What does First B Jackson teach about isaiah prophecy?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on Isaiah's prophecy is rooted in the conviction that God declared the future before it happened, and that the servant passages in Isaiah are among the clearest examples of that. Pastor Ray McDaniel and others have traced how Isaiah, writing roughly seven hundred years before Christ, painted a detailed picture of Jesus as the servant of God, chosen from the womb, given as a covenant to the people, and sent as a light not only to Israel but to all nations. The 2018 Advent message made the point plainly: before things happen, God declares them, and Isaiah is where the promise of a chosen servant comes into clear and sustained focus for the first time.
The teaching has given careful attention to what kind of servant the Isaiah passages describe. He does not grandstand or shout in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed or extinguish a dimly burning wick. Matthew 12 quotes Isaiah 42 directly and applies it to Jesus, who told people not to broadcast what he was doing and who never performed for the crowd. Ray's 2024 message pressed further into Isaiah 49, where the servant's cry that he has labored in vain connects directly to Jesus in Gethsemane and to the cry of dereliction on the cross. Hebrews 5 and 1 Peter 2 are brought in to show that Jesus genuinely suffered discouragement and yet kept entrusting himself to God, and that pattern is held out as the example believers are called to follow.
Running through all of these messages is the outward, Gentile-facing dimension of Isaiah's prophecy. Israel's original calling was to be a light to the nations, and that calling is fulfilled in Christ and carried forward by his body. Psalm 67, Psalm 96, and Psalm 117 show that this purpose runs through the Psalms just as it does through Isaiah. The promise that the servant will not be disheartened or crushed until justice is established in all the earth is still future, and the church is called to be part of that work right now.
Taught from Isaiah 42:1-9 · Isaiah 49:1-13 · Matthew 12 · 1 Peter 2 · Hebrews 5:7
The passage taught · 1 Peter 2
1 Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,
2 as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,
3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:
4 coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- June 23, 2024 A Light to the Gentiles Ray McDaniel walks through Isaiah 49 to show how God's servant, Jesus, became a light to all nations and why trusting God through suffering leads to certain hope.
- December 2, 2018 Behold My Servant, My Chosen One Isaiah 42 introduces the Servant who quietly brings God's justice to the nations, a bruised reed He will not break, a dimly burning wick He will not snuff out.
Mentioned along the way
- August 4, 2019 Think Carefully About This Jesus A sermon from Hebrews 2 and Isaiah 8-9 on why Jesus is better than all else, and what it means to wait on God, fear Him, and keep your hope in Christ.