Isaiah 42:1, commentary and pictures

Behold points to Christ as God's chosen and upheld Servant, sustained and guarded to finish the plan of salvation, beloved and delighted in by the Father, endowed and anointed by the Spirit resting upon Him. He brings God's justice, truth and law to the Gentiles and nations to establish it in truth throughout the earth. He does this work in lowliness without clamor or self-exaltation, tenderly caring for the weak and wounded rather than breaking the bruised reed or quenching faint hope. He does not fail nor grow discouraged until He has set judgment in the earth, for which the isles and distant peoples wait. His Spirit-anointed preaching and healing ministry is the pattern God's people and gospel workers are to carry forward in the same gentleness, mercy and dependence on God.

Servant Named and Sustained

Behold my servant points to Christ, the Messiah, Jesus in His mission to earth as God's upheld and chosen Servant. He is the One upheld by God, chosen and delighting God's soul, with God's Spirit put upon Him to bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. In His humanity He is the example in all words and works, understanding the needs and temptations of all classes and successfully preaching the gospel to the poor. He brings God's judgment to the Gentiles and establishes it in truth throughout the earth, while distant peoples and the isles wait for His law.

To be upheld means God sustains, shelters, and guards His Son with sheltering care over Him. That upholding preserves Christ and His mission so that human hatred cannot frustrate it and the plan of salvation can be carried out. The hatred is relentless, the hatred of men inspired by Satan and stirred by Satan, yet it could not thwart the great plan of salvation.

The Servant is God's elect, chosen and beloved, in whom He delights, endowed and anointed with His Spirit for the work. The Father's delight rests on Jesus as God's chosen and upheld servant both in faithfulness and obedience in ordinary life and in His public ministry. That ordinary faithfulness includes His humble work as a carpenter.

Mission to the Nations

He shall bring forth God's judgment, justice, truth, and law to the Gentiles and nations and establish it in truth throughout the earth. His mission to bring judgment to the Gentiles is carried out as the missionary pattern for successfully preaching the gospel to the poor. In His humanity He is the example in all words and works, and His work defines the work to be accomplished by workers who diligently bring the truths of God's Word to bear upon human hearts. That work of unfailingly establishing truth and law in the earth is the work God's people are to carry forward.

Given for a covenant of the people and for a light of the Gentiles, He opens blind eyes and brings prisoners from the prison and those sitting in darkness out of the prison house into light. He preaches good news to the poor, heals the brokenhearted, frees captives, restores sight, sets the bruised at liberty, teaches the way of life and the gospel of the kingdom, and ministers to the afflicted. He came to this world at infinite sacrifice as the great Physician and greatest Medical Missionary, going from place to place ministering to the afflicted, healing all manner of sickness and disease, bringing needed restoration of soul and body to those under the curse of transgression and helping human weakness. His ministry is shown in Jesus' teaching and healing among the people.

He is the distinguished Teacher whose gospel and authority reach beyond Israel, bringing God's light and instruction to the nations. He is the heavenly Messenger who comes to reveal God and bring light to a world darkened by sin. He is the promised Messenger of the Covenant and the Sun of Righteousness, whose coming draws Gentiles and kings to His light and to His acceptable year, preaching good news to the poor, bringing God's judgment to the earth, and establishing a law for which the isles wait. His preaching is the model for proclaiming the gospel.

He works in dependence on God and reveals God through His character. He shows perfect obedience to God's commandments. He understood the needs and temptations of all classes.

Gentle and Unfailing Ministry

The Servant carries out His mission in lowliness and humility, without self-assertion, display, noise, contention, or self-exaltation to gain status, wealth, talent, allegiance, or applause. He does not cry out nor lift Himself up nor cause His voice to be heard in the street, and in His humanity He is the example in all words and works. He does not pray to gain notice, does not seek praise, and does not undertake work calling for a large outlay of money. God is revealed through His character in this quiet way of working.

He deals gently with the bruised reed and smoking flax, bringing forth judgment unto truth without breaking the weak, crushing the wounded, or quenching faint hope, but caring for those in need. His quiet teaching, healing, solitary prayer, and mercy stand in contrast to ostentatious display, self-exaltation, and contentiousness. His ministry is not marked by the ostentatious display of the priests and Pharisees and religious leaders, but by quietness and care for those in need. He works in dependence on God and reveals perfect obedience to God's commandments while so ministering.

He does not fail nor become discouraged, but perseveres without losing heart until He has set judgment in the earth in truth throughout the earth. The isles and distant peoples wait for His law as that unfailing work advances. That perseverance declares the work God's people are to carry forward.

