Isaiah 49 THE MISSION OF JEHOVAH’S SERVANT This part of Isaiah’s prophecy has mainly to do with the doctrine of salvation through the Person and work of “Jehovah’s Servant.” The Servant of God from here on in the book is One far greater than Jacob or Cyrus. This Servant is the Messiah of Israel, our Lord Jesus Christ. This Servant does what the Master says, and this Servant fulfills the word of God exactly as God says. He is the Son/Servant. The calling and mission of the Lord Jesus as the Servant is clear. He has come to redeem His people. Right from the first words of this chapter of the prophecy, we understand this call goes out to the whole world. “The isles,” the “coastlands,” makes plain God wants “all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.”
This salvation message that is given in these next chapters, speak of deliverance from the penalty of sin and the new life God gives to people world-wide who trust in Him. To them there is given safety and security bringing to them joy in salvation and the peace that follows knowing one is right with God. The beginning of this is that Messiah will come to restore Israel, and He will also give “light to the Gentiles.”
The call of God to His Servant was not an afterthought. This plan was conceived by God’s eternal purpose to have a people for Himself who will love Him, enjoy Him, have fellowship with Him and share life forever with Him. This plan came into full light when a “virgin conceived and bare a Son.” He was called from the womb to be the Savior of the world. He is and always was fully equipped to do what He was called to accomplish as we read in the second verse. He is the One who is the ideal “Israel.” He is the incarnation of what God wanted Israel to be.
To the Jewish world, the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ was a failure. When He was here, He had every right to be discouraged when He “was despised and rejected of men.” Even His own disciples misunderstood what He said, and what he meant at times. The Lord Jesus did not resort to their human and national expectations. Therefore, He left the results of His time here when He spoke as a man who said, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent My strength in vain and for nothing,” [NIV] with the Righteous God, and concluded the thought by saying, “Yet what is due Me is in the Lord’s hand, and My reward is with My God” [NIV].
The Servant in this prophecy is obviously not “Jacob” (Israel), but the One of whom Simeon quoted as, “A Light to lightened the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.” This Servant’s ministry is to the whole human race. Universal atonement is offered to “all men everywhere” who will repent of their sin to God, and seek the Lord with all their heart. The words of Philip the evangelist to the Ethiopian eunuch who wanted to be baptized were, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” His answer, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” gives assurance that “in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.” Jehovah’s Servant is “Lord of all.”
The return of the exiles from Babylon to Israel led by Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and later Ezra, an is an illustration of the return of the Jews from all over the world in the future. They will come to Israel after having been dispersed throughout the world for thousands of years. A small portion of the Jews have returned in recent years, but when the Lord Jesus Christ comes to not only reign as the “King of the Jews,” but the “King of kings,” the nation will be fully restored. In that “time of acceptance,” the Lord who has preserved them as an identifiable people through the centuries, will restore them. He hears them, He helps them, He has mercy on them, He guides them, He smooths the way for them, He will comfort them, because he identifies Himself with them and does not forget them – even after all this time [vs.8-16].
The Jews from Jerusalem did not believe the promise of their coming redemption. They believed God had abandoned them because they had abandoned Him. Chastisement is not a sign of rejection, abandonment or being cast out. It is rather a sign of care and concern for the future of a person, or in this case, of a nation. The whole point of punishment is to bring about a change in behavior. It will be a world wide wonder to see the nation of Israel gain world prominence under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. This prophecy goes beyond the rejection of the Lord by the Jews and also refers to the exaltation of the Lord after His glorious resurrection, when the people of all nations will worship Him.
In the “acceptable time,” that “day of salvation,” those held captive by sin are set free by the power of the Gospel. How true that is for us today who have been redeemed, saved, delivered and set free by the grace of God. There have been, and still will be until our Lord comes for us, times of affliction. These are training times for the reigning time when we are with our Lord Jesus Christ and will experience the joy of that new age. From places that have been barren, fruitfulness will come to enrich God’s people. The barriers between Jews and Gentiles have been removed during this church age to include all who have been born again by the Spirit of God, to have a part in the kingdom of God.
The Servant of Jehovah openly expresses His compassion and care like that of a mother with her newborn baby. His people are so important to Him that he has them inscribed on the “palms of His hands.” That indicated that everything He does, has a future goal in view. It is true that the land of Israel was laid waste, but destruction is not the final purpose of defeat. God wants to restore what was lost, to become what it was intended to be. We can see a bit of a foreshadowing of what that will be in the future, when we look at the changes in Israel today.
In the future, the restoration will be real and genuine, after repentance is real and genuine. God will restore what was lost. It won’t be a tribute to the skill and innovation of Jews themselves. The Lord will raise up His standard, His banner, and will command the captives to be released and returned to where they belong. People who are delivered from the bondage of sin, really know they are delivered by the Lord, not by their own works of righteousness. We who know the Lord, have been set free, and we know it is the Lord who sets free others who were captives to sin. Those who have been set free by our Lord Jesus Christ, and have experienced the deliverance that His grace has provided, are not ashamed of our Great Redeemer, our Savior.