Let us return to Isaiah 42. You say, “Yes, sir.” You should use it.
Isaiah 42:1-4, and then Isaiah 42:19-21:
Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen, in whom My soul delighteth:
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry, nor lift up,
Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed will He not break,
And a dimly burning wick will He not quench:
He will bring forth justice in truth.
He will not fail nor be discouraged,
Till He have set justice in the earth;
And the isles shall wait for His law.
Who is blind, but My Servant?
Or deaf, as My messenger that I send?
Who is blind as He that is at peace with Me,
And blind as the Lord’s Servant?
Thou seest many things, but Thou observest not;
His ears are open, but He heareth not.
It pleased the Lord, for His righteousness’ sake,
To magnify the law, and make it honourable.
We mentioned before that this second part of the book of Isaiah, beginning with Isaiah 40 through Isaiah 66, is a very distinctive part because the theme of this part is very clear. It speaks of the salvation of the Lord.
The salvation of the Lord is more than the Lord’s way to save people. The salvation of the Lord is centred upon a Person. In other words, the salvation of the Lord is in the Saviour Himself, is in Christ Himself, because Christ Himself is the way. He is the salvation of the Lord.
Therefore, you will find in this part of the book of Isaiah many prophecies concerning this Saviour, this salvation of the Lord, concerning our Lord Jesus.
In Isaiah 42, we find that our Lord Jesus is here called the Servant of the Lord. Now, of course, in Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 9, we find that He is prophesied as the Son coming to be the Messiah. He is the Son of God, and yet He took upon Himself the form of a servant.
So this reminds us very especially of Philippians 2: how He, who is the Son, being equal with God, did not regard that equality as something to be grasped at; and yet, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant.
When the Lord Jesus came into this world, when He became a man on this earth, He came as a Servant of the Lord. He is the Servant of the Lord. He came to serve God, His Father. He came to serve God’s purpose in all His ways and in all His life.
So, brothers and sisters, here you will find that our Lord Jesus is prophesied and described as the Servant of God.
Sometimes in studying Isaiah, you may find a kind of confusion, and that is in this term, My Servant. You will find that sometimes it refers to the Lord Jesus, the Messiah; and sometimes it refers to Israel, that nation that was chosen by God.
Sometimes you will find it difficult to separate these two. You have to read the context very carefully in order to know whether that term My Servant refers to Christ, or whether My Servant refers to Israel.
God raised up the nation of Israel as a corporate servant of His. God’s purpose in choosing Israel was more than just for the sake of Israel; it was for the sake of the whole world, that God might teach the nations through His servant Israel.
But Israel was not faithful to God. Not only could she not teach the nations, but you will find that she adopted all the customs and the idolatry of the nations.
And because of that, God raised up a Servant, a true Servant, in the Person of Jesus Christ. Through that Servant, God is able to accomplish what He had meant for Israel to do.
And because of His work, eventually the nation of Israel will again be restored into the position of God’s servant. Because you will find in the millennial time, the nation of Israel shall teach all the nations on this earth.
Now, brothers and sisters, when you apply this to us today, we know that our Lord Jesus is the Servant of God. He is the model Servant of God, and through Him salvation is fully accomplished.
But we who are redeemed of the Lord—the church—are also God’s servant corporately. Not only is it true that individually we are all God’s servants. We are not only God’s servants saved by grace, but we are also God’s servants saved to serve God and His purpose.
And corporately, of course, the church is the corporate servant of God. God has a definite work for the church to do. But the church will never be able to fulfil her vision unless she is fully joined to the Head.
Christ is the Head, and the church is His body. Together, they are the Servant of the Lord. Christ is the Servant of the Lord, and the church in union with Christ becomes also God’s servant.
Christ is not only our model, our example, but He is the very life and the very power of our service. So, in one sense, you will find this term is applied not only to Christ but also to His church, and it is almost inseparable.
In seeing Christ as the Servant of the Lord, we may learn something of the meaning of servanthood. What is meant by being God’s servant, or servants? What is meant by servanthood?
