at the divinely ordained lost phone, since it allowed us to re-communicate there a little bit. I was wondering what we would be going through over the month of October, thinking in my mind what we would begin to unpack over the rest of this month. And I began to think about looking into the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. As I started thinking about that, my mind immediately drifted back into the Old Testament and the prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah. And I quickly turned to the book of Isaiah and examined the four servant songs which describe the servant of the Lord, the Messiah who would come. Portions of Isaiah chapter 42, 49, 50, and 52 through 53 They provide very intimate details as to the Messiah that Yahweh would send to redeem His people. And it made sense that since there are four of these passages, and there are four weeks in the month of October, it seemed to be a perfect fit. And so the first one that we are going to examine is Isaiah 42. verses 1 through 9 here tonight. And my goal is to see how the Messiah is described and also to turn to the New Testament to see the fulfillment of Christ in these passages and to examine his character and his work in a deeper way. And so with that being said, let's examine the context, the chapters and events leading up to Isaiah 42 since this is our first time examining this particular issue and all of these passages together. So let me run through this fairly quickly on the context. If you go back to Isaiah chapter 36 and you look at verse 1 you will see where it records that the Assyrian king Sennacherib rose up against king Hezekiah who was the king of Judah at that And Judah was overwhelmed by the Assyrian forces, according to the verse, and they ended up being conquered by the Assyrian armies. Chapter 37 records that the king, Hezekiah, actually asked for Isaiah's help. In verses 5 through 7, where you see the Hezekiah's servants go to Isaiah to inquire of him and to ask questions. In Israel, Isaiah prophesies that God will eventually cause the Assyrian king to leave Judah, and he will ultimately destroy him according to verse 7. You end up also having the entire account of Hezekiah praying for salvation from God, and the ultimate downfall of the Assyrian king is recorded in chapters 36-38. And at that point we begin to enter the major period of transition, one of the major transitions in the book of Isaiah. It is recorded in chapter 38 that King Hezekiah became sick, and Isaiah prophesies that he will die in verse 1 of that particular chapter. But Hezekiah prays to God, he seeks God, In chapter 38, verse 5, it records God's promise that He would add 15 years to Hezekiah's life. And Isaiah 39 is where we pinpoint the major shift. And this is important for us to examine as we walk into the four passages over this month. That Isaiah 39, it records Hezekiah welcoming the Babylonians, showing them all of his wealth, and trying to curry favor with them. Now if you are an Old Testament Israelite what do you not do? You don't curry favor with foreign nations that are opposed to God. And that is exactly the action that Hezekiah took in disobedience to God. In the last part of this chapter it shows that Babylonian captivity is going to come for Judah. Now look at verses 6-8 of Isaiah 39. And so this great captivity is going to come upon the people of Judah. And of course we know We have examples of individuals who served under the Babylonian captivity. Think about Daniel as an example of that. You see him having to live faithfully as a servant of God under that period. And so chapter 40 in the book of Isaiah, you see in verse 1 that the prophet says he is going to speak words of comfort to the people. And if you look at Isaiah 48.20, so jumping ahead a little bit. He even tells the future to the Babylonian captives. In Isaiah chapter 48 verse 20, he says, And so that is the context of the servant songs, the four passages of scripture that we'll be examining. that Isaiah is speaking comfort to the people, the future Babylonian captives, and in those words he has much to say about the future Messiah who will come and who will bring deliverance. Now a final point of context before we dive into our passage here. You might be wondering how do we actually know that we are correct in applying these four passages of scripture to the Messiah? We want to apply things accurately as we go through the Old Testament, make sure that we're interpreting rightly whenever we say something actually talks about the Lord Jesus. And we know that these passages do so because we can go to the New Testament offers, and we can see where they quote many of these texts, many portions of these chapters, and they reference them to Christ. And we can look at these chapters and we can also see explicit events in the life of Jesus. Let me give you a couple of examples. In Matthew 12, 15-21, it actually contains a quotation from our passage here this evening. Isaiah 42, verses 1-4. And in Matthew 12, 15-21, it says, Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known. 