Isaiah 42: 1-4

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Well. In the last episode, I had my Bible open Isaiah. Chapter forty two. It was right there in front of me, and I was like, we can start Isaiah forty two. We can take our observational outline. We can start the first section, which is Isaiah forty two one through four. We can jump right in start studying it exegetically. But we couldn't. We had to take a massive detour. We had to go back to the eighteen hundreds. We have to hear the story of how the cyrus cylinder was discovered and its significance and understanding not only history but it's significance, and helping us understand Isaiah forty through fifty five, and placing Cyrus at the center of this versus all the other things pastors do.

0:56 So we did that. It's wonderful. It's great. I have Isaiah forty two open, and I should be very excited right here. I should be like, I can't wait to get into the exegetical study of Isaiah forty two one through four. I'm ready to go, but I'm a little conflicted here and it's been a weird back and forth with artificial intelligence on Isaiah forty two one through four. All right, so I started working with our artificial intelligence on Okay, let's put together an exegetical study of Isaiah forty two one through four. Right, Well, the first two or three that AI gave me this is when I was struggling with Well, wait a minute, I'm not so sure Isaiah forty two one through four is about Jesus, even though every sermon says so. And of course AI is pulling from all of what Christianity has to say about Isaiah forty two.

1:51 It keeps telling me, this is Jesus, this is Jesus, this is Jesus, this is Jesus. And I'm like, I'm struggling. So let's just read it. Isaiah forty two one through four. Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised read shall he not break, and the smoking flex shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth, and the aisles.

2:31 Shall wait for his law. Now you listen to any sermon they immediately say Jesus. So I kept struggling with that, going I'm not so sure, I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure. So we did so before I got into trying to Okay, you know, I can't really try to interpret this. Let's do our observational outline, right, So we did our observational outline. Now, to be fair, we didn't really follow the rules because it was in the midst of our obsentional outline of the entire chapel a chapter Isaiah forty two, that we we cheated. We offered an interpretation because we put forth the idea. Well, Sarah put forth the idea, and I ran with it. That Isaiah forty two, the servant mentioned in verse one through four, that is Cyrus. And when you jump to verse nineteen, who is blind but my servant?

3:27 That is still Cyrus. That Isaiah forty two is the tell of one servant. But maybe there's also another additional understanding. We'll get to that. But we kind of went with the idea that no, Isaiah forty two, what we need to talk about is not Jesus. We need to talk about Cyrus, and that it's it's one servant. It's not a chapter of two servants, because most commentaries will. Say it's two servants. Isaiah forty two one through four, that's Jesus nineteen, that's Israel, two separate servants. And we were like, ah, no, so here's the thing I've now. This is what I was originally going to do.

4:10 I was gonna say, okay, let's start our exegetical study of Isaiah forty two one through four. And I was going to take one of the exegetical studies that me and AI came up with with our back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and then say here was attempt number one, or here was attempt number two, go through it completely, then back up, go through the next one, and then say here's the one we concluded. Now, it would be interesting to do that just to see the kind of the how it evolved and how it kind of became what we have. But on the other hand, it would become very repetitive and very redundant because we'd be saying the same thing. Over and over and over. So I threw out all of that. Here's what we're gonna do.

4:51 We're gonna go through Isaiah forty two one through four, and we're gonna do so with the presupposition already imposed on the text that we do not believe that this is Jesus, that we believe this is Cyrus. Because we've already argued and argued and argued and argued and kind of defended everything about this, right, I don't feel like I need to spend a lot of time going, well, it could be this. It could be that we tried to be as neutral as we could be in our observational outline because that's where we try. But here we can't be as neutral because we're going to be now trying to defend it. We've kind of already I think this is. What we're going to do, is we go through Isaiah forty two one through well through the entire chapter exegetically.

5:34 Is now it's not so much proposing our hypotheses. It's not even so much about just doing observational work. Now it becomes about defending the hypotheses that this isn't Jesus, this is Cyrus, and I think in the last hour we kind of did that utilizing well, the Cyrus cylinder, I think in many cases proves the point. So we're going to go through this and I'm going to be utilizing what me and AI. Came up with. Me and me an artificial intelligence intelligence. Whenever we work on things, it's like an ongoing conversation. It's like I will type out like a paragraph and then and I will say, well, what about this, or what about or put this together?

