Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Listen to me, O coastlands;
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born;
while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord
and my reward with my God.”
5 And now the Lord says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
“Kings shall see and stand up;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” (NRSV)
Lord, there are some things about this passage of your scriptures that I don’t think I understand. I know that you want me to understand your word. But sometimes that isn’t easy. Here in these verses, someone is speaking about his mission – a mission he has received from you, but who is it?
Is Isaiah speaking of himself? Is he speaking of his own mission from you? You are doing through him some of these things he speaks of, at least on some level, aren’t you? It is Isaiah’s mission to bring your light to the nations, to reveal your redemption.
But somehow, it seems to me that you are speaking past Isaiah to someone who is bigger than Isaiah, to someone whose mission is deeper and wider than Isaiah’s. The prophet was an earlier and smaller forerunner of this greater One. These words that Isaiah wrote down so long before are meant for Jesus, aren’t they?
These are words for Jesus. You gave them to Isaiah to store them up for Jesus, for when Jesus’ time came. When your eternal Son came down and became flesh and blood, he did become nothing (v.4 – see Phil. 2:7). The powerful ones of this world thought he was insignificant (v. 6 – 1 Cor. 1:24-31), but he is your power and your light for all the world. Not just for one nation but for all, for everyone. All alike from every tribe and tongue and people are precious to you. And so, in Jesus, you have come for us all.
Lord Jesus, give us eyes to see the brightness of your light, and by the power of your Spirit, make us to shine with your light, so that through us your light might shine out into the darkness. Enable us to show a different way, not like the coercion and violence of the powerful, not like the vain conceit and selfish ambition of the proud. Help us to display the humility and compassion of the heart of Jesus, which is far more powerful than anything the “great ones” of the earth put on display. Lift our small vision above our own small borders, so that we might catch a vision of your all-encompassing, world-transforming goodness. Amen.
© Gary Chorpenning 2026
Related posts:
Bible Note #64: Zechariah 7:9-10–A Rightly Ordered Society in God’s Eyes
Pastor Note #63 — Mission Field America
Pastor Note #143: Coercion & the Kingdom of God
Pastor Note #134/Bible Note #55: Love of Jesus, Love of Neighbor
Pastor Note #110: Nothing But Love–A Sermon for the Installation of a Pastor, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
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