Turn with me now please to Isaiah chapter 42. We'll be looking at the first four verses today. We should be reading the entire chapter to get some context here. Let's remember too that this is not merely the word of Isaiah, this is the word of God. Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him. 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 coastlands shall wait for his law. Going on in the chapter, 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, Jehovah, 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 Jehovah, 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. Sing to the Lord a new song and his praise from the ends of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it, you coastlands and you inhabitants of them, that the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice. The villages that Keter inhabits, but the inhabitants of Selah sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord and declare His praise in the coastlands. The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man. He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud. He shall prevail against His enemies. I have held my peace a long time. I have been still and restrained myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor. I will pant and gasp at once. I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will make the rivers coastlands and I will dry up the pools. I will bring the blind by a way they did not know. I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them in crooked places straight. These things I will do for them and not forsake them. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, who trust in carved images, who say to the molded images, you are our gods. Here, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see. Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant? seeing many things but you do not observe, opening the ears but he does not hear. The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake. He will exalt the law and make it honorable. But this is a people robbed and plundered. All of them are snared in holes and they are hidden in prison houses. They are for prey and no one delivers, for plunder and no one says restore. Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for plunder and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, nor were they obedient to His law. Therefore He has poured on him the fury of his anger and the strength of battle. It has set him on fire all around, yet he did not know. And it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart. May God bless to us the reading and the hearing and the preaching of this word today. We start into a new section here of a sorts where we are looking directly, at least for a time, at one who would be coming and to whom we are to look and upon whom we are to gaze. For that is exactly what Jehovah says here through Isaiah to all who read and all who hear. Behold, look at, look upon, gaze and wonder. There is direction here. There is a commandment here. And we must do so. Look. Why, we have heard this before, have we not? And we shall hear it again. We shall hear in chapter 45, whenever we get there, Jehovah saying, look to me! And Biggie saved all the ends of the earth. We can remember hearing John the Baptist in John chapter 1. In verses 29 and 36, saying, Behold the Lamb of God. So it is that we are to behold, to look right at, to stare at this One whom God presents before us, His Servant. Who is the Servant? Who is He? Well, the Jews would tell us who he is, and the liberals might tell us who he is, but what do the Scriptures say? Well, the Jews would tell us that this servant is Israel, and they might point us down in a farther out context to verses 18 through 20 here. who is blind but my servant, and deaf as my messenger whom I send." This is Israel. This is not some coming Messiah modern day rabbis and teachers from the Jews would say. This is Israel. In fact, some of the older rabbis said so as well. And this does have some plausibility to it, frankly. This does have something to it that might look possible. For after all, does not God call Israel His servant? Indeed. And was Israel not to be the light and the guide to the nations? Indeed. But we know of the wickedness of Israel. And we know that beyond the remnants, beyond Israel circumcised in heart, beyond the Israel of God, There was a great multitude, some of them converts, like those descended from the mixed multitude of Egypt when they came forth. Some of them who were descended by blood from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who were only Israel after the flesh, who were only Israel circumcised in their bodies. But they had not the covenant taken to heart. Faith was not joined to the promise. And so it was that they could be accused. Not only could be accused, but the accusation was accurate. They could be accused of seeing but not perceiving. As we see there in these verses 18 through 20. and hearing, but not heeding. And as a matter of fact, you'll remember way back in chapter 6, Isaiah had been given the commission to preach to them in order that they might see and not perceive. That they might hear and not heed. In order that God might reject and condemn them. For them, it certainly was not the case that God loved them and had a wonderful plan for their life. So maybe this is referring to Israel, the true Israel of God, the remnant, those circumcised in heart as well as in body. But that does not square, friends, with verses 6 and 7 where we read, I, Jehovah, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to ha'am in the Hebrew, the people. What people? Just as Larry was talking about in Psalm 37, where