Introduction
Well, good evening, everyone. If you were paying attention or thinking as we sang all these hymns, the common theme of each one of these ones was the universal kingship of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, his universal dominion from sea to sea, to all the nations. And that is indeed our topic tonight. And from Isaiah chapter 42, So if you turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 42, one of the first servant songs that we find in the book of Isaiah.
Look at the first 13 verses this evening in Isaiah 42. I'll read the entire chapter though. So Isaiah chapter 42.
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 42
Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my elect one, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench.
He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail, nor be discouraged, till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands shall wait for his law. Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness.
I will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people. as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord, 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 all you inhabitants of them. Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice.
The villages that Kadar inhabits, let 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 and 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. Hear, 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.
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. Amen.
Let us pray.
Opening Prayer
O Lord, we come before you again. Lord, we ask your blessing upon us as we come to this passage of Scripture. Lord, as we think of the sovereignty, the universal dominion of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, your servant here whom you present to us in this song, in Isaiah. Lord, I pray that you would be pleased to bless us this evening, that it would be a means for the strengthening, the edifying of your people here, that it would be a means for the salvation of sinners, that it would be a means by which you call them out of darkness, by which you open the blind eyes and bring the light in the dark hearts and release those captives in prison.
Lord, I pray that you would be pleased to bless us now. We pray for the ministry of your Spirit, and we pray this in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Context and Outline
So the greater context that this passage comes in begins in chapter 40 of Isaiah, chapter 40, 41 here, and we see this cry to Jerusalem, or this comfort story that goes out in chapter 40, verse 1. Comfort, yes, comfort, my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. So it's this, he's speaking to Jerusalem here, that this oppression by your enemies is going to come to an end, and that Yahweh himself is declaring this, that he's going to bring an end to this oppression.
And then as he goes through, we see the futility of putting hope in other gods of the nations or in man, whatever it may be, but rather it's Yahweh is going to, he himself will see to it, he will ensure the deliverance of his people there. And then as we come to chapter 42, then this is where Yahweh says, this is how I'm going to do it. And then we see this, you know, as the servant presented to us, the servant of Yahweh. So this passage here is what I call the commissioning of the servant of Yahweh.
And we find
Presentation of the Servant
We find first in verse 1-4 the presentation of the servant, in verses 5-9 we have the mission of the servant, and then in 10-13 we have the victory of the servant of Yahweh. So, he begins then in verse 1, here he says, Behold, now in the Hebrew, This word, behold, indicates an element of surprise or an element of unexpectedness that he's going to present. There's something there that was not expected. We might say, well, I would have thought otherwise.
But so that's kind of what the word behold indicates. That's coming, something unexpected there. So behold. And so he says, behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights.
So in the previous chapters we've seen Yahweh says, I'm going to be the one who saves you, who rescues you, who releases you from this oppression, this bondage. that you're in. I'm going to be your Redeemer, he says, back in chapter 41. I'm your Redeemer, your Holy One, the Holy One of Israel, he calls himself there. But here, he says, I will do it, but it's going to be through my servant, my servant whom I'm going to commission to do this task of redeeming you, of releasing you from this bond, is bringing an end to your warfare, your oppression.
Now, so he presents his servant. So, behold my servant. Now, we understand, we know this, this, the servant here, the servant of Yahweh is the Messiah. He's the, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have that explicitly given in Matthew chapter 12, where Matthew applies this, this passage to our Lord Jesus Christ. So there's no, there's no, there's no question as to who is he, who is he speaking about here. He's speaking of, of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. So, so he says my servant.
Now, reference, referencing to his, his humanity in this instance, that the servant, he's referring to the human nature of our Savior, of the Messiah. We'll see later as we get to the end here that the Messiah is also Yahweh of Israel himself. But the servant, the fact that he's the servant here, is referencing his human nature and his mission. We can say there's an element of servant in the economy of redemption.
Now, that's going to be outside the scope of this message. But primarily, just understand here, he's speaking of the human nature and both the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also of the spiritual aspect of it as well. We'll see that as we get into this.
The Servant's Identity and Election
So, my servant whom I uphold, he says here. Now, this is interesting here. This verb is the verb uphold. It could be either in the passive or the active, meaning that, you know, it could be the servant or Yahweh, the one being upheld, or Yahweh doing the upholding.
We might think, like, what do you mean Yahweh is the one being upheld? Well, the idea here, and again, this Calvin and Gil, You know I have them on my side they present both of these both of these positions as well the active or the passive it could be so in this is so in the sense of You know my servant whom I will be upheld by would be a literal in the passive form their meaning is meaning my glory, my reputation, my sovereign dominion over this earth will be upheld by this servant. So it's a very legitimate translation when we understand that there. And I think when we see that in the previous chapters, we see it in this chapter as well, that Yahweh's glory His reputation, and not so much his reputation, I guess, but his dominion, he's upholding that in this redemption of his people, and bringing this dominion to all the nations.
