Last Sunday night, I looked at this scripture, as an explanation for Christ’s withdrawal from among the Jews, expanding His ministry toward the Gentile nations. By the way, to say “Gentile nations” is redundant, because “nation” is the meaning of the word “gentile.” The first time that we run unto this word is in Genesis 10 where the family of Noah is described. Verse 1 – “Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.” Verse 2 says that one of the sons of Japheth was Javan. And verse 3 says about the sons of Javan, “By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.” The words “Gentiles” and “nations” are both “gowy” (go’- ee) or “goy go’- ee” – that is – “goyim.” Most, if not all of us here today, are of the nations other than Israel; we are Gentiles – “Goyim.” And Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah to say that Christ extended His ministry towards you and me. Praise the Lord!
Beyond that, there was another purpose for Matthew’s quotation from Isaiah. He says, Christ “charged them (all those people whom He healed) that they should not make him known.” This was something which the Lord did on several occasions – at least five times in Matthew alone. He said that to both demons and people. Sometimes it appears that the purpose was to keep His location somewhat secret. On other occasions people were specifically told not to tell others who He was – the Messiah. And, as we saw when we studied Matthew 8:4 – the lepers had other more immediate responsibilities – to report to the priests about their cure.
In this case Matthew doesn’t describe why those people whom the Lord blessed were to be quiet – But we can easily surmise why – the furious Pharisees were beginning to hunt for our Saviour. Here Matthew reaches back into the Old Testament to provide the prophetic source for this command. Christ’s ministry was, for the most part, intentionally quiet – exactly as the Holy Spirit said that it would be. Let’s consider what God said through Isaiah – repeated through Matthew – about Jesus’ quiet ministry .
First, we must make note of the SUBJECT of the prophecy.
Isaiah doesn’t specifically name the person of his prophecy – “Messiah,” “Christ,” “Jesus,” or “Son of God.” But that doesn’t bother me, because I believe that the New Testament is just as inspired of God as the Old Testament. When Matthew says that Isaiah 42 refers to Christ, I have no doubt that it refers to the Lord Jesus. I suppose that makes the Jewish commentaries, which say that Isaiah is talking about the coming Messiah, somewhat redundant. This is speaking about the One whom we call “the Lord Jesus” – the Christ. What Isaiah does say is that He is “the beloved of God.”
Some of you well know that my preaching style has changed over the years. I have been preaching here for more than half my ministerial life, and there have been many changes. For example, following my teachers, I used to often use the word “beloved” when making a point. “Beloved, these are the last days; it is time start serving God with more earnestness.” I rarely use that term in my preaching any more, even though it may be more appropriate than it was twenty-years ago. But here’s my point – if you heard me speak of “my beloved” of which one of you all would I be speaking? There should be no doubt that I was talking about my wife – my closest friend in all this world. When God, when God the Father, spoke of His beloved, He was not speaking about Israel or Isaiah. He was talking about His eternal Son – the Second Person of the God-head. He was talking about the One whom we know as the Lord Jesus – Jesus of Nazareth. He further described him as “the One in whom he was well pleased.”
I think that we could learn a great deal about someone’s theology based on his answer to these questions: “How difficult is it to please the infinitely holy God?” And, “how often have YOU pleased God down to the depths of His soul?” Referring to the soul of God is an anthropomorphism, but it gets the job done. It is using human terms to describe something which is far above human. The subject of this prophecy pleases Jehovah down to His very core – His heart – His divine soul. But there has never been an ordinary child of Adam who has ever done that. David sinned against God, as did Abraham, Moses, Paul, Daniel and Isaiah. “As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the ways, there are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” But of Christ – the Lord Jesus – the voice of God was heard on more than one occasion saying – “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Peter heard that Heavenly voice and later testified of Christ – “For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” There should be no doubt that the subject of Isaiah’s prophecy was this same Lord Jesus.
But there could be some confusion about the reference to Him as the “chosen servant.” I have no problem with this, but many others might. When the Son of God became incarnate – that is, when He left His Heavenly glory and became enrobed in human flesh, it was for a specific mission. The Second Person of the God-head became the Messiah in order to reveal Jehovah in a way which man had never seen Him before. And He came to give His life a ransom for many – ie, He came to die as a sacrifice – as THE sacrifice. This was the decreed plan of God, laid down before the foundation of the world. This was the chosen method for God’s ultimate glory. And the Son of God was the elected – or chosen – method for accomplishing that decree.
