Jehovah's Servant Speaks

Well, back to Isaiah 49. This, as you know, is the second of the four servant songs that are found in Isaiah. And in this song, as I've already mentioned, we find three speakers. First, the servant himself speaking. Secondly, the Lord God, his master speaking. And thirdly, and finally, Isaiah the prophet speaking. I had endeavored, planned to cover this psalm and make those three points I just mentioned, the three speakers, my three main points. But the more I got into the section, I realized that was just too much to give it proper attention today. I felt like last week's focus upon the first servant song was a bit compressing an awful lot into a short time. And this would have been even more so, and so I'm going to back up and just take the first four verses this morning.

And in all likelihood, we'll take either the rest of it or some of the rest of it next Sunday morning, as the case may be. Another one of the many, many, many prophecies about the coming of Christ, Christmas prophecies that you find in the Old Testament, so many of which are in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 49, verses one through four, and we are going to listen as the servant of Jehovah speaks. And he's going to speak to us regarding four or rather five different things. First of all, he speaks to awaken the nations. Secondly, to announce his mission. Third, to describe his methods.

Fourth, to identify his master. He first speaks to awaken the nations. The chapter opens with these words, listen, O coastlands, to me, and take heed, you peoples, plural, from afar. The servant of Jehovah commands attention.

Listen to me. It is an imperative. He is speaking authoritatively. He is a servant, as he identifies himself, and yet he is one with an unusual amount of authority, for he has every reason to believe that he can speak and command the nations of the earth to hear him. He calls upon the whole world to pay attention to his words. He awakens the nations, the coastlands, as it is called in our text, as far from the land of Israel, and you peoples, plural, from afar, and that's a reference to the various nations of the world. And so from the very beginning, he announces that his mission is not just to Israel.

In fact, it sounds like not even primarily to Israel, as we might have expected, but it is in fact to the whole world. And he says that right up front. That's the first thing that he says in speaking.

His words, he awakens the nations. But then number two, he speaks to announce his mission in the last part of verse one. He says, the Lord has called me from the womb, from the matrix of my mother.

He has made mention of my name. He announces his mission. It is evidently a divine assignment. The Lord called me. The Lord God Almighty, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, this one, says, called me.

That language is similar to a couple of other occasions. As, for example, when Jeremiah the prophet said in chapter one of his prophecy, then the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you and ordained you a prophet to the nations. The apostle Paul also makes reference to the fact that God called him from his mother's womb. He said, but when it pleased the Lord who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles. Like Saul, he too was called to serve Jehovah, and that call came to him even in his mother's womb. And therefore, he has both a divine assignment and a human birth. The Lord called him. But the Lord called me, he says, from the womb. The Lord called me from the matrix of my mother. It is clear that his mission requires a human existence.

For him to accomplish what God has assigned for him to do in this world cannot be accomplished apart from entering into human nature, becoming a human being, being born into this world of a human mother, and the servant tells us that that's what his mission calls for. As my translation says, means, and I took this from the Webster's dictionary, the definition of matrix, something within which something else originates or develops. I can't think of a better word to describe what takes place within the womb. Something within which something else originates or develops. I'd be tempted to point out that from the moment of conception, that entity within the womb is a separate entity from the mother.

It is something within which something else originates or develops. It is a separate entity from the mother. The mother nourishes it within her womb. The mother develops it. The mother brings it to maturity. But it is a separate entity which develops within the womb of the mother.

That child from the earliest stage is indeed a separate human being, and I don't see how anyone can justify the murder of such a human being within the womb of its mother. But this one, this servant who speaks, tells us that he has a divine assignment. He tells us that his assignment requires a human birth, and he thirdly indicates that his assignment has a saving purpose. Because, he goes on to say, he has made mention of my name.

In other words, he was named while in the womb. Now, we are not told what the name is in this passage. That's just the last part of his statement in verse one.

From the matrix of my mother, he has made mention of my name. But, of course, Isaiah has already told us the name of this one, hasn't he? We looked at that two weeks ago in Isaiah 7 14.

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Immanuel. The prophet Isaiah, those to whom he spoke, knew what Immanuel meant.

