Isaiah chapter 49, and reading
from verse one. Listen, O Isles, unto me, and
hearken ye people from far. The Lord hath called me from
the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention
of my name. And he hath made my mouth like
a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand, hath he hid me, and
made me a polished shaft. In his quiver hath he hid me,
and said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I
will be glorified. Then I said, I have laboured
in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and in vain. Yet surely
my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And
now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob again to him. Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God
shall be my strength. And he said, it is a light thing
that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee
for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation
to the end of the earth. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to
him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers. Kings
shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of
the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he
shall choose thee. Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable
time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped
thee, and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant
of the people to establish the earth to cause to inherit the
desolate heritages. that thou mayst say to the prisoners,
Go forth, to them that are in darkness, show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways,
and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not
hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them. For he that hath mercy on them
shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide
them. and I will make all my mountains
away, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall
come from far, and lo, these from the north, and from the
west, and these from the land of Sinai. Sing, O heavens, and
be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains,
for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon
his afflicted. But Zion said, the Lord hath
forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget
her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son
of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will
I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me. Thy
children shall make haste, thy destroyers, and they that made
thee waste shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round
about, and behold, all these gather themselves together, and
come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou
shalt surely clothe thee with all, as with an ornament, and
bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy
desolate places and the land of thy destruction shall even
now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that
swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou
shalt have after thou hast lost the other shall say again in
thine ears, the place is too straight for me, give place to
me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine
heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children,
and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? And who
hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone. These, where had they been? Thus saith the Lord God, Behold,
I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard
to the people. And they shall bring thy sons
in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy
nursing mothers. They shall bow down to thee with
their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am
the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive
delivered? But thus saith the Lord, even
the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the
terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend with him that
contended with thee, and I will save thy children, and I will
feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall
be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine, and all flesh
shall know that I, the Lord, am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Once again, Dear friends, this
is a fine chapter for us to be considering today. It's a blessed
chapter in God's word from the pen of Isaiah. This is not the
first time that Isaiah has mentioned God's covenant mercies by any
means. But he is building here in this
chapter, he is building here upon the foundations that he
has laid earlier in the book and by which the Lord's people
among the Jews of Isaiah's age were taught about the ancient
origins of God's plan of salvation. That's what we have in this chapter. We have a declaration of the
ancient origins of God's plan of salvation and God's covenant
purpose of grace and peace for redemption and deliverance of
his elect people. Let me give you an example. We
previously read how Jehovah describes calling and setting apart the
eternal word, the Son, to be the God-Man. He whom we know
as the Lord Jesus Christ. We read previously, a few weeks
ago now, in Isaiah 42, verses 6 and 7, these words. Here is
the father speaking to the son, saying, I, the Lord, have called
thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep
thee. and give thee for a covenant
of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open up the
blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from prison and them
that sit in darkness out of the prison house." Now that is clearly
messianic and indeed we discover that the Lord Jesus Christ attributes
these very words, this very verse to himself in his gospel ministry. But that is what Isaiah has been
able to speak about to the believers, the remnant people of his own
age. So even way back then, in Isaiah's
day, these men and women had this information about the divine
origin of the way of salvation and how one would come as the
Messiah in order to accomplish God's purpose. And three things,
three things are spoken of in that passage, that Isaiah 42
