1.19.20 Isaiah 49:1-7
Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
4 But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”
5 And now the LORD says— he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength—
6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
7 This is what the LORD says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down,
because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Now listen to me. You say that to someone when you really want them to pay attention. Jesus is speaking to us through the prophet Isaiah, seven hundred years before He took on flesh. This was important for the Israelites to hear, but also for us. He specifically mentions the “islands” and the “distant nations.” It goes to show that the Old Testament wasn’t only written for the Jews. This is a universal book that we need to listen to. It contains divine revelation that God says, “You need to hear this if you want to see the Light!”
What do we need to hear? God’s servant has been called and is being prepared for battle. God had planned for this long before it ever happened. He exists prior to becoming human through the virgin Mary, and He is going to be called Jesus, which means “the Lord saves.” He is going to come to this earth and make war.
God pictures Himself as a warrior ready for battle, and He has some hidden weapons He is ready to fire. You think of the sword that was carried in the sheath. The handle usually would stick out, but His hand was over the handle so it couldn’t be seen. He is ready for direct combat, but He is also ready for long distance combat as well. He has arrows concealed in his quiver. They would come out in 700 years.
The weapons are connected with His mouth and not with His hands. His words would cut. This reminds us of what God says about His Word in Hebrews 4:12, “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Jesus had a way of cutting through people to get to the heart of the matter.
the Samaritan woman wanted to get into an argument about Jewish vs. Samaritan religion. Jesus pointed out by revelation that she had been living in five adulterous relationships in order to get her to repent, and then pointed her to Himself as the Messiah. (John 4)
the people of Nazareth started to reject Him because of their familiarity with Him in growing up there. So Jesus told them about how God rejected the Jews and sent Elijah to a widow at Zarephath - a Gentile - because of their unbelief - similar to what the people of Nazareth were doing. (Luke 4)
he never held back against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. When they tried to condemn him for healing a man on the Sabbath, he called them out for saying it was ok to rescue a donkey from a ditch on a Sabbath, as if donkeys were more important than humans. (Luke 14:5)
The point I’m making is that His words stung people, and they sting us too. In the Sermon on the Mount He took the Law to the extreme when He said that people’s righteousness had to surpass that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law if they wanted to get to heaven. (Matthew 5:20) He didn’t mess around with nice little rules and regulations on how to be a better sinner. He called the whole world wicked and under the control of the evil one. Again, He did this in order to get people to repent and look to HIM as their Savior. God’s design was that Jesus would stand out as THE Light in a sin darkened world. He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
This next verse always has sounded strange to me. They don’t sound like words that would come from a perfect Messiah. But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. How could Jesus say these things? They seem so hopeless! But think about what Jesus went through. His own townspeople tried to throw Jesus off of a cliff. His own family tried to take control of Jesus when He was in His public ministry because they thought He was out of His mind - overly obsessed with His ministry. (Mark 3:21) The religious leaders of His day all rejected Him and claimed He was demon possessed. No matter how many miracles He performed, even raising Lazarus from the dead after FOUR DAYS, they only wanted to kill Jesus. Living in humility, within the confines of reason, you would have to wonder, “What good is all of this work doing?”
Maybe this troubles us because we equate faith with putting on a happy face, as if people with faith could never wonder how this all works out in the end? We seem to equate faith with optimism. But there is also reality to deal with. As a pastor, it is very sad for me to see so many young adults just abandon worship and Christian living so quickly after being confirmed. So many seem to openly ignore what they’ve been taught in the Third Commandment or the Sixth Commandment. Here you spend hours and hours teaching the basics of the Bible, and what good does it all do in the end? I’m sure you’ve had the same frustrations with your children and grandchildren - it’s even more personal for you. Or maybe it’s an inner turmoil, where you keep on repenting and keep on seeking strength to deal with a weakness, but it keeps on coming back again and again. Some just give up and quit. Why even try?
But it’s interesting to see how Jesus deals with this seeming lack of production and return for His work. He says, “Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” He entrusted the reward to God. He let God the Father take care of the results. It reminds me of the classic movie “The Karate Kid.” Daniel is told by Mr. Miyagi, “Wax on, wax off.” Hour after hour he goes, and he finally blows up and demands to know what good it is to do the wax on and wax off. So finally Mr. Miyagi starts throwing punches at Daniel, only to have him feign off the blocks by using the same motion he was using to put the wax on and the wax off. Then it all made sense. Jesus, however, didn’t throw a fit and demand to see results. He just trusted that the results would be what they would be. He would only do what God called Him to do. He’d keep swinging the sword and using the arrows in hopes that sooner or later the weapons would hit their mark and people would see that He really was the Messiah.