We can see this fully expressed and realised in the Person of our Lord Jesus. So this morning, we would like to spend a little time meditating together on our Lord Jesus as the Servant of God.
Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen, in whom My soul delighteth.
Behold. Whenever you find in the Bible the word behold, it is used to arrest our attention. You know, oftentimes our attention is rather divided. It is very difficult for us to concentrate because we have too many interests.
But here you will find the Spirit of God calling us to concentrate our attention: to behold. That is, to see, to look at one Person, that all the other people will just disappear from your view.
“Behold My Servant.” God wants us to forget everybody else, even forgetting ourselves, and God wants us to see His Servant in the Person of our Lord Jesus. “Behold My Servant.” What a Servant He is.
Our Lord Jesus is servant to nobody else. His whole life is occupied with one thing, and that is His Father’s business. He is the true and faithful Servant of God.
And because He is sent by God as God’s Servant, God upholds Him all the way: “Behold My Servant, whom I uphold.”
Dear brothers and sisters, if we are true servants of God, if truly we serve God with our whole hearts, if we are sent—the Lord Jesus said, “Ye did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit”—we are chosen by our Lord Jesus to be His servants, individually and corporately, to bear fruit for Him. And because of that, He will uphold us.
No master will send out a servant without backing him up all the way. Suppose you send out someone as your servant, someone whom you sent and who faithfully serves your purpose, and yet when it comes to a time of trouble and difficulty, you back out and say, “You have nothing to do with it.” Now, what kind of a master are you?
Dear brothers and sisters, if we are faithful to the Lord as His servants, we are confident that He will uphold us all the way. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will never say, “I have nothing to do with that.”
Sometimes He cannot uphold us. Why? Because we have acted on our own. We are not true servants in the spirit of a true servant.
A true servant never does anything out of himself. A true servant only does the will of his master. A true servant never seeks anything for himself. But, brothers and sisters, sometimes we do. And when we do that, we cannot blame our Master if He does not back us up.
But one thing we are sure: if we are faithful in serving the Lord as His true servants, we know He will uphold us. In fire and in water, He will never leave us. He will never say, “I have nothing to do with it.”
“Behold My Servant, whom I uphold.” And this we find throughout the life of our Lord Jesus, how the Father upheld Him all the way.
“My chosen, in whom My soul delighteth.” Our Lord Jesus is elected, is chosen, by God the Father.
And because God has chosen Him, how does He respond to God’s election? He responds to God’s election with a full committal of Himself.
And, brothers and sisters, God has chosen us. You are elected of God. And yet, how do we respond to God’s election?
Yesterday, someone was talking to me about this matter of election. Now, I have to say election is a mystery. We may try to explain it to a certain degree, but after all, election is God’s prerogative. We do not know too much about it.
We are told that we are elected in order that our faith may be strengthened. But as to the mystery of election, we are utterly at a loss. That is true.
But, dear brothers and sisters, it is not a matter of what is the mystery of election. It is a matter of, being the elected, how do we respond to God’s election? You are elected of God, but how do you respond to His election?
Do you cooperate fully with His election? Do you allow Him to work thoroughly in your life? Do you commit yourself completely to Him?
To make your election sure, as we find in 2 Peter, how do we respond to His election? Look at our Lord Jesus. Because He was elected of the Father, He responded with a full committal.
There was no reservation. There was no drawback. It was a full and complete surrender to the Father’s will. And because of that, the Father said, “In whom I have found My delight.”
Do you remember this happened during the time when our Lord Jesus went into the water to be baptised? He had no need to be baptised, because there was no reason for Him to repent. There was nothing for Him to repent of.
We all need to repent often, all the time. But there was nothing for our Lord Jesus to repent of. And yet He was willing to go into the water to receive the baptism of John, which is the baptism of repentance. Why?
He did that in obedience to the Father, offering Himself as a substitute for the sins of this world.
