The chosen servant

1Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him

and he will bring justice to the nations.

2He will not shout or cry out,

or raise his voice in the streets.

3A bruised reed he Will not break,

and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

4he will not falter or be discouraged

till he establishes justice on earth.

In his law the islands will put their hope.9

Isaiah 42 1-9

 

What is the Lord saying here?

Whom is the prophet describing?

The idea of being chosen to do anything is far beyond what most people can comprehend. Yet, each and everyone one of us has a call on our life, a divine plan. This is true whether or not you believe in Christ. You don't have to go to church for God to have a plan for your life. It's true. You just have to have faith that someone loves you.

I remember a time when I was driving in my car looking out the window. There was about a week or so when I kept seeing the word "Chosen." There will be lots of times in your life when, if you pay attention, God will do everything in His power to get a message through to you. I remember another time when He was working very hard to get the message "beloved" through, but that was another message for another day, and another blog post...

Here is the beginning passage in the bible where the prophet Isaiah says:

1Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen one in whom I delight;

I remember thinking, yeah, right Lord, chosen! Who is chosen? Like we are chosen, ha! I am chosen, ha! Or, is it sow? Yes it is, as a result of the new covenant created by the sacrifice of the cross.

Ok. It is hard to think that in modern society people still do not understand what this means. Yet, on a daily basis, I meet people that do not have a clue what this means. In fact, I have been that person. Or rather, I have interacted with people that use language to define what this means that is so complicated, you would need eighteen dictionaries to decipher (interpret, understand) what they are trying to say. 

And, in modern society, it is not so hard to understand why people might have a hard time believing in something that they have no personal experience with. So let's experience.

To do that, let us continue in our exploration of the theme of the chosen servant.

In this passage, Isaiah is referring to God, speaking of Christ Jesus, whom God chose to be a servant unto all of us. Christ, in whom God delighted, in whom God poured out His spirit, so that all of mankind could be saved through His death and resurrection. 

Huh? Yep. God chose Christ to become a servant, to us, so that we may receive eternal life. Now, for those of you "in the know" Christ humbled himself to the lowly status of man so that he could become a servant, that we might be saved from death. Now, you may be thinking...awesome. 

Show me the money, right? Prove that Christ rose from the dead. Ok. Sure. All you have to do is ask him. I am serious. Why is it that people have such a hard time just asking for what it is they need to see? Christ says this: "Ask, and ye shall receive..." Yes? 

Christ wants to give you what you want. So, if you want Christ to come into your life, it is plain as day simple. Ask. He is the Lord of the universe. I have no doubt that if you truly (truly) want him to visit your life, he will. Thomas needed to touch his wounds to see that he had come back to life.  I recommend relying on faith and not arrogance, but do what you need to do.I needed a real kick in the pants to realize that he was operating in my life. 

A lot of people do today. So if you don't think that he is real, and need a swift kick in the pants to real eyes that he (yep) came back to life and was a real man, and died, and was resurrected, why you go ahead, and ask. Or, you can just have faith and believe that he died on the cross for your sins and you just have to believe in him to receive eternal salvation. That means that you live together in paradise with Him for all eternity. A better option than death for certain. It's much better to have faith, than to ask for well, arrogant proof.

I promise you, it's much better. Now, you can have a relationship with him, by asking, and He will gladly give it to you. This is a much better way to go than asking for proof in an arrogant self-righteous manner. God wants to pour out his blessings on your life after all.  

Chosen and Choosing

Can you believe that God would love us like Jesus? Well, He does. Isn't God amazing? We are so beloved by our Lord and Savior. Why? We too, are chosen, by God, to love. To love Him, and one another. We are chosen to serve one another, just as Christ did. So that we too may save one another from the debts of sin.

So that we may bear our crosses. Can we provide one another with salvation? No! Christ did that. Can we encourage one another in the faith, and bless one another, and heal one another? Yes! We can!

Can we impart the spirit of God to one another, in faith and good cheer? Yes, we can! These things and more, if only we believe, and have faith, in the finished work of our Lord and savior. So, what does all this mean? Well, more about that next time...