It meant God with us. When that name is mentioned again in the New Testament, it is translated for us, for those of us who may not know what Immanuel is. His name shall be called Immanuel, which being translated is God with us. And so now the speaker, the servant, says that God not only made him, developed him within his mother's womb, but God named him within his mother's womb.

His name is Immanuel. He is God with us in this development within his womb. And of course, he bears another name, which the angel gave to Joseph when he explained to Joseph that the child which Mary was already carrying was conceived of the Holy Spirit of God.

There was nothing immoral about it. Don't be afraid to take unto you, Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is conceived by God the Holy Spirit. But Matthew was told you shall call his name Jesus. So there's another name given to him while still in the womb. Jesus, which means Jehovah saves or Jehovah is salvation.

So two names we know that were applied to this servant while he was still in his mother's womb. Immanuel, he is God with us. Jesus, he is Jehovah come to save.

Mystery, but such great revelation. He has a saving purpose. But then there's the third declaration in verse two. He speaks to describe his methods. Not only speaks to awaken the nations and speaks to announce his mission, but he speaks to describe his methods, how he is going to carry this mission out, at least in part.

He doesn't take us all the way to the end, but he tells us how in part he's going to carry out this great mission. And verse two says, and he made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand. He has hidden me. He made me a polished shaft in his quiver. He has hidden me. He speaks to describe his methods.

What are they? Well, first of all, his mission is accomplished by the power of his word. We'll come back to that. But secondly, his mission is protected by a powerful hand, the hand of God. Third, his mission is fortified by an additional resource. And number four, his mission is effective in a twofold manner. But first, we must understand that his mission is accomplished by the power of his word.

He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. His word, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, is alive. It's quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword.

The word of God is that. And the servant comes speaking that very word. In other words, the word is a powerful weapon. The word is both a defensive and an offensive weapon.

The word cuts and wounds. But all it takes is the word to accomplish that. This one who made the universe could marshal anything to accomplish his purpose. This one who is the ruler of the universe could marshal innumerable soldiers in an army to accomplish his purpose. He could amass a huge human army. He could amass a huge angelic army. But when he comes on his mission, he uses something that evidently is even more powerful than that.

And what is that? His word that goes forth like a sword. His mission is accomplished by the power of his word. And then secondly, his mission is protected by a powerful hand, for the servant says in the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me.

In other words, no harm can befall this servant except that which is appointed by God. And how many times did his enemies try to take him, to capture him, to kill him, to destroy him? And they couldn't do it until until the divinely appointed time came.

And then when it was the time for the cross, when my hour has now come, then he yielded himself into their hands. But nothing could touch him. Nothing could harm him. They couldn't throw him off a cliff. They couldn't destroy him. They couldn't do anything to stop him, because all throughout his mission, he was protected by the almighty powerful hand of his father, the God of glory.

And can I mention before I move on that that truth is also the same for every child of God? We've got to understand that nothing harms us. Nothing touches us. Nothing destroys us because we're protected by God's almighty hand until something that he appoints comes into our lives. And he may appoint persecution.

He may appoint health problems. And he has an appointed day for all of us to die. He doesn't keep us from any of those things that fit into his divinely appointed plan.

But nothing else, no matter how hard people may try, nothing else can touch or move or harm us because we, like this servant, if we are Christians, we are also protected by God's almighty hand. And so a mission accomplished by the power of his word, a mission protected by a powerful hand, a mission fortified by an additional resource, because we read these words that at first are a bit puzzling. And he made me a polished shaft. In his quiver he has hidden me. If we didn't know for sure what he intends us to understand by that phrase, a polished shaft, the next phrase makes it clear. It's an arrow, such as would go in a quiver. And so in addition to having the powerful word that comes forth from his mouth, a powerful word that accomplishes his purposes, he also has what is apparently an additional resource, a polished shaft, arrows, but arrows that are kept in reserve until special times of need.

He made me a polished shaft. In his quiver he has hidden me. But he can come out at any time.

