ISAIAH 49:1-7
THE SERVANT OF RESTORATION
[Philippians 2:6-11]
Chapter 49 begins another section of the book. It begins with the second Servant passage and reveals the Servant of God who restores His people so that salvation reaches the ends of the earth.
So the focus shifts from the physical captivity of Israel to the moral and spiritual captivity of Israel and the whole world. God has promised to liberate His people from Babylonia captivity, yet physical freedom does not automatically translated in to spiritual liberty and service. How is God going to take a rebellious people and make them His servant? God will do so by His Servant in whom the glory of God resides. He will restore His people and make them a light He will send into the dark world.
Though this reading is a prophecy to help people identify who the Messiah is, it can be helpful for us to. Our passage will help us understand what it means to be a servant of God.
I. GOD’S CONCEALED SERVANT, 1-4.
II. GOD’S COMMISSIONED SERVANT, 5-6.
III. GOD’S CHOSEN SERVANT, 7.
God’s Servant is the speaker in verses 1-5. Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called Me from the womb; from the body of My mother He named Me.
Just like the Lord Almighty, the one speaking summoned the islands or continents (41:1) and those peoples distant from God to listen (46:3) to Him because of His special "calling" from the Lord. This One has been called into human flesh that all peoples might hear Yahweh’s purpose. God told Joseph and Mary to name Him Jesus even while she was carrying Him in her womb (Mt. 1:21; Lk. 1:31).
Verse 2 reveals God’s special preparation of this One. And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me. And He has also made Me a select arrow. He has hidden Me in His quiver.
This Servant was concealed by the hand of Yahweh until the divinely appointed time. During that period of concealment His mouth was equipped to be a sharpened sword. This means that His mouth would develop the capacity to speak formidably for God. [It could be a weapon to destroy the disobedient (1:20; Heb. 4:12; Rev. 1:16; 19:15).] He will accomplish God’s will not by military force but by a revelation of God’s Word. God’s Word is more powerful than all the armies of man. It is God’s Word that causes breaking down and building up. This Servant would bring God’s fullest and purest Word to man.
[Cyrus will restore the nation to Jerusalem by military power, but the restoration of the Servant would be accomplished by something far greater. The nations would be restored by the revelation of His life. Oswalt, Isaiah 40-66, 290]
He was also likened to a sharp arrow, or a polished shaft, held in readiness for battle against the enemy. He was a prepared effective weapon of God. Israel was used in spite of its qualifications. This One will be used because of His qualifications.
Every time we open our Bibles, we need to open our hearts to the searching power of God’s Word. Hebrews 4:12 says the Word can reach to the depths of our souls in making God’s truth known to us. One way we can prepare ourselves for this encounter with God is to pray for a willing spirit and listening ear as we study. I suggest you write the words of Hebrews 4:12 on a card and use it as a book mark in your Bible for a month. The card will be a reminder to begin your daily study with prayer.
Verse 3 indicates the important purpose of God’s Messiah. And He said to Me, "You are My Servant, Israel, in Whom I will show My glory."
In order that all will realize not only His importance, but the importance of His mission He is called YAHWEH’S Servant. The Servant was to display God’s splendor (Isa. 49:3; 60:21; 61:3). God has been appointed Him for this particular task and as a result of His work, God will be seen in all His beauty (42:23; 60:21; 61:3).
Why is the Servant here called Israel? This cannot refer to the nation because the Servant is to draw that nation back to God. The Messiah is called Israel because He fulfills what Israel should have done. In His person and work He exemplifies the nation.
Verses 1-3 reminds us that every servant of God’s is ministering because God has taken the initiative to: Select them as a servant, to prepare them as a servant, and to be showcases of God’s love. Verses 1-3 also seem to indicate that this qualified Servant would be amazing successful, but that was not to be so. His success is found not on earth but with God.
At times you may feel exactly like verse 4. But I said, "I have toiled in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity. Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the Lord, and My reward with My God."
Given the Servant’s calling, His preparation, and His empowerment one might expect Him to experience triumph in His service. This Servant though would not experience earthy victory. The Servant saw little visible reward for His service. No change was evident in the nation by which the Servant could claim He had accomplished what He set out to do (John 1:11). [In vain (tohu, formlessness) is a Genesis term describing the formless chaos out of which God formed creation. For nothing (hebel, meaningless, vanity, emptiness) is used in Ecclesiastes for life’s lack of meaning, result and purpose.]
