January 8, 2008 Isaiah 42:1-4

1 "Here 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.

2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.

3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.

In his law the islands will put their hope."

Epiphany is a beautiful time for us to see the glory of the LORD shine through Jesus. During this time we look at the more obvious and apparent glimpses of his glory - which show us that He really is God made flesh - the Savior and Light of the world. That=s why His baptism is celebrated every year during the first Sunday in Epiphany. It is obvious to anyone seeing Jesus= baptism that He is the Christ. The Holy Spirit lands on Him. The heavens open. The Father speaks from above. You=d have to be spiritually blind not to see the Light of Christ in this instance.

But there=s a question which arises as we see this glorious event - one which John even asked - in regards to the purpose of baptism. The primary purpose of baptism is for the forgiveness of sins. Mark 1:4 says that AJohn came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.@ This is what made John wonder why Jesus was coming to be baptized. He said, AI need to be baptized by YOU - not you by me!@ Jesus answered, Ait is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.@ What does this mean? How would baptism assist in the fulfillment of righteousness? What role did it play? We=ll look at this today through the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 42.

The Purpose of the Spirit on the Servant

I. The Spirit is needed because of the Servant=s Role

Even though Jesus didn=t need to forgiveness of sins, we see in His own baptism that it was not an empty or symbolic ritual. The Holy Spirit - hidden underneath the wings and feathers of a dove - actually came down and landed on Him at His baptism. This fulfilled the prediction of Isaiah. Why would Jesus need the Spirit? Look at what Isaiah calls Jesus in this text - not a King or a Lord, which He was, but only a servant. Servants are often called on to do the difficult jobs and dirty jobs that their owners are not capable of doing or don=t want to do. They are not usually glamorous or pleasant jobs, but they are jobs that need to get done for the functioning of the household - cooking, cleaning, preparing, fetching - whatever it takes. Jesus was called on to be a servant. But what would Jesus serve? How would He serve in a special and unique way? He would serve with flesh and blood - in a servant=s form. What would he do with it? Jesus said it best when He said, Athe Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.@ (Matthew 20:28)

Imagine for a moment the depths to which Jesus went. He came from ruling over the heavens and living in an eternity of holiness. He came from witnessing and judging a sinful world into living in the midst of sin and death and hell. He went from the palace to the pigsty. Do you know what it is like to try and walk in the mountains - where the air is thin - and you are not used to it? Your breath gets short and shallow and you have a hard time walking because of the lack of oxygen. Imagine what it would be like for Jesus to take on flesh and walk and talk among a contaminated world. Everyone he talked with, every dinner he ate, every particle of air he breathed was under the curse of sin.

Take it a step further as you think about His service. Even as He walked and talked among sinful people and evil demons, He also had to take it a step further and go to a cross - where He would be bathed in our sins and blamed for millions of things He never even did. He would be put through the wrath of God Himself - experience hell itself - and taste death. His holy body would end up buried in a cave. This was the only way that justice could be paid - the very justice which He had laid out from eternity - which said, Athe soul who sins is the one who will DIE! The wages of sin is DEATH. Without holiness NO ONE will see the LORD.@ This is what Jesus came to provide as our suffering substitute - as God=s servant. These were no easy steps for Jesus to walk in - not even as God. He would need strength and power to go through these humiliating steps.

II. The Spirit provided strength to bring justice

How would He endure such things? Here 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. This is where the purpose of baptism comes in. The Holy Spirit=s descent on Jesus would provide Him with strength and guidance to do everything He knew He had to do - preach, heal, chase out demons - and die. Right after His baptism this proved to be true as the Holy Spirit immediately led Jesus into the desert to fight the devil head to head for 40 days and nights. God did not call Him to be a lone ranger and get to the cross by Himself. He didn=t stay up in heaven and say to Jesus at His conception, Agood luck with that!@ The Heavenly Trinity would be with Him every step of the way. Acts 10:38 says, AGod anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.@

All of this demon chasing, healing, suffering and death - was all aimed towards one purpose - to Abring justice to the nations.@ Think about this whole concept. To bring justice. We usually picture the word Ajustice@ with power and retribution. There=s a new show out called AAmerican Gladiators.@ One of the featured gladiators is this huge muscle-ripped black guy who calls himself AJustice.@ That=s the way we picture the word. When Jonah was called to the city of Nineveh he went shouting through the streets in a powerful and threatening voice that if they did not repent Nineveh would be destroyed. John the Baptist seemingly expected Jesus to come in with a hammer down on the sinners of the world since He was given the Spirit Ato bring justice.@ This is what many people expected of Jesus.

