The Servant of the Lord
Is Jesus Savior of the nations, good news to the coastlands and Messiah of the elect?
Prophets and kings of Israel have looked forward to the incarnate Son of Man. Yet the Messiah of Israel did not suffer, die and rise to glory only for Jacob. The Lord is lord of all the earth, the heavens and mankind. He IS the hope of the nations, Redeemer of Israel and God incarnate now and forever!
Isaiah 49
Listen to me, O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
Listen, you unbelievers of every nation
The Messiah of God predicted by Isaiah will have to deal with a number of challenges, not least among these understanding mortality.
[ctt title=”How does an eternal, immortal, timeless One experience life as man?” tweet=”https://ctt.ec/3d2V2+ Read John 1″ coverup=”3d2V2″]
No man may stand before Almighty God face to Face, yet the LORD has dwelt in the womb of a virgin and endured the suffering of death on a Cross for our sake.
If the Lord rejected all except Noah long ago, will the Lord not reject even the wicked of Israel along with those beyond the coastlands at the day of reckoning? [Matthew 24:37-38]
John 4:22
[ctt title=”4:22 ὑμεῖς προσκυνεῖτε ὃ οὐκ οἴδατε ἡμεῖς προσκυνοῦμεν ὃ οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν” tweet=”.. we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. – John 4:22″ coverup=”mHlMU”]
Even the chosen needed witness that the LORD chose Abraham and Jacob, Moses and David for their faith. For the LORD destroyed and damned those who turned from righteousness. “Before Abraham was, I AM;” says the Lord, the God of Israel!
Not only Messiah of Israel, but Savior of the Nations
Isaiah 49:6
he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
So difficult for a man of flesh and bone to think in terms of timeless soul and Savior before time. Moses witnessed judgment on the land and redemption of a people for the Lord’s own purpose. Yet even in one hundred twenty years Moses could not claim the covenant of Abraham. Moses led a chosen nation through the sea. He and leaders of an elect people bowed before the Lord on a mountain where we would receive the Law of God. Yet Moses who had parted the sea and brought water from the parched wilderness could not cross the Jordan into Israel.
Judges and Kings could not rule over a stiff-necked people who believed that Abraham’s promise is fulfilled in their land land and success for their generation. From Elijah to Isaiah the elect continued in the sins of their fathers, while worshiping their ancestry over the LORD! Isaiah and Prophets of the LORD would eventually come to an end of their time, yet anticipating the lasting Redeemer the LORD did promise.
7 Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Who IS the Holy One of Israel?
The Redeemer of Israel IS and was and will be Lord over those who love Him.
Isaiah tells the chosen: 50 Thus says the Lord:
“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
with which I sent her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Isaiah foretells of a great Teacher of Israel
Isaiah, the prophet of God tells of the Redeemer of man’s slavery to sin, a Savior sent beyond nations and coastlands; the Lord who is risen after the love of His own Sacrifice. Isaiah speaks next of the wise and loving teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Can you hear His voice?
4 The Lord God has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
[ctt title=”If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”” tweet=”Jesus speaks truth, love and the words of eternal life.” coverup=”f5KGc”]
Recalling the crowds who followed and foreshadowing of a trial long past the days of Isaiah:
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6 I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.
The suffering servant will rise to outlive His accusers
9 Behold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the voice of his servant?
Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
Has Caesar prevailed? Pilate? Does one High Priest yet live?
Do the kings who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord live? Have the false prophets of hatred risen to take the lands they plunders?
Only Christ, Holy One, Son of the Living Father and One with the Holy Spirit rises from the Cross of sacrifice to preach once more to Israel and the Nations – His redemption for those who believe in every nation beyond time and circumstance: Jesus IS Lord!
The Promised Messiah, Jesus
Acts 26:22b-23
I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.
John 1:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
[ctt title=”“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ” tweet=”Messiah, Christ Jesus, the pure blood sacrifice on the Cross of perfect redemption.” coverup=”GSa8o”]
Hebrews 9:27-28
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” – Revelation 1:8
Surely the Lord created the heavens and the earth and man in the beginning. The Shepherd gathers every faithful follower from every nation and generation. In these last days the Lord will count the elect and the adopted, fulfilling all prophesy. He will form the old creation into a new heaven and a new earth where the LORD will dwell among us. The faithful will rise to His glorious love and embrace a overflowing joy we have not known because of sin.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, it will be once more and forever.
Amen.
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