Isaiah 42:1–3
“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,
My Elect One in whom My soul delights!I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,
Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street…
Jesus, came to fulfill the Law and the prophets. It is finished. Unlike King David, who God would not let build His temple because he was a man of violence, Jesus was a man of peace. All God and all man Jesus gave up His sinless life in our place for our sins. We, as believers, declare His mercy and love to all we come in contact with. Jesus came to us with shouts of peace, peace to the people on earth! He is our example of how we are to live our lives. We are His hands and feet to love others out of God’s great love for us. The Apple trees are full of pink blooms and the flowering shrub outside our patio is full of the sweet scents of spring. Thank you God for allowing me to enjoy, once again, Your gifts to us in nature. Carla
Isaiah 53:8-9
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth. NKJV
The implication is that the Servant’s treatment was completely unjust. The phrase is best understood as indicating oppressive legal treatment leading to an undeserved death sentence. The Servant is taken away with his generation. He symbolically takes on the role of the exiled Israelites.
From the land of the living is a Hebrew phrase and is best understood as a rhetorical question: “Who could have mused that [the Servant] would be cut off from the land of the living?” The Servant has not died yet in this poem—instead, the prophet is foreshadowing the Servant’s death by suggesting that it seemed improbable that the Servant would die. He was raised up just a little earlier (Isaiah 53:2).
The Servant being cut off from the “land of the living” is symbolic of the exile of God’s people in Babylon. The Servant, in his death, takes upon himself the very reason why the Israelites went into exile: their iniquities. In doing so, he takes upon himself the symbolic punishment of exile as well. Even though God’s people deserve to be punished for their rebellion against Him, He has sent His Servant to redeem them.
The Servant was destined to suffer for the people. It was known by his actions and his deeds. The Servant’s opponents may accuse him, but they will not prove his guilt. They will fall away, while he will remain. The servant passages in chapters 40–55 reflect the Servant’s vocation in 52:13–53:12 and set the background for his role, creating an archetypal Servant vocation. My people refers to Yahweh’s—and the prophet’s—people. Faithlife Study Bible
This language clearly indicates that the Servant would die. Often in Hebrew poetry, the rich appear as synonymous with the wicked. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man, but he was not wicked (Matthew 27:57–60). The Hebrew term death is in the plural, as a focus on the deep significance of Christ’s death.
The Old Testament pointed to the doctrine of the atonement long before Jesus died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3 where Paul speaks of the doctrine coming from “the Scriptures”). The atonement was part of God’s eternal plan (Ephesians 1:4–7). The Father was pleased that His Son should die because it would cover up the sins of many and reconcile them to Himself (verse 11). Offering refers to the “trespass offering,” the sacrifice of a ram in order to secure the Lord’s atonement for sin (Levisicus 5:6, 7, 15; 7:1; 14:12; 19:21). Here the prophet Isaiah describes the Servant Jesus as a trespass offering. His seed refers to the spiritual seed, born to the Servant after His death (Galatians 3:26–29). The NKJV Study Bible
1 Peter 2:22
“Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;
Matthew 27:57–60
Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him…
Acts 8:32–33
The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”
1 John 3:5
And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.
Isaiah 42:1–3
“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,
My Elect One in whom My soul delights!I have put My Spirit upon Him;\
He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,
Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street…
But Terry, the world feels (and is) catawampus. So, it is no surprise when we assume that wonder (or awe or joy) is not easily or readily accessible.
I don’t disagree. But gratefully, the opposite is true.
And I was grateful for this confirmation and invitation from Maria Shriver. “The volatility of this seemingly endless war has so many of us shaken, scared, and frankly, outraged. Living in that constant state of ‘fight or flight’ doesn't just steal our peace. It’s an expensive tax on the very time we claim to value so much.where you put your attention is where your time actually goes. You can protect your calendar and still spend your hours in distress, in dread, in toxic loops of news and noise and comparison. Or you can choose, imperfectly and stubbornly each day, to put your attention on what fills you. On joy. On awe (just look at the pictures of Earth sent by the Artemis crew). On the people right in front of you. On a walk outside, when the light is doing something extraordinary, and you almost miss it.”
As I was writing this Sabbath Moment, the doorbell rang. I went to take the delivery. Off to the side of our entry walkway are two great Camellia shrubs, now full of blooms. One shrub with a creamy white flowers, and one with a shade of blooms between carmine and ruby. The Camellia is sometimes called the Queen of flowers because of its gentle elegance. A hummingbird calmly and steadily hovers at one of the open blooms. Wings fluttering—at a rate and speed already wondrous—the hummer savors his late lunch. And I savored the moment. In awe—and so grateful—for the wonder. Sabbath Moments
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