No Christian can read these words without relating them to the ministry of Jesus Christ. When He died, what had He accomplished? To all appearances, nothing. By every measure of the world, his life had been futile. Yes He could cry, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mt. 27:46).
The frustration reality didn’t blot out another reality, and here is where the Servant’s, certainty of calling and identity come into play. It was true that the Servant would experience the depression of humanity but it was also true that He knew Who He was and Whose He was, and therefore placed His work of faith in God.
On the one hand, He had feelings of futility with His life and on the other hand, He trusted God with His life’s ministry. Trust has ultimately to do with the final outcome, and of this the Servant is fully confident. It is God, the God who called him, equipped him, and is using Him, who will make the final justice (mispat, justice) concerning the Servant’s work. God, not the world, not even the Servant, will make the final decision concerning the, worth of that work (pe’ulla, "recompense for work"; 40: 10). Thus the Servant’s attitude is rather like that of Paul in Rom. 8:31-39 or 1 Cor. 4:1-5. God is His judge, no other. He trusted that in due time God would reward Him (50:8; 53:10-12; 1 Tim 3:16). [Oswalt, Isaiah 40-66, 292]
II. GOD’S COMMISSIONED SERVANT, 5-6.
In verse 5 the Servant moves to an explicit statement about His mission. And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, in order that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the Lord, And My God is My strength),
From the Servant’s conception as a human He was formed to do God’s will. The Messiah’s commission is to restore Jacob and Israel (40:27) to the Lord. [Note, Israel cannot be the servant because Israel is restored by the Servant.]
Accepting the assignment not only meant bringing glory to Yahweh (42:8, 12; 48:11) but also to be honored in the eyes of the Lord. The LORD God promised to share His glory and power with His Servant.
God addresses His Servant in verse 6. He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
This appointed Servant will be so strengthen that simply saving and restoring the remnant in Israel is too small a task. This Servant’s new responsibilities was to be a light of the gentiles (42:6; Acts 26:23). The Servant will not be the means of God’s salvation, He will be God’s salvation, the Light of the World (Lk. 2:30-32; Jn 8:12; 9:5).
Through an individual Israelite Yahweh will not only realize His purpose in Israel but will accomplish His intention for the nations as well. What is His purpose? That His salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
III. GOD’S CHOSEN SERVANT, 7.
The Lord’s promise to the Servant is seen in verse 7. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers, "Kings shall see and arise, Princes shall also bow down; Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You."
The Servant will be despised and abhorred by the people. He is not only seen as unworthy of attention but as offensive. The Lord assured Him though that in contrast to His earthly treatment He would succeed in His ministry to the Gentiles. Kings and princes will bow down to Him because He has been chosen by the Lord. In His first coming Jesus Christ was rejected by His own people (John 1:10-11), but at His second coming all will bow before Him (Phil. 2:10-11). To be the chosen of God does not mean glory along the way, but it will mean glory at the end of the way.
D.L. Moody told of the time when WILLIAM CAREY, the great missionary, was at a party attended by the governor-general of India. Also present were military officers, who viewed Carey with contempt. One of the officers said, "I believe that Carey was a shoemaker, wasn’t he, before he took up the profession of a missionary?"
Carey spoke up with typical humility. "Oh no I wasn’t a shoe maker I was a cobbler. I didn’t make shoes I only mend shoes," and he wasn’t ashamed of it. Moody saw in Carey’s attitude a reflection of Christ. Moody wrote, ’The one prominent virtue of Christ was His humility. . . . In His entire submission and dependence on His Father, this virtue-consummated in His death on the cross-shines out." Jesus the Messiah demonstrated this beautiful humility as He set aside the glory and privileges of being in heaven with God the Father to become God’s Servant on earth. Jesus is the Servant-King, who came the first time to give His life as a ransom for sinners and win return a second time to claim His throne.
CONCLUSION / RESPONSE
Today’s prophecy is especially intriguing because in it, the unborn Servant Himself speaks about His unique ministry and relationship to the Lord God. We can read these verses with an insight Isaiah didn’t possess, because we see their fulfilment in the events of Jesus’ life.
Sometime in eternity past God the Father designated His Son to be Israel’s Messiah and Savior. Before Jesus the Christ was born God had called, commissioned, and chosen Him to be the light of the world (Acts 13:47). Christ offered salvation to all nations and His disciples began the missionary movement to take the gospel to the ends of the earth (41:5; 42:10; 48:20).
God’s servants have been commissioned to share the light of the good news with the nations of the world. Missionary work today still continues obeying Jesus’ Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20) to take His life saving and life restoring Gospel to the ends of the earth.
