Discipline of the Servant
July 31, 2019
Commentary
The prophet gives a new song of praise to the Lord (v. 10). People everywhere should sing and shout to the Lord as a result of the world-wide message of salvation which the Servant of the Lord shall proclaim. This passage can be interpreted as the Gentiles singing praise for their deliverance and conversion (vv. 10-13).
In contrast to the quiet and submissive ministry of the Servant, the Lord shall go forth as a mighty man of war (v. 13). In his first coming he was a meek and lowly Servant, but in His second coming He will be as a Man of War in judgment upon the world. The devastation described here (vv. 14-16) may well refer to the Millennium, when the mountains and hills will be destroyed and the rivers dried up (Rev. 8:7-9:21). God, seemingly silent for a long time, will act in judgment, though humanly speaking, it will be painful for Him (v. 14), as He desires to help them (v. 15).
The prophet contrasts the faith of those who believe in God to the idolatry of those who trust in graven images (vv. 17-25). The Mosaic Law had made it plain that if the Israelites lived according to God’s righteous standards, He would bless them. However, in Babylonian exile they were being punished because spiritually they had been deaf and blind (v. 16). He had told them in (Deut. 28:49-53) that if they did not keep His law, He would drive them from the land. No one could rescue them except the Lord.
Application
We might ask how Israel and Judah could be so blind, yet we often fail in the same way. Knowing what is right and not doing it can be worse than not seeing at all. I can know what is right because I have His word to go by and yet I often don’t obey. Can I think of any way I have failed to obey Him today?
Isaiah 42:10– 25 (NET)
10 Sing to the Lord a brand new song! Praise him from the horizon of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and everything that lives in it, you coastlands and those who live there.
11 Let the wilderness and its cities shout out, the towns where the nomads of Kedar live. Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully; let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give the Lord the honor he deserves; let them praise his deeds in the coastlands.
13 The Lord emerges like a hero, like a warrior he inspires himself for battle; he shouts, yes, he yells, he shows his enemies his power.
14 “I have been inactive for a long time; I kept quiet and held back. Like a woman in labor I groan; I pant and gasp.
15 I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; I will dry up all their vegetation. I will turn streams into islands, and dry up pools of water.
16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. I will turn the darkness in front of them into light, and level out the rough ground. This is what I will do for them. I will not abandon them.
17 Those who trust in idols will turn back and be utterly humiliated, those who say to metal images, ‘You are our gods.’
18 “Listen, you deaf ones! Take notice, you blind ones!
19 My servant is truly blind, my messenger is truly deaf. My covenant partner, the servant of the Lord, is truly blind.
20 You see many things, but don’t comprehend; their ears are open, but do not hear.”
21 The Lord wanted to exhibit his justice by magnifying his law and displaying it.
22 But these people are looted and plundered; all of them are trapped in pits and held captive in prisons. They were carried away as loot with no one to rescue them; they were carried away as plunder, and no one says, “Bring that back!”
23 Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen attentively in the future?
24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber? Who handed Israel over to the looters? Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned? They refused to follow his commands; they disobeyed his law.
25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them, along with the devastation of war. Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; it burned against them, but they did not take it to heart.
Illustration: Fasting Can be Just Hypocrisy
John Piper, in his book comments, “if the reward you aim at in fasting is the admiration of others, that is what you will get, and that will be all you get. In other words, the danger of hypocrisy is that it is so successful. It aims at the praise of men, and it succeeds. But that’s all.” (John Piper in his book, A Hunger for God).