Isa 42:1-3
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
The prophet Isaiah, was being lifted up and carried in the wings of a prophetical spirit when he wrote these lines. He saw beyond his time. He saw the coming Christ and speaks forth the words of the Lord decribing Jesus. Matthew confirmed that these verses are fulfilled in Christ (Matt. 12:18 20). Allow me to indulge us in a little Bible study here because these verses have had a profound impact on me and my family especially at one of the darkest seasons in my daughter's life, when she was waiting to enter university, three years ago. But more of that story in a later post.
Back to verse 1: "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight."
God calls Jesus his servant here. Jesus was God's Servant in the greatest form of service that anyone could ever render to God. He was a chosen, choice Servant who was commissioned by God to suffer serving Him. And God considers the work of the Cross as the greatest service done by His Son. It was Jesus' highest service for God as a servant. No one has ever done so great a service for his master.
That is why verse 1 is prefix with 'Behold'. It is to raise up our thoughts to the highest level of attention and admiration. It is so that we go, "Wow. Look at how great a service for God done by a servant - to die in pain and humiliation on a Cross simply out of obedience to the Master. What a Servant!"
You understand why the second part of verse 1 reads 'in whom I delight.' God delights in Jesus, in this instance because He was such an amazing servant who perform such a great service in obedience to God who commissioned Him! Who will not delight in a servant who performs such a fantastic service?
God is therefore so pleased with Christ. God's love rest in Jesus. And what we must gather from this delight and love that God has for His Son is that if you and I are in Christ, God loves us and delights in us in the same way He loves Christ. Howcan this be so? We are not that great servants of God. We are no where near Christ in our obedience to God.
Exactly so. We are no where near Christ in our service or sacrifice. But in His mercy, God placed us in Christ. 'Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.' (Rom 8:1). And in Christ, God shares with us the same one love and delight He has for Christ.
Being in Christ. Sounds rather mystical? Like you can't quite fathom it? See if I can illustrate this. Remember when you put a tea bag into hot water and plain water got permeated with English Breakfast tea? And you added sugar to the tea and the sugar was in the tea? I remember when I was in Kazakhstan several years back where they put strawberry jam into the tea. It was all in the tea and become part of the tea.
Rejoice. You are in Christ. You are His love and His delight! And all because of Jesus His servant. Behold Him. Worship Him!
