January 11, 2026
"Jesus Is the Servant in Isaiah"
Isaiah 42:1-9
Our text from Isaiah is one of what we call the Servant Songs. There are four such songs in the Book of Isaiah. Our text is the first of the four songs. The other three songs are found in chapters 49, 50, and 53.
What is so significant about these songs? To put it plainly, they point us to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Servant in these songs. His character and mission are described in them. This was to give the people of Israel an idea of what to look for in the Messiah, or the Anointed One. God had promised to bless the world through them, but what would this blessing look like? Who would be the one to carry out this blessing? This hadn’t been revealed to the Israelites all at once. Through time, the Lord would reveal more and more about the Messiah.
We need to remember that the people of Israel were looking for the Messiah during this time. Isaiah wrote this prophecy about 750 years before the birth of Jesus. So, the coming of the Messiah, or Jesus, was still a ways off yet. The people of Israel were still wondering when the Messiah would come and what would He do.
For us, it isn’t a mystery. We know that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies. Jesus even said that the Old Testament Scriptures spoke of Him. They predicted His coming. It’s easier for us to understand this because we look at the Scriptures after the fact of Jesus’ having come into our world. We see that these prophecies pertain to Jesus.
But for the Israelites living during the time of Isaiah, it wasn’t so easy. They looked at the Scriptures before the fact of Jesus’ having come into the world. They wondered who would embody this description of the servant in our text.
Let’s fast forward 750 years. Jesus has come into the world and was about to begin His ministry. At His baptism, Jesus was revealed to be God’s chosen one, the servant spoken about in our text from Isaiah. But not everyone was ready to receive Him as such. Jesus didn’t seem to fit the bill. He wasn’t what the people had expected.
It’s kind of like the hype surrounding a sports figure, and then the let down. He’s expected to be amazing. He’s the one. He’s paid a huge salary, given a large contract. He will certainly turn the team around. As a matter of fact, the team intends to rebuild the team around this figure. Both the team and the team’s fans expect great things from this player.
The player arrives. It turns out that he isn’t what everyone had expected. His performance doesn’t turn the team around. He doesn’t seem to differ from the other players. The fans aren’t happy, of course. All the hype surrounding the player almost turns into hostility.
The Israelites had expected a lot from the Messiah. They had expected Him to purge the world of evil and bring about justice. He was even supposed to subdue nations and reign supreme. These were great expectations of the Israelites.
But then Jesus came along. He claimed to be the Messiah. But He didn’t meet the people’s expectations. He didn’t overthrow the Roman Empire and reign in its place. He didn’t completely rid the world of evil. This caused some of the people to act hostile toward Him and reject Him. Sadly, they didn’t understand the mission of His first coming.
In the fourth servant song, Isaiah 53, it is quite clear what the Messiah’s mission was supposed to be. The Messiah was supposed to suffer for the sins of the world. He was to defeat death and the powers of darkness. That was the purpose of Jesus’ first coming.
The people’s expectations were off the mark. Perhaps they hadn’t paid enough attention to the fourth servant song. Had they, they would have understood that Jesus fit the bill.
Jesus is the servant in all four of the Servant Songs. There is no mistake about it. He fulfilled the prophecies concerning the Messiah in these songs.
It seems that the Israelites had wanted to do away with this part of Jesus’ mission. Forgiveness of sins hadn’t been on their radar. They didn’t expect the Messiah to have to die and suffer shame. That hadn’t been in their minds. Instead, their idea of a Messiah was a political Messiah. They were looking for one who would rule the world with the nation of Israel on top.
But this wasn’t Jesus’ plan during His first coming. His plan was to save the world from its sins.
Jesus had in mind two comings, whereas the Israelites had only one in mind. This was their mistake. This explains why they had rejected Jesus, for the most part.
We believe that Jesus will come again, at which time He will destroy evil and reign supreme in His kingdom. But that is reserved for His second coming. What some were hoping for at His first coming will be seen at His second coming.
I think we all would agree that life can be tough. We’re not always sure who or what is in control. It seems like the world is falling apart around us. Life is full of disappointments. There are certainly moments of joy, but those moments are at times overshadowed by the problems in life. It seems that we are all alone in life. God is hiding on us.
In the servant song of our text we get a different picture. God is present; He isn’t a delinquent father. He is concerned about us, and this is shown in the mission He has in store for His Servant, Jesus Christ. God promises that the Servant, Jesus Christ, in this servant song will be a light to all people. He will bring joy and happiness to those sitting in darkness. He will free the imprisoned in sin.
God demonstrates His care for us in His Servant, Jesus Christ. Do we remember that Jesus said He came to serve and not be served? The Servant will come and rescue us. Let me make it clear here that the Servant is God. We confess that Jesus is God. So, I don’t want us to get the idea that the Servant is beneath God. Jesus is God in the fullest sense. It’s just that for a time He willingly humbled Himself and considered Himself lesser than God while on earth. But He in no way ceased to be God. God sent the Servant to bring us joy and happiness.
This was God’s way of showing the world that He is in control. We can gain great comfort in that. I said that life is full of disappointments, and it seems God is nowhere around. But our text assures us that God is certainly thinking of us. This is evident in His choosing the Servant, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins.
This shows us that God is in control. Nothing can change the fact that His Servant delivers us. Nothing in the world can change this fact. In our text, God states that He created the heavens and the earth. That was certainly a monumental and colossal task. The one who created all that we see and don’t see can certainly be in control of life on earth. We can be assured that God is in control of our world, of our lives. With God in control, we can be assured that He has our best interests in mind.
My encouragement to us is put our trust in God at all times. Put our trust in the Servant, Jesus Christ, at all times. If we are going through a tough time, put trust in Jesus. If the world seems to be caving in on us, put trust in Jesus. If we are feeling guilty for the sins we have committed, put trust in Jesus. Put trust in the Servant, with a capital S.
Jesus is our only hope. Everything else that people put their trust in are empty gods, when it comes right down to it.
Again, trust in Jesus at all times and in all circumstances. Trust in Him each and every day.
In our text, the Servant is Jesus. He truly became a light to the nations. He was and is the Messiah appointed to rescue the world from its sins. May our joy and happiness be complete in the Servant.