““This is my servant; I strengthen him, this is my chosen one; I delight in him. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations. He will not cry out or shout or make his voice heard in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not put out a smoldering wick; he will faithfully bring justice. He will not grow weak or be discouraged until he has established justice on earth. The coasts and islands will wait for his instruction.” This is what God, the Lord, says — who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it — “I am the Lord. I have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will hold you by your hand. I will watch over you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations, in order to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those sitting in darkness from the prison house. I am the Lord. That is my name, and I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. The past events have indeed happened. Now I declare new events; I announce them to you before they occur.”(Isaiah 42:1-9 CSB)
Last week, we looked at God’s response to the false gods and idols that we accumulate in our lives. All of those things that take His place as our ultimate need, our unfulfilled desire and, ultimately, our savior. This week, our focus shifts from God using Cyrus to achieve His purposes, treading the nation’s kings like clay under his feet, to God sending His Servant to bring justice to the nations. We move from God’s condemnation of the false gods and the rampant idolatry man engages in to the Servant God sends to redeem the people and bring justice to His creation. We move from a poor substitute to the Real Thing – the God of Righteousness who sends His Servant to bring JUSTICE for all people.
But justice is more than just a legal recourse for those who suffer injustice. Isaiah is not just talking about someone who was wronged having the satisfaction of the perpetrator being punished for their actions. Justice is much, much more than that. True justice isn’t just bringing the guilty to accountability, it is about bringing an end to the evil and the injustice that permeates our world. While I doubt anyone would argue with that definition of justice, I believe they would argue with what scripture says is the cause of the world’s injustice – us, sinful man. Notice I didn’t say men because that would imply that not all men are sinful, some are good. But scripture says that we are all sinners in need of a savior and we all contribute, in some way, to the injustice that permeates our world.
Go back.. read that last sentence, again. We all contribute to the injustice in our world. Last week’s focal passage ends this way: “When I look, there is no one; there is no counselor among them; when I ask them, they have nothing to say. Look, all of them are a delusion; their works are nonexistent; their images are wind and emptiness (Is. 41:28-29).” We readily recognize the evil and injustice in our world but we don’t assume any personal responsibility for it. The evil and injustice is always caused by whomever we view as our enemy. For those on the right, it is everyone on the left. For those on the left, it is everyone on the right. For the hard working poor, it is the lazy, selfish rich in the world. For the rich, it is the poor, dumb and lazy folk. The horrible condition of our world is always somebody else’s fault.
You’d think, after all this time, the human race would have been able to figure out and fix the issue. We are simply unsuccessful at doing so because WE are the problem. Can a broken system fix itself? Fortunately, the God who created us and gave us the ability to choose between good (His will and way) and evil (our will and way) has not left us without hope. Last week, we looked at the fact that we most often choose a cheap substitute, a false god we create and worship, instead of the real thing, the LORD God – the One who created us and the only One worthy of worship. And that brings us to this week’s focal passage, Isaiah 42:1-17.
Since we are unable to right these wrongs, unable to rid our world of its injustice and make this place into the world God intended, then God takes matters into His own hands. Listen, as He speaks: “This is my servant; I strengthen him, this is my chosen one; I delight in him. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations.” (Isaiah 42:1 CSB) We are unable to fix ourselves, so God sends His chosen Servant. He puts His Spirit on Him and His chosen Servant will bring justice to the nations. Justice is obviously the theme in these first four verses because it is repeated three times: “He will bring justice to the nations” (v. 1); “He will faithfully bring justice” (v.3); and “He will not grow weak or discouraged until He has established justice on earth” (v. 4).
It is important to note, injustice is not only depriving people of the care and protection of the law and the courts, it is depriving people of the kind of world where God’s goodness and His will permeates ever aspect of life. An unjust world is simply one in which God’s will is pushed aside and man’s will prevails. That’s the kind of world you and I live in, every day! Jesus taught us to pray, “Father… Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” When God’s will permeates our lives, guides our decisions, tempers our interactions, and governs our thoughts and words then we begin to see a world where justice reigns. That’s the kind of world that the Apostle James had in mind: “If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.” (James 2:15-17 CSB)
Real Christian faith leaves justice in its wake.
God may use Cyrus, king of Persia, to achieve His purpose but you really need to notice the differences between Cyrus and the LORD’s Servant. Cyrus “marches over rulers as if they were mud” (see Is. 41:25) but the LORD’s chosen Servant “will not break a bruised reed, and will not put out a smoldering wick” (see Is. 42:3). The ways in which they achieve God’s purpose are at opposite ends of the spectrum – Cyrus will “march over” those in his path and his ways are unjust because he is a sinful man.
God’s Servant is different, though. He will NOT break those already crushed by life, and will not snuff out those just clinging to hope like a smoldering wick. Why? Because He’s not a sinful man and His actions are not unjust. He is God, come to His creation in human form (see John 1). His purpose is to restore justice for all peoples and He will not grow weary, will not grow discouraged and give up. He WILL establish justice on earth!
