Read the Bible in 2023 ◊ Week 8: Friday
“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;My chosen one in whom My soul is well‑pleased.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.”
Today’s Bible reading of Isaiah 40–44, begins a new section in the book of Isaiah. While it’s beyond the scope of the purpose of these posts to go into a full background on various theories by theologians who challenge the authorship and dating of Isaiah 40–66, I do want to briefly note that the use of Isaiah by New Testament authors, and by the Lord Jesus, attest to the single authorship of Isaiah. In comparing language and style Dr. Gleason Archer writes:
“Judging from the internal evidence alone, even apart from the authority of the New Testament authors, a fair handling of the evidence can only lead to the conclusion that the same author was responsible for both sections and that no part of it was composed as late as the exile.”1
Chapter 40 begins what Dr. Archer calls the “volume of comfort (Isaiah 40–66).2 He comments on the entire book of Isaiah:
“Isaiah sets forth the doctrine of Christ is such full detail that he has rightly been described as the “evangelical prophet.” Deeper Christological insights are to be found in his work than anywhere else in the Old Testament.”3
Dr. Walt Kaiser concurs:
“Isaiah is one of the most prolific announcers of the Messiah and his times among the OT prophets. Probably for this reason he has sometimes been called “the fifth Evangelist,” along with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. According to some counts, the NT has over four hundred allusions to this book, and parts of forty-seven chapters of Isaiah’s sixty-six are either directly quoted or alluded to in the NT. This means that Isaiah is second on the the book of Psalms as the favorite OT book from which the early church drew its predictions of what happened to Christ.”4
As you read these chapters, you may recognize many familiar passages and favorite Bible verses. Portions were selected by Charles Jennens for the libretto of Handel’s Messiah. The first words of Isaiah 40 are the first words sung in Messiah.
“Speak to the heart of Jerusalem;
And call out to her, that her warfare has been fulfilled,
That her iniquity has been removed,
That she has received from the hand of Yahweh
Double for all her sins.”
A voice is calling,
“Prepare the way for Yahweh in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
Let every valley be lifted up,
And every mountain and hill be made low;
And let the rough ground become a plain,
And the rugged terrain a broad valley;
Then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed,
And all flesh will see it together;
For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”
Isaiah 42:1–4, is quoted in Matthew 12:15–21. As I wrote in Matthew 11–13: Compassion & Confrontation I derived the name Kindling for Candles from Isaiah 42 and Matthew 12.
My chosen one in whom My soul is well‑pleased.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
A crushed reed He will not break
And a faintly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will bring forth justice in truth.
He will not be faint or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
Isaiah 42:1–9 contains the first of the four Servant songs in Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 49:1–13; Isaiah 50:4–9; Isaiah 52:13–53:12). The commentators I’ve read begin these first two Servant songs in Isaiah 42:1 and 49:1, but stop at different places. I’ve linked to the longest passages I’ve seen included in the first and second Servant songs.
Kaiser takes this first song through verse 7. He writes:
“The dominant figure of Isaiah 40–53 is the “servant of the Lord.” Up to chapter 53, the term servant occurs twenty times in the singular. Thereafter it appears eleven more times as “servants.”
“The question of the identity of this servant has always been perplexing. It is clear that God’s servant is often the nation of Israel (twelve instances in eight verses: Isa 41:8–10; 44:1–3, 21; 45:4). But it is just as certain that the servant is an individual who has a mission to Israel and the nations (42:1–4; 49:1–7). When all these passages are put together, that individual turns out to be the Messiah. Therefore, the Servant is best identified as John Bright has noted:
“The figure of the Servant oscillates between the individual and the group….He is the coming Redeemer of the true Israel who in his suffering makes the fulfillment of Israel’s task possible; he is the central actor in the “new thing” that is about to take place [42:9].”5
Kaiser titles Isaiah 42:1–7, “The Servant’s Ministry.”
