Isaiah 42
I. (1-39) Condemnation
A. Chapters 1-12 - Prophecies against Israel and Judah
B. Chapters 13-23 - Prophecies against the Nations
C. Chapters 24-27 - Prophecies of the Day of the Lord
D. Chapters 28-35 - Prophecies of Judgment and Blessing
E. Chapters 36-39 - Historical accounts
II. (40-66) Consolation
A. Chapters 40-48 - Israel’s God
1. \\#40:1-31\\ Be comforted by meeting your God
2. \\#41:1-29\\ Be Comforted by Meeting Your Protector
3. \\#42:1-25\\ Be Comforted by Meeting the Servant
I. \\#42:1-25\\ Be Comforted by Meeting the Servant
A. \\#1-4\\ God speaks about His Servant
1. \\#1\\ "Behold, my servant" - The term "my servant" has been
used several times in the book of Isaiah already, but it was
to describe earthly servants.
a. \\#Isaiah 20:3\\ - Isaiah
b. \\#Isaiah 22:20\\ - Eliakim
c. \\#Isaiah 37:35\\ - David
d. \\#Isaiah 41:8-9\\ - Israel
Now the Lord uses the term to speak about Someone prophetically.
That Someone is Jesus Christ. Jehovah will use the term in of
Christ in several more chapters \\#49:1-13; 52:13-53:12\\.
2. \\#1\\ "whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth" -
One can easily see the favor the Father has for His Servant.
3. \\#1-4\\ The Servant:
a. \\#1\\ "I have put my spirit upon him" - The Servant will
have the Spirit of God upon Him. The verb tense is past
perfect implying that it is already done.
b. \\#1\\ "he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles" -
By opening the gospel up to the Gentiles, Jesus has brought
the Gentiles into judgment. This judgment is not necessary
a bad thing. It would depend on what the Gentiles do with
salvation.
c. \\#2-3\\ describe Jesus’ meek nature. The Servant will
not resist when pressured. This prophecy hints that the
Servant will be unjustly treated and is fulfilled in Jesus’
reaction to His arrest, trial, and death.
d. \\#4\\ "He shall not fail" - This servant will not stop
until He has established a new judgment in the earth. The
judgment that Jesus has established is the offer of
salvation.
e. \\#4\\ "the isles shall wait for his law" - It is possible
that the ISLES is a reference to the Gentile nations
\\See 2006Notes in "Isaiah 41:1"\\. This may be a reference
to the Gentile nations desiring God’s salvation while the
Jews are not.
B. \\#5-7\\ God speaks to His Servant.
1. \\#42:5-43:28\\ Seems to be one long monologue of the Lord.
In \\#6\\, He is speaking to the Servant; however, He will
also speak the deaf and blind \\#42:17\\ and to Jacob \\#43:1\\.
2. \\#5\\ "Thus saith God the LORD" - God is speaking of Himself
and the gifts that He has given to mankind, including creation,
"breath," which would seem to be life, and "spirit." If breath
is life, the spirit would seem to refer to something more than
mere life, as a soul or spiritual awareness.
3. \\#6\\ "I have called thee" - God speaks directly to and
about His Servant.
4. \\#6\\ "in righteousness" - The Servant will be righteous.
5. \\#6\\ "I will hold thy hand and keep thee" - Nothing could
happen to Jesus unless God allowed it.
6. \\#6\\ "and give thee for a covenant" - Jesus will be sacrificed
so that a new covenant can be made with God’s people. That is
the Covenant of Grace.
7. \\#6\\ "for a light of the Gentiles" - This is a prophecy of the
Gentiles being included in this covenant.
8. \\#7\\ The Servant’s ministry will be "to open blind eyes, to
bring out the prisoners from the prison" of sin, and to bring
hem "that sit in darkness" into the light of understanding.
C. \\#8-12\\ God speaks of Himself
1. \\#8\\ "I am the Lord; that is my name" - God is still
reintroducing Himself to His people in this chapter. Here
He tells them His name. How sad it is when a people who have
been so blessed by His presence do not even know who their God
is any longer!
