God’s servant will humbly bring about justice for God’s glory

Is anybody here surprised it’s Christmas time? It comes at the same speed every year and at the same time every year, but somehow we’re always baffled that it has arrived. “How did it become Christmas time?!” But we shouldn’t be. The calendar told us a year ago this would happen. But somehow we get caught up in our own lives and then when we look up, oops, it’s here.

I think that’s probably what happened at the first Christmas as well. Most people seem surprised that the Messiah was born, but they shouldn’t have been. The Scriptures had been telling them that he was coming for centuries. But they got caught up in the busyness of their lives that they missed it.

This month I want us to take a look at some of the places in the Old Testament that tried to prepare the people for the coming Messiah and announce that he was coming. Particularly, we’re going to look at four passages in Isaiah that are known as the Servant Songs. We’ll look at three for the next three Sundays, and we’ll conclude with the fourth and final song on Christmas Eve.

So let’s look at the first song this morning which comes from Isaiah 42. And we’re going to look at one of the defining characteristics that makes a servant a servant. In fact, if you don’t possess this trait, you’ll never make it as a servant. And that trait is humility.

Main Point – God’s servant will humbly bring about justice for God’s glory

Text – Isaiah 42:1-9, page 569 in pew Bible

Prayer

This is not a “Jesus was humble so you should be humble” sermon. The only command we see here is “Behold” and it’s said twice, once at the beginning and once at the end. So rather this is a “Jesus was humble, behold it” sermon. So WHO are we supposed to “Behold’?

#1 Who? - God’s servant is the one chosen to bring justice on earth (vs. 1, 6)

If we had read chapter 41 before this passage, which believe me I considered, you would have noticed that our passage is making a strong contrast to what came before. Isaiah has predicted that an enormous power, likely Cyrus the Great, will come and start conquering the world. When powerful people use that power to crush other people, we call that injustice. In light of this injustice, other nations will turn to idols to save them, but Isaiah calls Israel to turn to him. He points out how useless idols are to save them from injustice. In verse 24 he says, “Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you” and in verse 29 he says “Behold, they are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind.”

Now after saying “Behold” the idols twice, he’s going to say “Behold” something new.

Verse 1 - “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights.” This is a contrast again. They chose idols which are an abomination. God chose his servant, who is a delight. And where earlier he called their idols “empty wind”, now he says “I have put my Spirit upon him” In Hebrew the word for “wind” and “Spirit” are the same word. So he’s saying your idols are empty of any spirit, but my Servant has MY Spirit upon him.

And what will this chosen servant do? It tells us several things that he won’t do, but only three times does it say what he will do. Verse 1 - “He will bring forth justice to the nations”. Verse 3 - “He will faithfully bring forth justice”. Verse 4 - “till he has established justice on the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law”. The servant’s clear mission is to establish just on earth. And he is the one chosen by God to do it.

He’s showing us that if someone is going to resolve the injustice in this world, it’s going to have to be the one designated to resolve injustice by the Creator of the World. The one who can solve injustice is the one upheld by God’s Power and who has God’s delight. Solving injustice can’t be accomplished by useless idols!

When the law of the land is being violated, you appeal to the people who create and manage the law to enforce it. That’s how the legislative and judicial system works in the United States. When we feel there has been a violation we appeal to the courts and sometimes all the way to the Supreme Court to make a ruling and rectify it. Why? Because the government is the one responsible for creating, interpreting, and enforcing the law of the land. When something is broken or unfair, only the one with power and authority can fix it. When the laws of God’s universe are being violated by sinners, only the one with power and authority over that universe can fix it.

And yet, God’s people turn to idols. It’s so easy here as enlightened twenty-first century Christians to say, “Oh you foolish people. Why would you ask a little rock person to save you? You’re so backwards. I would never do that.” But I think that kind of arrogance is dangerous and if history teaches us anything it’s that humanity hasn’t changed much. So let’s ask the question: why would they turn to an idol to save them? I think there are two reasons.

