Surely we need divine upholding much more than Christ did! We also see Christ's acceptance in Isaiah, “ My servant. . . in whom my soul delighteth" (42:1). God met with certain disappointment in His servant Israel. Not so with His recognition of His Son. On two occasions God broke the silence of eternity to refer to Christ as the One in whom He was well-pleased. Would that God could only say of us that He delighted in us as His servants! We see the fact of His coming modesty in the prophecy, “ He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street" (42:2). The literal meaning of the word used here is that He shall not be loud or scream. Jesus was no self-advertisement. He did not resort to promotion or publicity. In fact, on many occasions, He si lenced those who would blazen abroad His miracles. The essential elements in the training of a good servant are discipline, self-efface ment, and submission. Each of these qualities was evident in the life of Christ. No wonder Paul says, "I want to be like Him!" How refreshing it is once in a while to find a truly and sincerely modest individual. With this as a characteristic of our Saviour, it did not take away His authority or His intellectual prowess. He purposely stole away from the adulation of the crowds. He performed no mir acles merely to enhance His own prestige. (How unlike some today!) How we need today to follow the serving Saviour's perfect example! Throughout the Bible we are given some excellent glimpses of our Lord's perfect pattern of life for us to emulate. We have con
sidered some of these aspects as revealed in Isaiah 42:1-4. Perhaps Paul had some of these character istics in mind when he wrote Phil- ippians 3:10-11 in a desire to be spiritually mature. One of the wonderful attributes of the Saviour is His compassion. We can be most grateful for this. God's servant shows divine mercy to the weak and erring (Isaiah 42:3). Jesus specialized in helping such people. Remember, as this verse shows us, there is no life so bruised or desperately broken but that Christ will save and restore. The superficial Christian worker is in clined to bypass such derelicts in human society, devoting interest to those of higher stratas of whom he considers himself worthy. The Lord never failed to serve those from whom most others turned aside. Peter was certainly “ a bruised reed" and “ a smoking wick" after his denial of the Saviour who had been betrayed. Another characteristic of the model Saviour is that “ He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law" (42:4). Christ was filled with opti mism in all areas of life. He re vealed an unshakable confidence in the fulfillment of the purposes of His heavenly Father and the coming Kingdom. His attitude was consistently one of hope and deep est assurance. Such is an essential element in our battle with the powers of darkness. It is not by accident that the word "fail" and “ discourage" are the same in the original language as those for “ break" and “ quench." Although Christ engages in His gracious min istry to the bruised reeds and the
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