Amen. If you turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Isaiah chapter 49, beginning at the first verse:
“Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ But I said, ‘I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. Yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.’
And now the Lord says, ‘He who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength.’ He says, ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’
Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.
Thus says the Lord: In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritage, saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture. They shall not hunger or thirst; neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.
And I will make all my mountains erode, and my highways shall be raised up. Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene. Sing for joy, O heavens, and exalt, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing, for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.”
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Let us pray. Holy Lord, you have given us your word; you speak to us through it as you have spoken to your people from days of old. Open our ears to hear; let our minds and our hearts receive it and understand, because it is your word that is given for us—for teaching, for reproof, and for raising us up in righteousness and for maintaining us in hope. It is in your Son’s name we pray. Amen.
Now, two weeks ago, we came to the understanding of who the Lord’s servant is: the Christ, the long-expected Messiah, and our Savior Lord. After last week, we came to understand what the servant’s mission is: to set free the elect held captive by sin from their bondage to Satan and to be a light to the nations, bringing them out of their darkness and misery into the Lord’s presence.
Now, following this divine preamble, we come to understand why the servant is being sent by God. Previously, we heard that the servant is sent out for the Lord’s love and in his mercy, but that is not the why for which he is sent. So, why is he sent? Glory! God’s glory! Glory in excelsis Deo! Glory to God in the highest! Solely Deo Gloria. The Lord’s servant is sent for God’s glory alone.
Now, our previous passages in Isaiah have been the Lord’s spoken words concerning his servant, and today we hear the servant speak to the people. “Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar.” To whom does he speak? He is addressing the coastlands, the islands, the Gentiles, and the peoples from afar, meaning all the distant nations which were previously addressed. Namely, he speaks to all people, both the probate and the elect who are hidden among the nations. For truly, they are all—we are all—people far away from the Lord, both in geographical distance and in spirit.
“The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.” The servant proclaims his divine election, his ordination, being predestined by God for the Lord’s sovereign purpose. The servant does not claim for himself more than he is given or is called for. The servant is not acting according to his own human will and desire, but he has acted, is acting, and will act in faithfulness to God. The divine and human natures of Christ acting together in concert, united and unmixed.
Like the prophet Jeremiah, later the Lord’s servant is consecrated prenatally for a holy purpose. A prophecy finding fulfillment in the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary, saying, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” Uniquely prepared by God’s divine providence, the servant describes the Lord’s effort in his formation: “He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.”
He is to be like a sharp sword and a polished arrow—weapons of war commonly used to strike down and slay the enemy with great and terrible efficiency, in severe discrimination and strong intention. Instruments meant to be used by those holding authority for justice to overcome evil and the wicked ones in the world. Weapons are intended to be reluctantly used, but still used to establish and preserve a kingdom of righteousness on the earth.
Although the power of a weapon is not always through its needful use, but instead it is by the restraint of its use in mercy amid the promise of retributive justice. However, the servant here does not speak concerning the weapons and devices of men but of himself being wielded by God as a weapon against sin—piercing and swift—not revealed yet to all creation. The servant waits, hidden and ready for the Lord’s command to strike and fulfill his intended purpose. He is a sword held in God’s hand; he is the promise of justice waiting to be kept, swiftly cleaving through sinful flesh and self-righteousness at the time of our divine judgment.
He is an arrow, polished smooth, perfect and pure. He is chosen and prepared, waiting to be drawn and fired into those who defy the King of all creation, piercing the armor of the wicked’s false confidence in the lies of the world and slaying our sin.
“He made my mouth like a sharp sword.” This is also some common Christological imagery that should be familiar to many of us. Recall passages like ‘the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’ in Ephesians or ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’ Or, ‘In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.’
Thus, when the servant speaks, he speaks the word of the Lord with the very same force and authority as God’s own voice. He speaks to us as Moses did, he to whom the Israelites said at Sinai, “You speak to us and we will listen, but don’t let God speak to us lest we die.” He comes to us as the mediator of the new covenant, bringing justice and mercy and the redemption of God’s elect.
But unlike Moses, whose spoken law brought death, the servant speaks of the divine grace that brings life. By his righteous word, the nations will be judged and condemned. Yet the redeemed of the Lord also will not pass the judgment seat unscathed; for by his word and the power of the Holy Spirit, we experience the cutting away of that which is dead and sinful inside us, like the amputation of a gangrenous limb—separating the fleshly desire for the world, with all of its temptations of Satan, from our hearts, pruning the vine of Christ in which we abide so that we will bear good fruit for God’s glory.
