Snapshots of a Deliverer
Jesus in Isaiah, part 3
December 24, 2006
David Flowers
Last week I spoke to you about Jesus the Freedom-Bringer. Obviously the thrust of that message was that Jesus came to bring freedom. At that time I invited you back to hear this week’s message, which I said would look at how Christ brings freedom to us. I am excited about what I have to say to you today, as I’m pretty sure it will be different from many things you have heard about Jesus in the past, especially if this is only your first or second Sunday here. I think there’s a chance that you could walk out of this gym today with a completely new view of Christ, of Christianity, and of how Jesus works in our lives and in our world, that maybe you could see these things with greater clarity than you ever imagined.
So we continue on with our series called Jesus in Isaiah, looking at prophecies written about the Messiah, or the Christ, over 700 years before the birth of Jesus, this one from Isaiah chapter 42 and dealing with how Jesus will deliver the world – and you and me – from conflict, from sin, and from itself.
This is the prophet Isaiah here, writing in the voice of God, which is common in prophetic writing. He writes:
Isaiah 42:1-4 (MSG)
1 "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.
2 He won’t call attention to what he does with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
3 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.
4 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."
What I’m going to do this morning is take these four verses one at a time. I’ll read the verse to you, then I want to present you with at least one New Testament snapshot of each – a picture from the life of Jesus showing you how he put these ancient prophecies into action. As I do this, I believe you will come to understand Jesus in a new way – to see his activity in a different light. My hope is that by the end of this message you feel you have been freed to listen to what Christ might be saying to you today, and this season, and this year, and find yourself more capable of hearing than ever before. Wouldn’t it be great if this morning I could help you hear God in a new way? That is my prayer.
I want to begin at the beginning this morning, with verse 1 of chapter 42. Isaiah records God saying:
Isaiah 42:1 (MSG)
1 "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.
Fast forward 700 years. In Matthew chapter 3, Jesus is just starting his public ministry, and the first thing he does is get himself baptized. We pick up here where Jesus has just been dunked under the water.
Matthew 3:16-17 (MSG)
16 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him.
17 And along with the Spirit, a voice: "This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life."
Of course Christians believe that the servant Isaiah was speaking about was Jesus. Jesus Christ was the one chosen by God not just at his birth but hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, before, and he was chosen by God to bring deliverance to you, to me, to the world. Isaiah says, “He’ll set everything right among the nations.”
Friends, has there ever been a time when the nations of the earth have needed that more than we need it now? Christians here this morning, are we praying for this? Are we praying regularly that Christ would bring peace to this world? I don’t know what 2007 holds for our world – I don’t even know what New Year’s Eve holds. But since Christ came to earth to set everything right among the nations, and since that clearly has not happened yet, are we praying for it?
Let me tell you something. It is your choice whether to be a doomsayer or a peace-prayer. For every person out there saying, “This could be the end of the world as we know it,” there are others on their knees, praying for God’s peace. For every person saying, “Perhaps we are witnessing the end of history,” there are others praying that God will show himself in ways we’ve never seen, and that history will be reborn into a better time, that we will truly see God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus taught us to pray for that, right? Why would he teach us to pray for something that was not in God’s will and that was never going to happen?
Yes, terrible things happen, and have always happened, in this world. Perhaps we are in for more terrible things. That will certainly be nothing new. But perhaps it is time for peace to be brought to the earth – for things to be set right among the nations. Will you choose to be a doom-sayer, or a peace prayer?
