chapter 49 verses 1 to 7. Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb. From the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand he hid me. He made me a polished arrow. In his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. But I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity. Yet surely my right is with the Lord and my recompense with my God. Now the Lord says, He who formed me from the womb to be a servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, that Israel might be gathered to him. For I'm honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength. He says, it is too light of a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one who is deeply despised and abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers. Kings shall see and arise, princes and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you." Keeping your thumb there, turn with me to the gospel of Luke chapter two for our New Testament scripture reading. We'll read verses 22 to 35. There we find that particular moment in Luke's gospel where shortly after Jesus's birth, his parents bring him to the temple to be consecrated. According to the law of Moses, And as Jesus is there being presented, Simeon breaks out into song, and of the many scripture passages he echoes and quotes in his song, one of those is this servant song of Isaiah 49. Luke chapter two, verses 22, we'll read through verse 35. When the time came for the purification according to the law of Moses, They brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. To offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord. A pair of turtle doves and two young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. The Lord's Messiah. He came in the spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms. He blessed God and said, Lord. Now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation. that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel. And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed. And the sword will pierce through your own soul also so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. This is God's word. Let's go before the Lord in prayer. Our gracious God and heavenly fathers, we come to your word this morning in Isaiah and are given a portrait of your great servant, your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would give us ears to hear we might understand what Christ underwent for the sake of our salvation and deliverance. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. One of the major themes that we see when we work our way through Isaiah's book is the reality of the reign of terror. that permeates the whole face of the earth. Over and over again, Isaiah speaks of the specter of death that hangs over the human race, much like the sword of Damocles. In Isaiah chapter 24 to 27, for instance, Isaiah speaks of the global reign of death, where the whole world, both Israel and the nations included, have made a covenant with death, with the grave. Much like the victims of the French Revolution, the people had created a monster of their own, devising a tyrant that spells doom and destruction. Much like Paul speaks of in his letter to the Church of Rome, that through the transgression and trespass of one man, sin has come to enter the world, and through that sin, death has taken the whole human race captive. As Paul writes elsewhere, death has become the great enemy of the human race. One who has taken dominion through human sin and misery. Now the nations dwell in darkness, enslaved by their own design to a creature that shows no mercy. Even the author of Hebrews 2 will speak of the whole human race being enslaved to the fear of death. Well, that is really the main theme of the first 39 chapters of Isaiah with these repeated prophecies of judgment and doom, the reality that the curse of death hangs above the whole human race and the Lord will bring those things to its proper climax. And yet, in the midst of the judgment that is rightfully due the people of God, not the people of God, the whole human race, as the human race is to receive the wages for their sin, As the wages of sin is death. We find that the Lord does not leave the world in the lurch. Beginning in Chapter 40, the Lord begins to speak through Isaiah. Of great deliverance. The Lord himself will appoint a servant. to bring about this great deliverance. And in this morning's passage, the Lord reveals that he has, in fact, a secret weapon in his toolkit. But what weapon would one use? What weapon could one use and yield to vanquish death itself? And who is capable of wielding such an instrument? We might ask, who is worthy? Who is able to put death to death? And how might death be undone? Here we find in Isaiah 49, it heralds the arrival of the end of death, of man's covenant with death, and speaks of the instrument by which death is put to death. And it comes in the most unexpected form. Three things I'd like us to consider this morning. First, I'd like to consider the Lord's secret weapon in verses one to three. In verse 4, we'll consider a failed mission, question mark. And then finally, in verses 5 to 7, a global salvation. So the secret weapon, a failed mission, and a global salvation. We see here a rather curious opening statement where the servant of the Lord begins to speak, and yet, as he is sent to the house of Israel, he addresses here not the people of Israel, rather he addresses the coastlands. The Gentiles from afar, here