we have the word in the Hebrew, ha-eretz, meaning the land, the promise given to Abraham of the land and the seed and the blessing, which had a kind of temporal fulfillment, an earthly fulfillment, but has had and has a far greater fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The land being the land of promise there, but that only being a picture of all the world being yielded to Jesus Christ. So it is here. The word people has a special meaning. Now, there is a word for peoples, nations, hagoyim. But this is ha'am, the people. He, the servant, is given as a covenant for the people, the people of God. He is given as distinguished from the people of God. He is given as a covenant to the Israel of God, the Israel with the circumcised heart. He is apart from them, given to them. This is looking to none other but he whom many of the older rabbis saw as being HaMashiach, the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ. Otherwise, verse six makes no sense. Well, the liberals would try to say, well, this is talking about Cyrus. This is talking about some hoped-for redeemer to come. Well, actually, the liberals would say, since this is all part of 2nd Isaiah, it was written much later, and the prophet who, for a pious fraud, put Isaiah's name to it, is looking back And because he has these wonderful devotional feelings about Jehovah, he tries to show how great Jehovah is by making these fake prophecies. So what he's doing here is talking about Cyrus, who's already come and gone, and he can look back in history and pretend that this was something God looked forward to and spoke through supernaturally through the prophet Isaiah. Well, if this would be the case, then I didn't second Isaiah. Deutero-Isaiah was a terrible historian. For Isaiah, excuse me, Cyrus never opened blind eyes. He never brought out prisoners from the prison, those sitting in darkness from the prison house. Well, at least he did not give sight to the blind. And if we see the bringing out from the prison house there as a spiritual thing, which we really should, then Cyrus never did that. Well, then it's Isaiah, but no, Isaiah never did this. It is referring to Hamashiach in whom we are trusting. and to whom they of Isaiah's time were looking. As a matter of fact, we have the conclusive interpretation of these verses some 700 years later in Matthew's Gospel. Let me read to you from chapter 12. Oh, let me begin with verse nine to give a little context. Now, when he, that's Jesus, had departed from there, that is from a synagogue. He went, oh, excuse me, from the fields. Anyway, he went into their synagogue and behold, there was a man who had a withered hand and they asked him, saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath that they might accuse him? Then he said to them what man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not lay hold of it and lift it out or how much more value than a then is a man than a sheep. Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And he said to the man stretch out your hand and he stretched it out and it was restored as whole as the other. And the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it he withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed him and he healed them all. Yet he warned them not to make him known that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying and these words sound vaguely familiar. 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." Ooh! Who is this referring to then? It's now conclusive. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet it is appropriate in a way to see behind Him the Israel of God. And it is appropriate to see behind that the mass of those which professed to be the people of God. For from that great mass, of course, comes the true Israel of God and from them particularly from the tribe of Judah, and from the family, the house and lineage of David, comes forth this servant of God. Now, what do we learn about him here? First of all, he is upheld by God. In fact, he is the God-man. He has all the power and ability of God and since his father upholds him, it is obvious that God is willing to sustain all his work. Some perhaps have thought Some, perhaps, have mused in a dark sort of way, well, I see that Jesus loves me, but how can I be accepted by the Father? How can I have an assurance that what Jesus does is accepted by the Father? Well, the Lord Jesus Himself has said, I and the Father are one. And here it is that in His person and in His work, God the Father upholds Him. God the Father is delighted in him and in his work. God the Father is delighted at the outcome of Christ's life and death and resurrection. This one who comes to save, this one who comes to deliver, this one who gives unalterable promises to anyone and to everyone who believes upon him is the one whom God accepts. And his work is accepted as well. God upholds him. God upholds him. Why is that? Because he is the specially chosen one in the councils of eternity. And we cannot fully understand this, when this was, because we creatures are stuck, in a manner of speaking, in a framework of time. We cannot imagine what it's like where there is no time. We cannot imagine a place when there is no place. But before God made anything, and we really can't say before in a way, because when there was no time, there was no before or after. But when God had not made the creation, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit all had this way and plan of salvation where the Father decided to love sinners. And in order to be both just and the justifier of them, He gave his only begotten Son to live for sinners, to die for sinners, to be raised again victorious over their