Isaiah 42:10-25 Praising the Lord, and Israel’s Failure to Listen and See

 

What would be more appropriate after a tremendous announcement of the previous passage than a great outburst of praise to God! Like the apostle Paul, Isaiah cannot contain himself when the glory of the gospel grips him. Isaiah calls on the whole world to join him in praising God (vv. 10-11), and why not, since He is the Creator of all and Lord of all? But the song of these verses has a higher theme than this, which emerges in verses 13-16 as the praise reaches its climax in two bold and dramatic pictures of the Lord as the Savor of His people. Redemption is accomplished with tremendous effort and at great cost. He is totally committed to the welfare of His people, however blind they may be and however dark their circumstances (v. 16). This new song anticipates the song of the saints in heaven.

It is the way of great preachers to shock their audiences at times in order to shake them out of their lethargy and gain their attention. Verses 18-25 are a “shocking” passage in that sense. The words “my servant” are now applied to the Lord’s people in the context of a stinging rebuke (v. 19). What a plunge this is from the anticipation of heaven in the previous song and praise. Israel has so given in to bitterness and unbelief that all they are capable of at present is complaint (40:27). They are deaf to God’s Word, and blind to His purposes (vv. 18-19). In this they are no better than their ancestors, whose stubborn rebelliousness led to the punishment of the exile (vv. 23-25). This blindness is doubly culpable since Israel had the benefit of special revelation: the Lord had made His Law great and glorious among them (v. 21).

Isaiah is quite unsparing of the feelings of his audience. Like a good pastor, he knows that they will never know the comfort of God and fulfill their mission to be His servant people until they have faced up to their sinfulness and repented of it. There is no self-righteousness here at all from Isaiah. Note the “we” in “against whom we have sinned” (v. 24). He has never forgotten that moment when he saw the exalted Lord and knew the he himself was unclean and undone as everyone else (6:5). He speaks as one, who has discovered the wonder of forgiveness himself and longs for others to know it too.

Of course, there is a paradox here. In a sense they have already been forgiven (40:2). But what Isaiah is trying to elicit from them is the response that is necessary is they are to appropriate that forgiveness and live in the good of it. So in case they are overwhelmed by his stern rebuke, he moves on quickly, (in our next study), to assure them again of God’s continued commitment to them.

Isaiah 42:10-25 Reflection Questions:

How often do you give praise to God; daily, hourly, weekly?

Have you ever felt like Isaiah; that you couldn’t contain yourself and had to praise God right then? Where does this praise come from?

What is the Scripture that is the “song of the saints” mentioned?

Do you long for others to know the gospel too? What are you doing about that?

Hebrews 7:26-28 The Superiority Of Melchizedek

 

So far we have seen that Christ is a superior priest because of God’s oath and because of the permanence of Christ’s priesthood. No matter how devoted and obedient the Aaronic priests were, they could not always meet the needs of all the people. But Jesus Christ perfectly meets all our needs. Being perfect, He is able to exercise a perfect ministry for His people. Because of their sins, some of the Old Testament priests not only were unable to serve the people, but actually abused them. This could never happen with Jesus Christ and His people.

Old Testament priests were “set apart” for their ministry, so in that sense they were “holy.” But they were not always holy in character. They were sinners like the people to whom they ministered. The word “harmless” (v. 26) means “blameless.” No Jewish priest could claim this distinction. “Undefiled” means “unstained.” Again only Jesus Christ can claim these characteristics. When He was ministering on earth, our Lord was a friend of publicans and sinners (Matt. 9:10; 11:19), but His contact with them did not defile His character or His conduct. There was contact without contamination. He was not isolated, He was separated. Today, He is “separate from sinners” because of His position (“made higher than the heavens”); but He is not separate from the people to whom He ministers. He is always available to us at His throne of grace.

Another proof of His sinlessness is the fact that our Lord never had to offer sacrifices for His own cleansing, as did the priests. On the annual Day of Atonement, the high priest first had to sacrifice for himself before he could sacrifice for the people (Lev. 16). There were also daily sacrifices offered as a part of the temple ritual; and if a priest had sinned, he had to bring a sacrifice for his own cleansing. But Jesus Christ offered just one sacrifice for our sins and settled the matter forever (9:23-28).

This is the kind of priest we need! We are prone to sin daily, even hourly; and we need to be able to turn to Him for spiritual help. As our High Priest, Jesus Christ gives us the grace and mercy that we need not to sin. But if we do sin, He is our Advocate at God’s throne (1 John 2:1-2). If we confess our sins to Him, He forgives us and restores us (1 John 1:9).

The application is obvious: why turn away from such an adequate High Priest? What more can you find in any other person? The men who served under the Law of Moses had human infirmities and weaknesses, and they often failed. Our heavenly High Priest has been “consecrated [perfectly] forevermore” (v. 28) and there is no spot or blemish in Him. Such a High Priest “suits us perfectly”!

Hebrews 7:26-28 Reflection Questions:

When you are out in the world, does your character and conduct model that of Christ’s? Do you stand out?

Are you availing yourself of Jesus’ gracious ministry? What is your need? Bring it to Him in prayer today!