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Verse- by-Verse Bible Commentary
New American Standard Bible
Bible Study Resources
Nave's Topical Bible - Church; Gentiles; Jesus, the Christ; Jesus Continued; Meekness; Prophecy; Quotations and Allusions; Waiting; Thompson Chain Reference - Church; Growth of the Kingdom; Kingdom; Missions, World-Wide; Spirit of Christ; The Topic Concordance - Delight; Election; Failure; Freedom/liberty; Jesus Christ; Light; Servants; Torrey's Topical Textbook - Waiting upon God;
Clarke's Commentary
Verse Isaiah 42:4. He shall not fail nor be discouraged - "His force shall not be abated nor broken"] Rabbi Meir ita citat locum istum, ut post ירוץ yaruts, addat כוחו cocho, robur ejus, quod hodie non comparet in textu Hebraeo, sed addendum videtur, ut sensus fiat planior.
"Rabbi Meir cites this passage so as to add after ירוץ yarats כוחו cocho, his force, which word is not found in the present Hebrew text, but seems necessary to be added to make the sense more distinct." Capell. Crit. Sac. p. 382. For which reason I had added it in the translation, before I observed this remark of Capellus. - L.
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Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Isaiah 42:4". "The Adam Clarke Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/isaiah-42.html. 1832.
Bridgeway Bible Commentary
Success and failure of God’s servant (42:1-25)
In the previous chapter the servant of Yahweh was identified with Israel (see 41:8). Israel is probably again the servant who is identified here, but the ideals outlined in this song never became a reality in the nation. They did, to some extent, characterize the faithful remnant, but they found their perfect expression only in the one who embodied the ideals God desired, Jesus Christ. The prophet foresees that this servant of Yahweh, though empowered by God’s Spirit and concerned with establishing God’s justice in the world, will never make a show to attract attention to himself, never hurt those who sorrow, and never turn away from those of even the weakest faith (42:1-4).
The result of the servant’s work will be the salvation of people from many nations. Through his servant, the Creator will send the message of his salvation to the people of his creation, to turn them from darkness to light, from bondage to freedom (5-7). Yahweh, the eternal God and all-powerful redeemer, needs no help from idols in this. He will bring his purposes to fulfilment through his servant. The Jews’ salvation out of bondage in Babylon will be a sign and a guarantee of a much wider salvation that is yet to come (8-9).
This statement of God’s purposes brings forth an outburst of praise. From various parts of creation and from various nations of the world, people join in singing praises to the merciful God (10-12). This same God, however, will destroy those who fight against him (13).
God himself then speaks. He had appeared to be inactive and silent during the time of the Jews’ captivity in Babylon, but now he will act decisively. He will lead his people out of the blindness and darkness of captivity back to the land of their ancestors (14-16). At this demonstration of God’s power, all those who trusted in idols will feel foolish and ashamed (17).
Having set out his ideal purposes for Israel (see v. 1-4), God now displays the condition of Israel that brought about its captivity in Babylon. Spiritually the people were blind and deaf, and stubbornly refused to see God’s truth or listen to his voice (18-20). God had given them his law so that they might bring other nations to know him and praise him. Instead they disobeyed his law and were plundered by those nations (21-22). The calamities that befell Israel were not accidental; they were sent by God. But because the people did not know God, they did not know the meaning of the events that brought about their defeat and captivity (23-25).
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Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Fleming, Donald C. "Commentary on Isaiah 42:4". "Fleming's Bridgeway Bible Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bbc/isaiah-42.html. 2005.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
"Behold, my servant whom I will uphold; my chosen in whom my soul delighteth: I will put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. A bruised reed will he not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench: he will bring forth justice in truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set justice in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law."
The certainty that it is Jesus Christ the Messiah who is actually prophesied here has been known for ages; and only the rebellious perversity of deluded and hardened minds could be responsible for the regrettable fact that today one finds the true meaning denied by a few.
"The ancient Chaldee version translates the first line here: `Behold, my servant, Messiah.' The apostle Matthew applied it directly to Jesus Christ; nor can the passage with any justice or propriety be applied to any other person or character whatsoever."
In the New Testament, Matthew quoted this whole passage verbatim in Matthew 12:18-21, stating that the prophet Isaiah had written this, and applying every word of it to Jesus Christ. It is the unwavering conviction of this writer that the Gospel of Matthew is a true portion of God's Word, every word of which we hold to be absolute and unalterable truth!
I have already written an exegesis of this paragraph in Vol. 1 of my New Testament Series of Commentaries (Matthew), pp. 170,171.
"Reference is here made to other writers regarding their comments on this passage: Only Christ fulfills the assignment here; all others fall short.
No matter how undeniable an interpretation may be, the diehard critics will not have it so. "Isaiah 42:1-4 mean that Yahweh has called Israel, taken him by the hand, made him a covenant and a light to the nations, to bring them forth from the prison-house of glimmering darkness."
In our Introduction to Isaiah, we pointed out that splitting Isaiah once by no means solves any problem. Kelley tells us that, "Bernard Duhm (we do not know if this last name is pronounced Dumb or Doom!) published a commentary in 1892 and revealed that he had isolated four `Servant Songs' (Isa. 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; and 52:13-53:12), alleging that they were so different from the material in which they were embedded that they must have been written, not by their imaginative Deutero-Isaiah, but by someone else!"
The most deplorable error of interpretation with regard to the Old Testament and to Israel particularly is that of the failure to distinguish `which Israel' is meant. All of the glorious promises to Abraham never pertained in any degree to the mere physical descendants of that patriarch, but to his "spiritual seed," the "true Israel," the honorable people of "like character and faith of Abraham." The stupendous error of the critics in supposing that the nation of physical Israel is "the Ideal Servant" of Jehovah is due to their confusing the sinful kingdom of Israel with the "Servant" in whom the Lord was delighted, and who is here promised that Jehovah will uphold him, etc. That Israel is the "True Israel"; and just who is he? The apostle John quoted Jesus himself on this, and he said, "I am the true vine" (John 15:1). The physical, secular Israel was never, for a moment, the "true vine." Christ only is the True Vine, the True Israel; and just who is the Old Israel? Jeremiah tells us what kind of vine Israel became:
"To Israel: Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate branches of a vine foreign unto me?" (Jeremiah 2:21).
Note also that Isaiah had stressed this very same fact in Isaiah 5:3-8, where it is revealed that: although Israel (the physical Israel) had been intended to produce grapes, instead it produced only wild grapes and was fit only to be destroyed. There are literally countless passages of the Old Testament that dwell upon this tragic truth; and yet, throughout the Old Testament, God continually reiterated the truth that all of the sacred promises to the patriarchs were yet to be fulfilled. How? In the spiritual Israel, of course!
In this very chapter, the two Israels are dramatically presented; and without the information conveyed here, no understanding whatever is possible with reference to whole sections of the Old Testament. The two Israels in view here are the blind and deaf and rebellious Israel, and the Holy Christ who is the "True Israel," "the True Israel" of the New Testament. The first Israel is a type of the True Israel which is Christ.
