To have your Bible this morning,
two passages of Scripture, one from Isaiah, chapter 42, then
going to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12. And my subject this
morning is along this line, the forbearing Jesus. The forebearing
Lord, how gentle he was with some while harsh with others."
But the forebearing Jesus, and we use this passage of Scripture. Isaiah 42, 1 through 4, and then
going to Matthew chapter 12, and begin in verse 14 and reading
through verse 21. Reading the passage from Isaiah
first, because it is the prophecy, "'Behold My servant whom I uphold,
Mine elect in whom My soul delighteth. I have put My Spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth
judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he hath set judgment in the earth. and the isles shall
wait for his law." All right, in Matthew chapter 12, picking
up in verse 14, we run across this very passage of Scripture.
Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how
they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew
himself from thence, and great multitudes followed him, and
he healed them all, and charged them that they should not make
him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the
prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen. my beloved,
in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him,
and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive
nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not
quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory, and in his name
shall the Gentiles trust." I want us to particularly make a mental
note of that part that says he will not crush a broken reed
and smoking flax He will not quench. Ultimately, that will
bring us onto our subject and our text today. Now, we got our
subject, the four bearing Jesus, by combining together the prophecy
of Isaiah 42 and the record of its fulfillment in Matthew chapter
12. And the New Testament references
to that make it oh so clear that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
is the subject and the object of the prophecy of Isaiah. Nothing could be clearer from
Matthew chapter 12, when we put verse 16 and 17 together, And he charged them that they
should not make him known that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophet Isaiah. That the anointed one of God
would not court worldly fame, nor seek to cause a great tumult
as some earthly kings do. That the anointed one would not
crave pomp. and splendor to the degree that
earthly kings do, that he would not count worldly fame as his
greatest desire. Nor would he make a loud noise
in the street. He would not be out in the street
making a great clamor. He would not go about with a
sword to slay all that he met. somewhere in the way. Here is
the gist of the passage set forth in verse 16 and verse 17 of Matthew. He charged them again. He told
them. He told them, strictly charging
them, for the words are strong, not to make him known. Not to go out and publish him,
at least not at that time. in order that a prophecy might
be fulfilled. And this would fulfill one of
the prophecies of Isaiah. Mark chapter 2 and verse 7 says
that Jesus even withdrew himself and went out unto the sea. He
will return to this matter shortly, but for now let us look at verse
14 and have that in our eye. Matthew 12 and verse 14 where
it is evident that the Lord had done something or had said something
that had aroused the animosity of the Sadducees or the Pharisees,
enough so that they now band together and contrive some way
that they might destroy our Lord, that they might put him to death
and be rid of him. And for that purpose, they convened
a council against him. And in Luke chapter 6 and verse
11, it says that they were filled with madness. and communed one
with another what they might do to Jesus. Again, in Mark's
account, chapter 3 and verse 6 said, they took counsel with
the Herodians against him, how they might destroy our Lord. So the question for us now is,
what is it, or what was it, that had so incensed the Pharisees
that they were at the point of willingness to put our Lord unto
death? What could make their anger rise
so high and burn so hot? What brought murderous intent
into their heart against our Lord and Savior? Well, I think
the answer is, two things which the Lord said, and the Jews considered
a violation of the law of the Sabbath. The Lord did two things
earlier in that chapter that they considered a violation of
the Sabbath day. Number one, in Matthew 12, 1
through 8, it's also in Mark chapter 2, it is again in Luke
6 and 1 through 5, The disciples and our Lord, on a certain Sabbath
day, were going walking And they went through a cornfield, and
the disciples of our Lord picked corn off the stalk, rubbed them
together in their hands, and then ate them, and it was the
Sabbath day. This the Pharisees considered
to be labor and a violation of the Sabbath law. Jesus reminds
them of what David did when he fled from Absalom, when he was
a hungred, and those that were with him, how he went into the
temple or the house of God and ate the holy showbread that was
not to be used for any other purpose, how the priest in Numbers
chapter 28 profaned the Sabbath then, in their opinion, by offering
gifts and sacrifices on the Sabbath day. If they considered that
work, then the priest of God did work upon the Sabbath day. So that's their first protest,
that they gathered and ate corn. They that can find a gnat in
somebody else's eye cannot find an elephant in their own. But in the second protest, the
Lord healed a man with a withered hand. Luke 6 and verse 6 weighs
in on this and said that it was his right hand which might have
been the dominant hand of the man. And the Lord fixed the hand
of that man, and this he did in the synagogue, and this he
also did upon a Sabbath day. And the Pharisees took very strong
exception to him healing on the Sabbath day. whereby the Lord
tells them works of necessity are lawful on the Sabbath day. Luke 6 and verse 6 said these
two things were done on different Sabbath days, not on the very
same one. Now, we remember the occasion.