This arrow can come out at any time. And this would seem to indicate that this servant is able to extend his power beyond his immediate presence. When he walked the shores of Galilee and went through, on one occasion at least, in Samaria and when he ministered in Judea, he preached powerfully. And his words had a significant impact upon most of the people that heard them. But that was limited, wasn't it, to the land of Israel. He scarcely ventured outside the nation of Israel. And yet he talks in the opening verses about the nations and how he has a word for them as well.

Listen, O coastlines, to me. Take heed, you peoples from afar. He has a mission to the nations, but he never stepped outside his own particular nation.

So how is he going to reach all these other people? Well, an arrow, unlike a sword, an arrow is a weapon by which a soldier takes his weapon beyond himself. It's amazing how far a good bow and arrow marksman, whatever you call it, good archer, is able to send that arrow with lethal force. But when a good archer aims that arrow and sends it forth, it goes a long distance and accomplishes a purpose far, far away from the immediate presence of the archer.

And that seems to be the picture here. The servant has a word that not only is confined to what he is able to speak and what people who actually hear the resonance of his voice, his vocal chords, can hear, but by some means he also has a way of extending that power far beyond himself. And of course, getting ahead of ourselves a bit, we know what that is. He told us, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Preach the gospel, the same thing he was preaching. We take up the message he preached and we extend it to the ends of the earth. And so this word is a sword out of the mouth of the servant. This word is an arrow extended far, far beyond the servant.

He has everything necessary to accomplish his purpose. And we would also gather from these words about his weapons that his mission is effective in a twofold manner. And that is, number one, to wound beneficially, and number two, to destroy thoroughly.

That's what his word does. It's a sword. It cuts.

It pricks. But it does so beneficially. Happy is the person who is willing to receive the wounds of his word, to allow them to convict his soul, to allow them to direct him to truth and direct him to Christ, to bring him to repentance and faith, to show him his sin that he might acknowledge his need before God above and confess his sins and turn from them and cast himself upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to be wounded by the sword of God's word before we are going to be healed by the word of God. And, of course, the natural man doesn't like that, does it? The natural man doesn't like anyone pricking and stabbing. The natural man doesn't like the preacher who steps on his toes. Now, granted, sometimes that can be done in a carnal way that is not good. But when a preacher is preaching the word of God, the truth of God's word, and steps on your toes, you better say, ouch, thank you. That's for your benefit. And if that offends you so much that you aren't going to abide that, you'll find some other church where they don't talk about sin, where they don't step on toes, where they don't say anything that might be offensive, then you are going to put yourself in a very dangerous place where the very purpose of the word of God is purposefully avoided and the sting is taken out of the sword and the purpose of wounding us beneficially with the word of God is destroyed for the purpose of gathering more people who will not be offended and will make our gathering larger, but not to the benefit of their souls.

Yes, it is to wound beneficially, but for those who will not. And here's what happens if you won't allow yourself to be pricked by the sword and to respond in a humble, repentant, believing way, then this is what's going to happen eventually. That word that you would not abide is going to destroy you. You can't avoid it. You either accept it now to the salvation of your soul, to the cleansing of your sins, to come into a right relationship with your maker, or the day will come when you will bow to Jesus Christ, but not to the saving of your soul, and when the truth of his word shall fall upon you in just and holy judgment, and you shall hear, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.

That's the two options. Either allow, yes, embrace, yes, welcome the word of God which wounds beneficially, or turn away from it as far as you are able and see it bring you judgment in the end. And so thirdly, the speaker speaks to describe his methods. The servant speaks to describe his methods, but what else? Number four, he also speaks to identify his master.

Verse three, and he said to me, this is the servant telling us what God said to him, so there's a combination of what the servant said and what God said. He's quoting what his master said to him, and he said to me, you are my servant, O Israel, in whom I, that is God, will be glorified. He speaks to identify his master. He is the servant, but who's his master? Well, his master is God, and he said to me, you are my servant. The speaker is a servant, but what a servant. We've already seen what authority this servant possesses, what power this servant possesses, what an irresistible word this servant speaks.

