Isaiah 42:5, commentary and pictures

Thus saith God the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, and who spread forth the earth with all that comes out of it and grows from it. He gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to them that walk therein, and is the source and giver of life to every person. Speaking from His authority as Creator and Life-giver, He declares that He has called His Servant in righteousness and will hold His hand and keep and sustain Him. He gives that Servant for a covenant of the people and for a light of the Gentiles, to open blind eyes and to bring prisoners out of prison and darkness without breaking the bruised reed or quenching the smoking flax. That Servant is the Messiah, Christ, God's anointed Son, and the assurance first given to Him embraces all who receive Jesus Christ, to whom He gives power to become sons of God and whom He adopts as His sons and daughters.

Creator Gives Life

Thus says God the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth with all that comes out of it and grows from it and laid its foundation. He made and spread out the heavens and the earth, the earth and its growth and everything that comes from it. Speaking from that authority as Creator and Life-giver, He is identified as the one who commissions and sustains His Servant described in the surrounding verses.

The same Creator gives breath to the people upon the earth and spirit to those who live and walk upon it and inhabit it. He is the giver of breath and spirit to all who live on the earth, the source of life and giver of life to every person. This creative power and wisdom are the reason His people should rely on Him and look to Him rather than look to finite human beings for wisdom.

This portrayal reveals His power and His care for His people, joined to His yearning desire to bring those ignorant of His purposes under His beneficent and benevolent care. It exalts Him as Creator of all and calls His people to behold and honor Him, presenting Him as an omnipotent King with rightful claims upon men. The biblical account of His creation is authentic history, free from human prejudice or pride.

Servant Called and Upheld

Thus says God the LORD from His authority as Creator and Life-giver, who made and stretched out the heavens and spread forth the earth with all that comes out of it and grows from it, and who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to all who live and walk upon it. Speaking from that creative power, He declares that He has called His Servant in righteousness and will hold His hand and keep Him and sustain Him without failing. His power as Creator stands behind His calling and support of His Servant, whose mission is Christ's work in the world.

He gives that Servant for a covenant of the people and for a light of the Gentiles and nations. The Servant so commissioned in righteousness is to bring judgment and to bring judgment unto truth to the Gentiles. This identifies the Lord as the source of life and grounds the commission to bring light to the nations in His authority and power.

The Servant's mission is to open blind eyes and to bring prisoners out of prison and darkness and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house. He does this work without breaking the bruised reed or quenching the smoking flax until judgment is set in the earth. This saving mission establishes the divine authority behind freeing the blind and prisoners and turning many to the Lord in confidence.

The Servant is the Messiah, Christ, God's anointed Son, His anointed whom He has called in righteousness and will hold and keep. Christ carried out that mission in dependence on God and showed perfect obedience to God's commandments. The Lord will secure the work of His Messiah and kingdom, declaring I am the LORD and that He will not give His glory to another nor His praise to graven images, and His glory belongs to Him alone.

The assurance first given to the Son embraces all who receive Jesus Christ. To everyone the Lord presents terms of mercy, and by faith they draw near to Him and He draws near to them. He gives them power to become the sons of God, and adopts them into His family as His sons and daughters.

The work entrusted to Israel was to carry this message so that people everywhere would praise the Lord with a new song from the end of the earth. Israel neglected that work, while faithfulness would have brought souls to God and praise from the ends of the earth. His yearning desire is to bring those ignorant of His purposes under His beneficent care, calling forth that new song and His praise from the end of the earth.

Trust and Proclaim Truth

Because He made and stretched out the heavens and spread forth the earth and all that grows and comes from it, and because He gives breath and spirit to every person who lives and walks upon it, He is to be beheld and honored as Creator of all, and His creative power and wisdom are the reason His people are to rely on Him and look to Him rather than to finite human beings for wisdom. The verse stands in a section in which He fully reveals His purpose for His people and His promises to them.

He carries on a constant work with those who dedicate themselves to Him, with the Lord God of Israel as their God and them as His people. The promises opened here continue chapter after chapter through Isaiah 44 and 45 and onward, showing what He has covenanted to do for His people. They give encouragement amid coming calamities and affirm that His word will be fulfilled. That encouragement calls for greater appreciation of what He has done and will do for those who follow on to know Him, whose going forth is prepared as the morning.

With the authority of the Creator of heaven and earth and Giver of breath and spirit, He invites all people to fully examine the claims of His law. His Word presented in Isaiah 42:5-16 is sacred and without limit, and is an appeal to study. Earnest study of His Word will reveal truth, the cause of truth will go out like a burning lamp, sin and wrong will not stand, and His law will be proved right. Christians must first seek their light from His Word and then go out in faith to give that light to those who sit in darkness, opening blind eyes and bringing prisoners out of the prison-house and darkness. That work foretells the great and solemn work of presenting the warning message and present truth to the world, telling why present truth is believed and using camp meetings in various places to give the information the world desires and to arouse slumbering senses to see how far people have departed from His ordinances by worldly policy and conformity to worldly principles in transgression of His law.

Speaking from that same authority as Creator and Life-giver, He declares that He has called His Servant in righteousness and will hold His hand and keep Him and give Him for a covenant of the people and for a light of the Gentiles, and this word grounds bringing the truths of His Word to bear upon human hearts so that many are turned to Him in confidence. It belongs to being in touch with nature in caring for the sick, revealing His power and His care for His people and His yearning desire to bring those ignorant of His purposes under His beneficent care. That care joins skilled use of natural agencies for disease with heavenly gifts and healing grace.

As Creator of the heavens and the earth and Giver of breath and life He is an omnipotent King with rightful claims upon men, and His covenant joins that majesty with the gentleness and tenderness of a caretaking shepherd. He has provided men and means to accomplish His ordained work, so it moves exactly as He appointed and He will not leave His people to shame. All who connect themselves with Him will have His moral image restored in them through the new birth, for hereditary peculiarities, deficiencies of character, and severe temptations can be overcome through faith and the imputed righteousness of Christ. Those abiding in Christ will likewise not fail nor become discouraged when difficulties arise in any branch of the cause, and when everything that can be shaken is shaken, those things that cannot be shaken will remain. This work is to be presented in distinct, holy, sacred lines by the gentleness of the inspiration of His word and the operation of His Spirit in the soul, not by human interposition, nor by phrenological head-reading and human counsels that judge character by formation of heads, turn souls away from the very work He has chosen them for, and shape the course contrary to His counsel. He will judge anyone who comes between his fellow men and God to lead them into paths not cast up for the ransomed, and where men have so interposed His work has been hindered.