The first Israel came up out of Egypt, being called forth from Egypt by God; Christ the True Israel also was called out of Egypt (See Hosea 11:1 and Matthew 2:15). The birth of the first Israel as a nation was accompanied by a wholesale slaughter of innocent babies by Pharaoh who sought to destroy Israel; and the birth of the True Israel (Christ) was likewise accompanied by the wholesale slaughter of the innocents by Herod the Great. All of the first Israel were descended from Abraham; so was Jesus Christ the True Israel (Matthew 1:1). The first Israel, namely, Jacob, died; and Joseph begged the body of the first Israel from Pharaoh for the purpose of burying it; and when the True Israel (Jesus Christ) died, another Joseph begged the body of Pilate in order to bury it. The old Israel received "bread from heaven" in the form of manna in the wilderness; the New Israel receives Christ as the "bread from heaven," eating of his flesh and of his blood in the symbolical ritual of the Lord's Supper in the "wilderness of the Church's current probation." This is an extensive subject; but these few lines will demonstrate the validity of the type-antitype relationship between the two Israels.
Note what is said here of the character of "The Servant." God's soul delighteth in him (the prophetic present for the future verb). Could this refer to the "nation" of the Old Israel? Certainly not. Ezekiel stated that the secular nation had become worse than Sodom and Gomorrah (Ezekiel 16). He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. The Old Israel absolutely refused to do this; and they are still refusing to do it in the case of the shamefully displaced Palestinians. Only in the Ideal Israel, Jesus Christ our Lord, has justice and salvation ever come to the Gentiles. It was primarily because the physical Israel understood Jesus' intention of saving Gentiles that they rejected him and engineered his crucifixion.
"And the isles wait for his law" Delitzsch as quoted by Rawlinson stated that, "It is an actual fact that the cry for redemption runs through the whole human race. They are possessed by an earnest longing, the ultimate object of which is, however unconsciously, the Servant of Jehovah and his instruction from Zion."
Coffman's Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Isaiah 42:4". "Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/isaiah-42.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible
He shall not fail - He shall not be weak, feeble, or disheartened. However much there may be that shall tend to discourage, yet his purpose is fixed, and he will pursue it with steadiness and ardor until the great work shall be fully accomplished. There may be an allusion in the Hebrew word here (יכהה yı̂kheh) to that which is applied to the flax (כהה kēhâh); and the idea may be that he shall not become in his purposes like the smoking, flickering, dying flame of a lamp. There shall never be any indication, even amidst all embarrassments, that it is his intention to abandon his plan of extending the true religion through all the world. Such also should be the fixed and determined purposes of his people. Their zeal should never fail; their ardor should never grow languid.
Nor be discouraged - Margin, ‘Broken.’ The Hebrew word ירוּץ yârûts may be derived either from רצץ râtsats, to break, to break in pieces; or from רוץ rûts to run, to move hastily, to rush upon any one. Our translators have adopted the former. Gesenius also supposes that this is the true interpretation of the word, and that it means, that he would not be broken, that is, checked in his zeal, or discouraged by any opposition. The latter interpretation is preferred by Vitringa, Rosenmuller, Hengstenberg, and others. The Chaldee renders it, ‘Shall not labor,’ that is, shall not be fatigued, or discouraged. The Septuagint renders it, ‘He shall shine out, and not be broken.’ The connection seems to require the sense which our translators have given to it, and according to this, the meaning is, ‘he shall not become broken in spirit, or discouraged; he shall persevere amidst all opposition and embarrassment, until he shall accomplish his purposes.’ We have a similar phraseology when we speak of a man’s being heart-broken.
Till he have set judgment - Until he has secured the prevalence of the true religion in all the world.
And the isles - Distant nations (see the note at Isaiah 41:1); the pagan nations. The expression is equivalent to saying that the Gentiles would be desirous of receiving the religion of the Messiah, and would wait for it (see the notes at Isaiah 2:3).
Shall wait - They shall be dissatisfied with their own religions, and see that their idol-gods are unable to aid them; and they shall be in a posture of waiting for some new religion that shall meet their needs. It cannot mean that they shall wait for it, in the sense of their already having a knowledge of it, but that their being sensible that their own religions cannot save them may be represented as a condition of waiting for some better system. It has been true, as in the Sandwich Islands, that the pagan have been so dissatisfied with their own religion as to east away their idols, and to be without any religion, and thus to be in a waiting posture for some new and better system. And it may be true yet that the pagan shall become extensively dissatisfied with their idolatry; that they shall be convinced that some better system is necessary, and that they may thus be prepared to welcome the gospel when it shall be proposed to them. It may be that in this manner God intends to remove the now apparently insuperable obstacles to the spread of the gospel in the pagan world. The Septuagint renders this, ‘And in his name shall the Gentiles trust,’ which form has been retained by Matthew Matthew 12:21.
His law - His commands, the institutions of his religion. The word ‘law’ is often used in the Scriptures to denote the whole of religion.
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Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on Isaiah 42:4". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/isaiah-42.html. 1870.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
4.He shall not faint, nor be discouraged. The Prophet alludes to the preceding verse, and confirms what he formerly said, that Christ will indeed be mild and gentle towards the weak, but that he will have no softness or effeminacy; for he will manfully execute the commission which he has received from the Father. This is what he means when he says that “he shall not faint;” and in this verb
I remember that there were in a populous city two preachers, one of whom boldly and loudly reproved vices, while the other endeavored to gain the favor of the people by flatteries. This fawning preacher, who was expounding the Prophet Jeremiah, lighted on a passage full of the mildest consolation, and having found, as he imagined, a fit opportunity, began to declaim against those harsh and severe reprovers who are wont to terrify men by thunderbolts of words. But on the following day, when the Prophet changed his subject and sharply rebuked wicked men with his peculiar vehemence of style, the wretched flatterer was constrained to encounter bitter scorn by retracting the words which were fresh in the recollection of all his hearers. Thus the temporary favor which he had gained speedily vanished, when he revealed his own disposition, and made himself abhorred by the good and the bad.
We must therefore distinguish between the submissive and the obstinate, that we may not abuse that mildness by using it on every occasion. Yet Isaiah declares that Christ’s fortitude will be unshaken, so that it shall surmount every obstacle; for by these words, Till he put judgment, he means that the ministry of Christ will be so efficacious that the fruit of his doctrine shall be manifested. He does not merely say, “Till he shall have made known the will of his Father,” but “Till he establish judgment,” that is, as we formerly said, the proper exercise of government. Christ’s ministry, therefore, he testifies, will not be unfruitful, but will have such efficacy that men shall be reformed by it.
This must not be limited to the person of Christ, but extends to the whole course of the gospel; for he not only discharged the embassy committed to him for three years, but continues to discharge the same embassy every day by means of his servants. Yet we are reminded that it is impossible for us to discharge that office without being laid under the necessity of suffering many annoyances, and sustaining contests so severe and dangerous, that we shall be almost overwhelmed and ready to abandon everything. Still we must not desist, but persevere constantly in our duty, and run to the very end; and therefore the Prophet testifies that Christ will be so steadfast that he will pursue his calling to the end; and, following his example, we ought boldly to persevere.