guilt and over their curse. The Son willingly went. He said, I will go. And we sing about that sometimes from Psalm 40. The Spirit of God contracted, we might say, to apply the work of the Lord Jesus Christ to the chosen ones of God. For you see, people have been chosen by God in order to be saved. He has set His love upon an innumerable vast horde of people to save them from their sin. But it's all done in one specially chosen one, His only begotten Son. By Him and by Him alone is all brought to restoration and renewal to life. Interestingly enough, here we read that God the Father speaking, Jehovah speaking through Isaiah says, I've put my spirit upon Him. And He testifies of Himself when talking that one evening In a kind of secluded place with Nicodemus, he says of himself that he is filled with the Spirit and that without measure. And indeed, as we go on to read here in verse one, he brings forth justice to the Gentiles. He does just that. He brings judgment to the nation. They who are in pagan darkness. They who are in heathen folly. He brings light and life and justice to. He reigns over them all as God's mediatorial king. As a matter of fact, He is both just and justifier Himself. This great King of whom we so often sing in Psalms 2 and 110, and of whom we sing in Psalm 89 today. Well, this great One of whom God says, look at Him. This great One. How does He teach? We see that in verse 2. He will not cry out nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. It's interesting, not a lot of comment here on this verse from commentators. But let us take just a few moments, a very few moments, to note that this is not something where he goes and, well, when our Lord Jesus came, he did not demand that people come and demand with the edge of a sword. He did not force conversions, outwardly speaking anyway. He was not one who, when he came to earth, normally assertive. He was not boisterous, noisy, militant, like say, oh, Muhammad. Rather, The sword he used was what his apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 17 called the sword of the Spirit, his word. He spoke his word. He gave proper interpretation of his word. And he made his word to go into the hearts of some. He continues to have his word go into the hearts of many even today. He speaks firmly, though quietly. It's not with a whirlwind normally. It's not with an earthquake. You will remember those came to Elijah, and Elijah gave no heed. But so often, so very often, in his normal way of working, the Lord Jesus speaks in that small voice. But that voice of power, that voice which could say, Lazarus, come forth in John chapter 11. And from not only the cave, but from death, physical death, he came forth. And perhaps he has spoken to your heart, or yours, or yours. And in grace he has spoken to mine. And when he speaks, and tells us to come forth from spiritual death. Well, we come forth, don't we? We come forth into everlasting, never-ending, definitively everlasting life. He speaks and the dead live. Well, this Great One, this Holy One, Isn't he too frightful a figure for sinners? Sadly, in major portions of what professes to be the one holy Catholic and apostolic church, that is the way it is. That is the way it is taught anyway. You go to so-called orthodox churches And you listen to them as they go through the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and constantly, constantly, constantly they are saying, Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison. The Greek words, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. And they think of the Lord Jesus Christ as a fearsome, avenging, wrathful one. They speak of the coming day of wrath and the faithful quail in their seats. Or in Orthodox churches, they stand trembling there, perhaps, if they're giving any heed to the liturgy as it is said. and the same in Western Christianity through much of its history. If you go to Latin Mass anyway, the remaining little bit in Greek is Kyrie Eleison. Christe Eleison. Kyrie Eleison. There is a searching for mercy. A crying out for mercy. Because particularly in Western Christianity, there is at least an understanding of sin. There is an understanding of guilt. There is an understanding of some sort that man's problem is an ethical one. But they fear to look to Jesus. And so they cry out to departed saints, They cry out to the truly blessed Virgin who does not hear. She is worthy of our admiration, of course. And we can give thanks for that humble servant of God who was truly the Mother of God. But she does not hear. And she cannot dispense favors. She stands, we trust, in worship. The one she surely no longer thinks of the son of her womb, but of her great God and Savior. The Lamb of God. that sits on the throne. This fearsome image makes people frightened of Jesus Christ. And they think that unless somehow they can appease Jesus, that where their lives have been broken and bruised, He will just tear them and rinse them and cast them away. Their spirituality is down to a little, pathetic, orange, smoky ember. And they think he'll spit on his fingers and go, and snuff them out, casting them away forever. That is the image of Jesus that many who profess to be Christians have. How very sad. For we read these words here, and they're repeated in Matthew's Gospel, that the bruised reed he will not break. The little amber at the end of a flaxen candle wick, he will not spit on his fingers and go, Our Lord Jesus is kindly, is merciful, is gracious. We sometimes sing during our offering from Psalm 116. Gracious. The Lord, the simple ones, preserves. Perhaps as you have looked to Jesus, or thought you must, you were afraid to. The Spirit has perhaps taken the preaching