Isaiah 42 Commentary
Verse 1 mentions the servant (Servant) of the LORD. He will have the Spirit of the LORD to bring justice to the nations.
Of course, this is Immanuel, the Branch, or the Son – the Son born to us with the government on his shoulders. But wait a minute, what about verse 19?
“Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send?” What is the prophet talking about? The same institution? Yes and no.
Jacob is God’s servant. The Abrahamic blessing rested on him. He was meant to bless the nations, but he is blind and needs rescuing. We are looking at a “failed” project. Then we have plan B. Plan B comes with the Servant. But wait a minute. Wasn’t plan B always the plan?
The Abrahamic blessing is simply a repeat of the promise the LORD had made to rescue mankind through the Seed of the woman. Nothing has changed.
Jesus applies this chapter to Himself. Luke 4:18-19. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
He will lead us by ways we have not known, along unfamiliar paths will He guide us. He will not forsake us.
Isaiah has fed us with the usual mix: his own present together with the glories of the future. He has clearly pointed to the times of the Son whom he has presented as the Servant. The kingdom of the Son is an all-conquering institution, but from a point near obscurity.
The King Himself would be born in a manger, and had to be rushed to Egypt for momentary protection from the powerful and wicked authorities of the time.
Even today, His messengers operate with the gospel that appears like foolishness to many. Yet it is an item of the highest value possible. Let the blind see; let the deaf hear.
Of course, Isaiah is big on complex thoughts! But how else do you talk about the LORD who knows everything, past, present, and future; and decides for all time? Then we have the trouble of communicating the same “impossible” situation to mortals in both time and space!
It helps greatly to appreciate, even in part, that the Creator God is immortal. We are mortals. He divinely created time and space for us – the environment we live in.
Yet we are not lost in the details. He comes down to lead each blind mortal “by a way they have not known… make darkness light before them.”
Chapter 42 is impossibly beautiful! So soothing! So heart-melting! “These things I will do for them, and not forsake them.” Who isn’t a candidate? So generous of the Creator God!
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