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." So whenever we have an explicit quotation by a New Testament author saying that this passage references Jesus, I think that we are pretty safe in taking the passage as talking about Jesus Christ in our interpretation. Now one more example and we'll dive into the text. Whenever we cover Isaiah 53, 7-8. We'll read this. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. Now there will be a servant song quiz. at the end of the month, and here is your opportunity to earn some bonus points. Does anybody know where we find this passage at in the New Testament? All right, I brought my cheat sheet with me, so we're good. Acts... Sorry, what? Acts chapter 8, where we read the account of Philip in the Ethiopian eunuch, verses 32 through 35 of that chapter. It says, now the passages of the scripture that he, talking about the Ethiopian eunuch, was reading was this. Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers is silent. So he opens not his mouth, and his humiliation and justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation, for his life is taken away from the earth? And the eunuch said to Philip, about whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this? About himself or about someone else? Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus. So the Ethiopian eunuch, he's reading this passage, and he's looking at Philip going, what is this talking about? Is this talking about the prophet? Is this talking about the Messiah? And Philip uses that opportunity to launch from this text to proclaim the gospel, to show how the Old Testament pointed to the coming of Christ. And so once again, we see how the passage is related to Jesus explicitly in the New Testament. And we see that in every one of these passages that we will cover, that it either is explicitly mentioned, or you can very clearly tell that it's referencing events that happened in the life of Christ. And so with that being stated, the context being laid down, let's dive into our first text, Isaiah 42, one through nine here tonight. Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He'll 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 my praise 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." Now I want to focus on nine specific qualities of the servant that we see here in this passage, and we will also spend some time tracing these in the New Testament. First we see in the very opening portion of verse one that the servant is chosen. Behold my servant whom I uphold my chosen. This is the servant of God. He is the one whom Yahweh has appointed for the task of undertaking the grand work of redemption, of setting up His everlasting kingdom. This is the special servant. Yes, God chose others to work through such as David, such as Moses, and other men in Israel's history. Yet Christ was chosen. He was the chosen servant of God. Adam failed, Abraham lied, Moses disobeyed, David committed adultery, and yet Christ as God's chosen would not fail in any of these ways, nor would He stumble in any other way whatsoever. He was strengthened by God as we see in the fact that He would be upheld by Him here in this particular passage. And of course we also see this fact of God's choice to use Christ as we come to the New Testament. That Luke chapter 9 records the transfiguration of Christ where He goes up to the mountain with Peter, James, and John. And He talks with Moses and with Elijah. And in verse 35 of chapter 9 it says, And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my Son, my Chosen One, listen to Him. And so clearly Christ comes with the authority of the chosen one of God himself. You see, not only was he chosen, but he was given authority because he was actually the chosen one. And so therefore, whenever this passage in Isaiah 42 says that he is chosen, it is also indicating the power of Christ to accomplish the task given to him by the Father. The task that he willingly chose to undertake and that he has the authority to speak the commandments of the Father. And Christ was the only one equipped for this task. It's not like God just got up one day and all of a sudden decided to randomly draw straws and it just so happened to land on Christ. No, Christ was the only one who could accomplish this mission. This was the plan all along. That Christ, who is truly God, would take on human flesh and thereby be the mediator between God and man as the chosen Messiah. In this part of the verse, it shows us the purpose in sending Jesus, and it shows us the authority that He was given. But next in the second part of verse 1, we see delight as our second point. This is a servant of delight. It says, in whom my soul delights. And so not only does God choose the Messiah, He finds joy and delight, great joy and delight in this servant. The idea is that God is well pleased with him, and this flows from the fact that the Messiah is perfect. There would be no stain from sin on him, and this is the complete and the total opposite to how God sees us as human beings. That whenever Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, It displeased God and it drives humanity away from Him because they had been condemned because of their sin. And there is a displeasure that we see that is very evident from God towards humanity