So it could be that. I've commissioned the servant to be the one who upholds my glory and upholds my dominion over all of creation. Could be that, it could be the act of, which is how our English Bibles translate it, whom I and I will uphold him. So Yahweh being the one doing the upholding there.
I think that's probably, that's better. I think it fits the context better. In verse six, we see that. He says, I will hold your hand.
He tells us here how he's going to do it in verse one, that I will put my spirit upon him. So the idea then that Yahweh is going to equip his servant to carry out this task and uphold him and be there to help him to guarantee the success of his mission. So we have both options. It could be either one.
But again, I think it's the act of one Yahweh doing the upholding. So and then he calls him my my elect one or my chosen one and he doesn't worthy He doesn't use the word Messiah here the the Hebrew word Messiah We you know, we know that that means chosen that means anointed but that's not what the Hebrew word here is what it is here is um, it means chosen, but it it denotes an element of excellency or or virtue of something there's something about this one whom who he has chosen for this for this his excellency his virtue there's something about this person, this servant of Yahweh, that is excellent. And that is a reference to his person, as I said, the fact that he is the second person of the Trinity. He is Yahweh himself.
Now, we'll see that fleshed out in more detail as we go through, but there's an element of virtue there about this person. something excellent, Him being Yahweh Himself. And that is why the Lord delights in Him, my elect one in whom my soul delights. We see that very clearly when we come to the New Testament, and we come to the baptism, we see the baptism of Christ at the baptism, which was Christ's formal commissioning, we could say, to do his task, then we hear the voice from heaven. Behold, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
So we have that very clearly. We see that at his baptism. The father very pleased with the son for who he is and for the work that he's about to do. And that's also where we find at the baptism, that's where we find the fulfillment of the next line in this passage here.
And I have put my spirit upon him at the Christ's baptism. That was, like I said, the beginning of his earthly ministry, the beginning of him carrying out this commission. And the spirit came upon him at his baptism. visibly there in the form of a dove. There was that special anointing of the Holy Spirit to enable the Christ, the Messiah, to fulfill his God-given task.
So we have very clearly here this, the upholding Yahweh's, Yahweh upholding his spirit to perform, upholding his servant by his spirit to perform this task that he has given him. Because this is no ordinary task. This is what the servant What the servant is going to do, he says now in the next line, and this is where, if you remember what I said back about the word, behold, there's an element of surprise, something we would have thought, hmm, that's strange. You know, I wouldn't have thought that way, especially when given the context is to Jerusalem, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to bring an end to your warfare.
And now he says here, how I'm going to do this, he says he's going to bring forth justice to the Gentiles. So we think, wow, that's strange. Well, again, as we see, the work of the Savior is not about national Israel. It's about to all the nations that Christ is going to make a kingdom for himself from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.
It's not limited to Israel. So that's where this element of surprise to a Jew reading this would have been, oh, he's going to bring justice to the Gentiles. It's important to understand here, the word justice in this context does not mean judgment. It's not Yahweh's going to, the servant is going to bring judgment to the Gentiles, but it's the idea of, it's justice, it's freedom from oppression, having one who rules righteously in truth and in justice.
It's this freedom from oppression. And again, this is a new and a strange promise to the Jews in Isaiah's day. Righteous rule was limited to the nation of Israel. You can turn to Deuteronomy 4 to see that.
That the other nations were marked by unrighteous leaders, which goes back to what we talked about this morning. in terms of on the spiritual element behind it, in terms of what happened at Babel. But Deuteronomy chapter 4 in verse 7, Here, he says, Yahweh speaking, he says, for what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as Yahweh, our God, is to us, and for whatever reason we may call upon him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? So we can see that the nations around there are governed through tyranny, through oppression of the poor, murder of the innocent.
We saw a lot of that in Psalm 94 last week when we looked at that. But that's what marked these nations who were in darkness. And again, this is on a spiritual level. The Gentiles are in darkness, they're under the oppression of Satan, his devices, and being kept in darkness.
Now, of course, this is There's a spiritual element behind it, but of course it fleshes itself out in their lives and their societies, to be sure. But Christ's job, Christ's task, the servant's task, is to bring freedom to them, to bring righteous rule to these poor Gentiles. Now, this is not in terms of an earthly kingdom. That's not what his role is here.
