Isaiah chapter 42

CHAPTER XLII 

YAHWEH'S SERVANT GIVEN FOR A COVENANT. 

AN attentive study of the prophets shows that there is a national and individual application of their writings; the basis being always the true "Israel of God," that ( is " the elect," Christ and his brethren, for whose sake are all things, whether " the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come" (1 Cor. iii. 22). God had spoken to this kernel of the nation as it were in ch. xli. 8, exhorting them to " Fear not." " Thou Israel art my servant, Jacob, whom 1 have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend " . . " Fear thou not." Here the " servant" is the elect of the nation, for it was these against whom the adversary was " incensed " ; and it was these alone who had no cause to fear, and who should be " chosen and not cast away." But in the opening of ch. xlii., Jacob is called upon to behold God's individual " SERVANT," full of the Spirit of God, a quiet but invincible Man, who should be given for a covenant of the people, and for a light of the Gentiles, Many Jews and Gentiles have blundered over this distinction. The Jews, in their blind and impotent objections to Jesus, press the national view to the exclusion of the individual " Servant " of Yahweh ; a procedure which infallibly involves them in endless incongruities, particularly in Isa. liii. As to the Gentiles : whatever belief in Jesus there may be in Christendom, there is little indeed in the true " service" he is to perform in " bringing Jacob again to God," in " the restitution of all things" of which the prophets have spoken. Isaiah and his faithful brethren, of course, knew that the ** Servant " here spoken of was the promised " Son of David," and of God, a man delightful to God, " Immanuel," born of a virgin of the house of David, according to the word of the Lord given to Isaiah in the days of Ahaz. But neither Isaiah nor any of his contemporaries could look forward with absolutely clear vision to his relation to Israel and the Gentiles in the days of his flesh and afterwards. It was a strange proclamation: " He shall not strive nor cry," though full of the spirit of the Lord, and anointed to deliver Israel. What could be the explanation ? Looking back now, after 2,600 years, it is plain to be seen. Matthew, quoting this chapter (Matt. xii. 14-21), shows that when Jesus, by his miracles, attracted attention and admiration on the part of the people, and excited envy and murderous hatred on the part of the leaders of the people, he withdrew from the public gaze and " charged them that they should not make him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my Servant whom I have chosen; my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased : I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry ; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust." He was no popular agitator or revolutionary of the type of Theudas, Judas of Galilee, or Bar Cochbar. These had their places, in their day and generation, in the work of God on earth; but the difference between them and Jesus was that they sought to subvert the ascendancy of the Gentiles, and to set up a Jewish dominion on the " this world" basis, the substitution of a further manifestation of Jewish mortal rebellion for the galling Gentile oppression. Whereas Jesus, by the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of God and the laying down of his life for the confirmation in his hlood of the everlasting covenant, sought to take out a people for the Father's name on principles of faith and obedience, that these, with him. might reign deathlessly over the restored nation " in the regeneration," when he should come in his glory and sit upon the throne of David in Mount Zion. 

This was a quiet work in its first stages, though in its ultimate development it involves devouring and destruction such as earth has not known since the days of Noah's flood. " A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench." Pharaoh, in the estimation of Rabshakeh about the time Isaiah spoke, was " a bruised reed"—that is, a useless man to rely on. Israel in apostacy, in the days of Abijah, was a " shaken reed," to be smitten of the Lord and uprooted (1 Kings xiv. 15). John the Baptist, on the other hand, was not " a reed shaken with the wind" (Matt. xi. 7), but a good staff to lean upon, a man who was "more than a prophet," even the Lord's messenger to prepare his way, " a burning and a shining light," in whom the Jews were willing for a short season to rejoice. These comparisons and contrasts elucidate the beautiful figures of the prophecy. The beloved " Servant," at his first coming, would neither break away any such " reeds" in Israel, nor put out the feeblest of " burning lights." He would strengthen and enlighten, and defer judgment to a distant day. He himself was no " broken reed" nor smoky light; but a strong and beautiful "rod out of the stem of Jesse," and "a burning and shining light" that eclipsed John altogether, even " the light of the world," " the true light," to whom John so emphatically gave witness (John i.). This is the comparison made in verse 4 of this chapter of Isaiah, as is better seen in the Revised Version, adopting the marginal readings, which are to be preferred. " He shall not burn dimly, nor be bruised (in the sense of being broken) till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law." And so it came to pass. He shone brightly in Israel during the time appointed, and though given for a sacrifice, he was not prevailed against, but like Aaron's rod that budded and blossomed and brought forth fruit though cut off, he survived by resurrection, that the pleasure of the Lord might prosper in his hand. The proclamations made throughout these chapters concerning the " Servant " of Yahweh are very emphatic in their revelations of the Majesty of the Father "of whom are all things." Trinitarian doctrine has obscured the doctrine of the Old and New Testaments concerning the Unity of God ; but it has arisen out of the perverse disputings of men who let go the Word. This chapter, among others, shows clearly how the Father is the Source of all the power to be manifested in the Son, His beloved Servant. The words, **My