And the isles shall wait for his law. Here he employs the word Law to mean “doctrine,” as the Hebrew word for “law” is derived from a verb which signifies to teach; (153) and thus the prophets are accustomed to speak of the gospel, in order to shew that it will not be new or contrary to what was taught by Moses.
The isles. We have formerly shewn that the Hebrew writers give the name of isles to countries beyond the sea.
The Prophet confirms the former statement, by which it was declared that Christ had been appointed not only for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles, though they had nothing in common with the Jewish commonwealth. In short, that promise relates to all nations, that the advantages of this restoration and reformation may be shared by every part of the world.
By the word wait, he means that the elect will eagerly embrace the gospel offered to them; for the Lord displays in it the power of his election, when “they who wandered in darkness,” (Matthew 4:16,) as soon as they hear the voice of the gospel, embrace it with the utmost eagerness, and although they formerly wandered, like scattered and lost sheep, yet hear immediately the voice of the shepherd, and cheerfully submit to him, as Christ himself has also spoken. (John 10:16.) Hence we learn that the saying of Augustine is exceedingly true, “that many sheep wander out of the folds, while wolves frequently dwell within the folds.” This attention is the work of God, when men who thought that they were wise give up their own judgment, and have to learn the gospel of Christ, so as to depend entirely on this teacher.
(153) That is,
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Calvin, John. "Commentary on Isaiah 42:4". "Calvin's Commentary on the Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/isaiah-42.html. 1840-57.
Smith's Bible Commentary
Chapter 42
Now God speaks of another servant. This is His righteous servant, even Jesus Christ. And now Isaiah begins to prophesy concerning Christ, the servant of God.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth ( Isaiah 42:1 );
You remember when Jesus was baptized that there came the voice from heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him" ( Matthew 17:5 ). God declares, "In whom my soul delights."
I have put my Spirit upon him ( Isaiah 42:1 ):
And at the time of the baptism, you remember the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended as a dove and lighted upon Him and the voice of the Father said, "This is My beloved Son." But here's a prophecy of the baptism of Jesus and those events that would take place. "My servant, in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him."
he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles ( Isaiah 42:1 ).
So the gospel coming unto the Gentiles through Jesus Christ is predicted.
He will not cry, nor lift up, his voice to be heard in the street ( Isaiah 42:2 ).
Israel, which at the time of His coming was,
A bruised reed will he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: till he bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he has set judgment in the earth: and the coast shall wait for his law ( Isaiah 42:3-4 ).
Now we are told that Jesus is sitting there at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the kingdom to be given unto Him. In Hebrews it said, "God has put all things in subjection under Him. But we do not yet see all things in subjection unto Him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor" ( Hebrews 2:8-9 ). Waiting until the kingdom really will be given unto Him, until this expectation is fulfilled. So God's promise that He has set Him for judgment in the earth.
Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein ( Isaiah 42:5 ):
God declaring now Himself. As Francis Schaeffer said the time has come when we shouldn't just speak of God, because there are so many different gods the people worship. Or people have so many different concepts of God that when you talk about God, unless you define the god that you are talking about, they really don't know who you are talking about. So we need to define God as the eternal, living God who created the heavens and the earth. Well, it is interesting when God defines Himself He goes a little bit further. "He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spread forth the earth, and all that comes out of it; He that gives breath to the people upon it."
You remember when Daniel came in to Belshazzar, who had ordered that the golden vessels that his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought in that they might drink their wine out of those vessels that had been dedicated unto God's service. And as they were drinking the wine, the handwriting came on the wall and his knees began to smote one against another. We're going to have a prophecy of this, of his knees here in Isaiah when we get to chapter 45 tonight. He prophesies this guy's knees shaking. And Daniel said... The fingers of the hand appeared and the writing on the wall, and the king called for the counselors to interpret and none of them could. So the queen mother said, "Well, there's a man in the kingdom from among the Jews and God has given to him wisdom in the time of your grandfather. He told of dreams and visions." And so they called Daniel in and Daniel gave a lecture to Belshazzar before he interpreted the writing. He said, "When your father was really nothing, God raised him up and gave him this great kingdom of Babylon. And when he exalted his heart against God, God allowed him the madness and he lived like an animal until seven seasons had passed over. Then God restored the kingdom and his sanity to him. But this God," he said, "you have not glorified. And the God in whose very hand your breath is." And that was the indictment against him. Here he had been taking his breath from God and yet using that breath to profane God. But God in whose very hand...
Did you ever realize how totally dependent you are upon God? And here God declares the dependency of man. "I've created all of the things that are in the earth. In fact, I've given breath to them all."
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 the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and to them that sit in darkness out of the prison house ( Isaiah 42:6-7 ).
When Paul was talking to Agrippa, and more or less giving his defense before king Agrippa, in Acts chapter 26 beginning with verse Isaiah 42:17 , Paul declared to Agrippa how that the Lord had appeared unto him and said unto him that he had sent Paul. "Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee. To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and the inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" ( Acts 26:17-18 ). Paul's commission from the Lord was to go to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, to turn them from their darkness to the light of God, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive the forgiveness of their sins. And so Paul is really taking a part out of Isaiah here where God speaks of Him going to set His people as a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners from the prison, and those that sit in darkness out of the prison house. To deliver us from that prison of sin, that power that sin has upon a person's life.
I am the LORD; that is ( Isaiah 42:8 )
I am. And, of course, you've got to really translate. I mean, you've got to. I am Yahweh or Yahovah, whatever the pronunciation is.
That is my name ( Isaiah 42:8 ):
You see, LORD in all capitals is not a title. In the New Testament the term Lord is a title. It is the Greek word kurios. But in the Old Testament, there is adonahai, the Hebrew which is a title, Lord. And when you find that, it is capital "L," small o-r-d. But when the name of God, the Yahweh, the consonants Y-H-V-H which are in the text, that stands for the name of God. And only the consonants were written so a man would not pronounce the name in his mind. But God declares, "I am Yahweh. That is My name."
and my glory will I not give to another, and neither will I give praise to graven images ( Isaiah 42:8 ).
Now this is heavy-duty stuff. And anyone, anyone who ever seeks to serve God and to minister for God must remember that God will not give His glory to another. There are many people who seek to bring glory to themselves in their service to God. "Let your light," Jesus said, "so shine before men, that when they see your good works, they glorify your Father which is in heaven" ( Matthew 5:16 ). We must take care that we do not serve God in such a way as to bring personal glory or honor to ourselves. And that is a constant danger because of our flesh which delights in glory and recognition and fame and honor. But God said, "I will not give My glory to another." And the minute we start taking God's glory for ourselves, we're in big trouble with God.
"I will not give it to another, neither My praise to graven images." God really takes off on the images that these people were making. The likenesses and the stupidity of making their own gods. How it is so totally illogical for a man to make his own god, and you'll get into that pretty soon.
