The Servant's Song of Justice

Text: Isaiah 42:1-13

Intro:

Explain the meaning of Advent.

· And anticipation of his coming

· First in a manger

· Then in on a stallion

It is meant to provide hope. It is meant to restore the weary soul and encourage the downhearted.

It is a light that shines in the darkness.

Often we do not see the light because our cries for justice seem to go unheeded.

Why is justice important to people? You may have had a child who has been abused and you wonder when justice will come.

You yourself may be a product of physical or emotional abuse from the past and you wonder why your oppressor goes free.

You may have been the victim of a thief or a criminal and you’ve never gained back what you’ve lost.

You see the violence that is perpetrated against women. You see the abuse that is enacted upon children.

You see a political system gone awry.

And you wonder “How Long O Lord?”

We have in inborn desire for justice. We want the oppressors to be stopped that the enslaved may be free.

We want the victims of violence to be vindicated.

There is something within us that desires justice to be served.

And yet we wait. How Long O Lord?

This section of Isaiah has shown the hopelessness of the world. The nations had rejected their Creator. They worshipped idols. They served themselves. They were the enemies of God.

They had no righteousness. No deliverer. No hope.

It was tragic enough that the greater part of the world had rejected God. Even worse was that the chosen nation of God—Israel—had rejected God.

The nations had rejected the God of Creation. Israel had rejected the God of the Covenant.

But God was not so easily rejected. God’s insistence on deliverance was not based upon God’s mere desire to NOT be alone. For He wasn’t alone. He has always existed in fellowship as Father, Son, and Spirit.

In the book of Isaiah, the word “servant” is attributed to different people or groups. Sometimes Israel is called the servant of God. Sometimes Isaiah referred David as being the servant of God. Isaiah will even refer to some fo the pagan kings as God’s servants.

But here, “Servant” takes on a whole new meaning. The Servant that Isaiah normally presents in this section is in reference to a coming Messiah. A coming Deliverer. A coming Savior.

The Character of the Servant (1-4)

This is not the character that we look for in a deliverer. We want a warrior. We want justice to be served on the battlefield. Indeed, they will be.

But the character that this Warrior possesses is something that we would never imagine.

This Servant brings delight to the heart of God.

This Servant is upheld by God.

This Servant will have the Spirit of God upon Him.

In the Old Testament, the presence of the Spirit was reserved for special functions. The Spirit was given to the prophets so that they could preach God’s word.

The Spirit was given to kings so that they could rule God’s people.

The Spirit was given to priests so that they could intercede on behalf of the people.

Every significant event in the OT shows the action of the Spirit. He is present in Creation. He is present in judgment.

He is present in redemption. And He is present in the serving of justice.

In Isaiah, the Servant receives the Spirit so that He can serve Justice.

God’s desire for the nations to turn to Him was because God knew that only in Him will the oppressed find justice.

And it is justice that God initiates.

You will notice that the word ‘justice’ appears three times in the first four verses. God’s heart is a heart for justice.

In the Bible, “Justice” means that all the afflicted will be vindicated, the poor will be helped, and the oppressors will be crushed [ref. Psalm 72:4].

We sing of this in the well-known Christmas hymn “O Holy Night.”

Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; And in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, Let all within us praise His holy name.

That is the purpose of this Servant that will be raised up by God. To serve justice.

But what is interesting is that the One who serves justice does not come across as a vigilante. Rather, His character is impeccable.

Isaiah says that God delights in Him puts His Spirit upon Him because:

· He will not cry out or raise His voice in utter frustration

· He will not break a bruised reed or further harm those who are broken or rejected. He will see no one as unworthy of help.

· He will not be disheartened or grow weak. He will suffer with us. But He will not succumb to His suffering. He will endure until He can say “It is finished.”

When we meet Jesus in the Gospels, He is being baptized. Our attention is grabbed as we hear a voice from heaven that booms “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

Then—oddly—accompanying the voice is the descent of a dove. A dove that sets its attention upon Jesus.

The Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus and leads Him into the Wilderness for temptation.