His covenant unites the kingly majesty of an omnipotent King with the gentleness and tenderness of a shepherd who cares for His flock. That work advances not with outward observation but by the gentleness of God's word and the operation of His Spirit.

Prophecy History and Connections

The prophecy was fulfilled when He withdrew from those plotting against Him, healed the multitudes who followed, and charged them not to make Him known, carrying forward compassionate work for the weak without strife or public clamor. His bringing of judgment to the nations begins with His coming and continues onward as the final work of world history, proclaiming good news to the poor and the acceptable year of the Lord, bringing God's judgment to the earth and drawing Gentiles to His light.

The verse foretells the great and solemn work of presenting the warning message to the world, giving reasons for belief and desired information through camp meetings, sustained by means for establishing sanitariums as an educating power. That educating work reforms by conversion through knowledge of the Word so that the moral image of God is restored, while workers arouse slumbering senses to see departure from the Lord's ordinances by worldly policy and conformity to worldly principles into transgression against God's law. As Restorer He restores the moral image of God in man nearly obliterated by the devices of Satan the destroyer, and all who connect themselves with God have that image restored in them. Whatever comes as legacy in hereditary peculiarity, deficiency of character, and severe temptation can be overcome through faith and His imputed righteousness in the new birth, and the human agent must not limit the Holy One of Israel by head-reading that turns souls away from the work chosen for them, since by His own grace He gives fitness to do it as successful agents cooperating with divine agencies.

His work belongs to God's plan to redeem humanity through the power of the cross, bringing God's judgment to the Gentiles with gentleness that does not crush the weak or extinguish faint hope, persisting until justice is established on earth. The chapter containing the verse is promises and assurance to comfort true believers amid affliction and coming judgments, encouraging confidence that the Lord will fulfill what He has promised.

The verse is to be studied together with Isaiah 40 and Second Peter to understand the work to be carried forward in deeply spiritual lines, calling for reformatory work and thorough reformation with prepared hearts, men of clear understanding, no haphazard work, and leaders worked by the Holy Spirit. It stands in a section where God reveals His purpose for His people and directs them to seek wisdom from Him rather than from finite human beings.

Pattern for God's Workers

The verse declares the work God's people are to carry forward to the nations. Christ's preaching is the model for proclaiming the gospel, and His Spirit-anointed mission is the missionary pattern Christians are to work with Him in sharing. His humanity is the example in all words and works for gospel workers to follow in the same way.

That following requires diligently studying this scripture and treasuring the true science of redeeming grace above gold and silver. Workers are to reject needless display, theatrical methods, confusing human science, and all self-exaltation, contention, noise, and lifting up of self to be heard. They are to stand firmly on God's Word, against which false science has no power. They are to empty themselves of self-importance to receive His grace and meekness and be sanctified through belief of the truth, for He will not sanction self-exaltation nor honor those who seek to honor themselves, and He did not undertake work calling for a large outlay of money.

His servants are to follow His pattern by showing mercy and practical care to the oppressed, poor, afflicted, discouraged, and trial-burdened, compassionately helping rather than crushing hope with harshness, neglect, or turning away. The verse is to be read to the sick to turn them to the Lord in confidence, that they may receive heavenly gifts together with skillful natural remedies. It defines the work of workers who diligently bring the truths of God's Word to bear upon human hearts. It is God's loving provision and encouragement for His loyal, commandment-keeping people, shown in teaching the way of life and the gospel of the kingdom and in healing all sickness and disease among the people from place to place as the greatest Medical Missionary.

That work is to be presented before the world in distinct, holy, sacred lines, advancing not with outward observation but by the gentleness of God's word and the operation of His Spirit in the soul. Men and means have been provided for it, and it will be moved exactly as ordained, for the set time to favor Zion will soon come and He will not leave His people to shame. No man is to interpose between his fellow men and God to lead them into paths not cast up for the ransomed. God puts His Spirit upon His servant to speak His special message with His own presence with the speaker, sending him before the congregation to wake the watchmen with decided truth for the cities even when leaders turn the message aside by their own interpretation and make it of no effect.

When God appoints a chosen helper to assist in the work laid on His messenger, He upholds him, places His Spirit on him, and gives him judgment, wisdom, and clear conceptions to serve as a wise counselor and helper not ruled by selfish considerations. This promise was applied to W. C. White to fit him as a counselor in council meetings and to lead him in safe paths when he seeks God's counsel. Such a helper should be relieved from the many other burdens others would lay on him so he can do that assisting work, with the Lord continuing to give him of His Spirit in it.