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Christ the Covenant

December 14, 2014 Preacher: Series: Christmas in ISAIAH

Scripture: Isaiah 49:8–49:18

Key Truth: Jesus Christ is the Suffering Servant who serves as the covenant providing all that is necessary for God’s children to be redeemed and reconciled to Him and to represent Him in fallen world.

 

Introduction:

 

Q: What comes to your mind when you hear the word “covenant”?

“Three realities mark covenants wherever they are found in the Hebrew scripture: relationship, revelation, responsibility- the first and the last mediated by the second.”

Steven Garber, Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good

 

Isaiah 49:8-12: The Suffering Servant Given as a Covenant:

“In biblical thought the covenant is a unilateral pledge and consequent work of God. To speak of the Servant as the covenant means that while, as we know, it is through his work that covenant blessings become available, it is only in him, in the union of personal relationship, that these blessings can be enjoyed.”      

J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary

Q: What is God’s part and what is ours in our covenant with Him through the Suffering Servant? What is the result of this covenant?

 

49:13: Psalm-like Praise for the Covenant:

"It is significant that the attribute of God to which the OT returns again and again is his compassion: his tenderness and his ability to be touched by the pain and grief of his people. His transcendence and almighty power are never forgotten, but it is his compassion to which they return with wonder again and again.”

John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 1-39

Q: How has God comforted and been compassionate to you?

 

49:14-18: The Covenant Gloriously Applied

“(The Suffering Servant) will be for Israel what Israel could not be in itself. His servanthood will make possible theirs- and ours. As he becomes the means of Israel’s restoration to God, he makes them a prototype for the restoration of all the world.” 

John N. Oswalt, The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah

Q: How has being in covenant with God through the work of the Suffering Servant affected how you worship and love others?

 

Application:

“As they are brought back into a right relationship with God, God’s people become one with God’s Servant in his worldwide mission. This means that the very idea of the people of God begins to undergo a kind of metamorphosis. Those whom God restores to himself become a sign of his commitment to extend this same blessing to all people. Those already free say to those who are still captive, ‘Come out’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’.”

Barry G. Webb, The Message of Isaiah

 

Jesus Christ is the Suffering Servant who is the covenant that provides:

-freedom and stability in the presence of God

-the comfort and compassion of God which is worthy to be praised

-assurance in the midst of doubt

-the opportunity to display and offer all of this to others in a fallen world

 

Benediction:

Revelation 21:1-8

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The Righteous Root of Jesse

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