He's not bringing an earthly kingdom with earthly leaders who are going to rule rule, you know, in justice and rule rightly there, but rather this is in terms of his spiritual kingdom, freedom from the kingdom of darkness, bringing them into his kingdom wherein righteousness dwells. The kingdom which is going to, which will, the inheritance at the end of the age, when the kingdom is complete, As Peter says, it's new heavens, it's new earth, wherein righteousness dwells. So that's the idea that's going on here. So when he says he's bringing it to the Gentiles, it's to those who are in darkness on a spiritual level.
It's everyone across the board. We saw that this morning in our confession study with the concept of covenants and what happened when Adam sinned and broke that covenant. Adam was, we could say, was plunged into darkness. All of creation became part of this kingdom of darkness governed by Satan and his host and his armies and his hierarchy of beings.
Now, Christ is coming to bring freedom from that and create a kingdom. A lot of this is a lot of overlap of what we looked at this morning in these things. So, that is what the servant is going to do. He's going to bring righteousness, justice to the Gentiles, Yahweh says here.
So then he goes on to describe who this servant is here, in light of this. So
The Servant's Humility
first, we have the servant's humility in verse 2. He says, he will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. So he's speaking of his humility there. The Christ, he's not going to arrive like the next tyrannical leader, you know, and with much pomp and circumstance and splendor announcing his arrival and come in and destroy the people.
We can imagine, you know, whoever it may be, you know, Alexander the Great or Merneptah or these Assyrian kings that would come in and decimate a place, much pomp and circumstance. That's not how the Messiah is going to go about his business. He's humble. He's here.
He will not cry out. He will not raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. Now, we know this is referring to Christ's earthly ministry. And we know that because Matthew applies this passage in Matthew 12 to Christ. he's referring to the to the humility and to the compassion of the Savior he and then he quotes this as the fulfillment of that so and the purpose is there so that is that so that we don't form a an earthly conception of his of his kingdom and for the and for the Jews in his day when he when he came that they for them to to realize that he's this Messiah was not to bring in a national Kingdom there, but he was to bring in as he was to bring in building a spiritual kingdom out of those whom he would save from spiritual darkness So so he's he's he's he's he's humble his earthly ministry is one of humility and then
The Servant's Compassion
in verse 3 We have his compassion a bruised reed. He will not break and smoking flax. He will not quench So he's he's these are these this this bruised reed and smoking flax this refers to those who have been who've been Afflicted been oppressed those those who are in this in in darkness and have a and and see their see their their their Their state that they're in and they who have a desire for freedom from this darkness That's what he's that's what he's speaking to again. They're they're under this this rule of evil this oppression They see that they don't want to be in that darkness and and Christ is coming to to free them from that darkness.
The concept is one of here where they realize they're in there. They can't save themselves, and they desire to be saved. That's who Christ has come here. It's one where he comes to give this spiritual healing and freedom.
We saw how Matthew applies it to the compassion he had on the people in his earthly ministry and the healing that he gave to those people in terms of their illnesses and their things, but it's on a spiritual level, it's the same thing. It's those who are in oppression, those who have a desire who come to him for healing, for salvation, he will not break a bruised reed, one that's been bruised in this state of oppression. He will not come and break it, but rather he will rescue that bruised reed, and the smoking flax, he will not quench. Smoking flax referring to a candle wick.
Here, that's a candle wick, that's smoldering. There's no hope. We could say there's no hope of salvation in themselves. Those who have no hope of salvation in themselves, Christ will not extinguish someone in that, who looks to Him for salvation from this darkness.
He will not extinguish that. So, I think that's, if you're here tonight, you know, you feel like this broken reed, this smoldering wick, no hope of salvation in yourselves, no hope of freedom from the bondage of being in darkness, no hope of salvation in yourselves from this tyranny of Satan, which the Bible says that you are under, which will end in your destruction under the wrath of God for your rebellion against him. If that's you and you feel like you're a bruised reed or you're a smoking flax, then Christ is the answer. Christ came for sinners like that, for sinners who see their helplessness, who recognize their state in darkness, and He's come to rescue those from darkness, those who look to Him for their salvation.
So believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, so look to Him, and you will be saved, says the Bible very clearly. But we'll move on here.
The Servant's Determination
In the end of verse 3, then we see the servant's determination. He will bring forth justice for truth. And then verse four, he will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth. So his determination.
So he says here, he will bring forth justice for truth or justice unto truth. Now, the idea here is not one of the truthfulness, of the justice, whatever that may mean, but it is one of the certainty, like for certain, for truly, He will bring forth justice. That is the concept being conveyed here, that He will most certainly bring forth this justice to the earth here, this redemption from the kingdom of darkness. John Gill on that comments on that now he John Gill applies it on on an individual level Here he says but but rather so so again speaking of this, you know It's not talking about the truthfulness of this justice, but it's the certainty of it So he says but but rather it designs the the power of his spirit and grace Accompanying the word to the carrying on of his own work in the hearts of his people which though attended by many difficulties and discouragements shall go on and be performed.