passage, that he then goes on to expand upon here in chapter
49. And the three things are, just
very briefly, the three things are the father calling his son
to serve and to fulfil his will for the redemption by blood. Okay, so that was one of the
things that the people were taught in Isaiah 42 about the father
calling his son, the eternal word, to serve and fulfill the
father's will for redemption by blood. The second thing was
the father committing to help and uphold the son in that task,
in fulfilling that task. So the father called the son
to the task and the father committed to help and uphold the son in
the task. And thirdly, the Father promising
to deliver and quicken all for whom Christ died. And so these
three elements had already been taught to the people in a previous
passage of Isaiah's prophecy and now here we find them being
built upon and developed. All of this as we read in Isaiah
42, is termed, giving Christ for a covenant of the people. And it's a phrase that is repeated
here in chapter 49, where Christ is given for a covenant of the
people. And concerning this covenant,
or concerning this contract, or this agreement, because that's
what the word covenant means in this context. It's a contract
between the persons of the Godhead. Concerning this covenant, we
find that it is the covenant for the redemption of the Lord's
people, God's chosen elect. It was made between the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit when the Lord Jehovah engaged
together to save the Church of God in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is called the everlasting
covenant and it was entered into and it was formed in the Council
of Peace before the world began. These are the great truths, these
are the pillars and the foundations of our understanding of the gospel. This covenant, this Council of
Peace was formed before the foundation of the world. and knowledge of
this everlasting covenant is the reason why the Apostle Paul
speaks of eternal life being given to men and women of faith,
given to the Lord's chosen people in Christ Jesus before the world
began. That's a phrase that is repeated
in the Apostle's ministry. For example, in In Titus chapter 1 verse 2, we're
told that we have eternal life given to us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. And then the apostle also speaks
of God the Father who had saved us and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. That's in 2 Timothy 1, verse
9. So this little phrase, before
the world began, is important in the context of this covenant
that was made. It's an everlasting covenant
and it is the foundation and framework of all God's grace
and mercy. For the church now, in time,
and also for our future glory and joy in heaven. So God's elect,
whom he has loved with an everlasting love, were chosen in Christ before
the world began. Justification, sanctification,
were given to them in Christ before the world began. They
were committed into the care of Christ before the world began. And under the terms of this covenant,
Christ would come, redeem, deliver, and save his people that had
been committed to him from their sins. In that great council,
Jehovah sought for one worthy, able and willing to do the will
of the Father in achieving and accomplishing the redemption
of his people from their sins. And Isaiah, again, this prophet
who sees so much, this prophet who understands and explains
and delivers so much to the elect of his own age, the remnant people
of his own age, he is the one who writes of this. And I believe
he's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ here. When he saw a vision
of the Lord, he says, high and lifted up on his throne and his
train filled the temple And we are told, Isaiah says, also I
heard, it's in Isaiah chapter six, verse eight, also having
seen this vision, that's grandeur of God's glory, also he said,
I heard the voice of the Lord saying, who shall I send and
who will go for us? And then we read this. Then said
I, not I suggest to you the prophet, but Christ. here am I, send me. This was agreed and the covenant
was formed. The father prepared a body for
the Lord Jesus and sent him to bear the sins of his people at
the appointed time, to ransom them from prison and to redeem
them from the curse of the law. And it is that sending forth
within the the parameters of the covenant that John speaks
about in 1 John 4, verse 10, where he says, herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sins. It's the sending of the
Lord Jesus Christ that is prefigured here in the establishment of
the terms of this everlasting covenant made between the parties
or the members of the Godhead, parties to this covenant before
the world begun. And by the person and by the
work, by the death and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, grace
and mercy and forgiveness and reconciliation and everlasting
life is promised to God's chosen people in that everlasting covenant. I like to read and I like to
quote Robert Hawker when I can. This is what Robert Hawker says
on this subject. Listen to this because it's great. And that's the benefit of sending
this out in a recording. You can listen to this again.
You don't need to listen to my part, but listen to what Robert
Hawker says. From this appointment, this covenant,
from this appointment, before all worlds, result all the after
mercies in time by which the happy partakers of such unspeakable
grace and mercy are regenerated called, adopted, made willing
in the day of God's power, and are justified, sanctified, and
at length fully glorified to the praise of Jehovah's grace
who hath made them accepted in the Beloved. This is what the prophet is writing
of in Isaiah 49. From the Lord Jesus Christ, the
eternal word, a declaration goes forth to the ends of the earth. Listen, O Isles unto me, and
hearken ye people from far. The Lord hath called me from
the womb, If you've managed to have time to read the little
note that I sent out yesterday, you'll note that I made the point
that this reference to the womb was not from the womb of Mary.