6:15 Utilizing my words. Then it will take my words. And then obviously structures it, adds it, and then kind of turns it into something you know that sounds different, but it's still based off what I had said. So a lot of this is going to be between me and artificial intelligence trying to figure out exactly how to handle this section of scripture. AI wanted, and this is AI insisted that we call Isaiah forty two one through four Isaiah forty two one through four, that we refer to this as a two level servant. A two level servant.

6:57 AI did not want to just a bet and in any exploit any mention of Jesus here. AI did not want want to do that Now I'm I'm conflicted because part of me is like, Okay, we can talk about Jesus, but the point is here in Isaiah forty two. Let me just I'm gonna be I'm gonna emphasize this multiple times. For the people that this is written to, they're in Babylonian captivity. Their their life is focusing on Babylon, the Babylonian deities, Babylonian King Cyrus taking over deliverance, going back to Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple. The discussion of Jesus. For them is of utter it's it's meaningless to them in this context.

7:40 It's like, oh, so someone's going. To come what you know, five six, seven hundred years later, Oh well, wonderful, great, we'll all be dead. So Cyrus to me is the emphasis here. But but Ai was like, no, no, no, no, there's two levels. There's two levels. And I do agree there's two. I just think in the immediate context, the second level is of no value to them. All right, So this is how Ai stated it. Cyrus is the immediate agent, Christ is the ultimate fulfillment. And what happened is me and Ai was kind of going back and forth arguing and then AI basically said, well, what if I put it this way, Cyrus is the immediate agent. Christ is the ultimate fulfillment. I'm like, okay, well we'll compromise. We'll compromise a little bit.

8:37 Maybe. All right, so this Isaiah forty two one through four. We can call this the story of Ah. We'll just call it the a two level servant or the two level servant or the two level servant. I don't know how you want to phrase it. AI placed it as a two level servant, A two level servant, okay, but it's two different all right. Well, I'm not going to sit here in debate debate it all day, but Cyrus is the immediate agent, and I'm one hundred percent there's no way to get around that. He is the immediate agent. Christ is the ultimate fulfillment. So let's break this down.

9:19 You're ready, Let's take this apart. Here we go. First, I want us to see the contextual AI calls it the contextual orientation. I just want us to see this in context. I kind of want to place this in some form of context. All right, So here we go, Isaiah forty through forty eight. If we're gonna put this in some kind of textual context. Isaiah forty through forty eight is written to the exiles and Babylon. Now I will argue Isaiah forty through fifty five is written to the exiles, but I think for to put this in its appropriate context, Isaiah forty through forty eight is what we'll focus on. But it's written to the exiles and babel line. There's no question. Now this section forty through forty eight emphasizes God's sovereignty over history.

10:06 I think we can agree with that. His challenge to idols. Keep that in mind. He over and over God's going to he challenges the idols. He challenges the idols, and we saw in our last study on the Cyrus cylinder a historical reason for why this is occurring. So it's going to show God's sovereignty over history, his challenge to idols, his unique power to name and raise Cyrus before his birth. If you look at Isaiah forty four, Isaiah forty four to twenty eight, Isaiah forty four to twenty eight, here we go that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foul foundation shall be laid.

11:04 Look at forty five to one. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden. Remember the Cyrus cylinder. That's almost a direct statement from the Cyrus cylinder or the Cyrus cylinder. Well, we can get. Into the whole discussion here because this was before the Cyrus cylinder. So the Sirens cylinder is using the exact words, but they're attributed to Marduk, not to Yahweh. All right, but this show so in this section, it's going to emphasize God's sovereignty, his unique power to name and raise Cyrus before his birth, and we see that in forty four, twenty eight and forty five to one. Right, this is a call for comfort and reassurance.