So when He came out of the water, you remember, heaven opened, and there was a voice from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Why? Because there was a full committal to the Father, a response to that election.
Dear brothers and sisters, God has chosen us to serve Him. But how do we respond to that election?
Do we present our bodies a living sacrifice, which is wholly acceptable to Him, and this is our reasonable service? If so, then our Lord can also say, “My good and faithful servant, in whom is My satisfaction.”
The Lord Jesus is sent by the Father to be the Servant of God. But how does He fulfil His mission? How was He equipped?
In the second part of Isaiah 42:1, we read:
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
Being sent as a servant, the one indispensable equipment that one must have is the Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
And this again we remember: when our Lord Jesus, after He was baptised, came out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove upon Him. We are told that He not only descended as a dove upon Him, but actually abode in Him.
Throughout the work of a servant, as a Servant of God, our Lord Jesus does everything in the power of the Holy Spirit. He never does anything on His own. He never does anything by Himself. Whenever He does anything, you will find He does it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, in another place, in Isaiah 61, you will find how that Servant is anointed of the Lord. He said:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me;
Because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to them that are bound.
And all are done in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, brothers and sisters, the one indispensable equipment that we must have to serve the Lord is the Holy Spirit.
We must not only have the Holy Spirit, which we do. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes, quickens our spirit, makes a new spirit, and then He dwells in our new spirit. So the Holy Spirit and our spirit bear witness together that we are children of God.
Thank God, we have the Holy Spirit. But the point is: are we filled with the Holy Spirit? That is to say, are we ruled by the Holy Spirit? Do we give ourselves so fully to the Lord that the Holy Spirit has full control over our life?
Are we anointed by the Holy Spirit? You know, in Old Testament times, the priest, the king, and the prophet, before they could function as priest, king, or prophet, had to be anointed with oil.
And even the tabernacle, with all the utensils in the tabernacle, before they were used, had to be first anointed with oil. And the meaning is: through the anointing of the oil, everything is quickened into a spiritual reality.
How can we serve God if we are not equipped with the Holy Spirit? How can we serve God if we are not quickened by the Holy Spirit? How can we serve God if we are not anointed by the Holy Spirit? How can we serve God if our lives are not under the rule of the Holy Spirit, if we are not led by the Holy Spirit?
It is in the power of the Holy Spirit, and in His wisdom, that we are able to serve God’s purpose.
If you want to do any other service, you may be prepared for that kind of service by education, by training, or by other means. But in serving God, the one indispensable equipment is not education; it is the Holy Spirit.
Now, of course, it does not mean that education or training or other things do not help. They may be useful, or they may not be. But the one thing that is indispensable is the Holy Spirit.
So, dear brothers and sisters, as we are chosen of God to be His servants, how we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. How we need to yield our lives to the Lord, that the Holy Spirit may have full control of us. And with that equipment, we will be able to serve God’s purpose.
And what is it that our Lord Jesus is sent for?
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
You know, when we read the word judgment, oftentimes our reaction will be, “Well, He is coming to judge the world.” Yes, He does. He is coming to judge the world.
But the word judgment here in the original Hebrew language is a word which means absolute and therefore divine right. So it can be translated, “He shall bring out the right among the nations.”
What is it that our Lord Jesus is sent for into this world? He is not sent into this world just to judge this world. One day He will judge this world. But even when He was in this world two thousand years ago, He said, “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”
One day He will judge the world. But what is it that He is sent for? He is to bring out the right of God to the nations.
God has a divine right. God has an authority. He has a divine right over the nations, over the whole world. But this divine right of God is being neglected; it is being opposed.
And the coming of Christ is to bring that right out upon the nations. In other words, His work is to bring in the kingdom of God.
As you read on in this chapter, it is true: He is to open the eyes of the blind. He is to open the gates of the prison. That is true. This is the negative side.
On the negative side, His work is to open blind eyes, to open the gates of the prison. We are all imprisoned by sin, and He opens the gate and sets us free. That is true.