He goes on to speak about that, but from the womb of eternity.
The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of
my mother hath he made mention of my name. Isaiah, up until
this point, has been anticipating the Messiah, the coming of the
Messiah. Remember, it was Isaiah who wrote of the child who would
be born, of the son who would be given. It was Isaiah who foresaw
the Gospel day of the Lord. And now this child of the Virgin
is revealed in his covenant role as God's servant, sent to do
his will. And we're going to be enlarging
upon this in the chapters that follow. Sent to do his will,
sent to redeem his people, and sent to glorify the name of God. Thou art my servant, O Israel. in whom I will be glorified. Thou art my servant, says the
Father to his Son. Thou art my servant, says Jehovah
to the God-man, in whom I will be glorified. And let us remember
that this prophecy that Isaiah wrote was written principally
to the Lord's remnant people among the Jews of that day for
their instruction in divine truth. and to comfort their souls. Isaiah had this injunction. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. And this is how he
did it. By writing to them about the
covenant of grace. By writing to them about the
coming Messiah. By writing to them to reinforce
the promises of God towards them. He is comforting their souls
by the gospel. and that is the message which
has comforted the souls of God's people in every generation. You want to do someone good?
Preach the gospel to them. So, I have chosen three lessons
from this chapter 49 that I think would have been meaningful to
Isaiah's age and I hope for much the same reasons that they will
prove helpful for us today as well, from what has been revealed
here of Christ's service and ministry in the everlasting covenant
for the redemption of his people. So here's my first point, and
it's the largest one, so don't worry if it seems to take a while,
but I think this is very interesting. Here's what I want to say first. I want us to think about the
difficulties and the opposition which the Lord Jesus Christ met
with. The difficulties and the opposition
which the Lord Jesus Christ met with in the fulfilment of the
terms of the covenant of grace. I am always struck. And I confess that it hasn't
been all my life, but it's something I came upon a few years ago and
considered it and thought about it more particularly. And since
that time, I am always struck in reading those Old Testament
scriptures, which are explicitly messianic, by which I mean they
relate to and foretell Christ's coming. I am always struck by
the testimony of Christ's weakness. Now that might seem a strange
thing to say, but we must never imagine that the Lord Jesus Christ
breezed his way through life without a problem because he
was the Son of God. And really, I mean, what harm
could come to the Son of God? But the truth is, whenever the
Lord is speaking, whenever the Lord is giving any personal testimony
in the context of His humanity, as He is here in this passage,
and as He often does in the book of Psalms, Psalm 22, 23, 24, as he does in the book of Lamentations,
for example. Whenever the Lord is speaking
of a personal testimony and speaking of the things which he will endure,
he expresses anxiety. He speaks about weakness and
fear and even, as here in this chapter, a sense of failure. Now I think this is truly Quite
amazing, and I hope you will, before you dismiss what I have
to say here, that you'll give me the moment of considering
what I'm presenting. In verse four, because this is
the Lord that is speaking here, in verse four he says, I have
laboured in vain. I have spent my strength for
naught. I don't think we should gloss
over this. In his humanity, Our Lord Jesus
was just the same as you and me, with this exception, he was
without sin. Now, we understand that physically,
right? We know that he hungered and
he thirsted. We know that he got weary and
he had to sleep. We know that he got cold and
tired and had nowhere to lay his head. We know that he experienced
pain in his body. And we also know that he experienced
pain in his soul. But he knew stress. He knew anxiety,
he knew frustration, and he knew fear in his heart and in his
emotions. And here, if I am not mistaken,
the God-man considering in the terms of the everlasting covenant
what he must endure questions whether he will be
able to accomplish all that is required of him under his covenant
obligations. Think about that. Think about
that. When God the Father set forth
what would be required to fulfil the redemption of his people,
the Lord Jesus Christ wondered whether he in his flesh would
be able to accomplish all the demands that were required of
him, wondered to the point at which he says, I'm not going to be able to do
this. I'm not going to be able to succeed. I have laboured in
vain. I have spent my strength for
naught. I think we all know what that's
like sometimes. I think we all experience that
from time to time. We doubt that we're up to the
job. We say things like, I can't do
this. It's too much for me. I won't
make it. This is all going to be in vain.
