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Isaiah 42 introduces a character known as the servant who is going to be the one who rescues the people of God from their captivity to sin.  We’re going to be mostly in Isaiah 49 today, talking about this servant figure who is to come.  This is going to be a difficult sermon that deals with a very difficult topic.  If you know the Bible at all, you know that the Old Testament people of God are the nation of Israel.  But you also know that although the Messiah was a Jewish man living among the Jewish people, many of his own people rejected Him as their Messiah.  And so you’re left with this awkward question – what are we to make of the Jewish people throughout history and today?  Are they still God’s chosen people?  Or has God replaced them with the church?  If he has, then why?  And if he has replaced Israel, does this mean that he has broken his promises to His people?  We are gathering this Christmas to celebrate the birth of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, yet many of His own people still do not see Him as the Messiah.  How are we to understand that dilemma?

Let’s begin in Isaiah 49:1-6, where this Servant figure is quoted by Isaiah:

Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.  ² He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.  ³ He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor."  ⁴ But I said, "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand, and my reward is with my God."  ⁵ And now the LORD says-- he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength--  ⁶ he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."