The Holy Spirit comes upon Him in Luke 4 so that He can heal the people of their sicknesses and infirmities. Jesus applies this text to Himself in His first public teaching:

Luke 4:18–21 (NAS): The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set free those who are oppressed,

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Later, the Holy Spirit is breathed out by Jesus upon His disciples so that they can carry the Gospel to all nations.

Just as Jesus is the promised Servant of God, the Spirit is the promised presence of God.

Christmas is a promise to us that there is a new day that has dawned and we await the arrival of its fullness.

Christmas—the advent of our Lord—is about waiting upon the justice that can only served by the Lord. The Spirit of God and the Son of God enact justice upon the fallen Creation of God.

The oppressed are brought to judgement. The abusers stand trial. The wicked are made known.

But until that day, we wait. We remember. God is not unfaithful to His promises.

Celebrating Advent means being able to wait. Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finishing planting the shoot. But all too often the greedy eyes are only deceived; the fruit that seemed so precious is still green on the inside, and disrespect hands ungratefully toss aside what has so disappointed them. Whoever does not know the austere blessedness of waiting—that is, of hopefully doing without—will never experience the full blessing of fulfillment. [Bonhoeffer, God in the Manger, 4].

The coming of Jesus Christ in the Advent is a promise to us—but it is a promise for which we must wait.

His character is defined by faithfulness. He came the first time to make His salvation available. He will come the second time and make His salvation actual.

The Calling of the Servant (5-9)

God is uniquely able to be the One who serves justice because is the One who created everything. He is the One who “stretched out the heavens.”

He is the One who spread out the earth and all of life upon it.

He gives breath to people and the spirit of life to all those who walk upon the earth. Life is God’s gift!

And because all of the fullness of the earth is the Lord’s, justice is uniquely His to serve.

It is not surprising that the Creator alone has the right to serve justice (and who are we to question His way of serving justice!?).

What is surprising is the WAY that He serves justice.

He will serve justice by sending a Servant. And He relates in a unique way to the Servant that He sends.

God’s Unique Relationship with This Servant

We see here the beautiful relationship of the triune God.

God has called this Servant in righteousness. That means that every actions this Servant takes will come FROM the righteousness of God and will be FOR the righteousness of God.

God has accompanied this Servant by being with Him in the Holy Spirit.

He has appointed to Servant to issue a covenant with all the nations. God’s desire is for this Servant to institute a covenant with all people, not just the Jews.

The Unique Work of this Servant

He will open the eyes of the blind

He will set the prisoners free

The Revelation of the God Who Sends the Servant

God reveals His name

God protects His glory

God proclaims His plan

The Consequence of the Servant Who is Sent (10-14)

There is no greater symbol of hope than a people who sings!

Think about how often the Bible focuses on the people of God singing. There are at least 185 songs in the Bible.

The Book of Revelation shows us the throne room of God and it is described as a place of song.

When justice is served, the people of God sing.

Here, when the Servant of God is sent to serve justice, the only right response is that there is a new song that is sang.

A grateful people is a people whose lives are permeated with song.

Conclusion

In a world that is corrupted by the sinfulness of humanity Christmas reminds that there will not truly be peace upon Earth and goodwill toward men until the justice has been served.

God’s means of providing justice is through a Servant that He himself will send.

The ultimate picture of justice that we see today is in the Cross. We see the outpouring of God’s wrath against the sinfulness of humanity.

It shows us that God does not simply cast a side-glance at sin and say “Now cut that out,” and then go back to His business.

Sin angers God. Sin moves God to action. God consumes sin in His wrath.

That is the problem that some teachings have today that want to diminish the anger of God. If there is no anger within God, then there can be no justice.

That means that—though Christmas gives hope to the believer—it should terrify the unbeliever:

“We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us,” [Bonhoeffer, God is in the Manger, 8].

If you are here today or if you are listening on the computer and you a have never given your life to Jesus Christ—you can’t give a testimony of a time where God miraculously changed your heart—then Christmas, properly understood, cannot be a source of comfort for you.

You are the object of God’s wrath. When God serves justice, He will serve it against you.

The only way that you can avoid that is to give your life to Jesus Christ. To ask God to forgive you for your sins based on the work of Christ. To ask God to place the Holy Spirit within your heart and to transform your heart.