I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will take hold of thy hand; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations,
Isaiah 42 opens with God pointing to a Servant He delights in. By verse 6 He speaks to that Servant directly, and the words raise two questions: who is this Servant, and how can a person be a covenant?
The chapter turns on a change of subject. Earlier in Isaiah the nation itself is called God's servant, but here a different figure steps forward, and the New Testament settles the identification.
This is Jehovah's Servant above all others, beyond any comparison. It is not Cyrus here, and not Israel, though Isaiah 41:8 calls Israel His servant. It is Christ. Only of Him does Isaiah 42:6 say that He is given "for a covenant of the people and a light of the Gentiles." This is not an ideal figure, but the real Messiah.
The contrast is deliberate. One servant failed; the other does not.
This highlights the opening of Isaiah 42. There the prophecy turns from Israel, the failing servant of God, and introduces the Lord Jesus as the true Servant of God. We are to fix our attention on Him, for He is the chosen One in whom God's delight rests.
Verse 5 has just described God stretching out the heavens and giving breath to the people on the earth. That same power stands behind the calling in verse 6.
Now that our attention has been drawn to this true Servant, verses 5-9 give us words spoken to Him in prophecy. Verse 5 stresses the acts of God in creation. He has given us not only the breath of our bodies but also the spirit, which sets man apart from the animals. Now this mighty Creator has called His true Servant in righteousness. He has established Him as a covenant to the people and a light to the nations. In verse 9 Jehovah declares new things, so we can see that the new covenant is predicted here.
Israel already knew about covenants. What is new here is that a Person, rather than a set of terms, is handed over as the covenant itself.
In Isaiah 42 verse 6 we read that God gives our Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful Servant, "for a Covenant of the people." God had made an unconditional covenant with Abraham and a conditional one with Israel at Sinai. But He who centres all things in Himself is the Covenant.
That shifts where security rests.
So how secure, how stable, how sure everything must be in Him. In the letter to the Hebrews we read that He is "the Surety" of the new covenant, that His precious blood is "the blood of the everlasting covenant," and that He is "the Mediator" of the new covenant. But here He Himself is the Covenant. So it must be, like Himself, unfailing and perfect. Who would not rejoice in such a Saviour! Everything depends upon Him, not upon us.
The verse pairs two phrases, and the grammar keeps them distinct. The covenant is singular and national; the light is not.
When did God enter into covenant with the Gentiles? God has given Christ, the rejected Christ, as a light to the Gentiles, so that He may be His salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). But He is a covenant of the people, not of peoples. So Scripture never says the Gentiles are grafted in instead of the Jews.
The second half of the verse pushes the Servant's range past any one nation, and commentators warn that losing this breadth is where error starts.
This same verse shows us another shining glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is given "for a Light of the Gentiles." He is not only a Covenant for the people of God; He is given as a Light for all. High privileges belong to Israel, and higher ones still to the assembly, the body of Christ. But as the Light He shines for the world. We need to pay attention to this, for every falling away from the faith begins with wrong thoughts of Him.
The apostles treated this word as a command to act on.
His hearers still refused to believe in the Son of God. So the apostle turned the gospel invitation to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). He did this in line with what Jehovah said to His Servant, Who is His Son (Isaiah 42:6; Acts 13:47).
Commentators see two time frames in the verse.
Israel will reject this servant, as prophecy says. But the Gentiles are to see His light and rejoice in His salvation. It is true that most of these predictions wait for His future work. When He comes again, God will give Him the Gentiles for an inheritance. But these predictions also imply what is now in force... Through Him Gentiles are saved now and when He comes again even the ends of the earth will know Him.
- Called — God speaks to the true Servant, Christ, not to Israel, the servant who failed. The Creator Himself stands behind the call.
- Kept — God takes His Servant by the hand and keeps Him; the mighty Creator stands behind the work.
- Given — He is not the go-between for a covenant only; He is the covenant, which is why everything rests on Him and not on us.