is almost a technical term that we see harking back to Genesis chapter 10, where the coastlands speak of the descendants of Japheth, not those descended from Shem and through Israel, but those outside the bounds of the covenant Here, the servant addresses the Gentiles from afar. We've already seen, as we considered last week, and as we'll see again this morning, that the servant of the Lord, his prime directive, you see it down in verse 5, for instance, his prime mission is to reclaim the lost house of Israel. So it's rather curious that he begins by addressing not the house of Israel, but the Gentiles. Why would the servant be addressing the coastlands here? We've already seen hints of it in the previous servant song, as we saw last week on Isaiah 42. How did Isaiah 42, that servant song, end? The coastlands are waiting for His law, for Him who three times, Isaiah 42 says, this king-like figure will come to bring justice to the nations. And now the nations are waiting with bated breath, so now the servant speaks not just to Israel, now he speaks to the nations from afar. And yet this passage has yet another curious feature, not only the matter why is it that the servant is addressing the coastlands, but why does the servant describe himself in the way that he does? You look here in verse two, he certainly describes himself as a secret weapon. the Lord's hidden arsenal. Here is a weaponized language. Look, he has a sharp, his mouth is a sharp sword hiding in the shadows. He is a polished arrow hidden in a quiver. This repeated emphasis on the hiddenness of who he is and his whole task being one of weaponized language. Here we find the language of divine warfare. In fact, it is language that is near identical to what we see later on in Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 51, where the Lord says this to the servant, I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you with a shadow of my hand to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, you are my people. In other words, this servant is the Lord's weapon. He is one who speaks, and yet by his speech, a whole new world is ushered in, a new creation. We have to continue to ask ourselves, who is this servant? Who is this one who speaks with such authority and power, and who is the object of such aggression? We might further recognize that this is no mere carnal weapon. Notice that he is not given Instead of infinity stones, he is not given the sword of Excalibur. Rather, his bare speech is spoken of as a sword, as he is the unsurpassed prophet of the Lord. The sword is the characterizing feature of his speech. Furthermore, he is described in prophetic terms. He is one who is called from the womb. It echoes the language that we find in Jeremiah. who as a prophet has been called from the womb. It echoes the language of Paul in the New Testament, who from the womb was called and set apart to be an apostle to the Gentiles. It even echoes the language of David, the psalmist in Psalm 22, who said, from my mother's womb, you took me and have been my God. Here is prophetic language that speaks of the servant's appointed task. that he is to be the mouthpiece of the Lord of heaven and earth, one who speaks and utters word like a fire, one who speaks and his word is like a hammer that shatters the rock, one who speaks and cuts through the fog of human deception and even self-deception and exposes the thoughts and intents of the human heart. As we'll see in later passages in Isaiah, one who speaks and the captives are set free. Here we find a continued elaboration of the task here of the servant. I think it's rather fascinating in Isaiah 42, he is described as a king who brings justice to the nations. Later in Isaiah 53, he'll be described as the priest who bears the sins of his people. But here, this servant is the prophet who simply speaks and is able to call the exiles back home. He gathers them in. It's the language of the in-gathering for the harvest at the end of a harvest season as one would gather up the crops. Here, the servant is spoken of one who comes to gather in the harvest of those who have been exiled and remain far from home. Elsewhere in Isaiah, this return from exile is described as a new exodus, particularly in chapter 35 or in chapter 51, a new creation. And yet the weapon of his warfare is not a physical sword or spear, rather it is his mouth, but not just his mouth, it is his body. A fixed vessel appointed from the womb, not just any other prophet, but one, the one in whom the Lord delights in all of his fullness. One who will embody the purposes of the Lord. As we considered last week, the same descriptors used to describe the the Isaac servant of chapters 40 to 55 uses and harnesses and appropriates the same language of the branch, the Messiah of chapters 7 to 12. The one who is clothed in the spirit who will reign in righteousness and bring justice to the coastlands. One who in chapter 7 is himself born supernaturally of a virgin. And so we see that the Lord's secret weapon against this unnamed foe thus far is neither sword nor stone. The weapon is the servant of the Lord himself. One whose identity on the one hand remains hidden. You see that here in this passage, in this verse, verses 2 and 3. His identity remains hidden, yet he has been named by the Lord from the womb. Yet that name is not disclosed here, although it sort of is in verse three. On the one hand, you see in verse three, he is Israel. You are my servant, Israel. And