He said,
Behold, the former things are come to pass, and the new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them ( Isaiah 42:9 ).
This was what He was challenging the other gods to do. But He said, "I'm doing it. I've told you of the former things and I'm declaring to you things before they ever happen."
Sing unto the LORD a new song, sing his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the coast, and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock [that is, Petras] sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the coast. For the LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies ( Isaiah 42:10-13 ).
Now in many places in the Old Testament, there is a reference to the Lord when He comes in His glory roaring like a lion. This is one of them. "He shall cry, yea, He'll roar like a lion roaring over its prey that it has subdued." And in Revelation, chapter 10, the description of the coming again of Jesus Christ, it said, "And He shall roar as a lion" ( Revelation 10:3 ). So I am so anxious to hear that roar. The next reference in the Old Testament Isa 25:30 ,but all the way through the Old Testament there are many references and we'll follow them through as we go through this time. This is one of the first of them.
I have held my peace for a long time; I have been still, I have refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once ( Isaiah 42:14 ).
How patient God has been as He allowed the earth to go on in this condition since Christ, 2,000 years almost. God said, "I've held My peace for a long time." I've wondered how God could hold His peace for so long. I wondered how God could let things go by. He said, "I've been still; I've refrained Myself." But now the time has come.
I will make waste mountains and hills, I will dry up their vegetables; I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and the crooked things straight ( Isaiah 42:15-16 ).
Notice the desolation will come before the rebuilding.
You remember when God commissioned Jeremiah to prophesy. God said to Jeremiah that, "I have called thee to root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build, and to plant" ( Jeremiah 1:10 ). You see, sometimes things get so corrupt, before you can build you just got to wipe out what's there. And so with Jeremiah. The nation had become so corrupt. He had to root out, pull down, destroy before he began to build and to plant. Now here again is the same thing. God's judgment is first going to come, making waste the earth in the Great Tribulation period. And then He will begin His work of restoration, opening the eyes of the blind. "Making darkness light before them, straightening the crooked paths."
These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in their graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods. Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? ( Isaiah 42:16-19 )
Israel was so blind to the things of God. And Jesus said, "Well did Isaiah the prophet testify of you, saying, 'Having eyes to see, you will not see; having ears to hear, you will not hear'" ( Matthew 13:14 ). God's nation, God's people were blind when the Messiah came. They did not recognize Him. It said, "He came to His own, and His own received Him not" ( John 1:11 ). And Jesus spoke of their blindness to them. "Who is blind, but my servant?"
or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant? Seeing many things, but you don't observe them; opening your ears, but yet you're not hearing. The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable. But this is a people that are robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? ( Isaiah 42:19-24 )
Who turned the nation over?
did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he didn't lay it up to heart ( Isaiah 42:24-25 ).
And so they were destroyed. They were driven out of the land. And yet they didn't consider that it was because of their rejection of God's promised Messiah that these things came upon them. "
Copyright © 2014, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, Ca.
Smith, Charles Ward. "Commentary on Isaiah 42:4". "Smith's Bible Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/csc/isaiah-42.html. 2014.
Dr. Constable's Expository Notes
Not only would He not break or extinguish others, but the pressures and blows of others would not break or extinguish Him. This reflects the Spirit’s empowerment in His life (cf. Isaiah 42:1). He would complete His mission of establishing justice on the earth. The furthest reaches of the earth will, therefore, anticipate the coming of His law, as Israel did at the base of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19; cf. Isaiah 2:3). They would do so eager for justice to come to the earth, not necessarily eagerly anticipating it to come through the Lord’s Servant.
The Lord now turned from describing His Servant’s task by speaking about Him to confirming His task by speaking to Him. This is a pattern in the Servant Songs: confirmation follows description (cf. Isaiah 49:7-13; Isaiah 50:10-11; Isaiah 54:1 to Isaiah 55:13). Two aspects of the Lord’s glory that earlier exposed the plight of the Gentile world, namely, that the Gentiles do not know the only true God and that they worship idols, bracket this passage dealing with Gentile hope. [Note: Ibid., p. 321.] The task of the Servant, not His identity, continues to be the focus of attention. Each segment begins with a reaffirmation of the identity of the true God (Isaiah 42:5-6; Isaiah 42:8).
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Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentary on Isaiah 42:4". "Dr. Constable's Expository Notes". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/isaiah-42.html. 2012.
Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
He shall not fail,.... For want of strength to go through the work of redemption: or, "grow dim" i and dark, as a lamp for want of oil, or as the wick of a candle ready to go out. Hence the Septuagint version, "he shall shine k"; in the glory of his person, as the Son of God; in the fulness of his grace, as Mediator, which shall never fail; and in the hearts of his people by his Spirit; and in his Gospel published to the world:
nor be discouraged; at the number, power, and menaces of his enemies, he had to grapple with, sin, Satan, the world, and death: or,
nor be broken l; with the weight of all the sins of his people upon him; and with a sense of divine wrath; and with the whole punishment due unto them, inflicted on him, enough to have broke the backs and spirits of men and angels; but he stood up under the mighty load, and did not sink beneath it, but endured all with an invincible courage and resolution of mind:
till he have set judgment in the earth; fully satisfied the justice of God for the sins of his people, and performed the work of their redemption in righteousness; and then he sent and settled his Gospel in the world, proclaiming the same; and fixed a set of Gospel ordinances to continue the remembrance of it, till his second coming. Maimonides m produces this passage to prove that the Messiah shall die, because it is said, "he shall not fail--till", c. but this does not signify that he should fail afterwards, but that he should continue always:
and the isles shall wait for his law; his doctrine or Gospel, the law or doctrine of faith, particularly that of justification by his righteousness, with every other; this the inhabitants of the islands, or distant countries, the Gentiles, should be desirous of hearing, readily embrace and receive, and trust in Christ, made known to them in it. The Septuagint version is, "and in his name shall the Gentiles trust"; and so in Matthew 12:20.
i לא יכהה, "non caligabit", Pagninus, Montanus. k αναλαμψει, Sept. l ירוצ, "nec fraugetur", Paguinus, Montanus. m Porta Mosis, p. 160.
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rights Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Gill, John. "Commentary on Isaiah 42:4". "Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/isaiah-42.html. 1999.
Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible
| The Messiah's Approach. | B. C. 708. |
1 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. 2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
We are sure that these verses are to be understood of Christ, for the evangelist tells us expressly that in him this prophecy was fulfilled, Matthew 12:17-21. Behold with an eye of faith, behold and observe, behold and admire, my servant, whom I uphold. Let the Old-Testament saints behold and remember him. Now what must we behold and consider concerning him?
I. The Father's concern for him and relation to him, the confidence he put and the complacency he took in him. This put an honour upon him, and made him remarkable, above any other circumstance, Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 42:1. 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,Proverbs 8:30. He had a particular satisfaction in his undertaking: he declared himself well pleased in him (Matthew 3:17; Matthew 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.
