Fit for the Task
Isaiah 42:1a
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him. …
Throughout the Old Testament, God marked His chosen mediators by the Spirit’s empowerment. Ezekiel testified in Ezekiel 2:2, “The spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.” Samson singlehandedly wiped out a thousand Philistines in Judges 15:14, after the Spirit of the Lord “rushed upon him.” And when Samuel anointed David as king in 1 Samuel 16:13, “the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.” But there was an intrinsic problem still. Even with divine help, these mediators were still just men, and they often fell short. So I love how the gospel resonates through Isaiah 42:1 in all its majestic subtlety—as subtle as the manger and the beggar’s garb and the lowly demeanor that marked our Lord’s entire Incarnation. The task of redemption was too high for humanity; the pit too deep, the chasm too wide; so it required infinitely more than a man in the cloak of God. It required God in the cloak of man.
Christian, behold your servant-King afresh today! Delight in Him with all you are, and rely on His empowering strength for the task ahead.