The Coming of the Servant

A prophecy on the so called servant of the Lord. It's one of four servant songs in the book of Isaiah, and it is, you can check me, but I think it's the second one. Isaiah 42 is the first one of this mysterious servant who the Lord identifies through the prophet Isaiah, who will come and help Israel in their need. Let's read together from Isaiah 49, verses one through seven. Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar.

The Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother, He named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of His hand, He hid me. He made me a polished arrow.

In His quiver, He hid me away. And He said to me, you are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. But I said, I have laboured in vain. I've spent my strength for nothing and vanity. Yet surely, my right is with the Lord and my recompense with my God.

Now the Lord says, He who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to him and that Israel might be gathered to Him. For I am honoured in the eyes of the Lord and my God has become my strength. He says, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the redeemer of Israel and His Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers.

Kings shall see and arise, princes and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you. This is the word of the Lord. The main question when commentators, scholars, academics come to Isaiah and they come to passages like Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 49 and 50 and 53 is, who is this servant? And there is very fierce debate of who is the one to be identified as the one fulfilling this or these tasks. Some will say that it is Isaiah the prophet himself, that he is this suffering servant who, for the sake of God, will go to the disobedient sinful Israel, and will speak to them a word of return, return back to God, bring your obedience in line with God again, and that he will be rejected.

Others say that this is the people Israel themselves, that somehow God will use them as a vessel to be a mouthpiece of the good news of God, both to one another and to the nations, that collectively, Israel is this servant. And there is internal evidence in the book of Isaiah and other places that Israel at times is viewed in this way, that they are collectively seen as a vehicle of God, both of His peace, but of His judgment as well. And then there are Christians who view these verses as referring to Jesus. Let's have a look at why I think these verses are referring to the Messiah who is ultimately Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The first question we have to answer is how can Israel save Israel?

Right? Because this passage, which is regarded as a salvation oracle, a promise of God to rescue His people, we see that this promise is grounded in a person who is identified in verse five as the servant or a servant. For this reason, Isaiah 49 has traditionally been held by the Jews as a promise of the Messiah, a ruler that God will raise to rescue His people from their enemies. We know earlier in the book of Isaiah, and Isaiah is a big book, admittedly, but earlier in chapter 11, verse one, the Messiah has already popped up. In chapter 11, verse one, Isaiah the prophet writes, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

This name Jesse is the name of King David, the great king of Israel. It's his father. This reference to Jesse is specifically, therefore, a reference to the bloodline of Israel's royalty. But here in Isaiah's time, which is many hundreds of years after King David, this bloodline has been cut down, history tells us. The kings have been destroyed.

They have been torn down. God says, however, out of the stump that is left over, a little green shoot will come. A ruler is returning to Israel. I remember growing up, Mum and Dad came back from a trip overseas and they brought with them a babushka doll. Does anyone know what that is?

It's one of those carved dolls that are hollow. And you can open them up and you find inside the doll, a smaller doll. And that one is hollow as well. And you open that one up, and inside that is a smaller doll. And so you can go, you know, four or five times and until you find this little girl.

It's a big old lady, and it goes smaller and smaller, and then it's this beautiful, cute, little baby girl. Like that babushka process, we see something happening here in Isaiah 49. There is a servant coming out of Israel, called Israel, who will save Israel. Israel will save Israel. Now, this interplay, some says, well, it cancels each other out, it's clearly confused, the prophet doesn't know what he's writing or or it certainly maybe like the nation Israel, there will be a faithful remnant and they will save the rest of Israel or so on.

But this interplay of words, metaphorical use of names isn't a problem in the prophetic writings of the Bible. Cast your minds forward to the opening chapters of Matthew's gospel in Matthew, chapter two, and we see Jesus as a baby being taken away from the state of Judea or the nation of Judea into Egypt to escape from Herod the Great. And after a few years, he is brought back from Egypt to his hometown in Nazareth. And Matthew records this event, this return from Egypt, and he says this: this took place to fulfil the prophecy, out of Egypt, I called my son. You're like, well, that's the Son of God.