servant, whom I uphold,11 are an example. So also it is said, " / have put my spirit upon him." "I, Yahweh, have called thee in righteousness and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant.11 Much more of like import could be quoted from this and other passages of Isaiah. The doctrine is that all things are of God, and that the Servant should be a manifestation of God in human nature, u Immanuel," "God with us." The names of God, in their revelation by the prophets, all agree in this. In chapter xli. we saw how God proposed to reveal Himself, in a " First One" and then in a multitude, " the Last Ones." In this chapter this is further related to a Covenant, the Mediator of which should be the " First One" in question. In verse 5 it says: " Thus saith God the Lord." But this by no means expresses the idea of the words Isaiah was inspired to use. It is : " Thus saith Ail himself, Yahweh." The idea is that the ONE POWER of the Universe, HE WHO WILL BE manifested for ever in Israel, says thus and so. The Name Ail, which occurs some twenty-five times in Isaiah, means, radically, Power, and the question at issue in Israel was, Who or what is the great Power? the God of Israel or the gods of the nations after whom Israel was so often wandering ? The affirmation of the Father through Isaiah was throughout this part of his prophecy. " I am Ail, and there is none else" (xlvi. 9: xliii. 10-12: xlv. 22). Further, the revelation was that this One Power was "Yahweh" who revealed Himself to Moses at the bush, and would, according to this later revelation, reveal Himself in the Servant who would be the long-promised prophet like unto Moses. All this is lost when the ideas underlying " God " and " Lord " are not perceived; and the exclusively Israelitish character of the divine work is also obscured. In verse 8, we read, in the English version, " I am the Lord, that is my name." And if we neither know that " Lord" wrongly represents Yahweh, nor what doctrinal truth " Yahweh " stands for, we cannot enter into the counsel of God in the matter.

But to return to the proclamation in verse 5 : " Thus saith Ail himself (Ha Ail), Yahweh, he that created the heavens and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and Spirit to them that walk therein: I, Yahweh, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am Yahweh, that is my name ; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." This is a challenge to all the earth, as well as a gracious proclamation in and for Israel. It raised the question, Was it indeed Yahweh who created all things, and gave breath and spirit to all people ? The question has been always before the world wherever the Jewish revelation came. It is with us to-day, and is hotly debated in many circles. The answer, likewise, is with us, more completely now than ever before. In Israel's history, it was .given frequently by works of power that left no reasonable doubt behind. The time of the sojourn in Egypt, the plagues of the Exodus, the crossing of the Red Sea, the Manna in the Wilderness, the crossing of the Jordan, the destruction, of the Nations of Canaan, the burning of Elijah's sacrifice on Mount Carmel, and many other mighty works attested the great truth of Yahweh's existence and supremacy over the ordinances of heaven and earth and the gods of the nations. But now a new test is laid down, a new assurance given •concerning the Coming One. And in Jesus the promises, so far as they concern the initial part of his mission, have been redeemed. At the appointed time he came, declaring that he was sent of the Father in righteousness. Acknowledged by direct voice and sign from heaven at his baptism, he wrought miracles which he declared were but the manifestation of " the finger of God." Word and work he attributed to the " Spirit of the Lord " upon him. And above all, he laid down his life, declaring beforehand that his shed blood was "the Mood of the new covenant, shed for many for the remission of sins.11 A covenant in the divine dealings with Israel, consisted in the typical confirmation of divine promises by the shedding of the blood of animals according to the divine appointment. The original word conveys this idea—a hilling and eating. The case of Abraham (Gen. xv.) ; and the giving of the Law (Ex. xxiv. 7-8), are illustrations. And in the Passover, which was instituted before the Law was given, the flesh of the slain lamb roasted with fire was eaten, after its blood had been sprinkled on door-post and lintel, in the night on which God brought Israel out of the "house of bondage" of Egypt. This being the idea of a covenant, what is to be understood when God says He will give His beloved Servant for a covenant, to open blind eyes and bring prisoners out of prison ? It is not only in this place that it is so said. The promise is repeated in ch. xlix. 8. " I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant." Again, Dan. ix. 27, " He (Messiah the Prince) shall confirm the covenant." And again, Zech. ix. 11, " As for thee (0 King of Zion), hy the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." What, then, is to be understood ? Manifestly that the Beloved Servant, Messiah the Prince, the King of Zion, must be put to death as a sacrifice, and rising from the dead, according to the scriptures, be endowed with all power to raise up his prisoners of hope and carry out the terms of the covenants of promise that God made with the fathers. These were the things to be looked for in harmony with many other scriptures which spoke of the sufferings of the Christ and the glory that should follow. If these things be not fulfilled thus far in Jesus, for whom does Israel look ? Will they say that the nation is the servant in this place ? How could the nation be given for a covenant? Nay, it is "Messiah," "thy King," who is for a covenant of the people, as well as a light of the Gentiles. A smoky light has the nation been, for the Gentiles or itself. The Jews are very complacent in their assurances that " Israel is the prophet among the nations," preserved to enlighten the world. They will know better when their King returns from heaven and exhibits in his hands and side the evidences of his having been " given for a covenant." 