yet in verse five, he is the one who is sent to reclaim Israel. So he is one who is both Israel and in one sense, not Israel. What is going on here? What we see over and over again is Isaiah's bringing forth this idea that the one, this unnamed servant called Israel is in fact the representative of Israel, the one who will enter the arena of this cosmic conflict as the champion of the people of God and accomplish a victory on their behalf, thereby reclaiming them from their exile and misery. The servant of the Lord is Israel's champion. The appointed instrument through which the Lord will unveil his beauty. To a fallen world. You see that here in verse three, you're my servant Israel in whom I will be glorified. You see if you have the ESV can also be translated the one in whom I will display my beauty. The one who will unveil the purposes of God. on the cosmic stage and manifest the beauty of God in transcendent holiness. So the servant has a very pointed mission set before him as the instrument not only of justice to the brokenhearted, as we saw in chapter 42, but now as an instrument of judgment against some foe. And here in this particular psalm, or this particular song in Isaiah, in chapter 49, passes over some of the details of the mission, and yet it skips to the end of the servant's warfare, so to speak. And we would think, well, surely the Lord has set apart the servant to accomplish this task. This should be over with rather quickly, perhaps at the push of a button. And yet we find that it's not the case. In verse four, it seems by, at least from the servant's perspective, by all outward appearances, it looks like his task, at least initially, is a total failure. Here the servant speaks saying, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing in vanity. Three times we see repeated, the repeated imagery that, the question, has this all been for naught? Using language that speaks of the uninhabited world of the creation week, is his work futile, is it void and barren? Much like the labors of the preacher of Ecclesiastes, it seems as though his blood, sweat, and tears were but for a fleeting vapor. Much like David in the 22nd Psalm, here we find the servant perplexed as he lives between that tension of promise and reality. Or David's own, the psalmist's own prayer in Psalm 22, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You've promised all these things. And yet everything looks like a total failure. Did you not set me apart and commission me to bring back the lost? Did you not promise that you would be glorified through me? Here we find that the servant is, in fact, Israel's only hope. The grammar in verse five suggests that unless the servant proves victorious in this divine mission, Israel will be unable to return home from her exile. Israel is in need of a divine warrior and champion, a representative on the battlefield. And here in verse four, he appears to have failed. Those we will see next week in Chapter 50. Not through any disobedience of his own. Here we find a cry of dereliction perplexion. Bewilderment, why have my labors returned void? How have they reaped only the wind? Perhaps to echo the words of the Apostle Paul, we find that the servant is perplexed. Distraught. But he is not driven to despair. The outward appearances make things make it appear as though his toil was a failure. But here he continues to cling to the unseen reality of the Lord's promises. Despite these circumstances, we see here in verse four that he entrusts himself to the one who judges justly. Here's the servant's claim. The Lord will do what is right. The Lord will reward me for my labor. Surely my recompense is with my God. Isn't that the nature of faith? When all the external circumstances seem that God's promises will not be brought to fruition, here the servant clings to the promise over and against those external realities, knowing that the Lord will bring into effect his very word. And it is in response to such a faith that the Lord responds to the servant's cry of despair. You see that here in verses five to seven. The Lord says, has this been a fruitless toil? No. In fact, it's quite the opposite. We see here in verse 5 that the servant's task was to reclaim and to bring back, to harvest the exiles of Israel. But here the Lord says that's not enough. It's too small a thing for you simply to reclaim the lost house of Israel. I'll make you the savior of the world. Here the secret weapon is finally unsheathed. The instrument of divine warfare is laid bare as he is once sent to shatter the darkness and bring light to the nations. The Lord says it is an insufficient reward for your toils that you would simply be another political liberator. We were saying earlier in let all mortal flesh keep silence, that we should not set our sights on too earthly a thing. There's a heavenly mindedness here. But the Lord's promise to his servant is something greater than simply another political dynasty. That will flash for a season and then eventually die out. No, the Lord is promising an eternal kingdom to be established through the work of his servant. And that language here of the darkness speaks of the reality of death in Isaiah's prophecies. The reality of death that covers the whole human race. And yet here is that secret weapon of verses one to three, who will come and shatter the darkness. With the sword of his mouth, as that polished arrow that's been hidden in the quiver, as that sword that has been hidden in the