Of course, that makes sense. But it is a prophecy, Matthew says, and it links back to Hosea 11:1. And in that context, almost certainly, it is referring to the nation of Israel coming out of the exodus in Egypt. So in Hosea, the reference is to the people Israel, who is seen by God as His son, and God calls His son Israel out of Egypt to bring them into the promised land. But here, Matthew plays on this wonderful double entendre, this double meaning, like a babushka doll, a prophecy within a prophecy.

Matthew's claim sheds light on this prophecy we hear, that there is this tight relationship between the person of Jesus and the nation of Israel. The person of Jesus and the people of Jesus. Jesus is seen as Israel and has got something to do with the original mission of God's people, Israel. Remember again, when God called His son out of Egypt, God formed this nation of Israel and He called them in the Exodus with this mission. Exodus 19:6.

Although the earth is mine, God says to Israel through Moses, although the earth is mine, although all the nations of the earth I have formed, you are to be for me a nation of priests and a holy nation. So to this first question, how can Israel save Israel? The answer is this: Israel will be a person, the prophesied Messiah who is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. In order to really solidify that claim, we ask the second question from this prophecy. What is the purpose of this servant?

What is he to do? As the narrative of the Bible continues from the Exodus, we see how badly Israel fulfils that purpose, purpose of being this nation of priests. They are anything but a kingdom of priests. In fact, in some generations, they turn people away from God instead of bringing them to God. And yet God always holds out this intercessory, this declarative mission for Israel.

They are to communicate the excellencies of God. But now, in Isaiah's time, we find Israel sitting in exile. They have been rejected by God because they did not believe in God. And they hear in Isaiah 49 that a servant called Israel will do what? He will declare a message of God and be a light to the nations.

Verse six. He will be a speaker that the whole world needs to hear. And so firstly, we see that there is a process of preparation for this servant and it's beautifully expressed in verses one through to four where it says, listen to me, O coastlands, give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb. That's got jingle bell sounds all over it, doesn't it?

Christmas season, where we marvel at the exact same thing that Mary and Joseph are told by the angels. Here is the name you are to give this child who is to be born to you. His name is Jesus because He will save many. He will be conceived in Mary through the work of the Holy Spirit and right from that moment, even as He is a child in the womb, He is to be known as Jesus. He has a name which has a mission associated with it.

This is one of the powerful elements of the Christmas story, that before His actual arrival, Jesus' whole purpose is already declared over His life. He will save His people. And so here, back in Isaiah 49, verse one, we see the exact same thing being declared. The servant's purpose is fixed by the Lord from the beginning. From inside the womb, He has a purpose.

But we see here also that there is a process involved in Him fulfilling this purpose. There is a preparation that He must undergo. This servant must grow into His work. Verse two, He made my mouth like a sharp sword. He made me like a polished arrow.

What does that refer to? Well, it is a description of Jesus' preaching and teaching, most probably. Remember in the end of the Bible, Revelation 19:15, Jesus comes during the final judgment and He is pictured as having a sword coming from His mouth. That's a throwback to Isaiah. And we see this in the gospels, in His ministry here on earth.

When people heard what Jesus had to teach and what He had to say, they asked, who is this man who preaches, who teaches with such authority? He has an authority greater than the scribes and the Pharisees, they said. And he's a carpenter's son from Nazareth. But notice what is combined with His teaching ministry. God has made my mouth like a sharp sword, the servant says, but in the shadow of His hand, He hid me.

The image is of God literally keeping him like a hidden dagger up His sleeve. The next line there says that He has made me a polished arrow, but He has kept me in His quiver. He has hid me in His quiver. In other words, God will keep His servant hidden for a set time until He needs him. Now think back on the life of Jesus.

Think back on the span of His ministry. And that is the remarkable thing about this man, Jesus. God prepared Jesus for thirty years in hiddenness, in nothingness, in the backwaters of a backwater region called Judea. And then, all of a sudden, it's as if God pulled out the knife, pulled out the dagger, took out the arrow. This idea of hiddenness explains why we don't know anything about Jesus before He was 30.

