Behold My Servant

BEHOLD MY SERVANT Spring Valley Mennonite; January 8, 2023; Isaiah 42:1-8 The first recorded words of Jesus as a 12-year-old boy were "I must be about My Father's business." His last words from the cross were "It is finished," signifying that the work of redemption was completed. Jesus came to earth with a clear purpose, and a great part of that work can be summarized by Jesus' role as Servant. I wonder if we grasp the amazing importance of His statement, "I come not to be served but to serve." When Jesus was on earth serving, first His Father, but also mankind, He was fulfilling the prophesy of Isaiah recorded in chapter 42. Join me in that chapter of Isaiah; we will be covering the first eight verses. Follow along as I read these verses (Isaiah 42:1-8.) I. THE SERVANT PRESENTED "Behold My Servant" says God, presenting His Servant. This passage describes the Lord Jesus, written 700 years before Jesus was on earth. All doubt about whom Isaiah was describing is settled by Matthew 12:18-20 where these verses are quoted as referring to Jesus. In this passage in Matthew, Jesus once more had withdrawn after a confrontation with the Pharisees. And while Jesus had destroyed their arguments with Godly logic and condemned their sinful legalism, He did not rally His followers to "kick the bums out!" but demonstrated a more successful method of revolution. Jesus' methods were of a nonviolent sort, simply going around doing good, preaching and teaching and demonstrating God's ways of inner heart change. He strongly condemned the organization of a "pro-Jesus" political uprising. His actions fulfilled Isaiah's words. Behold-Observe My Servant. One of the great cop-outs of the world is their tendency to evaluate Christianity by focusing on individual believers rather than on Christ. Yes, I realize that the "We are the only Christ some people will see" and that we certainly are Christ's ambassadors, but in the final analysis when an unconverted person stands in the judgment, the question that will be asked is "What did you do with My Son?" Any excuse that Christians were inconsistent or hypocritical won't stand under the fearful gaze of the Creator. One of the best questions we can ask a person is "What do you think of Jesus Christ?" That really is the question, isn't it? The focus must be on Jesus, not men or institutions or rituals. Behold whom? Behold My Servant-Look at Jesus. Consider for a moment the enormity that God the Son is a Servant. This truly is the Wonder of the Incarnation, that God the Son became the Servant, both to the Father, but amazingly to mankind. The one who hung the stars is the One who hung on the Cross to secure my salvation! This truth should shake us to our core! The Servant is "The Chosen One," the Elect, the Anointed One. In what sense was Jesus chosen? When we think of choosing something, our picture is of having many candidates from which to choose, then selecting one, like picking out a watermelon at Dillons. In our culture, choice has been elevated to be a basic right. But how does this apply to Jesus being the "chosen One?" It pertains to the role the Messiah would fulfill in regard to God's Eternal Plan for the redemption of mankind and all creation. Revelation 13:8 describes Jesus as "The Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth." Of the members of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), the Son was chosen-appointed-selected to be the Lamb, the only sufficient Sacrifice, the atoning payment for the sins of the world. But look! God says His soul delights in His Servant and in how He would fulfill His role as Redeemer. Does this not speak of the wondrous love f God, that He would delight in our redemption, even though the cost of that love would be the Cross? Can we imagine the pain it caused the Father to allow his Holy Son to bear all the sins of the world? Can we appreciate the moment when God the Father turned His back on the Son, and the intense agony of Jesus crying out "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" That is what was involved in being the Servant of God. Through Isaiah, God proudly presents His Servant, Who would perfectly fulfill His Divine Plan and Will. I will return to the latter part of verse 1 in a moment, but consider that Isaiah in verse 2 speaks of: II. THE PERSONALITY OF THE SERVANT What would this divine Servant be like? Contrary to what man would expect the Messiah would be much different. When we list the qualifications of an effective leader, we think of a forceful personality who authoritatively takes charge and accomplishes his goals. We think of names like Roosevelt, Churchill, Kennedy, or Reagan. We may not agree with such leaders, but they were able to get the job done. But what would characterize the Divine Servant? "He would not raise His voice, or cry out, nor make His voice heard in the street." MacArthur observes, "Contrary to the typical first-century rabbinical expectations, the Messiah would not arrive with political agendas, military campaigns, and great fanfare, but with gentleness and meekness1 We see this in how Jesus related to the "powers that be" when He walked the earth. There were two earthly authorities in Israel at that time: the religious authority of the Sanhedrin, the ones Jesus often referred to as "The Chief Priests and Scribes." The second authority was of course Rome itself. Isaiah was predicting that the Messiah would not lead an armed rebellion of the righteous against either of these authorities. Once after He had fed a great number of people, a group wanted to make Him King through the use of force. Jesus simply walked away from that situation, wanting nothing to do with it. Few understood Jesus' manner of non-confrontation and non-violence, but today we see clearly that men are not changed by outside forces. Political solutions to the world's problems run into the basic problem of man's sin nature. The evil of man can be somewhat controlled as this is God's task for governments. But lasting change only comes from heart change, and as hearts change societies change. This is exactly why, although multitudes of programs and billions of dollars have been spent, that poverty exists still exists here in the richest nation in history, and why drug abuse continues to be a major problem in society. Gun violence will not cease with more laws, for sinful man ignores laws. Hearts need to be changed, and our culture scarcely admits there is a God, much less that we are accountable to Him. Jesus led a revolution of heart change, and as people's hearts were converted, society reflected change. The same principle is in effect today. Jesus only used force twice, both when He drove moneychangers out of the Temple. He did not deal on the superficial level of the political, but on the deep level of the soul. Significant inner transformation cannot be forced, but only comes from a work of God in the soul. 1 MacArthur, J., Jr., ed. (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1414). Word Pub. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2