This cannot be any ordinary servant. A servant with that much authority and power must be doing the bidding of an even more powerful master, and of course Christ in his humanity could be spoken of as having an even more powerful master, his heavenly father. And so a servant who possesses such great authority and power must be a servant of none other than Almighty God, and indeed he is.

His master is God. His master is Israel's God. He said to me, you are my servant, O Israel. Now that causes us to stop and think, and it has caused some people to erroneously conclude that these words are not spoken regarding Jesus Christ, but they refer to the nation of Israel. But go back through them and look carefully at what is described, and you realize that does not describe the nation of Israel. So why is this servant called, O Israel?

Clearly, the nation Israel does not fit the description of this one. Therefore, the only other conclusion I can draw from this is that this servant must be the ideal Israel. This servant must be the epitome of Israel, the chosen of God. This servant must be the Israel who accomplishes perfectly what the nation of Israel, God's people, God's chosen people in a certain sense, but what that nation did not accomplish, could not accomplish because of its sinful fallenness and its disobedience. But here is a perfect Israel without sin. Here is a perfect Israel. What does Israel mean, do you know?

Prince of God. That name Israel came into being when Jacob was wrestling with God before he met Ishmael, you know, coming back from the land of Laban. And when he prevailed with God in that prayer, that night of wrestling prayer, and his hip joint was knocked out of its socket, so he had a reminder of what he had done that night. But that one he wrestled with said to him, your name is no longer Jacob, which means deceiver. That certainly described him in all of his life up until this point. And we even see some little elements of that beyond this point, when he tells Ishmael, you go on ahead, I'll follow you. And then as soon as Ishmael is out of sight, he turns and goes the other direction. He's having a hard time getting all of this deceit out of him, isn't he?

It's pretty ingrained. But your name will no longer be called deceiver, it'll be called Israel, Prince of God. Isn't it amazing that God can take a rascal like Jacob and make him a prince of God? God can take a rascal like Jacob and use him for his eternal purposes. God can take a rascal like Jacob and make out of him a great nation which bears his name Israel, and that's the name by which we know the earthly people of God today. But Israel, Prince of God, wasn't entirely encompassed by that nation that bore the name, but there is another one who also bears that name.

Now we've got another name for the servant. Immanuel, Jesus, but Israel, Prince of God. That also helps identify him, doesn't it? If he is the prince of God, if God's the king and he's the prince, then this must be the son of God.

It wouldn't be too hard to arrive at that conclusion, would it? And so his master is Israel's God. This servant will accomplish what the national Israel did not accomplish.

This servant of God will extend the message of God's power and glory and grace to the ends of the earth. National Israel never accomplished that. This Israel of God shall accomplish redemption for his people.

The nation of Israel never accomplished that. And so his master is God, his master is Israel's God, his master is the glorious God. He said to me, verse 3, you are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. In whom I will be glorified. I don't know that God could have said that about the nation of Israel.

Maybe someday that will be said of them when some changes take place, but now it would be hard to say that God has been glorified in the nation of Israel. But who would hesitate to say that God is indeed glorified in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Israel that this verse speaks of? And so his master is the glorious God, in whom I will be glorified. God will be glorified in the completion of this servant's mission.

The one and the only one who deserves this kind of glory, the only one who is deserving of all glory can be none other than Almighty God. And this servant will bring glory to the one who deserves glory. And so he identifies his master in verse 3.

His master is God, his master is Israel's God, his master is the glorious God. But now finally, and with a bit of puzzlement, we come to his fifth statement in verse 4, where the servant speaks to disclose a surprising reality. Then I said, says the servant, then I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain.

It's surely my just reward is with the Lord and my work with my God. What is he saying? Clearly, in these words, the servant is expressing that he will at some point and in some way experience disappointment in the course of his mission. Then I said, I have labored in vain. And in case you missed it, he says it in a different way. I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain. We're tempted to say that must apply to somebody else, but no.

Same one speaking. And we are therefore confronted with and must deal with the reality that this servant will experience some sense of failure in his earthly mission. And yet, as the passage goes on, I think it becomes clear that that sense of failure is only apparent.

