Our sermon text today comes from the prophet Isaiah once again. And we come today to Isaiah chapter 42. You can find this on page 602 in the pew Bible. We're going to read their verses one through nine. Isaiah chapter 42, verses one through nine. Stand together if you're able for this reading of God's word. The word of the Lord. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold. My chosen. In whom my soul delights. I put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice. Or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break. And a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth. And the coastlands wait for his law. Thus says God, the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it. Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison, those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord, that is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor I praised to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. The word of God. You can be seated. Well, this past week, Carson at school won a contest, won a prize because he was able to guess the identity of each of his tutors. That may sound surprising, he should know them by now, I guess, but the catch was that he guessed the identity from pictures, baby pictures, and he was able to accurately identify each of them as they were displayed on a board. Now, if you've ever attempted to do such a thing, then you likely know that for some it's really easy. recognizing people, identifying them by their infant picture or a toddler picture. And it can be very easy or it can be very hard. Say if we were to do that as a church family, no doubt that we would put your picture up. And for some of you, it would be immediate. We would know who it is. For others, we'd have to study it a little bit longer. But after we were all guessing for a while, if we were then to take the accurate name, and identify the person and put it under them or next to them. Then for most of us who were on that board, we would begin to make the connections because we begin to see, oh, as we see the name being identified with the person we know as an adult, we would see the infant or the toddler and we would begin to see characteristics, things that you continue to bear now that you did even then. Well, as Isaiah 42 opens, the prophet gives us a picture of a figure. A figure that may not be recognizable at first. He may be a bit shadowy. But as time goes on, or even as we consider what we will consider this morning in Isaiah, his identity becomes more and more clear. Isaiah does not give us the name. The proper identity of this figure, he only gives us a title. He is, as verse one says, my servant, that is the Lord's servant. That's who Isaiah is concerned with in these verses, the servant of the Lord. Again, we don't know his name. Isaiah would not know his name or his identity at this point outside of him being the servant. But again, as the biblical revelation unfolds, this shadowy figure, more and more light is cast upon him and we come to see who he is. We begin to make connections. Now, this passage that speaks of the Lord's servant is the first of four. Some scholars say five, but four for sure. Four servant songs, as they're called in Isaiah. This is the first. We have one in Isaiah 42. We have another servant song in Isaiah 49, a third servant song in Isaiah 50. And in the most well-known of all the servant songs, we have the fourth one in Isaiah 52 and 53, where we begin to see that this servant is also going to suffer greatly, so much so that he is called the suffering servant, known as a suffering servant of the Lord. But as we begin to see more and more of him through these servant songs and more and more becomes clear as we get more and more information. We'll look at Isaiah 42 today and we'll see this about the servant, the first servant song. We'll see that the Lord reveals that it will be through his servant that he will bring salvation to the world. The Lord reveals that it will be through his servant that he will bring salvation to the world. This is a theme that we've seen. God's purpose in Isaiah, yes, largely of judgment. That has been the major emphasis. The minor note has been on salvation, but it's been there the whole time like a thread we can trace. And not only salvation for this restored Israel purged from her uncleanness, but salvation that would extend to the whole world. That is God's purpose. And we find in Isaiah 42 that he will fulfill that purpose, particularly through This one he identifies as a servant. We'll consider this idea under three headings. First of all, in verses one to four, we're going to see what God declares about his servant. He begins to give us a description of the servant in verses one to four, what God declares about his servant, and then in verses five to seven, we'll see what God declares to his servant as he addresses the servant directly, speaks directly to him. And then finally, In verses 8 and 9, we'll see what God declares to all, what God declares about his servant, what God declares to his servant. And then finally, what God declares to all as Isaiah's audience and by extension, the whole world and anyone who will listen. It's being told that God is unique. He is not like the other gods of the nations and his servant is unique as well as the savior of the world. But let's see in the first place, then, verses one to four, what God declares about his servant. So verse one begins, as we said, with these words, Behold, my servant. Again, we ask, who is this? Who is this servant of the Lord? We want to know. But again, rather than telling us who he is, Isaiah tells