Grace will break through all obstructions and prove victorious at last." So again, Gill applies it on an individual level there, but we can also, we can apply it just corporately. Christ will build his kingdom, and grace will break through. Grace is by the means by which he's building his kingdom. Grace will break through all obstructions and prove victorious at last.
So we see the certainty of it, and then we see the dedication of the servant to carry out this mission. He will not fail nor be discouraged until he has established justice in the earth. So the dedication there, we're just saying, 421 I believe, Christ shall have dominion over land and sea, earth's remotest regions shall his empire be. So that certainty of it, that he will persevere until he completes his kingdom.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, we see that. We just pick up in verse 23. No, verse 20, I guess. But now Christ has risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each one in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority, and power, for he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death." So we see that very clearly here as well in 1 Corinthians. The certainty of this, that Christ will reign until his mission is complete. He will complete this mission. He does not do a half job.
He doesn't get halfway through building his kingdom and say, Lord, that's enough. I've rescued enough people and this is good enough. No, he will rescue every last one of his people from the kingdom of darkness. There's no half job there.
So he will complete this God-given mission of the redemption of his people, rescuing them from darkness, calling them out of darkness into his marvelous light. And and then it says here and then the the the coastlands will will wait for his law So this is this is the coastlands here speaking of the of the the the far-off nations the ends of the earth We might say these that's that's generally what coastlands means in the Bible. So these these far-off nations they will wait for his law now wait here has the the the the concept of of Not only expecting it waiting for it, but also this embrace of it that they will that they're going to embrace his law his rule The Septuagint translation of this says that the gentiles shall trust in his name That's the the the Septuagint is what Matthew uses when he when he quotes it And so Matthew quotes that, or Matthew says, the Gentiles shall trust in his name. And that is the concept here of the coastlands waiting for his law or embracing his rule.
So what we see here is the fulfillment of his mission, that Yahweh, as he presents the servant to us, he says he will fulfill this mission. The coastlands, the far-off nations will submit to his kingship. E.J. Young, on his commentary on this passage here, he quotes John Calvin.
And John Calvin says, Christ was sent in order to bring the whole world under the authority of God and under obedience to him. So that was the mission of Christ, was to bring the whole world. That doesn't mean all people universally, but that means, well, it will in terms of the destruction of those who remain in rebellion. in the sense where they're put under the authority of God. But that's the role of Christ.
We saw that in our morning sessions, the confession, and in our looking in 1 Peter chapter 2, the role of Adam. That was Adam's role, right? But Adam failed. Adam's role was to bring the whole world under the authority of God in obedience to him.
Not from a fallen state, but from a neutral state, we could say. But now Christ comes. to restore all that, and Christ is successful in what he does. He brings his kingdom to the ends of the earth.
Mission of the Servant
So then we come to the mission, then, of the servant in verse 5. Thus says God, Yahweh, who created the heavens and stretched them out, So this is spoken to the servant now. This is the servant receiving his marching orders, his commission. gives him a reminder of who the one is that is giving this commission, who is the one who's commissioning him to do this. This is not given as a threat, saying, you know, I'm Yahweh, I'm sovereign, and you better do what you're told.
This is given as a comfort here. And his emphasis, Yahweh's emphasis, is that I am the creator. He says to him, I'm going to send you to release the captives that are in prison, to conquer your people, the people whom I have given you, I'm going to send you to conquer them out of darkness, out of the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of darkness is ruled by strong forces.
We need to understand that. When we look at passages like this, the kingdom of darkness is ruled by strong forces, but I am Yahweh, the creator. Remember, these strong forces are only created I am the creator of them, and I will uphold you." So it's strengthening the faith of this servant, of the servant of Israel, strengthening him that he has Yahweh behind him, backing him, upholding him, Yahweh the creator, as he goes about to take on this mission of rescuing his people from darkness. So now I can imagine Jesus, in Jesus' human nature, as he read the Scriptures and as he learned of his role as mediator.
Remember, Christ has a human nature in which he had to learn. Luke chapter 2 tells us that Christ grew in wisdom. He learned of his role as mediator by reading the Scriptures. And a passage like this would have been an incredible source of comfort to him as he comes here to realize that Yahweh, the Creator, is the one commissioning me and is the one behind me, is the one upholding me.
And I think we see this evidenced in Matthew chapter 12. You can turn there for a minute. Matthew 12, this is the same, where we see this, we see the servant, we see him in his earthly ministry there, the casting or healing. Matthew quotes this passage in this Isaiah 42 passage there.
