The Promise of Justice
Isaiah 42:1-13 ·December 15, 2024· Joel Passmore
Part of: Isaiah, Our Promised Salvation
Pastor Joel Passmore preaches on God's promise of Justice to His people and to the nations.
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I hope you're ready for some good news. He's ready for some good news from the Word. There's almost an overwhelming amount of good news in just these 13 verses from Isaiah 42 today. So we're continuing this little Advent series. We're doing four weeks, four passages in Isaiah. There's a lot to cover in Isaiah. It's a long book, but we're just picking out four prophecies, four things from Isaiah, which tell us about the coming Messiah and the future that he's going to bring.
Now, just a reminder, these things, the fulfillment of them starts at Jesus' first coming, but they continue and they're ultimately realized at his second coming. So it makes it a really good topic and place for us to read and meditate and be taught on for Advent. Now, for today, one of the most popular types of characters in modern-day storytelling is the anti-hero.
An anti-hero is the main character of a story, but with deep moral ambiguity and failings. Think of the movies that you know. Anti-heroes are outlaws. They're vigilantes. Maybe you're thinking of some right now already. They have some value, some principle that's honorable, but to them it excuses anything that they do to achieve it. Think of Deadpool or John Wick or Walter White or Michael Corleone or the man with no name from A Fistful of Dollars.
These are all anti-heroes. For an anti-hero, the ends justify the means. Now, this all seems like just mere entertainment until a man is gunned down in broad daylight in New York City simply for being the CEO of a health care insurance company.
And many people respond to that with celebration because he is a CEO of an insurance company. Look, no one that I know believes that health insurance companies are guiltless.
But does that justify murdering the CEO? Many people think so. Vigilante justice is not justice at all. It's life imitating art. And we have been trained to root for the outlaws. And that's what we saw when people demonstrably, publicly, were celebrating a murder of a man in broad daylight simply for the job that he had.
Now, into this sad, seemingly hopeless situation that we find ourselves in comes Isaiah 42 and the promise of God for us. There is so much good news and so much hope and so much power, raw power in this passage. We need this word today. We need it today. I need it today. You need it today. Because we all long for things on the earth to be set right. Don't we? Don't you? We all long for that. We want things on the earth to be set right. And let me tell you, spoiler alert, God will do it.
God will do it. But with a completely type of person than we expect. A completely different type of person than the kind of stories that we tell will bring justice.
God's hero is not an anti-hero. He's the complete opposite. Let's turn to Isaiah 42 and receive this promise together. This is the Lord's word for us today. Let's pay attention. Let's receive it eagerly as hungry people who've been looking for food for a long time. And now it's being served to us. God's holy, infallible, perfect word. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break. And a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands wait for his law.
Thus says God the Lord who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it. I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison, those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I give to none other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass and new things I now declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of Selah sing for joy. Let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord and declare his praise in the coastlands. The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war. He stirs up his zeal. He cries out. He shouts aloud. He shows himself mighty against his foes. Pray with me.
Lord God, we kneel before you and ask you to work in us. Make our hearts soft. Put hope in front of our eyes again. Help us to see you and your plan of salvation and what that means for us and the calling on us today. The hope that we have in Christ. Lord Jesus, we know that your promise is that your word goes forth with power and that you accomplish great things. Things that no other person can do. Spiritual life. That's what we want, Lord. Do it in each of us today.
By the power of the Spirit, in Jesus' name we pray. Week one was the promise of deliverance. Week two, the promise of reconciliation and now comes the promise of justice. The promise of justice. All of the beautiful elements of this passage are connected and tied together. In this person, the Lord calls my servant.
Now, biblical scholars identify three sections of the book of Isaiah. They're interconnected and each one of them has a theme. In the first section, chapters 1 through 39, the key figure is a king. In the third section, chapters 56 through 66, the key figure is a conqueror. And in the middle section, chapters 40 through 55, the key figure is a servant.
Four passages in this middle section explicitly describe this servant. 49, 50, and then a long one that covers 52 and 53. And then this one, 42. These four are sometimes referred to as the servant songs of Isaiah because they are exquisite poetry. They're high poetry. This is the first of these songs and so it's something of an introduction for this servant. It starts with this, the servant appears. If you need to hire a contractor, if you need to find a doctor, if you need to get your car fixed, you could do an internet search.
I would recommend calling someone who knows those people and getting a recommendation. That's a better way to find those people. Call someone you trust. You get a recommendation for someone to come and serve and help you. Now this servant comes with the highest possible recommendation. It's better than Angie's list. Is that a subtle thing? Angie's list? I don't even know. This servant comes with a way higher recommendation. The Lord upholds him. The Lord has chosen him.
The passage says the Lord delights in him. The Lord has put his spirit on him. That's the only review you need if you're this servant. Just the one. That'll do. Those are some strong credentials. And this servant is on a mission and that is a mission of justice. Look at how much it's repeated in the first four verses. He will bring forth justice. He will faithfully bring forth justice. He won't stop till he has established justice.
