Isaiah 42 reveals Christ (Matt. 12:15-21), the Servant of Jehovah (Mark 10:45; Phil. 2:5-11), as a covenant for God’s chosen people, Israel, and a light for the Gentile nations (see note Isa. 42:6^1b and note Isa. 42:6^2c). The source of Christ as the Servant of Jehovah is His divinity, His deity (vv. 1, 6; 49:5, 7-8), whereas His qualification is in His humanity, in His human virtues (vv. 2-4). Christ’s commission is to raise up the tribes of Jacob; to bring Jacob back to Jehovah so that Israel would be gathered to Him (Isa. 49:5-6a); to be a covenant of the people, i.e., of Israel (v. 6d; Isa. 49:8d); to restore the land (Isa. 49:8e); to be a light to the nations (v. 6e; Isa. 49:6c); to bring forth justice for salvation in truth to the nations (vv. 1, 3b; Isa. 49:6d); to open the eyes of the blind that they may see the divine and spiritual things concerning God’s eternal economy (v. 7a; Luke 4:18b; Acts 26:18a); and to bring the prisoner out from the prison, those who dwell in darkness out from the prison house, that they may be released from the dark kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (v. 7; Col. 1:12-13).

Jehovah’s Spirit is Jehovah Himself. Hence, Jehovah’s putting His Spirit upon Jesus (Matt. 3:16; Luke 4:18a; John 1:33) meant that He gave Himself to Jesus and that Jehovah and Jesus, His Servant, are one.

See note Isa. 42:4³. So also for v. 3.

In His ministry the Lord did not strive with others (Matt. 12:19), and He did not promote Himself. He did not seek to make Himself known to people on the streets (cf. John 7:3-9).

See note Matt. 12:20¹.

Or, burn dimly; from the same root as dimly burning in v. 3. Christ does not extinguish the dimly burning flax (v. 3), but He Himself never burns dimly.

Or, be crushed; from the same root as and an allusion to bruised in v. 3.

Justice (vv. 1, 3-4) is righteousness passing through judgment. It is the verdict of the judgment on righteousness. In this book it refers to salvation as the result of God’s judgment on Christ, the righteous One, which was executed according to God’s righteous law and completely fulfills all the requirements of that law (cf. Gal. 2:19 and note Gal. 2:19¹). To establish justice in the earth means to establish God’s salvation as the issue of God’s judgment on Christ. God’s salvation is of two aspects — justification as the judicial aspect and the impartation of life as the organic aspect (Rom. 5:10, 18). God justifies and imparts life to the believers based on Christ’s redemption accomplished through God’s righteous judgment; this is justice. Christ will come again when He finishes the establishing of God’s justice, God’s salvation, in this earth.

For His chosen people to receive Christ as a covenant and as light (v. 6), God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth and as the One who gives breath to men, gives also spirit to them (Gen. 2:7; Zech. 12:1) that they may be able to enjoy Him, the Triune God, who is Spirit (John 4:24a), as their inheritance and life.

Christ has been called by Jehovah to be a covenant for the people, i.e., for Israel (v. 6; 49:8b; Heb. 7:22). The covenant is the legal agreement between God and His people (cf. Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:8-12). Through the death of Christ, the covenant became a testament, a will (Heb. 9:16-17 and note Heb. 9:16¹). Christ enacted the new covenant (which became the new testament — the will) with His blood according to God’s righteousness through His redeeming death (Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:20; Heb. 9:15). In resurrection Christ became the reality of all the bequests of the new testament and the Mediator, the Executor, to execute the new testament according to God’s righteousness (Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24). Therefore, Christ is the new covenant as the new testament.

Christ, as the embodiment of the riches of the Godhead (Col. 2:9; 1:19) and as the crucified and resurrected One, has become the covenant of God given to His people. He is the reality of all that God is and of all that God has given us. God’s salvation, God’s righteousness, God’s justification, God’s forgiveness, God’s redemption, God’s riches, and all God has and will do have been covenanted to us. As the reality of all the bequests in the new testament, Christ, who is the all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, consummated Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17; Rom. 8:9-11), is in our spirit and has become one spirit with us (2 Tim. 4:22; 1 Cor. 6:17). As a covenant Christ is the surety (Heb. 7:22), and the Spirit is the pledge (2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:14), to guarantee that God embodied in Christ is the inheritance to His people (Rom. 8:17a; Acts 26:18 and note Acts 26:18⁶).

Christ has also been called by Jehovah to be a light for the nations (v. 6b; Matt. 4:13-16). He is the light of life, the true light, that shines over the world and enlightens every man to enliven man for regeneration (John 1:4, 9, 12-13). He is the divine, marvelous light to open the eyes of the blind (v. 7a; Luke 4:18; John 9:14) and to deliver God’s chosen people out of the darkness of death, the death-realm, the authority of Satan, into God’s life-realm of light (v. 7b; 1 Pet. 2:9b; Acts 26:18a; Col. 1:12-13). Christ as the covenant is for God’s people to gain God with His riches as their inheritance (see note Isa. 42:6^1b), whereas Christ as the light is for God’s people to receive God as life. See note Isa. 49:6^2b.

Or, the high rock, or, the cliff; the name of a city in Edom.

Some MSS read, destroy and devour.

Referring to Israel, typifying Christ as the Servant of Jehovah in the restoration (see vv. 22-24). Israel was blind and deaf, having no understanding or power of perception. Therefore, Israel could not hear God’s word nor see His vision. However, in the restoration Israel will become one with Christ and thus, being able to see and hear, will have the power to perceive and the ability to understand.