And then after that, we have a demon being cast out. And then the Pharisees say to him, You're only doing this because you're on the side, you know, the same side as Satan. You're doing this by, you know, by Beelzebub. That's the only reason you can cast out demons.
But Jesus says to them in verse 28 and following, or before that, but then verse 28, that this is an evidence that the kingdom of God is here. Why would Satan cast out his own? But rather he's saying this is an evidence that the kingdom of God is here. As Christ casts out this demon, a very tangible evidence that he is here to destroy the works of the devil.
And then look at verse 29 here, he says, How can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house? So, what Jesus is saying in this verse is that he knows that Satan is bound. Satan is the strong man in what Jesus is referencing here. Satan is the strong man and Jesus is plundering his goods.
But first, the strong man is bound, and then the goods are plundered. And that is what Jesus understands here. He realizes that Satan is bound, meaning that he's not all-powerful. He's bound or he's limited in his power.
He's restricted in what he can do because he's a created being, but the kingdom of heaven The kingdom of God is ruled by Yahweh, the Creator. So that was the comfort that provided to the Messiah. And then back to Isaiah again, 42, we're in verse six now. So verse five, we see that reminder of Yahweh as the creator.
The Servant as Covenant and Light
Now in verse six, I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand and I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles. So that reminder, I, Yahweh, the creator, I will uphold you. John Kelvin here, he says, Christ will be directed by the Father in such a manner that he shall have him as his protector and guardian, shall enjoy his assistance, and in short, shall feel his presence in all things. So that the Yahweh, the Creator there, calling him and upholding him, holding his hand.
Now he says here that I will call you I've called you in righteousness. Another way to say that might be, I've called you unto righteousness. And John Gill says there that it's to bring an everlasting righteousness to his people. So I will call you unto righteousness, a righteousness, an everlasting righteousness that you will bring to your people.
And I think that's the idea there, and it goes with this next line as well, that I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people. Because that's what the New Covenant is. That's what we saw this morning in our study, that the New Covenant is that provision of a new mediator in the covenant of works, a new mediator between God and man, one whose righteousness is worthy of eternal life. So we know that comes through the fulfillment of the demands of the law, both in terms of curse-bearing for lawbreakers and in terms of living in complete obedience to that law, both of which Jesus did, we know, in his life.
And that is in his life and his death. That through that righteousness that is how he is able to conquer people from darkness because he's atoned for their sin He's atoned for their rebellion against God and and therefore and therefore he is able to do that so I think that that is that is a That is a reference to that to the righteousness that Christ supplies there But then that but then the father says says to him. I will I will I will hold your hand and And in a sense, I will keep you, I'll protect you, I'll uphold you, so that you can achieve this righteousness. So that Satan cannot thwart your mission.
That was, we see after Jesus' baptism, he was driven into the wilderness, and Satan did everything he could to thwart that mission of Christ by trying to get Christ to fall short of that righteousness, to get him to sin. tempted him there, but God upheld him through that temptation so that he could complete his mission and earn that righteousness there. And then he says, now I will give you as a light to the Gentiles. And then in verse 7 as well, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. Remember in the old covenant setting, the Jews were Yahweh's special people.
We saw that this morning. They had the light, so to speak. The Gentiles lived in darkness. The Gentiles were under the rule of the various gods of the nations that the Bible talks about.
So the servant is coming. He's bringing light to them. He's opening their eyes. He's freeing them from this oppression. this oppressive bondage to the kingdom of darkness.
But this is, again, this is not happening on a national level here. This is, you know, the servant's role was not to grow the nation of Israel, make them a global nation. We've seen that already. His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom made up of those that he is saving from spiritual darkness.
Isaiah, it is global to be sure. When I say, you know, when I say he's not making a global nation out of Israel, It's not a political nation, but it is a global kingdom to be sure. Isaiah 49 says, it's too small a thing for you to be my servant to the lost tribes of Jacob. I will also give you as a light for the Gentiles.
So this global dominion over to the ends of the earth, that is the kingdom. those he rescues from spiritual darkness. And then it says here, those who are, he's going to open blind eyes, so he's going to those who are blind. So this could be referring to those who don't even realize how bad the darkness is, how bad it is, their state, that they're blind. To that it could be a reference to the depravity of man, the spiritual depravity of man, the fact that they hate God, they're in rebellion, they're blind to their They're blind to the darkness that they're in until Christ comes and conquers them out of that.
It could be a reference to that. I think the primary emphasis in this passage, though, is not the depravity of man. We know the depravity of man is real. Men are spiritually blind.
