Come and Behold Him

A little bit of a switch today.
If you would take your Bibles and turn to Matthew, actually
check that. If you would start by turning
in your Bibles to John chapter five, bear with me, we’ll get
to Matthew eventually. I want to take you to a special
Christmas passage. And it’s special not only in
the sense that it represents a break away from our study in
Corinthians, but it’s special also in the sense that on the
face of it, this may not seem like a Christmas passage at all. But even if this passage has
no manger, no wise men, no Mary, no Joseph, no shepherds, no angels,
In the end, because it is all about our Lord Jesus Christ,
it is very much a Christmas passage. This particular passage where
I’m heading, orients in its context in the Gospels, all four of the
Gospels. To begin a short tour this morning,
as we work our way toward the passage in focus this morning,
if you would just turn to John chapter 5, we’ll start here and
work our way backward, book by book, all the way back to Matthew. We begin in John chapter 5. It’s
a familiar passage, even if sad. We considered this passage some
years ago in our study of John’s gospel. And in this section,
we have this unfortunate, but strange narrative about the pool
of Bethesda. Look, if he would, at verses
one through four. After these things, there was
a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there
is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, a pool. which is called
in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticos. In these lay a multitude
of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for
the moving of the waters. For an angel of the Lord went
down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever then came first after
the stirring up of the waters, and stepped in, was made well
from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.” Now, from
your memory, you would recall that when we dealt with that,
there is this pool, and there was this legend, probably not
much more than that, that this pool had healing powers. And
they attributed it to an angel who would stir the waters, But
verse five tells us this very unfortunate twist that one poor
soul who was so crippled that he could never test this theory,
this theory of agitated waters with a healing property. But
healing is coming his way nonetheless. For Jesus has taken notice of
this man. And in verses six and seven,
Jesus initiates an interaction with this poor man. And suddenly,
even while the man is engaged in recounting his plight, Jesus
commands him to walk. He heals him on the spot. Not
only did the man stand and rise in faith, he picked up his mat
and danced himself away. Amazing miracle. Except that
John adds this little fact in verse 9. Now it was the Sabbath
on that day. And as expected, that immediately
provokes a challenge by Christ’s detractors, the Jews, not to
Jesus directly, but astonishingly to the poor man who was just
healed. I mean, can you even imagine
the callousness? Ultimately, verse 15, The man
is able to identify Jesus as the one who healed him. And the
Jews begin their caustic attack on the Savior. If you would look
at the verb form in verse 16, the Jews were persecuting Jesus. In other words, they started
and they never stopped. Turn back, if you would, one
gospel to Luke’s gospel, chapter six. Luke chapter 6, same exact
context. And we pick it up in verse 1
of chapter 6. In that innocent scene that is
recorded there by Luke, a scene of the disciples just ambling
through the grain fields, making an occasional snack of the grain.
What they would do is, as they walked through the grain fields,
reach down and grab one of the heads of grain and then rub it
between their palms to separate the chaff from the seed. And then they would pop the seeds
into their mouth as an innocent afternoon snack. Well, not on
the Pharisees’ watch, they don’t. Verse two captures their challenge. Why do you do what is not lawful
on the Sabbath? Jesus here counters with some
divine logic related to David’s eating of the consecrated bread. And while the Jews are making
an especially chewy little snack of that tidbit, Jesus ends the
discussion in verse 6 with a declaration that after all the Son of Man
is Lord of the Sabbath. There’s no issue here. Would you turn back if you would
to Mark’s Gospel to chapter 3. It’s the same exact context Jesus
is being dogged by the Pharisees and likely now another Sabbath
and yet another conflict, this time with a man with a withered
hand, a situation that they may well have set up. The whole scene
is so predictable because the Pharisees are so predictably
cynical. Christ’s enemies were actually
watching him and watching this crippled man, daring him almost
to heal the man on a Sabbath. The whole scene is set for conflict
and Jesus plays upon their hardened hearts and in verse three, he
calls the man forward and the drama builds. But inquires of
the watching crowd. Is it lawful to do good? Or to
do harm on the Sabbath? To save a life or to kill? And even though he is filled
with righteous indignation for their hard heartedness, he heals
the poor man. And predictably, the hatred of
the enemies of Christ is stirred and now grows to a fevered pitch
complete with murderous intent. We’re almost to the Christmas
passage. That part of it we find in Matthew’s gospel in chapter
12. Matthew chapter 12, same exact
context Jesus has just healed the man with the withered hand
on the Sabbath, and the Jews have retreated to plot his murder. But Jesus, on his part, conducts
a kind of moving healing ministry, a traveling ministry of sorts. Matthew tells us in verse 15,
if you would glance down at this passage, Matthew chapter 12,
verse 15. But Jesus, aware of this, he
knew what the Jews were planning. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew
from there. Many followed him and he healed
them all and warned them not to tell who he was. This was
to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet. Behold my
servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well