But, brothers and sisters, this is only the negative part of His work. There is a positive meaning to His work, and the positive meaning is that He is to bring the rule of God over our lives. He is to bring in the kingdom of God, the right of God among the nations.
And this is His supreme work. That is the reason why, as you read the Gospels and when you come to the book of Acts, you will find the kingdom of God is so prominent.
What is the gospel of Jesus Christ? The gospel of Jesus Christ is more than just saving people out of hell. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the kingdom of God.
Christ comes to bring in the kingdom of God over man, to establish His kingdom in the midst. Amen.
What is the kingdom of God? The right of God, the rule of God, as the law of our life. And that is the law of the kingdom.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank God we are saved. Thank God He has opened our blind eyes. Thank God He has opened the prison gate and set us free.
But does it mean that because you are set free, therefore you are free to do anything you like? After all, you will go to heaven. Does it mean licentiousness? No, no, not at all.
You will find we are set free that we may be bound to righteousness, unto holiness. We are set free that we may come under the rule of God, that the right of God may be upon us, that we may become His kingdom, that our lives may be governed by His rule.
And as He begins to manifest His kingdom among His own redeemed people, one day His kingdom shall appear publicly in this world.
How important it is for us today to be put under the rule of Christ. And this is God’s divine right. He has that right over the whole creation, and He will have that right realised one day.
But how does He do the work? Does He try to force His way through? Does He try to accomplish His work by force, by argument, by raising His voice, by being noisy? Not at all.
Verse 2:
He will not cry, nor lift up,
Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.
In accomplishing this tremendous work of bringing the kingdom of God to this world, He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. In other words, He does His work quietly, but persistently.
You know, this is quoted by Matthew. Our Lord Jesus healed many people, but He told them not to broadcast these miracles. Why? He does not seek His own glory. He only seeks the glory of the Father. He only seeks to see that the Father’s will is done.
He does not want to draw people to Himself. He does not seek fame or popularity. He does not want to be made known. He does not lift up His voice. He just works quietly to accomplish the Father’s purpose.
Do we need to be argumentative? Do we need to be noisy? Do we need to use force? Not at all. The Spirit of God, when He is working, you will find, is quiet, is persistent, and it shall be done.
How does He do the work?
A bruised reed will He not break,
And a dimly burning wick will He not quench:
He will bring forth justice in truth.
Oh, how gentle He is.
When we see a broken reed, our natural temptation will be to break it. What is the use of a broken reed? Break it. Finish it.
When we see a smoking wick, our natural reaction will be, “Blow it out.” What is the use of a smoking wick? It gives much annoyance. It does not serve any purpose. So why not just finish with it? Now, that is the human reaction.
A broken reed represents what appears outwardly. A smoking wick represents what is inwardly. How true it is: we are all broken reeds. We are oppressed by sin, bruised and broken.
Inwardly, we are smoking wicks. Our life is going out. There is not much light.
And yet our Lord Jesus, He will not break a bruised reed. He will not blow out a smoking wick. Instead, He will restore the bruised reed, and He will restore the smoking wick.
This is the work of our Lord Jesus. How gentle, how kind, how patient He is.
Verse 4:
He will not fail nor be discouraged,
Till He have set justice in the earth;
And the isles shall wait for His law.
In spite of all discouragements and disappointments, He shall not faint. He is sustained by the Father, and He is never in haste. Never in haste.
Now, oftentimes, we think and we are in haste. There is so much to do. How can we do it? Why is it not done? We get so excited. We want to do something. We get so noisy. We get so impossible.
And the more we are like that, the less it can be done. But our Lord Jesus, you will find, never faints nor is in haste. He just keeps on until the right of God is known throughout the earth. And thank God, it shall be done.
But there is another side of that Servant which I would like to mention very briefly, and that is from Isaiah 42:19-21.
Now, most commentators commenting on this section think that the servant here refers to Israel, not to Christ. Unfortunately, I do not agree with them. I may be wrong, but to me, as I read this, I feel this section is still referring to Christ.
