Isaiah 42-44

What’s Happening?  

Israel is in exile, ripped from their home and purpose, wondering if they’ll ever return or fulfill what God has called them to do. They were chosen to bless the nations as God’s servant (Genesis 12:1-3), but they became a curse instead. So God exiled them to Babylon—a land of idols and oppression. Yet, even in exile, God speaks words of comfort to his people.  

God tells Israel that their purpose hasn’t changed. They are still his servant, and they will bring blessing to the nations—even in exile. This blessing won’t come through military conquest or political power. It will come quietly like the rising sun overtaking the night. God calls Israel to do this by reflecting his character, obeying his commands, and showing compassion. In this way, blind eyes will see, captives will go free, and the nations will be drawn to God’s light (Isaiah 42:6-7).  

But Israel is incapable of being God’s servant in the world. Instead of blessing the nations, they robbed them. Instead of bringing light, they stumbled in the darkness. Instead of opening blind eyes, they became blind themselves (Isaiah 42:18-20). So God will make his light dawn among the nations by showing his goodness to his blind and deaf people. Before a watching world, he will rescue his people and bring them home. The nations will see that God alone brought them into exile and God alone can bring them out (Isaiah 42:23-25; 43:5-9). 

God promises a new Exodus (Isaiah 43:14-19). Just as he once delivered Israel from Egypt, he will deliver them from Babylon (Isaiah 43:1-2). In Egypt, God ransomed Israel by trading the mighty Egyptian empire for the freedom of his small, enslaved people. Now, God will do the same with Babylon. The strongest empire on earth will fall so that God’s weak and exiled people can rise. Why? Because they are his (Isaiah 43:3-4). They belong to him. God will pay any price for the people he loves.  

God reminds Israel that they were his from the beginning (Isaiah 44:1). He created them, called them, and set his love on them—not because they were strong, but because they were his. And even though they have forgotten and abandoned God, God will never abandon them (Isaiah 43:22-25). He will pour out his Spirit on them and transform them into the servant they were always meant to be. The nations will see God’s power at work in his people, and from the ends of the earth, they will claim God as their own (Isaiah 44:3-5). Israel and the nations will leave their deaf and blind idols behind in order to follow the God who saved them when they were deaf and blind. They will stop making false gods who can’t save to follow the true God who made them and does save them (Isaiah 44:9-20).   

Where Is the Gospel?  

Israel failed to be God’s servant in the world. But in Jesus, God himself would come as a servant to accomplish what they could not. Jesus is the Spirit-filled servant who brings light to the nations and blessing to the world (Matthew 12:18-21). Jesus didn’t come as a conquering warrior, but as a quiet servant. Like the sun rising quietly, Jesus’ ministry drove out the powers of darkness around him (Matthew 4:23-24). Jesus declared that he came to open blind eyes, free captives, and rescue people from darkness (Luke 4:18). Unlike Israel, Jesus didn’t stumble in the darkness—he was the light. He didn’t plunder the nations—he gave himself for them through a new and greater Exodus. In Jesus, God ransomed the world—not by trading nations, but by giving up his own Son (John 3:16). In the past, God bought his people by giving up the treasures of Egypt and Babylon. But now, God has bought us by giving up the ultimate treasure of his son Jesus. 

This is the heart of the gospel: God will pay any price for the people he loves (Romans 8:32). He loves Israel not because they were strong, but because they were his. And he loves us not because of our strength or weakness, but because we are his. Through Jesus, God buys us out of our exile and makes us into a people who reflect his light and share his blessing with the world.  

See for Yourself  

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see the God who chooses his people, not because of their strength, but because of his love. And I pray that you would see Jesus as the perfect servant who gave his life to buy us from exile and make us his forever.