Isaiah 42 is today's text.
In this chapter we see themes previously woven into the book of Isaiah. The first 4 verses are messianic prophecies. Remember that I told you in an earlier post that no other Old Testament book contains more prophecies about Jesus' first coming than Isaiah. This passage makes it clear that there are two classifications of messianic prophecies in the O.T. One type of these prophecies pertain to His earthly ministry of approximately 2000 years ago. The second type of messianic prophecies refer to His 2nd earthly ministry, still to come. His physical work on earth had/has two very different purposes/emphases.
In this passage, God is proclaiming through Isaiah about Jesus Christ's first advent. Here is the passage (verses 1-4 The Message):
"Take a good look at my servant. I'm backing him to the hilt.
He's the one I chose, and I couldn't be more pleased with Him.
I've bathed him with my Spirit, my life. He'll set everything right among the nations.
He won't call attention to what he does with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
He won't brush aside the bruised and the hurt and
He won't disregard the small and insignificant, but he'll steadily and firmly set things right.
He won't tire out and quit. He won't be stopped until he's finished his work - - -
to set things right on earth.
Far-flung ocean islands wait expectantly for his teaching."
It is so amazing to me that God the Father was willing to pour Himself into the human body of Jesus and live here among us for 33 years. It must have felt so LIMITING to Him! I can't even imagine. In order to put on humanity, the great God who is the Creator of all things had to subject Himself to the limitations of flesh. And, He willingly did that. It's just stupefying, really.
God says that Jesus will "set things right". By His life, death, burial and resurrection, He certainly did do just that. He made the only way for even the "far-flung ocean islands" to know God. In His first advent, Jesus did not do flashy things (verse 2); many times during His ministry, He asked that people NOT tell others what He had done for them.
Don't you love this? Over and over again, we see Jesus focusing, not on nations or nation-building, but on the individual person. The stories in the New Testament are most often about how He interacted with and healed, restored, SAVED individuals. His touch was for the bruised and the hurt, the "small and insignificant". He brought to us His spiritual kingdom, of which we who call Him Lord are princes/princesses/priests (Rev. 1:6, 5:10). No one is "small" or "insignificant" to King Jesus.
I'm so beyond grateful that He did not stop until He had finished His work. Can we humans fully realize what it cost Him to go to the cross for us?
In the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46), Jesus spent many hours in prayer, so that He could face the tremendous agony of the Cross. It was plain that, in His humanity, He did not want to endure it. He fully realized what it would cost. One of my favorite, though heartbreaking, movies is "The Passion of the Christ". Although it portrays Jesus' tremendous physical suffering, this was not the key aspect that Jesus dreaded. Did you know this?
No. Sinless Jesus, who all His earthly life had enjoyed perfect communion with Father, knew that in going to the cross, He would be bearing the sins of all of us. And, He knew that when those sins were laid on Him, He would be for the first time, separated from God the Father. This was the agony that caused Him to sweat drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane that night. This was what caused Him to shout from the cross, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"
The reason God had to turn away as His only Son, the only God-man, bore the weight of all mankind's sin is that God is purely holy and cannot have any fellowship with sin whatsoever.
It was in this way that Jesus redeemed us, bought us back, paid our penalty, "bore our sins in his body, on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24). Then, when He had finished His work, as prophesied in Isaiah 42, He spoke these words, " 'It is finished!' With that he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."(John 19:30) Did you catch that? He gave up His spirit. No one took Jesus' life; He laid it down for us. His words in (John 10:18) - - "I have the authority to give my life, and I have the authority to take my life back again. This is what my Father ordered me to do."
Praise Him with me, Sisters and Brothers! His love is matchless! Tomorrow, we are going to continue with this theme and look at Isaiah 53. I can hardly wait.
Good morning Lord, thank you that not a single one of us is small or insignificant, that every one of us was worth dying for and that You, Three-in-One, knew this from the moment You decided to create man. I really cannot comprehend Your love. Thank you for the privilege of living righteously for You, walking resplendent with You. In Jesus' name, amen.
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