But the emphasis of the passage here is one of the servant who's breaking his people free from this bondage. and from this oppression of the kingdom of darkness, and who's bringing out prisoners from prison, he says here. So Christ's work is to free all those who look to Him for salvation. That is the emphasis of the passage here. Not so much on the blindness, the spiritual depravity.
And again, so that's what Christ is doing. He's advancing His kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, to the ends of the earth, to the coastlands, as Isaiah says here. calling this multitude from every tribe, every tongue, people, and nation. They're from a universal kingdom, not of every person, but universal without distinction. And now, why is this his task?
Why is he doing this? And the answer comes in verse 8. and Yahweh, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images." So Yahweh is a creator, he created this earth, Yahweh requires the submission of all creation to him, and Yahweh will not tolerate any other, any created being, specifically these the gods of the nations, which is what the carved images is referring to there. We see in Deuteronomy 7, 25, 12, 3, that these carved images are just a visible representation of the gods of the nations there. So that's what he's saying here.
He's saying that Yahweh will not allow them to have any sort of type of authority over his earth. We know that for a time it's happened. We see that in verse 14. I've held my peace a long time. and restrain myself.
So after the fall, yes, Satan has dominion over the earth. But Christ is coming to undo that, to destroy those enemies of Yahweh and bring back universal dominion over the earth. Now again, we know God is sovereign. God is sovereign over all things.
God has dominion in that sense over everything. But in terms of the story of redemptive history and what is going on, what is taking place, that's how God has chosen to work this out. has this dominion, Satan has this power over the earth and Christ is coming to crush the head of the serpent. That's what the passage in Genesis 3.15 is all about. Christ coming to destroy the serpent and to bring back this universal kingdom and destroy all those who reject him.
And again, remember the Calvin quote that I quoted earlier, that Christ was sent in order to bring the whole world under the authority God and under obedience to him if you look at the servant song in in Isaiah 49 There's a there's a lot of parallels to this to this one and in Isaiah Isaiah 49 verse Verse 8 thus says the Lord in an acceptable time. I have heard you in the day of salvation I have helped you I will preserve you and give you as a covenant to the people of to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritage. So that is the role. He's restoring the earth to the sovereign dominion of Yahweh himself, and who is Christ, as we'll see at the end.
Christ is Yahweh. And then we have the guarantee of this here. So John Calvin, again, I'll quote him, Calvin says, but since Satan, by amazing arts, endeavors to obscure this glory of God and to bestow it on men and on false gods, he, Yahweh, therefore testifies that he will not permit himself to be regarded as fickle or deceitful in his promises. So that's commenting on verse nine.
Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you. So Calvin, again, Hence here, so in this verse 9, we obtain a singular confirmation of our faith that the Lord never deceives, never swerves from his promise, and nothing can hinder what he has once determined. And that's what verse 9 is, that's what he's saying.
The former things have come to pass in the sense that things that I'd prophesied, that I said would take place long ago, they've all come to pass, they've all taken place. And therefore, the new things that I declare before they happen, I tell you of them, but it's guaranteed. We find that in Joshua 24, verse 45, is an amazing verse there, just of the faithfulness of Yahweh and the fact that Yahweh, that his word will come to pass. Joshua 24, verse 45, it says, of not a word failed, let me find it here, of all the good things that, sorry, I have the wrong reference here, verse 40, wrote down the wrong reference, but not a word failed of all the good things that Yahweh, said had spoke to the sorry verse 21 verse 45 not a word failed of any good thing which the lord had spoken to the house of israel all came to pass that is the that's the faithfulness of Yahweh and that guarantee here that he gives in this uh in this um in in this um commissioning to to the servant that you know i've i've promised you this and in it i will i will bring it to pass i there's the the guarantee of of Yahweh that that he will that he will um that he will see this to the end.
He will be there for the servant to uphold him.
Victory of the Servant
And then now we see the, we come to the victory of the servant in verses 10 through 13. Verse 10, 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. So this is the evidence now of a successful mission of the servant. We have the ends of the earth are called to sing to sing this new song to Yahweh.
It's a new song. Something has changed. And we know that's the successful mission of this, by which now those who are in darkness from all these nations are now in the light in His kingdom. They're praising Yahweh now.
They're celebrating His victory, celebrating the fact that He liberated them from darkness. So he says, so you who go down to the sea and all that is in it. So that's all the nations to the west and to the north there. And then in verse 11, let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kadar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of Selah sing and let them shout from the top of the mountains. So those are the nations to the east and to the south. So that's the, here we see the gospel going to the ends of the earth. That just like Jesus said it would do, that he would build his kingdom through beginning with his apostles.
