42:1-4 These verses are quoted in Matthew 12:18-21 with reference to Christ. The elect or chosen servant reveals a character of gentleness, encouragement, justice, and truth. When you feel broken and bruised or burned out in your spiritual life, God won’t step on you or toss you aside as useless, but will gently pick you up. God’s loving attributes are desperately needed in the world today. Through God’s Spirit, we can show such sensitivity to people around us, reflecting God’s goodness and honesty to them.
42:1-9 Sometimes called the Servant Song, these verses are about the Servant-Messiah, not the servant Cyrus (described in chapter 41). Israel and the Messiah are both often called servant. Israel, as God’s servant, was to help bring the world to a knowledge of God. The Messiah, Jesus, would fulfill this task and show God himself to the world.
42:6, 7 Part of Christ’s mission on earth was to demonstrate God’s righteousness and to be a light for the Gentiles (to all nations). Through Christ, all people have the opportunity to share in his mission. God calls us to be servants of his Son, demonstrating God’s righteousness and bringing his light. What a rare privilege it is to help the Messiah fulfill his mission! But we must seek his righteousness (Matthew 6:33) before we demonstrate it to others and let his light shine in us before we can be lights ourselves (Matthew 5:16; 2 Corinthians 4:6).
42:19, 20 How could Israel and Judah be God’s servants and yet be so blind? How could they be so close to God and see so little? Jesus condemned the religious leaders of his day for the same disregard of God (John 9:39-41). Yet do we not fail in the same way? Sometimes partial blindness—seeing but not understanding, or knowing what is right but not doing it—can be worse than not seeing at all.
42:23 We may condemn our predecessors for their failures, but we are twice as guilty if we repeat the same mistakes that we recognize as failures. We may be so ready to direct God’s message at others that we can’t see how it touches our own lives. Make sure you are willing to take your own advice as you teach or lead.