1 Peter 1:1.
Writer C.S. Lewis puts it in another way, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Is this how you view the world?
(B) The Servant of the Lord (Isa 42:1-4)
God introduces His servant in Isaiah 42:1. He is the one that God upholds and chosen and from this description, we see that God seem to really like him (Isa 42:1b). Why would God like this person?
Earlier on in the Old Testament, God chose people like Abraham, David etc. These were people chosen not because they looked impressive. In fact, in David, God chose an unlikely person as he did not look impressive, but was said to be a man after God’s own heart. In a similar way, God is saying here that He is choosing another like David.
God goes on to say that His Spirit will be upon this servant. In Israel’s history, God’s Spirit falls upon those who are going to be used by God to do His work. We’ve seen this previously in Samson.
What do we learn about the Servant? Isaiah 42:2-4a lists three things will he not do, and two things that he will do. The writer employs parallelism in these verses. This Servant will “not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street” (Isa 42:2). He will not be arrogant and brash. Next, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench” (Isa 42:3a), indicating that he is not severe or brash. We are also told that “he will not grow faint or be discouraged” (Isa 42:4a). He is not just a flash in the pan but is one full of zeal and will not burnout for He will not be tired physically or emotionally.
Isn’t this the kind of leader we want? One who will not give up and will get teh job done? One who also knows how to handle those who are tired? One who is so wise and gentle. He is so different from all the other leaders of the world, not like Cyrus, not like the other Persian kings.
This Servant will do two things. Firstly, “he will faithfully bring forth justice” to the nations (Isa 42:3b). He will act not just for Israel, but for the world! Secondly, this servant will not stop “till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law” (Isa 42:4b). This repeats and emphasizes this idea of justice.
Now, what does it mean? What does it look like? What kind of environment needs justice to be established? One that is disordered, with a law that is not enforced. We desire for God to bring order to disorder, righteousness where there is none, and equity where there is inequity.
Note that justice in Scripture doesn’t just mean law and order. It means rightness, peace between men, a society where everyone lives with equity and dignity and fairness. This is a society that we have not yet seen. This is what the Servant will do. This is also why Jesus taught us to pray “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth”. Christians are still praying that God’s will be done, and He will come to right the world! If justice is in our world, many of us would be out of jobs! We won’t have lawyers, police officers, social workers, special education teachers, civil servants working on polices. This is why we sing “Joy to the world” at Christmas with these lines:
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
far as the curse is found,
far as the curse is found,
far as, far as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
the glories of His righteousness
and wonders of His love,
and wonders of His love,
and wonders, wonders of His love.
God’s servant will achieve His agenda and will. This is what God desires for our world!
(C) The Lord of the Servant (Isa 42:5-9)
Isaiah 42 also gives us information about God. We see that God is not a tribal deity. He created the heavens and stretched them out (Isa 42:4b-5). Everything on this earth is His! He gave breath to all things. Hence, His justice must be established on earth. This is a God who makes this cosmic claim.
God is not leaving His praise and glory up to us to achieve (Isa 42:8). He is committed to His glory and has no intention to share it with an idol. This is because He is not a God like the idols.
He is also the God who tells us what is to come (Isa 42:9).
Why does He tell us these things? Knowing the kind of God He is enables us to trust His word and know what He is doing in this world. He reveals Himself so that we might trust His word.
In Isaiah 42:6-7, we read of how God is communicating His commitment to the Servant. Why does He do this? It is so that we know what God is committed to, and plans to achieve through the Servant.
Look at the verses again. God says:
“I have called you in righteousness;” (Isa 42:6a)
“I will take you by the hand and keep you” (Isa 42:6b)
“I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,” (Isa 42:6c)
“to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Isa 42:7)
These verses also show us what bringing about justice looks like!
Years later, Jesus reads from Isaiah in Luke 4:16-21. We are to see how Jesus is the fulfilment of the promise God made in Isaiah to send His Servant. We are those whose eyes have been opened, and who have been set free by Jesus, God’s true Servant.
What does this mean for us today? What have we done with this Servant? Do we believe that He is here to proclaim the gospel and to establish justice?
Our Christian life should not be about going to church, hanging out and then trying to enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Our faith is part of this grand cosmic plan that Jesus is determined to carry out. He will not grow weary or discouraged until this is done! Are you a part of His work? Are you loving Him, delighting in Him, and committed to it?
There is no better place to be, than to be in friendship with this God and to be at peace with Him and with fellow men. What have you learnt about the Servant of the Lord today, and how does it make you feel? How should we think about God’s heart and desire for us when we consider His Servant?