But just how will the LORD’s Servant establish justice, how will He restore the earth to God’s intended purpose? First, He will establish it with the surety of His Word – He will say it, He will speak it, He will declare it and it will be so! God does not speak in vain. In other words, God doesn’t say things just to be speaking and making noise. When God speaks He speaks truth and what He says, He does (Is. 55:11). Second, God not only says it but He also purposes or sets His will to do it.
“I am the LORD. I have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will hold you by your hand.” This Servant will be unlike any previous servants of God. God has called, used and purposed many men and women over the centuries, but none like this One. To be able to carry out God’s purpose, He will have God’s Spirit, God’s power and God’s authority. Notice, “I have called you… I will hold you by your hand… I will watch over you… and I will appoint you as a covenant for the people and a light to the nations.”
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1 CSB)
So, God will send His Servant, His Son, His Incarnate Word to establish His kingdom and to begin the restoration of His purpose for the world, justice for the nations. But what will that look like? The One who comes in God’s Spirit, with His power and authority will “open blind eyes, set free those in prison.” We often miss this part of the Gospel. We who are transformed by His Word and His power are supposed to live out our lives in obedience to His commands.
We are to become the people by whom God’s justice is restored to the earth, at least in some, small way. Not only are we to live in the ultimate hope of the restoration of God’s kingdom rule over all mankind, we are to live out our daily lives as examples of His kingdom rule over US, right now! Our actions should demonstrate the desire, the power and the purpose of God to restore justice to this broken world.
“Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8 CSB)
Finally, God declares: “I am the Lord. That is my name, and I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” (Isaiah 42:8 CSB) God is unwilling to allow an idol to take praise, adoration and worship that rightfully belongs to Him. You might initially think that is petty of God. But if you truly spend a minute considering it and the implications then you begin to recognize the significance of it. “For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17 CSB)
We like to be recognized for our hard work and our achievements, don’t we? We sure don’t like it when someone else gets credit for something we did, do we? Now, just imagine how God must feel when we give credit for all He has done and is doing to some false god or idol or even keep it for ouselves. The “Song of Praise” in verses 10-17 illustrate this, clearly. In the Gospel of Matthew, as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt of the donkey, the people began to shout: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!” But some of the Pharisees called upon Him to “rebuke your disciples” for their words of praise. But Jesus replied, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.”
God calls upon us to “sing a new song to the LORD.” I don’t know anything about your musical abilities, but I do know what we’ve been commanded to do: SING OUT our praise to Him! The idea behind this is less about your musical abilities and more about God’s worthiness. Sing, and if you can’t sing well, sing with deep, deep emotion. Hum. Whistle. Play an instrument. Mouth the words. Do SOMETHING, do anything just because God deserves it! God will receive the honor, God will receive the glory, God WILL receive the praise that is due to Him. Remember, if you remain silent when God deserves praise then the stones will cry out in your place. Don’t let that happen…
We sometimes feel like God has been silent for far, too long. “I have kept silent from ages past; I have been quiet and restrained myself. But now, I will groan like a woman in labor, gasping breathlessly.” (Isaiah 42:14 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/isa.42.14.CSB) While we often speak when we should reman silent and stay silent when we should really speak up, God’s silence is intentional and it is always broken at just the right time. Never too early, never too late. What God is doing through the power of the Gospel, He is doing right now! He’s at work in and through the church, His people, breaking His long silence as He declares justice for the people and then displays it through the actions of the church.
“He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time — to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.” (Ephesians 1:9-10 CSB)
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:1-2, 5-6 CSB)
The song that is being sung to the LORD is not only one that should flow from our lips in praise of His glorious salvation of our souls, but it is one that should flow from our lives, out of our obedience. A song that is sung to His praises because the salvation that He brings is transforming the lives of men and women and restoring the justice that He intended to rule and reign over His world.
The salvation that God promises is not just future tense, it is also present tense. Catch how Isaiah sees it: “Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise in the coasts and islands. The Lord advances like a warrior; he stirs up his zeal like a soldier. He shouts, he roars aloud, he prevails over his enemies.” (Isaiah 42:12-13 CSB) But what is His enemy in this passage? Injustice! He has been silent, but no longer! He has been quiet, restraining Himself, but not anymore! Now, I will groan like a woman in labor, gasping breathlessly. Those who were previously blind to God’s power, they will be given sight. Those who were unable to walk His path, they will be guided by His hand. He will turn darkness into light and rough places into level ground.
In the end, God draws a very distinct contrast between those who depend upon Him for their salvation and those who depend on themselves… “I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on paths they have not known. I will turn darkness to light in front of them and rough places into level ground. This is what I will do for them, and I will not abandon them. They will be turned back and utterly ashamed — those who trust in an idol and say to a cast image, ‘You are our gods! ’” (Isaiah 42:16-17 CSB)
Those who trust Him for salvation, He will not abandon. Those who trust in an idol, they will be turned away and left utterly ashamed. Who will you trust?
Hilltop Baptist Church - Shawnee, OK 
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