- Distinguished — "a covenant for the people" means Israel, one people. "A light for the nations" goes wider. Commentators stress that God made no covenant with the Gentiles.
- Shining — the light is already going out through the gospel, and will be seen to the ends of the earth when He comes again.
to open the blind eyes, to bring forth the prisoner from the prison, them that sit in darkness out of the house of restraint.
Isaiah 42:7 closes the list of tasks God gives His Servant: opening eyes, emptying prisons, ending darkness. Who is this Servant, whose eyes are blind, and when do the prison doors swing open?
The verse belongs to a speech in which the Creator addresses His chosen Servant. Writers identify Him by contrast with the nation that had failed in the same role.
Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens and earth, addresses Christ. In chapter 41 God addresses Israel as the servant of Jehovah, and calls and keeps him (Isa. 41:8–10). Here Christ takes the place of Israel. God declares Him to be Jehovah's servant. He is the One called in righteousness, held, and kept — kept to carry out the promises to Israel and to bring light to the Gentiles.
Later in the same chapter the prophet turns on the nation itself.
Israel is in view here — "perfect," yet "blind." Their privilege was perfect, and so their responsibility was solemn; but their failure was terrible... "But this is a people robbed and plundered. They are all trapped in holes and hidden away in prison houses. They are prey, and no one rescues them."
One writer traces both the cause and the cure.
Israel needs Him to do this for them, for they have become blind, and are "a people hidden away in prison houses" (vv. 18–22). They had sinned against the Lord and turned to idols, so Israel was useless as the Lord's national servant and messenger (v. 19). But once they are brought into contact with Christ the personal Servant, their eyes will be opened, and the works of God will be openly displayed in the nation — as they were in the one blind man of John 9, "so that the works of God might be displayed in him."
Writers tie the tasks of this verse to the words that follow it.
Jehovah has given Him not only to be "a covenant of the people," but also "a light to the Gentiles," "to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness." He alone can do this, and He will do it with no help. What follows surely seals it: "I am Jehovah; that is My name; My glory I will not give to another."
Paul used this promise to explain why he preached outside Israel.
In preaching the gospel Paul, when "the Jews saw the crowds and were filled with envy and contradicted him," said, "See, we turn to the Gentiles; for this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have set you as a light of the nations" (Acts 13:47). The Light, like the gospel and the salvation of God, goes out to all people everywhere.
Christ opened blind eyes with a word.
He questions the two blind men: do they believe He is able to answer what they ask? No doubt He does this to draw out the decision of their faith. When they answer yes, He speaks and acts according to their faith, and their eyes are opened. He is indeed the Son of David, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 42:7.
But the same Servant also sent His apostle to do the work at a deeper level.
The Jews say that opening the eyes of the blind in the physical sense was kept for the Messiah. If that is so, here we see how He sent His apostle to do the work, not for the body only but for the heart. This showed itself when Gentiles heard the call of the Lord and turned from darkness to light — and, to name the source of each more exactly, from the power of Satan to God. Then came the great privileges of the gospel: the forgiveness of sins and a place among those set apart by faith in Christ.
Writers hold that Israel's release comes at Christ's command, not by human arrangement.
Men may seek to restore the land to the Jew, and bring the Jews back to the land. Their efforts may seem to succeed for a time. But they will only bring the Jew back for the judgment of the great tribulation. To come back for blessing they must wait until Christ gives the word. In His time He will say to the prisoners, "Go forth," and to those in darkness, "Show yourselves"... no power will withstand His words.
- Servant. Israel failed in the role, so Christ takes Israel's place — called, held, and kept to do what the nation could not.
- Blindness. The first blind eyes here are the nation's own — perfect in privilege, blind in fact, robbed and hidden in prison houses.
- Alone. He alone can do it, and He needs no help. That is why the next line says God gives His glory to no one else.
- Reach. Given as covenant to one people but as light to all — the sentence Paul used when he turned to the nations.
- Release. He opened eyes with a word on earth, He opens them now through the gospel, and the prisoners go free when He says, "Go forth."