First, because they can see it. It has always been difficult for humans to trust in a God they cannot see. When the Israelites made the golden calf at Sinai, they weren’t making a new god. They were just trying to give the real God and image they could see. “This is your God who brought you out of Egypt”. Idols are appealing because they are visible. They are tangible.

The second reason they are drawn to idols is because in a certain sense they can be controlled. When you carve out an idol from wood or stone, you get to determine what kind of God he is. If you like a god who sees everything, give him big eyes or many eyes. If you like a god who is strong, give him big muscles or even many arms. If you like a God who is fierce, make him look like a lion or an angry bull. They could control how the idol looked. Idol worship was also built on a system of predictable responses. If we give the idol this food, he will give us a harvest. If we burn this sacrifice, he will send us rain. If we dance this dance, he will give us children. The reason they are drawn to idols is because they want to be delivered from injustice, but they want something they can see physically with their eyes and they also want to maintain control.

Now suddenly, it sounds a lot more like us and the people of our day. We see injustice and we think, is there some way that I can solve this injustice without it hurting me, with a predictable outcome, and with tangible physical results. Yes, we want to help others, but only in a way that we maintain control. We get to pick the goals and the leaders who will carry them out. We have a strategy for appealing to the government. We have a plan for adjusting the community or our church. We demand that if we can’t see the results of justice immediately then we have to eliminate whoever is making decisions and replace them because if it’s not visible immediate success, it’s not real success.

Yet who does God say will solve injustice? His servant. The one he chooses. The one he delights in, not the visible and controllable idols. Look at verse 6 he says, “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.” It’s almost like he’s saying, “Look, I know that your circumstances have caused you to lose confidence in me. You don’t think I’m in control. You don’t think I’m doing what’s right. And you don’t think I’ll keep my promises. But he says, I’m giving you my servant. In him, you will see that I am acting righteously. I am intimately and powerfully working through him, the one whose hand I hold and who I keep. And I give him to you, as the covenant, as the promise I am keeping.

The people who were hearing this were hoping to be delivered from an oppressive unjust situation, but as always God pulls back the curtain and reminds us, there is a greater injustice and oppression than your immediate situation. The injustice on earth is bigger than someone with power stepping on people with less. It is evil in all its forms ravaging God’s creation. It is the sin that we ourselves are party to. It is the sin that all mankind partakes of.  God’s servant, His Son, Jesus is the only one chosen by God. The one that God delights in. The one whom he has set his Spirit on. And he is the only one who will bring forth ultimate justice for a broken mankind.

And mankind is indeed broken by sin. We are a people crushed and trampled. So how will this servant save?

#2 How? - God’s servant is humble, gentle, and persistent (vs. 2-4)

There seems to be two contradictory pictures here. One is of a ruler whose goal is to rule over all the nations and causes everyone in all the earth to follow his law. Immediately our minds conjure up all the other rulers who we’ve seen attempt this. Alexander the Great. Julius Caesar. Napoleon Bonaparte. Or perhaps even Adolf Hitler. Anyone who attempts to establish his law in all the earth is a dictator, a despot, or even a monster. We see this in King Cyrus’ strategy mentioned in 41:2 - “He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot, he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow.”

But there’s a second picture here. One that is in the complete opposite direction. This servant is quiet. He’s not inciting people everywhere he goes. He walks so gently that even if he crosses the path of a reed that is damaged he won’t break it, but is more likely to bind it up to heal it. If he sees a candle wick that is barely smoldering, he doesn’t snuff it out, but he gently blows on it and fans it to see it reignite. He isn’t someone who is in a hurry and gives quick bursts of energy, but rather he works slowly without tiring and without giving up. The servant is not a tyrant. He is humble, gentle, and persistent.

Depicting one who can rule the whole earth in this way is shocking to us. Perhaps, it’s even nonsensical. “No one can establish justice and law that way. You must do it forcefully,” we might say. And yet, this is the method God has chosen. Why? Why establish justice through humility and gentleness?

