Isaiah 49: 1 - 7

Advent

THE MISSION OF THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH

I. His Origin

A. The origin of the Servant of Jehovah (3) is prior to His birth (5a; 7:14).

1. He is called from the womb (of Mary and of eternity) to the office of Mediator, to be the Savior and Redeemer.

2. He is expected to be and His mission is to be a preacher and that in the face of opposition so needs sword and arrow (2).

B. God closely identified the Servant with the kernel of Israel (3).

1. Identified as “My servant,” for He is of God’s choosing, appointing, sending, bringing forth, and supporting.

2. Christ is called “Israel” for He is the head and representative of the whole Israel of God.

II. His task.

A. He is to “bring Jacob again to Him” (5) and “to restore the preserved of Israel,” transforming sinful Israel into godly Israel.

B. It seems He meets failure: “I have laboured in vain and spent my strength for nought” (4) and “Israel be not gathered” (5b).

C.Seeming failure in Israel occasions the Servant of Jehovah is be “a light to the Gentiles.”

1. The gospel of the kingdom which Jesus proclaimed for 3.5 years in Israel, went to the Gentiles.

2. Matthew’s gospel narrative is written for Jews but indicates that if they rejected it, it would go to Gentiles (Matt. 12:21).

III. His glory is that in Him God “will be glorified” (3b). Jehovah’s end in all that He does is His own glorification.

A. Even in the face of seeming failure, He will “be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength” (5c).

B. The cause of the “success” is “because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel…shall choose Thee” (7b).

1. First “in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me,” the protecting hand of Jehovah covered Christ.

2. When God “was found of them that sought Me not;” and “I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me” (Rom.

9:20 quoting Isaiah 65:1,2). Cf. Rom. 11:12,17.

C.We were strangers from Israel, but now we, who were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ.