Songs of Christmas - The Servant's Song

Isaiah 42:1-9 NIV 

[1] “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. [2] He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. [3] A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; [4] he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” [5] This is what God the Lord says— the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: [6] “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, [7] to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. [8] “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. [9] See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.42.1-9.NIV)

Christmas is fast approaching. But the time this post goes live, there will be just three sleeps until Christmas Day. All across the land – indeed, many lands – ancient Christmas carols that tell the story of the Saviour’s birth and what it means will have been sung. 

But they are not the only songs that were written about Christmas. There are others, even more ancient. So ancient, in fact, that they long predate the Victorian model we now have for a an archetypal Christmas – some by more than a thousand years.  

These are the original Christmas songs. Like our more contemporary carols, they too explain the purpose of Christmas. 

And it might not be what you think. 

Allow me to explain. I was born in Scotland's largest city. Every year, that city has organised two Christmas markets in its two main squares. One of them, right in the heart of the city and close to its major shopping and transportation hubs, right in the shadow its splendid Council Chambers, always featured a Nativity scene.  

However, this year it’s different. That square is being remodelled. There is heavy duty construction work going on there, when the weather allows, and there will be for some time. The Christmas market was moved from the square to a huge green area down by the river.  

But the Nativity scene has not followed it. Instead, it has been shifted north-east, to a lesser visited location on the edge of the city centre, out by the Cathedral. 

It’s as if the fun and jolly japes and commercialism and food are for most people, but Jesus is just for the religious folks, and we keep them well away from us in case they spoil our good time. 

That is not what Christmas is all about.  

Yes, it is for the religious folks. But the reality is that it is just as much for those who have no time for religious and are wary and weary of it as it is those who can hardly bring themselves to leave a church building for fear of contamination. 

Christmas is for everyone. 

And we see this in the songs that were sung at Christmas. Not just the carols. No – at the songs that were sung at the very first Christmas, and those that predicted the very first Christmas. 

We will spend the next four days looking at four such songs. 

The first of these is The Servant’s Song, from Isaiah 42:1-9. 

Have you ever been in a situation where you had to prove who you were? I have – on numerous occasions. Sometimes my identity has got me into situations where others could not go. On other occasions, it’s locked me out. 

When Jesus came to earth, John noted this about Him: 

John 1:10-11 NIV 

[10] He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. [11] He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.1.10-11.NIV)

Yet they should have. They really should have. 

My wife is a fan of police procedural dramas. Whenever they are looking for missing people, they always ask about defining features: unique physical aspects that would set one person apart from the other. 

These verses give us three defining features about Jesus – features that prove who He is, and should have been enough for the Jews of His day to realise that He is the Messiah. 

The first of these is that He is The Just Servant. 

The Just Servant 

Isaiah 42:1 NIV 

[1] “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.42.1.NIV)

Justice is always an important issue. It will always be an important issue. Wherever human beings are involved in judging, there will always be injustice. We aren’t perfect. We will not get everything right all the time. That is simply a fact. 

But there are some times when injustice is just so flagrant, and corruption so utterly rife, that it goes beyond the norm. 

We saw that in an earlier study, when we looked at the sharp words spoken by Habakkuk to God: 

Habakkuk 1:2-4 NIV 

[2] How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? [3] Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. [4] Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/hab.1.2-4.NIV)

When you read these words, do you see your nation? I know I see mine. 

For many of us who see injustice, it’s a matter of frustration and righteous condemnation.  

For those who endure it, it’s a source of deep, unrelenting, all-consuming anger and sorrow.

It can easily consume all of our waking hours and steal many of our sleeping hours too. It is a horrid, horrid thing. It chases away our peace. It robs us of our joy. There are fewer external factors that are more debilitating. 

And Isaiah knew it. Habakkuk’s accurate depiction of the situation in his country was written at a similar time to Isaiah's. Look what Isaiah had also prophesied: 

Isaiah 1:15-17 NIV 

[15] When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! [16] Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. [17] Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.1.15-17.NIV)

Isaiah 58:5-6 NIV 

[5] Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? [6] “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.58.5-6.NIV)

It was a very bad time to be poor and weak and vulnerable – but then, is there ever a good time to be poor or weak or vulnerable? 

God’s Servant – His Messiah, to use a later term – would be sent to sort that out. He would bring justice. 

But here is the stunning thing. Israel and Judah had horrific problems with injustice in Isaiah's day. God had utterly convicted them of it and condemned them for it through Isaiah, among others. However, the Servant (the Messiah) wouldn’t only bring justice to them. 

No, He would bring it to the nations – the Gentile nations who, at the time, were harassing and haranguing and attacking His people. 

But this should not be a surprise: 

Malachi 1:11 NIV 

[11] My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mal.1.11.NIV)

Isaiah himself prophesied this: 

Isaiah 49:6 NIV 

[6] he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.49.6.NIV)

Now, there are two ways you can look at this. The Jews at the time, so beset by nations that did not worship God, likely interpreted it that God would pronounce a just sentence against these nations. Which He did (see Amos 1 and 2 for some examples). 

But that was not the Messiah’s role. His role was to extend God’s righteous Kingdom rule to the nations. It was to overthrow the unjust systems in place and to replace them with His justice. His rule would not be limited to the borders of their nationalism, religion or imagination. 

No, it would be global. 

Today, if you are beaten down by the failings of a thoroughly unjust and inhumane human society, if you read those words from Habakkuk and recognised exactly how they feel, I want you to pay close attention to Isaiah 42:1. Jesus didn’t just come to pose nicely for a greetings card or to give us an excuse to over-indulge. Christmas is not some middle-of-the-road festival of meaningless blandness. 

No, it is controversial. It is radical. It is God serving notice on every corrupt judge and underhand dictator and petty functionary this world has ever known. It is God throwing down the gauntlet to the cheats and exploiters and slave masters. It is God warning the corrupt judges and police and officials.  

Their time is up. 

Herod knew it. That’s why he did everything he could to silence the Messiah before He grew to be a man (Matthew 2:13-18).  

The Pharisees felt the sting of it. Read his thunderous rebuke of their faith-washed corruption (Mark 7:9-15). 

Jesus came to put right what mankind has gotten so very wrong, for aeons. He came to bring justice. And one day He will return to do just that. 

Apart from Jesus as the just servant, we also see that He is The Merciful Servant. 

The Merciful Servant 

Isaiah 42:2-4 NIV 

[2] He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. [3] A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; [4] he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.42.2-4.NIV)

Many years ago we were on a tour on the Turkish region of Cappadocia when our tour guide dropped us off at a souvenir shop, as they often do. The goods they were selling were, quite frankly, objects of real skill and beauty. I was deeply impressed. However, most of them were behind glass display cases and I had no desire to ask to examine any of them. 

Why? 

Because I am not the most delicate person and these were hand-made, and very expensive, objects made from fine china. 

They were valuable and delicate. As far as I'm concerned, that’s not a great combination. 

I was happy to look, but not touch, and definitely not buy. The safest thing to do was to admire them from a safe distance. 

The problem with those who administer justice is that often, particularly in Isaiah's day, they were, how can I put it... less than subtle. I say ‘Justice’, but often what they – and we – often call justice is little more than revenge. There are still legal systems around today where victims and their families can demand a tough settlement on a criminal, even death, as recompense for what they have done. 

And then we come to these verses. This is justice in an entirely different garb. 

This is justice that is, first of all, silent. It has no interest in calling attention to itself. It is not interested in ‘setting down a marker’ or ‘setting a precedent’ or ‘laying down the law’. This is subtle, precision engineered justice.

This is also justice that is careful. A reed had limited uses. It was essentially a stiff grass.

A bruised reed was even less useful. It was injured. It was broken. There was nothing anyone could do with it. It was useless. It would only be discarded. 

Yet despite that, the Servant would not make its injury permanent by breaking it. 

This is also justice that is helpful. Once the wick in a lamp or a candle has burned, it can’t be re-lit. Try it. It doesn’t work. 

The Servant sees a wick that is smouldering and is about to go out. Most people would extinguish it, trim the burned parts off and then re-light the wick. 

Not the Servant. 

The Servant fans it into flame again. 