pleased. I will put my spirit on him and
he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel
or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A battered
reed he will not break off and a smoldering wick he will not
put out. until he leads justice to victory
and in his name the Gentiles will hope. And there you have
it, a Christmas passage. A Christmas passage as beautiful
as any and all of scripture. No manger, no wise man, no Mary
or Joseph or shepherds or angels, just the Lord Jesus Christ prophetically
presented from of old by Isaiah. The context here in the passage
which Isaiah is quoted by Matthew is important. Jesus, as we have
just seen, is being persecuted, harassed, and plotted against,
and yet none of that changes anything. He keeps right on healing,
even on the Sabbath, and not just occasionally, a healing
here, one there, but by the masses, as Matthew describes, many followed
him and he healed them all. Amazing ministry of Christ. And yet just as remarkable is
what Matthew records of Christ in verse 16. Would you notice
this? He warned them not to make him
known. Well, that sounds strange to
us, doesn’t it? It even seems contrary to that
which we’re constantly encouraged to do with regard to the good
news of Christ. Tell people, make him known. And yet here is the Savior himself
urging people that if they speak of him at all, to speak of him
in hushed tones. But Matthew adds something that
the other gospel writers do not add in this context, a purpose,
a purpose statement. Matthew tells us exactly why
Jesus hushed the crowd. It was a fulfillment of divine
prophecy. This word fulfilled, which Matthew
uses to point us back to Isaiah’s prophecy, is a crucial one in
Matthew’s gospel. Even a casual reader approaching
Matthew’s gospel would begin to notice this pattern, this
habit, this frequency, this familiarity, which Matthew references the
Old Testament scriptures. Nearly 130 times Matthew looks
to the Old Testament. And more than 60 times he quotes
the Old Testament specifically. And in doing so, he draws from
more than two dozen sources in his quotes. And so often in introducing
his citations, he introduces them as he does here, with the
reason for his citation, that it was in literal fulfillment
of divine prophecy. Amazing. And he does so over
a dozen times. And so he says here that the
very reason that he cites Isaiah 42 was that Jesus fulfilled that
prophecy in his specific life example. That was his purpose. And only Matthew captures this
marvelous truth. Jesus warned the great multitudes
not to make him known so that scripture would be fulfilled. Jesus Christ was not about mere
popularity. His miracles were performed as
a mercy to those who were in desperate need but they were
also a mark of His divinity. But Matthew’s purpose was not,
not only here to show that Jesus was gentle, but also to declare
that Jesus was the Messiah fully revealed. And then Matthew cites
Isaiah 42, 1 through 4. This is the longest of any quote
that Matthew cites. And in so doing, Matthew declares
this passage as a clear prophecy about the Messiah. Whom he knows
is the Lord Jesus himself. And so if you would. Turn to
Isaiah. Chapter 42. For our Christmas
passage. Isaiah chapter 42, and we’re
in the first four verses. When Matthew cites this particular
passage, he does so very loosely. It’s probably even from memory.
And he’s drawing a little bit on the Hebrew scriptures and
a little bit on the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the
Jewish scriptures. And there are even some gaps.
He doesn’t quote it word for word. And for that reason, we
go back to the source itself, back to Isaiah 42. Would you
look at the passage? Behold my servant. It’s God introducing his servant
to the nations. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit
upon him. He will bring forth justice to
the nations. He will not cry out or raise
his voice, nor make his voice heard in the street. A bruised
reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. He will faithfully bring forth
justice. He will not be disheartened or
crushed until he has established justice in the earth. And the coastlands will wait
expectantly for his law. Matthew drops us right into the
middle of Isaiah’s prophecy. And he does so to inform us about
Christ’s nature. You say, what? Because if you know this book
and you know this passage and you know that most commentators
believe that when this prophecy was first spoken, It had more
to do with a Persian king named Cyrus. It’s more than plausible, this
argument, if you would flip over two chapters to Isaiah chapter
44, just for a moment, and skim down to verse 28. Because if you think the term
servant is strong to apply to a heathen king, watch this. God
also tells, calls Cyrus my shepherd. Isaiah 44, 28, it is I who says
of Cyrus, he is my shepherd and he will perform all my desire
and he declares of Jerusalem, she will be built and of the
temple, your foundation will be laid. And in the very next
verse, chapter 45, verse 1, God calls Cyrus his anointed. Thus says the Lord to Cyrus,
his anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand to subdue nations
before him and to loose the loins of the kings to open doors before
him so that the gates will not be shut. And so this king, Persian
King Cyrus, in some sense, is a servant and a shepherd and
God’s anointed. You see, in the course of his
military conquests, King Cyrus was actually doing the will of
God. In that sense, he was God’s servant, and without knowing
it, he was doing what God wanted. He was a tool in God’s sovereign
hand. But whatever initial fulfillment this verse saw in its application
to King Cyrus, it must immediately give way to its presentation
of the Messiah. And Matthew here, his writing
fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, tells us that the final fulfillment
of this prophecy came in the Messiah himself. And it fits Jesus Christ far
better than it fits a heathen king. No mere man, not even one
of God’s own prophets, could measure up to the standards of
these verses. These words tell us of Christ.