of His Word, or the reading of it, or by some other means has suddenly brought to your awareness your sin and the awful offense that you have made before God. You'd slept right through this all the rest of your previous life, but now you're awake. And you've not awakened from a nightmare, you've awakened to one. Or perhaps you've gone through life blithely thinking everything's good, everything's fine, everything's just cool between God and me. But now, as His Spirit is working upon you, you have come to some truly awesome and awful convictions. You have seen what a filth ball, what a scumball you are. And you hear about one who judges nations, and your heart is so frightened. It's no wonder that the false portrayal of Jesus in some of these so-called churches, that people do tremble in fear before Jesus. But the bruised reed, he does snap off and throw away. The tiny red ember of the candle wick is not snuffed out. You awakened sinner. You convicted sinner. Grieved not only at what might happen to you, but grieved that the great God of the universe to whom you now see you owed all love and all service, and you have given him none. This grief that threatens to swallow you up, and you see yourself as a contemptible thing. You see yourself as being utterly unworthy of this one's attention or care, and surely he must think the same, but he does not. And He says to you, bruised one, He says to you, miserably smoking, about to go out, little thing, come to Me. Come to Me. I've come to seek and to save the lost. And that is what you are. Lost. Lost and alone. But Jesus has come to seek and to save such as you. In fact, we go on to read there in verse 4 that He will not fail nor be discouraged. You cannot be too broken and bruised for Him. And your little, tiny, about to go out glow is not Too bad for him. No, as a matter of fact, he came to this earth and faced all kinds of things. He bore up under the common weaknesses and trials and afflictions of mankind that we all have. He suffered through illness. and hunger and thirst by times. He suffered through deep, deep fatigue. All things that would not have been here had it not been for sin. But He suffered far more than you and I. I've mentioned this before. Perhaps it hasn't been for quite a while, but we often will find ourselves having Discomfort of building, building, building temptation. It keeps coming against us and against us and against us and every wave of that temptation seems to be stronger. And finally we break the tension, we end the discomfort temporarily by yielding to temptation. We yield to it and all feels better. for a little while. In fact, for the sinner, all feels better, period. For a long while, perhaps, it feels good. But Jesus never had that. He had to endure slander. He had to endure contempt. And he who was the Lord of life had to go to death, but he set his face to go to Jerusalem, as we read in Luke 9, verse 51. His will was unbreakable. And the glow of His love was unquenchable. And so He does not break the bruised. He does not snuff the little glow. He has come forth to heal the bruised and to fan the ember into flame. We read here, he has established justice in the earth. In fact, he took that justice upon himself at the cross. He established that justice, justifying his people. That judgment came upon him there at the cross. And now the penalty is paid. For sinners, all things are done and they cannot be revoked. It is all done by His set purpose. Lastly, we read here The coastland shall wait for his law. God through Isaiah is saying his word would and this says this is what has happened. Go to the ends of the earth so that people know the living and true God in and through him all to God's glory and delight. So now. discouraged Christian, tender hearted Christian. You who wear the mantle of mourning because your sanctification is not complete and perhaps you are struggling and in your own eyes so often failing when temptation comes. The devil may come to tempt you. The devil may come and perhaps you've experienced this and say, well, you're so bruised and broken over. Maybe it's time for Jesus to just come along, snap you off and throw you away. Oh, I remember, he says, when you were flaming hot in your devotion, You're a pretty pathetic specimen now. Just a little punky thing. Just this little dim glow that's hardly there. Smoking and smoldering and barely holding on. Surely Jesus is going to come along and put you out. With several meanings to that phrase. All in one swell, foop. No. No, Christian, your Savior has set his love upon you from eternity and the blessing of it goes to eternity. You, in his good time, he shall heal up. You, he shall fan to a flame. And lost sinner, are you frightened to come to him who says, who swears, The bruised reed he will not break. The sad little ember he will not put out. Do you fear to come to such a one? Fear not. There are many here who can testify that they have found his word true. Cry out to him to save you from your sin. Cry out to Him who is the servant of His Father, specially chosen by the Father, upheld by Him. Call to Him who seeks to glorify His Father by taking, yes, even such a one as you and bringing you to know and love and serve Jesus know, love, and serve His Father, He will take such a one as you and make you no longer the pathetic thing that you see yourself to be. And you're being honest. And He will make you, as it says in the Bible, a trophy of grace. You shall be what you are not. And it will all be to God's glory. This one. God's servant. God's Savior is the one who brings it to pass. He is the one who delivers you and not only forgives you your sin, but cleanses you from all unrighteousness. Amen.