Isaiah 42-45: Behold My Servant: Chapter 9: The Messiah’s Mission

Isaiah 42:5 says,

⁵ Thus says God the Lord [El Yahweh], who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath [neshamah] to the people on it and spirit [ruach] to those who walk in it.”

The Creator identifies Himself and claims the right to choose the Messiah who is called to be the King of the Earth. Special attention is given to man himself and the fact that God gave life to man. God gives both neshamah and ruach. The Hebrew parallelism shows that these are synonymous. Both refer to breath or wind. So Gen. 2:7 says,

⁷ Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath [neshamah] of life, and man became a living being [nephesh, “soul”].

We see these two words used in the same context in Gen. 7:22,

²² of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath [neshamah] of the spirit [ruach] of life died.

Those who breathe have the spirit of life; those who have blood have souls. When blood is combined with spirit, it becomes a living soul. The word of God is a sword that separates and distinguishes soul and spirit (Heb. 4:12), making man a trichotomous being, as Paul taught in 1 Thess. 5:23,

²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A “complete” man is spirit, soul, and body. The Greeks believed that man was dichotomous, having a spiritual soul and a fleshly body. However, they made an incorrect division, because the soul is part of the flesh, not part of the spirit. Hence, the soul is carnal, as the law says in Lev. 17:11, “the nephesh of the flesh is in the blood.” Or, to put it another way, “the fleshly soul is in the blood.”

Hence, if the Greeks preferred to think of man as dichotomous, they should have said that man is composed of a spirit and a fleshly soul—not a spiritual soul and a body of flesh.

Who is Chosen?

The Creator then says in Isaiah 42:6, 7,

⁶ “I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, and I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations, ⁷ to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in darkness from the prison.”

The Chosen One is called and empowered by God to be a covenant, a light, a healer of the blind, and to set captives free. This is the description of the Messiah; but on a secondary level, every type of Christ is one who accomplishes at least a portion of these things. Cyrus, for example, set the prisoners free with his decree, but he did not open any blind eyes, nor was he “a light to the nations.” In the end, he was the head of the second beast nation (the “bear” of Dan. 7:5).

Isaiah will describe the Messiah and confirm His mission with more details later (Isaiah 49:6, 8, 9; 61:1, 2). That this calling does not merely apply to Israel as a nation but to the Messiah Himself is seen clearly in Luke 4:17-21,

¹⁷ And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place [Isaiah 61:1, 2] where it was written, ¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, ¹⁹ to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” ²⁰ And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus said this at the synagogue in Nazareth, His hometown, that had been settled by radical narrow-minded nationalists that did not believe that the promises of God applied to other nationalities. When He reminded them that God loved Phoenicians and Syrians as well, they rejected His message and tried to throw him off the nearby cliff (Luke 4:28-30). In other words, the people did not truly understand Isaiah’s prophecy, and when Jesus fulfilled it, they rejected Him.

Nonetheless, Isaiah 42:6 says of the Messiah, “I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations.” The Messiah came as the Mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 12:24). The blessings were supposed to be distributed by the seed of Abraham to “all the families of the earth” (Gen. 12:3). Yet the Nazarenes thought that the promises and blessings of God should be hoarded by Jews alone. This was their idea of what it meant to be “chosen.”

In reality, no one is “chosen” unless they fulfill the biblical description of a chosen one. The Nazarenes did not want to be “a covenant to the people” or “a light to the nations.” Luke holds up the Nazarenes as a prime example of those who were NOT chosen, regardless of their genealogy.

Paul goes further in Romans 11, showing how the remnant of grace—which he calls “the election” (KJV) or “chosen” (NASB)—were always a minority among the people of Israel and Judah. In Elijah’s day there were just 7,000 (Rom. 11:4). In Jesus’ day, given the smaller population, there were even fewer.

Paul concludes in Rom. 11:7,

⁷ What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened [or “blinded,” KJV].

In other words, only a few are chosen; the rest are blinded, as seen in Nazareth at the start of Jesus’ ministry and again in Jerusalem at the end of His ministry.

The overcomers, being in unity with Christ and carrying on His ministry, are the chosen ones. Because the covenant extends to all people and all nations, everyone has the potential to be chosen, regardless of their genealogy. Hence, Paul tells us clearly that being of the seed of Abraham is about having the same quality of faith that Abraham had (Gal. 3:7, 8, 29).