They would be his witnesses, he said in Acts, you would be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And that's exactly, that's what it's referencing here. And that's what we see when we come to the New Testament, when we come to history. that this message is brought to the ends of the earth, to all the nations around there. History tells us that, well, we know from Acts, Peter was the one primarily who brought it to the lost tribes of Jacob.
Paul was the one who brought it to the coastlands and to the islands, to all those who inhabit the sea, which is a reference to the islands. Their history tells us that Thomas took it east into the wilderness, all the way into India. Matthew took it south. But that was just the start of it.
That was just the beginning of this there. And then Christ commissioned the church to take that gospel message to all the nations. So this is the evidence that it is a successful mission that we find here now. It's not over yet.
We know so because Christ hasn't returned. Christ is still in heaven ruling and reigning. and from heaven orchestrating it and guiding his church to bring that message to all the ends of the earth, to build that kingdom. As the church marches through the ages, proclaiming the gospel, proclaiming the excellencies of the one who called them out of darkness into marvelous light. We saw that in Peter this morning.
That's the role of the church, proclaiming the excellencies, the sovereignty of their king. Into you know to to to all the nations as Christ builds his kingdom That's what verse verse 12 says there. Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise to in the coastlands, praising the Lord, declaring the excellencies of the one who brought them out of darkness into marvelous light. So he's saying, praise the Lord.
He's rescued you. He saved you from this utter destruction that, because of your sinfulness, your rejection of Him, He saved you from the destruction that was coming your way. He saved you from Satan. Satan had you in his clutches.
Satan was doing his best to keep you in the darkness, the Bible tells us, what he does to try and keep us blinded to the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But Christ came and Christ conquered you, snatched you out of Satan's Satan's clutches, so praise Him. Give glory to Yahweh. Declare His praise in the coastlands.
The Servant Revealed as Yahweh
And then we come to verse 13. So you can see now how the servant and Yahweh have become one and the same in this In this song here now that that that you know, there's still a there's still a distinction between here in the sense that Christ, you know, economically and in his human nature, he's the servant. But yet, he is fully Yahweh himself. We see that now.
Yahweh is the one who's the mighty man. So the servant was the one who was going to go. He was going to release the captive from prison. But here we find it's Yahweh.
Yahweh, this warrior, the mighty, a mighty man. I like the translation warrior much better. That gives, that's the Hebrew word, gibbor. If you've ever heard that word, it's just, it's a warrior.
That's who this servant is. He's a warrior. He's a man of war. We see that in Psalm 24 as well.
Psalm 24 is the ascension psalm and it's the scene of the successful mission of the servant. It's the return from his successful mission as he ascends back into into heaven in psalm 24 verse 8 it says so who is this king of glory he comes up to the gates of of heaven and the gates you know the gates uh the gates say who is who is this you know the the um the cry goes out you know the king of glory is coming in and then the the question is who well who is this king of glory of glory and then in verse 8 it says the lord strong and and mighty or the word there is that is gabor the lord uh strong and a warrior the lord mighty in in the battle so so this is the So Christ is a warrior here. We turn to Revelation 19. We see, starting in verse 11, Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on him was called Faithful. and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses.
Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, and with that he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he had on his robe and on his thigh a name written, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So that is our Savior.
That is our Christ. He's a warrior. We often think of Christ as gentle Jesus, meek and mild, in terms of his earthly ministry, as we saw in this passage. Yes, he was meek and mild.
He was humble. He has compassion. on the people, but in terms of his spiritual, the spiritual battle that he is fighting against the kingdom of darkness, he is a warrior, and it goes on here in verse 13. So Yahweh, he's gonna go forth like a warrior, and it says he will stir up his zeal like a man of war. To put it into our, Language we might say he's gonna he's gonna pump himself up He's gonna stir up his zeal like a like a man of war and then he's gonna he'll he'll cry out He'll he'll raise raise a war cry is the is what the shout aloud?
Indicates there. He's gonna cry out. He's gonna raise a war cry as he goes and conquers his people out of darkness and then and then and he will prevail against His enemies so so so that's that is our that is our Savior and just and just and just just just think about that There he you know in terms of what he's doing on a spiritual level and what he's done what he's done to us He's rescued us as a warrior war hero coming and conquering us out of darkness and and bringing us into into into his Kingdom leading us leading taking taking taking captivity captive The Bible says there that he rescued us brought us into his glorious kingdom that that kingdom That has that has no end that he and he is he is continuing to rescue his his people from the kingdom of darkness He's still that warrior. He's still that warrior on the on the white horse in Revelation riding force conquering and to conquer And as it says here, he will prevail over all his enemies.
He will rescue all of his people out of darkness, and then he will destroy his enemies, those that remain in rebellion against him. He will destroy them. Satan and all his armies, we see that in Revelation, them being destroyed at the end of the age. And all who, not just Satan and the spiritual realm, but those those who continue, all who continue in rejection of Him, that Christ will destroy them.