It’s because unlike us, unlike the dictators of our time, and unlike Cyrus, God’s heart has always been drawn to those who have been hurt and those who are weak. When he sees the broken reed, he doesn’t think of it as useless and unworthy of repair, but he runs to it. He lifts it. He binds it. When he sees the smoldering wick, his heart yearns to see it aflame once again. When his task gets difficult he doesn’t faint or get discouraged, he persists because he loves the work. God looks out at the unjust, lawless landscape of humanity and his heart’s immediate posture is not to view it as worthless and doomed, but his heart is broken for it and he desires to see it saved, revived, and healed.

Does this gentle loving servant sound like the God that you serve or do you imagine him as the tyrant, waiting and watching for failures so he can crush them? It’s hard to picture, that is until Jesus shows up. In Jesus Christ we see the Almighty one with the power over storms and demons who is reclaiming the world, yet he stoops down to the blind man who is being pushed aside. He reaches out and quietly speaks, giving his eyes new life and healing. He seeks out the leper, who is a disgusting infested worm in the eyes of the world and he touches him, removing all of the disease’s effects and replacing it with health. He is drawn to the bruised reed and he binds it. And there’s Peter. Who in the midst of Christ sacrificing his life for him, denies the very one suffering for him. He sits on a beach with him, has breakfast, and restores him. And on his cross when being mocked and persecuted, he humbly and gently looks down at his murderers and says, “Father, forgive them”

Jesus Christ, God’s servant, is not establishing his justice by crushing people, but he is establishing it by saving and by healing. Do you recognize this God? Or does he sound foreign to you? Because so often we approach God in fear. “God, I’m not good enough. You must be mad at me. I bet you like those stronger people more. I’ve sinned again and I’m certain that you have grown tired of forgiving me and you’ve given up on me.”

But church, don’t you see God’s heart? He is gentle. He is humble. He never grows tired of you and your weakness. Jesus never turned people away for being sick, but rather that was the very thing that drew him toward them. Are you sinful? Are you weak? Are you utterly lost? Are you a bruised reed or a faintly burning wick? Then the servant’s heart is drawn toward you. He wants to heal you. The only thing that frustrates him is not that you are sick, but that you would refuse to come to him.

Listen to Jesus’ own words in Matthew 11.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Do you hear who he invites? Do you hear the only thing that qualifies you to come to him? It isn’t strength and holiness. He calls those who are crushed by labor and are heavy laden. Turn to him. Repent from the self-serving labor that you are being crushed under. Follow him. And how can he make this invitation? What sort of ruler establishing justice would attempt it in this way? Answer: One who is gentle and lowly in heart. One who would come to the earth not as royalty, but as a poor baby in a manger.

But why? Why would God’s servant work in this way that no one else ever has before.

#3 Why? - God’s servant reveals God’s glory (vs. 5, 7-9)

Read vs 5-8.

In short, here’s what he is saying. There is one true God who created everything and who gives life to all the people. There’s only one person who is in charge of this whole thing, and it’s me, the Lord. It is not the idols. And I’m sending my servant, because all of the people are blind. They are in darkness. It’s as if they’re in a prison and can’t see the radiant sunlight that is me and my glory. I’m sending my servant to bring them out of that darkness and into the light so that they can see my glory. I will not share that glory with idols. I will not let the people give praise to the one who deserves no credit. I want to receive all of the glory and I want them to clearly see that I deserve all of the glory! That’s why I’m sending my servant. That’s why I’m working in a very unusual way. It is so that you can’t give credit to the idols, but that having your blind eyes opened you will give the credit and the glory to me.

God seems pretty self-centered and conceited here. He’s very concerned with his glory. And this is a theme that is throughout the book of Isaiah:

42:8 - “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other”

42:12 - “Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise”

43:7 - “everyone who is called by my name… I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

48:11 - “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”

Why is God so concerned with receiving the glory all the time? Why is he always wanting people to praise him? It comes across as extremely vain.

