Isaiah 49:5, commentary and pictures

The Lord formed His servant from the womb and appointed him to be His servant to bring Jacob back to Him again. Though Israel be not gathered, the servant is still glorious and honored in the eyes of the Lord, and his God is his strength. The servant is Christ, and the verse is His own declaration of His mission of mercy to uplift and save the world.

Christ labored for Israel even when they rejected Him and His work appeared fruitless. Constantly confronted with apparent failure, seeming to do little of what He longed to do while Satanic influences obstructed His way, He would not be discouraged by opposition or apparent failure but rested on the promise. His judgment and reward were with God and His work with His God, so His labor was not truly in vain. Israel denotes the church members of the present day, who as God's servant are called to bring Jacob back to Him.

The verse belongs to the forty-eighth and forty-ninth chapters of Isaiah that represent the work of God's messengers today. It foretells the great and solemn work of presenting the warning message to the world and giving people the reason for this faith. Camp meetings afford opportunity to give the information the world desires and to arouse slumbering senses to see how far they have departed from the Lord's ordinances by adopting worldly policy and conforming to worldly principles in transgression of the law of God. It calls for means to present the truth and for sanitariums in different parts of the world as an educating power to reform the people and restore in them the moral image of God, so that through knowledge of the Word men become converted and use their means and ability to extend knowledge of the truth.

The verse encourages God's workers to continue their mission even when the people they serve are not yet gathered. It calls the church to awaken and carry the message throughout the world. It applies to those serving in God's appointed institutions, who are brought into channels where light shines and are entrusted with sacred service, and who should treat their role as a serious responsibility rather than a small thing. It places the servant in God's special service as a trust that must not be treated lightly, so those entrusted should feel responsibility and devotion in proportion to that trust and make offering Christ perfect service their highest desire. Faithfulness in God's appointed service as described in the verse is part of the way by which Christlike attributes of character may be obtained. The verse calls every minister to keep his lamp trimmed and burning.