Day By Day - Isaiah 43
By Catherine Mitchell
Opening Thoughts:
Here we see the children of Abraham, the chosen servants of God, who were a type of Christ, meeting for the first time via Isaiah’s vision, the Ultimate Servant Christ. He is the fulfilment of the type which they were, and the One in whom the God of Abraham would be fully glorified: Acts 3:13 AMP “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant and Son Jesus [doing Him this honour], He is the One…”
I wonder what Israel made of this prophecy? They alone, until this word, had been endowed with the status of being the Servants of the Lord.
Key Points:
1: The Ultimate Servant - Vs 1
It is true that Abraham’s descendants were set apart as special; God’s chosen vessels, covenanted with promise, witnesses and instruments of divine revelation and the chosen lineage of Messiah. It must have been hard for them to swallow the facts surrounding the Elect One; God’s Ultimate Servant, the coming Messiah. He would be a more honoured Servant, delighting the soul of their God and carrying the special endowment of His Spirit. What’s more, vs 6 - 9 expressed to them the unsurpassed difference that this Ultimate Servant would make. He would make all things new.
He would take their familiar covenant and make it a former thing by fulfilling it. He would extend His hand to all people, lift them out of the dark pit of sin’s condemnation and make them to know His glory. Through Him, new things would spring forth! Gentile nations would be made special too!
2: His Greatest Servitude - Vs 4
Here is the reason for this Servant’s honour. Here is the reason He delights God’s soul: It is for His greatest servitude - His Obedience to God unto death. He did not fail. He did not give way to discouragement. He, through His servanthood, has established His blood-bought justice in all the earth for the Jew first and then the Gentiles too. Phil 2: 6-8 "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
3: His Gentle Touch - Vs3
History records a metaphor concerning the harsh Assyrian King Esarhaddon: He bragged that “all those not subservient to him, even kings not subservient to him, he snapped like a marsh reed and subdued them under his feet.”
This Servant King, the Elect One, would not practice such harshness on the frail nation of Israel, nor would he discard the Gentiles when they come to Him in repentance, rather He would hold their hand and heal them. Though both these nations, Israel and the Gentiles were bruised, smouldering and vulnerable because of their sin, Isaiah comforts them with the promise of a meek and merciful Messiah who will care for them as a gentle ruler who ministers justice and truth.
Closing thoughts:
Vs 25 & Vs 17 - Having heard Isaiah’s vision, God’s children did not take it to heart; they did not love Him exclusively.
Put down your moulded image for a moment and take some time to take to heart, really take to heart, the justice and truth of our Ultimate Servant: Jesus.
Opening Thoughts:
Here we see the children of Abraham, the chosen servants of God, who were a type of Christ, meeting for the first time via Isaiah’s vision, the Ultimate Servant Christ. He is the fulfilment of the type which they were, and the One in whom the God of Abraham would be fully glorified: Acts 3:13 AMP “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant and Son Jesus [doing Him this honour], He is the One…”
I wonder what Israel made of this prophecy? They alone, until this word, had been endowed with the status of being the Servants of the Lord.
Key Points:
1: The Ultimate Servant - Vs 1
It is true that Abraham’s descendants were set apart as special; God’s chosen vessels, covenanted with promise, witnesses and instruments of divine revelation and the chosen lineage of Messiah. It must have been hard for them to swallow the facts surrounding the Elect One; God’s Ultimate Servant, the coming Messiah. He would be a more honoured Servant, delighting the soul of their God and carrying the special endowment of His Spirit. What’s more, vs 6 - 9 expressed to them the unsurpassed difference that this Ultimate Servant would make. He would make all things new.
He would take their familiar covenant and make it a former thing by fulfilling it. He would extend His hand to all people, lift them out of the dark pit of sin’s condemnation and make them to know His glory. Through Him, new things would spring forth! Gentile nations would be made special too!
2: His Greatest Servitude - Vs 4
Here is the reason for this Servant’s honour. Here is the reason He delights God’s soul: It is for His greatest servitude - His Obedience to God unto death. He did not fail. He did not give way to discouragement. He, through His servanthood, has established His blood-bought justice in all the earth for the Jew first and then the Gentiles too. Phil 2: 6-8 "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
3: His Gentle Touch - Vs3
History records a metaphor concerning the harsh Assyrian King Esarhaddon: He bragged that “all those not subservient to him, even kings not subservient to him, he snapped like a marsh reed and subdued them under his feet.”
This Servant King, the Elect One, would not practice such harshness on the frail nation of Israel, nor would he discard the Gentiles when they come to Him in repentance, rather He would hold their hand and heal them. Though both these nations, Israel and the Gentiles were bruised, smouldering and vulnerable because of their sin, Isaiah comforts them with the promise of a meek and merciful Messiah who will care for them as a gentle ruler who ministers justice and truth.
Closing thoughts:
Vs 25 & Vs 17 - Having heard Isaiah’s vision, God’s children did not take it to heart; they did not love Him exclusively.
Put down your moulded image for a moment and take some time to take to heart, really take to heart, the justice and truth of our Ultimate Servant: Jesus.
Posted in Isaiah