"Behold My Servant"
Isaiah 42:1-3
Behold him with the eye of faith. To
behold him is to trust him. Behold him with an admiring heart. To behold the
Lord Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the Scriptures is to admire him. Behold
him whatever your need is. Whatever your
soul needs you will obtain as you behold the Son of God. Behold him with
grateful memory. "Thanks be unto God for his
unspeakable gift!" As all God's saints in the Old Testament beheld him in
expectation, let us now behold him in holy remembrance.
BEHOLD CHRIST'S GREAT HUMILIATION. Though
our Savior is himself the Son of God, in every way equal to the Father, he took
on him the form of a servant and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross (Phil.2:5-8).He came into this world to do his Father's will. As our
covenant Head and Representative he voluntarily subjected himself to the will,
work, and law of his Father to save his people (Heb. 10:5-14). In doing so, he
both saved us and gave us an example to follow. "Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus." God calls his Son, "mine
Elect." God the Father saw his Son as the only one suitable for and able
to perform the work of redemption and chose him to do it. The humanity of Christ
was chosen,ordained, and sanctified by God the Father
for the purpose of saving his people.The words, "whom I uphold,"
might be translated, "upon whom I lean." The triune God placed
complete confidence in the God-man as the Surety and Savior of all the elect.
Christ alone is the One of whom God says, "in him
my soul delighteth."He is delighted with Christ from eternity (Prov.
BEHOLD THE WORK CHRIST CAME TO PERFORM. "He shall bring forth
judgment to the Gentiles." The word "judgment" means
"righteousness".Christ came into this world to bring righteousness and
salvation to God's elect scattered among the nations of the world. He has done
this by magnifying and honoring the law (v. 21). By his obedience to the law he
magnified it. By his death he satisfied the penalty of the law for his people
and made it honorable, so that God might be both just and the Justifier of
chosen sinners. Even now Christ brings forth judgment (righteousness and
salvation) to his elect by the preaching of the gospel (Rom.
Don Fortner