CHAPTER 42
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 1
Behold my servant, whom I upheld; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 1
Speaking of Jesus, Who shall bring Gentiles to Him, and we shall be judged by the same standards as His chosen people, the Jews.
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 2
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 2
Jesus was meek and humble. He didn’t make a spectacle of Himself.
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 3
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 3
We are weak, just as a “bruised reed”, bruised by our own choices and by satan’s minion’s lies, ready to break and deserving hell. He will have mercy, and when our faith is burning low (“smoking”), He will not let it go out.
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 4
He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 4
He will not fail ’til He puts His Word (judgment) into the earth, and the lonely, unsaved people (“isles”) wait for Him. It is our purpose to put His Word into the earth. He does it through His people. Every time we pray, think of Him, live for Him, thank Him, trust Him, give ourselves to Him, obey Him, read about Him, or talk about Him, we are putting His Word into the Earth. When enough of His Word is in the earth, His Second Coming will happen, and satan will be put “out of business” for good!! We are the Salt of the Earth (Luke 14:34-35; Matthew 5:13; and Mark 9:50). Salt is a flavoring, but it is also a preservative. We are to preserve His Word in the Earth until that time. (See Isaiah 55:11). When we die, the Word we put into the earth stays there, so we benefit from previous people’s preservation of the Word, and our descendants will benefit from ours.
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 5-9
Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8 I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 5-9
In these magnificent verses, God tells us of the New Covenant through Jesus Christ. The New Covenant was brought about by the change of roles of Jesus. He was the Messiah, the Victim of the Sacrifice, and the Priest of the Sacrifice. He was you and me, and He was sin itself. First, He was you and me, at the Garden, taking on all our sufferings, pain, feelings, regrets. Then He became our very sin—each of us individually and all of us collectively, and sin itself as He hung on the cross. That is why He was transformed into something despised and hideous. In Psalms 22:6, we see, “But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people.”
On Resurrection Morning, Jesus said to Mary, “Don’t touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” (John 20:17), but yet that same afternoon, He told His disciples to “handle” Him.. (John 20:27; Luke 24:39). These two verses tell us three things: 1. That He ascended to Heaven sometime on Resurrection Day, 2. That He didn’t have “flesh and blood”, but “flesh and bone”, (Luke 24:39) and 3 That when Mary saw Him in the morning, He was in the middle of something very sacred and couldn’t touch anything impure. The Temple, Mercy Seat, Holy of Holies, which Moses told the Israelites to make according to God’s instruction, (Exodus 25:1; 31:18) was a smaller, exact replica of the same things in heaven. So the Jewish sacrifices made yearly for atonement for sin were small inactments of the Ultimate Sacrifice made by Jesus. (Hebrews 9). On the cross, Jesus was the sacrificial lamb, in Hell, He was the Victor, back into His body, to have the blood, to sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat in Heaven, to purify everything, as the Jewish priests sprinkled the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies here on earth every year with the blood of lambs. He was on His way to heaven, to deliver the blood of the Lamb to the Holy of Holies, when He saw Mary. When in the middle of a sacred thing like that, He couldn’t be touched by anything or anyone impure until the action was complete. This is why He said, “flesh and bone” instead of “flesh and blood” later, with His disciples, because after He came back that afternoon, His blood was still on the Mercy Seat in heaven!!! That also explains why an angel opened the stone across the entrance to the tomb, instead of Himself opening it, or going through it as He did later on when he walked through the wall. (John 20:26
“And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.”). As yet, He still had His blood, and a regular, re-living body, with blood, so He couldn’t walk through the stone, nor the tomb, nor could He touch it and desecrate Himself, being in the middle of the priestly duties, so the Angel rolled it away for Him (See application for Isaiah 52:15) After he came back to earth, He had His Resurrection Body, like the one we will have at our resurrection!!! Praise the Lord
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 10-12
10 Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 10-12
Everyone is called to rejoice in His New Covenant, and declare His Praise!!!
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 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.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 13
The word “man” here refers to man as opposed to God, and “jealousy” means ardent zeal. He is speaking of Jesus coming as a man, in the fulfillment of the Covenant, not as God. He is giving us that same ardent zeal that He has. He was a man just like us, and we also should roar against our enemies spiritually.
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 14-15
I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 14-15
From Adam’s fall until Jesus’ coming, God more or less kept quiet, except to a few chosen people, mostly prophets, but now He is roaring against satan, because he has been defeated and is still roaming around in his lies! Satan is a dried up pool.
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 16
And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 16
This is a beautiful and well-quoted verse showing God’s eternal promises!
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 17
They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 17
But those who still cling to the things of this world cannot feel nor understand His great love and kindness. Even we, as Christians, who trust in our salvation through Jesus, sometimes don’t turn to fully living His life in this life (Jeremiah 44:3-5 and 48:7). Sometimes we tend to forget God when things are going good, and turn to Him only in troubles. (Jeremiah 2:27-29 and Deuteronomy 8:13 &14)
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 18-20
Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?
20 Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 18-20
So many of us who claim Jesus as our Lord, can be very blind. Jesus said, to whom more is given, more is expected. He expects more of His chosen people than to read a little of the Bible everyday as an “assignment”. He wants us to really seek Him—-not carnally, or intellectually, for that way we are blind—but spiritually, for that way we can see (Deuteronomy 4:9 and 4:29-32).
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 21
The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 21
The Lord is happy to make His New Covenant with us. By this new covenant, we are recipients of the Old Covenant and all the promises made at Mt. Horeb. (Deuteronomy 5:2 &3)
SCRIPTURES: CHAPTER 42, VS 22
2 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 22
But so many people are kept in satan’s prison, and told we cannot receive these promises, that they were for the Old Testament Jews only. They are for us, the descendents of Abraham, make no mistake!
(Galatians 3:14)
SCRIPTURE: CHAPTER 42, VS 23-25
23Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
25 Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
APPLICATION: CHAPTER 42, VS 23-25
Who will listen to what the Lord wants for the future? God has no choice but to let us go when we refuse to turn to Him and accept His protection. He gave us free will and when we refuse to walk with Him, he can’t help us. When this happens, people don’t realize it. They don’t know what power they have through Christ, because they’ve been lied to so long. Jesus said in Luke 11:23 that “he that gathereth not with Me scattereth”. If we are not gathering and developing our personal relationship to Our Lord, we are scattering, both for ourselves and others. Look what He did to His chosen people when they disobeyed His laws. He let them choose their own way, because the final choice is always with the person. He must do the same with us if we choose to turn from Him in our hearts.
END OF CHAPTER 42