Justice is a huge concept. Today there's many different definitions about what justice is. Some say it's equal opportunity. Some say it's equal outcome. Some would just say justice is simply getting what you deserve. But let's have God define it, okay? Let's let God define justice. In Deuteronomy 32.4 we read this. The rock, his work is perfect. For all his ways are justice. All his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
If all God's ways are justice, then a just society is one in which everything aligns with who he is. Outward things like relationships and work, but also inward things, right? Like our motivations and our feelings. Everything in alignment with who God is, that is a just society. society. The Hebrew word translated justice in this passage in Deuteronomy and in Isaiah 42 is mishpat. It means order and righteousness in society. Without mishpat, there is falsehood and oppression and favoritism.
Without mishpat, there are tyrants who abuse power. Without mishpat, there is no peace even when there is no war. This servant is sent to correct all this, to fix it, to set it right, to bring everything into accord with God's ways and God's character, to establish a community of generosity, of integrity, of true mutuality, of peace. It's the kind of community we all want to live in, right? But it also sounds like the kind of community that we wouldn't be allowed to get into.
Right? Behind a gate somewhere. Wouldn't I just wreck it if I were there? It sounds great as long as I'm not there. It sounds like a place for good people.
So how could any of us be there? But I'm getting ahead of myself. Now when you hear that this servant is sent to bring justice, what kind of person do you imagine? Right now, oftentimes, the word that follows justice is warrior. That's the buzzword. It's the person with the bullhorn outside City Hall or outside the Supreme Court. It's the person who links arms and stops traffic, who walks into a museum and throws paint on a piece of art, someone who chains themselves to a tree.
That's what it takes to get justice, right? That's what we are told. You've got to shout for it. You've got to demand it. And sometimes you've got to take it by force. That's how we tend to think.
So be shocked with me to read the description of the justice-seeking servant in this passage. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. This servant is meek and he's quiet.
What? How is he going to get anything done? How are people going to listen? How is he going to get his point across to the man? Okay, well maybe he's not so outspoken. Maybe he's meek and quiet. But surely this servant will be intimidating, right?
Yeah, that's how he's going to do it. He's going to bring forth justice with just the sheer power of his presence. But then we read a bruised reed he will not break and a faintly burning wick he will not quench. Now this is something that we really need to pay attention to.
Here's a picture. A bruised reed has bent and it's lost its structural support. A faintly burning wick has tunneled down and it's about to go out. Here's what these two things have in common. They're both damaged goods. They're considered useless. Too far gone. Of not much help.
Anybody here ever felt like damaged goods? These images are metaphors for weak and wounded people. For the has-beens or the never-wears. For the needy, the helpless. These are images for the people that other people overlook.
Labeling as useless, as unimportant, as lame. These people need care. And this servant is coming to give it to them. Because he is not only meek, my friends, he is also gentle.
He is patient and he is tender with people who are hurt. People who are nearly spent. He knows that a bruised reed needs to be supported. Needs to be bound up. He knows that a faintly burning wick needs to be tended to. Needs to be stood upright. Needs to be reset in the oil.
Now this servant might be meek and gentle, but he is not wimpy. He's not a wimp. He will not grow faint or be discouraged until he has established justice. He's got fortitude. It's a quiet fortitude, it's a gentle fortitude, but it's there. He will not give up until he accomplishes his mission. This is a shocking description of someone sent to bring justice. Are you intrigued? Doesn't he sound like someone safe? Someone that you want to help you?
Well, stay tuned because the promise gets even better. Because next, the Lord speaks. He speaks to the servant in the middle part of this passage, but it's really for our sake. It's for your sake. It's for my sake.
Verses 5-9 help us to receive the servant's mission and see the heart behind it. He is legit because he's not some lone actor. He does not come on his own authority or by his own will. God says to him, I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. He is sent from above, from the Lord. And the Lord leads him and keeps him in ongoing relationship.
He is not casting about wondering what to do next. He is led. He is shown. He walks faithfully. And he is sent for a particular role. I will give you as a covenant for the people. A light for the nations. A covenant, if you don't know what that is, it establishes a close relationship between two people. Between two parties. It makes the relationship happen. This servant himself will be a means of relationship between God and his people. A way for there to be reconciliation.
This verse tells us of God's will to save. He wants to do it and to save people from across the earth. for the people. For the nations. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Verse 7 tells us the outcome of what the servant does. The servant is given by God to open the eyes that are blind to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon. From the prison those who sit in darkness. These are metaphors for deliverance from guilt and spiritual bondage. This servant is doing more than just giving a bunch of new laws. there is an inward freedom and release from captivity. A work that is deeper than can be accomplished in just a legislature somewhere.
