Isaiah 42:13
The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
The Lord going forth as a mighty man portrays Him as a warrior going out to confront His enemies, overcome them, and prevail over them. His crying and roaring picture decisive and forceful action, with His victory in judgment coming after a long time in which He has held His peace and refrained Himself. Victory in that battle does not depend on mortal strength, for through the power of the conquering Lord weak and finite people can gain the victory. He goes forth as an omnipotent King to accomplish His ordained work for Zion, and He will move that work forward just as He ordained it to move, prevailing against His enemies and every human hindrance without leaving His people to shame. His going forth in power gives encouragement for missionary work in remote and difficult places at the ends of the earth, showing that God Himself goes forth with those who enter fields that seem beyond reach.
Meaning and Context
The Lord is pictured going forth in strength as a mighty warrior, roused like a man of war to confront His enemies, overcome them, and certainly prevail over them. His crying out, yea roaring, pictures decisive, forceful action and expresses the power of His intervention in judgment. That prevailing victory comes after a long period in which He has held His peace, refrained from acting, and exercised restraint. The ending of that restraint, as described in the verses that follow, brings destruction and upheaval. At the same time it brings guidance for the blind by ways and paths unknown to them, making darkness light before them.
The verse stands in a section in which God reveals His purpose for His people and directs them to rely on His wisdom and to seek wisdom from Him rather than from finite human beings and finite human wisdom. The chapter gives assurance that God will accomplish His work and favor Zion, and that His word will be fulfilled. It is a chapter of assurance and promises meant to comfort true believers amid divine judgments falling upon the world and upon the rebellious, even while the faithful themselves are afflicted by those judgments. Isaiah 42 is to be studied in connection with Isaiah 40 and with Second Peter.
Warning and Judgment
Isaiah 42:13 belongs to the prophecy that plainly foretells the great and solemn work of presenting the warning message to the world and giving people the reason for belief, with camp meetings affording opportunity to give the information they desire. It stands among essential words of warning that must be brought to the people's attention and not disregarded. It belongs to a message meant to startle hearers, picturing the Lord ending a long period of restraint and acting forcefully against His enemies, with His cry and roar expressing the power of His intervention as He prevails in judgment. Resistance to that warning does not prevent the Lord from carrying out His work.
He rises as a warrior to confront and overcome His enemies. The verses that follow describe the end of His long restraint as bringing destruction and upheaval, while also leading the blind by unknown paths and making darkness light. Those following verses apply to a servant who refuses to hear or look at evil or to follow wicked counsel.
Mission and Assurance
Victory in the battle against God's enemies does not depend on mortal strength, for the Lord goes forth as a mighty warrior who arouses Himself to battle, cries out and roars, and prevails, and through the power of that conquering Lord weak and finite people can gain the victory. The verse shows Christ going forth as a mighty man and omnipotent King to accomplish His ordained work for Zion, with the set time to favor Zion soon to come. He has provided men and means to do it, will not leave His people to shame, but will move His work forward just as He ordained it to move and will prevail against His enemies and every human hindrance.
In covenant with Him that kingly majesty is united with the gentleness and tenderness of a caretaking shepherd, who advances His kingdom not with outward observation but by the inspiration of His word and the operation of His Spirit in the soul. The chapter belongs to assurance and promises meant to comfort true believers amid divine judgments on the world, assuring them that His word will be fulfilled even as the faithful are afflicted by judgments falling on the rebellious. The truths in Isaiah 42 are to be studied in connection with Isaiah 40 and with Second Peter, and need to be considered in order to understand the deeply spiritual work to be carried forward, to have hearts prepared to receive God's messages calling for reformatory work, and to lead out with clear understanding in thorough reformation rather than haphazard work.
The Lord going forth as a mighty man to prevail gives encouragement for missionary work carried forward in remote and difficult places — the ends of the earth, the sea and its inhabitants, the rocks and the tops of the mountains — where people seem beyond reach, meaning God Himself goes forth in power with those who enter such fields. That same going forth sustains the work by calling for freely supplying books wherever workers labor until more are needed.