It was great to see you on this Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas. I hope you're planning on being here tonight for the Christmas Eve service. I'm really looking forward to that time together. It's a great time of music and singing. I think we're doing 14 songs tonight. It's just a lot of songs and scripture reading, and I'm looking forward to having that time together. Well, I remember as a young high school teacher when I was first starting out, being given the responsibility of introducing our speaker for the annual high school retreat that we had every year. And it just so happened that I knew the speaker as we had graduated from college together and I'd known him for several years and had worked with him. And so I thought I would put together this great introduction that was funny and endearing and would engage the students And in my mind, the students would be so engaged and drawn to the speaker as a result of my introduction, they would just be on the edge of their seats just waiting to hear from this guy. And so having some ideas of what to say, I got up in front of the hundred or so students and began to talk. Now, my first mistake was that I had written none of this down. My second one being I had grossly overestimated my speaking ability at that time, not to mention my ability to be humorous, and I stumbled through my introduction, and my attempts at humor were met with, at best, confused stares and blank stares, and at worst, contorted faces. And I knew I was in trouble when even the speaker's faces face was twisted in contorted confusion as he listened to what was coming out of my mouth. And then I did what many people do in that situation, tried to save the sinking ship, which only drove her further and faster down into the sea. I sat down and the speaker came up and largely ignored what I had said for good reason. It was an utterly botched introduction that left everyone feeling awkward. But when we come to Isaiah 42, we have this introduction that is absolutely mind-blowing. In fact, when we look at it in all its fullness, it is a staggering introduction. It's an introduction that causes us to pause and wonder in awe, and not just the introducer, the one doing the introduction, but the one to whom is being introduced. And this becomes especially true when we realize that this is none other than the child we looked at four weeks ago from Isaiah chapter 7. So turn with me to Isaiah 42 as we look at a text that is not often looked at this time of year in regards to Christmas. And in fact, it's possible you maybe have not looked at this passage before on Christmas or the season of Christmas. And yet, as we'll see, it's a vitally important text to fill the puzzle of pieces that are throughout the Old Testament that point us to the Messiah. So let's begin in verse 1. I'm going to read through verse 9. Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth. And the coastland shall wait for his law. Thus says God the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, and that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them." Now, we have seen in our short journey through Isaiah over the last four weeks We've started first with the promise of a child born of a virgin in Isaiah chapter 7, who will be called Emmanuel, God with us. And then we saw the next week in Isaiah chapter 9, this this child who would be given to us, who would be called the wonderful counselor, the everlasting father, the mighty God, the prince of peace. And his kingdom would be an unending kingdom. We then saw in Isaiah 53 last week that this child would suffer. And he would die as God would crush him according to God's sovereign plan of salvation. And yet we also saw that the servant, the child, would willingly lay down his life. and be active in the participation of saving God's people. And thus, he would be exalted and he would be glorified. And so what we see now in Isaiah 42, in summary, is the child will reorder all of creation according to the perfect plan of God. So let's begin working our way through these nine verses. The first thing we see here is God presents the servant. There's really two breakdowns of this text. God presenting the servant to us, to his people, and then secondly, God speaking to the servant. The language that begins this chapter is an emphatic introduction. Behold, look, see, notice, take note of, observe. This, this is my servant. Gaze upon him in wonder. Gaze upon him in worship. Shout for joy. Watch him. See what he does. He is the answer to every problem you will ever face. He is the solution for every evil and wrong. God the Father says, look, see Him, know Him, trust Him, believe Him. It's an incredible introduction. Now, notice here the attitude of God towards a servant, my servant, whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. God upholds him, meaning he holds him fast with a grip that won't let go. He delights in him, but not just delights his soul. The soul of God delights from the depths of his soul. He delights in the servant. The servant brings unspeakable joy to the heart of God. We see this displayed when Jesus is baptized and we read in Matthew 3, 17, and suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. This brings a deep measure of somberness when we consider that it pleased God to crush his son, as we saw last week. And finally, we see here that God put his spirit upon him. This is to signify the close and intimate relationship and the presence of God. God will be with him in every moment through everything. Now, this language of servant is used elsewhere in Isaiah. It's not unfamiliar. It's