Jesus Christ is the “servant of God” in the sense that He came to fulfill God’s ultimate will. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” – the Son of God. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” It was the will of God that His special Servant, “was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” This special servant of God, “bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.” If you have not, by faith, put your hands and heart on the head of God’s servant and sacrifice, then you are still bearing your sins, and you will carry that burden into the Lake of Fire. Repent before God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Another slightly confusing comment is that God will put His Spirit upon this divine servant. Again, I have no problem with that statement. In His incarnation and humiliation, the Son of God, rested upon the other two persons of the Trinity. The power that He displayed in His miracles was the cooperative power of the God-head. He healed through the power of the Holy Spirit. He was more filled with the Spirit than any ordinary human could ever dream.
Isaiah’s subject was God’s beloved Son, filled with the Holy Spirit, and sent into the world to accomplish the divine will, giving His life a ransom for many.
And there was a special CHARACTER in Christ’s ministry.
What was the way in which He went about His work? I think that in one way we can describe it as “quiet.” Time and time again after He healed someone He said, “Shuuuuuuu.” The question is – did He maintain a low profile in order to fulfill scriptures, or did Isaiah only foresee the nature of Jesus’ earthly ministry?
The thing which so many para-Christians fail to recognize is that what Christ was doing at that time in His life was not the ultimate purpose for His incarnation. His primary purpose was not the Sermon on the Mount or any of his other special revelations. His intention at that point in time was not to mount the throne of David and drive the Romans from the Promised Land. And while the average Galilean was really excited about Jesus’ miracles, we shouldn’t be quite as excited. Sure they magnify His authority and His deity, but it was not the purpose of Christ to rid the world of physical disease, hunger, illiteracy and poverty. Christ came into the world, as I’ve already said, to give his life a ransom for many. He was looking past all the potential hoopla, and the fury of these Pharisees, to Calvary – which was several months away. The Old Testament specified how He was to die, and the plans of these current adversaries didn’t match the decree of God. And yet, there was still much work, which didn’t need to be disrupted by these troublemakers. So He “charged them that they should not make him known.”
“Behold my servant..shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.” The word “strive” suggests someone who is prone to fight, debate, argue and wrangle. The Lord Jesus was certainly not going to back down from an argument created by His opponents. As God, He had the wisdom and skill to defeat any argument thrown against Him. But as you think back upon what you know of His life, those debates and arguments were not started by Him. He was not a rabble-rouser, a fighter or a brawler – whether physical or verbal.
And He wasn’t like Jeremiah, Jonah or a great many other prophets of God, standing on his apple box. Jonah went into Ninevah screaming and yelling that the judgment of God was soon to fall upon the city. Ezekiel and Jeremiah did some really outlandish things to draw attention to themselves and their message. Unless, you want to put the Lord’s miracles into that category, Jesus didn’t cry or raise His voice in the streets drawing attention to Himself. It wasn’t that there would have been anything wrong with that, but it just wasn’t what the Father wanted. And the prophecy declared it.
“A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench.” This is poetical language with which we might really get carried away, but it’s not necessary. The bruised reed was the stock of some plant that had been weakened or bent. As such it could easily have been broken. But Christ’s ministry wasn’t about that sort of thing. He didn’t break the backs or hearts of people already suffering. John Gill suggests that the burning flax was some sort of wick, protruding from a lamp. But flax isn’t a very good wick, because it creates quite a bit of smoke along with a rather poor flame. Christ wasn’t about to put out even a meager flame, just to clear the air of a little pollution.
Some people try to apply these illustrations to the Pharisees, saying that Christ didn’t break or offend them. I’m not sure that is the right application. Better might be those people who were listening to the Saviour, but not yet convinced of His message. Or perhaps this might refer to new believers whose faith was still really fragile. The Lord was not in the business of destroying honest sincerity. Rather He was nurturing and nourishing what little faith he had planted in these people.
Ah, but that was only to a point. “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.” There might have been several ways that Christ could have shown judgment to the Gentiles. He could have called down fire from Heaven to burn them all to cinders. He could have opened up the ground beneath them and swallowed them whole. Or He could pronounce judgment, showing and describing the jeopardy that they were in. The Jews in their arrogance considered the Goyim as heathen worthy of eternal destruction, while they considered themselves saved under the Davidic or Abrahamic covenants. Christ, during His earthly ministry, went about proving that both the Jews and Gentiles were sinners. He brought judgment against them, but with the ultimate purpose of victory. It is to all men everywhere that God hath commanded repentance – not just to either the Gentiles or the Jews.
“And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.” This is what it is all about – both Jews and Gentiles, recognizing the judgment of God against them, and casting themselves down before the Judge, repenting of the sins and trusting God’s remedy. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.” To both the Jews and the Gentiles we declare, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In Whom is your hope for eternity? In yourself? Your religion? Your good works? Repent before God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!