Hearing the word, our hearts are pierced, convicted of and by our sin. Our sinful flesh is slain by the Spirit so that we may then be raised with Christ in faith. Thus the servant reminds us of his commission from the Lord who said to him, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Our spiritual pruning is for God’s glory, as Jesus said, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
It is through this meticulous cutting and piercing that the elect are being transformed into the image of Christ, and our minds are being renewed. This is how we are being made to be holy and perfect, as the Lord is holy and perfect. This is how we become justified by our faith in him through his sovereign grace. The servant will bring glory to the Lord in all of his works. He will glorify God; he will cause others to glorify God, and he will be the glory of God.
But he says prophetically, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. Yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.” When the servant comes in the name of the Lord, to him all his efforts and work will feel like they’ve been for naught. He will come, and he will speak the Lord’s truth; he will teach God’s people to walk justly; he will lead them in paths of righteousness. He will condemn sin and all manners of wickedness in the world.
He will bring eyesight to the blind—those blind in their spirit as well as in their eyes. He will call the people out from their deep darkness, but they will not listen. They will not hear; they will not follow him, just like all the other prophets whom the Lord had sent to them. Knowing that his reward comes from and is God—even and sure to be received—even despite the people’s lackluster response to his message, the servant will still despair of his mission. He will wonder if he has succeeded and done what the Lord has called him to do. Is his mission a success, experiencing doubt?
He will wonder if God’s promises are really true. But then he would be in excellent company, wouldn’t he? Never losing faith, yet still doubting as Abraham did before him, as Moses did before him, King David did, and even as the prophet Elijah did before him. So it is no wonder that on the night of his betrayal, the Lord Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane to pray, telling his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.
And he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death; remain here and watch.” And going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you; remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Still, like the patriarch Abraham before him, the servant will continue to faithfully obey the Lord, also looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
And so, meanwhile, God expands the servant’s understanding of his purpose and mission of bringing Jacob back to him and that Israel might be gathered to him to also include the elect from all the nations of the world, saying, “It is too light of a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel. I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
You see, the servant is honored in the eyes of the Lord, but will not be in the eyes of Israel—not in the eyes of the Jewish people, for he will be rejected by those whom he came to save. Yet through him God will effect his great act of redemption, the salvation of all his chosen people, all the preserved elect from the true Israel.
See, being born a natural Jew, being a part of ethnic Israel, being circumcised in the flesh was never a guarantee of salvation or even of possessing the Lord’s continuing favor and receiving his blessing because the Mosaic covenant came with very severe and specific curses for its violation—promises for the people’s disobedience to serve as reminders that the law, which they could not keep, was never meant to be their way of salvation but was always intended to lead them to despair of their own foolish and sinful works to call upon the Lord in faith and hope in his grace and mercy.
For those people who left Egypt with Moses and passed through the sea, they were rescued from one form of bondage. They received the law; they received the promises; they agreed to abide and obey. But they did not, and so they never entered into the Lord’s rest. They were denied the promised land of Canaan.
See, all Israel was never meant—all those people called a part of the visible and obvious Israel. All Israel is the chosen elect of God, past, present, and future. We who are found in Christ Jesus are a people called into a greater exodus, freed from our bondage to sin and death, for we have received and will receive God’s grace and mercy. Jesus Christ was born to be the light for the nations; he is the light of the world who sends we who see his glory shining out into the world to direct others towards the light, telling them to come to him.
So that is the essence of the great commission: to go out into all the world, baptizing and making disciples of all nations, teaching them to follow and obey the Lord, to follow Jesus so that the great salvation which he has purchased for the redeemed and is received by faith through grace goes out into the ends of the earth.
So the knowledge of God’s sovereign glory fills the earth, covering the whole world as the sea. When the great day of judgment has passed and all those who remain are only the people of God, then the servant’s mission will be finished. Then we will all live to God’s glory alone; then all mankind will glorify God alone.
Then when the Lord dwells among men and there is no longer any need for the sun, moon, or stars, because the light of his glory will have driven away all darkness, then the servant’s mission will be ultimately complete. That end is determined; the servant’s work is done, even as he has not yet finished it. The servant Savior is still working, even now, right now, just as he worked during the days of his incarnation, walking the roads of Judea. Just as he worked during the days of the prophets and of Moses and the patriarchs, he is working even now and will be working until his kingdom comes.
Then the Lord’s servant, one deeply despised, spat upon, rejected, executed in the most horrible manner imaginable, who is abhorred by the nation, abhorred by his own people—a people who demanded that the guilt of his blood be upon their heads—and who was made to be the servant of rulers, who was condemned to die at the willful pleasure, command, and authority of Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest, the tetrarch Herod Antipas, and the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate—then after all that, then the Lord’s servant shall be elevated by God, ascending to his own power and authority.
Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you. The one made to become the lowest by the power of men shall be made the highest by the power of God. We shall all kneel before the one whom they despised, abhorred, and made to serve because he is the Lord’s chosen Christ. He has been given the name that is above all other names, and it is he whom every tongue must confess as being their sovereign Lord.
Some, the elect, will kneel and proclaim this in joy, while others through a probate will kneel and grovel—grudgingly, fearfully, and hatefully—but still acknowledging his total and absolute authority because this is the Lord’s will and rule.
Thus, the servant, in whom the Lord will be glorified, who is glorified by God, will be honored, revered, and glorified by the nations and all creation because of what he has done and will do as the mediator of God’s eternal covenant of grace. Assured, affirmed, persevered, and preserved, the chosen servant will hold on to God’s promise, being given as a covenant to the people—that gracious covenant of redemption through his redeeming work.
Not only does he bring salvation to his people, but also to creation itself. By covenant, he shall establish the land and apportion the desolate heritages. He shall prepare a dwelling place for the Lord’s people—the true promised land, prepared and restored for his people to return home to from their long exile. The land will no longer be desolate but will be filled with life. It will not be a land for wandering, but instead homes and places will be established. The valley shall be filled, and the mountains will be torn down.
This is where the servant shall call the prisoners to come out to and where those lost in darkness shall appear in the light of God’s glory—all of the Lord’s elect from all the nations—the Jews and the Gentiles, the patriarchs and all the righteous line of Seth. This shall be the land of the new earth and the new Jerusalem beneath the new heavens. This is where the Lord will finally make his dwelling place to be among men—the promised land, Eden restored, his place of Sabbath rest.
This is the promise to victory; this is the finished work of Jesus Christ, the Lord’s servant. It is sure and ordained according to the Lord’s will, but we are not there yet. Someday, sooner rather than later—sooner now than it was at the start of our worship together this morning—either Christ will call each of us home, or he will come again in glory with the judgment.
So it is on us now to continue to patiently wait for him. However, while we wait, we are not without hope or without God’s promises. Jesus has called us, and he is calling to us now, saying, “Come out, appear.” It is to us, we who hear his calling, who have been given the promise that they shall feed along the ways.
“On all bare heights shall be their pasture. They shall not hunger or thirst; neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.” While we wait, the Lord will continue to provide for us. We shall feed as we travel throughout our lives until we finally come to him.
The places which are barren in the world will be our pasture lands, whether by his plain miraculous provision or because those places considered to be valueless by the world—yet to us they will be places of rest and comfort, of safety against the slings and arrows of Satan. They may be our churches, our Bible study or prayer groups; they will be eddies in the stream—places of calm in the midst of social or political persecution.
They may even be our homes and our believing family members. Regardless, these are green pastures for us to lay down in and still waters wherein our spirits may be refreshed and revived by God, by our good Shepherd. He will feed us, and we shall neither hunger nor thirst. The worst ravages of the elements shall not harm us—not where and how it truly matters—for our God will show pity and kindness to us, to his people.
Our homes might be destroyed in fires, floods, or storms; our treasures and memories may be lost or ruined. And we will either be preserved by his grace in this life, or we will be brought fully into his presence also by grace. And even when war comes upon us, we will trust him to preserve us and our souls, to bring us to be with him at the time of his choosing and not by the will of evil men.
Whether we are in the body or in the spirit, we should always give thanks to God, saying with Job, “The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Even now, we, the redeemed elect of the Lord, are commanded with all creation by his servant to sing for joy:
“O heavens, and exalt, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing, for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion upon his afflicted.”
So let us sing for joy. The Lord, through the work of his servant, Jesus, has comforted and will have compassion upon us, his people who are afflicted by our sin and sinfulness. We sing for joy now because especially now we live in the time of Christ’s eternal kingdom, which is both now and is still yet to be.
We exist within the tension of almost and not yet. We are sinners, yet we are declared to be justified. The kingdom of God, which was established before the foundation of the world and which was inaugurated in the first coming of Jesus Christ, is that for which we currently await the consummation. The kingdom is here, and it is coming.
Then these things which we believe and hold on to in faith: the promise of the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God—the new Jerusalem and our future dwelling place with the Lord, an eternal home with many rooms prepared for us beforehand by our loving King and brother—then these shall be our reward.
But until that great day comes, let us continue to sing for joy. Let us join our hearts and voices with all the saints and with all creation to glorify God for what he has done, for what he is doing, and for what he will do through his only begotten Son, Jesus, for all of us, his adoptive children.
Solely Deo Gloria. Amen.