Take a Good Look at Jesus – Isaiah 42:1-17
42 Look at my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I will put my Spirit upon him; he will bring justice to the Gentile nations. (2) He will not shout or cry or raise his voice in the streets. (3) He will not break a bruised reed, nor will he snuff out a smoldering wick. He will faithfully bring forth justice. (4) He will not falter or be discouraged until he has established justice on the earth. Even the distant islands will wait expectantly for his law.
(5) This is what God Jehovah says—he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and all that it produces, he who gives breath to the people who are in it and life to those who walk upon it—(6) I, Jehovah, have called you by my righteousness, and I will hold your hand. I will watch over you and appoint you to be the covenant representative for the people of Israel and a light for the Gentiles. (7) I have appointed you to open the eyes of the blind, to free the captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. (8) I am Jehovah, that is my name. I will not give my glory to any other, nor my praise to carved images.
(9) See, the former things that I foretold have happened, and now I declare new things—before they spring into being I announce them to you. (10) Sing a new song to Jehovah, sing his praise from the end of the earth. Sing his praise, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it. Sing his praise, you islands, and all who live on them. (11) Let the wilderness and its towns raise their voices—the villages where Kedar lives. Let the people of Sela sing; let them shout from the mountaintops. (12) Let them give glory to Jehovah, and let them declare his praise in the islands.
(13) Jehovah will march out like a mighty man; he will stir up his zeal like a warrior. With a shout he will raise the battle cry; he will triumph mightily over his enemies. (14) For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and restrained myself. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant. (15) I will devastate the mountains and the hills, I will dry up all their vegetation. I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools of water. (16) I will lead the blind along a way they have not known, I will guide them along unfamiliar paths. I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. I will surely do these things; I will not forsake them. (17) But those who trust in carved images—those who confess to molten images, “You are our gods”—they will be turned back and utterly put to shame.
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