us what he is like, what he will do. He speaks more to the servant's task than anything else here. But still, this question remains. And then in this description, we find that there are some qualities about the servant that we're to know. The first is in verse one, has a we might call a distinct quality. He is distinct really from all other servants and that we might find the Lord using as an instrument in his hands to accomplish his purposes. As we open this passage and we ask that question again, who is this servant? The first answer that we might consider as far as what we if we take into consideration what we've been reading and considering previously in Isaiah, even immediately in the previous chapter, we might think that this servant of the Lord is the nation of Israel itself. After all, if you go back to chapter 41, right, not very far before this, but back to verse 8, you read these words, but you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen. This is exactly what the Lord says about this servant in verse 1. Behold, my servant, who I uphold, my chosen. And so we might be led to think that The servant of the Lord here being referred to is the nation of Israel and there is a sense in which this is true. Israel was the servant of the Lord through whom God was going to accomplish his purposes for the nations. But something's a bit off here. This nation Yes, is a nation that is going to be purged is going to be restored. But it is a nation that has been and will fulfill its purposes. But it has been a nation that has failed, utterly failed. It has been involved in gross idolatry, it is the city of Jerusalem lacks those pillars of righteousness and justice. The religion, God is sick of it. You remember from chapter one? I'm tired of it. I can't stand the smell of your burnt offerings. It should be a pleasing aroma, but they're like a stench in my nostrils. Your men, your women, your people are plundering the poor. They're only concerned for themselves. All sorts of things. All the sins that we've been seeing. The vineyard that was unpleasant, that bore no fruit. But brambles and thorns. Could this be the nation God is speaking of here as his servant in a positive way? Well, yes and no. Again, God will fulfill his purpose for the nations through the nation of Israel. But as we look at this servant. Again, there seems to be a unique, distinct quality about him. That whereas the corporate servant Israel has failed, You have this servant that God seems to be altogether delighted in. My chosen whom I uphold, the one in whom my soul delights, I've put my spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations. There doesn't seem to be any indication of failure first and the need for a restoration. No, he's successful in his task. It seems as though God is speaking and we go back and forth between this corporate identity and this singular identity. If you go to verse 5, verse 6 rather, I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness. That's a singular. Now, you could be speaking of the servant as the nation as sort of a corporate singular, right? But the idea here is it's like we're going back and forth in the servant passages between a corporate figure and an individual. It's like there will be an individual who is the perfect representation, the perfect representative of the entire nation, a true Israelite who finally does that which is well pleasing in God's sight. It's sort of the idea. He has a distinct quality about him. Secondly, in verse two, the servant appears to have a meek or humble quality about him. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. He's not the type of person who has set on self-promotion, platforming himself. There is in his in his ministry. if we would call it that, a degree of quietness about the way he goes about things. He doesn't quarrel, as the King James puts it. He doesn't lift up his voice and cry aloud in this sort of ostentatious display of himself. Rather, his desire is not on self-seeking, it is on doing God's will. It's on pleasing the Lord. So the servant has a distinct quality about him. He has a meek or humble quality about him. Verse three tells us the servant has a gentle quality about him. A bruised reed he will not break. A faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. You know, in these last several weeks, there has been a figure who has not been identified by name. Who will be identified later that we've been speaking of. His name is Cyrus. He was the king of the Medo-Persian Empire. Cyrus is the one that we've seen mentioned in chapter 41, at least being alluded to twice as the Lord will stir him up. God will stir him up and use him as a servant, as an instrument in his hand to conquer the Babylonians. The Babylonians, remember, are the ones who would conquer Israel. They would take them captive away from their homeland and the Lord would rise up another conqueror to conquer them in order that he might deliver his people from their captivity, from their exile, and they might return home. So Cyrus, in that sense, was a servant of the Lord, but this servant is not described in the terms that were used for Cyrus. Cyrus was that conqueror who, as we saw in chapter 41, he trampled down underfoot everything that stood in his way. Cyrus, we might think, when he came upon a bruised reed that could not support itself, would snap it in half. Cyrus, we might think, would come upon a smoldering wick that was about to go out and he would finish it off. But not this servant. This servant is distinct. There is a gentle quality about him, at least here. He is, of course, a figure that we will find who will