Readings for the Monday of Holy Week can be found here.

Previous posts for the readings include exegeses on the Epistle, Hebrews 9:11-15 (Christ as the true tabernacle), and the Gospel, John 12:1-11 (the costly nard, the controversy over the resurrected Lazarus).

The First Reading is as follows (emphases mine):

Isaiah 42:1-9

42:1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

42:2 He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street;

42:3 a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

42:4 He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

42:5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it:

42:6 I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,

42:7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

42:8 I am the LORD, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.

42:9 See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Commentary comes from Matthew Henry.

Unfortunately, John MacArthur has covered very little of Isaiah, which one can appreciate as there is much about which to preach in that book. I hope that he will be able to delve into it more before it is too late.

This reading is a good companion piece to Philippians 2:5-11, which my Anglican church used as the Epistle for Palm Sunday 2024 (Year B).

In announcing His Son, the Lord God said, that He is His servant, one whom He upholds as His chosen, in whom His soul delights; God has put His Spirit upon His Son, who will bring forth justice to the nations (verse 1).

One of the things that struck me for the first time in 2024 was the active and prominent role of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s earthly life and ministry, from the Incarnation, to His Baptism, to leading Him into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights, to granting Him eventual comfort there and to giving Him the power to exercise healing miracles — among other things. That is why Jesus said that blaspheming the Holy Spirit, as the Jewish hierarchy did by saying His works were from the devil, was an unforgiveable sin (Matthew 12:31-32):

31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Henry says that the Spirit was poured out upon Him in full:

The Spirit did not only come, but rest, upon him (ch. 11 2), not by measure, as on others of God’s servants, but without measure. Those whom God employs as his servants; as he will uphold them and be well pleased with them, so he will put his Spirit upon them.

Looking at the rest of the verse, we note God’s delight in Christ’s service, which came through His obedience to His Father:

1. God owns him as one employed for him: He is my servant. Though he was a Son, yet, as a Mediator, he took upon him the form of a servant, learned obedience to the will of God and practised it, and laid out himself to advance the interests of God’s kingdom, and so he was God’s servant. 2. As one chosen by him: He is my elect. He did not thrust himself into the service, but was called of God, and pitched upon as the fittest person for it. Infinite Wisdom made the choice and then avowed it. 3. As one he put a confidence in: He is my servant on whom I lean; so some read it. The Father put a confidence in him that he would go through with his undertaking, and, in that confidence, brought many sons to glory. It was a great trust which the Father reposed in the Son, but he knew him to be par negotio—equal to it, both able and faithful. 4. As one he took care of: He is my servant whom I uphold; so we read it. The Father bore him up, and bore him out, in his upholding him; he stood by him and strengthened him. 5. As one whom he took an entire complacency in: My elect, in whom my soul delights. His delight was in him from eternity, when he was by him as one brought up with him, Prov 8 30. He had a particular satisfaction in his undertaking: he declared himself well pleased in him (Matt 3 17; 17 5), and therefore loved him, because he laid down his life for the sheep. Let our souls delight in Christ, rely on him, and rejoice in him; and thus let us be united to him, and then, for his sake, the Father will be well pleased with us.

Note that Christ will ‘bring forth justice to the nations’, which includes Gentiles:

… that is, in infinite wisdom, holiness, and equity, to set up a religion in the world under the bonds of which the Gentiles should come and the blessings of which they should enjoy. The judgments of the Lord, which had been hidden from the Gentiles (Ps 147 20), he came to bring forth to the Gentiles, for he was to be a light to lighten them.

The Son of God — the Messiah — will not cry or lift up His voice or make it heard in the street (verse 2).

That verse is striking, particularly in our day and age when we have a religious group which makes much of their highly publicised or visible actions and millions on social media boasting about themselves.

That is not God’s way nor is it His Son’s, therefore, we should heed the divine example.

Henry explains:

It shall not be proclaimed, Lo, here, is Christ or Lo, he is there; as when great princes ride in progress or make a public entry. He shall have no trumpet sounded before him, nor any noisy retinue to follow him. The opposition he meets with he shall not strive against, but patiently endure the contradiction of sinners against himself. His kingdom is spiritual, and therefore its weapons are not carnal, nor is its appearance pompous; it comes not with observation.