in Luke chapter 13, again the Lord in the synagogue, again
it is the Sabbath day, and there was present there that day in
the synagogue a woman. And because of an infirmity,
This poor woman had been bowed down, or bent over, or stooped
over for eighteen years. And the Lord saw her, and the
Lord healed her on the Sabbath day. And immediately, it says,
the woman stood up straight. Verse 11-13 there in that chapter,
whereupon the ruler of the synagogue jumped up and said to them all,
Listen, there are six days. in which you might go about and
be healed, and not upon the Sabbath day." So he objected to this
poor little woman receiving mercy at the hands of the Lord on the
Sabbath day. But let's go back to Matthew
chapter 12, and before we get into our text proper, there are
two things here that we must meet with multiple times in the
New Testament. One of them is in verse 11. They're
seeking the opportunity to destroy the Lord and to put him to death. It exposes their blatant hypocrisy. For though they took exception
to one eating corn on the Sabbath day, or healing one on the Sabbath
day, They had no qualms about planning or devising the murder
of the Son of God on the Sabbath day. Luke 6.11 puts it this way,
they communed with one another what they might do with Jesus. In John chapter 11 and verse
53, it says, from that day forward, They took counsel together how
they might put him to death. In John chapter 8 and verse 59,
on one occasion they took up stones and were ready to stone
the Lord to death. In John chapter 10 and 31, the
Jews took up stones again when they heard him say, I and my
Father are one. There was a time in Luke chapter
4 and verse 29, where they actually lay hold upon our Lord and led
him out to the brow of a hill that they might cast him down
headlong, hoping to destroy him that way. Each time this occurred,
the Lord escaped out of their clutches, for it was not his
time to die. His time had not yet come. And beside that, he was not to
die from stoning or cast off of a hill. He was to be hanged
on a tree according to the curse that he was to endure. Now, the
second thing that we read a lot about in the New Testament is
the multiple times that Jesus, as in Matthew chapter 12 and
verse 15 and 16, met the same occasion from them. He avoided them. He went out
of their way. He went in their midst. And if
their hands were paralyzed, they could not seize the Son of God
before His time appointed by the Father. On other occasions,
the Lord said much the same thing. In Mark 8 and verse 30. After
the great confession of Peter, the Lord charged them that they
should tell no man what they had seen. Matthew's account,
Matthew 16 and 20, then charged he his disciples that they should
tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. In Matthew 17 and
9, Mark 9 and verse 9, he said to the three who witnessed the
transfiguration there upon the mount, that they should tell
the vision to no man until he was risen from the dead. Now why hold it in as a secret? Why not publish it far and wide
in every place? Why not tell it abroad? Why not
shout it from the housetops? the glory of our Lord and our
Savior. Would they react as Thomas reacted
when told in John 20 and verse 25, we have seen the Lord? And his reply was, except I see
and except I feel with mine own hand I will not believe." And
would the other apostles say, except I see this thing, the
transfiguration, for myself, I will not believe it. But they
must keep it in that the greatest sign of all had been accomplished,
the resurrection from the dead. Then they could declare abroad
far and wide the glory of Jesus. On another occasion, when the
Lord had cleansed the leper, He commanded in Matthew 8 and
verse 4, See that you tell no man. Don't go around blabbing
it, see that you tell no man. We wonder. Everyone who knows
him is going to see his skin healed and clean again. And it's
hard for them not to tell who their benefactor was. In Mark
8 and 56, when Jesus had raised up a dead young maiden, listen
to what he said to her parents. He charged her parents. that
what was done was not to be told. What a charge to keep! What a
thing to hold in! There were other events when
the recipients could not keep it a secret. They just couldn't
help themselves, as in Mark 7, verse 36, when the Lord gave
a deaf man with a speech impediment. both hearing and clear speech. The verse tells us that He charged
them that they should tell no man, but the more He charged
them, it said, the much more the great deal. They published
the wonderful thing that had been done. They could not contain
themselves of the blessing that our Lord had bestowed upon them. Now let us return to Matthew
chapter 12 again. We see a connection that it might
be that we have missed before in reading this passage of the
Scripture. There's a connection that is
made here that perhaps we might have missed. In verse 15 again,
when the Jews pondered how they might destroy the Lord, He withdrew
Himself from them, and great numbers followed him as he withdrew
himself from there, and he healed them all. Many in that crowd
had some affliction, and the Lord healed them all. Any that