Isaiah’s requirements for the Messiah and for all who are “chosen” include being a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, and to set captives free by the power of the Jubilee. One does not necessarily have to heal physical eyes that are blind, but certainly one must open people’s eyes to the light and truth of God’s word. One does not necessarily have to open up literal prison doors and set prisoners free, but certainly one must set people free from the power of sin that has bound and enslaved men.

Both Christ and His body do such things, for they are in unity and agreement, having a common purpose and ministry.

Results of the Messiah’s Mission

The Messiah’s mission is to build the Kingdom of God and to restore all things, so that creation may fulfill its original purpose. The success of this mission is a certainty, because God is sovereign and is able to make it happen. Further, He has vowed that it will happen, and we know that God does not make any promises that He cannot keep. Neither can the will of man thwart the will of God, causing the restoration of all things to fail in the end.

Isaiah 42:8 says,

⁸ “I am the Lord [Yahweh], that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.”

Though God will not give His glory to another, His glory will ultimately cover the earth, as He vowed in Num. 14:21 and affirmed in Isaiah 11:9. The only way this can happen is for the earth to eliminate all graven images. All false views of God and erroneous opinions as to His character and purpose for the earth must cease to exist at some point. The glory that was seen in Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration will be seen in everyone and the whole earth will manifest that glory.

Isaiah 42:9 says,

⁹ “Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; before they spring forth, I proclaim them to you.”

This is somewhat obscure, but it seems to refer to the two covenants. The “former things” were the promises of men under the Old Covenant. Moses prophesied that those promises of men would fail. Deut. 31:26, 27, and 29 says,

²⁶ “Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you. ²⁷ For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then, after my death?.... ²⁹ For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

The first book of Isaiah (chapters 1-39) explained the failure of the Old Covenant, culminating with their inevitable captivity to Babylon (Isaiah 39:6, 7). But then the prophet turns the page and speaks of the New Covenant promises of God, beginning in Isaiah 40. These are the “new things” that God was declaring “before they spring forth” (Isaiah 42:9). These are the results of the Messiah’s New Covenant mission to fulfill the promises of God to all mankind.

Songs of Praise

Isaiah 42:10-13 says,

¹⁰ Sing to the Lord a new song, sing His praise from the end of the earth! You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and those who dwell on them. ¹¹ Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices, the settlements where Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud, let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains. ¹² Let them give glory to the Lord and declare His praise in the coastlands. ¹³ The Lord will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies.

The “new song” is rooted in the New Covenant, and those who sing it are the 144,000 (Rev. 14:1-3). The number 144 is used in Scripture to describe the resurrected ones, even as the numeric value of Lazarus is 144. A thousand is the number signifying the glory of God.

This “song” is sung “from the end of the earth.” In other words, it is not limited to just 144,000 people. Only the overcomers “could learn the song” (Rev. 14:3), because they were the only ones with ears to hear its unique message; Nonetheless, they sing it to everyone else, so that in the ages to come, all would come to know the truth.

Whereas John spoke of the overcomers, Isaiah looked beyond them to a time when the glory of God was to cover the whole earth. Isaiah notes that people from the “islands” and the “wilderness” were singing the base notes, people from Kedar were singing alto, and people from Sela were singing tenor, all giving “glory to the Lord.”

Insofar as God’s “zeal” is concerned, He is “like a man of war.” When Jesus cleansed the temple by driving out the moneychangers, we read in John 2:17,

¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal [qina, or cana] for Your house will consume Me.”

In that case, Jesus’ “zeal” was part of the explanation of the marriage feast at Cana (qina), as I showed in my study in the gospel of John. When Jesus showed His zeal by overturning the tables of the moneychangers, He turned into a “warrior,” as Isaiah prophesied.

The zeal of the Lord indicates that He will persist until He conquers all enemies. So Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 15:25-27,

²⁵ For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be abolished is death. ²⁷ For He has put all things in subjection under His feet…

Jesus’ zeal ensures that He will not rest until all of creation has been subjected to Him, for He will fulfill His calling, and He will be King of the Universe. Nothing will escape His rule, not even death itself. Nothing will escape His rule, neither the first death nor the second. When His mission has been completed, then He will subject all things to the rule of the Father, “so that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).