not an unfamiliar term. It's used elsewhere in Isaiah for both Israel and also Cyrus. But it is clear here that the servant is much more than a nation. It is much more than a human king. He, this servant, is the one through whom God works to make all things new. And as we read the descriptions of what this servant will do, if you notice and if you pay close attention, you will see hints of Isaiah chapter 9. You will see hints of a wonderful counselor, of an everlasting father, of mighty God and of the Prince of Peace. Now this monumental task that is front and center to the work of the servant is justice. Three times in these first few verses we read justice. He will bring justice to the Gentiles, verse 1. He will bring justice for truth, verse 3. He will bring justice in the earth, verse 4. And so it's clear this is central to his mission, so we must understand this term justice. Now the term that's used here, that's translated justice, is not just simply the way we're used to it of making a wrong right or bringing justice to someone who did wrong. This term actually here is much broader, much more expansive. The term justice used here begins first with speaking to the reality of God as creator, who is Lord over all that he has created. He is, God is, and all everything flows from him. And as such, he dictates how creation is to function. And so justice here is based on the foundation that God is and God always will be for he created and he alone is the living and true God and there are no other gods besides him. And because God is and God created, there is an order God intended for creation. And this kind of starts to get at the heart of the term here. There is an order God intended for creation. But because of the fall and sin entering the world, this has all been radically disrupted and things do not function as they should. Not all of the parts are clicking and moving in accordance with God's original intent. Mankind no longer lives in obedience and dependence upon God in everything, but instead tries to operate outside of the bounds that God has established for creation. And thus the entire creation is under the curse and order has been disrupted. I think there's a simple way we can illustrate this. Last month Tess and I left to go on a day hunt and we left early in the morning while it was still dark and we were driving up into the mountains in the dark and our goal was to climb a mountain in the dark in order to be at the top of the mountain over some clearings as it got light. Right before we got to where we were going to park, the truck started to make this weird grinding, scraping noise in the front. And I thought, well, that's weird. But we parked and took off and went hiking and climbed the mountain in the dark. And the whole time we're hiking, the thing when you climb a mountain in the dark, the only thing that you have is the thoughts in your head and the weird sounds that you hear. And the whole time I'm climbing, I'm thinking, man, I wonder what that grinding was. And I sure hope we can get home later on today. We got back mid-afternoon to the truck. And if you've ever had this experience, you hope that whatever it was just worked itself out, and it'll drive, and there's nothing wrong. Like, we've all been there, right? And we start down the road, and no, it's just there. And it's worse than ever, this grinding and rumbling coming from the front of the truck. And so I stop and crawl under there and find out that it's the brake. And two of the bolts, two of the four bolts that hold the brake assembly in place are just gone. They're MIA. They left ship for greener pastures. And so we had to limp the truck home, which is not the funnest thing to do in the mountains without brakes functioning right, but thankfully it wasn't real steep. We got it home. We were able to fix it. But the truck, without those bolts there, just two simple bolts, was not functioning as it was supposed to function. It sounded terrible. Now, likewise, because of the fall and the entrance of sin into the world, God's creation doesn't function as it was intended to. There's bolts missing, and there's grinding, and there's scraping, and there's limping along. And so God sends his servant, the child, the Lord Jesus, to establish justice. He will give the life-giving order that creation so desperately needs. He will put the perfect plans of God into full effect. He will restore creation to its original functioning order. All according to God's word. Now the final result of that is that all wrongs will be made right. Is that the justice that we are used to thinking of will be carried out. There will never be anyone, as we said a couple weeks ago, who will ever be able to say they have been dealt with injustly. God deals justly and everything will be just when there's perfect order restored to God's kingdom. This is the work of the servant. This justice is brought to the Gentiles. Now at first glance it sounds like God means that he's gonna bring judgment to the Gentiles. That's actually not what it means. God will bring his perfect order to all the nations is what that means. All the nations. It will be brought for truth, as we see in verse 3, meaning that it will all be ordered according to God's truth, functioning in line with God's truth. And then lastly, verse 4, it is established in all the earth. And so if we can summarize this, what we are reading here is the work of the servant is to bring God's perfect order to all of the earth. And not just all of the earth, but all of creation. And here we're reminded of of what we read when we were looking at Isaiah chapter nine. