Christmas 2019: Behold My Son, in Whom I am well pleased, part 14

Class Outline:

Wednesday January 22, 2020

 

 

"My first anxiety has been to be true to the Word of God, allowing it to say what it has to say and not asking it to say what I might want it to say." John Stott, The Cross of Christ. 

 

ISA 42:1 "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold [grasp];

My chosen one in whom My soul delights.

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the nations.

 

ISA 42:2 "He will not cry out or raise His voice,

Nor make His voice heard in the street.

 

ISA 42:3 "A bruised reed He will not break,

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will faithfully bring forth justice.

 

ISA 42:4 "He will not be disheartened or crushed,

Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law."

 

Each of the Servant Songs is followed by a confirmatory comment. In the present song, the Lord confirms the world-wide task of His Servant and pledges its outcome.

 

ISA 42:5 Thus says God the Lord,

Who created the heavens and stretched them out,

Who spread out the earth and its offspring,

Who gives breath to the people on it,

And spirit to those who walk in it,

 

God has created everything and controls everything. So much in control is He that He entered the world as an infant.

 

So, He moves from creation in vs. 5 to providence in vs. 6.

 

ISA 42:6 "I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,

I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you,

And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people,

As a light to the nations,

 

The Father did not call the Lord Jesus and then leave Him to His own devices. Jesus became like us in every way yet without sin. To express His deity during the incarnation would be to infinitely distance Himself from us. This He choose not to do. The King lived just like His subjects; in their temptations, their weakness, their frailty, their finite existence, facing their problems and issues, and by so doing, He can invite us into a kingdom that is made for men; men who have overcome the world and the flesh through Him. We are not to just exist in that kingdom, but to live and move and function in that kingdom in conformity with its substance, which substance is Christ, who was blood, flesh, and bone of humanity. We would have no place in a kingdom made for deity.

 

1CO 15:23-24

But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

 

1CO 15:28

And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all.

 

How does the Son of God subject Himself to the Father after the kingdom of heaven consisting of men is subject to Him? That mystery is just as deep as the mystery of the hypostatic union. Yet, we understand that a human kingdom that is righteous and just must be in subject to God. Rejecting that is what caused the fall and that will not happen again.  

 

If it were any other way we would be outside of His calling, being unable or not sufficient as human beings. But the Father also calls us just as He did the humanity of Christ, and He does not call us and then leave us to our own devices. He holds us by the hand and watches over us just as He did for Jesus.

 

There is always providential preservation for the servant to fulfill the appointed task.

 

Don’t ever doubt this. If the task in front of you, what needs to be done looks too hard, hopeless, not enough time or resources seem to be available; if it should be done, God will get you there. See this, “Behold My Servant,” and rise to the task of the challenge of your life.

 

Some experiences may be like a photo finish or just barely accomplished and you might be exhausted in doing it, but it will be accomplished. He holds you by the hand and watches over you.

 

Again, the confirmation of vv. 1-4 begins in vs. 5.

 

ISA 42:5 Thus says God the Lord,

Who created the heavens and stretched them out,

Who spread out the earth and its offspring,

Who gives breath to the people on it,

And spirit to those who walk in it,

 

ISA 42:6 "I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,

I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you,

And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people,

As a light to the nations,

 

ISA 42:7 To open blind eyes,

To bring out prisoners from the dungeon,

And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.

 

Jesus did this for us all. He will bring us to Himself as a perfect people in a perfect society and environment, and right now, thanks to Him and His truth, we possess that perfection in our hearts to be seeing, free, and without restrictions concerning righteousness.

 

"Far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righteousness. We can stand before it only with a bowed head and a broken spirit. And there we remain until the Lord Jesus speaks to our hearts His word of pardon and acceptance, and we, gripped by His love and full of thanksgiving, go out into the world to live our lives in His service." [John Stott, The Cross of Christ]