The Messiah will not break a bruised — weak — reed and will not quench a dimly burning wick; He will faithfully bring forth justice (verse 3).

Jesus has infinite mercy towards fallen men and women:

Those that are wicked he will be patient with; when he has begun to crush them, so that they are as bruised reeds, he will give them space to repent and not immediately break them; though they are very offensive, as smoking flax (ch. 65 5), yet he will bear with them, as he did with Jerusalem. Those that are weak he will be tender of; those that have but a little life, a little heat, that are weak as a reed, oppressed with doubts and fears, as a bruised reed, that are as smoking flax, as the wick of a candle newly lighted, which is ready to go out again, he will not despise them, will not plead against them with his great power, nor lay upon them more work or more suffering than they can bear, which would break and quench them, but will graciously consider their frame. More is implied than is expressed. He will not break the bruised reed, but will strengthen it, that it may become a cedar in the courts of our God. He will not quench the smoking flax, but blow it up into a flame. Note, Jesus Christ is very tender toward those that have true grace, though they are but weak in it, and accepts the willingness of the spirit, pardoning and passing by the weakness of the flesh.

He will not grow faint or be crushed until He has established justice in the earth — the second mention of justice in two verses — and the coastlands await His teaching (verse 4), implying that news of Him will reach distant nations.

Addressing justice, Henry tells us:

The isles of the Gentiles wait for his law, wait for his gospel, that is, bid it welcome as if it had been a thing they had long waited for. They shall become his disciples, shall sit at his feet, and be ready to receive the law from his mouth. What wilt thou have us to do?

Henry recaps Christ’s ministry to prove the verse:

Though he meets with hard service and much opposition, and foresees how ungrateful the world will be, yet he goes on with his part of the work, till he is able to say, Is is finished; and he enables his apostles and ministers to go on with theirs too, and not to fail nor be discouraged, till they also have finished their testimony. And thus he accomplishes what he undertook. 1. He brings forth judgment unto truth. By a long course of miracles, and his resurrection at last, he shall fully evince the truth of his doctrine and the divine origin and authority of that holy religion which he came to establish. 2. He sets judgment in the earth. He erects his government in the world, a church for himself among men, reforms the world, and by the power of his gospel and grace fixes such principles in the minds of men as tend to make them wise and just.

So we have seen Christianity develop for two millennia, bringing enlightened laws and social norms which are fair to all. Only recently have we seen a perversion of this, including through politicised churches.

The announcement of the Messiah is no small one, as it comes through the Lord God who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes of it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it (verse 5).

Henry explains the significance of this verse:

And who are thou, Lord? Why, he is the fountain of all being and therefore the fountain of all power. He is the fountain of being, 1. In the upper world; for he created the heavens and stretched them out (ch. 40 22), and keeps the vast expanse still upon the stretch. 2. In the lower world: for he spread forth the earth, and made it a capacious habitation, and that which comes out of it is produced by his power. 3. In the world of mankind: He gives breath to the people upon it, not only air to breathe in, but the breath of life itself and organs to breathe with; nay, he gives spirit, the powers and faculties of a rational soul, to those that walk therein. Now this is prefixed to God’s covenant with the Messiah, and the commission given him, not only to show that he has authority to make such a covenant and give such a commission, and had power sufficient to bear him out, but that the design of the work of redemption was to maintain the honour of the Creator, and to restore man to the allegiance he owes to God as his Maker.

God further confirms His plan to reconcile mankind to Him through His Son, whom He has called in righteousness, kept close and given as a covenant to the people and a light to the nations (verse 6).