I reject gloom and doom. I choose to believe that God will reveal himself in history, and that there are good things on the horizon. Could I be wrong? Of course, and if I’m wrong, then all will be as it will be. But if I’m right, then I will have been busy praying all along, asking God to do what God has already clearly told us he plans to do, what he sent Jesus to earth to do. If you are stuck in the rut of anxiety and worry, and it is robbing you of peace, I invite you today, on Christmas Eve, to abandon fear, to leave doom and gloom behind, to place your confidence fully in the power of God to deliver on his promises and plans. Our world right now desperately needs a group of committed people calling down the power of God – not to route opposing armies, not to force the world into submission, but to change hearts and minds, to open the world to tough love. I don’t mean tough love as the world understands it. Spiritually, tough love isn’t satisfied with John Lennon’s vision, isn’t satisfied to simply “give peace a chance, ” isn’t satisfied to ask what’s wrong with the rest of the world that they can’t seem to get along. Tough love looks inside and asks the tough questions. Who am I as a person? What’s wrong with me? Am I being the change I want to see in the world? Am I simply wishing for peace, or am I praying and then, in the words of Jesus, devoting my life to being a peacemaker?
Matthew 5:9 (NRSV)
9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Let me tell you something. As fashionable as it is in our world today to proclaim doom and gloom (and always has been in every era), the world doesn’t need it, and the church has no business doing it. Let the rest of the world do that – those who are lost in their own interests, those for whom politics is the last resort, who have nothing deeper to believe in, who really have no lasting hope. Church, let us be the church. Let us bring light to a world that is dark. Let us bring the presence of the Christ of peace to a world on the brink of war. Let us bring hope into hopeless times. We cannot fail to point the way to Christ, who came to set everything right among the nations. For if we fail now to individually be peacemakers, at the time the Christ of peace is most needed, our failure will be final and there is nothing more to say. Then our faith is a dog and pony show, little more than a shelter from the real world where it’s dark and cold outside. Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Jesus came to bring freedom, to deliver us from the darkness of these times. And whether that happens in our lifetime or not, I will pray for it, and I will ask you to allow him at least to deliver you from the darkness in your own heart, because that’s where peace begins.
Isaiah 42:2 (MSG)
2 He won’t call attention to what he does with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
I have three Jesus snapshots for you here. First is the birth of Jesus. I’m going to read this this morning because it is, after all, the Christmas story.
Luke 2:6-15 (NIV)
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
Isaiah predicted Jesus wouldn’t call attention to himself. Even his birth was humble, quiet, behind the scenes. How did the one chosen to set everything right among the nations begin his tenure on earth? Stable, manger, shepherds. Nothing undeniable. Nothing you couldn’t miss if you weren’t looking. Shepherds were low on the social ladder and the angels announced the birth to them, and they in turn proclaimed it to others. But of course most people would be like, “Shepherds – tch! What do they know!” In the same way, who was first to the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection? Women! Another group low on the social ladder in that time. God always arranges things intentionally so that he can be overlooked. What does this mean? How will Christ bring deliverance to this world?
Quietly. Behind the scenes. The Christian story is the story of a King who has always allowed his subjects the choice of whether or not to serve Him.
Snapshot #2: Matthew 16. Remember, we’re dealing with snapshots of the Deliverer who was predicted by Isaiah to not be gaudy in calling attention to himself – who would refuse to grandstand.
Matthew 16:1-4 (NCV)
1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, wanting to trick him. So they asked him to show them a miracle from God.
2 Jesus answered, "At sunset you say we will have good weather, because the sky is red.
3 And in the morning you say that it will be a rainy day, because the sky is dark and red. You see these signs in the sky and know what they mean. In the same way, you see the things that I am doing now, but you don’t know their meaning.
4 Evil and sinful people ask for a miracle as a sign, but they will not be given any sign, except the sign of Jonah." Then Jesus left them and went away.
No time to go deeply into the Jonah thing, but I can quickly say here – Jonah, the man who spent three days in the belly of a fish. Jesus, the man who spent three days in the belly of the earth. That’s the sign Jesus promised to the religious leaders. When Jesus did promise a sign, what was the sign? He basically said, “I’ll end up dead.” Enough said.
