Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Wednesday August 26, 2009

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Isaiah 42

V9  Former things come to pass/I declare new things. Jesus at pool of Bethesda: do you wish to be made well – come into new?  This is a question He asks all of us.  The former things: prophesied destruction of Jerusalem/Babylonian captivity have run their course.  Cf. Is. 40:2

The New things: release/restoration/renewal/recovery.  Cf. Is. 41:2

You can live in the former things or in the new things.  Eph. 2:1-10

You can live in bitterness/regret/guilt or in grace/mercy.  Former or new marriage, ruined or renewed life.  Our passage has to do w/ the Servant of Yahweh, Jesus, bringing in the new things…

Vv1-4 introduce the Servant/momentous task He is undertaking (social justice, one soul at a time).  Vv5-7 - why He will succeed.  

5  Why not begin at v6?  It would have lost nothing in comprehension, but v5 gives it a broader/deeper/richer context.  God wants to expand the vision/understanding of Israel beyond herself.  One of the chief hang-ups of Israel and all humankind is the tendency to think mainly of self.  Look at Mt. 28: 18-20 and then Acts 1:8  It was an ongoing work of the Spirit to force the early Jewish church to look outward.  Acts 6; 10.  It was easy for them to remain in the former things of racial prejudice.

Universe/earth/animals/people/soul/spirit – all aspects of the created order have been affected by sin and Jesus is going to redeem all of the created order.  From outer space to inner self, Christ will rescue.  The Servant is not only going to bring deliverance to Israel, the scope of His work is much broader than that.  He has all of creation in view.  Jesus came to drive out every vestige of darkness in every place it robs His creation of life.  This is like you being told to pull every weed in the world & then insure they don’t grow back!  Far as the curse is found…  One day there will be a new heavens/earth for former has passed away.

The Holy Spirit is getting the church’s attention in Fremont.  We can’t just think about ourselves and our congregation – God has brought the world to our doorstep.  It is a unique moment in time.

6a  In contrast to the unrighteousness that saturates from outer space to inner self, God communicates to us that Jesus is called in righteousness.  

He is not called to righteousness, for He is already righteous – right w/ God.  He is called in righteousness – it is right for God to call His Son to redeem the planet for He has made a covenant oath and promise.  It would have been unrighteous if God hadn’t called the Servant to His task of rescue and recovery. 

The Lord has called the Servant.  This is significant because if the people called Him, there would come a day when they would cancel their invitation.  God won’t cancel the call.  The people are fickle, God is faithful.  The ones who shouted for the coronation of Jesus one day shouted for His crucifixion the next.  At 1st - loved the new things of Jesus, but went back to former things.  But Jesus still sought them.  He will seek you when you are found in former things

6b  The Lord says to Jesus: I have called you and I am sending you into this mess, and I won’t let you go.  I will hold you and I will hold off your enemies.  When God pours out new wine, there is always those who resist.  Often a rescue worker is tied to a rope when he goes to rescue someone in danger lest he be lost, also.  Even death couldn’t break the rope holding Jesus and God pulled Him back!  Jesus was never insecure in ministry.    

6c  I have called you/I will hold you/I will keep you/I will give you.  

He doesn’t call and give.  Before He gives you, He gives to you - He holds/keeps you.  He calls and gives to you and then gives you.  If God does not give to you, God can’t give through you - you have nothing to give.  

Appointed: given to be a covenant to the people/light to the nations.  People: Jewish nation/Nations: Gentile peoples.  To the Jew first… Through Jesus, the covenant promises of God to Israel will come to fruition.  Then, even as the first act of physical creation was the formation and release of light, so it is w/ the first act of spiritual creation in bringing the nations to Himself.  Let there be light – and there was light – Jesus moving among the peoples.  Mt. 4:12-17

God promised Abraham a land and a seed (Genesis 12, 15, 17).  Israel was is possession of the land, but the fullness of the promise of a seed had not yet been realized.  Possessing the land was only partial fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.  God had also promised him that in him, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  But this was to be accomplished through his seed – his offspring.  Paul teaches us in Galatians that Jesus is the seed through whom all the nations would be blessed.  

7  Cf. Acts 26:17-18  The servant is wider than Jesus Himself for it is applied to Paul, here.  God is sending the church into the same mess as He sent Jesus.  Cf. v3.  Do you find yourself in dark places?  Be a light.  

8-9  The former things – captivity in Babylon

The new things – restoration to the land

The Lord announced deliverance through Cyrus, but only 50,000 Jews made the trek back to Jerusalem from their captivity.  The majority wanted to remain in the former things because the former things had become the familiar things.  

10-13 The ends of the earth/those who go down to the sea/ islands/wilderness/tops of the mountains.  God’s purpose to save is wider than Israel.  Mt. 21 – Jesus leaves Israel proper and departs to the region of Tyre and Sidon and heals the Canaanite woman’s daughter.  The ministry of the Servant/Jesus is wider than national Israel.  The invitation to move from former things to new things is for all.

14-17  God is here restoring Israel to the land after Babylonian captivity.  If you allow God to lead you, He will lead you out of the former things into the new things.  If you trust in your own ability to make your way through life, you will remain in the former things.