People are coming from darkness to light. Let's see Congress do that. He is more than a lawmaker. He is a rescuer. He is a redeemer. God's promise is that no matter how bleak things look a change is going to come. Behold the former things have come to pass and new things I now declare. New things like freedom and illumination for you and for me forgiveness and reconciliation and worldwide justice. This is the outcome of the servant's work. My friends this is the gospel.
This is the gospel and the servant the Messiah it's Jesus. Matthew 12 makes that explicit. Matthew 12 reads this exact passage and it applies it to Jesus and says that he is the fulfillment of it. And we can see it ourselves in the accounts of his ministry. He was chosen and delighted in. Do you remember at his baptism when the father speaks from heaven and he says this is my beloved son. with him I am well pleased the delight that the servant receives from the Lord.
And then at that moment he was filled with the spirit just like the passage in Isaiah 42 says when the spirit descended on him at baptism and it was proven every time he taught every time he spoke that he was spirit filled.
But as for his character this is where the good news gets even better. Listen to how Jesus describes himself. From Matthew 11 Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Avery keep that passage up for just a little bit. You know this is true that Jesus proved those words about himself in his life. He did it. Those were not just empty words. He blessed the poor in spirit.
He wept over death and over the impact that it had on people. He lamented over sin and over the bondage that people were in. One of the most frequent notes about Jesus is that he looked at people. He looked at them and what did he feel? He felt compassion.
Do you know he's looking at you right now that way? He's looking at you with compassion. He was tender and patient with sinners. Even the really really bad ones quote unquote whether they were extortioners like Zacchaeus or prostitutes like Mary Magdalene or just really arrogant and self-centered and brash and self-confident like Peter.
He was tender with those people. He says I came for people just to have already discarded and concluded and made up their mind. No use bothering with them.
Jesus is still drawn to people like that. He is still drawn to sinners. to the needy. To the bruised reeds and the faintly burning wicks. It's okay. You can admit that you are because Jesus is drawn to you.
He is a spiritual rehabilitator. He is a spiritual therapist. He's a healer. He's a healer, my friends. And he has excellent bedside manner. He's not like those doctors who they might give you the right treatment but boy you feel awful coming out of there.
He has wonderful bedside manner. He tenderly cares for the very weaknesses that we try so desperately to hide. And that is good news isn't it? Because we are even weaker than when it meant his own death. And if it's possible this is where it gets even better. Because what could be more meek than laying down your own life? What could be more meek than that? Than laying down your when Jesus died the future righteous judgment of God was brought forward into the present and it was laid on the Son of God on the cross.
Sin was not glossed over. It was paid for. Forgiveness would be unjust without atonement. Through Christ the servant God made a way He made a way to show mercy and to uphold justice at the same time because of the willing death of the meek and gentle servant who was sent to bring forth justice on the earth. He started with himself didn't he?
This is what God means when he says new things I now declare. These are things that Peter says in our scripture reading even the angels look at with wonder.
And as for the people how should they respond to these new things? Well the nations rejoice. The nations rejoice. This kind of salvation it deserves a response. Verses 10 through 12 give six commands. All of them are very similar. Sing to the Lord. Lift up your voice. Sing for joy. Let them shout. Let them give and declare his praise. These new things they call for a new song to be sung to him. I am an unabashed and unashamed big fan of musicals.
I love musicals. But I know sometimes people make fun of them. I know. They make fun of them because the story is unfolding and then a big moment comes and then the characters stop talking to each know the same choreography.
It seems pretty silly and pretty ridiculous until you read this passage. I've gotten a similar question from someone who was an adult and started coming to church for the first time in their whole life. They said to me, look Joel, I know why we do most of the things we do in church. I get why we read the Bible. I get why we pray. Why in the world do we sing together?
Music moves us. Music has the capacity because God designed it this way to express ideas and feelings and to do so beautifully. Have you ever heard a song that somebody else wrote and you thought that's exactly how I feel.
He or she they've nailed it. That's how I feel. How do they know? Or maybe you've heard a song you've had tears come to your eyes and you don't even know why. I don't know what's going on right now but it's just connected with something in me.
God designed music and God designed us and he wants us to be moved by his saving work. When we sing praise to him for what things and I admit sometimes it doesn't make sense but then sometimes it really does doesn't it?
And God calls people everywhere to sing praise to him everywhere when we come to him it is not by ourselves we are joining up with a song of praise across the little hints sprinkled throughout the whole passage of the global nature of this salvation let's look back at it justice to the nations justice in the earth a covenant for the people a light for the nations the song is commanded to come from the ends of the earth it's been all over the passage people are singing all over the world because that's where the servant has brought justice there's not one square into the globe that he has not brought his justice to and it is good news the coastlands wait for his law the passage says they lowly shepherds the bruised reeds and the faintly burning wicks of Judea and the angel said this fear not fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people because the meek and gentle servant Jesus had been born at