I'll do all this work and it'll be for nothing. And such doubts
we discover in our own experience and I assume, unless I'm only
speaking for myself, I assume that this is universal, such
doubts can paralyse us. Self-doubt makes us fear to even
begin a task or keep on with it once we've started. And brothers and sisters, this
is one of the amazing truths of the Word of God. Our Lord
Jesus Christ was touched with the feeling of our infirmities
insofar as He was in all points tempted like as we are. And therefore He understands
and He sympathises with us in every fear and in every anxiety
and in every weakness that we feel. But look at what the Lord says
next. Look at what he says immediately thereafter. He says, The Lord
Jesus Christ was saying here, as this covenant of redemption, this
covenant of grace and peace was being set forth as this was being
discussed in the eternal council of the Godhead. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, my judgment is with the Lord. I will do what the
Lord requires of me. I will serve as I am able and
I will leave the assessment of the success in the hands of my
Father. And of course, we know now because
we live in the after side of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we know that he was successful. We know that that success was
declared and vindicated in Christ's resurrection. And I think this
principle, this leaving the assessment and success of our work in God's
hands is a good lesson for us all. I certainly take that to
myself and say that it's a good lesson for preachers. And I'm
sure it was for the Lord's Apostles. The Lord's Apostles went out
into the world not knowing what the response was going to be
to their ministry. And very often finding it to
be almost overwhelming in the rejection that they felt. and it ought to be so for us
all. Let us labour, brothers and sisters,
for the Lord. Let us do that which he lays
to our hands, and let us leave the success or otherwise of these
things in the care of our God. The father said to the son, you
will be my servant to raise up the remnant of Israel, to gather
a number that no man can count from amongst the Gentiles, to
whom you will be light. Whatever the Lord lays to our
hands let us do it and when we have done what we can as unto
the Lord then let us leave it with the Lord. If the Lord Jesus
Christ had a felt need of his father's help to enable him to
do the work which he had to do, then it is good for us equally
to have that felt need and to feel that weakness and that anxiety
in the things that we are about. It is not in our strength, but
in our weakness that God is glorified. And he is faithful, he is faithful. He accepts the widow's might.
and he rejects the rich man's bounty and he takes a Mary Magdalene
and a Zacchaeus and a Doubting Thomas and he makes them champions
of the faith and he could have put this task into the hands
of any number of people whatever it is into the hands of another
but he chose you and he chose me So let us answer as did the
Lord when we feel inadequate or we feel like an imposter.
It is not my assessment that matters. My judgment is with
the Lord and my work is with my God. So that's the first thing that
I wanted to leave with you, the difficulties and oppositions
which Christ met with, even in anticipation, his role and responsibility
in this covenant. Here's the second thing that
I want to say. God the Father was indeed faithful
and throughout His lifetime, the Lord Jesus was protected
in his vulnerability and he was strengthened in his weaknesses.
when Herod slew the infants, and when Satan tempted Christ,
and when the crowd tried to throw him off of a cliff, and when
the Jews sent their officers to arrest him, and when he was
in the Garden of Gethsemane and his disciples fell asleep. Our
Saviour was tested in all aspects of his humanity. He was despised
by men. He was abhorred by his own nation.
