STUDY 19: CHRIST: THE SUFFERING SERVANT #1– ISAIAH 42
© Rosemary Bardsley 2024
In Isaiah 41:8 – 9 God describes Israel this way:
‘But you, O Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
you descendants of Abraham my friend,
I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’ ...
But at the end of Chapter 41 he says:
‘I look but there is no one – no one among them to give counsel,
no one to give answer when I ask them.
See, they are all false!
Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.’
As we have seen previously, the people of Israel failed to actively live out their identity as the people of God, the servant of God.
But immediately, into this dark and empty space, in contrast to this ignorance and falseness, this confusion and hopelessness, comes a totally different message. Out of them, out of the ‘stump of Jesse’ of whom we read in Chapter 11, out of the remnant of this God-dishonouring, arrogant, rebellious nation, a true servant of God is about to arise, one who will in every respect fulfill God’s mission and God’s eternal purpose.
A. ISAIAH 42:1 – 9
In Isaiah 42:1 - 9 we find the first of the four ‘Servant Songs’ that look ahead to this ‘servant’ of God, who will accomplish the purpose of God. This ‘servant’ is Jesus Christ.
Read Isaiah 42:1 – 4. What do you learn from Isaiah’s description of Christ?
About his relationship with God we learn that -
This servant belongs to God.
He is upheld by God.
He is chosen by God.
God delights in him.
God put his Spirit on him.
This ties in with what Isaiah has said about Christ in earlier chapters.
About his mission, we learn that –
He will bring justice to the nations.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice.
He will establish justice on earth.
It is a global mission, involving ‘the nations’ and ‘the islands.’
We are not told, in this Servant Song, what this will involve, and how it will be accomplished. But we are told that the Servant can be trusted to bring God’s purpose to fulfilment. This Servant can be trusted to do the work God gave him to do.
About his attitude we learn that –
He is not a loud-mouth. (We know from the Gospels that he engaged in a lot of public teaching, and in intense debate with the leaders of the Jews. But we also know from Peter’s first letter that ‘when they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats’ – 1Peter 2:23.)
He is compassionate and gentle, understanding our weakness.
He does not reject us because of our faults and failures.
(We can see this, for example, in Christ’s dealing with the woman caught in adultery. We can see it in his appointment of Simon Peter as a disciple.)
He is faithful. He will not give in and give up. Unlike Israel, he has an unfailing commitment to his task until it is completed.
(We read, for example, of Christ setting his face steadfastly towards Jerusalem and the death that he knew awaited him there – Luke 9:51; we read of Christ refusing to take the easy way out, remaining committed to his Father’s plan – Matthew 4:3 – 10; 16:21 – 23; John 18:11, and seeing his task through to the end when he could say ‘It is finished’ – John 19:30.)
Read Isaiah 42:5 – 9. What do you learn about God’s formal affirmation of the Servant?
To affirm this Servant, God firstly identifies himself:
He is the creator of the heavens and the earth, and everything that comes from the earth.
He is the One who gives the breath of life to all people.
It is this Almighty Creator who is presenting his Servant to us. The Servant belongs to him, not to some other god. He is doing the will of God; he is not a rebel, off on some tangent of his own.
God then affirms his support of this Servant:
It is he, the LORD, the ‘I AM’ of Exodus 3, who has called the Servant.
He has called him, appointed him, ‘in righteousness’ – that is, in keeping with his righteousness and justice.
He will not let the Servant fail.
He will accomplish the purpose for which he has sent the Servant.
God identifies the task he has given the Servant:
He will be ‘a covenant for the people’.
He will be ‘a light for the Gentiles’.
He will open eyes that are blind.
He will set captives free.
He will release people from spiritual darkness.
To give further affirmation to the Servant and his work, God again identifies himself:
His name is ‘the LORD’ – again the ‘I AM’ of Exodus 3.
He will not give his glory to anyone else, or share his with idols. [Yet he shares both his glory and his praise with this Servant – John 17:2, 5, 24; 2Corinthians 4:6; Hebrews 1:3.]
In announcing the coming of his Servant, he is announcing ‘new things’ that he knows and declares in advance will surely come to pass.
It is this God to whom the Servant belongs. It is this God whose purpose the Servant accomplishes. It is this God who declares in advance the ‘new things’ associated with the Servant. We cannot doubt either the validity or the certainty or the success of the coming and the work of the Servant, because he is commissioned, affirmed, supported and sustained by the God who alone is God.
B. IN ISAIAH 42:10 – 17
In response to the description of the Servant and what he will do in 42:1 – 9, Isaiah exhorts us to sing a new song – 42:10 – 12. Verses 13 to 25 seem to hover between the salvation he will provide through the Servant and the judgement that is about to fall on the people of Judah. It is difficult to discern how much of what is said in these verses applied to the immediate future of Judah, and how much applies to the broader, long-term global picture.
From these verses, answer these questions:
42:10 & 11 – Who is commanded to sing this new song?
42:10, 11, 12 – What kind of song is it?
42:12 – What is the content of the song?
42:16 – In what ways is this verse true of Jesus Christ?
REFLECTION ON THE FIRST SERVANT SONG
Read again through Isaiah 42: 1 – 12.
[1] What important truths about Jesus Christ has it helped you to remember?
[2] What truths about who Jesus is and what he has done cause you to sing the new song of praise and joy to the Lord?
[3] Read Revelation 5:9 – 14; 14:1 – 4; 15:2 – 4. How does the new song in Isaiah 42 anticipate the new song of Revelation?