Isaiah 42

There is something in Isaiah that is coming to the front clearer in these chapters: God chose a remnant to be His messenger or servant but humanity failed in this task in every generation in this way that they had the Laodicea Church attitude: they have ears but do not hear, they have eyes but do not see, and became the blind and deaf servant. For that reason God sent His chosen One, His Divine Servant, Jesus Christ as the solution to succeed where the remnant and church fell short. Christ the Chosen One is divinely intertwined with the Trinity since God does not share His glory with any (v. 8b). It is definitely Christ and His mission, purpose and role outlined here as the Servant sent by God the Father. The style of phraseology of Isaiah caught our eyes. He loves to employ synonyms and park them in parallel sentences almost repeating in the second line the same thought as in the first line. In this way, we learn a lot about the meaning of a word since it is repeated and elaborated upon in the next pair. The pair words, pair thoughts and pair phrases help us understand faithful living better: the Father’s Servant is His Chosen One and the Spirit is upon Him (v. 1); cry is to make the voice heard in the street (v. 2); disheartened is crushed (v. 4); created means stretching out the heavens and spreading the earth (v. 5); to give breath to people is to give a spirit to them (v. 5c-d); to be appointed as covenant to people is to be a light to the nations (v. 6c-d); prisoner is one who dwells in darkness (v. 7b-c); God’s glory means God’s praise (v. 8b-c); new song is His praise (v. 10a-b); end of the earth is to go down to the sea (v. 10b-c); sing aloud is to shout for joy from the tops of the mountains (v. 11c-d) [not in the temple or church though]; give glory to the Lord is to declare His praise (v. 12a-b); a warrior is a man of war (v. 13a-b); utter a shout is to raise a war cry (v. 13c); utter a shout is to prevail against his enemies (v. 13c-d); keep silent is to keep still (v. 14a-b); to groan is to gasp (v. 14c-d); to lay waste mountains is to wither the vegetation (v. 15a-b); to make coastlands of rivers is to dry up ponds (v. 15c-d); by a way and in paths are the same (v. 16a-b); to be turned back by the Lord means to be utterly put to shame (v. 16e-f); idols are molten images (v. 17b-c); he that is at peace with God is a servant of the Lord (v. 19c-d); not to observe the things of the Lord is to not hear His instructions (v. 20); plundered is to be despoiled (v. 22a); trapped is to be hidden (v. 22b-c); to be a prey is to be a spoil (v. 22d-e); to deliver is to give back (v. 22d-e); to give ear is to give heed (v. 23a-b); [remnant] Jacob is the same as [remnant] Israel (v. 24a); to sin against the Lord is to not be willing to walk in His ways (v. 24b-c) and to not obey His law (v. 24d); heat of His anger is the same as fierceness of battle and aflame (v. 25a-c); recognize is to pay attention (v. 25d-e). Indeed, Isaiah is a master in using a Hebrew Thesaurus or Synonym Dictionary to clarify the meanings of his thoughts or words to the reader. When God the Father announced the coming of Christ as Savior and covenant to the people (v. 6c) He listed all the things we can find in the gospels identifying Christ as the promised Messiah. The excellence of this Chosen One, described by Isaiah in vv. 1-8a stands in contrast to the performance of the humanity servants of the past “the former things have come to pass” and a need was seen to “declare new things” (v. 9). The insufficiency and inadequacy of the remnant servant led to Isaiah’s description of the sufficient One and adequate One, Christ the Messiah. The new song [or new covenant] means that Christ should be preached “to the end of the earth” (v. 10b). At the End of Time Christ would come “like a warrior” and “prevail against His enemies” [in Hell after the millennium] (v. 13). God the Father and Christ will send plaques to earth before the Second Coming of Christ and it seems to be indicated in vv. 14-17. The blind and deaf Laodicea church servant will be led by Christ “by a way they do not know in paths they do not know I will guide them” (v. 16a-b); “I will make darkness into light before them” (v. 16c). We know it is the End Time remnant spoken of here since this theme of the blind and deaf servant of the Lord (see v. 19) “Who is blind but My servant or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?” Humanity failed but Christ is Victorious on our behalf. Christ our Substitute. With the bad news comes the good news. Despite the church of Laodicea condition of the End Time remnant “The Lord was pleased for His righteousness sake to make the law great and glorious” (v. 21). Despite the difficult situation that the End Time remnant find themselves in, Isaiah in this verse, provided the pony to ride successfully out. This Laodicea condition is hectic though and described in vv. 22-25e. Isaiah is describing this future condition but his description of the weeds that will be found in the remnant at the End Time did not preclude him from including himself “was it not the Lord against whom we have sinned?” (v. 24b).

Dear God

We are this Laodicea remnant and our condition includes ourselves just like Isaiah. We are in dire need of Christ our Righteousness, our Chosen One, our Savior and Lord, our Advocate in heaven on our behalf. Save us in Your glory. Amen.

Koot van Wyk, (DLitt et Phil; ThD) Kyungpook National University, Department of Liberal Education, Sangju, South Korea; conjoint lecturer of Avondale College, Australia