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and with justice. So what we see here is that justice is much more than just simply justice being carried out. It is nothing other than the full renewal of God's creation and being set free from the effects of sin. Now what is stunning here is how the Son brings it about, or maybe how the Son doesn't bring it about. He doesn't, as we read here, cry out. He doesn't raise his voice. He doesn't cause his voice to be heard in the streets. In other words, there's no pomp. There's no arrogance. There's no fanfare. There's no drawing attention to self. This is shocking to us in a day and age where we are used to so many clamoring to draw attention to themselves. We likely can't think of a political leader who isn't fighting for the spotlight, the mic, so that he or she may proclaim the praises of themselves to all with an earshot. A politician who isn't trying to be the loudest voice in the room, even if it takes slander and cruelty and speaking whatever comes to mind. We're so used to pompous politicians, I'm not sure we know what it's like to not have one anymore. And this is trickling down to all of our society. Even into the simplest things as sports. It's a disturbing trend. Football player gets a six yard pass reception for a first down and jumps up acting like he just scored the winning touchdown. And I'm sitting there like screaming at the TV, shut up dude, you did your job. Just go back to the huddle, you got six yards. A.C. and I were at the Grizz playoff game a couple of weeks ago, and this player from Delaware made this good play in front of us, and then he jumps up, taunting the crowd. I just thought, you're really foolish, dude. And my prophecy was correct, because how stupid that guy must have felt when he was down 36 to 6 a few minutes later. how arrogant we have become in our society. And we love to proclaim our praises. And it's shocking to consider what is going on here in this text. This servant is presented as the one who is upheld by God, whom God delights in, and God puts His presence upon. Meaning, he has more to boast of than anyone And yet, he seeks not to draw attention to himself. He is humble. And in his humility. He is powerful. I love how John Oswald says that he says is God's answer to the oppressors of the world is not more oppression, nor is his answer to arrogance, more arrogance. Rather, in quietness, humility and simplicity, he will take all of the evil into himself and return only grace. That is power. When Jesus comes, he comes in humility, but he comes in quiet power. Power that silences demons and sends the darkness shrieking back to the depths from which it came. And it's in his power that he establishes God's order in all of creation. He doesn't need self inflation, for he is the mighty God. But notice also how the servant treats people. Look at verse three, a bruised reed he will not break and smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. We're used to people in power doing what? Misusing people, abusing people, crushing people, ignoring people, manipulating people, positioning people to elevate themselves. But here we see the servant, he's gentle, he's caring, he's loving. He doesn't break a bruised reed. In other words, those who are weak, he does not trample. Instead, he is gentle and upholds. But he also does not quench a smoking flax, meaning he will not snuff out. That which seems to be at the end of its use. No one is too far gone. And the one who is struggling, he does not abandon. We can't help but think of Jesus's words in Matthew chapter 11 verse 28. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He truly is. The wonderful counselor. Everlasting father. He is powerful and he is humble. He is so powerful he has no need to boast of his power. None can compare to him. And yet we see the hints of suffering to come when we read he will not fail. Nor become discouraged. The only reason that would be stated is if there was ample reason to fail. And there was ample reason to be discouraged. And yet in the midst of the suffering and hardship, he does not fail. He does not become discouraged. Why? Because his hope is in God. He is upheld by God and God's presence is upon him. He knows God won't leave him. We saw Jesus state this just a few weeks ago as we've been going through the book of John and he who sent me is with me. The father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him. John 8, 29. This is the servant who is humble and is powerful. And yet there's one more stunning statement we need to see of this servant. Look at the end of verse four. And the coastlands shall wait for his law. In other words, the order of God established by the servant reaches to the coastlands here, referring to the remotest parts of the earth. And even there, in the remotest parts of the earth, they wait for His law. Now think about that. That's shocking. It's easy to read over that and not pause. What would we expect to read there? We would expect to read this. And the coastlands shall wait for God's law. But it doesn't say that. Though we would expect that. It says, they will wait for the servant's law. That's a stunning declaration right there. Law here isn't necessarily referring to the Mosaic law. It means instruction. teaching, and it's connected here to justice. It flows out of till he has established justice in the earth, the order of God, and therefore the servant must speak for God. His words must be God's word because it's God's word that brings established order in full to the creation. And yet, even in this, there is yet another astounding thing to notice here. It