He just bursts onto the stage. We see the birth and then His ministry. And although there's an entire family of brothers and sisters around Jesus, we also know that they only become believers in Him after these thirty years. They, amazingly, if you read the letter of James, they call Him their Lord. There's no way I could call my brother Dirk Lord.

I mean, Mum says He would like me to. Plenty of wrestling matches to try and prove which one is more superior. But for thirty years, the glory of the Messiah remains hidden. Jesus is kept up God's sleeve. And then finally, Jesus starts to preach and people hearing Him almost immediately start saying, is this the Messiah?

So we see this preparation of the servant kept hidden for a time, but what is the purpose? Well, this preparation leads to a purpose and this purpose is seemingly fraught with pain and rejection. Verse four, the servant says, I have laboured in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and for vanity. The servant knows suffering.

His ministry is built around him, the true Israel, the priest who must declare the gospel to the nations, well, it all seemingly amounts to nothing. He will be a teacher. His mouth will be like a sword. It will penetrate the heart. It will penetrate spirit and soul.

As a priest, he will offer up himself in service to God. He will use up his strength in that service, and his sacrifice will be seen as not amounting to anything. Remember, on the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus said to His disciples, my soul is deeply sorrowful even to the point of death. And turning to His disciples, He makes the shocking pronouncement, all of you will leave me, every single one. And then, indeed, on the cross, when those dark clouds came over the Mount of Calvary with the noise of women crying in the background and men with their heads in their hands.

In that moment, well, it seemed like Jesus had lost. The very promising start to this hidden and yet revealed career had come to nothing, a great talent wasted at the end of three short years. But the other half of that same verse in verse four raises this glimmer of hope. See how it ends. It transitions with this word, yet, yet, yet, surely, my right is with the Lord.

My recompense is with my God. To recompense someone is to compensate them for something, a loss that they've suffered. In other words, Isaiah says that this is not the end of His story. Even when Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Only a few moments later, Jesus would also sigh out the words, Father, it is finished.

I commit my spirit into Your hands. Father, Your mission is complete. I have come. I have preached. I have spent my strength.

I am the Son who You said You delighted in. I am the servant You sent to serve. I am the priest who has ushered Your people into communion with You and I put my trust now in You that You will not forsake me. I look to You for my recompense, my vindication. It's an incredible thing to think that the Son of God could empty Himself of so much authority that He depended on the Father and the Father's will to vindicate Him.

But what a magnificent turnaround that three days later, proving that the man, Jesus Christ, was truly dead, that God the Father would bring Him back to life. His life, His resurrection was the message that His sacrifice was sufficient, that His service had been enough, that His ministry was complete. Which moves us to the third part of this passage. What happens after His purpose has been reached? Well, despite the suffering of the servant, despite his purpose having been achieved, all that remains is the glory that he deserves.

Verse five gives us a summary statement of what that servant would accomplish. It says, Jacob has been brought back. Israel has been gathered. Jacob is just another name for Israel. And it's just saying both times, God's people has been returned.

They've been gathered back to God. There's a bringing back of the prodigal sons in view here. There is a finding of the lost sheep of Israel. There's a calling home of the exiles who have now realised that they are very far from God. And so we see that the mission of Israel, which was always to bring lost people to God, now applies to them.

They are the ones that need to return to God. But the mission of this new Israel is altogether different in that he is successful. He finds the lost Israelites. He finds God's people and returns them to God. But this passage is not so much focusing on the lost people, the object of his mission.

The focus of this passage, at least the last few verses, is the glory and the majesty that the servant receives and the incredible reach of his ministry. In verse six, God says to this servant, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel, I will make you as a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. It means that the servant's salvation is far more than a political one. The scope is far greater than a geographical location. In fact, these verses are hinting at the idea that God's people will be more than Israel.

It will be the nations of the world that are saved. Now, think back to Israel's purpose in Exodus 19:6, all the world is mine, God said, but you will be for me a kingdom of priests. What is the end game? That Israel could become the mouthpiece by which to draw all the nations to God. And this mission, this ministry of the servant built around the good news that he would preach, and as a result of the suffering he would suffer.