were sick of whatever disease they had, the Lord healed them. Then in verse 16, he imposed
a gag order upon them. charging them that they should
not make him known, not to publish publicly that he was the Messiah. not to spread the word as yet
concerning him. Now, he does not speak of concealing
his residence or the place where his family was from, but to publish
his mighty deeds or dignity as Messiah, not to go about making
these known. Now, the word is stronger. than our word charge, for it
was a warning, as John Gill said. He warned them. It signifies
a charge with threatening. Do not do this thing. Marshall's interlinear has it
this way. He warned them that they should
not make him manifest. See how the thought continues
over into the seventeenth verse of Matthew 12, that they should
not make him manifest. They should not declare his name
abroad and in every place. And that for a specific purpose. That, so that, in order that,
to the end, in verse seventeen, that it might fulfill what Isaiah
said about the Lord. Now, this is a formula that is
often used in the Scripture, that a certain thing in the prophecy
found from the Old Testament canon, the writer or speaker
of the New Testament explains it this way. This is the Word
of the Lord. as it is written, or thus saith
the Scripture." Now, this is what Matthew does to his reader.
He says in verse 16 that Jesus charged the recipients of his
mercy not to make him manifest. And then in verse 17, that this
was the beginning or the coming to pass of a particular saying
of the prophet. A particular prophecy hangs in
the balance here and is beginning to be fulfilled. Now, we may
wonder whether Matthew has in his mind the whole prophecy or
certain parts of Isaiah's prophecy which he wishes to emphasize.
One distinctive thing about the prophecy is There is a declaration
in it what he will and what he will not do. On the negative
side of Isaiah's prophecy, we notice he will not, in verse
19 and 20, from Isaiah 40 and verse 2, he will not shout or
cry out or raise his voice in the street. Secondly, from Isaiah
42 and verse 4, he will not fail nor be discouraged till he has
set judgment in the earth. And again from Isaiah 42 and
verse 3, a bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax He
will not quench. Some say flax is a part of textile
fiber. On the positive side, however,
there are some things he will do. He will, in verse 18, from
Isaiah 42 and verse 3, he shall bring forth judgment unto truth
unto the Gentile. Secondly, in verse 20 of Matthew
12, found in Isaiah 42 and 4, he will set judgment in the earth. And verse 21, and in his name
shall the Gentiles trust. Now, there need not be any doubt
or any question as to the identity of the one who is the subject
of Isaiah's prophecy. Notice what he said, my servant,
mine elect, is how he refers to this great one. the one in
whom my soul delights or is well pleased. Who could that be but
the anointed Messiah, the Son of God? These are designations
of Messiah. Who is this then? but the Christ
of God, the eternal Son of God, Jehovah's Fellow, who has come
down to dwell among men. Just notice the anointing of
this servant of the Lord with the Holy Spirit of God. not with material oil as priests
and kings were anointed, but anointed with the Holy Spirit
of God. When Isaiah 42 and verse 1 says,
I have put my Spirit upon him, Matthew 12 and 18, I will put
my Spirit upon him, when was this? at his conception in the
womb? Was it before time? Was it when
he was born in the flesh? Was it when he was baptized?
Was it when our Lord was upon the cross? Was it after his resurrection
and ascension? Now, if there be truth in all
of these, yet it is an incarnate one to whom these things do refer. when at his baptism, at the beginning
of our Lord's public ministry, John baptized the Lord, and the
scripture said, as he came up out of the water in Matthew 3,
verse 16 and verse 17, and Jesus, when he was baptized, went up
straightway out of the water and lo, The heavens were opened
unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending upon him in
the form of a dove, and lighting upon him. And, lo, a voice from
heaven sang, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. that identified our Lord with
the prophecy of Isaiah. This was a public anointing,
if you will, of the Son of God with the Holy Spirit. Now, the
apostles reckon this as the Holy Spirit anointing the Lord Jesus. In Acts 4 and verse 27, where
we read of the Holy Child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, again
the apostle Peter, preaching to the Gentiles down at the house
of Carnelius, informs them in Acts 10, and verse 38, how God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with a Holy Ghost and with power,
and who went around doing good in every place, healing those
that were oppressed with the devil, because God was with him. He was anointed of God. Nor can
we ever forget how our Lord Jesus Christ himself In Luke chapter
4, verse 16 through 21, there's a great passage of Scripture
here. The Lord stood in the synagogue,
He took the scroll of Isaiah, and He read a passage from it.