It's not real. It's from a human perspective, but certainly not from a divine perspective. But that sense of failure comes out of a sinless, for he is the sinless one, loving, for he is the one who is all loving, desire for good to people who will not heed his message. We're introduced to that in John chapter 1. He came unto his own and what?

His own received him not. This would suggest that that gave to him a sense of disappointment, even perhaps a touch of failure. And if that's not clear there, because we don't have any description there of how Christ felt about that, we do have a description of how Christ felt about the unbelieving citizens of the city of Jerusalem when we read in Matthew 23, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

See, your house is left to you desolate. That's a text that some people have found difficulty wrestling with. I think the solution is found right here in our text in Isaiah 49. There is a sense in which Christ felt disappointment that the nation of Israel did not, as one man, repent and come to him.

There is a sense that Christ felt that he had not accomplished what he desired to accomplish when he came into this world, and yet that's the human side, the human nature of Christ. Because the servant is assured of victory before we're even done with verse 4. Verse 4 again, then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain, yet surely my just reward is with the Lord and my work with my God.

Those are words of confidence, words of assurance, words of victory, words of completion, words of reward for a job well done. Let me give you those words from a couple of other translations from the New American Standard Bible. Surely the justice due to me is with the Lord and my reward with my God.

And here's what the English Standard Version says. Surely my right is with the Lord and my recompense with my God. This tells us that in spite of how Christ felt in his humanity in regard to the rejection of others, of his work and of his words, which are only meant for their blessing and benefit, regardless of how Christ and his humanity felt about that, God is completely and fully satisfied with his servant's accomplishments. God does not consider him a disappointment in any way. God does not consider him a failure in any way.

And Christ and his deity didn't either. But we're dealing with his humanity and this mysterious interchange between Jesus, the eternal Son of God, God himself, and Jesus, born of a virgin, born a human man, and taking upon him human flesh. But the servant comes to understand that God is fully satisfied with his accomplishments, and therefore the servant's faith in God assures him that he is successful, regardless of his human emotions at this point. His faith raises him from discouragement to victory. Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord. He's satisfied and will reward me accordingly. Surely my work is with God, and he is pleased with it. Now, for a few minutes that remain, I have a lot of things to say.

Let's see how many of them I can get in. Let's say a few things about how this prophecy in Isaiah fulfills the person and work of Jesus Christ that we now have more information about because we have the New Testament. The people of Isaiah's day did not have that. So we'll just review a few things that are very apparent in the coming of Christ that find fulfillment in this prophecy. Number one, Jesus came to bring salvation to all nations, not just to Jews. Number two, and obviously Jesus was born of a human mother, Mary, came out of that womb, out of that matrix.

We love to focus upon that at this Christmas season. The babe in the manger, the birth of Jesus, the sweetness of this young Jewish mother, Mary, and all that is attended to that, well, that's more than alluded to. That is spoken about here in this Isaiah passage. Thirdly, in looking at the ministry of Jesus, we realize Jesus spoke the powerful word of God.

In fact, when he did not hold it back, it had terrific power. Remember when they came to arrest him in the garden? And he said, who are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said just one word in the Greek, two in our English. He said, no, two words in the Greek, ego and me.

He said, I am, and they all fell flat. That's a pretty powerful word. Good thing he didn't speak with that much power every time he spoke and flatten everybody that was listening to him, but that's the power he had. Jesus spoke the powerful word of God. Jesus called people to salvation by the power of his word. He would preach one place and then he'd tell his disciples, we've got to move on, we've got to keep moving. I was sent to preach all over Israel, so let's go on to another place, another village. I'm preaching, preaching, preaching, preaching. Well, what's that going to accomplish? My word is a sword.

It cuts, it pricks, it wounds beneficially. Just my preaching does that. Oh, that we would have more confidence among churches today, among Christians today, in the preaching of God's word.

That's what accomplishes God's eternal work. No matter who's president. And I weigh my vote very carefully and I vote as a good citizen of the United States, but I recognize that what we need is not a political solution.