But the main point here is, again, that Christ allows himself to not be believed in. He won’t do signs just to impress people. How does Christ, chosen to bring deliverance to the nations, go about this? By being ignored. By being humble, allowing people to reject him. By refusing to dance for those who tell him to dance, to say how high to those who say jump. Christ is at the same time immensely humble, and yet completely firm in his resolve to be who he is, to not play the game. Show me someone in history who was so effectively able to walk that line. He is God and he literally has nothing to prove. He was okay with saying, “You want a sign? Okay, I’ll end up dead. You’re gonna have to wait a while for that one, but I promise not to let you down.”
Jesus tells the religious leaders, “You are able to understand things that are around you. You know what the weather will be when you look into the sky. And yet you don’t know what to make of me and who I am and the things I do.” Jesus literally walked and talked and worked miracles right in front of these people, and yet they still didn’t get it. Why? Because they were religious leaders and teachers – they already thought they knew everything, therefore they didn’t WANT to get it. They had too much to lose by getting it. They were in that group of people I talked about last week – the ones who could not accept the freedom Jesus came to bring because they were certain they already knew everything and had no need of it. Christ will bring deliverance to us in ways we will see if we are looking and truly desiring to see. But if our desire is simply to get God to perform like a circus chimp, he’s not interested and won’t dance. He didn’t dance for the religious teachers of his own day, and he won’t dance for us. Why should he?
Snapshot 3 regarding Christ’s refusal to call attention to himself. One day, alone with his disciples, Jesus says:
Mark 4:11-12 (MSG)
11 He told them, "You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. But to those who can’t see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight.
12 These are people— Whose eyes are open but don’t see a thing, Whose ears are open but don’t understand a word, Who avoid making an about-face and getting forgiven."
The main focus of what Christ says here is 1) there is a story; 2) there needs to be readiness to receive the story; 3) if there is readiness to receive the story, there can be insight about what the story means. The story Christ tells brings news to you that you are a sinner in need of a Savior, and that Christ himself is that Savior, that he was born to this earth to do precisely that. That’s Jesus’ story. You are either ready to accept that and deal with that on a personal level, or you are not. Being ready is essential for receiving insight. One does not receive insight without readiness. Christ never forces anyone to be ready, like he never forces anyone to acknowledge him at all. In other words, you will be allowed to miss the point of God’s story if you so choose. Readiness cannot be forced upon anyone, nor can the insight that comes from it. If you don’t have your eyes open, you will miss it. Remember what Isaiah wrote:
Isaiah 42:2 (MSG)
2 He won’t call attention to what he does with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
…or anything else. He’ll just ask you to listen to the story. That’s what preachers do. We tell the story and ask you to listen. But whether or not you respond depends on whether or not you are ready. All I’ll say on that before moving on is, if you hear the story today, and you are ready to respond, I hope you’ll do it. You should never do it before you are ready, but when you are ready, when you can see your sin, your need for a Savior, and Jesus as the one sent by God to die and deliver you from the eternal consequences of your sins, you should definitely respond. Why? Because that’s God’s Spirit speaking in your heart. How do I know? Because it’s clearly not me. There’s nothing I can say to make you ready. If I could make that happen, if any preacher could make that happen, the whole world would have been Christianized long ago.
Isaiah 42:3 (MSG)
3 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.
I had a hard time choosing a Jesus snapshot for this one, not because there are so few, but there are so many. At every turn Jesus was paying attention to bruised, hurt, small, insignificant people. So I just picked my favorite, which comes from John 8. A woman has been caught in adultery. The penalty for adultery at that time was death. This woman is dragged before Jesus, and the religious teachers, again trying to trap him, say, “What should we do with her?” If Jesus says, “Let her go,” he has advocated breaking the law and they’ve got him. If he supports the law and says, “Kill her,” he has just violated his own message of love and grace. The people are standing there with rocks in their hands, ready to stone this woman as the law requires. Jesus’ response? “Go ahead and kill her. But let the one among you who has never sinned cast the first stone.” And the Bible says that one by one, those people dropped their rocks and split.