Why? Because in Isaiah 42:21, the Lord has delighted in Him for His righteousness’ sake. He has magnified the law and made it honourable. Now, Israel has not done that. Israel has not done that.
But what goes before is so strange that it seems impossible to be applied to Christ, and that is the reason why it is always applied to Israel.
Who is blind, but My Servant?
Or deaf, as My messenger that I send?
Who is blind as He that is at peace with Me,
And blind as the Lord’s Servant?
Thou seest many things, but Thou observest not;
His ears are open, but He heareth not.
Now, we will say, certainly this is a perfect description of Israel. And it is a perfect description of us too.
But, dear brothers and sisters, because of Isaiah 42:21, I cannot accept that. I feel it still refers to Christ. Now, is Christ blind? Is Christ deaf?
Surely He has His eyes wide open to the Father. He has His ears turned toward the Father. Every morning, the Father will speak to Him. No doubt about that. He has the keenest eyesight. He has the clearest hearing. No doubt about it.
But is it not also true that, as God’s perfect Servant, He is totally blind and deaf to what the world may say, or what He may see in the world?
You know, if you are God’s servant, you no doubt will hear a lot from the world. You know, you will see a lot of the world. And what you hear and see will really make you faint.
How many God’s servants are discouraged to despair because of what people say about them, about their work, because of what they have seen in this world?
Oh, brothers and sisters, if you see too much and if you hear too much, you are finished. You cannot go on serving faithfully the Lord. If you want to serve the Lord faithfully, you have to be blind and deaf as our Lord was.
Not blind and deaf to God, but blind and deaf to the world. You see as if you have not seen. You hear as if you have not heard. And because of that, you can go on with the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, that is another aspect of the Servant of the Lord. As God’s servants, how we need to be blind and deaf to what the world may say, or may appear to be.
We only see the Lord. We only hear the Lord.
I remember a story. Once, in a railway station—now, not likely in this country; in this country they do not do that. But in China and in the East, that is what they did.
You know, in the railway station, as people came out of the station, an inspector would stand at the gate, and he would ask for your ticket. You had to give him your ticket as you came out.
And it was a very cold day. People were just streaming out of the train. This conductor, this inspector, was standing there asking for tickets.
Some people put their ticket in their pockets, or even in the inner pocket, or even in their vest. And it was so cold. People had to take off their gloves and try to search for them. So everybody was doing that and giving him an evil look.
Some people said, “Do you think I would take the train without a ticket? Don’t you trust me?” But no matter what people said, he just said, “Ticket. Ticket.”
And as he was doing that, people cursed him. It was so cold, and yet he had to demand that ticket.
One passing by saw the whole thing. So when he came to him, he said, “It must be a real trial to you.”
“Oh,” he said, “no. No.”
And he turned his eyes upward. There, in the office, was the station master looking down with a smile on his face. He said, “Is that it? That’s it.”
In other words, he just saw the station master. That was all: that smile. He did not care what people said. He did not care what he saw. Blind and deaf.
Dear brothers and sisters, as God’s servants, that is the attitude we have to have towards the world.
Not that we are so proud as not to listen to any constructive criticism. We should be humble enough: if there is something wrong, we should come to the Lord.
But so far as God’s purpose is concerned, we have to be looking to the Lord, and to Him alone.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this is the Servant fully manifested in the life of our Lord Jesus. And having His life in us, being in union with Him, God calls us to be His servants and His corporate servant. So may the Lord help us, just like Him.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee for Thy Servant, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is so perfect.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee that through Him Thou art able to obtain Thy full purpose. How we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast called us to be joined with Him in this service.
By His life in us, we may be able to serve Thy purpose. What a privilege it is.
We pray that we may not only take our Lord Jesus as our example, but that we may, by His life and Spirit in us, fulfil the work that Thou hast entrusted to Thy church, that Thy kingdom may come.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.