says, they wait. They wait for his law. Now here in Isaiah, this word wait often does not just simply mean to be patient. It means to depend upon and rely upon and to cast oneself upon. And thus they turn from their self-efforts at independence and instead surrender in unreserved dependence upon this servant. They refuse self-reliance. Because this one is worth casting oneself upon. Friends, just consider as you read this, whose power and strength do you find yourself so often relying on? Because so often what we do is we rely on our self for strength. And that doesn't go well, and then we get down and we get depressed and we get discouraged and we wonder why things aren't going well. It's because we are relying on a very weak source of strength. But this servant, he's worth relying on. He is humble and powerful, full of authority and tenderness. And we see this played out in Matthew chapter 12. It's a fascinating chapter in light of this. Just summarize it for you. As Jesus and the disciples are traveling through the regions, and they go through a grain field, and it's a Sabbath, and they begin to pick grain and eat the grain. And the Pharisees see it. And they tell Jesus, it's not lawful for you to do that. And Jesus asks them a series of questions that they cannot answer. And then he says, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. So then the Pharisees bring to Jesus, as Jesus comes into the synagogue, they bring to Jesus a man with a withered hand. And we might think, well, that's not that bad. You still got the rest of your body. This is a culture where you had to live by your hands. And if you don't have a hand, it's hard to live. Then they bring this man to Jesus and and they say, is it lawful to heal this man on the Sabbath? And Jesus responds with another question. Why do you rescue a lamb that is stranded on the Sabbath? But think you shouldn't help this man. And he goes on to say, how much more value is this man than a sheep? Jesus heals the man. The Pharisees decide we're going to kill Jesus. In fact, the word is destroy. We're going to destroy Jesus. And so Jesus leaves there. And the multitudes are following him. And then we read this. Yet, he warned them not to make him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him, and he will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench, till he sends forth justice to victory, and in his name Gentiles will trust. Isn't that fascinating? The powerful servant of Isaiah 42 is none other than the child in the manger, none other than Jesus. Well, let's look at the second half of this. God speaks to the servant. Look at verse five. Thus says the Lord God, God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, have called you, speaking to the servant, in righteousness. and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people as a light to the Gentiles to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison. Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, and that is my name and my glory. I will not give to another nor my praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass and new things I declare before they spring forth. I tell you of them. Now it's fascinating to see here how God's words to the servant are sandwiched between who he is. First, that he is the creator, and secondly, that he is the Lord of glory. None can compare to him. So first we see God is the creator. He created all that is. He says, I created the heavens and stretched them out. I spread forth the earth and that which comes from it. Everything in existence is due to God. And these are active verbs. He's continuing to uphold. He didn't just create and step back and watch it go in motion. No, he created and then remains active in his creation. He sustains it. He upholds it. But then we read, he gives breath to people and spirit to those who walk on it. In other words, he is the source of life and all life comes from him. Here we're reminded of the uniqueness of humanity above all creation. For humanity alone is created in the image of God. And they have within them an eternal soul. And thus God is committed to humanity because they bear his image. That's why, by the way, he sent the servant to save them. He didn't save the servant specifically to save dogs or horses. No, He sent the Servant to save humanity because humanity bears His image. And so what we see here is that the nature of God is the foundation of the Servant's ministry. The source of the Servant's task and His strength is none other than God the Creator. The Creator sends to His creation the Servant to establish eternal order. And thus the mission cannot fail because God, the creator, is behind it. Now look at what God, the creator, says to the servant. Verse six. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles. There's four things he states here. He calls the servant, he upholds the servant, he protects the servant, and he gives the servant. Now we should be shocked and astounded at this last declaration. We would expect the first three. The last one should shock us. He gives. The servant. The one whom God delights in, he gives to sinful humanity. He gives him to us. We can't miss here that our God is a giving God. How kind and generous must our God be to give us his servant. Here, once again, we're reminded of Isaiah 9, verse 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Friends, our God is a giving God, which is the foundation of why we should be giving people. I think it's it's noteworthy to to to recognize right now just how giving our church is. I am so thankful for the Lord's work in the hearts of our