Because we’ve all met someone who loves the praise of others. You’ve met that man or that woman who is always sharing their great accomplishments. They post online how they just landed the biggest deal or they bought the nicest house or how they went on the greatest vacation. You can tell when someone is just trying so hard to get comments and likes. Or perhaps they are the “one upper”. You know that person who you can’t tell a story to because they will inevitably say, “That’s nothing! One time I…” They always have to one up whatever you share. They are someone fishing for compliments, clawing for praise, and demanding they receive the glory. It’s kind of gross.

Is that what God’s doing here? Is he demanding we give him glory so that he can feel better about himself? “Ugh, why are they giving credit to those idols? Don’t they know that I’m the best and am way stronger?” It’s not. We’ve already established that God is not a tyrant. He’s not crushing his people into submission. He’s humbly and gently restoring them. And even the imagery here confirms that. The people are blind and he works to help them see. The people are enslaved in a dark dungeon and he is liberating them. So to give God glory is not so that God can feel better about himself, rather it is so that you will be freed from a dungeon of darkness.

Twice this past year my family visited a national park in the middle of a snow storm. The first was in January, we drove up to the Grand Canyon and it was a snowy mess. It was actually pretty humorous. So we took pictures and videos of it. There in front of us was one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, but all we could see was this biggest cloudy mass of gray. The second time was just before we moved here we took a road trip out to Yosemite National Park in California. And the day we arrived was another cloudy, snowy, gross day. We drove an hour deep into the Sierra Nevada mountain range, went through a nearly mile long tunnel to arrive at Tunnel View Lookout Point and what did we see? Another gray blobby mass of nothing. If that was our only experience with these parks, you would say “You’ve missed it! It was right in front of you and you missed it! There is something beautiful there, something glorious there, something that delights and fills your heart and causes you to want to sing and write poetry. There’s joy to be experienced there which you want to share with everyone you know, but you missed it because there was a cloud over it!”

Fortunately, in both cases we were able to return to the park at another time and see just how magnificent they are in the clear sunshine.

But don’t you see? This is exactly what Christ, God’s Servant, is doing for us. He says, “You’re missing it! There is so much joy to be experienced in the Lord, so much wonder and delight and you can’t see it!” So the servant works in a way that rolls back that cloud and clears the fog so that we can delight in and be in awe of the beauty that is right in front of us.

This is exactly what happens at Christ’s birth in Luke 2 with the shepherds. It says,

“And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people… And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

For that moment, the gray cloud of this world was peeled back and the magnificent and radiant glory of God shone through. And the shepherds were filled with awe and it says later that they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.”

Each of us lives our day to day regularly in a fog, in a gray cloud. We’re blind to the reality of God’s goodness. We’re blind to the reality of his justice. We don’t see him as gentle and loving. We don’t have confidence in his ability to save us. We look at the walls of our dark dungeon and think this is all there is.

But God sends his servant, Jesus Christ, to open our eyes. Look! Look at God become man. See how he loves. See how he cares. See his power coupled with great mercy. See his authority administered with tenderness. See how he is able to establish justice by healing and not by crushing. This is the glory of God. This is what the servant works to reveal.

And if you don’t believe these words, our passage closes in a way that gives us confidence.

Read Verse 9.

Everything God has ever declared has always come true. Everything he declares about the future will certainly come true. He predicted his servant would arrive and that’s what happened. He told us Christ would reveal his glory and he did. So when he tells you that if you turn to Christ he will heal you and show you his glory. It will happen. He will remove the cloud. He will become clear to us if we ask in faith and don’t give up.

Church, Jesus will free you from your prison of darkness. He will show you what justice looks like and how to accomplish it. He will demonstrate for you what it looks like to rule without imposing a will by force. He will dispel the notion that we must do things on our own, immediately, in a way that gives us the tangible results we crave.

You don’t need to hide from him when you’re weak. You don’t need to run when you feel inadequate. He won’t quit on you.

And how can we know? Because Jesus, God’s servant is the one chosen to bring justice. Jesus, God’s servant is humble, gentle, and persistent. Jesus, God’s servant reveals God’s glory. Let us behold him.

Prayer