The Road to Jesus Reaches to the Ends of the Earth
We have spent four months on Fridays in Isaiah. Every two or three chapters, we have seen an explicit or implicit reference to Jesus Christ. The implicit references we know refer to Jesus due to the theology found in the passage and its connection to Jesus made in other passages. The explicit references to Jesus are prophecies that are connected to Him by the inspired New Testament writers.
Isaiah 49 is one of the former portraits of Christ. Isaiah deals with this perennial issue with the human race: “Will humans respond in trust? God’s trustworthiness has been demonstrated (chs. 7-39), his grace has been offered (chs. 40-48), but it is all for naught unless humans will act on it” (Oswalt, 259). Thus, the grace of God teaches us to respond in faithful obedience (Titus 2:11-14).
At the end of Isaiah 48, God had told Israel He would teach them so they would profit (spiritually) and He would lead them where they should go. But the problem was, they refused to pay attention to His commandments (verses 18-19).
“Hear this!” (48:1). This verb is found ten times in the next sixteen verses with two synonyms also used (vss 18, 8). The primary target of the Gospel message is the human ear!
In chapter 49, Isaiah gives us another picture of the Servant, a picture of Jesus Christ. Salvation is coming. It will be made available. Israel will be reconciled to God, through His Servant. But that salvation will not be available only to the Jews. It will be available also to the Gentiles.
Isaiah’s call in verse 1 is to the “islands” – the Gentiles. They ought to “listen” [obey]. In this context, God had called His Servant from the womb and named Him from the body of His mother. There is a special Servant of God coming.
His mouth will have a special role in His work, a special power. Remember that Israel did not listen to God’s instructions (48:18). They will listen to this Servant, or they will be cut off. His mouth is like a sharp sword. This is a reference to His teaching (Heb. 4:12; Rev. 1:16; 19:15). He is protected by the shadow of God’s hand. But He also serves a specific purpose, just like a select arrow that God has hidden in His quiver.
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Verse 3 – This is God’s Servant. The perfect Israelite, through Whom God will show His glory.
But the Servant is frustrated with the response of Israel, verse 4 (see Luke 9:41; Mark 8:21; 14:27). Yet He still has work to do, verse 5: to bring Jacob back to God so Israel can be gathered to the Lord. As the Servant fulfills His work, He will be honored in the sight of the Lord and God will be His source of strength. This surely is no one else except Jesus of Nazareth.
What is that work? Verse 6 – To raise up the tribes of Jacob, out of sin and rebellion and to restore the preserved ones of Israel, the faithful remnant. He will also be a light to the nations so that He can carry the salvation of God to the “ends of the earth.” Isaiah connects the “light” to the Messiah several times: 42:6; 9:2; 60:1-3.
When Christians fulfill the great commission as Paul and Barnabas were doing in Acts 13:47, you and I also fulfill this portrait in verse 6.
Verse 7 is a message that God gives to His Servant, to Jesus Christ – the one “despised” and “abhorred” by the nation of Israel – “Kings will see and arise, princes will also bow down, because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen:” Jesus Christ.
God desires for this “highway of holiness” that leads to Jesus to stretch to the ends of the earth. We ought to accept that challenge, that responsibility, and take the Gospel (or send it) to the ends of the earth.
–Paul Holland