So Christ is building His kingdom. He's still doing that. And then comes the end, we read in 1 Corinthians 15. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, and He puts an end to all rule, all authority, and all power, other than His own, there in 1 Corinthians 15.
What a day that will be. A glorious day to be part of that kingdom. When the servant presents that kingdom to the Father, and he says, mission complete. Here is this people.
Of those who you gave to me, I have lost none. I have conquered every one of them out of darkness, and here they are. What a glorious day that will be. The universal dominion of our Savior.
Application
So that brings us to the end of this passage here. Just in conclusion, I think just be greatly encouraged by this. I think it goes without saying, really, that nothing should fire us up, if I can use that language, nothing should fire us up, as in our Christian lives, more than the thought of our Savior, our Savior as a warrior, stirring up his zeal like a man of war, and crying out this war cry, as He comes to rescue His people and to destroy His enemies. But again, what a warning that is, to not reject Him as well.
That Christ, He will have dominion from sea to sea, and if you reject Him, He will prevail against His enemies. You will be destroyed along with Satan and along with his armies if you continue in rejection of Christ. But, as we find in the Word everywhere, God says in chapter 45, he says, look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth. So that's whom Christ is going for, going out to all the ends of the earth.
And God says, look to me and be saved. Trust in me. Look to me for salvation. Don't look to yourself, but look to me and you will be saved.
All the ends of the earth. For I am God and there is no other. So do not reject Christ, but look to Him. You will be saved.
He has come for those broken, bruised reeds, those who are in oppression. He will not come and break them, but rather He will save them. The smoking flax, He will not come and quench them, but He will restore them. He will bring them to life.
So look to Him and be saved. So let us be greatly encouraged by that, brethren, that our Christ is warrior, He's King of kings, He's Lord of lords, as we saw in Revelation there. Let us be encouraged by that, and let us close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we do thank you and we praise you for passages of scripture like this that tell us something of who our Savior is. Lord, we thank you. We praise you for this. We praise you for His life, His death, His resurrection, by which this was all possible, by which He could rescue us from your justice, that your justice was not sacrificed in any way through this, but that He paid for those sins so that He could conquer us out of darkness. and bring us into his marvelous light, into his kingdom.
So Lord, I thank you for that. I pray that your people here would be greatly encouraged by this as we go out into the week, into the world, a world that is fraught with evil and seems to be overrun by evil and darkness at every turn. But Lord, to know that our Savior is triumphant over all. He is king of kings, he is lord of lords, he will prevail over all his enemies.
And Lord, he will bring us, he will present that kingdom to the Father at the end, and none will be snatched out of his hand. Lord, how we praise you for that. How this encourages us. I pray that you bless each one of us here as we go about our week, Lord.
Lord, that you would be glorified in all that we do. And we pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Well, we'll close with number 564.
You can stand and sing 564 in closing, please. is all eternity Well, brethren, just a word in closing here. This is my last Sunday with you. I just want to say I've been very blessed the last several years. You all know our situation.
We moved back here three and a half years ago to be part of a church here, a church that, for one, had an incredible pastor and mentor. That was a big reason. The other was a church that took seriously the qualifications of eldership, those types of things. So that has been a blessing.
But just to be, or to have that confirmation, I guess, from the Lord that, as you voted, I hope, according to God's word, this is that confirmation, that that has been such a blessing for me to have that. So I thank you for that. I thank you just for the fellowship and the joy that it's been these past three and a half years here again with you all. But the other thing that I really appreciate about this church was the fact that week in and week out we pray for Mike in Surrey.
We pray for Pastor Mike, that he would be, that the Lord would bless his ministry. I ask that you do the same. Sorry. I ask that you do the same for me as well, as I go to Armstrong to start a church.
It's, you know, no easy task, but with just passages like what we looked at today in Scripture, Christ is building his church. We rejoice in that. That's what, you know, that's what we go on is these passages, but we need much prayer. So I ask that, you know, for Mike's been preaching for, I think, four or five years.
Week in and week out, we pray from here. So I ask the same thing that you would pray for myself, for the church in Vernon as well, or Armstrong, that the Lord would just be pleased to bless us there. I will hopefully in the next few weeks update as things progress and we get going there. We are still trying to finalize names and things like that.
We're having some issues with that. But I'll keep you updated. But again, I ask for your prayers. I thank you for I thank you for the fellowship.
I thank you for just the blessing that as a church that you have been to myself, to Esther, and the family as well. So I'll leave you with the blessing of Aaron from Numbers chapter 6. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. So you can close for a time of meditation. Thank you.