II. The qualification of him for his office: I have put my Spirit upon him, to enable him to go through his undertaking, Isaiah 61:1; Isaiah 61:1. The Spirit did not only come, but rest, upon him (Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 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.
III. The work to which he is appointed; it is to bring forth judgment to the 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 (Psalms 147:20), he came to bring forth to the Gentiles, for he was to be a light to lighten them.
IV. The mildness and tenderness with which he should pursue this undertaking, Isaiah 42:2; Isaiah 42:3. He shall carry it on, 1. In silence, and without noise: He shall not strive nor cry. 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. 2. Gently, and without rigour. 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 (Isaiah 65:5; Isaiah 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.
V. The courage and constancy with which he should persevere in this undertaking, so as to carry his point at last (Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 42:4): He shall not fail nor be discouraged. 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. 3. 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?
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is available on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Website.
Henry, Matthew. "Complete Commentary on Isaiah 42:4". "Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mhm/isaiah-42.html. 1706.
Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible
Christ’s Work No Failure
January 30, 1887
by C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law---Isaiah 42:4 .
Previous verses at the close of the forty-first chapter indicate the utter failure of the hope of man from man. God Himself looked, and behold “there was no man; even among them, and there was no counselor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.” How often it is so in human history: man fails to find leadership and help in man! Great men are raised up now and then, and the tendency is to make idols of them, and so to trust in an arm of flesh. These die, and then their fellows look out in the church, and in the world, for other men upon whom they may dote after the same manner; but it sometimes happens that they look in vain; none arise whom they can elect for leaders. Just now I think it is so in more departments than one. Look where you may, where will you see the man who is equal to the crisis? Somehow or other, in the providence of God, every hour has, in due time, had its man; but if our hopes are fixed in men, we must feel at this time sorely pressed.
In expounding the one verse which I have selected for a text, I shall need to open up the whole passage. Follow me, therefore, with opened Bibles, and obey the first word of the chapter, which is, Behold.
We are commanded at all times to behold the Son of God . There is never a season in which He is not a fit subject for contemplation and expectation. “Behold the Lamb of God" is the standing rule from generation to generation, from the first of January to the last of December. But especially in cloudy and dark days ought we to behold Him. When after having looked, and looked long, you see no man and no counselor, then this precept has an emphatic force about it, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth." When all other saviors fail, look to the Savior whom God has set up. The darker all things else become, the more eagerly look for His appearing, whose coming is as a morning without clouds. When the lower lights are burning dim, behold the lamp above.
Our great comfort is that the Lord Jesus Christ is always to be beheld . He lives ever and ever works for His people. We must view Him not merely as one who appeared upon the scene years ago, but as still living. He died in the heat of the battle, but He rose again to secure the victory. We do not found our hopes of a brighter future upon a dead Savior; our hopes for the future of the world, and for the accomplishment of God's gracious purposes hang upon One who ever liveth, and is at this time in the place of vantage, carrying on His great work and warfare at the right hand of God. My text saith, "Behold my servant"; and that matchless Servant of God is to be beheld--not with the eye of sense, that were little worth, for men saw Him in that way, and crucified Him; but He is to be beheld with the eye of faith, and this is a noble sight; for those who look to Him in that manner are lightened, and their faces are not ashamed. At the commencement of my discourse, I beseech you, dear brethren, to look to Jesus Christ the ever-living Worker. If you have been troubled and fretted by peering into these gloomy times and perceiving nothing that can raise your spirits, I pray you took about you no longer, but look up! There He sits at the right hand of God, even the Father, the appointed man, the glorious, chosen Deliverer. Behold Him, and your fears and sorrows will fly away.
The text declares concerning our Lord that "He shall not fail nor be discouraged." This leads us to consider what is the work which Jesus Christ has undertaken, in which He will not fail nor be discouraged. Our text directs us in this matter, for it tells us that He has come to "set judgments in the earth," and that "the isles shall wait for his law." The earth is to be delivered from misrule and sin, and men are to be submissive to His instruction and direction. There are some who doubt it, but I still believe in that verse which we sang just now--
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.
Our Lord has come to save His own elect, and He will save every one of them. No soul for whom He stood as Surety and Substitute shall ever be cast away. The sheep shall pass again under the hand of Him that telleth them, and they shall all be there. "He shall not fail nor be discouraged"; but He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.
As for the Lord's second coming, we know not when it shall be. Shall the world grow darker and darker till He comes? It may be so. There are passages of Scripture and signs of the times which may be taken to indicate it. On the other hand, shall the age grow brighter and brighter till He appears to bring the perfect day? Through the preaching of the gospel shall there yet be periods in which multitudes shall be converted, and whole nations shall be saved? I do not know: there are texts that seem to look that way, and many a brave worker hopes as much. There are brethren who can map out unfulfilled prophecy with great distinctness; but I confess my inability to do so. They get a shilling box of mathematical instruments. They stick down one leg were hope blotted out of the language of men. But while this text stands true the door of hope is open. We need not fail or be discouraged, since He will not.
This morning I shall speak to you in the hope that the Spirit of God may fire you with new courage for the holy war. First, let this truth be considered and believed, and then, secondly, let this truth be believed and enjoyed .
I. First, then LET THIS TRUTH BE CONSIDERED AND BELIEVED.
Will you now thoughtfully turn it over in your minds? It is certainly a very marvelous enterprise which our Lord Jesus Christ has undertaken. The salvation of a single soul involves a miracle. The salvation of myriads upon myriads of the human race: what shall I call it but a mountain of marvels? The removal of the darkness which has settled over mankind in tenfold night--what a divine labor! The ending of the enmity which exists between man and God, the reconciling of man unto his Maker--what a design! The redeeming of this world from the bondage of corruption, the setting up of a kingdom of truth and holiness--what an enterprise! Such wonders has Jesus undertaken, and such wonders He will achieve. He died to lay the foundation of His all-conquering kingdom, and He still lives that this kingdom may be established in its supremacy, and all nations may flow to it.
Beloved, I fail to conceive, much more to express, the vastness of the task which He has undertaken. Those of you who love your fellowman often mourn your powerlessness with a single individual. What hard work it is to deal with our own countrymen! How are we baffled by their poverty, their ignorance, their misery, their sin! You have only to battle with a single vice, drunkenness, to wit, to feel what a monster is to be overcome. Only think for a moment of the social impurity of this city, and you are sick at heart as you remember it. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ has come to cleanse this Augean stable; and He will cleanse it. The stream of the river of life shall run through the foulest parts of the earth till even those horrible regions which are comparable to the Dead Sea shall be reclaimed.
