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Isaiah 42 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
God is the only Savior. His creation will bring glory to Him alone and it will not be shared with an idol.
In the beautiful and symbolic open verses, the theme of restoration continues. Early in the previous chapter (41), there was fear from the idol-worshipers because the Lord was sending Cyrus. Next, God assured Israel that He was working all events to restore His people, and they should not fear. Finally, the Lord reiterated that the future is His and no one else can change it.
This chapter continues those thoughts. The next step of hope in the redemption of God’s people is the Messiah, described as The Servant here. The language used to describe our Savior was used at Jesus’ baptism as well.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. Then heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and lighting on him. 17 Then a voice said from heaven, “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased.”
Matthew 3:16-17 GNB
Though Jesus didn’t need to participate in baptism for the forgiveness of His sin, He would command that John baptize him anyway. This was to identify Himself with believers, but also, to fulfill chapters like these from Isaiah. The glory of God would rest on Jesus and He would fulfill all the prophetic chapters that spoke of the perfect Servant.