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God’s Servant
Intro
According to the church calendar, this time of year is called advent.
We celebrate it for the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas.
Advent is a time of celebrating the coming of Jesus.
Prior to Jesus’ coming there was a long waiting period for him to come and fulfil the promises made in the OT.
From the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation the story of the Bible tells us the story of Redemption.
The Story of God saving his people from themselves.
The story of God Reuniting himself to the creation that rejected him.
The story of God’s Mercy, Grace, and Peace.
The story of Reconciliation between a holy God and a rebellious creation.
The culmination of God’s Story of Redemption happens at the Incarnation.
That is, the birth of Jesus.
Through Jesus’ birth we get to see God’s promises being kept in sending a savior.
Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we get to see God’s promise of salvation fulfilled.
Some 700 years before Jesus’ birth a prophet named Isaiah steps on the scene.
And God reveals to Isaiah who this servant will be.
Prophecy is a style of literature that is used primarily in the OT.
It can be a little difficult to understand, but here’s the jist of it.
Israel, God’s People, are either in trouble or about to be in trouble b/c of their rebellion against God and his Commands.
God then raises up a man to proclaim to them the error of their ways.
This man is called a prophet.
God reveals to his prophet why they are in this situation, how long they are going to be there, and how God is going to deliver his people from the mess they have found themselves in.
This man calls them to repent and turn back to God.
Sometimes they do, most of the time they don’t.
Many times these prophets are speaking about how God is going to deliver them from their current situation.
Sometimes, as is the case for today’s scripture, God reveals how he is going to bring about something new.
Someone more amazing than they could ever imagine.
Someone who is going to restore them not simply as a nation, but as those made in the image of God.
God is going to send a servant to restore what is broken.
So what is this Servant going to look like?
God’s Chosen Servant
To begin we need to know that throughout the OT God calls many people his Servant.
Abraham is called his servant.
Moses is called his servant.
David is called his servant.
In fact in the chapter right before this one, the nation of Israel is called his servant.
And later in this chapter Israel called God’s Servant again.
So we need to know the context of the passage in order to make sense of what is going on.
Here we read that Isaiah is prophesying about a servant that has yet to come.
A servant that hasn’t arrived yet.
This servant is completely and wholly different from every other servants chosen and used by God.
Almost as if he is a culmination of everything they had hoped, longed, and prayed for.
Like he is the true servant that will accomplish all that the other servants couldn't.
Now, This servant is Jesus and we know this because this passage is quoted in Matthew 12:18-21 to be about Jesus.
So what do we know about this servant for Isa 42.
First, we know that he is a Servant.
What does it mean to be a servant?
It means to do the will of the one that you serve.
All those other servants of God, didn’t limit themselves to only doing God’s will.
They all ended up falling short.
They all ended up sinning.
They all ended up trying to mix their will and God’s will together.
But Jesus tells us in Jn 6:38 “38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.”
Jesus came to do the will of the father as the perfect servant of God.
Jn 5:19 “19 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing.
For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things.”
The Father and the Son are in perfect harmony and unity with one another.
And Therefore Jesus can serve the Father Perfectly.
That’s why God is sending Jesus to accomplish his will because humanity will always mess it up.
There needed to be a perfectly obedient Servant.
And that could only be accomplished by God himself in human flesh.
We also see in this passage that this Servant is strengthened by God himself.
This is a strength that is outside of human capability.
It is supernatural in nature.
There are times in the OT when God’s Spirit comes and aids his servants, but this will be different.
All that this servant will do will be b/c of God’s power
This is self-evident in Jesus because Jesus is God obviously he is strengthened by him.
Jesus was chosen from the beginning of time to be the Servant of God that would restore creation to it’s proper form.
There was never a Plan B.
From creation, Jesus was chosen to set right what people had broken.
We also see that God is Going to delight in his Servant.
Mark 1:11 “11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.””
The Father delights in his Son.
The Father sends Jesus, strengthen’s Jesus, and delights in Jesus.
Now this Servant has a mission to complete when he gets here and what is that mission?
To bring Justice to the nations.
We tend to have too narrow a view on Justice.
Our idea of justice is usually someone getting what’s coming to them.
When we think about justice we tend to think about Retributive justice.
You did something wrong.
Now you need to pay for it.
You need to be punished.
And justice is not served if you are not penalized by the wrong you did.
Sometimes our justice is based on our own feelings.
Our own circumstances.
Our own upbringings.
So our idea of justice is usually subjective, rather than objective.
On the other hand, God’s idea of justice is always objective.
Rather than being strictly Punitive, God’s justice moves toward Restoration.
God is in the business of justice.
But God’s idea of justice is different than our idea of justice.
Sure he will repay evil with evil, but the justice he seeks is greater than mere retribution.
God is interested in Restorative Justice.
Not only that but God’s justice is objective.
Meaning it is based on what he declares to be right and wrong.
And he can do that b/c he is the standard against which everything else is measured.
God’s justice is found in his perfect, holy, and incorruptible character.
So God’s justice wants to restore what is broken.
God wants to heal the human heart.
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