The problem staggers us. The systems of evil are colossal. The hold of evil on the race is terrible. Man is inveterately a sinner. You cannot cure him of rebellion: he is desperately set on mischief. Even when the consequences of his sin wound and afflict him he still returns to it. If you prove to him to a demonstration that a thing is right and profitable, he does not therefore love it; if you prove it to be injurious, he therefore chooses it. By the use of an accursed logic he puts darkness for light and light for darkness, and thus stultifies his conscience, and hardens his heart. If, perchance, you convince his judgment, you have not won his affection, you have not carried his will, you have not subdued his mind. Nothing but Omnipotence itself can save a single soul. What must be that mighty power which shall cause nations to run unto the Lord? They that dwell in the wilderness are to bow before Him, and His enemies are to lick the dust. What a conquest this! How shall Ethiopia be made to stretch our her hands to Him? Look how black are the hearts of her inhabitants, as well as their faces! How shall China and Hindustan, beclouded by their false philosophies, be led to own the truth? Look you, sirs, look at this great mountain, and do not underestimate its mass; and then remember that before our Zerubbabel it must and shall become a plain. The stone mentioned by Daniel, cut out of the mountain without hands, smote the monstrous image and broke it, and in due time filled the whole earth. In the night visions the same prophet saw the Son of Man having dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people should serve Him. So must it be. But how great a thing it is!
The task is rendered the more severe because our Lord Jesus at this present works largely by a church, which is a poor and faulty instrument for the accomplishment of His purpose. I sometimes think there are more difficulties connected with the church than with the world; for the church is often worldly, faithless, lethargic, and I was about to add, inhuman. Might I not almost say as much, for she seems at times well nigh destitute of tender sympathy for the lost and perishing? The church at one hour receives the light and reflects it like a full moon, so that you have hope of her enlightening men; but soon she wanes into a mere ring of light, and becomes obscured. She declines from the truth, she forgets the glorious gospel entrusted to her, and she seeks after the rotten philosophies of men. How many times since Pentecost has the church started aside after the wisdom of men, and after a while has painfully returned to her first faith? At the present moment there is just that kind of wandering going on; and this hinders the work of the Lord. If a man has to do a work, he says to himself, "Give me good tools, at any rate. If I have to strike a heavy blow, do not trouble me with a broken hammer. If I have to write, give me a pen that will not hinder my hand." But alas! the church is too often false to her Master's purpose, and traitorous to His truth. Yet, brethren, the Lord will largely do His work and accomplish His good pleasure by such means as these. He will not fail nor be discouraged. If all Christians should become lukewarm, till the whole church became nauseous, as the church of Laodicea, yet still the Lord Jesus will not fail nor be discouraged. The disciple may sleep, but the great Savior agonizes over men. Let this battalion and the other waver as it may, He who holds the banner in the very center of the fight will never be moved: He will hold the field against all comers; for the Altogether Lovely One is the Standard-bearer among ten thousand. Though you mourn over the disciples, rejoice over their Master. They faint or fly, but "he shall not fail nor be discouraged."
To help you to believe this great truth, I beg you to notice who He is that hath undertaken all this: kindly read at the commencement of the chapter: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth." I am sure that He who is thus spoken of will not fail nor be discouraged; for, first, He is God's own special Servant . God has many servants, but the Christ is above all others called of God “my servant." He is a Son far excelling all other sons, and in the same sense He is a Servant far exceeding all other servants. He took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. He is a servant as none of us can ever hope to be in so high and wonderful a sense: He performs all the will of the Father. If He that was Lord of all became a servant, do you think He will not accomplish His service? If He that made the heavens and the earth laid aside His splendor and veiled Himself in our inferior clay, do You think He will fall in the purpose for which He did this? Can the incarnation of God be a failure? Can the life of the Son of God among men end in defeat? Your heart gives immediate answer--God's own servant will fulfill His service.
Then the great God says of Him, “My servant whom I uphold.” If God upholds Him, how can He fail? Though God upholds all His people, yet beyond all others He is upholding His own chosen Son and Servant: how, then, can He fail? Is it possible with the divine power perpetually streaming into Him and abiding in Him, that he should fail, or be discouraged? The text may be read, "Behold my servant upon whom I lean," and the picture of a great Oriental monarch who comes forth leaning upon a favorite lord, whom he honors by placing him that position, indicating thereby that he trusts his affairs with him, and regards him as his right hand man, a very pillar of the State. Yes, we say it with reverence, God the Father leans on Jesus the Christ. He rests His honor and glory with the Person of the incarnate God: and now He comes before us as God in Christ Jesus, revealing His glory through the Mediator, putting His own sovereign power into the keeping of His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things. Can that Glorified One fail? Has the Father trusted His kingdom of grace with One who will be overcome? How can He fail whom the Father upholds, and upon whom the Father leans all the dignity and glory of His moral government? "He shall not fail nor be discouraged."
Then the Scripture adds this very significant word, “Mine elect in whom my soul delighteth.” The chosen of God, the most choice One that God knows, shall He prove a failure? Not only does God delight in Him, but it is put more strongly still: “In whom my soul delighteth.” Do you taste the marrow of the expression? It seems to me to be exceeding full. The chief delight of God is in His Son, as Mediator. God said of the world, that it was very good; but we read not that His soul delighted in it: but, see, the very soul of the Godhead is moved and filled with delight because of the Savior, commissioned to redeem. Blessed Father, we do not wonder that Thou art taken up with delight in Jesus; for even we ourselves, when we get a sight of Him, are ravished with His charms. There is none like Him. He is thine Only Begotten, the Son of thy heart; well mayest Thou be well pleased with Him. How, then, is it possible that One whom the Lord loves so well, in whom His soul delighteth, should be put upon a work in which He can fail, or should be left in that work to be discouraged? It is impossible. The connection of Jesus of Nazareth with Jehovah, God of all, makes it absolutely certain that the divine enterprise to which He has pledged Himself shall assuredly succeed. “He shall not fail nor be discouraged.”
Furthermore, our Lord is in the abiding place of the Holy Spirit . The text says, "I have put my spirit upon him"--the Holy Ghost, to whom be glory and honor forever, the Holy Spirit, very God of very God, dwells in Christ. Upon us He comes in measure. We sometimes receive a large portion of His power, but still we are not capable of receiving all the fullness of the Holy Ghost. But Christ has the residue of the Spirit abiding in Him. The Holy Spirit descended like a dove, and rested upon Him, and it does rest upon Him still. My brethren, do you dream that He on whom the Holy Ghost always rests can fail or be discouraged? Do you believe that the Gospel system is to die out? Is it going to be throttled by philosophy? Strangled by modern thought? Trampled down beneath the hoof of anarchy? Nay, while the Holy Ghost abideth upon the great Servant of Jehovah we cannot know a fear. The anointing on the head will descend to the skirts of the garments; and as He cannot fail nor be discouraged, neither shall we be dismayed. He who is owned, honored, trusted, sustained, loved, and anointed of God cannot but be successful. Jesus must persevere successfully to the end.