shadow of the hand of the Almighty, It is insufficient for the servant to be the political savior of a ragtag Semitic tribe. No, he is called and appointed in his exaltation to be the savior of the world. For here is a servant who is not wielding yet another carnal weapon, a sword or spear fashioned by silver or bronze, rather he himself is the instrument of divine spiritual warfare. He is one who comes to deliver the world from death itself. We'll see how that happens in the later servant songs of Isaiah, but here we see that through him death is undone. It is through the servant that the darkness is shattered. It is through the servant that earth's covenant with death is undone. It is through the servant that death will itself be put to death. And here we find in this particular song another portrait of the Messiah. Here we are given a schematic of Christ's very work as he comes to seek and to save the lost and to be the savior of the world. Here we are given hints and intimations of the instrument of divine warfare that it comes through the body that has been prepared for him in the womb of the Virgin. That mystery that is hidden before all ages and now unveiled through the revelation and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Him through whom the Lord will be glorified. Him through whom The Lord's beauty will be laid bare and made known before all the nations. Here we are given a glimpse to the prophetic task of the serpent who wields the servant, not the serpent, the servant who wields his spiritual weapons to defeat a spiritual adversary. A servant who, by his very word, defeats the serpent. and the darkness of death is shattered, and the new creation is inaugurated. One who toils, and for a moment his labors seem to have been in vain, yet his alleged defeat becomes the very victory of God, and we see that in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. where what looks like the greatest defeat that ever befell the human race becomes the mode through which Christ has vanquished sin and hell and death once and for all. Christ, who on account of his labors is rewarded, though humiliated and despised by the nation, he is exalted. So interesting here in verse seven, it says he is abhorred and rejected by the nation, Israel, yet in the Hebrew word here, speaking of the nation of Israel, it's the word there for the Gentiles, it's the word goi. In other words, Israel looks just like another pagan nation. Jesus comes, he comes to his own, and his own did not receive him. And yet, though rejected by his own, he is received and worshiped by the kings of this earth, we see here in verse seven, as they bow the knee before the servant who, though humbled, has now been exalted over all. Here we find here a portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ. that we might understand his person and his work and his labors. Isaiah 49 invites us to consider Christ's toil as he wrought out our salvation to deliver us once and for all from sin, from Satan, and from death. For us to recognize that the cross was not the failure but was in fact the victory of God. I think we have this tendency when we read about Jesus' own earthly ministry as if he's walking around with a Superman logo somehow tattooed to his chest, as if he goes about and his labors are relatively easy, as if he's just putting on some type of theatrical performance. It's one of the earliest church heresies known as docetism. Here we are called to recognize that the toil under which Christ labors as the incarnate God-man is a real toil, because he had to be made like us in every way sin accepted. That he, though the Son of God from eternity past, took to himself blood and flesh, as Hebrews 2 says, that he took to himself a true body and a reasonable soul. That the sufferings that he underwent in his incarnate state of humiliation were true sufferings. That he really did toil. That he really did suffer and die. That though fully God, he is also fully man. And this psalm, this song, as well as Isaiah 50 and Isaiah 53 calls us to consider the toils and the labors and the sufferings that Christ underwent for you and for me as the champion of his people. That as he faces death, he confronts death as the great enemy and emerges victorious over death by his very death. So that is the lamb slain is the one who is raised and ascended on high, that the angels themselves look and they go, here is the one who is alone worthy to be seated on the everlasting throne. Because the victory, a real victory that Christ wrought for you and for me. This morning, I'd simply like us to consider the victory of Christ. That it was not a cheap theatrical performance. But a real triumph. That by his suffering, he shattered the darkness of death. That he might bring the light of salvation through the very word he speaks. The forgiveness of sins. that we, with the host of heaven, might ask, who is it who is worthy to receive such honor, glory, power, praise, and dominion? And with the angels in heaven confess, behold, that the servant of the Lord, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, is worthy, for he is conquered at the cross. Let us pray. Gracious God and Heavenly Father, we pray that you would help us to see Christ in every page of Scripture, that you might strengthen our faith and that we might consider the wonders of our salvation wrought for us through Christ who has delivered us from sin and from death. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.