2. \\#8\\ "my glory will I not give to another" - God will not
share His worship with false gods or arrogant people.
3. \\#9\\ God again uses prophesied events as the proof of His
deity \\#Is 41:22, 43:9, 48:3\\.
4. \\#10-12\\ God calls for a song of praise to be sung to Him,
from the ends of the earth and to the depths of the sea, by
everything in the sea and to the wilderness.
5. \\#11\\ "the villages that Kedar doth inhabit; let the
inhabitants of the rock sing"
a. Why the location of Kedar, a wilderness to the east of
Israel is mentioned, is not certain. Perhaps it was because
the oceans were to the west and the wilderness was to the
east, Kedar being an example of that wilderness.
b. Kedar does mean DARK. The region of Kedar was inhabited
by the descendents of Ishmael.
c. The word ROCK could also be translated by the location SELA,
but that adds nothing to the meaning. Kedar and Sela are
over 250 miles apart and appear to have nothing in common.
It seems better to leave the translation as it is to call
even the rocky wasteland to praise the Lord.
D. \\#13-17\\ God speaks of an endtime work related to the Servant.
As \\#1-4\\ were prophesies of Jesus’ first visit to the earth,
these verses speak of the time before His second return, also known
as the tribulation.
1. \\#13\\ God "as a mighty man," stirred up by jealousy, shall
go forth to war and prevail against His enemies.
2. \\#14\\ "I have long time holden my peace… now will I cry
like a travailing woman" - The Lord’s patience has worn out.
a. The picture of the travailing woman is often used to
describe the suddenness of the tribulation (as it is), but
it is not typically God pictured as the birthing mother.
b. "I will destroy and devour at once" - When this time
of judgment comes, it will come suddenly and the
destruction shall be great.
3. \\#15\\ "I will make waste mountains" - Earthquakes shall
bring down the mountains.
4. \\#15\\ "I will dry up the pools" - The absence of
water will cause the ground to dry up and food to be scarce.
5. \\#16\\ However, God will, at the same time, "bring the
blind by a way that they knew not… make darkness light
before them… and not forsake them."
a. This sounds like God will be merciful to those who are blind.
b. I take it that these are the spiritually blind who will
acknowledge their blindness and turn to God.
c. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He could offer little help to
the Pharisees because they refused to acknowledge their true
condition, spiritual blindness.
John 9:40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and
said unto him, Are we blind also?
41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye
say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
d. While God will be with His own during the tribulation,
this verse does not make the blanket promise that they
will be exempt from the sufferings of the tribulation.
6. \\#17\\ In contrast, those "that trust in graven images"
shall be ashamed and "turned back" toward the judgment.
E. \\#18-25\\ God speaks to His people.
1. \\#18\\ "Hear, ye deaf" - God is now speaking to the spiritually
deaf and blind who will not listen to Him.
2. \\#19-21\\ About His Servant
a. \\#19\\ "Who is blind, but my Servant?" - Normally, to be
blind is a bad thing but the Servant of the Lord (Jesus) is
said to be blind and yet perfect. The notion is that the
Lord’s Servant will be blind to wickedness of the world and,
in turn, be able to focus entirely on Jehovah’s will. This
verse is inserted as a contrast to the Jews.
b. \\#20\\ This servant will see many things, wicked things,
but He will not learn them. He will "open the ears" of the
deaf, but will not hear the evil that fills them.
c. \\#21\\ The Servant "will magnify the law, and make it
honorable." Jehovah will be well-pleased with His
righteousness.
3. \\#22-23\\ About their wickedness
a. \\#22\\ Because of their blindness, "this is a people
robbed and spoiled." They are prisoners and prey to the
wicked nations around them (i.e. Assyria).
b. \\#23\\ "Who among you will give ear to this?" Yet, they
will not listen.
4. \\#24-25\\ About their judgment
a. \\#24\\ "Who gave Jacob for a spoil…?" The Lord is the
One who has allowed Israel to come to this detrimental end.
b. \\#25\\ "Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his
anger" - The Jews were already going through God’s wrath as
enemy nations continuously afflicted and destroyed them.
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