It's found in our division of the Scripture in Isaiah 61 and
verse 1 and 2. And when our Lord had read and
closed the scroll, He applied that scripture unto Himself. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance unto the captive, recovering of sight
to them that are blind, and liberty to those that are bruised." The
Lord said, this is fulfilled in your very ear. It is said
in Luke 4 and 1 that when Jesus went to be tempted of the devil,
that he was, quote, full of the Holy Ghost. And in Luke 4.14,
he returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. He was especially anointed for
the work by God with the Holy Spirit. There's another thing
to be accomplished by the Anointed One. And that is in reference
unto the Gentile. Verse 18, He shall show judgment
to the Gentile. I'm in Matthew 12 now. And in
verse 20, the last part, and verse 21 of Matthew 12, He shall
send forth judgment with victory. In His name shall the Gentiles
trust. Now, we ask ourselves the question,
what is this judgment that is mentioned here a couple of times? Most sound expositors see this
as a prediction that Messiah would come, and when he came,
he would cause the gospel to be proclaimed unto the Gentiles. They would partake of the grace
of God through Christ. Goodwin wrote this, this word
judgment sounds like a terrible word, but do not be afraid of
it, he said, unquote. Then he contends that it refers
to the doctrine of grace and the gospel and the reform of
sinners, the salvation of men, Gill said, it best informs men
about the business of salvation. This does not seem to be a forced
meaning to put upon the word judgment, as my marshals Interlinear,
Greek, English, New Testament, is put forth to victory in judgment,
is how it is rendered. Berry's Interlinear has it, until
he brings forth the judgments unto victory. Linsky renders
it, until he puts forth the right, until the Lord puts the right
forward. And in the ASV has it, till he
leads justice unto victory. So our Lord is one who will do
that. Since Matthew does not quote
Isaiah verbatim, that is, he does not exactly quote him word
for word, let's hear Isaiah 42 and verse 4 that we're interested
in. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. That is, he will not falter till
he has set judgment in the earth, until he establishes justice
or right in the earth, and the aisles will wait for his law. Now, his law will become the
hope and the trust, the success of Christ's ministry, and the
message will be evident. It will be powerful. to save
sinners, and they will be reformed by the message of the gospel
converted unto him. His doctrine will be carried
among them that sit yonder in darkness and have for quite some
time. Now, concerning perhaps the most
unique and maybe the most mysterious words in all the passage found
in Isaiah's prophecy, it is in verse 3 of chapter 42 and Matthew
chapter 12 and verse 20. And let's hear it again. A bruised
reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench. Now, first of all, we have to
admit that without a doubt, the prophet is speaking figuratively
with the reed and the flax. making use of a couple of metaphors,
that of a bruised reed and that of smoking or smoldering flax. Some are persuaded that this
speaks of the kindness, of the quietness, of the patience of
our Savior in dealing with certain men. They would not destroy the
weak and the fainting. And when he saw a bruised reed,
he would not lay him the sword and lay it upon the ground. Or
when he saw smoking or smoldering flack, he would not snuff it
out or put it out altogether as being worthless. sometimes do cry aloud in the
street as they go on their way. They make loud noises and perhaps
with cries and marching bands that attend their way and that
go before them. And they come with pomp and with
all manner of worldly splendor. And they might crush the weak
and the useless in their power. The Lord of glory comes as a
quiet and peaceable one who makes no clamor or noise in the streets
when he encounters the weak and the feeble, he deals with them
tenderly. Neither does he crush the feeble
and the outcast, but he helps them greatly. Men count as worthless
a broken reed. What purpose, what good shall
it ever serve? Men count it worthless. Most
of its usefulness has been taken away. Also, the smoking plaques,
it gives neither light nor heat. What good is it unto men, they
might say. We have already read from Luke
4 and verse 18, that the Lord was anointed to preach the gospel
unto the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach her announced deliverance
to the captive, restoring of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised. Even if it seems repetitious,
let's notice what sort the Lord will be gracious towards. The poor. the broken-hearted,
the captive, the blind, the bruised. And from our original text, the
broken reed and the smoking flax. Our Lord will not do them further
harm. All these metaphors paint a very
vivid picture of those who will be helped and who will be blessed
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And they express, do they not,