Now there’s this woman at Jesus’ feet. I’m sure this fearful, crying, and probably half or completely naked, humiliated woman. Jesus looks down at her and says, “Who condemns you, woman?” She gets her courage up and looks up, perhaps for the first time, thinking she will be facing her killers. She sees everyone is gone, and replies, I’m sure with unbelievable surprise and relief, “No one, Lord.” Jesus replies, “Neither do I condemn you. Go now, and leave your life of sin.”
That story always gives me chills. Both the stunning brilliance of Christ’s response, and the mercy, the grace, the compassion, the love he poured out on this woman.
Remember Isaiah’s portrait, 700 years earlier:
Isaiah 42:3 (MSG)
3 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.
My friends, Jesus will bring deliverance to this world, and deliverance into your life, but not through blunt force or power. He will not lose sight of those who are aching and broken, those who, often through their own terrible choices, have humiliated themselves and are wandering around dizzy from being battered by life. He will bring deliverance to this world, but not at the expense of the little people, not by causing them pain or ignoring them or casting them aside. Jesus is the deliverer of mankind, but he is not caught up in his own power and unable to care about your life, and your feelings, and your situation. Do you know what this means? His deliverance will not be a deliverance you will expect. It will look different than what you think because he will not force it on you, and will not try to prove it to you. Jesus will love you, respect you (even when you don’t deserve it), graciously forgive you. Yet, just like he did with this woman, he will not overlook your sin. He will not act like you have not done anything wrong. His words to her, “Go now and leave your life of sin,” are words to you and to me as well. I ask you to hear those words today. Leave your life of sin. Leave your life in the hands of a God who knows your sin, who knows what you have done, and who knows, like you, that because of it you deserve bad things. And who, in spite of that, will forgive you anyway, love you anyway – but who will ask you to stop sinning, ask you to turn your back on your old way of life and enter into a new one.
Isaiah 42:4 (MSG)
4 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."
That’s what Isaiah said would be true of the deliverer. He’ll never give up. He’ll do whatever it takes. He’ll pay any price. He’ll go to any length. He’ll leave heaven and come to earth to live in squalor. He’ll work a regular job and have brothers and sisters and parents and friends. He’ll be baptized and teach in the synagogue. He’ll touch and heal people with nasty diseases, choose and patiently teach his disciples, fast and pray when he is unsure what to do, leave us with some of the most incredible wisdom ever uttered by a human being, endure an intense beating, and go all the way to the cross to get the job done, but he won’t tire out, and he won’t quit. That’s the snapshot I want you to see of who he was and what deliverance meant to him. And what it cost him to deliver you, and this world, from the awful consequences of sin.
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…
He will finish the work he started in you. He will finish what he began in this world.
I ask you this morning, have you heard the story and are you ready? Don’t respond one second before you are ready. But are you? Have you realized this morning how your deliverer works, that he will not force himself on you, that he tells the story and waits for you to be ready, to receive insight into your need for Him and His forgiving mercy and grace? Christian here today, do you need to give up being a doomsayer and become a peace-prayer? Do you need to pray that God would complete the work he began in this world and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven?
Will you pray with me? If you are ready today, I want to encourage you to pray along with me the simplest prayer I have ever offered to bring people to faith in Jesus. Just say it with me in your own heart. “Jesus, I have heard your story and today, Christmas Eve 2006, I am ready. I turn away from my old way of life. Please forgive my sin right now and help me live for you as intentionally as I used to live for myself. Let this Christmas be the start of a brand new life for me.”
For believers here, you might pray along these lines, “God, I have been a pessimist about this world and your love for it, and your plans for it. I don’t know the future, or what you will do or allow, but I know I need to pray that your will would be done in this world, and that I need to be a peacemaker. I surrender negativity and fear and anxiety, and I embrace your joy and your peace and your plan for this world, whatever it may be, and I commit to praying regularly that your will would be done. In the name of the Deliverer whose birth we celebrate, Amen.
