Behold My Servant, My Chosen One
December 2, 2018 · Isaiah Servant Passages
Scripture referenced 4 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Romans 15:13 quoted at the candle lighting to introduce the theme of hope through the Holy Spirit
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Keep this verse
Isaiah 42:1-9
the primary text, read aloud in full and then worked through verse by verse as the first servant passage
1 “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights— I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street.
3 He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice.
4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth, and the islands will wait for his law.”
5 Thus says God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it.
6 “I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations;
7 to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.
8 “I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.
9 Behold, the former things have happened, and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.”
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Matthew 12
cited as the New Testament passage where Matthew calls back to Isaiah, noting Jesus did not lift his voice
1 At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
2 But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, “Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
3 But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him;
4 how he entered into God’s house, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless?
6 But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.
7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless.
8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
9 He departed there, and went into their synagogue.
10 And behold there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” that they might accuse him.
11 He said to them, “What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won’t he grab on to it, and lift it out?
12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.”
13 Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other.
14 But the Pharisees went out, and conspired against him, how they might destroy him.
15 Jesus, perceiving that, withdrew from there. Great multitudes followed him; and he healed them all,
16 and commanded them that they should not make him known:
17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen; my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit on him. He will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not strive, nor shout; neither will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
20 He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a smoking flax, until he leads justice to victory.
21 In his name, the nations will hope.”
22 Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.
23 All the multitudes were amazed, and said, “Can this be the son of David?”
24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”
25 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
27 If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
28 But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come upon you.
29 Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house.
30 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn’t gather with me, scatters.
31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in that which is to come.
33 “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit.
34 You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
35 The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.
36 I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
38 Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.
42 The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.
43 When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn’t find it.
44 Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came out,’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.
45 Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”
46 While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him.
47 One said to him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.”
48 But he answered him who spoke to him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”
49 He stretched out his hand towards his disciples, and said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers!
50 For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
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Isaiah 6
referenced for the vision of the temple filled with cherubim and seraphim and the threefold holy, holy, holy
1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
3 One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.
7 He touched my mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven.”
8 I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand; and you see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste,
12 And Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many within the land.
13 If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock.”
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This was the first Sunday of Advent, and the preacher opened a short series on the four servant passages in Isaiah, beginning with Isaiah 42:1-9. He connected the servant who is chosen, upheld by God's Spirit, and sent to bring justice to the nations directly to Jesus, reading the passage as prophecy fulfilled in Christ and still being fulfilled in his coming kingdom.
What was said
The book of Isaiah has 66 chapters and divides roughly into three movements: chapters 1 through 35 focus on judgment, chapters 36 through 39 form a historical bridge, and chapters 40 through 66 turn toward deliverance. The preacher pointed out that chapters 40 through 66 contain specific predictions, down to the name of a foreign king, that skeptics have used to argue the book must have had more than one author. His answer was straightforward: God knows the future, and he says so repeatedly throughout the book. Before things happen, God declares them.
The "chosen one" concept that runs through Isaiah 42 is, the preacher noted, the oldest version of a story that keeps getting retold in movies and literature. But unlike those echoes, this is the original. From the fall in the garden onward, the promise of a chosen servant was building, and Isaiah is where it comes into clear focus for the first time in a sustained way.
The servant of Isaiah 42 brings justice quietly. He does not shout in the streets or grandstand. Pastor tied this directly to Matthew 12, where Matthew explicitly quotes this passage and applies it to Jesus, who told people not to broadcast what he was doing and who never performed for the crowd, not even at his crucifixion. This quiet, Spirit-led movement is how the kingdom has been advancing from the beginning.
Two images in the passage got particular attention. A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. The preacher offered those images to anyone in the room feeling beaten down, saying that the servant's way is not to finish off what is barely holding on but to faithfully keep moving justice forward. The promise that he will not be disheartened or crushed until justice is established in all the earth is still future, and the body of Christ is called to be part of that work right now.
The passage then shifts to God speaking directly to the servant, promising to hold him by the hand, watch over him, and appoint him as a covenant to the people and a light to the nations. Pastor connected the covenant language to the upper room, where Jesus took the cup and said this is the new covenant in his blood. The light language he connected to Jesus telling his disciples, "You are the light of the world," meaning the church carries that same commission outward to every people outside of Israel.
The closing verse, where God declares that he will not give his glory to another, led Pastor to talk about why God resists the proud. The glory and the good belong entirely to God, and when people inflate themselves and fail to give credit where it is due, they place themselves in opposition to the one who is the source of everything. The service moved from there into Communion, with Pastor noting that the table is open to anyone who has trusted in Christ.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor described the servant passages in Isaiah as the place in the Bible where the idea of 'the chosen one' bursts onto the scene. What had you previously understood about Jesus as the chosen one, and did anything in this passage add to or change that understanding?
- The pastor walked through how Isaiah is structured: judgment, a historical bridge, and then deliverance. He said Israel's experience showed that acting out of fear tended to go badly, while acting out of faith in God tended to go well. Where do you see that pattern showing up in your own life right now?
and 3 more questions in the guide
