Light for the World

Bible words have Bible meanings. Three times the Lord's servant is linked with justice: "to the nations" (v. 1), "in truth" (v. 3, KJV), "in the earth" (v. 4). It is the same word as judgments (Deut. 5:1 KJV). Justice is one of the Bible's words for divine decisions, the Lord's settled truth, made known by revelation.

The Lord's servant comes to reveal God to those who as yet do not know him. He will teach the truth himself, and he will so work as to establish it on earth. This is the truth we have in Jesus and from Jesus (Eph. 4:20-21), presented finally and possessed fully in the Holy Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21). This is what Isaiah foresaw. He realized that a world bereft of revealed truth is a world doomed to insubstantial and confusing notions (41:24, 29), a world that does not add up, "subjected" as Paul says, "to futility" (Rom. 8:20).

When Isaiah speaks of the Servant's double role--"covenant to the people, light to the nations"--he sees the world (as it still is) divided between those who possess the truth of Jesus in the Bible and those still awaiting its light. To belong to God's covenant people is our privilege; to be a light to the nations is our responsibility.

Prayer: Teach me to love your Word.

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