people. Last year, we set the largest budget in the history of our church and trusted the Lord to to provide for it. And we met that budget halfway through November. Praise the Lord. You see, when we recognize how giving our God is, it stirs our hearts to be giving people. And this incredible gift of God is also why I personally am not opposed to giving gifts at Christmastime. It is but a tiny way to mirror the giving nature of God. I don't think the problem is so much the gifts as the way we give them. Are we teaching our children where the gifts are coming from and why we give gifts? In fact, if you have kids and you were to ask your kids after church, why do we give gifts at Christmastime? What would they answer? We give gifts because God gives such an incredible gift. Now he goes on. It says, I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people. Now what does God mean here by giving Jesus as a covenant to the people? It means that Jesus is the one who fulfills God's promises and carries out God's work of redemption to unite His people with God the Father, their creator. Jesus ushers in the new covenant whereby he pays the final price for the sins of God's people so that they might be restored to God. And he does this, as we saw last week, through his death on the cross. And therefore those who trust in Jesus are cleansed from their sin. They are actually declared righteous and forgiven and made sons and daughters of God to dwell with God for eternity. I think Alec Mott here states this succinctly and correctly when he says the servant will be the means through whom people will come into a covenant relationship with the Lord. The servant will be the means through whom people will come into a covenant relationship with the Lord. Now, how will this come about? Now, for those who have a really sharp memory, you will remember that when we were going through John chapter 9, we came back to Isaiah 42. Why? Verse 7, to open blind eyes. Remember that? Jesus demonstrated he was the servant, the promised Messiah, because he opened blind eyes. And the blind man, remember when his eyes were opened, he says, no one has ever heard of this happening before. Because Jesus is the only servant, the only Messiah. He opens blind eyes. And Jesus himself demonstrated at the end of John 9 that his healing of the blind man was not just to restore sight, but rather as a demonstration that he restores physical sight and spiritual sight. Paul writes of this in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3 when he says, For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He opens spiritually blind eyes. But secondly, we read, he will bring out prisoners from prison. Those who are enslaved in sin will be set free and released to serve the Lord. And third, those who sit. In darkness. From the prison house, those in the darkness of sin will see the light of truth. Again, we can go back to John 8, verse 12. Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. He's the light of the world. He brings light to those in the darkness of the prison house. You see, the servant will perfectly carry out God's plan of redemption. And the final result is the perfect order of God coming to all of creation. The result of his work will be to present to God a perfected people who live in a perfected society, in a perfected creation. I like what Barry Webb says on this, he says this, the servant will undo all the horrendous and degrading effects that sin has had on the human race and restore to people their true freedom and dignity as sons and daughters of God. It all sounds awfully good, doesn't it? Who doesn't want to live in a perfected state, in a perfected society, in a perfected creation? But is it all just a fairy tale? Is it just like a Disney movie? What assurance is there that this would happen? Well, I think that's where verse 8 and 9 come into play and are so critical. Look at verse 8. I am the Lord. That is my name and my glory. I will not give to another nor my praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass and new things I declare before they spring forth. I tell you of them. The Lord God himself will bring this about. This is not just hopeful speaking. This is God the creator speaking. And just as he brought, as we saw earlier, creation, and from verse five, creation into existence, so he will bring this new order into existence through the work of his servant. Here in verse eight, there is heavy emphasis again on the one who calls, who enables, who protects and gives the servant. It is the Lord. And He's not just called Lord. He is Lord, He says. That is my name. That is who I am. He alone is the glorious God. To Him alone is glory due. He alone is to be worshipped. He alone creates. He alone renews. He alone saves. He alone restores. And thus he alone deserves glory and praise, for he is the all powerful God who saves. He sent the child. He gave the son. The son who is a servant who suffers. And the servant who restores all things and establishes perfect order in all of creation. He is to be worshipped. And he is to be glorified. For he declares, he says, these things before they happen. And as we said, when we started these four chapters in Isaiah, these things God stated 700 years before Christ came. Before they spring forth, he says, I tell you of them. We must echo with Paul after Paul just has this incredible book on the gospel and all the nuances of the gospel in the book of Romans. And before he moves to exhortation and what living in the gospel looks like, he writes this in chapter 11, verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments. than