October 19, Isaiah 42
So he poured on him the heat of his anger and
the might of battle; it set him on fire all around,
but he did not understand; it burned him up, but
he did not take it to heart. - Isaiah 42:25
You were warned, but you didn’t listen to the warning. So you were in the building when it began to burn. You were blind to the flames and billowing smoke. You were deaf to the warnings and pleas from would-be rescuers who risked their own lives trying to save yours. Still you refused to come out, and you perished in the flames, a senseless, needless tragedy.
Israel as a nation had become blind and deaf to God’s message. They spurned his messengers and dishonored God. They lived in shameless rebellion and open idolatry. The people of Israel were fleshly descendants of the great patriarch Abraham. They had his blood, but they did not have his trusting faith in God. Their lives of disobedience did not resemble the obedient life of their forefather.
God restrained his wrath for centuries before turning his people over to enemies who destroyed and enslaved them. But when his patience ran out, the impenitent nation felt the fiery fury of God’s wrath.
The remnant of Israel was composed of the individuals who were faithful to God and lived righteous lives. They would be spared from the wrath when the nation as a whole was destroyed.
Israel did not ever really live out God’s intention that they should be a light of testimony to the glory and greatness of God. They did not live lives that reflected God’s holiness, so they did not enlighten the Gentiles around them. The influence flowed in the opposite direction as the Israelites were led into idolatry and all the carnal behaviors associated with idol worship. But God would not share his glory with an idol. He is God alone. Only he could do the mighty deeds he did. No other alleged god could reveal the future in unerring detail as God did through his prophets. But the people became so hardhearted, blind and deaf that they could not see the glory of God or hear the warnings and pleas he sent through the prophet.
The brighter teaching of Chapter 42 is about God’s chosen Servant in whom he delighted. He put his spirit and his power within this Servant to bring justice not only to Israel, but to the nations as well. The New Testament makes it clear that these words were not about the nation as a whole, but an individual. Although the Lord called Cyrus and some other people “my servant,” the servant he called the people to behold in this chapter is the Messiah, the anointed one whom we know as Jesus Christ.
He came and kept God’s commands as well as the promises of the covenant God made with Abraham. But he also came to show Gentiles the glorious light of divine revelation from God and bring them into fellowship with the Lord, along with the Israelites who were faithful to God. Messiah would open the eyes of the blind, not only by restoring physical sight to physically blind people. He would open our spiritual eyes to see the glory and grace of God offered to us in Jesus Christ.
The response of this redeemed remnant composed of Jews and Gentiles alike would be loud praise to God. Even some who had opposed God and his people would join the chorus of praise as they turned to God and found real life and true freedom.
God pleaded with his deaf people to hear and the blind Israelites to see. But they were destined for destruction because of the hardness of their hearts. He told them that when doom fell on them to realize that it was the Lord they had despised and rejected who had taken vengeance on them.
Once again, Isaiah painted a portrait of God that shows both his gracious goodness and his terrifying severity. Many in Isaiah’s day perished when they refused to understand and respond to the word of God. You and I live with an even greater revelation of God. We are even more accountable for the decision we make to accept or reject the Lord’s offer of salvation. Let’s heed the warning, trust the promises, surrender to him and join the chorus of the redeemed in Christ!
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—October 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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