because of the fact that we are sinners and God Himself is holy. Yet the Messiah would not be sinful. Christ Jesus would not fall. He would not fail. He is truly divine, and so there is no displeasure on the part of God towards him. He is the perfect servant who would succeed where Adam actually failed. While Adam was driven away, there was no need for Christ to be driven away because of his sin. And in fact, he would draw us near to God as his people. How about that contrast? were driven away because of Adam, we are brought near because of the Messiah, whom God delights in. Christ lived according to the law with perfection, always perfectly holy. And we see this fact of delight and of pleasure, it's actually mentioned explicitly at the baptism of Christ in Matthew 3, 16-17. It says, and when Jesus was baptized, Immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. And so we see the pleasure of the Father towards the Son yet again here in the New Testament. And it shows us something of the character of Jesus. You see, it's not just that Christ acted perfectly. He did act perfectly. But it is also that everything about Him was absolutely perfect. You see, sometimes we will do something right. Every now and then. But then we can become arrogant. We can become proud about it. We can perform a good action for the wrong reasons. None of those things were true about Jesus. He both acted perfectly. He was perfect in his mind. He was perfect in his desires. He was perfect in the entirety of who he is. Third point. Look at the next part of verse one. The servant possesses the spirit. It says, I have put my spirit upon him. So looking back upon this passage, We can see the Trinity, every member of the Trinity was involved in the incarnation. You have the Father who loves the Son and is finding the light in Him and has chosen Christ for this purpose. You have the Lord Jesus who willingly comes to initiate the new covenant, to pay the price for the sins of His people. And here we see that the Spirit, the Spirit was upon the Lord Jesus. And as we track this theme over the New Testament, we can see that the Holy Spirit is involved in the entirety of the life of Christ. He is intimately involved in the life of Jesus. Matthew 1, verse 20, it records the Holy Spirit's work at Christ's birth. It says, But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife. for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. And so the Spirit is working at the virgin birth as it pertains to the miraculous conception of the Lord. And not only in the early part of Christ, not only in the birth of Christ, but also in His ministry. We see the work of the Spirit as an outplaying of what we read here foreshadowed in Isaiah 42. John the Baptist mentioned that Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire in Matthew chapter 3 verse 11. Luke chapter 3 verse 22 described the involvement of the Spirit at Christ's baptism. Jesus was actually led by the Spirit into the wilderness according to Matthew chapter 4 verse 1. He cast out demons by the Spirit as Matthew 12 verse 28 says. and not only that but the spirit himself was involved in the resurrection. Romans chapter 8 verse 11, If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. And so the fact that the Father raises Christ through the power of the same Spirit who indwells us is the guarantee of our future resurrection in Christ. And so we see the Spirit powerfully at work in the life of Jesus all throughout His ministry. That was prophesied by Isaiah here in chapter 42 and we see it fulfilled in the life of Jesus. But not only that, Jesus also promised that he would send out his spirit to strengthen and to build his church. John chapter 14 verse 26. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. And so we see the fulfillment of this passage of course. starting in the book of Acts with the account of Pentecost. You see the Holy Spirit working through the proclamation of the gospel of the early church where people are being saved and the church is being built up for the glory of Christ. It really is amazing if you think about this for a second. that we have the same spirit at work within us working to sanctify us, working to make us more like the Lord Jesus Christ that Christ had at work in His life. That the Holy Spirit is still drawing sinners to the gospel. He is still drawing sinners to place faith in Jesus Christ. And that should give us confidence. that if the Holy Spirit was powerful enough to raise Jesus from the dead, He is powerful enough for us to go out accomplishing the mission that Christ has given to us. But what I want you to note is that every member of the Trinity is involved in the life of Christ. People ask, where is the Trinity in the Bible? Where do you want to start? It's all over the Bible. So, we see it foreshadowed here in the Old Testament. Does anybody have any questions around these first three points? The choosing of the Messiah, the delight of God in Christ, or the work of the Spirit in the Lord? Alright, let's go to verse 4. The first part here. He will bring forth justice to the nations. Let's try the end of verse 3. There we go. Which brings us to our fourth point, that