No. 36. >> The idea of a servant seems to shift in Chapter 42 Verse 1 from the nation to an individual. Is this significant? >>DR. DANIEL L. GARD: Well, let's read a little. Isaiah 42 Verses 1 and 2. Introduction to the servant, the Lord. Here is my servant, whom I uphold. My chosen one whom I delight. I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. What we see here is a focus now on an individual. This is, indeed, a single servant. Behold, my servant. My chosen one. This it text is very important for understanding the ministry of Jesus. In fact, we see that this text is cited in support of Jesus and who he was in the Gospels. For example, in Luke 4. Jesus went to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And on the Sabbath Day he went into the synagogue as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me. Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners, the recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled it up to the scroll. Gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began by saying to them: Today the Scriptures were fulfilled in your hearing. So in the New Testament, we see that Jesus is presented to us as the one who fulfills those promises of a servant that are given in Isaiah. According to Isaiah 42, the point of the Messiah's investure with the Holy Spirit would be to uphold him. That is to hold him by the hand. To keep him. When God, the Father, says. I have given my Spirit upon him, he uses what's called the prophetic perfect to describe the future anointing of the Messiah, according to his human nature. In other words, a prophetic perfect that is to say that it presents something that's in the future yet as if it had already happened. All three persons of the Trinity are here in this verse. The servant, the Spirit and the one who speaks. It follows, therefore, that God put his Spirit upon the Messiah not in the usual measured manner. But without measure. So that the entire fullness of the Spirit, as the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord puts it, the entire fullness of the Spirit, is communicated to Christ, according to the flesh that is personally united with the Son of God. So it is his limitless possession of the Holy Spirit that receives emphasis here. Above all, at the time of Christ's baptism, which was his official entry, if you will, into his public ministry. Where he comes now to enlighten those who are blind. And free those who are imprisoned by sin. The Lord calls upon his people to: Behold, my servant. In other words, this is the one who is to be held up. This would be your task as pastors. Is in all circumstances, to call people to behold the Lord's servant. Sometimes it's easy to focus on so many different things. I often think of the disciples who tried to walk on water to get out to see Jesus. And it's all a question of who you are looking at. The world around us calls us to focus on so many things, none of which can save. The task of the preacher is to hold up Christ. In our older Lutheran churches, one would often have many images of Christ throughout the sanctuary. Most familiar to many Lutherans is the crucifix. That is to say the cross with the crucified Lord upon it. Many churches today seem to be devoid of that corpus on the cross. And to me that's kind of a tragic loss. Because it causes us to look upon him. And to see him in his suffering and death. To see that face. To see the one whom Isaiah spoke of, "Behold, my servant," as a focal point of our worship. This is a servant not only that we are to behold but one to whom God -- we are to behold but one whom God upholds. He's the elect one. The one upon whom God's soul delights. The one upon whom he has put his Spirit. The one who will bring forth justice. Justice not only for Israel. But for the Gentiles. One who will not cry out or raise his voice. In other words, one who is not of the earthly type of ruler, the one who would draw attention to himself. That's the work of his Spirit. One of the interesting things is you can kind of tell what a worshiping community actually believes about Jesus by how much they talk about the Spirit. I find this very interesting. Because Jesus does say that the Spirit's work is to draw people to him, to Christ. In other words, where the Spirit speaks, he speaks of Jesus. He doesn't speak of himself. In our Lutheran liturgy and in our Lutheran preaching, it's all about Jesus. I had a friend, a Pentecostal friend once, ask me: Why do you talk about Jesus so much? You never seem to talk about the Holy Spirit. The answer is because when the Holy Spirit speaks, he always talks about Jesus. And this is the one who you are called to proclaim. This is your task finally as pastors. Is to lift up Christ. To say to all: Behold God's servant. Because in beholding him, one finds life and peace.