11:52 Does that not sound familiar? Comfort? Ye? Comfort, ye, my people, Saith you're God. As a chapter forty verse one, Cyrus it will emerge. It emerges in chapter forty one. So he's already emerged in the since we've already seen him. Right. In fact, he's found in forty one through forty five as God's chosen instrument to liberate his people. But He's also described as a pagan king who does not know Jahweh, and we see that in forty five. I believe it's forty five. Let me go verify forty five verse four for Jacob, my servant's sake in Israel, minelect, I have been called Thee. I have even called thee by thy name.

12:42 I have summoned thee, though thou hast not known me. Right, So it's very clear Cyrus is chosen by God, called by God. He's a shepherd, anointed, He's God's gonna hold him by the hand. But yet Cyrus does not know God. He's blind, as we see, and we're going to see in forty two. As we go through the chapter. Isaiah forty two to one through four introduces my servant with attributes that may seem, you know, while these are very maybe exalted attributes or maybe like the perfect idea of a servant, but they also appear to be possibly mysteriously layered in many ways.

13:25 So what is the context. Isaiah forty through forty eight is written to exiles and Babylon, and the section emphasizes God's sovereignty, his challenged to idols, his unique power, a call for comfort and reinsurance and cyrus. That's what this section is about. And forty two to one introduces the servant. Well, if forty two is introducing a servant and a section where cyrus is clearly central, then there's a high Then from a textual standpoint, it makes a lot of sense to go, I think that's cyrus, even though everyone's going to tell you you're wrong. So there's kind of the kind of that kind of gives us some orientation to the context, that gives us the context.

14:07 And by this point whenever, just so that you know this, we set up the context in chapter forty, we set up the context in forty one, we set up the context in forty two. It's the same context. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. And you say, well, why do you have to keep stating the context over and over again? We get it. I don't think anybody does, because Christianity has had an open book test for two thousand years and we flunk it. Every single Sunday, some pastor opens up Isaiah forty through fifty five because they never bother to ever do this. They only pay lip service to the context and then immediately move out Judah, move us in, Move out Cyrus, move in Jesus, and then turn it into us something about your life, my life, problems, trials, difficulties, and it just at the whole thing is destroyed. So all I can do is just bore you to death with stating the context over and over and over and over again until you're screaming at your phone.

15:11 I get it, shut up, move on. Well, I'm sorry I can't because we've got to We've got to double down on it. I at church, I played the beginning of a sermon, remember where immediately he read I think it was Isaiah forty two, and he immediately said, this is Jesus, like just dogmatically asserts it, didn't even explain it. And I'm like, that's that's what happens in sermon after it. I mean, I can pull up audio right now, we just we could just start randomly pulling up sermons, and I could spend the next four hours just randomly picking sermons, and by the end. Of it, you'd be like, we get it. Well, considering how many sermons we've already reviewed, you should already see why this is a problem. So there's the context. Now, how about the textual.

15:53 Evidence, textual evidence for Isaiah forty two one through four and Cyrus. Isaiah forty two and Cyrus. Okay, hang on, my notes just went absolutely crazy here. All right, okay, all right, the textual evidence for Isaiah forty two, one through four and Cyrus. Now we have verse one. Are we ready? Here we go? Now, see this is what This is where I struggle. This is where me and AI struggled, because AI wants to immediately go, okay, well, let's let's look at the textual evidence for proving this is Cyrus. But there's a part of me that doesn't want to go through the text proving it's Cyrus.

16:34 I just want to go through the text. But that's kind of what we did in. The observational part. So I'm very conflicted here in how to do this exegetically. I just kind of want to work through it, but you almost have to work through it proving Cyrus, since that's going to be the key takeaway from this chapter. So let's start with the. First phrase or a couple of phrases here, Isaiah forty two. Behold, we can start right here. Behold. I think that's significant, right, because it's like, hey, pay attention here. Look, behold and what are you? What is everyone to behold in the midst of everything going on? Behold, look, pay attention to my servant, my servant, mine elect.