rule the nations with a rod of iron. But here he is spoken of for his gentleness. He will not break the bruised reed. He will not stamp out what remains of the weak fire. Those whom he calls to himself who are bruised and battered are not too weak. Those whose candle is about to go out are not too far gone for him to bring them to himself and to be useful for his purposes. He comes not like Cyrus to destroy. But he comes to rescue and restore. And truthfully, I would love to park here. To speak about this servant's care. For bruised reeds and broken wicks. But we have a larger context to consider and we have not a lot of times we're going to have to move on. I may say a bit about it at the Lord's Supper. But it is something perhaps we'll come back to in the future, this servant, though, as God speaks about him. He has a unique or distinct quality about him, he has a meek or humble quality about him, he has a gentle quality about him, finally, He has a, the servant has a resolved quality. Look at verse four. He will not grow faint or be discouraged. The word therefore discouraged, you might have the footnote in your, if you have the ESV, at least you have it. It says bruised. Sounds like verse three, right? A bruised reed. Well, here the servant has said that he will not grow faint or be bruised. It's not to say the servant is immune from suffering. No, indeed, he is going to suffer so much in chapter 52 and 53 that his visage will be so marred, it's as though you cannot tell he's a human being. The idea here is that in his suffering, he has this grit about him. So that he is undeterred. His suffering will not deter him from accomplishing his task, he is so resolved to perform the Lord's will. He will not stop until he has established justice. He will bring it forth in the coastlands, wait for his law. He's going to bring his law throughout the earth. So it's through the servant. The Lord's purposes are to be fulfilled. The purpose is, again, that we've been seeing throughout Isaiah. that justice and righteousness might be restored, and that the knowledge of God will be known, not only in Israel once more, but throughout the earth. I've been referring to this word a lot. Justice. That's the key word really in these first four verses here. It's repeated three times, I believe, at least in these first four verses. When you think about justice, what do you think of? Your mind, probably like mine, would run to crime and punishment. Justice is when there is retribution. Someone has done wrong and the hammer comes down. Justice is served. And that's not wrong. That is part of it. But it's only part of it. In Scripture includes more than that, it's more than just punishment, it's more than just retribution. Justice is the setting of things right that were once wrong. Justice includes the idea of restoration, of making things the way they ought to be. Have you ever had something very valuable taken from you? Gone missing, stolen maybe? There was something, one time in my life I've had many things go missing, of course. Most of them were my fault, but these days I blame them on my kids. You know, where's that screwdriver, that drill? That's the boys, but I have had some things go missing that were stolen. Tools or whatever it might be. A ball cap or something that someone set it down. Occasionally these things have happened, but There was one item that was very valuable that the intrinsic value may have been just a few hundred dollars, but there was the sentimental value that in my mind was beyond compare. This item went missing and maybe you've had something like that happen, or maybe you can think of something that in your home or in your possession that what if what if someone stole it? How upset, distraught you would be by that? It's irreplaceable. Well, then what if like me, you got word back that the thief had been caught? Never fear. All of your worries are over. The thief has been caught. We have detained him. He is arrested. Justice is served. What would be your first question upon that? Where's my stuff? Where's my item? And then the investigator comes back and says, oh, don't worry. We've caught the thief. You'd repeat the question. Where is my thing, right? Justice is not just the person getting what's coming to them, right? The idea of justice is restoring things to the way they ought to be. You having that item back in your possession. I never did get that item back in my possession. And in my mind, justice was never served. You see, this is what the servant of the Lord will do. He's not only going to dish out punishment, that's a part of it. Cosmic treason has been committed against the Lord of the universe and the whole lot of sinful humanity deserves his wrath and curse for sin. But that's not all that's coming with justice. With justice, things will be the way they ought to be, the curse will be reversed, creation restored, wrongs made right, the world aligned with God's revealed intentions. This is what the Lord declares about his servant in verses one to four. He has a unique quality about him, a meek and humble quality about him, a gentle quality and a resolved quality. But as we move on to verses five to seven now, what the Lord declares to his servant. Look at verse six. I am the Lord. I have called you. We've already mentioned this verse is singular here, but I've called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand. I will give you as a covenant. He's speaking directly to the servant here. And if the declaration about the servant had to do with justice. The declaration to the servant, excuse me, has to do with salvation. Salvation. This is, verse 5, this is what