In essence, Isaiah says, as I have entitled it this morning, come
and behold Him. Because Isaiah And Matthew, as
he quotes Isaiah, declares to us three magnificent features
of Christ. Three magnificent features of
Christ, God’s servant. First, as we come to behold the
Savior that God is declaring, we see, first of all, his divine
commissioning. We see it in verse one. Behold,
my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights,
I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to
the nations. What an introduction. Here in
Isaiah, as quoted by Matthew, God himself is presenting his
servant, the Messiah. The servant, the suffering savior
of Isaiah 53, He is God’s agent in God’s plan of redemption.
Now, you and I might think of a grander title than that of
servant, because that immediately makes us think of lowliness and
servitude, a demeaning idea in any culture at any period of
history. But Christ, in his humility, will not only wear the mantle
of human flesh, he will own and he will model the title of servant. In Mark’s gospel, the very theme
of that gospel is captured in chapter 10, verse 45. The son
of man did not come to be served. but to serve and to give his
life is a ransom for many. And so, so it is our Redeemer,
our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ comes as our servant. And as such, God introduces of
him not so much as the servant of mankind. Although in his sacrifice,
he is that. but he is the more so the servant
of God because he’s affecting God’s plan of redemption. And
not only is he the father’s servant, but as such, he is fully supported
by the father. God says, I uphold him. The father exclaims in his introduction
amid all the challenges and difficulties that the God incarnate will face,
not only taking on human flesh, flesh that He had created, and
ultimately bearing up under the scorn of humanity, which He had
created, but ultimately and finally bearing up under the very wrath
of Almighty God. God upholds Him. He sustains
Him. God further describes him as
my chosen one in whom my soul delights. The father was well
pleased with his son’s acceptance of the mission. He was well pleased
that his son accepted to take on human flesh. Well pleased
of his sinless course of conduct on earth. Well pleased ultimately
with Christ’s sacrifice for sinners. Of course, this sentiment that
God was well pleased was echoed both at Christ’s baptism and
on the Mount of Transfiguration, my son in whom I am well pleased. That could have been uttered
at any point in time in Christ’s ministry. And eternity passed in time as
we know it, in Christ’s time on the earth, and for all eternity,
God is well pleased with Christ. The entirety of Christ’s ministry
was just as God desired it. God delighted in his servant. And of course, the father upholds
his servant because he has chosen him. God’s wonderful plan of
redemption was no accident, especially as it pertained to Jesus Christ. the servant, the Messiah. It
was ordained from eternity past. And as a special mark of affirmation,
Isaiah’s prophecy notes that the father says he has put his
spirit upon him. This is an echo of the messianic
declaration given in Isaiah 11. If you keep a finger in Isaiah
42, would you just turn back there briefly? A couple of verses.
Isaiah 11. Note this beautiful introduction
of the Messiah, verse one, then a shoot will spring forth from
the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom
and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the
spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. We have a Savior
who has come in deity with perfect fullness. His humanity is overwhelmingly
attended with the Spirit of God, more than equipped to minister
to the most difficult problem, the most distressing concerns,
the most troubling issues. He is the God who made each one
of us. And he is intimately and exceedingly
more acquainted with you than 10,000 friends or counselors. The salvation of sinners is the
work of the entire Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This was exactly essentially
Christ’s declaration to ministry when he took up the scriptures,
remember, early in his ministry. He stood in the midst of the
synagogue and took up the scriptures and read Isaiah 61 one. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the
afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the
broken hearted, to proclaim to the captives and freedom to the
prisoners. Well, we all know that this promise
saw a literal and a symbolic realization at Christ’s baptism,
remember? Where the Spirit of God, as Matthew
refers to him, Matthew 3, the Holy Spirit, as Luke clarifies,
Luke 3, descended upon him bodily in a form like a dove. And that
image stuck with John the Baptist. I have seen the Spirit descending
as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him.” And it
meant something to John. And John declared it faithfully.
He, whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this
is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. So finally, here in this passage,
verse 1, In his commissioning of his servant,
the Savior, the Father forecasts the latter portion of this declaration,
we’ll come to it, by noting that it is he who will bring forth
justice to the nations. This is the great task of the
Messiah, to bring righteousness to the world, to what one writer
described as the whole body of what God declares to be just
and right. And in pondering these magnificent
features of God’s servant, as outlined by Isaiah, not only
do we learn of Christ’s divine commissioning, we learn also
of his humble demeanor, and we see that in verses two and three.
His humble demeanor, He will not cry out or raise his voice,
nor make his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he will
not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. This, I hope you will recall,
is the primary reason, not the only reason, but the primary
reason that Matthew cited this verse, Isaiah 42, one through
four, that Rather than reacting and powerfully rebuking the hateful
Pharisees, Jesus just humbly withdrew. He will not cry or
raise his voice. And by crying out here, verse
two, God says of the Messiah that he’s not going to be boisterous.
He’s not going to be defensive. He’s not going to dispute and
wrangle. He would not be the one to publicly
argue and verbally fight with his foes. Here is the one who,
with a whisper, could have beckoned 12 legions of angels. But he would not be drawn into
shouting matches with his enemies. Others might scream and castigate
him, but he would not respond in kind. And he not only withdrew, but
he even admonished his followers, to those who had been touched
so deeply and most significantly by his ministry, healed of various
diseases. He admonished them not to promote
him. This is not because Christ did
not believe in his mission. or doubt God’s ability, or wonder
whether perhaps the Pharisees were not sinful. It was all due
to his gentleness, his gentle demeanor, and his character. Here’s how one faithful commentator
described it. Although he is certain of his
divine call and brings to the nations the highest and best,
His manner of appearing is nevertheless quiet, gentle and humble. The very opposite of those lying
teachers who endeavor to exalt themselves by noisy demonstrations,
he does not seek his own and therefore denies himself. He
brings what commends itself and therefore requires no forced
trumpeting. Well, that describes our Savior,
doesn’t it? While others vented their hatred and literally planned
his murder, he, on the other hand, quietly withdrew until
that hour foreordained by God himself in which he would be
arrested and tried, crucified. This characteristic gentleness
is captured under the very delicate language of verse three. Look
at it. A bruised reed he will not break. A dimly burning wick
he will not extinguish. The gentleness of Christ to us
has an infinitely practical side for us as sinners. He is our
gentle savior pictured in his essence here. A divine solemnity, an uncanny
calm. There are two images presented
here, a bruised reed and a dimly burning wick. The first image,
that of a bruised or damaged reed, is simple, really. A reed
was a common implement in the ancient world. A stick, basically
used for all manner of things. A pointer, a prop. Basically, if it became bent
or damaged, It was considered worthless and thrown aside to
be cast aside and a new one employed. The image just speaks of something,
or I should better say someone, that most people would consider
worthless, not Christ. The world runs roughshod over
such downtrodden people. Jesus takes up the damaged breeds,
whether bruised morally or bruised physically or even bruised spiritually. The helpless and the hurting
people of the world Christ draws to himself. There are no worthless
sticks to the Savior. In his gentleness, no one is
insignificant. And likewise, the image of a
dimly burning wick Here are the images of a flame that is so
faint, so feeble, so delicate that the slightest puff of air
would extinguish it forever. We know this illustration, especially
this time of year when candles are so plentifully used. The
dying flame, right, begins to flicker, straining, it seems,
to survive. And it’s bothersome to the eye
to even watch. Such are those who languish under
the weight of their own sin. Right. They’re ready to expire. And
these poor people are barely hanging on. Our Christmas hymns
even acknowledge such. And ye beneath life’s crushing
load, whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing
way with painful steps and slow. These are the battered and the
bruised, flickering, flickering lives who are in many ways and
for many reasons just existing. And still Christ will not snuff
them out. Not only will he not snuff them
out, he comes and he gently protects such flame, such a bruised reed,
because Christ came for such. Christ came for sinners. Christ
came for the hurting. He came for the lost. He came
for the burdened. He came for the dying, the guilty,
and the sick. This servant, this Messiah, is
featured here not only in his commissioning by God himself,
he’s featured in his character, in his humble demeanor, and thirdly,
he’s featured in his beneficial objective. Would you look at
verse 3, the very end of verse 3 as it carries into verse 4.
