Sermon text: Isaiah 49:1–6
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
In last Sunday’s sermon, the Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Old Testament reading was taken from Isaiah chapter 42, the first of the four so-called servant songs in the second half of the book of Isaiah. That chapter began, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”
As was asserted last week and shown in last week’s sermon, Jesus fit the bill as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in Jesus’s baptism. As Jesus was sent out to do the will of His heavenly Father, He told John that He had to be baptized so that they could fulfill all righteousness. The Father’s voice of approval spoke out: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” The Spirit rested on Jesus, anointing Him as the Messiah and empowering Him for His messianic mission. Jesus is clearly the servant of the Lord of the Old Testament.
Last week, though, I also told you that all four of the servant songs readings would be coming up throughout the church year: Isaiah chapter 49 is on the docket this morning; Isaiah 50 will be read on Palm Sunday; and Isaiah 53 will be read on Good Friday. So thus today we come to the second of the servant songs, from Isaiah 49, under the theme: You are my servant, Israel.
Isaiah was given to write in verse three, “And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel,’” clearly indicating that the people, the nation of Old Testament Israel, was in fact His servant too. You might be thinking: I thought you said last week, pastor, that Jesus is the servant of the Lord of the Old Testament. Now you’re saying that Old Testament Israel is also the servant of the Lord. Which is it? Jesus or the nation of Israel? The answer: it’s both, and more. Both Israel and Jesus can be identified as the servant of the Lord. And guess what? By extension, so can you. And so can little Immanuel Lutheran Church. They can be seen as servants of the Lord, carrying out the will and the work of the Lord here on earth. So: Israel, Jesus, the church — to each the Lord says, “You are my servant, Israel.”
Let’s follow it through the book itself. If we look at the book of Isaiah, we encounter a kind of mysterious figure called the servant of the Lord, which was mentioned in our Old Testament reading this morning. In chapter 41, where the Lord says, “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off’; fear not, for I am with you.” These words were words of encouragement to Old Testament Israel — in fact, mostly to the remnant, who were surrounded by unfaithful unbelievers who had corrupted the worship of Yahweh Elohim, the Lord God.
Now remember how God had called Abraham, saying to him, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, so that you will be a blessing, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That was Israel’s identity. This was Israel’s calling: to be the chosen, to be the blessed people of God, to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. And here in Isaiah, the Lord reminds Israel of her identity and of their calling to be servants of the Lord God, Yahweh Elohim.
That was Isaiah 41. Then in Isaiah 42, we heard the first of the four servant songs: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” What is said of the servant certainly fits Jesus the best, as we see in His baptism. This is true of Christ: that He will not grow faint or be crushed till He has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait for His law. Christ brings righteousness to the whole world. He is the Word of God made flesh. He is the suffering servant: “I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” And that’s exactly what Jesus did, literally, in His earthly ministry.
So the first part of Isaiah 42: the servant of the Lord receives the highest approval and praise, as Jesus did at His baptism. But later in the same chapter, the servant of the Lord receives a rebuke from the Lord: “Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.”
Now, that fits the history of Old Testament Israel, the nation, to a T. On the one hand, a called servant of the Lord God, who is to bless the peoples of the earth with the promised Messiah and the written words of God. At the same time, it fits the other side of Israel the nation: an unholy people who go after the gods of Baal, who cut peace treaties for the sake of convenience and peace, at the sacrifice of God’s truth and His word. They were a nation that did not listen. God spoke to them through His prophets, yet they did not hear, nor did they heed the call of the Lord.
But the truth, we know, fits us too. Like Israel, we have been benefited in every way. The Lord has called us. He has blessed us. He has equipped us to be His servants in the world and in our own communities. But how often have we shrugged off that responsibility, that call? How often have we lost our way? How often have we forgot our baptismal identity and lived like the people of the world? Like Israel, we too have been deaf and blind — yet still servants of the Lord God.
But not so with Jesus. Where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded. Where Israel was unfaithful, Jesus was faithful. Where we have strayed, Jesus stayed the course. And that course would take Him to the cross, where He would be identified with us and take our sins upon Himself, suffering God’s judgment in our place, so that we would have His righteousness credited to our account. Our sins get covered by His blood.
You see, Jesus is really Israel reduced to one. He is the embodiment and the epitome of what Israel was called to be: the faithful and true servant of the Lord God. Jesus gets it right. Jesus is Israel reduced to one. Even as He replays the experience of Israel’s life in the Old Testament. For example: when Pharaoh tried to wipe out all the baby boys of Israel, one was saved — Moses. One would be the deliverer out of the bondage of Egypt: Moses. When Jesus was a baby boy, another evil king, Herod, tried to wipe out the baby boys of Bethlehem, but Jesus was spared. And when the family fled to Egypt to escape, they later came back out of Egypt, back to Israel, where Jesus would grow up to become the greater Deliverer. Again: Jesus, Israel reduced to one.
Israel comes to the promised land through the Jordan. Jesus is baptized in the River Jordan and enters the wilderness. Israel spends 40 years in the wilderness wandering, mostly unfaithful, being tempted and falling to sin. Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness, being tempted, yet overcoming temptation and remaining faithful. And so it goes. Jesus is Israel reduced to one: the one perfectly faithful servant of the Lord. Jesus is faithful where we falter.
But the Lord reassures us, for Christ’s sake, in Isaiah 44: “But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant. … Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
There’s hope and restoration for the church, the visible church, for our congregation. There’s hope and restoration for you and for me. He says to you, “I have redeemed you. You are precious in His sight.” Jesus shed His blood. That’s how precious you have become. God is calling us to see our identity and our calling as servants of the Lord — the church, the body of Christ, at work in the world.
Now we come to Isaiah 49, the second of the servant songs, where it says, “Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’”
From the time the angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to the Messiah and name Him Jesus, even before the foundation of the world was made, the course of Jesus’s life was laid out for Him and for you. “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” And how was the glory to the Father? God’s power was made known chiefly in showing mercy. That’s what Jesus did in His ministry. He forgave sins. He healed the sick. He fed the multitudes. He suffered, died, and rose again to give you everlasting life.
And His mercy would not be limited to the nations of Israel again. And the Lord says — “He who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him” — He says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel.” In other words: is it too little to simply bring back lapsed church members, people who wandered away? Can’t we do more? — is the implied question. And then the answer: “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
The gospel of Christ has gone out into the world. Our ancestors were among those who once dwelt in darkness, and we are the beneficiaries of the mission of light. Now the light of Christ comes through the church. That’s us. Epiphany is a season and a time when we emphasize the evangelistic aspect of the church’s life: through the mission and in other lands, through our congregation’s ministries here in East Peoria, and through our own personal witness to friends and relatives, associates, neighbors, to our communities — that the light of Christ would shine in places and illumine the places of darkness. We are called to bear witness to the truth of Christ and His word.
Will our witness be welcomed by those who hear us? Like the servant of the Lord: “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.” Not a very optimistic picture — this thing, proclaiming the word of God to other people, of urging them to return to the church, to the biblical faith. But like the servant, we can say, “Yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense is with my God.” In other words: God’s word is sent, and it accomplishes the purpose for which it is sent. Or to quote, rather secularly: “Ours is not the reason why; ours is simply to bear witness — and die.” That’s the job of the church. That was the job of Christ. He is the servant of the Lord who came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Christ was rejected, but He was vindicated in the resurrection of the dead.
From Isaiah again: “Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: ‘Kings shall see and arise; princes shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.’” You are my servants, says the Lord. Jesus is the servant. The church is the servant. You are the servant. And you will not be overcome. You, Immanuel, are my servant. You are Israel. Amen.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.