It means that salvation is now available to all the nations. It's no surprise therefore that Jesus could declare confidently in John 8:12, I am the light of the world. I give meaning and insight to all humanity. I am the light by which you will understand and see everything for what it is. And so Isaiah writes about the moment of Christmas again.

And he writes of that in chapter nine where he says, the people walking in darkness have seen what? A great light. On those living in a land of deep darkness, a light has dawned, and God the Father declares to the servant, it is too small a thing for you to simply save Israel. You will save the nations. What is the result?

Well, it means that the glory of this servant multiplies exponentially. It reaches to the heavens. His power, His majesty explodes beyond imagination, and this glory, this great reward for excellent services rendered is given to the servant by God in verse seven. Thus says the Lord, the redeemer of Israel and Israel's Holy One, to the one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations. Kings shall see and arise, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.

In other words, by being humiliated, even by the humanity He came to serve, being sacrificed at our blood stained hands, Jesus would take on Himself our spiritual humiliation, punished before God the Father for our sin and guilt, rejected by God the judge, but the sacrifice is both sufficient for all of us, His servant, His service perfect for His vindication. And the result is that all the leaders of all these nations will bow before Him. If you know anything about kings and queens, they don't stand for anyone. You would never see Queen Elizabeth stand. She sits, her servants stand around her.

But notice what happens here with the servant. Kings arise, kings get to their feet when they see Him. Princes who receive the bowing usually bow before Him. The majesty, the glory, and the everlasting awe of Christ brings even the most powerful to their knees in worship. Why?

And this is why I'm not a dispensationalist nor do I believe in the literal return of the Jews to the nation state of Israel or the rebuilding of a physical temple in Jerusalem because to save one nation, one geographical exile is one thing, but it is too small. It is too small for the glory of God to save one nation, one people, but to save the souls of millions across the whole world for all eternity that is starting to touch the glory of an everlasting eternal God. God's eyes are not set on the physical and temporal. He always has had eternity in mind. It is too light a thing for you to save only Israel.

You will save the world. So church, this is the message that we take into our week leading up to Christmas. I don't think it's an unfair application to take from this passage this morning that it's too light a thing for us to feel the urgency inherent in the thought that Christ deserves all the glory, that He deserves more glory than we, the saved ones in this church, can bring Him. If we are moved by the glorious vision, the glorious work that He did on our behalf, if we look forward to one day seeing kings and princes lay their crowns at His feet, then it is too light a thing for us not to go on to become a kingdom of priests, to declare the excellencies of the one who has saved us from darkness and has brought us into His marvellous light. Let us pray this week leading into Christmas that somehow, in some way, at church next Sunday or around the dinner table at Christmas lunch, that we may share the glory of the gospel seen in the person of Jesus Christ.

It is too light a thing not to declare His everlasting glory. Let's pray. Our Lord Jesus, what can we say in response to this? The one who did not consider Himself or His glory something to be clung to, jealously guarded, or would empty Himself, taking on the form of mankind and be humiliated by death, and not only that, but death on a cross. And not only that, but carry the humiliating sin that is ours.

And yet, His sacrifice was perfect. His service was complete. And that is why God has raised Him and given Him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, every tongue confess that He is the Lord, that every nation belongs to Him, every tribe, every language, every culture. And Lord, even as we have these culture wars in our time amongst our people, even as we strive and fight for truth. Lord, we are reminded again that You sit above it all and You already reign.

Help us, Lord, to have a heart and a mind that yearns and seeks for You to receive the glory that is due to You, the glory that already exists with You in eternity. And help us, Lord, as Your church, even this small little church here, help us to shine just a little bit of that gold, just a little bit of that glory for the world to see. Lord Jesus, this Christmas, we pray that we will be moved again deeply, profoundly by the arrival of You, our great gift. And help us to remember that this gift was for a service and help us to remember Your words that they are sharp and, Lord, that You were hidden for a time, but then You were released. And, Lord, we have come to see and we've come to know the everlasting Lord.

Thank You, Lord, for this truth that means we are set free and help us, Lord, to be able to walk in that freedom. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.