His beneficial objective. He will faithfully bring forth
justice. He will not be disheartened or
crushed until he has established justice in the earth and the
coastlands will wait expectantly for his law. In order to present
the Messiah, in his God-given mission, this
beneficial objective with which he is tasked, the prophet makes
these back-to-back statements. Basically this, God’s commissioned
servant will bring justice to the world. He will not be daunted. As the remotest part of the earth
longs for it, What will the servant accomplish?
First look at the end of verse three. He will faithfully bring
forth justice. Whole lot of people crying out
for justice in our world right now. And I can promise you they
don’t want, they don’t want divine justice. They don’t want God’s
justice. Just as the Father has commissioned
Christ for this very purpose, Jesus will be faithful in bringing
forth justice. And if this means merely that
Christ’s task is to execute divine justice in the world, judgment, not a single one could stand.
Not on their own. Not on their own righteousness,
all are doomed. But Christ’s purpose was to fit
those that he called for judgment, to ready them for it, to make
them able to stand, to deal with the sentence against them by
atoning for that sin himself. Do you realize this? All sin
will be punished. Divine justice will be meted
out. But those who are in Christ have
already had their day in court. When Jesus took their sentence
upon himself, and Christ will not be daunted. He will not be
disheartened or crushed. He will not be discouraged or
dissuaded from accomplishing God’s redemptive plan. He will,
Isaiah forecasts, take on flesh. He will live a sinful life, a
sinless life. He will die a criminal’s death. And in doing so, he will establish
justice in the earth. As the scriptures tell us, who
for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.
No wonder the capstone of this verse, look at it. It declares
so hopeful a thought, the coastlands will wait expectantly for his
law. We don’t even know what it means
yet, but it sounds so pleasant. What it means is that the world
struggles and stumbles along in abject hopelessness. The world is languishing, but
I want you to notice this. The world knows that it’s languishing. Oftentimes they don’t even know
that for which they wait. They don’t know about the Savior. They just know they’re waiting
and longing. They know that there must be
something better. They know that there’s a God.
They know that he must have a divine plan and purpose. There is, as
Paul says it, an anxious longing in God’s creation. And so this
world longs, it yearns, it waits for divine redemption. But they
also know that it’s useless unless God
moves. And it will be forever so. unless
God moves. But God has moved. He has commissioned his servant.
And it’s because of his nature and his mission that there is
hope. And it’s just as Jesus would go on to promise his beloved
disciples in his ascension to heaven, the witness of the gospel
will eventually reach to the remotest part of the earth. Here,
Isaiah describes it as the coastlands, a Hebraism for distant lands
and nations. Matthew, in his interpretation
of these lines, characterizes it simply as, in his name, the
Gentiles will hope. This servant, this Messiah, not
a savior of a people, but of any and all kinds of people. Not every soul that has ever
lived, but every nation of mankind is in his view. Throughout most
of their pitiful lives, they didn’t even know that they so
desperately needed a savior. But when they hear of him, They
receive Him most eagerly. They turn from sin to Christ
in faith to love and obey Him as their beloved friend. Come and behold Him. Would you humble yourself before
Him in prayer? Our merciful King, We humble
ourselves before you at this most beautiful Christmas passage
that tells us and reminds us all over again, as if we’d never even heard it,
the beautiful, magnificent features of our dear Savior. Lord, you have called him your
servant in your commissioning of this Savior. But in serving
you, he has served us mightily and going to the cross on our
behalf. And we rejoice in that. We thank you that though we were
not much to consider, we had nothing to offer. Our lives were a broken mess
and yet you had mercy on us out of your abundant gentleness. Lord God, we thank you for the
salvation that you secured by paying for our penalty on the
cross. So merciful God, we humble ourselves before you and we thank
you for the hope that you have renewed in us, not a wishfulness,
not that kind of hope, but you have instilled in us and fostered
deep in our hearts a confidence, the confidence that you have
paid for our sin in full. And because of that, we are forgiven.
And we will enjoy eternity with you forever. Lord God, we pray. We pray for any in this room
who do not know this confidence, who do not know this Savior. Lord God, we pray, draw them
to repentance, to a hatred for their own sin. Open their eyes
to the Savior who’s paid that sin in full. Merciful God, we thank you for
our Savior. We pray these things in Jesus’
name, amen.