the Messiah will bring forth justice. And what this is showing is that the servant, as some translations put it this way, that He will bring forth judgment. The idea is that the Messiah will initiate a holy rule, that his rule will be just, that the government of his everlasting kingdom will be held with completely balanced scales according to the perfect standards of God. Now I cannot help but bring out this point a little bit further with all the cries for justice in our society today. I'll try not to preach another sermon on this topic in the middle of this one, but you see organizations like Black Lives Matter and they claim to be fighting for justice. The problem is that they are one of the most unjust organizations being steeped in Marxist thought and Marxist standards. They think that they have the ability to bring forth justice because of their revolution that they are working towards. But we see in this text, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who brings forth justice. BLM is not the Messiah. Jesus Christ is. And therefore He alone will bring forth justice. He alone will establish His rule and His kingdom that has perfect justice. All of the comments about justice that we see going on in our society today, what we as the church need to be doing is telling the world that justice is only found under the rule of the Messiah. That you must submit to Christ, that you must come to faith in Him, and that you must be obedient to His holy standards. Justice comes by bowing the knee to King Jesus. We want justice, biblical justice, in culture, in the nation, in society, but it only comes through submission to what the Word of God says, because only the Lord Jesus brings true justice. And we as Christians have got to be clear on this particular point. Instead of going around and joining the world in their ideas of justice, the church should be calling people to true justice in the rule of the Messiah. Because Christ is our justice. It's not just that His rule brings justice, it's that He actually is our justice because He brings us to peace with God through His sacrifice. And not only that, but as we see here, He governs, He rules justly. And keep in mind the primary backdrop of Isaiah 42 is Babylonian captivity. So the Babylonians would not have governed justly according to the standards of God. And so if you're sitting there as an Israelite, in that moment, you are longing to see the standards of God upheld. And yet, we see here that Isaiah points them to the coming Messiah who would bring justice. We see injustice in so many issues in our society, from abortion, to the LGBTQ movement, to government overreach, and so many other issues that we can name. But the solution is not to join the world. The solution is to stand boldly upon the revelation, the scripture that God has given to us, to trust in His everlasting kingdom, to proclaim His saving gospel, To attempt to fight for the biblical standards to show people what God has called us to in the scripture. And to trust Him to bring forth justice through the proclamation of His word by the transformation of hearts that seek to serve Him because they have been saved. And last thing I'll point out here and then we'll move on. to our next point, but I want you to notice that this is justice to the nations, according to this verse. And so we see here the promise of the kingdom of God, that it would expand, that it would go out amongst all people, that it would not be limited to merely one nation, that it would consist of both Jews and Gentiles, that the work of the Messiah, it would not just be for Israel, but also for Gentile pagans like us. that we are not a part of the Jewish nation. We are Gentiles, and yet we have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. And this really shows the greatness of the Messiah. It shows his power and his might in establishing this kingdom amongst all peoples, amongst all nations, and all tribes of the earth. But next here, in verses 2 through 3, we see the demeanor the Messiah would come with. As our fifth point, we see that He would be submissive and meek. Verses 2-3, 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. Whenever we examine incarnation, the first coming of our Lord, we see that He was very meek and submissive over the entirety of it. He was meek towards others. He was submissive to the will of God, bowing in obedience before Him. He did not seek to set up His kingdom via swords, via political fighting of establishing an earthly rule in that way by military might. He came and he died on the cross to fulfill that mission. When charged by the authorities, when confronted by them, he did not lift up his voice. He submitted to the will of God in marching to Golgotha's hill. Think about the patience of our Lord that this shows to us. He could have destroyed all of his enemies instantaneously. However, he was obediently submissive to the task that the Father had given to Him. And we need to model that kind of submission to the commandments of God. The submission that we see that Christ is more concerned about the glory of God and obedience to Him than His own personal safety, than His own personal protection and