But look at HOW the justice would be brought about according to Isaiah. It seems completely foreign to the picture we draw in our minds. AHe will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.@ Instead of taking this forceful approach and hammering the weak sinners with hell, Jesus did something different. Remember when the paralytic=s friends lowered him through the roof to be healed by Jesus? What were the first words Jesus said to him? ASon, your sins are forgiven.@ This was shocking to the teachers of the law. It was shocking to them to see Jesus eating and drinking with tax collectors and well known sinners. What was Jesus= answer? AI came to seek and to save that which was lost.@ Instead of cutting off the most prominent sinners and Gentiles - those who had been put out on an island of despair - with justice, Jesus promised them forgiveness and gave them hope.

You would think that such a message of peace and forgiveness would be welcomed by the people. Yet Jesus was far from popular in every town He went to. The people of His own home town drove him from the synagogue and tried to throw him over a cliff after He began with very gracious words. He was even going to stop in a Samaritan town on his way to Jerusalem and give them an opportunity to hear the good news - but they didn=t want Him because He was heading to Jerusalem. (Luke 9:51-54) Every time Jesus spoke such gracious and gentle words, the teachers of the Law and Pharisees became angry with Him and claimed He was blasphemous. When Jesus even declared His mission to die on the cross to His disciples - even they tried to talk Him out of it.

Imagine how difficult it would be to deal with sinful humans who continually questioned your authority and rejected your mission! Even John the Baptist had his disciples ask Jesus if He really was the Messiah! Imagine how difficult it would be to be hanging on a cross with the power to come down - and being taunted to come down! These are things that Jesus had to put up with on a daily basis. Jesus= disciples were so angry with the Samaritans for rejecting Jesus that they asked Jesus if they could call down fire from heaven to destroy them.

In the face of all of this rejection and all of this sin, Jesus would not be deterred. AHe will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.@ In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In a gentle and calm way, Jesus kept on preaching a salvation of grace through faith in Him. In spite of all of the anger of the justice-minded Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus told the repentant prostitutes, tax collectors, and anyone else who would come that their sins were forgiven. No matter how much Peter or the others argued with Him, with a strong and quite resolve Jesus was going to the cross. It was through prayer and faith, through God=s Word and His baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was given strength to fulfill his duty. It was no easy task. Yet this was what He was baptized to do. In faithfulness He brought forth justice.

III. See your justice in the Spirit of baptism

God has determined that this is the way - through His Son=s life and death - that He would establish justice. He has declared in His Word that Jesus is now the Judge who rules in the heavens - as is proved through His resurrection. Jesus - as the resurrected Lord - determines how and why we should get to heaven or go to hell. Jesus declared His method of justice in Mark 16:16, Awhoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.@ It seems so easy and so simple. Through faith in Him and simple baptism. AIt=s too easy,@ some say. It=s not hard enough. It=s too gracious. Surely we have to do something. How can we say that all sins are forgiven and heaven is free through baptism and faith?@ But who are we to question Jesus= standards of justice? Are we the judges? Or is HE the judge?

If Jesus already did all of the hard work as our substitute, should it surprise us that Jesus who paid for our salvation - demands us to have salvation only through faith in what He has already earned? Think about it, if Jesus went through baptism to empower Him to fulfill his mission to earn our righteousness, what is so crazy about Him including baptism then to GIVE us His righteousness? If baptism publicly put Him on the road to the cross, what is so crazy about baptism then being His chosen process to give us the cross? If the Holy Spirit worked to strengthen Jesus through His baptism to guide Him to the cross, why wouldn=t the Holy Spirit also then be present to work in our baptism yet today and give us the cross through faith? All of this is connected through the eyes of faith. For us who were deserted on an island of guilt and despair; left for dead in an ocean of sin; the water of baptism is our ark which carries us to safety in Christ.

ANobody likes a quitter. When the going get tough, the tough get going.@ These sayings help to try and motivate those who are tempted to give up on a job, a team, a marriage, or some other difficult situation. Yet even with all of these motivational speeches, life is still full of quitters - people who give up because they don=t have the heart or the guts or the energy or power to do what they know they should do. Guilt and power speeches just don=t do the trick. We still fall short.

Jesus had a difficult and impossible job to perform as the servant of the world - as God called on Him not only to rebuke sinners or to chase out demons but even to go through hell. This meant that He would need the strength and support of the Spirit. Baptism supplied Him with this strength, patience, and forgiveness to carry on and get to His goal as God=s servant. This was why God put the Spirit on the Servant - so he would fulfill our salvation and not quit. So as we celebrate His baptism this Epiphany - this visible outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Son, we celebrate the power and strength He was given to fulfill His purpose - to be our Servant as our Savior. Amen.