17:26 I have put my spirit upon him. I'm just pulling out some of the things from it. Right, So in verse one, we have this idea of my servant, my elect, and I will put my spirit upon him. Let's go with just those three things. All right, My servant, my elect, I've put my spirit upon him. My servant is a term is a term not exactly used in Isaiah forty four to twenty eight and forty five to one of Cyrus, right, because if you. Look at those verses forty four to twenty eight. And again, I think it just depends on translation forty four twenty eight. Thus, Saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd.

18:08 It's not called servant, but he's called shepherd. Then, if you look at forty five, the Lord to his anointed, so he's called anointed. So he's referred to he's referred to annoint, he's referred to as anointed, he's referred to as shepherd. I think some translations have him referred to as a servant. Now we could get into all the textual issues. So some may say, well, he's literally referred to a servant. Later on, others may say, no, he's not. But you're still on this very exalted language, my anointed, my shepherd, and I believe it's not too far fetched to see him being referred to here as my servant.

18:53 I don't think that there's a problem anywhere here now Isaiah forty five four, Isaiah forty five to four, we read for Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect. I have even called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not named me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. So he called him, he chose him. Well, now forty two my servant, whom I uphold mine elect. Now I know what some people could say, Well, that sounds also like language that refers to Israel, because Israel's referred to as servant and Israel's referred.

19:38 To as elect. So maybe Isaiah forty two one through four is Israel. I still don't think it works. I still doesn't think I don't think it works in any way, shape or form, but just and just so you know, that's always the difficult part in a lot of this is because similar language is used for Israel, similar language is used for Jesus, similar language. Used for Cyrus. So you can see where everyone can put forth their arguments. But here servant is used, and chosen is used, or my elect is using, and then I have put my spirit upon him forty two to one, I've put my spirit upon him. Now this is where some people may argue, because some people will say this is the most difficult to link to Cyrus, because nowhere is Cyrus explicitly said to receive God's spirit. However, the argument could be made that the spirit here can refer to empowering for a task not necessarily in dwelling, because in Judges three ten, the spirit comes upon someone to judge Israel Athniel I think is who it comes upon. You can look at Judges three ten, Judges three ten. I want to make sure I'm not missing quoting it or remembering it incorrectly.

21:03 Judges Chapter three, Judges three. You look here, I think you'll know the idea I'm referring to here. Okay, uh uh, And the spirit of the Lord came upon him and he judged Israel. It's off now, right, So yeah, I've got I've got the uh the example. Right. So in the there are times in the Old Testament where the Spirit simply is seen as referring to empowering someone for a task, not necessarily in dwelling them, because it would be problematic if, obviously, if we would refer to Cyrus as being in dwelt by the Holy Spirit when he's clearly a pagan, right, that would be philologically problematic.

21:54 But if it just comes upon him to empower him to rule, to judge, or just to empower him to deliver Judah back to Jerusalem, then then then makes sense and. It fits perfectly. We don't have we don't have any problem, all right, Isaiah eleven and Isaiah sixty one. The Spirit also refers to Messianic anointing. Well, in a way, he's kind of anointed. I mean, he's referred to his anointed. He's kind of gets a Messianic anointing in the sense that he's going to be the liberator, the deliverer, the setting the captives free in this historical context. So this idea that the Spirit come upon him. Is the idea of anointing him.

22:42 I think. I think that's the idea to empower him, to anoint him. To set him apart. Historically, Cyrus is historically elected, chosen, set apart to be God's servant, to be God's anointed, to be his shepherd, to we bring the people back from Babylonian captivity, to fulfill God's covenant promise. So I think it's it's being used functionally here. I think it's describing God empowering of Cyrus for his redemptive task. It's it's describing him being chosen, anointed, and and and and empowered. By the Holy Spirit to do this task.

23:24 Right. Do you see all of that in Isaiah forty two. Behold my servant, whom I have hold my elect and whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the gentiles. Now that part my soul delighteth. We can see where that gets a little. Some people will say, well, God can't delight He's done. I think he's delighted in him to anoint him, to make him his shepherd, his servant for this particular purpose. I think I think that's the only way that work. Some people may push back on that. But again, and as if you just want to everybody wants to run and make this about Jesus. But if you make it about Jesus, that says nothing. He doesn't do anything for Israel.