Jesus did exactly that. Look at what happened at a very famous incident: 

John 8:2-11 NIV 

[2]  At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. [3] The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group [4] and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. [5] In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” [6] They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. [7] When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” [8] Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. [9]  At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. [10] Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” [11]  “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.8.2-11.NIV)

Here we see this woman, burned – justifiably, many might say – by her religious leaders. About to be snuffed out. Her very existence hanging by a thread. Yet Jesus does not shout or yell. He barely even says anything. And yet He gives this woman a second chance at life – not because she hadn’t done wrong, because she had, but because He was giving her a chance to walk away from her sin and repent. 

Maybe today you feel overwhelmed by the boisterous voices of empty vessels of leaders that we have nowadays. Maybe you wish they would all just be quiet. Maybe you feel like you are useless, like you are burned out, like you are beyond help, like it’s all over for you. 

Jesus came for you too. You are one of the reasons why Christmas exists. 

Apart from the just and merciful servant, we also see, lastly, The Saving Servant. 

The Saving Servant 

Isaiah 42:5-9 NIV 

[5] This is what God the Lord says— the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: [6] “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, [7] to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. [8] “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. [9] See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.42.5-9.NIV)

As I write these words, a fierce winter storm is battering our house. I know that in the middle of this storm, a brave friend of mine will likely be out on the mountains, seeking out people who have ignored the warnings and have gotten themselves into trouble. He will be doing it without thinking of whether or not they are to blame for their predicament. He will simply go there to seek to save lives. 

What we see here is a stunning passage. It says that the Servant’s entire purpose – and the reason for His birth at all – is to save lives. As Jesus Himself explained: 

Luke 19:10 NIV 

[10] For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.19.10.NIV)

No thought of judgement or blame, simply the thought of saving lives. 

The judgement would only come if they refused the opportunity He gave them. 

We see here His two-fold role. He was to be a covenant for the people, because their old covenant with God had failed (Hebrews 8), and a light for the Gentiles, who were living in darkness (Isaiah 9:1-7; Ephesians 4:17-19). 

We also see His three-fold blessing: opened eyes for the blind, freedom for prisoners, release for those in darkness.  

Jesus did exactly that: 

Matthew 11:4-6 NIV 

[4] Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: [5] The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. [6] Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.11.4-6.NIV)

He may not have literally freed anyone from prison, but He freed them from sin. He opened their eyes to see their predicament. He loosened their chains and set them free. He led them out of captivity. 

I don’t know how you are this Christmas. You may be struggling in the darkness of sin, with disappointment and despair your permanent cellmates. You might think that you are forgotten, that you have gone too far wrong, that no-one cares about you and that you just need to receive your just punishment. 

If so, you need to read this: Jesus came to open your eyes and set you free! 

John 8:36 NIV 

[36] So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.8.36.NIV)

So no, Christmas is not a cute, cuddly and ultimately harmless festival. It is deeply subversive. It extends hope to the hopeless, freedom to the captive, repentance to the sinner. It gives us all the chance to start again. 

And we have to take it. 

Conclusion 

Isaiah 42:1-9 NIV 

[1] “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. [2] He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. [3] A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; [4] he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” [5] This is what God the Lord says— the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: [6] “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, [7] to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. [8] “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. [9] See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.42.1-9.NIV)

This year I reached a significant birthday and was able to receive a rail pass. Some people are ashamed of how old they are. I'm not. I flash that pass every time I get on a train. Why would I be ashamed of how old I am? I've reached a milestone and I get discounted train fares! What’s not to like? 

Every time I show that card, it shows who I am and how old I am. I prove my identity for a few pounds off a rail fare. And I do it happily. 

Maybe you are wondering why Jesus is and why do we bother with Christmas. It is quite a lot of hassle after all. 

These verses state His identity. They show His calling card. He is the Servant who brings justice into an unjust world, mercy into a brutal and unforgiving world and salvation into a lost world. All this in a prophecy that was written hundreds of years before He was born

And He fulfilled it all. 

There are many today who queue up in stores to buy the perfect gift for a loved one. The best gift you can give yourself is to get to know this Jesus a little more this Christmas. 

Will you do that? 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, the more I read of You, the more I need You. I need Your justice, Your mercy and Your salvation. I need all of You and everything You are. Come into my life, I pray. Amen. 

Questions 

• What does this prophecy say about Jesus? 

• How did He fulfil it? 

• Which of these do you need the most from Jesus today?