He was mocked by kings. And yet the Father was true to
his promise. And in accordance with the terms
of the covenant that had been entered into and agreed upon
by Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Christ's Father was to him a
rod and staff in the valley of the shadow of death. and he prepared
a table for him in the presence of his enemies. And he poured
out his Holy Spirit upon him without measure, anointing him
with grace and wisdom. As we read in the children's
passage. Isaiah had said again, what in
Isaiah 42, 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. This covenant of redemption,
this covenant of grace and peace encompasses the full supply of
everything needful for the salvation of the elect and the deliverance
of those whom God has loved from everlasting. Not just the fact,
and I say just, forgive me using that word, but not only the fact
that the Lord Jesus Christ died and shed his blood on the cross,
but everything, every providence, every help, every support, every
need supplied, because the Lord God has promised
that he will uphold and maintain the work of Christ. for him and
for his people. Nothing is left to chance, nothing
is left undone. Every need, every eventuality,
every failure on our part was anticipated by the eternal sovereign
Jehovah to secure absolutely the end of the matter in hand,
the success of the work and the triumph of the Saviour. Even
the weaknesses in the humanity of the God-man were accounted
for and fully supplied by the Lord God. The Lord's difficulties
we've thought about, the Lord's successes we've thought about. And finally, let me just leave
this little thought with you. that that ought to instil confidence
in us. Let me return to you and me and
apply what this passage teaches to our personal situations. Remember, we We noticed, I think, as we were
reading verse 14, the reference to what Zion says. He says this,
but Zion said, that is the church, that's us, that's you and me,
but Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath
forgotten me. So here's Isaiah writing all
these things, telling the people of his age all of these things,
speaking about Christ coming and the Father's help of him
and the messianic role and responsibilities that he will have and the successes
that he will bring. And what does the church say?
The church says, the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath
forgotten me. how hard it is for us to trust
the Lord and to depend upon His promises. And I think some of
us know this feeling. I think some of us hear these
promises made week after week, month after month, year after
year. And despite all the promises
and reassurances of God's Word and the testimony of our own
experience that it has been so, Yet we harbour doubts that we
are ashamed to confess. Even as we call Him my Lord,
there is that shadow in our soul which says, the Lord hath forsaken
me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. We, you and I today, we today,
we who are Zion, tremble with Zion, but the Lord will forsake
and forget us. And yet what a beautiful example
and powerful confirmation the Prophet gives here in his reassurance
to his people. A nursing mother will forget
her infant child before the Lord will forget us. Our names are
graven on the palms of his hands. This covenant, these promises
are so certain, so sure, so watertight that nothing in the realm of
earth or heaven can ever thwart its purpose or disturb its outcomes. It's settled. Isaiah uses the
words of the Saviour and the promises of the Father in the
everlasting covenant of grace to reassure the believers of
his own age. And now, today, we have the same
words and the same promises and we have seen them fulfilled in
the actions of the triune God, both Christ upon the cross and
the Father's provision in getting him there, protecting him all
the days of his life. And this should assure and reassure
our confidence. We have seen the faithfulness
of the Father in fulfilling His responsibilities in the covenant
of grace, of upholding Christ all the way to the cross. We've
seen the tenacity of the Son in enduring everything that He
was called to endure and bearing our sins and carrying our guilt
and dying in our place. and we have seen the power and
we felt the power. of the Holy Spirit in quickening
our souls and delivering the captives from the mighty and
releasing the prey from the terrible. We are the captives that were
bound in that mighty prison of sin and condemnation. We are the prey that has been
constrained by the terrible enemies of our souls. and we are they
who have been freed. Even the trials you have endured,
and even those trials which still lie ahead to be endured, are
designed to reward us with greater blessings and more benefits than
you and I could possibly imagine. That's what the references here
are to the children saying, this land of ours is too small for
us. The people of Isaiah's day were
lamenting the fact that they lost their children. in the battles
with the Assyrians and the Babylonians. And the Lord is saying, look,
your children are going to cry out, this land is too small for
us. He's speaking again of gospel
days. There would be a terrible cost
at the hand of the Assyrians and Babylonians, but a spiritual
fruit will be immense and far outweigh the hurt that we feel
in time and in our bodies. God will raise up children in
Zion and he will populate his church with generation after
generation of converts using as a means the weak and feeble
testimony of the generation that has gone before you and me. We are not forgotten. The church
is not bereft. Christ is victorious and he shall
have all his reward and gather every son and daughter into his
kingdom as God has promised. And God's name will be glorified. I think that's something worth
believing and I hope you do too. Amen.