24:08 In this particular context, then we have in verse two he shall not cry aloud. This describes a quiet, non boastful figure. Now some people say this mirror is the historical conquest of Babylon by Cyrus. It was peaceful, it was nonviolent, and he was welcomed by many, and some notes even Ai right here at this point said see the Cyrus cylinder. So that's why we just spent an hour working on it. Right, He was not a tyrant. He governs without making a noise in the street.

24:51 I look at the way it reads in. Isaiah forty two, verse two, he shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. That he does doing it in a radically. Different way than many kings and leaders would. Now, in some ways he lifts up his voice in the Cyrus cylinder, okay, But as far as it's coming in and the way he does it, he does it in a quiet way. I think there's I think there's a I think we can see that, all right. How about verse three, A bruised read shall he not break or will not break? Depending on your translation, this seems to imply restraint and care for the week the exiles were bruised and dimly burning.

25:36 A bruised read, he will not break? That was Judah. They're bruised. Cyrus did not crush them. He sends them back to rebuild, fulfilling Isaiah forty four to twenty eight and Asra chapter one, verses one through four. Cyrus fits that very very very well, all right. Verse four, he shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth, and the aisles. Shall wait for his law. His resolve mirrors that of Cyrus and Isaiah forty one two through three. If you go back to forty one forty one, is it two through three?

26:20 Yes, forty one. Two through three, who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, made him rule over kings. He gave them as the dust to his sword, and has driven stubble to his bow. That's Cyrus being risen up. It mirrors the same kind of concept and language very well. Verse three. He pursued them and passed safely, even by the way that he had not gone with his feet. And then if you look at twenty five and verse twenty one, or in chapter forty one, if you look at verse twenty five, I believe it's twenty five, twenty five and twenty seven. I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun. Shall he call upon my name, He shall come upon princess, upon mortar. And as the potter treadeth Clay, who hath declared from the beginning that we may know and before time that we may say he is righteous? Yay, there is none that showeth yay. There is none that declareth yay. There is none that heareth your words. Now, if you look at some of the way i Cyrus has described and Isaiah forty one in other parts, well forty two sounds he shall not be discouraged.

27:40 He shall set judgment upon the earth. He's going to accomplish, he's going to do so, nothing's going to stop his advancement. It all sounds very, very very similar, all right. Until he has established justice in the earth, Cyrus established imperial justice, allowing displaced people to return home the coastline wait for his law. Likely this is poetic of distant nations awaiting liberation or decree. Okay, Cyrus's edict and Ezra chapter one, verses one through four seems to be, from what we can tell, was known widely, so other people may have been waiting for his law, his decree him to give the same kind of decree so that they could be set free, that they could be delivered because look at.

28:31 Cyrus would come in. He would not not he would immediately take over, and usually enough, not always, but in a peaceful way. But he would always repatriate the people. He would let them go back. He would restore their temples, restore their religion, and a says, restore their culture. So yeah, if you're if you're any any kind of bondage, you're like, please Cirrus. You're almost looking to Cyrus. Is that's the deliverer. We want to come to us, to our far land and deliver us. If you had heard the stories, So there's the context, there's the textual evidence that it's Cyrus to the best of our ability. Now let's look at the historical evidence supporting Cyrus. Well, we've got the Cyrus Cylinder, a Persian document that describes cyrus conquest to Babylon, claims divine appointment by Marduk to bring justice and peace, confirms his policy of returning exiled people to their lands.

29:29 A unique historical. Act matches Isaiah's petrel as a ruler who acts justly and restores displaced people. So I will argue that the Cyrus Cylinder really strengthens our interpretation of Isaiah forty two being about Cyrus, I. Think it does. It fits perfectly. And again, even though I know some people would say, well, but wait a minute, servant elect, that sounds like Israel. But immediately I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring judgment to the gentiles. He shall not cry nor lift up. This immediately sounds like he's referring to an individual, not referring to Israel. Now you can say, but in Isaiah, whatever was it forty four? I think it's forty four. Israel's referred to Jacob as an individual.

