Isaiah 42:1-9 A covenant for the people

Isaiah 42:1-9 A covenant for the people

 

We want justice, that is to say we want justice as we define it. Judge Judy, Nancy grace and 60 minutes, all seeking justice. Marsha wanted justice; a drunk driver slid across the median and hit her daughter’s car. The driver was 21 years old and her daughter 18. Her daughter was killed but the woman driver was not. A familiar story in Wisconsin. The woman had been at her apartment with her boyfriend who started to hit her; she managed to get away in the car. She got on the hwy to go to her parents house to leave her abusing boyfriend for good. Marsha having been abused in her first marriage was confused by justice. At some point Justice is relative to what standard we use and who is seeking it.

            Isaiah is a book of justice, but it is justice from God’s point of view and with regard to God’s standard. It tells of God seeking justice and the standard being used is His law. Some of the judgments you read about in the Bible you may agree with others you may not. Some of God’s laws you may like and support while others you may reject. But God has no need for His judgments or laws to be approved by us. Here again in Isaiah 42 God tells of coming justice, but it also tells of God’s grace.

 

1. a covenant for the people

            a. vs 1 and 6 identify the coming servant who will bring justice, Jesus.

            b. a covenant, a promise, a contract

2. The old way is gone a new way has come.

            a. vs 9

            b. 2 Cor 5:17

            c. Rev 21:3-4

            d. a new way has come

3. setting the captives free

            a. your own captivity, blindness, our dungeon of darkness vs 7

            b. others captivity, people around us whom we need to set free.

            c. we are God’s tool to bring freedom, sight, grace.

            d. Romans 10:14&15 you are God’s voice, His words to the world.

4. don’t give up on even the smallest spark

            a. vs 3. The bruised reed

            b. the smoldering wick

            c. don’t give up on them God hasn’t

 

While God will bring true justice, there is a way of grace. Claim it for your own, and share it with the world, this is the mission of God for our church and for you. You are His voice, You are His words, we must go and set the captives free.