Many "blind eyes" were opened by Jesus in his ministry, and many prisoners liberated from darkness and bondage. Literally he gave sight to the blind and raised the dead. And this he accounted not more wonderful than calling men out of their native darkness and enlightening them in the gospel of the kingdom of God. Matthew quotes Isa. ix., identifying Jesus as the " great light " that shone in the regions of Galilee among a people who " sat in darkness . . . and the shadow of death " (Matt. iv. 16). What was done then, though a mighty work, was small by comparison with the greater work that lies in the future—the full enlightenment of Israel and the Gentiles. But the world has seen the earnest of it in the coming to pass of what the prophets have spoken concerning the time that has so far elapsed. When it was said, " I am Yahweh, that is my name," Israel was directed to the revelation of the Memorial Name in the days of Moses. It reminded them of God's gracious and everlasting purpose in the covenants with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob concerning the Land in which they sojourned and the " Seed" for which, if faithful, they looked. And when it was added: " My glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images" ; it was a rebuke of the then current idolatry, the relics of which are being dug up in the hills of Judea at this day. And the appeal : " Behold the former things are come to pass," was one that could not be rejected by the least learned of Israel who knew the most elementary facts of the nation's history. Had not God brought them out of Egypt and given them the Land as He had promised ? Had He not chastened them for their iniquities and delivered them in their distresses when they cried unto Him ? Had He not given them a King in the tribe of Judah as He had promised ? Nothing had thus far failed. And now the new things were foretold that Israel might know when they came to pass that it was the word of the Lord. Who can miss the force of this ? Has not all come to pass? The time, place, and circumstances related to the manifestation of Christ are the most striking and infallibly convincing proofs that it is the word of the Lord that the prophets have spoken. There is no need to particularise; the frequent use of the expression: " that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet" is a New Testament illustration. But, whatever "new things" bore testimony to the truth of God in the days of the preaching of Christ, the greatest of them that should be the occasion and theme of the " new song " (v. 10-12) were still in the future, as they are to-day. When the Father brought Messiah himself " out of the prison house" of the grave, or "the horrible pit,'' He put " a new song" in his mouth, a song of rejoicing and praise to God for the great deliverance (Ps. xl. 3). Many have seen it, and fearedy and trusted in God, as the Psalm goes on to say. But they have not " seen " as he saw—as a matter of personal experience. This they will see when "he cometh to judge the earth" (Ps. xcvi. 1 : xcviii. 1 ; Rev. v. 9-10). Personally sharing in the victory on the scene of their past struggles in the days of their flesh,, when multitudes encountered death in the strife like their Lordr they will " sing, as it were, a new song before the throne " (Rev. xiv. 3), " the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, Ο Lord, and glorify thy name ? for thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before thee ; for thy judgments are made manifest " (Rev. xv. 3-4). But the judgments occasioning the new song were to succeed a long time of divine silence. " I have long time holden my peace; I have been still and refrained myself; now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once" (v. 14). This foreordained silence of God, which has now endured for so long a time since the apostolic age, has been considered in very different ways by different classes of men. God's people, on the one hand, have endured in faith and patience; the blood of thousands crying from the earth for vengeance; and the prayer of all being expressed in the yearnings of the Psalms of David: " Why standest thou afar off, Ο Lord, why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?" (Ps. x. 1). "Arise, Ο God, plead thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily" (Ps. lxxiv. 22). The adversary, on the other hand, has misinterpreted the silence of God altogether, even to the extent of construing it as evidence of His non-existence ! There is trouble, say they in effect, and He doth not deliver us ; there is wickedness untold, and He doth not arise to judgment. Therefore He is not. Therefore, we must steer the course of our own troubled lives without regard to Him, or the more or less mythical documents that the Jews wish to foist upon us as the revelation of His will that claims our obedience. From all such deadly fallacies the word delivers us. " The silence of God " is as much a part of His purpose as the thunders of Sinai, and as plainly announced beforehand. It is not alone here that it has been foretold. Micah about the same time foretold a night of darkness for Israel, wherein should be no " vision," " no answer of God" (Mic. iii. 6). Amos foretold a " famine, not of bread, but of hearing the words of the Lord " (Amos viii. 11-12). There was a break in this famine when Jesus was manifested in Israel as " the bread of Life " ; but when he ascended into heaven, and the apostolic age passed, famine again supervened; and so far as the voice of divine authority is concerned, endures to the present day. The written Word is all that is left us ; and is the most direct approach that can now be made to the mind of God. Seeing this was predetermined, we are reconciled to it, and cleave to the Word in the assurance that the " silence of God" will presently be broken as He has declared. " The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem." So all the prophets testify (Isa. xlii. 13; Jer. xxv. 30; Hos. xi. 10; Joel iii. 16 ; Amos i. 2). When this occurs, and His judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Bat before this terrible time follows the