comforts. And we see here in Isaiah 42 that He was so gentle that He would not even break a bruised The idea being conveyed here is that he would be tender hearted to the oppressed, that he would tenderly heal them, that he would be merciful and that he would be kind to them. That he is not going to come in and crush those who are partly broken at this point in his first coming, but bring them to himself gently and show mercy upon their souls. And this is a king unlike any other. that he would be so gentle that he would not even put out the wick of a candle, of a lamp that was smoking and about to go out, just about to flicker out. And especially if you think about the ancient days, how kings often ruled with an iron fist. You can think of Pharaoh oppressing the Israelites as an example of that. You can think about Nebuchadnezzar demanding that everybody bow down before His image or be cast into the fiery furnace. The Roman Caesars demanded that you express their lordship, that you express the fact that they are Lord. And Christ certainly makes these exclusive claims as Lord, but He is the only one actually worthy of that title. Caesar isn't. And yet we see the gentleness of Christ during His incarnation. and that he is continuing to this day to show patience in killing sinners and calling them to himself and saving them by the power of his gospel. And again here, at the end of this passage we see the truth reiterated that he will bring forth justice. This is not a tyrannical, oppressive, evil ruler. This is a perfect and just one. who governs according to the everlasting standards of God. And sixthly, we see that Christ would be tireless in bringing about all of these joyous and wonderful things. Look here at verse 4. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands wait for his law. If we are perfectly honest, we get fatigued at various points in our life. Not only at various points, but many points in our life, and sometimes many points throughout a day. We work on projects. We work on valuable things. But we can all easily tire and become worn out after a long day's work, or sometimes during the middle of a long day's work. And again, this is another difference between us and Christ Himself. And that it should be a blessing for us to know that the Lord we serve will not grow weary in bringing about the plans of God. That He's not going to quit. that he is not going to become impatient one day because he got tired on one morning. No, he will run with endurance. He will run with strength to fulfill this task. That he will establish justice again we see in the earth which is a testimony to the kingdom that he initiated at his cross. It has specific reference that he will be the triumphant one. If you have ever watched a game of SEC football, you have seen one team wear out another opponent. And usually it happens where they just run the ball right down the middle of the offensive line and wear them out. You got a great example of that last Saturday at 11 o'clock in the morning, unfortunately. However, the kingdom of darkness and evil, it will not wear out, it will not fatigue the Lord Jesus Christ. We see here the coastlands will await for His law and that is depicting the concept that the people will be eager for the teaching of Christ one day. It speaks of the everlasting triumph that Christ will have. And all of this shows that Jesus will be relentless in His pursuit of His objective to bring the nations to Himself. And during the Incarnation, we see an example of this. That Jesus is focused. That He knows the purpose for which He came, and He will accomplish that objective. That He has been chosen by the Father for it. That He has the power of the Spirit working on His behalf. He will not grow weary. There is no doubt that He shall accomplish what He has set forth. And that should be a great source of joy and assurance to us. That unlike the Razorbacks, our Lord shall never wear out. Are there any questions around these last few points regarding the purpose of Christ, the demeanor of Christ, or His relentless pursuit that we see here in the text? All right, let's move forward to verses 5 through 7, where we see our seventh point, that the servant brings covenantal blessings. Verse 5, 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." All of these blessings that we see, the eyes of the blind being opened, being a light to the nations, so forth and so on, they are based upon who God is. That He is righteous, that He is called the servant of righteousness. That He is the Creator of everything and that He will do as He pleases. We see that He has set the heavens in their place. That He will accomplish His plan. That He has decided to undertake the plan of redemption given on the basis of His grace. And it is said in verse 6 that the Messiah would be given as a covenant for the nations. that He literally is the blessings of the New Covenant. That He is the source of the blessings of the New Covenant. He is the sum total of the blessings of the New Covenant in Himself. And He initiates that New Covenant by offering Himself as the sacrifice. He mediates the New Covenant by reigning as our High Priest. This great servant would see the New