Isaiah was written long before Jesus’s physical birth, and this book is a foreshadowing with the same message: He’s coming. Jesus is firstly named as the Servant, and He fulfills this role without err. Jesus lived as the Servant by bearing all of humanity’s sins and weaknesses on the cross and resurrecting three days later, so that we (in belief and through faith) could have eternal life with God! On top of that, Jesus still serves those who have accepted the Gospel by interceding for us at the right hand of God continually. What great news! Jesus paid the one-time penalty of death for our sins, AND intercedes for us in heaven? He truly is the Servant. He serves out of the contentment found in knowing that the Father loves Him and He is fulfilling His mission.

The analogy of the bruised reed and smoking flax highlights Jesus’ tenderness. Reeds are plants that are easily tossed by the wind and often damaged. A smoking flax is the wick of a lamp with dim flame that is soon to go out. When we are weak and vulnerable, Christ Himself sees our needs and cares tenderly for us. Understanding that the Father is tender towards the Son helps us to further comprehend the character of God: He is personal. Yet while being gentle, God is never weak or discouraged. God’s compassion perfectly compliments His power as both the Comforter as well as the Judge. He alone is the LORD, and is worthy of all of our adoration. This chapter continues to bridge God’s greatness with His individualized salvation for us all. 

Learning more about the character of God–His tenderness yet holiness, His compassion yet judgment, His meekness yet strength–inspires praise in us! Trusting that we have (or can have, for those who have not accepted the Gospel) an everlasting relationship with this God leads us to worship! Yet how often do we forget His character? Similar to the Israelities, we stray quickly and easily from the reality of God’s coming and stumble around without vision or direction. To wake us up from our wandering, God (like a loving Father) disciplines us. From this low place, we are met by our need for a Savior. Oftentimes, it takes being disciplined to be humble enough to see our need for Christ, and then return to Him in repentance and with a softened heart to His commands (which is the good life)! Just as the Old Covenant law was used to expose the Israelites’ sin and point them to their need for Jesus, so too are the specific things that God uses to refine us in our lives. Therefore, just as the law had a purpose, so too does our suffering.  

Much of what was occurring in the lives of the Israelities is occurring in our lives today: their message of Jesus’s coming, their complacency/comfortability, and their discipline from God. Yet Jesus shows the Father’s tenderness to us through not only His Earthly life, but also His daily intercession for us. God is higher than we are, but He made a way to be near to us forever. God chooses to refine the sin in our lives out of His tender care for us. Christ-followers are given everything that we need to fight the spiritual battle here on Earth– we have God Himself around us and inside of us, and know that He will win the war–but we are often complacent to the battle going on presently, and because of that we are ineffective soldiers in God’s kingdom. Therefore, God uses refinement to wake us up from our laziness while drawing near to us in tender love.