God calls us to be faithful. He doesn’t call us to be successful. Don’t we need the same reminders in life? How often do we quit and give up because we aren’t getting the results we wanted. So we stop praying for someone. We stop reaching out. We stop taking care of someone that needs our help, because we don’t get the appreciation we wanted. When we quit, or when we complain the whole time we are doing something, we aren’t being faithful. Leave the rewards up to God. Be faithful in the way you raise your children. Be faithful in prayer. Be faithful at your job. Be faithful as a spouse.
It may seem that you aren’t getting anywhere with what you’re doing, and maybe it isn’t doing a whole lot of good in the end. But that doesn’t mean you should contribute to the failure by not doing what you’re called to do. What if Jesus had said, “Look at how many millions of people are rejecting me. Forget it, I might as well quit.” Well then, our sins would never have been paid for. We wouldn’t even have a chance of salvation. We’d all be without hope. But He didn’t do that. He kept on speaking the truth, even when it led to His own crucifixion and death. He was faithful to death, even though He knew that many would never receive the benefits of His salvation. Thank God for that! It’s why we can stand here forgiven for the many times we have given up prematurely. It’s what makes us love Him so much, because He is so faithful with us too! He doesn’t give up on us. When we want to give up on ourselves even, God assures us that we are forgiven and that He still loves us and wants us to continue on. It may be that nobody notices what you’re doing behind the scenes. Don’t worry about that. Let God take care of the results. Say to yourself, Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God.
But it’s also neat how God then answers His statement. He doesn’t just tell Jesus to shut up and do His job. He answers it in two wonderful ways -
Now the LORD says— “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” . . . “Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
That first phrase - I love it the way God the Father answers the Son in His humility. “It is too small a thing.” What is too small for God? For Jesus to restore the tribes of Jacob. Now think about that! I’ve been watching a documentary on the Vietnam War, and according to the documentary Ho Chi Minh originally wanted to unite the Vietnamese people to their own independence by chasing out the French who had occupied Vietnam some time before. Somehow the Americans got involved in the process and the country was split in two. The north tried to attack the south several times, only to lose thousands of soldiers and further alienate the two sides. Thousands of soldiers lost their lives and their Vietnam never was reunited. The point I’m getting at is that for ONE PERSON to restore EVEN ONE COUNTRY would be a mighty feat indeed!
But in God’s eyes, even if Jesus were to come and save the Jews, which would be millions of people, that would be TOO SMALL! No - He was sent to be a light to the Gentiles as well - to bring His salvation to the ENDS of the EARTH! If Jesus was wondering what good it would be if His fellow Jews all rejected Him, Jesus was pointed to His big mission - to save the WORLD.
Isaiah prophesied how powerful Jesus’ work would be and what it would accomplish. Yes, he would be DESPISED and ABHORRED by the nation of Israel, and isn’t that a sad thing! But as a consequence of their rejection and their death sentence on Jesus, kings and princes would bow down to him. Why? Because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
How else could you describe it but by an act of God - that an awful and terrible death would actually ATTRACT people to God! Yet God would see to it that Jesus’ work would have eternal rewards when people from far and wide would come to faith in Jesus. This reminds me of what John wrote in Revelation 7:9
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
I mentioned this last week, but it bears repeating. Isn’t it amazing to think about how we come together to worship Jesus, having lived two thousand years after His appearance on earth and thousands of miles away from where He lived? I mean, who would have dreamt of such a thing - that thousands of churches across the world all revolve our lives around this one Person? Think about how many songs have been made which revolve around His life and His words? Artists and musicians have made thousands of renditions of His words and actions.
Think about what attracts us the most! Every year we walk through even the darkest of times in Jesus’ ministry, pouring over the denial of Peter and the betrayal of Judas. We have sung His words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” with plenty of different tunes. We are attracted to the God who is despised and rejected by men, because His rejection means our salvation. All of this is the result of the Holy Spirit bringing us to faith. Jesus could look back to this prophecy and be reassured, His work would not be in vain.
I have 1 Corinthians 15:58 on the wall in my office. It reads, “Your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” I revised this sermon on Wednesday night at 6:30, after nobody showed up for the first Bible Information Class that was offered. Some asked if I wanted to move into Pastor Starr’s, but I want to keep that verse on my wall in my office. It reminds me that my work is not empty. I need to remember that when I see how many people are missing - I also need to see how many are HERE. God’s Word and sacrament still work!
My labor is not in vain, and neither is yours. Be faithful in your prayers. Be faithful in your worship. Be faithful in the sacrament, and let God be God. He will faithfully keep forgiving you. He will faithfully keep your faith and hope alive. He will faithfully work through you and in you. Don’t give up on life and on doing what you’re called to do. Keep on clinging to Jesus, and wait for heaven to see the ultimate results. Amen.
