*Scripture: Isaiah 42:1-25 (NKJV)* 1 "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. 2 He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. 4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law."
5 Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: 6 "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, 7 to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. 8 I am the LORD, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them." 10 Sing to the LORD a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you coastlands and you inhabitants of them! 11 Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare His praise in the coastlands. 13 The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies. 14 "I have held My peace a long time, I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will pant and gasp at once. 15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will make the rivers coastlands, and I will dry up the pools. 16 I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them. 17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, who trust in carved images, who say to the molded images, 'You are our gods.' 18 "Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see. 19 Who is blind but My servant, or deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfect, and blind as the LORD's servant? 20 Seeing many things, but you do not observe; Opening the ears, but he does not hear." 21 The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable. 22 But this is a people robbed and plundered; All of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; They are for prey, and no one delivers; For plunder, and no one says, "Restore!" 23 Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? 24 Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the LORD, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, nor were they obedient to His law. 25 Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger and the strength of battle; It has set him on fire all around, yet he did not know; And it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart. *Devotion* There are times in which believers are called sons of God and Jesus is called the Son of God. Jesus is the eternal Son of God, begotten of the Father from eternity. According to Galatians 3:26-27, "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Similarly, in Isaiah 41:8 God refers to the Israelite nation as His servant, "But you, Israel, are my servant." However, beginning with Isaiah 42:1, the Father directs us to look at Jesus saying, "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!" In Isaiah 42:6, the Father speaks directly to His Son saying, "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness." This Servant, our Jesus, was called in righteousness, according to the strict observance of the Father's will. Executing perfect obedience to the Law and with the Spirit resting upon Him, Jesus will bring forth "justice to the Gentiles." Though sinners would normally run from getting the justice we deserve, Isaiah explains that this Jesus has not come to punish sinners. Isaiah describes Jesus in gentle terms of not breaking the bruised reed or snuffing out the smoking flax. Jesus was being sent to be a fulfilled "covenant [of peace] to the [Israelite] people, as a light [of salvation] to the Gentiles." With the forgiveness of sins placed upon us, we learn that the "established justice in the earth" which His Servant is establishing is God's "justice" according to the Gospel. God's plan to save us through faith in Jesus Christ is His new judgment.
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