Partakers Christmas Thought 3 December 2021 – Christmas 06

Partakers Christmas Thought 3 December 2021 Looking Ahead to Christmas – Part 3

1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations:
before I was born the LORD called me;
from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, ‘You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendour.’
4 But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due to me is in the LORD’s hand,
and my reward is with my God.’

(Isaiah 49:1-4)

We are now in what is called "the second Servant song!" We discover in here the Servant Himself is speaking! We have no idea of his actual name, but He does have a name (Isaiah 49:1)! In the first Servant song, with the dispensing of justice as part of His identity, the Servant is a King! But not just a King, something more as well! In this song, the Servant appears as if He is a prophet by the things He is saying. He was called Isaiah 49:1) just as Jeremiah was. The words He speaks are as if a double-edged sword (Isaiah 49:2). Despite the opposition (Isaiah 49:4), He perseveres to gain the reward and to glorify God (Isaiah 49:3).

What is His name? We find His name is Israel! Not as in the nation of Israel itself, but as a person who embodies all that Israel was meant to be and do. This Servant would glorify God in all His ways. This servant is a Prophet who is also a King. This Servant is a perfect incarnation of God’s light, covenant and salvation.

In the podcast today we continue looking ahead to Christmas and its consequences, by seeing what the prophet Isaiah had to say in Isaiah 49:1-13 about the Mission of the coming Messiah, why He is coming and how that relates to the man of history we know as Jesus Christ.

 

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