There is no political solution that can cure what's wrong with America. The biggest problem of America is sin, and it's not getting any less sinful no matter who's in the White House. But oh, if the word of God is proclaimed from every pulpit, and believed in every pulpit, and every pulpit is assured that God's word is able to change hearts and lives, what a difference that would make in America. Jesus called people to salvation by the power of his word through preaching. Jesus was successful in his mission.

He did exactly what he was sent to do. Jesus was the perfect Israel, unlike the nation that sorely failed. And finally, Jesus experienced physical weakness and, we don't think about this as often, but also emotional fatigue. He became discouraged. He not only became tired of body, he became discouraged in his soul. And so when we sing Man of Sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came. Sorrows is a word that speaks of an emotional response, doesn't it? And when we sing this hymn that's so loaded with truth, stricken, smitten, and afflicted, see him dying on the tree, tis the Christ by man rejected, you see, he felt that rejection.

He felt that. Yes, my soul, tis he, tis he, and on that goes. But now finally, how we today benefit from the servant's message.

And I've got several statements here, so hang on as we go through them quickly. And number one, this detailed prophecy given to Isaiah 700 years before Jesus came into the world should increase our confidence in God's word. It should strengthen our faith. This is what Isaiah said 700 years before Jesus came. Notice how perfectly it describes the mission, the person and work of Jesus Christ. Who could do that but God?

What a word is the Bible. Number two, the worldwide nature of Messiah's mission extends a saving hope to Gentiles. How many sons, physical sons of the blood of Abraham do we have in our congregation today? Anybody? I don't mean to point you out for persecution. I'm just making a point here. Not many. In fact, I don't see any. How many Gentiles are here today? Would you raise your hands? Just about everybody.

Maybe is everybody. What if Jesus hadn't come to extend his message beyond Israel? Where would we be? We'd be just like our pagan, idolatrous ancestors who lived and died without hope before Jesus came. But Jesus came to the nations.

Listen, O coastlands to me. Take heed, you peoples from afar. The worldwide nature of the Messiah's mission extends saving hope to Gentiles and the worldwide nature of Messiah's mission engages us to be significantly involved in worldwide missions. If that was a major part of his mission and we are his followers, then that should be a major part of our mission too. Amen? Amen? That's a little better. Amen?

Now that's better. I hope you meant that. Number four, the report of Messiah's real humanity, just like every other person that's ever been born except without sin, the report of Messiah's real humanity reveals that discouragement, and this was kind of a new thought to me, discouragement itself is not a sin. It's an expression of human nature. It's only when we don't reign in our discouragement with greater truth, when we don't reign in our discouragement by believing the promises of God. It's only when we don't deal with our discouragement by banishing it with the truth of God's word, the sword of the Spirit that assures us that no matter what we're facing, that God is in control, that he will not allow it to go farther than it accomplishes his good purposes, and that we shall be victorious at last. If you're allowing your discouragement to cause you to quit or to feel like quitting, if it causes you to stop serving the Lord in any kind of active way, if it causes you to drop out of church, obviously not you who are here today, but maybe some who are listening by live stream, if it takes you that far, then it's sinful.

But discouragement is just part of our humanity. Christ had it too. And therefore, it also assures us of the compassionate and understanding nature of our great high priest, who fully understands our weaknesses, our temptations, and our infirmities. Aren't you glad we have a great high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities? Number six, the message of Christmas is so much bigger than the story of a babe in a manger.

What is that? That's where it begins. But oh, it's much bigger than that. It begins there, but expands to Christ's redemptive work in all the world.

And now this, in closing. If you feel the need of a Savior from sin, I didn't say if you want a cheap and easy ticket to heaven, so you can live like you want to, and you don't have to worry about the judgment of God. I didn't say that. I said if you feel your need of a Savior from sin, look to Jesus, who was sent by God to save all who feel the weight of your sin and will come to Him for cleansing. He is a great Savior who will save all who come to Him in repentant faith. Shall we pray? Father, how we thank you for this portrait of the servant of Jehovah. What a picture it is. And we rejoice in the truth that this one prophesied by Isaiah the prophet has come and has accomplished his work. It is available to all who come to him by faith. We praise you for it. Amen.