Notice yet further, that the success of Jesus is guaranteed by the decree of God. It is written, "He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." Oh, those blessed "shalls" and "wills!" Some people make little of them, but I make everything of them. Here my heart rests; if God says "shall," then it certainly shall be. "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Think you He spoke in vain? Turn to the second Psalm, and read: "I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Shall this solemn proclamation of Jehovah be mere waste paper? My brethren, the sun may forget to shine, the eye of the world may darkened; you mighty ocean may cease to ebb and flow, and the heart of the earth may die; all nature may be driven on the rock of fate in general wreckage and confusion; but no Word of God shall fall to the ground; for that Word is essential life and power. If Jehovah hath spoken, it is done. If He declares it, it shall be. Therefore the Christ must and shall succeed, for His work is the subject of a divine decree.
Yet, brethren, it may be that at times we fear that the gospel is not prospering nor fulfilling the purpose for which God hath sent it. Looking back on past history, and looking out upon the present state of affairs, we are afraid that things are not going well. Possibly this may arise out of our Lord's way of working, which is so different from what our minds would choose. It is written in the second verse, "He shalt not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street." You are in an awful hurry, are you not? But He is never in haste. You would make a great stir and noise, I know, but Jesus will not thus spread the gospel. You would go out and fight all the enemies of truth, and set clamor against clamor, cry against cry, but "He shall not strive." You would shout, and rage, and rave; but He shall not cause His voice to be heard in the street. When Mohammed commenced his enterprise he announced that Paradise was to be found beneath the shadow of words, and numbers of brave men rushed to the battle; they swept everything before them, and stained continents with blood: they carried the name of Allah and Mohammed over Asia and Northern Africa, and seemed intent on conquering Europe: and yet the work done will not endure. The prophet and his caliphs did indeed strive, and cry, and cause their voices to be heard in the street: but Christ's system is the very reverse of that: His weapons are not carnal. Behold His battle-axe and weapons of war! Truth divinely strong, with no human force at the back of it but that of holiness and love; a gospel full of gentleness and mercy to men, proclaimed not by the silver trumpets of kings, but by the plain voices of lowly men. The gospel seeks neither prestige nor patronage from the State; nor does it ask to be advocated by scholastic sophistry, or human eloquence. It does not even aim at becoming predominant by force of the learning or talent of its teachers. It has neither pomp to commend it, nor arms to enforce it. It finds its strength rather in feebleness than in power. The kingdom comes by the Holy Spirit dropping like dew on human hearts, and fertilizing them with a divine life. Christ's kingdom comes not with observation, but in the stillness of the soul. All that is really the work of God is wrought in the silence of the heart by that wind which bloweth where it listeth. Sweetly the Holy Spirit constraineth all things by His own power; but the day of His power is not with roar of tempest, but with the noiseless fall of the dew. You ardent spirit that you are, are all in a hurry; you are going to push the church before you, and drag the world after you. Go and do it! But if the Lord works not after your fashion, be not greatly surprised; for it is written, "He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street."
His purpose shall stand, and He will do all His pleasure. He will do His work all the more surely because He sets about it quietly. I always delight in a man who can afford to go about his life-work without fuss, bluster, or loud announcement. See how a master-workman lays down his tools! He arranges his plan, sketches his ideal, and then begins as he means to go on. He will do the thing in that way, depend upon it. Another fellow flings his tools about, rushes at the work without system, makes the dust fly, litters the place with chips, spoils the work and leaves it in disgust. Our Savior works not so: He calmly, deliberately, resolutely pursues His mighty plan; and He will perform it. "He shall not fall nor be discouraged."
Note well the spirit in which He works. He is gentleness itself, and that always: “A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench." You cannot work in hot haste in this spirit. Gentleness makes good and sure speed, but it cannot endure rashness and heat. We know reformers who, if they had the power, would be like bulls in a china-shop; they would do a great deal in a very short time. But the world's best Friend is not given to quench and bruise. Here is a bruised reed, and it is of no use to anybody: you cannot even get music out of it, much less lean upon it; yet He does not break it. Here is a smoking flax, a wick with an offensive smell, containing very little heat, and no light; yet He does not put it out. This oft quoted text is used, as you know, in the New Testament, in reference to the Pharisees: they thought themselves strong pillars, but the Lord knew that they were only bruised reeds; they thought themselves great lights, but he knew that they were only as smoking flax; and yet He did not go out of His way to snuff them out. Even to them, though often righteously indignant, He was yet gentle, and only assailed them when they put themselves in His way, and forced a verdict from Him. The Lord Jesus was too good and great to be irritated by Pharisees. Lions do not hunt for "rats and mice, and such small deer." Great principles are laid down, which in due time destroy the meannesses which it is not worthwhile to attack in detail. The smoking flaxes of error, and the bruised reeds of pretense go in due season, but the gentle Lord is not in hot haste to put them out of the way. Hence we grow discouraged. But He will not fail nor be discouraged. any the more because of His gentleness. Nay, let me tell you, brethren, it is the quiet man, the meek man, who is always hard to be turned aside from his purpose. When a man is passionate, and easily excited, you have only to wait a while, and he will cool down; perhaps chill down below zero. These fiery fellows will be easily managed by the devil, or somebody else, after the flame is over. Give me a man who deliberately makes up his mind, calmly sets to work, and patiently bears all rebuffs, and I know that what he sets himself to do will be done. He will work in God's way, and will not put forth his hand to snatch a premature success at the expense of principle. He is quiet because he is sure, patient because he is strong, gentle because he is firm. The man who cannot be provoked is the man who cannot be turned aside. You cannot discourage him: he will go through with his work, even to the end; be you sure of that. As you look at our blessed Master, patient and immovable amidst all the battle and the strife, you may assure yourself that He will not fail nor be discouraged. I do not admire Napoleon, except in the matter of his cool courage, but for that he was noteworthy. They always represent him in the midst of the battle with folded arms. His eagle eye is on the conflict, but he is motionless as a statue. Every soldier in the imperial army felt that victory was sure, for the captain was so self-possessed. If he had been hurrying to and fro, rushing here, there, and everywhere, and making a great fuss about everything, they would have inferred that defeat was impending. But see him yonder! All is well. He knows what he is at. It is all right, for he dost not strive, nor cry, nor cause his voice to be heard; he is calm, for he can see that all is well. There stands the Crucified this day, upon the vantage ground, at the right hand of God, and He surveys the battlefield in calm expectancy until His enemies are made His footstool. Tender towards the weakest of the weak, and kind even to the unthankful and the evil, we may see in all this mercifulness the pledge of His success. "He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he has set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law."
Consideration of the statement leads us to believe it firmly.
II. I want you to give me a few minutes while I say, LET THIS TRUTH BE BELIEVED AND ENJOYED. I want you to enjoy the fruit of this truth, and to be made glad by it.
