Isaiah Chapter 42 Verse 1

 This chapter is entirely Messianic and is foretelling with extreme

accuracy and authority the coming Savior, who is Jesus. And, I take a

ton of heart in relaxing in these promises myself. What do I mean by

that? God proclaims, “Behold, My Servant whom I uphold…” How is

it that Paul did all that Paul did…? How is it that he overcame who he

was, redefined himself even to himself, and lived filled with joy and

life for Jesus?

 Romans 1:1 opens, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ…” Paul was

a servant (by the way that word can also mean a vassal king and we

see that in 2 Samuel 10:19), but Paul was and had become a servant of

the Most-High King. And Isaiah Chapter 42 tells me that the strength

in, within, and behind Paul in everything was God Himself. “Behold,

My Servant whom I uphold.”

 If you recall, that was a promise of God also in Isaiah Chapter 41

verse 10, which we went over last week… So, I am refreshed in that

promise again and one other place in this first verse…, God says, “I

have put My Spirit upon Him.” I like that. What has made me a

Christian? God did that. Why am I who I am today? God did it. I

didn’t buy it, earn it, can’t say I was ever worthy or good enough for

it, God just did it. And that allows me to both relax and rejoice!

 But this is certainly, completely, entirely speaking of Jesus Christ who

is to come. In fact, look at what Matthew 12 says, verses 15-21, “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, “Behold, My servant whom I have chosen…””

 And so, we know that this, and this thoroughgoing prophetic accurate

chapter is speaking about not just the Messiah to come but specifically

about Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah!

Isaiah Chapter 42 Verse 2

 Jesus never sought to make His name known. He always sought to

point people to the Father. That was His M-O. Which is quite missing

in the public eye of the church today, isn’t it!? If people love the

preacher, then they’ll listen to him preach. And so, we have men and

women that make ministries out of their own popularity and for good

and right reasons…, but, it’s the preachers we have never heard of that

quite possibly are greatest in the kingdom.

 I’m not saying that they are or that it really even matters…, what I am

saying is that’s the way to think and it allows for a great love for all

that work in the ministry, not just those that we know their names for

whatever reason. The only name that matters is Jesus and He Himself

didn’t desire notoriety…, but to point folks to the Father!

Isaiah Chapter 42 Verse 3

 What’s that mean? Take all of your cares to the Lord and place them at

His feet and in His hands, for He cares for you. Never has the Lord,

nor will He ever, increase the hurt that sin has caused. Sin is so

destructive and when it breaks and bruises, we ought to come to the

Lord who in His own way will provide the comfort and healing

needed for whatever the issue or situation. AND, even if you are not

on fire for the Lord, just a smoking flax…, He won’t stamp you out

because you aren’t where you’re supposed to be but rather, He will fan

your flame to increase your freedom!

Isaiah Chapter 42 Verse 4

 He will bring forth justice and He will establish justice… In the times

of the Old Covenant, the human race was sinful. In a showing of

mercy, love and forbearance, and at the same time in a showing of

justice and holiness, God would Passover the sins of the people,

having covered them (not in a removing way but in a way as to

conceal/store them) for a time through the sacrificial system.

 However, at some point, because God is completely holy and

completely just, at some point all of the sin of the world must be dealt

with and the wages of sin is death. Jesus was born of purity, born

miraculously of a virgin. He lived a sinless life; a life as was intended

for creation and as was acceptable to a just and holy God. And

therefore, He brought forth justice…

 And when He died in my place, and in your place, having no sin

Himself, He established justice for the multitude of sin that had been

passed over, the multitude of sin of His day, and the entirety of sin to

come. Therefore, He established justice for the sin of the world in the

relationship between Creator and creation. And now anyone found in

Him stands just and upright in the presence of the Father…

Isaiah Chapter 42 Verses 5 – 9

 Some call this the “credit check on God.” As the promises and claims

that He makes are so beyond human ability, He has to state His

credentials in order to be received. And His credentials…, “I am the

Lord, this is My name…”

 These promises are speaking of the coming Savior and also of Israel as

a whole and as a people/nation. Romans 3:2 speaking of the people of

Israel, Paul says, “To them were committed the oracles of God.” And

it would be through the Jewish people and nation, Jesus Himself

being Jewish, that God would and does shine a light to the gentile

world and He has and will open the eyes of the blind…

 Folks may not like that, that God has chosen a certain people and

nation in this manner but tough! And the hatred, pure racial hatred,

we see across the world today is actually evidence of the fact that God

has chosen them! I mean, how many times did Jesus promise that we,

them, folks, us, you would be hated for His name’s sake…!?

 And yet God’s plan cannot be thwarted, God’s word cannot fail and so

He will be glorified, has been glorified and is glorified…AND, this

huge statement, “My glory I will not give to another…” BUT, we read

in John 13:31, “So, when He had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son

of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him…” Also in John 17:5,

“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory

which I had with You before the world was…”

 BRUH! Fork in the road alert! Decision point! Either Jesus is God or

Jesus is a demonic blasphemous heretic deserving of the darkest

depth of hell. There is no in between… Perhaps why Jesus said in

Matthew 12:30, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me. Whoever

doesn’t work with Me, works against Me…” Jesus has no fans. You

either give your life to Him or you stand against Him… God will not

share His glory and Jesus being glorified proves who Jesus is…

 The former things have passed, speaking of the Old Covenant,

speaking of the sin-soaked trajectory we are all on without the Savior,

and new things God declares in your life and in mine…, and only God

has the audacity to call out sin, to preserve holiness, to die and give

His life for you and for me…, to declare that which is ruined as

clean… That is the work of the cross hand-in-hand with the

resurrection!