30:20 I know you can make all of these arguments. It's just it doesn't fit. It has to be. It has to be Cyrus, right, and most most people even forget the Israel possible connection. But I think in the context it doesn't make any sense, all right, it doesn't. That's my feelings here, And as we go through if. We see something that, look, I'm always willing to change it. But it's Cyrus, all right, and the historical evidence backs it up. So we got to Cyrus cylinder as historical evidence, and you've got Asra chapter one, verses one through four. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to build him a house at Jerusalem. It uses clear. Biblical language of divine initiation and fulfillment of prophecy. It confirms Cyrus's decree as the act of God used to deliveral to deliver Israel from exile. So the Cyrus cylinder I think proves Isaiah forty.

31:15 Two to one through four. I think the language itself can. Be supported by the other parts of Isaiah that mentions Cyrus by name. So I think there's one evidence of proof, textual proof, and then the historical proof to Cyrus cylinder. And then the other historical proof is well the decree of Cyrus as recorded in Ezra one versus one through four. I think all of that proves it right. So we've got context Cyrus, We've got the verses themselves compared and contrasted with the other verses in Isaiah forty through forty five through forty eight where Cyrus is mentioned. And then we have historical evidence, we've got the cylinder, and we've got the decree of Cyrus and Ezra one. Now, what are the theilological implications. I think the theological implications are.

32:07 These are just a couple. Cyrus is the servant not because he's righteous, not even because of faith, but because of divine commissioning and purpose. Cyrus is the servant because God elected him, commissioned him, anointed him, appointed him, empowered him Isaiah forty five five through six. I gurge you, though you do not know me, is really the key. Hey, I chose, I've chosen you, I've elected you, I have anointed you. I'm holding you by the hand, But you do not know me. God uses Cyrus as an instrument of justice, mercy, and deliverance. Yet the tension is clear.

32:55 Cyrus is blind and death Isaiah forty two nineteen. He serves without knowing God. He accomplishes justice externally, but lacks spiritual knowledge internally, he may bring justice externally. He doesn't have anything going on spiritually internally because he's completely blind, he's completely deaf, and he's attributing everything to the god Marduk of Babylon. I mean that that. That's just You've got to see this kind of theological tension and contrast and what happens here. Now that's all Cyrus.

33:36 That's Isaiah forty two one through four, all about Cyrus. He's the agent, the immediate agent. What about the ultimate fulfillment Isaiah forty two to one through four. Now we go from can we call it the imperfect Cyrus is the perfect servant, He's the blind and death servant. Now we go to the perfect servant. Cyrus may fulfill Isaiah forty two one through four functionally. Cyrus may fulfill Isaiah forty two one through four, not only functionally but historically, but maybe only Jesus fulfills it fully and personally. If you go to Matthew chapter twelve, Matthew chapter twelve, Matthew twelve, verse seventeen, Matthew twelve, verse seventeen.

34:49 If we go back to fifteen, just for context, Matthew twelve fifteen. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence, and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all. And he charged him that they should not make him known, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, behold, my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, and whom my soul is well pleased. I have put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry. Neither shall any man hear his voice in the street a bruise read, shall he not break? And smoking flax? Shall he not quench, or shall he not quench till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the gentiles trust.

35:35 Matthew quotes this. It's applied directly to Jesus, and it seems to be applied directly to Jesus first coming. Jesus is truly God's chosen and spirit filled and in spirit filled Matthew three sixteen through seventeen. This is whom this is, my beloved son, and whom I am well pleased. The spirit of God descends upon him. He's anointed, He's the anointed one. He's anointed. He's He's the Christ right, the anointed, He's the prophet, the priest, the king. He brings healing and compassion to the broken bruce reads and smoldering wicks. He's extinguished them. He does not break them. He refuses spectacle or coerci.

