Jehovah’s Voluntary
Servant
Psalm 40:6
The second thing David shows us, in Psalm
40:6, is that the Messiah, the Christ, must be a man who is Jehovah's voluntary
Servant. —"Mine ears hast thou opened." Our Savior’s work as
Jehovah’s Servant is beautifully portrayed and typified in the Old Testament
law of the bond servant (Ex. 21:1-6). Fulfilling the prophetic type, the Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world and performed his work as the voluntary
Servant of his Father (Isa. 42:1-4; 50:5-7; Heb. 10:5-7; John 10:16-18; Luke
12:50).
Jehovah’s
Equal
He who is Jehovah's voluntary servant is Jehovah's equal! All
angels, men, creatures, devils, and events must and do serve God, because he is
the Creator of all things (Rom. 8:28; 11:36). All rational beings are morally
obligated to serve God, because we live upon his bounty. But Christ came to
serve the Father voluntarily. He owed nothing and had nothing to gain, for he
is himself Jehovah. That Man who is the Christ is himself God, one with and
altogether equal with the Father (Phil. 2:6-8; 1 John 5:7). It is written of
him, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy
kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness:
therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
fellows" (Ps. 45:6-7).
On A
Mission
Jehovah's Servant came into the world with
a specific mission to accomplish. That mission is described precisely in
Matthew 1:21. ― “Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his
people from their sins.” Throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, Messiah
was promised, looked for, and trusted as that One who would come to restore his
fallen people to the everlasting favor of God by putting away their sins (Isa.
61:1-3; Lk. 4:18).
Mission
Accomplished
It is written of Jehovah’s righteous Servant, “He shall not
fail” (Isa. 42:4). It is the will of him that sent him that he save his
people (John 6:37-40; 10:16); and save them he did (Heb. 10:10, 14). Either
Jesus of Nazareth has effectually redeemed and saved God's elect, or he is not
the Christ. The Christ of Arminian, freewill religion is a false Christ. We
know he is because Messiah's eternal glory and exaltation is dependent and
conditioned upon the success of his redemptive, saving work (Ps. 2:7-8; 65:4;
110:3).
This
is the second proof of our Savior's Messiahship. We believe and are sure that
Jesus is the Christ because he is Jehovah's voluntary Servant, our vicarious,
sin-atoning Savior.