First, enjoy it by recollecting that Jesus has finished the work for His people, that first work wherein He brought in everlasting righteousness, and bore the penalty of human guilt, and laid the foundation whereupon should be built the temple of God. Jesus has done all things well. He persevered in His life labor till He could say, "It is finished." From the hour when as a child He said, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" all through the contradiction of sinners, and the weakness, and the poverty, and the shame in which His life was spent, you never see about our Divine Master any indication of failing or of being discouraged. We sorrowfully cry, "I am almost ready to give up"; but He never spoke in that fashion, or even thought it. He had reckoned upon all the toll and the grief. He had foreseen it all: He had taken it into His calculations, and therefore He was not surprised and downcast. He determined to go, for our sakes, to death and the grave, and to bear the shame of our sin and the curse of our guilt, and even to be put by the Father into darkness on our account. He set His face like a flint; and like a flint His face remained to the bitter end. He never turned aside. Let us bless Him this day for His persevering love. It is not a half-finished salvation that we behold on yonder bloody tree: it is not an incomplete redemption that we see in that rising again of Jesus from the dead. When we look up to Him in His glory we know and feel that through all the agony and death He did not fail, and was not discouraged, and that He has set up a kingdom which cannot be removed forever. There let us rest with peaceful confidence.
The next reflection I want you to enjoy is this- -He will finish the work in His believing people . He will not fail nor be discouraged until He has completely saved you and me. If I had been my own savior I should have given up the work long ago. We meet now and then with supposed perfect people, but the most of us dare not whisper the word perfection. When I have overcome a whole body of sin, and have risen to be somewhat like my Lord, it seems to me as if a new body of death were formed about me. I kill one dragon, and lo, his boy yields a crop of monsters. My evil nature seems to have coats like an onion, and when I have taken off one of them, it only lays bare another quite as offensive. Will it not be so to the end of the chapter? You may be growing better; I hope you are, but I shall be all the more hopeful that you are so if you fear that you are growing worse. If you think less and less of yourselves, it is probably true that you are growing in grace; but if you think more and more of yourselves, it is highly probable that you are growing in pride. There is a great difference between being puffed up and being built up. I can clearly see that I shall fail and be discouraged if salvation rests with me; but here is my comfort-- He will not fail nor be discouraged. If my Lord begins with me, He will never be beaten off from His purpose. What bad stuff is our humanity! What wretched raw material for sainthood! It must be hard, treading and pounding such gritty clay; and I wonder not that both the hands and the feet of the great Worker were sorely wounded, since He had such clay to deal with. When He fashions us on the wheel, and we begin to assume somewhat of the form which He intends for us, yet we crack and spoil when we come to the oven, and all His work upon us seems lost. He has to grind us down again, to a powder, and begin with us again de novo , and fashion us once more. It would have been an easier work to have created new beings altogether than to take us poor fallen ones and lift us up to become sons of God. The Almighty Lord had only to have said, "Let a church be!" and a church most fair and spotless would have leaped into being; but instead thereof, He works upon us sinful ones, and undertakes to make us perfectly pure, and present us to Himself without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. What a marvel of grace! He will do it, brother. He will do it, sister. He has not grown weary of the work, neither is He discouraged by all our ill behavior. Before He began He knew all about it. Had He not been a far-seeing Christ, able to foresee all our shortcomings and backslidings, He might have been surprised into weariness; but He says, "I knew that thou art obstinate"; and again, "I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously." He foreknew all our ingratitude, backsliding, unbelief, and unworthiness, and therefore He will not fail nor be discouraged till His work in us is done, and we are fit for heaven.
Again, dear friends, He will finish His work by His people . Whatever the work is that is to be done by the church, He will not fail nor be discouraged until it is performed. I do not know whether any of you have noticed in my text a very singular thing. If you have the Revised Version, the margin will give you some rather singular information. The text might be read thus: "A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: yet he shall not burn dimly nor be bruised." Though He deals with bruised reeds and smoking flaxes, yet He Himself is not crushed, nor does His light become a mere glimmer. To my mind, this is a deeply interesting use of words, and should not be allowed to slip. Christianity just now, they say, is a mere smoke, the old-fashioned doctrine especially burns very dim. Do not you believe it: the light of Jesus shall not darken or grow less. Those souls that can see His light will tell you that His face shines still like the sun. There is a glory about Him that is undiminished and undiminishable. He does not glimmer, and He is not crushed. He is no reed; His enemies will one day find that he carrieth a rod of iron. He is a pillar of the house of our God: He beareth up all things, for He is strong and mighty, and He cannot fail. I want you to eject at the back door every suggestion that enters your house as to the defeat of the Christ and the failure of the gospel; it is not possible, it cannot be. You may smoke like the flax, you may be broken like the reed; but He will never glimmer nor be a crushed reed, even to the end: wherefore comfort one another with these words.
And to conclude, I should not have treated the text properly if I did not say that it has in it great comfort to those of you who are as yet outside of the church of God, and are not numbered with His people. Will you kindly read the sixth and seventh verses?--" He shall not fail nor be discouraged," till He has done, what?--the Divine will, and this is a part of it: “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." Oh, say you, I cannot see Christ! He has come on purpose to make you see. Turn your sightless eyeballs this way. Breathe this prayer, "Thou Son of David, have mercy on me." And if he saith: "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" answer, "Lord, that I might receive my sight." In one single moment, ay, while the clock is ticking, Jesus Christ can take the scales from a blind man's eyes and let in such a flood of daylight that he shall see heaven itself. Lord, do it this morning. O dear hearts, will you not each one cry, Lord, do it to me? Are you saying that, my friend? He will do it. He loves to hear a blind man's cry. Do you not remember in the New Testament how often He stood still when He heard a blind man's cry. Poor blind soul! Cry to Him now. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, He will come to you and save you.
"Ah!" saith one, "but I am worse than that, I am shut up in prison." Kindly read the seventh verse again-- “To bring out the prisoners from the prison." You are miserable, without hope, shut up in an iron cage. He has come who will not fail nor be discouraged; He has come on purpose to fetch you out of the cage. Ask Him to break the bars in sunder. I see Him lay His pierced hand to that iron bar. You have filed it a long while, and it has broken the teeth of your file; you have tried to shake it in its place, but you could not stir it in the least. See what He does! He plucks bar after bar out of its place, as if they had been so many reeds, and you are free. Arise and take your liberty! The Son of God has made you free. If thou hast trusted Him, He has broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder; thou art free, enjoy thy liberty.
"Oh, but," saith one, "in my case it is blindness and slavery united." Listen, then. He has come to "bring them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." You cannot see the bars that shut you in, nor even mark the limits of your narrow cell; but He has come who will give yes to you, and light to those eyes, and liberty to your enlightened sight. Only trust Him. All things are possible to Him that believeth when Christ is near. Thou knowest now, thou who are now at the bottom of the sea, how high He can lift thee in an instant? Out of the belly of hell, if thou wilt cry, He can lift thee in a moment, to the very heights of heaven. I say no more of my Lord than He deserves to have said of Him; nay, nor yet half as much. Try Him, and see if He will fail. Try Him now, thou in the worst and lowest of circumstances, thou devil-bound and devil-tortured spirit. Dare to believe that Jesus can do all things for thee. Leave thyself with Him. Go thy way, for as thou hast believed so shall it be unto thee. To the name of Him that will not fail nor be discouraged be glory forever and ever! Amen.
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Spurgeon, Charle Haddon. "Commentary on Isaiah 42:4". "Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/spe/isaiah-42.html. 2011.