Henry tells us of God’s fidelity to His Son and to His divine calling:

2. The assurances which he gives to the Messiah of his presence with him in all he did pursuant to his undertaking speak much encouragement to him, v. 6. (1.) God owns that the Messiah did not take the honour of being Mediator to himself, but was called of God, that he was no intruder, no usurper, but was fairly brought to it (Heb 5 4): I have called thee in righteousness. God not only did him no wrong in calling him to this hard service, he having voluntarily offered himself to it, but did himself right in providing for his own honour and performing the word which he had spoken. (2.) He promises to stand by him and strengthen him in it, to hold his hand, not only to his work, but in it, to hold his hand, that it might not shake, that it might not fail, and so to keep him. When an angel was sent from heaven to strengthen him in his agonies, and the Father himself was with him, then this promise was fulfilled. Note, Those whom God calls he will own and help, and will hold their hands.

3. The great intentions of this commission speak abundance of comfort to the children of men. He was given for a covenant of the people, for a mediator, or guarantee, of the covenant of grace, which is all summed up in him. God, in giving us Christ, has with him freely given us all the blessings of the new covenant. Two glorious blessings Christ, in his gospel, brings with him to the Gentile world—light and liberty.

Christ, the Messiah, will open the eyes that are blind, bring out prisoners from the dungeon and, from the prison, those who sit in darkness (verse 7).

These are spiritual blessings. Henry mentions King Cyrus, who was a secular help to God’s captives at this particular time:

(1.) He is given for a light to the Gentiles, not only to reveal to them what they were concerned to know, and which otherwise they could not have known, but to open the blind eyes, that they might know it. By his Spirit in the word he presents the object; by his Spirit in the heart he prepared the organ. When the gospel came light came, a great light, to those that sat in darkness, Matt 4 16; John 3 19. And St. Paul was sent to the Gentiles to open their eyes, Acts 26 18. Christ is the light of the world. (2.) He is sent to proclaim liberty to the captives, as Cyrus did, to bring out the prisoners; not only to open the prison-doors, and give them leave to go out, which was all that Cyrus could do, but to bring them out, to induce and enable them to make use of their liberty, which none did but those whose spirits God stirred up. This Christ does by his grace.

God reminds us of His infinite power and sovereignty: He is the Lord, His glory He gives to no other nor does He give praise to idols (verse 8).

Henry explains that God did not forever hold judgement against His people for worshipping idols, hence His sending His Son for our redemption:

The ratification and confirmation of this grant. That we may be assured of the validity of it consider, 1. The authority of him that makes the promise (v. 8): I am the Lord, Jehovah, that is my name, and that was the name by which he made himself known when he began to perform the promise made to the patriarchs; whereas, before, he manifested himself by the name of God Almighty, Exod 6 3. If he is the Lord that gives being and birth to all things, he will give being and birth to this promise. If his name be Jehovah, which speaks him God alone, we may be sure his name is jealous, and he will not give his glory to another, whoever it is that stands in competition with him, especially not to graven images. He will send the Messiah to open men’s eyes, that so he may turn them from the service of dumb idols to serve the living God, because, though he has long winked at the times of ignorance, he will now maintain his prerogative, and will not give his glory to graven images. He will perform his word because he will not lose the honour of being true to it, nor be ever charged with falsehood by the worshippers of false gods. He will deliver his people from under the power of idolaters because it looks as if he had given his praise to graven images when he gives up his own worshippers to be worshippers of images.

The former things have come to pass — judgement, captivity — and new — redemptive — things God now declares, telling His people of them before they happen (verse 9).

Henry prefers to focus on the positive blessings God has given the Church through His Son:

The accomplishment of the promises he had formerly made concerning his church, which are proofs of the truth of his word and the kindness he bears to his people (v. 9): “Behold, the former things have come to pass; hitherto the Lord has helped his church, has supported her under former burdens, relieved her in former straits; and this in performance of the promises made to the fathers. There has not failed one word, 1 Kings 8 56. And now new things do I declare. Now I will make new promises, which shall as certainly be fulfilled in their season as old ones were; now I will bestow new favours, such as have not been conferred formerly. Old-Testament blessings you have had abundantly; now I declare New-Testament blessings, not a fruitful country and dominion over your neighbours, but spiritual blessings in heavenly things. Before they spring forth in the preaching of the gospel I tell you of them, under the type and figure of the former things.” Note, The receipt of former mercies may encourage us to hope for further mercies; for God is constant in his care for his people, and his compassions are still new.

More will follow from Isaiah tomorrow.