36:21 He will not quarrel or cry aloud. He's not there to fight. He brings justice not through politics, but through the Cross and resurrection. Cyrus may be doing it politically, he may be doing it in a physical way. Christ has come to bring justice through the Cross and the resurrection. But the question is did he fulfill all of this at his first coming? Well, he does inaugurate the kingdom right, his kingdom is at hand. He does bring about his spiritual kingdom. He does re ill the nature of God's justice and compassion. But justice had not been established in all the earth, so.

37:09 That did not happen. The nations still wait the final imposition of his rule Revelation nineteen and twenty. The second Coming will fulfill Isaiah forty two to four in its global and visible fullness. So even if we look at Isaiah forty two to one through four, and we say that's Jesus. Even if we say Isaiah forty two to one through four is Jesus and its ultimate fulfillment, I don't even think the ultimate fulfillment even happened in this first coming. The ultimate fulfillment hasn't even happened yet, which would even. Remove it even further and further and further. Away from the original recipients. That's why we have to have Cyrus there as the immediate agent, as the immediate fulfillment, as the historical fulfillment. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment and his first coming, but not really the ultimate fulfillment happens in his second coming. So I believe Isaiah forty two is best read is almost kind of a dual layered prophecy.

38:05 The immediate context, the immediate person is Cyrus historically fits the description. He's chosen upheld empowered in a functional sense. He brought justice that he freed exiles. He acted quietly, was very efficient, yet he was blind and unaware. He was the paradoxal servant. The ultimate fulfillment is Christ. He's the perfect servant. Truly knows. God filled with the spirit, brings not just national justice, but eternal justice. Brings mercy to the weak and will one day complete what Cyrus and others can only begin.

38:48 Cyrus is the historical servant who delivers by decree, empowered by God, for Israel's physical return. Christ is the eternal servant who delivers by sacrifice, empowered by God for the world's spiritual return. Justice. Cyrus reorders nations. Jesus restores hearts and creation. So I think one of the key observations we have to make here about Isaiah forty two, since Christ didn't even feel all of Isaiah forty two in his first coming. We're even still waiting for that fulfillment. That makes the words of Isaiah forty two even less comforting, not only for those in Babylon captivity, but in some ways even for us now. In some ways, the words don't even really bring comfort to us now in our immediate context. It only gives us hope for the future. But we don't know what We may never experience that, at least not in this life until the end. So the first coming of Christ did not fulfill Isaiah. I think we just have to be honest, right, Jesus, Did Jesus bring justice to the nation?

40:00 Yans? No, not visibly or politically. The Roman Empire still ruled and injustice persisted. His first coming brought maybe I mean it brought a spiritual kingdom, not a global establishment. I think we can state that did he establish justice in the earth. Isaiah forty two says he will not grow faint or be discouraged until he has established justice in the earth. The earth today still lacks justice. Wickedness, oppression of sin persist. Did the coast lands nations submit to his instruction? No, they did not. Even the Church has not completely submitted to his instruction because we violated in sin all the time. The fulfillment in Jesus' first coming was partial at best, spiritual and pretty much invisible to anybody. For the exiles and babble, that's a six hundred year delay and no comfort. If Isaiah forty two one through four is referring to Christ, then it means the exiles were told to look, a servant is coming to bring justice.

41:15 But that servant would not appear for six hundred years. And even then, he. Didn't deliver them from Babylon. He didn't rebuild the city, restore them. He didn't even when Jesus showed up, and that's what was such, that's what confused everyone. If they were thinking, okay, here's the servant. They thought he was going to get rid of rome. He didn't even do that. He didn't get rid of rome. He went and died. And they were like, whoa, wait a minute, wait a minute, whoa no no, no, no, no, no, something's completely wrong here. So if the passage is interpreted only messled, only referring to Christ, it would be utterly meaningless to Isaiah's original audience. No real comfort, no real hope, just delayed distant promises that shouldn't be how and I don't believe that's how prophetic, the prophetic literature works. Prophets addressed real people with real expectations and real historical meaning. And if you consider where we are today, we're two thousand, we're over two thousand, seven hundred years after Isaiah's words something like that.