the awful but true condition of such as need to be saved by
Christ, how we fit all of these metaphors. Our condition by nature
is not and was not good. We were spiritually poor. We
were blind, we were naked, we were captives unto sin, we were
blind to the truths of God and could not understand them, we
were bruised and we were battered about in our sinfulness, and
we were full of putrefying of all kind. Thus, those who will
be helped by Christ are not the proud and the self-righteous. They are not the haughty and
the arrogant self-sufficient ones. Our Lord resists this sort. These such will neither humble
themselves nor bring themselves low before the Lord, and they
will ultimately be destroyed. Stubble in the fire are those
that are rebellion and openly arrogant against our Lord. But
such shall receive benefit from Christ as are like, or answereth
to, a broken reed bent. Then there's smoldering flax,
the one he will bind other up the other he will kindle, such
as to make the unworthy then to be worthy. Those that have
no lofty pretensions in themselves, our Lord will graciously condescend
to bless them." Consider those words of the Lord. They're found
in Matthew 9, 13, Mark 2, 17, again in Luke chapter 5 and verse
32. I am not come to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance." I'm not come to call righteous but
sinners. And then he adds, they that are
whole do not need a physician, it is they that are sick. Jesus
speaks of those that are righteous. I came not to call the righteous. not actually righteous, not actually
righteous, but only so in their own eyes or own estimation. These, he says, he did not come
to call. They are self-righteous. Do you
ask how do we reconcile then this text we have in subject?
with the talk of a gentle Jesus. How do we reconcile calling him
a forbearing and gentle Jesus when he's the one who cleansed
the temple and drove out the money changer? He overturned
the tables of the money changer and scattered their doves and
their coins all over the temple. Not only that, but he planted
a whip and he used it in exposing them from the temple. What about
his scathing denunciation of the Pharisees and their hypocrisy? And what about the prediction
of John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 3, verse 10 and 11, that
he is as a refiner's fire and the axe is laid to the root of
the tree. I think Calvin is ready with
a plausible answer when he said, we need to distinguish the sorts
of people mentioned by the prophet and the apostle. We're the figure
of a bruised reed and smoking flax. These are not the vile,
open, infidel hypocrites. These are not the fierce open
enemies of God or of Christ. To save any of this sort, the
Lord will crush the pride, and He will break their bones, and
He will bring them down unto nothing. But the meekness of
Christ also is adapted to such as are likened unto a bruised
reed and a smoking flax. Laden he gives rest. Yes, the
thirsty he gives drink. The blind he gives sight. where there is open rebellion,
where there is fierce opposition to the Lord. He warned them of
the error and the dangers of their way, that he might destroy
them with the words of his mouth. He might have called fire down
from heaven. He might have called legions
of angels. He might have caused the earth
to clave asunder under their feet and swallow them up, as
has been done before. But where though there is a bruised
reed, where there was a smoking flax, where there was that bruised
reed, he would not break it and finish the wound. Where there
was smoldering flax, he would not snuff it out, but blow upon
it in grace and in mercy. Now, this supplication, or this
application, how unlike the Lord Jesus, are the big preachers
in our day and in our time. Their pictures and their names
are on giant billboards all over the city with floodlights in
the night. Their names are splashed everywhere,
crying out themselves in the street and before the public
that passes by. They're doing everything but
preaching the gospel of Christ and exalting the Lord and Savior. Thankful are we that when he
found us a broken reed or a smoldering flax about to go out, that our
Lord blew upon the one and He healed the other. He made us
straight. He made us whole. We were like
broken reeds falling over, no strength in ourselves, no strength
to arise back up and stand tall and straight, broken. And our
Lord did not finish the breaking, He's healed it. And so He does
to those that He comes to in gentle mercy and in grace. And we're so glad the Lord dealt
with us as need be. The Lord is able to deal with
a hard-hearted, impudent sinner in a way to crush him and to
break him. The Lord is able to deal with
others that are like broken wreaths in a way to bring them into the
fold and to have faith in him as the one come from God. This
one is anointed of God. This one has come. This one answered
Isaiah's prophecy that it might be fulfilled. A bruised reed
he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench. Thank
the Lord for His work, however it be performed in those His
elect.