Sermon #   147          Series: Isaiah

 

Title:  Christ – Jehovah’s Servant

Text:  Isaiah 49: 1-6

Subject:  The Mission of Christ As The Servant Of Jehovah

Date:  Sunday Evening – April 18, 1993

 

Introduction:

 

Listen carefully to these three opening statements, with which I want to preface my message tonight.  These three statements are as important as everything else I am going to say.  Be sure you get them.

 

1.  Jesus Christ is himself God over all, blessed forever, in all things equal to and one with the Father and the Spirit.  He is God the Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity (Rom.  9:5; I Tim. 3:16; I John 5:7; John 1: 1-3).

 

2.  In order to redeem and save God’s elect, the Lord Jesus Christ, The Son of God voluntarily became Jehovah’s Servant in the covenant of grace before the world began (Isa. 50: 5-7; Ex. 21: 5).

 

 

3.  The mission upon which Christ came and was sent into this world as Jehovah’s Servant was and is the salvation of God’s elect (Matt. 1: 21).

 

 

Isaiah 49 is a prophecy of Christ – Jehovah’s Servant.  In this prophetic passage the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Jehovah’s Servant is the one speaking.  He is describing himself as Jehovah’s Servant.

 

I have been telling you throughout this study of Isaiah that the deliverance of Israel out of Babylon was only a typical deliverance.  It has no real meaning or significance apart from the fact that it was a picture of the salvation of God’s elect by Christ.  Now, in chapter 49, Isaiah moves directly, by a giant step through time, from the deliverance of Israel by Cyprus to the redemption and salvation of God’s elect by Christ.

 

Proposition:  I want you to see and rejoice in this blessed revelation of the gospel – Jesus Christ is Jehovah’s Servant, whose responsibility it is to save all God’s elect; and “He shall not fail!”

 

Divisions:

 

1.       The Call of the Gentiles (v. 1).

2.       The Commission of Christ as Jehovah’s Servant (vv. 1-3).

3.       The Assurance of this Servant’s Success (vv. 4-6).

 

I.  The Call of the Gentiles – (v. 1).

 

“Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people from far.”  With these words the Son of God turns to the “Isles of the Gentiles” (Gen. 10:5), to call his elect scattered among the four corners of the earth.

 

A.  Our Lord’s design of grace have never been limited to one nation.

 

B.  Jews and Gentiles in Christ are one – (Col. 3: 11).

 

C.  When the fulness of the Gentiles has been brought in, that is to say, when God has saved all his elect among the Gentiles, then all Israel (the whole body of God’s elect) shall be saved (Rom. 11: 25-27).

 

D.  The Lord Jesus Christ here calls for men and women far off from God to listen and hearken unto him. (Hear and Heed!)

 

·         What Condensending Grace!

·         What An Opportunity!

·         Will you hear him?  Will you hearken unto him?  “Receive not the grace of God in vain!”

·         Listen carefully now, as the Savior tells you who he is and what he came into this world to do.

 

II.  The Commission of Christ as Jehovah’s Servant (vv. 1-3).

 

In these first three verses the great Redeemer and Savior declares the authority from heaven with which he is invested and by which he came into the world.

 

A.  The Lord God appointed him to the work of Redemption And Set Him Apart for It.

 

1.       “The Lord hath called me!”

2.       He “hath called me from the womb “of his eternal counsel (Pro. 8: 22-24; 30-31).

3.       “From the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.” (Matt. 1:21) (Isa. 9: 6-7).

 

B.  As He was Called by God to be His Servant, He was Also Prepared and Qualified by Him for the work He was To Perform (v. 2).

 

The Lord God furnished his Son, his Servant, with everything necessary to fight his battles, destroy the works of the devil, and save his people. (See Heb. 10: 5).

 

1.  He made his mouth a sharp sword (Rev. 19: 15; Heb. 4:12).

2.  He hid him in the shadow of his hand.

·         Hid him in the types and prophecies of the Old Testament.

·         Protected him from the rage of Herod.

 

C.  The Lord God owned Him Publicly as His Servant (v. 3).

 

·         At His Baptism- (Matt. 3).

·         At His Transfiguration- (Matt. 17).

·         In His Resurrection and Exaltation (Heb. 1: 1-3, 5).

 

Note:  Our Savior is called “Israel” because he is himself a Prince with God, “The Prince of life” (Acts 3).  But he is also called “Israel” because he is the Federal Head, Representative, and Substitute of all his people – The Israel of God.

 

D.  Here is both a promise given to Christ as Jehovah’s Servant and a description of his work – “In whom I will be glorified (John 12: 28; 13: 31).

 

1.       By His Obedience!

2.       By His Death!

3.       By  His Saving of His People!

 

III.  The Assurance of This Servant’s Success (vv. 4-6).

 

Here the Lord Jesus declares to us the assurance given him as our Surety, as Jehovah’s Servant, that his work would be completely successful.

 

A.  Though his labor appeared to be in vain, he reposed himself in the Lord God (v. 4; Matt. 11: 25-26; John 1: 11-13).

 

·         Often God’s servants imagine that their labor is spent for nought (Isa. 6: 9; 53: 1; Jer. 20: 9).

·         But it is never a true supposition (Isa. 55: 1-11; I Cor. 15: 58; I Cor. 2: 15-17).

·         And it is certain that our Savior did not labor in vain- (Isa. 42: 4).

 

1.  His death was not in vain (Isa. 53: 10).

 

2.  His rule of the world shall not be in vain (John 17: 2).

 

3.  His intercessory prayers are not in vain!  (John 17: 24).

 

B.  Though Israel as a nation, the physical seed of Abraham despised him and would not be gathered to him, yet the Lord Jesus Christ was assured by his Father that He would be Glorious in His Eyes When His Work was Finished (v. 5).

 

·         John 10: 16-18

·         Philippians 2: 9-11

·         I Corinthians 15: 24-28

 

C.  The purpose of God, so far from being frustrated by Israel!  Unbelief, Has Been Perfectly Fulfilled In Christ (Rom. 3: 3-4).

 

1.  Christ will restore the preserved of Israel, the remnant of the tribes of Jacob.

 

2.  God has given his Son for a light to the Gentiles.

 

·         The Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God.

·         The Light of Holy Spirit Conviction.

·         The Light of Illumination into all things Spirited.

 

3.  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Jehovah’s Servant, is God’s Salvation- (Lk. 2: 29-30).

 

·         He Bought It!

·         He Gives It!

·         He Preserves It!

·         He Completes It!

·         He Is IT! – If you would get salvation, you must get Christ (I Cor. 1: 30).

 

Application: 

 

Philippians 2: 1-8 – “Let this mind be in you!”