42:24 It's math. It's a long time after Isaiah's words. We're what two thousand years after Jesus first coming? What are we still waiting for justice to be established globally, all nations to submit to his instruction, the full expression of the servants reign. We were still waiting for all of that, So I think the text must have an immediate fulfillment. In the original context, Cyrus was called by name, raised up by God describe using similar language to Isaiah forty two, upheld chosen instrument of justice, the one who actually brought comfort to the exiles. That means Isaiah forty two had an initial fulfillment that encouraged the exiles in their time, demonstrated God's power in history, and served as a type and shadow of the ultimate servant to come. Without Cyrus and Isaiah forty two one through four, the passage fails completely.

43:35 I think it fails to comfort the original audience. I think it failed to even comfort the people. It failed to comfort the people at the time of jesus first coming, because I think that's what they were looking for. Come establish justice, bring your role, set us free, deliver us. And Jesus is like, I'm going to die, man, You're going to stay in You're going to stay under Rome. Oh and you're all going to be why off the face of the earth in seventy eight. Oh and then the church is going to be persecuted and killed. Who whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, whoa, what just happened here? So think of it this way.

44:16 Without Cyrus, the passage fails to comfort its original audience and even later audiences. Now if you look back and go, oh, well Cyrus did that, then okay, that's not about us, then it all makes some sense. Right, You're gon to be at least comforted that those people were delivered. So without Cyrus, the passage fails to comfort. Without Christ, the passage fails to reach any ultimate fulfillment. So you need both. So to be true to the text, Cyrus must be the immediate fulfillment, and Christ must be the ultimate fulfillment, not in his first coming but in his second coming.

45:09 So if you're gonna apply it to Christ, you have to at least go, well, hey, this is still waiting. And then it fits Revelation nineteen twenty. But not perfectly right, because because Revelation nineteen twenty that doesn't describe this right. Revelation nineteen twenty. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised read shall he not break? And the smoking flax shall he not quench. Oh, No, Revelation nineteen twenty. It's coming loud. It's gonna be violent, it's gonna be vicious, it's gonna be destructive. There's gonna be blood, there's gonna be death. And then he will establish his rule with a rod of iron. Okay, that's the ultimate. So obviously some of that pointing to Christ clearly is the first coming, because not only would it make sense, but it's historical context.

46:05 It's Cyrus. So there's forty two, one through four. There we go. We'll stop now. Next time we'll go five through nine, and we'll do the same thing. We're going to keep following this Cyrus idea all the way through. I know it kind of changes the way we've been doing the exegetical studies, but we just have to follow this through since we've so thrown out such a radical idea. Now is it perfect? Let me make it very cloud. Just end with this. It's not perfect, okay. I mean I could sit here and try to pick it apart. Go, well, the Jesus thing fall Look, the Jesus thing falls completely apon Actually, I think Cyrus is more perfect than anything else. The Jesus thing falls completely apart because it just ignores the original recipients. So that doesn't make any sense, all right, And even trying to understand the Jesus part to try to figure out which part's the first coming, which part's the second coming, which only convolutes it and makes it more complicated, all right, And then anybody else you try to put there as servant, he try to put Israel there. I just think that that falls apart. And we even try to consider that and try to understand how that would work, and it did not work for us, all right. Yeah, yeah, that does not work either.

47:27 So Cyrus is the only thing that really makes any sense personally. Now what happens in five. Oh and also if you'll notice verse five, Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens and stretched them out, He that spreadeth forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it, He that giveth breath unto the people upon the spirit. Well, yeah, we could get well, then a covenant of the people. Well, there's a lot of I'm not going to get into everything there, but yeah, I was trying to remember were referenced to section It may be that section there that if Israel's being referred to as a servant, and one through four, it's just a little bit later that then Israel's referred to as his people in a plural way, So why would Israel be here? Yeah, then it starts falling apart textually. But the main point today was forty two is Cyrus one through four, no question about it.

48:25 Based off the context, forty through fifty five, based off history, the Cyrus cylinder and Ezra Chapter one, the Cyrus Decree, the Decree of Cyrus, it makes sense. And then just from a practical standpoint, all right, I'll sep, all right, thanks for listening. Everyone, have a great Sunday. God bless