prevailing silence, there have been prepared a people who have believed and obeyed notwithstanding that silence. Israel's blindness has been the Gentile's opportunity. These have partaken of the holy things which Israel short-sightediy rejected. This is before us in Isaiah's prophecy in this place, and in a later message still more clearly. Rebuking the idolaters, God says : " Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind but my servant ? or deaf as my messenger that I sent ? Who is blind as he that is at peace with me (R.V.), and blind as the Lord's servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not." Here the national " servant" comes into view again, the national "messenger," or rather the leaders in the priesthood; " For the priests' lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth ; for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts" (Mai. ii. 7). But this " messenger" became culpably blind and deaf, though professing great acuteness of mental vision, and though " seeing many things " with the natural eyes, and hearing the words of God which Jesus spoke. When he came, he encountered the " messenger" and showed him " many things." He healed a man born blind (John ix.), and thereby came in collision, with the Pharisees because he had done it on the sabbath. They therefore blindly pronounced him a "sinner"; and when the man maintained the contrary on account of his eyesight, they excommunicated him. And Jesus, finding him, further enlightened him mentally and morally, and said, " For judgment am I come into this world, that they which see not, might see; and that they which see, might he made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin : but now ye say, We see ; therefore your sin remaineth." This incident graphically illustrates the blindness of the Lord's " servant" and " messenger," who saw these things, and yet could not see Jesus in the true light, and who heard his words, and yet could not hear aright. " Why," said he, " do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word (logos, doctrine)." " They could not believe, because Esaias said, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted and I should heal them " (John viii. 43: xii. 39). From all this, it appears (as from other scriptural considerations) that men may become so hardened that even " many miracles" may fail to cause them to see the truth. This blindness is incurable; but the blindness that is merely native ignorance, and not related to deliberate wickedness, is not so, as Jesus says. Many such blind persons were enlightened by the preaching of Jesus and the apostles, while the leaders of the nation wandered on in darkness unto judgment and death. But if the national " servant" and " messenger" was blind and deaf, the individual " Servant" and " Messenger of the Covenant " was not. The Spirit of the Lord rested upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and made him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, so that oven in the days of his flesh he judged not after the sight of his eyes, nor reproved after the hearing of his ears, but with divine insight and justice (Isa. xi.). "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake ; he will magnify the law and make it honourable." God, in Christ, magnified the law and vindicated it against the blind and deaf who were corrupters of God's way. While these stumbled and fell, the word was fulfilled which said, " Build up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples " (Isa. viii. 16). These were the people in whose heart was the law of God (Isa. li. 7), who were not to fear the reproach of men, and in whom the righteousness of the law was fulfilled in that they walked not after the flesh but after the spirit (Rom. viii. 4). Christ himself said he was not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfil (Matt. v. 17, 18), and that not a jot or tittle should pass from the law till all was fulfilled. Probed with hard questions, he resolved the law into two great commandments, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind." And, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matt. xxii. 34-40). And he personally illustrated this in perfection, and became " the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth " (Rom. x. 4). He alone of all the sons of men " continued in all things that are written in the law to do them." Yet even he came under the curse of the law, for Paul says, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." " God sent forth His son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. iii. 13: iv. 4). Being sinless and obedient unto death, he was raised from the dead and exalted above all "for his righteousness sake." Thus he "abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, to make in himself of twain (the circumcision and the uncircumcision—Jew and Gentile) one new man, so making peace" (Eph. ii. 15). " In himself "—the way " into Christ" was made plain by the apostolic preaching. "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved: " such was the Lord's commission to them. They preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and repentance and remission of sins " in his name." By this means, while the bulk of Israel were, as Isaiah declared, "a people robbed and spoiled, snared in holes, hid in prison houses, and appointed for a prey" (v. 22), some were delivered. The question, " Who among you will give ear to this ? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come ?" found considerable answer in the days of the apostles, and at one time even " a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." The question is still in season, and Jacob is still spoiled. " Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers ? Did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law." This is the explanation of Israel's unparalleled sufferings. Few indeed discern it aright; but these few the truth has enlightened. And in the national aspirations in Jacob that are now arresting the attention of the world, these few see an earnest of that final redemption of Israel of which the prophet goes on to speak