Covenant into He will continue the new covenant while it is going on and He will consummate it into His eternal kingdom of glory. And this shows us the sacrificial nature of Jesus. That He was willing to go to the cross for His people to bring in the new covenant. We see that He would be a light for the nations and of course He is the only source of spiritual Because outside of Him there is only spiritual darkness and sin. But He opens the eyes. He opens the eyes of the prisoners. He calls them to Himself. And He healed during His earthly ministry. And He is healing souls to this day. That He is healing souls who are enslaved to sin. That are in the prison of sin. And whose eyes are completely blind. And He brings them to service to Himself in His holy light. And all of these blessings are depicting the glory of the new covenant based on the Lord Jesus himself. Based upon the mercy of the triune God, the Trinity working for our salvation, for our redemption, for the glory of His own name. Which brings us naturally, it's almost like the text is flowing in a context or something. but it brings us naturally to the eighth point which is exclusive glory to God. Look at verse 8. I am the Lord that is my name, my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. God will not share his glory with any idol nor with any other created being. None of those things will be what the servant comes for. He will not come to bring glory to the false gods who are made by human hands. He did not come to bring honor and praise and worship to the deities of Rome. He undertook this mission for the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And this should spur us on to worship God and God alone as those who are sealed by the blood of the new covenant. That our complete, our total dedication is to be towards the glory of God, bringing Him honor and praise and worship. That must be our zeal. That must be our passion. And we must ask God to increase that passion and to increase that fire that we have for His glory. And I want to draw your attention here to the parallel nature of verse 6 and 8. That verse 6 opens and says, I am the Lord. Verse 8 opens and it says, I am the Lord. It's the same Hebrew phrase, Ane Yahweh. The first time in verses 6 through 7, Yahweh expands about this servant that he has called. He tells us about him. And the second time Yahweh expands on his own identity and the fact that he will not share his glory. And so therefore it is logical for us to conclude based upon the parallel nature of these passages that the servant is actually sent for the glory of Yahweh. In fact, if you think about the high priestly prayer of Jesus, that is exactly what He said. John 17.3, when Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You. So Christ Himself was glorified, as was the Father. And this truth, by the way, also demonstrates the equality between the Father and the Son. Because if Yahweh doesn't share His glory with anyone else, and Jesus also receives glory, that means that Jesus is also divine. That He is truly God. And so we should seek to imitate this devotion, this zeal that we see in the Lord Jesus Christ. That He lived faithfully for the sake of the name of the Father. And we should strive to do that as well. And finally in verse 9 here, we come to our last point. which is that Christ is the servant of new things. Verse 9, Behold the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. So what we see here is a prophecy about the new covenant before it ever took place, which is really mind blowing if you think about that for a second because this is written at least 600 years and probably closer to 700 years before the coming of Christ. Yet we see all of these rich prophecies about Him. We can see much of His character, much of what He would undertake here in these passages, and it shows the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. It shows the beauty of the New Covenant, that this servant, this Messiah would come forth and He would bring the New Covenant, the glory nations, that he would glorify God by bringing in the nations to himself. The covenant, all the old one, the old covenant could do was point to and foreshadow this glorious covenant initiated by Christ. The book of Hebrews, it points out the superior nature of the new covenant to the old. Chapter 8 verse 6, But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. Those who were in the old covenant stared with amazement into the prophecies about this new covenant and were in awe of the glory of the Messiah and of this covenant that God would initiate. And it is initiated on the foundation not in the blood of sacrificial animals, but in the blood of the sacrificial Messiah, the Lord Jesus Himself. And so we really should be left here, as we conclude, with amazement at the character of Christ, at the work of Christ, at the redemption that He undertook on our behalf. And I pray that this passage has been a blessing to you and that this series will continue to be. I know it has been good for my own soul as I have studied these particular texts, and so I pray it will be beneficial to you also. Are there any questions tonight before we go into our prayer time?