his ways past finding out for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen, Paul says. God is to be worshipped and glorified alone because he brought about our salvation through a baby in a manger. The baby who will restore all things and bring in full the kingdom of God. The baby in the manger we get so used to seeing at Christmas is the powerful King of Kings who will bring in the new heavens and the new earth. And as the book of Isaiah ends, we read this. For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord. The book ends with this new heaven and the new earth and the gathering of the nations to worship the Lord. And how does it come about? Through the child, through the son, through the servant. Through the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, as we saw last week, we can't miss that the baby in the straw is the writhing Savior on the blood-soaked rough cross. And what we see this week is that the helpless baby born to Mary, who must be whisked away helplessly to Egypt in order to save his life, is the all-powerful King who restores all of creation. He forever defeats evil and establishes God's creation in perfect order. And that's what we celebrate at Christmas. Sometime after Jesus was born, a year or so likely after his birth. We read in Matthew two of the wise man coming from the east to. See the baby Jesus. They had heard of his birth. Now, that's astounding. Again, we don't want to just pass over that in our in our day and age, we hear of something that happens across the world in a matter of an hour or two because of Facebook or Twitter or satellite phones and TV and all kinds of stuff. They didn't have that. But somehow they heard Jesus had been born. I wonder how we don't know. but they traveled a long distance to see this baby who had been born among hundreds of other babies that year. Sometimes I think we think that baby Jesus was the only baby born for five years or something. No, there was countless other babies being born. They came to Jesus and they found Jesus by following a star that God had sent to guide them. And then there's something that happens that again should amaze us. They find the baby Jesus and they fall down and do what? Worship him. That's weird. If politicians from Iran come to your house and knock on the door and say, we hear you have a one-year-old baby, we'd like to worship him, you should shush them away. That's not normal. But here they fall down and they worship Jesus. Men from a foreign country traveling to a no-name town to worship a baby in an unknown house to unimportant parents. And yet, in this, I think this happens to point us ahead. to when those from every tongue, tribe, and nation will fall down before the Lord Jesus and worship Him as the King of kings and Lord of lords. Friends, I think it's important when we read Isaiah 42 to jump ahead to the book of Revelation. Jump ahead with me to Revelation chapter 7 verse 9. I think here in several times in Revelation, we are seeing these things being fulfilled. Again, remembering we have a God who speaks for things before they happen, as he says. In 42, 9. Revelation chapter 7, verse 9. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations and tribes, peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, And all the angels stood around the throne, and the elders and the four living creatures fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. And then one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from? And I said to him, Sir, you know. So he said to me, these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and wash their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them nor any heat for the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Friends, that's what we're celebrating at Christmas. This Lamb who eternally shepherds us is the Child from Isaiah 7. He is the Son given to us in Isaiah 9. He is the suffering servant who suffered for us in Isaiah 53. And He is the servant who restores all order that we see in Isaiah 42. Through him, we will experience the glory of eternity and the new earth forever and ever without end. The wise men worshiped the baby. They came to see the child. Likewise, we will forever worship him as well, for he is our eternal king. What child is this? that we celebrate at Christmas, none other than the Lamb on the throne, who people from every tongue, tribe, and nation surround and say, glory be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. God, we are overwhelmed with your kindness and your generosity to us. You took us in our fallen state when, as scripture says, we were your enemies, we were under your just wrath. We were dead in sin. And yet you sent your son. the child you gave him whom your soul delights in, you gave him. In order that we might be restored to you and not just us restored to you, but all of creation restored as well. And so, Lord, help us to to see all that we've looked at from Isaiah when we look and think of the baby in the manger at Christmas. He is a man, you are God with us. He is mighty God, wonderful counselor, everlasting father, the prince of peace, the suffering servant who is crushed. He is the one who restores order to all things and even now is seated at your right hand in honor and glory. And one day we too will be face to face with him. The lamb who was slain. And we too will cry out with the multitudes from all nations, tongues, and tribes. Glory be to our God forever and ever. Amen. For his immeasurable gift to us. The child who is Christ the Lord. We praise you, Lord God. And it's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.