“John Calvin noted that whenever the prophets mention something that is hard to believe…they often immediately follow with a promise about Christ, since in him all the promises are ratified (2Co 1:20). Thus, Isaiah breaks off his prediction about the man coming from the east and interjects a new word with his attention-getting term in 42:1 (NASB): “Behold” (Heb. hēn).
“The prophet first introduces us to the special relationship that this “servant of the LORD” has with the Father: he is “my servant” (Isa 42:1a), a designation that marks his willingness to carry out the Father’s will and one that we later learn he voluntarily takes upon himself. His second title is “my chosen one” (v. 1b), indicating that he is accepted by God for a special purpose. He will be endowed with God’s Spirit in order to carry out an absolute rule for all that God assigns him to do (v. 1c).
“Likewise, his manner will be extraordinary. He will be a gentle, quiet, humble servant, without the pomp and loud bragging that go with human conquerors (v. 2)…he will support the weak and feeble and save those who are not obstinate and bold. The bruised he will not abuse by breaking them off, as one breaks off a bruised reed. And those who are like smoking wicks, he will trim, but he will not snuff them out (v. 3).
“…His goal will be to establish the rule and kingdom of God on the earth (v. 4)…
“In bringing this about, his zeal will not flag or falter, nor will his strength suddenly abate. For God has called him in righteousness and given to him the necessary power to perform his task (v. 6a-b). God’s plan is to appoint his servant “a covenant [belonging to] … the people” (v. 6c) and as a “light for the Gentiles” (v. 6d). Thus, all the blessings of the covenant are resident in the Messiah, just as the salvation God wants the Gentiles to receive is also in him. He will open the eyes of the blind and set the captives in the dark prison houses free (v. 7). He is God’s Servant par excellence.”6
Kent Hughes includes 42:1–9 in this first Servant song, dividing it into two sections: 42:1–4, “God presents his servant to us,” and in 42:5–9, “God speaks to his servant.” He notes, “The key word in Isaiah 42:1–4 is “justice.” It appears three times.”7 Look at these verses again:
My chosen one in whom My soul is well‑pleased.
I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
A crushed reed He will not break
And a faintly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will bring forth justice in truth.
He will not be faint or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
When R. T. France discusses Matthew quoting Isaiah in Matthew 12, he writes:
“The weak and vulnerable (the smoldering wick is one in danger of going out altogether) are the special object of his mission, and he deals with them with all the gentleness offered to the over-burdened in [Matthew] 11:28–30. Far from letting them be broken and quenched, he will lead them to victory, for in him they will find justice, a word whose scope in the Old Testament is wider than the mere legal vindication, denoting rather the setting right of whatever is not as it should be, ‘the complete establishing of the will of God’.”8
This is Jesus, the Messiah. In Him we find comfort through the forgiveness of our sins. We also find comfort knowing we may be weak or vulnerable because of evil and injustice done to us, but He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will bring forth justice in truth. Until He has established justice in the earth.
May God bless you and comfort you as you read this portion of His Word.
Silvesterzug Laterne: Bk muc. (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Head of Christ: Rembrandt. Public Domain.
1,2,3 Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Moody Press, Chicago IL: 1966, 1974) 351, 327, 326.
4,5,6Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., The Messiah in the Old Testament (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids MI: 1995) 155–156, 173, 174–175.
7Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., Isaiah: God Saves Sinners (Crossway Books, Wheaton IL: 2005) 274, 272.
8R. T. France, The Gospel According to Matthew (Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids MI: 1985) 206–207.
I’m using Michael Coley’s Bible reading plan (one page PDF to print) to read through the Bible in 2023. Each day my posts are on different books because he divides Bible readings into seven categories, one for each day of the week: Epistles, The Law, History, Psalms, Poetry, Prophecy and Gospels. There’s more information on his plan and other ones at Read the Bible in 2023.
Copyright ©2011–2023 Iwana Carpenter
Kindling for Candles 