God says. God, who is the creator and sustainer of all, he's made the heavens and stretched them out. He spread out the earth. He gives breath to people, spirit to those who walk in it. He's the creator, the sustainer. Remember, in chapter 40, we saw this idea. God is incomparable. He is the creator. All the nations are like a drop in the bucket to him. The inhabitants like grasshoppers and so on. You remember how that was described in chapter chapter 40. This is this God who is repeating all that in summary fashion in verse five and then in verse six now addresses. He's spoken already in verse one of his preservation of the servant, right, he is the one he upholds, he he does so again now. Taking him, as it were, by the hand, upholding him by his spirit, And he's telling the servant that what his intention is for the servant is to bring salvation to the nations. And as we look at this salvation that he brings, we find his work is going to be an illuminating work. Again, verse six, I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. His saving work is illuminating. Covenant. If you have God's covenant, you you have the knowledge of God, because it's only you know, we don't make up the terms of the covenant. God does. He sets the parameters. He tells us what the consequences are and what the blessings are, what we're to do. He tells us what he will do, the promises he will keep and we are to believe and what we are, how we are to obey. It's to have the knowledge of God, the covenant. Of course, is the arrangement between God and his people. The covenant was the arrangement between God and Israel, the nation and the covenant he made with Moses, the covenant that he further made with David. But the idea of the covenant proceeds, of course, the nation. We know that covenant with Moses and Israel at Mount Sinai, God says, It is really an extension of the covenant he made with their fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But the idea of the covenant in scripture even goes beyond that. The first time we ever see the word covenant used is in Genesis with Noah. And of course, God's relationship, the arrangement with Noah had ramifications for all of humanity. And so from Noah, God's covenant narrows in on Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in this nation of Israel. But now as the servant is a light for the nations, as he is a covenant for the people, that covenant is the purposes are expanding once again as God had intentions from the beginning for the whole earth. And God's covenant is, again, revealing to you the knowledge of him. The servant of the Lord is coming to make the will of God known. He is going to be the light of the world. So his will be an illuminating work. His will be then, as we see, a universal work. Again, it's a light for the nations. Not only for Israel. The God of Israel is not limited to Israel. As we said a moment ago, his purposes from the beginning include all of the world as he is the author of all creation. His work will be an illuminating work, a universal work, and then thirdly, a delivering work. If you look at verse seven, he comes to open the eyes that are blind to bring out prisoners from the dungeon. From the prison, those who sit in darkness. The servant of the Lord. is coming on a rescue mission is what we're being told here. For those who can't see. He illumines, he gives light. For those who are in bondage to sin and trapped in the darkness of their ignorance, he shines the light of the glory of God upon in order to bring them out and to lead them out and lead them back to the true and living God. So this is what God declares to his servant, that his work will be a saving work. In the last two verses here, verses 8 and 9, we've seen God speak about his servant and now to his servant. Now it's sort of like the audience broadens out again. The Lord is speaking to Isaiah's audience and by extension to whoever will hear, to everyone. We've seen what God declares about his servant, what he declares to his servant. Now in verses eight and nine, what God declares to all. This is God who is speaking. You see that in verse five. Thus says God the Lord. You see it in verse six. I am the Lord. You see it again in verse eight. I am the Lord. He identifies himself as God. We asked that question last week. That was the title of the sermon. Who is God? God is answering here, I am. The Lord, that is my name, he says. In verse number eight. And as he declares himself to be God here. Answering that question from last week, who is God? He is living up to the challenge. That the idols of the nations have failed to live up to, to meet. He is passing the test that they could not. Do you remember that last week? It was as though, as God called the gods of the nations, the idols, to His bar of judgment, it was as though He were giving them an exam. He said to them back in chapter 41, can you tell us, gods of the nations, you who claim to be gods, can you tell us former things, things that have already come to pass? You know, what happened and why they came to be? Is there really? Does history have any meaning? Or can you tell us things to come? Things that have not happened yet so that when they do come past, we can say, oh, we know that these are gods. And what was the answer? It was it was silence. They had no answer. They had no knowledge and they had no power. They failed the test, but the Lord is passing the test. He's declared it last week. I'm telling you in verse 29. Or rather, verse number 28. I'm sorry, let me forget that. He said last week before I try to find the verse, it's been a week since I've looked at the last chapter. I'm the one who can tell you these things. But now he's telling you what the things are in chapter 42. It's that I'm sending my servant and he says in verse nine. The former things have come to pass. That was where the idols have failed. I'm telling you about the former things and the things to come, new things I'm declaring you now before they spring forth. This is so that you might know that you might trust in him. All of this is fulfilling God's good and wise decree. And he wants you to know it's this is not a a collaboration with any of the other gods of the nations, he said in verse eight, my glory, I give to no other nor my praise to carved idols. No. He's not teamed up with the other gods. This is the Lord alone proving himself to be God. And alone, incomparably glorious. So the Lord is setting himself apart here. Distinguishing himself from all the other gods of the nations, the false gods. But he's also setting apart his servant. Chapter 41 ended with two beholds. Verse 24, behold, you are nothing. And verse 29, behold, they are all a delusion. That was a reference to the false gods. There is a third behold now at chapter 42. Behold, my servant. Again, distinguishing himself from all the gods of the nation, they can tell you nothing. But I want to tell you about my servant. God is distinguishing himself from the gods, he's distinguishing his servant from all others as well. And I'm telling you this beforehand that you might know and believe that I am God and that you might look to my servant. The Lord reveals. That it will be through his servant. That he will bring salvation. To the world. Who among the gods? Is like our God. No one there is no other he is again the incomparable one. And who? Who is like his servant? Is there any other through whom God would accomplish the salvation of the world? No one can compare to this God, and no one can compare to this servant. The Lord identifies many servants, doesn't He, throughout Scripture. Some are used sort of unwittingly, unbeknownst to them. Others are used directly. You have people like Moses, some pretty good servants. But there is no servant like this servant. This is the servant with a capital S, we might say. Distinguished from all others as he rises to preeminence. So the Lord has through Isaiah described his servant, speaking of him and to him, we've been given a picture, but if you think of it as the illustration we began with, like those toddler pictures or infant pictures on the on the board, and you're trying to identify who the grown up person is here. This is like we're getting the seed form, the infant description of this servant, not infant describing a child, but in the sense of this is just the beginning stages of the description of this servant. And so who is he? Who is this servant? I once saw this parody of a cooking show. It was called Cooking with Steve. Steve introduces his show. He opens up by saying, welcome to cooking with Steve. My name is Steve, as you may have already guessed, as he sort of realizes that it was anticlimactic there. I think you've already guessed pretty easily, haven't you? The identity of this servant. We noted at the beginning, there are four servant songs And the identity of the shadowy figure becomes more and more clear as we move along. But there's enough information here to identify the Lord's servant. Of course, it is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. He is the one that the Father delights in, as verse one says. And it seems that these words are echoed at Jesus's baptism, doesn't it? This is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased, Isaiah says, this is the servant whom my soul delights. It is, of course, our Lord Jesus, who is proclaiming himself to be, as verse two says, the one who is meek and and lowly. Who said he came to do not his own will, but that of his father. Delroth Davis reminds us of that hymn that's attributed to John Calvin, I greet thee who my sure Redeemer art. And in one of the stanzas there, the hymn writer says that in this Redeemer, there is a perfect gentleness, like we saw in verse three, who doesn't break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax here. In this redeemer is a perfect gentleness. There is no harshness or bitterness with him. He is the one that we read of in verse seven, who gives sight to the blind, who delivers the captive from sin and darkness, who takes the damaged goods of a bruised reed and a smoking, smoldering wick and restores them and bears them up and then stokes the coals into a full flame once again. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the servant of the Lord who delivers much more than a man like Cyrus ever could. Because he brings us back from a much deeper exile than something that is merely political or geographical. But he brings us back like prodigal children into the waiting and open arms of the father. No, it's not hard to identify who this servant is. We have Isaiah in this first picture of the servant gives us plenty to go on. But if that weren't enough to confirm it for you. Matthew does in his gospel, when in chapter 12, he speaks of Jesus who was healing many. And Matthew says this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not quench until he brings justice to victory and in his name the Gentiles will hope. Through this prophecy, the Lord. The God of heaven, the true and living God sets himself apart from the gods of the nations. And in fulfilling it, he sets his servant apart from all others that you might find hope in him. In the true and living God. In his son, in his servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, let's pray.