Isaiah 49:1-6 (KJV)  Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.  [2]  And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;  [3]  And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.  [4]  Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.  [5]  And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.  [6]  And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

When each of our children were born Sherry and I took pictures of them that we placed in our family album. You can go through the numerous photo albums that we have and see our babies, our toddlers, our children, our adolescents, our young adults. We took pictures of them in parks, on trips, sitting with their grandparents and great grandparents, on vacations, and even when my oldest son was married with his new bride. Times have changed. We used to take pictures on Kodak Film in Kodak cameras. Today there is no Kodak. I still have negatives of all our old pictures. Not sure how I’d develop them … everything is digital now. But even though the medium changed, we still take pictures. We take them so we can look back and remember. That’s because we are parents who love our children.

God the Father loves His Son. When God takes a picture, He doesn’t use Kodak or digital cameras, and certainly doesn’t use film. God shows us pictures through His Word, painting us word pictures, describing His Family. In Isaiah 49 today we have one of God’s photo albums. We have pictures that He has given us of His Son Jesus Christ.

We take pictures to look back and remember.
The Father takes pictures to look forward and proclaim.
Isaiah 49 is a Prophetic Picture Album of Jesus Christ.

In our picture albums we had no voice. Our parents took pictures of us – sometimes embarrassing (like when we are in the tub) – sometimes celebrating (like birthday parties). In Isaiah 49 our Lord Jesus speaks. The Word Who was WITH God and the Word Who WAS God speaks.

John 1:1-3 (NKJV) … the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Our Jesus Is Unique Among Men

What does Jesus say?
First He proclaims His uniqueness to the whole world.

Isaiah 49:1 (KJV)  LISTEN, O ISLES, UNTO ME; AND HEARKEN, YE PEOPLE, FROM FAR; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

Jesus Christ is the uniquely called Son of God. He is unlike any other. He was not named by Mary His earth nor by Joseph His stepfather. The LORD, the Great I AM called Jesus from the womb. Before He was even concieved the Virgin Mary was told:

Luke 1:31-33 (KJV)  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.  [32]  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:  [33]  And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Once concieved and yet still in His mother, unborn but Eternally Immortal, the Angel told Joseph:

Matthew 1:20-21 (KJV) … fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.  [21]  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

He and He alone shall save His people from their sins. There is no other Savior. There is no other solution to our sin problem but Christ. As He cries out from this Prophetic Photo He and He alone shall save His people from their sins. There is no other Savior. There is no other Way unto Heaven but reliance on Him.

J.D. Greear related how he tried to witness to a young lady on a plane one day. When he told her that faith in Christ is the only way to be saved she said “Surely you are not saying that your way is the only way to God”. When he pointed out that Jesus said this in Scripture:

John 14:6 (KJV) … I am the way, the truth, and the life: NO MAN COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, BUT BY ME.

She replied “That has to be the most arrogant, closed minded thing I’ve ever heard someone say. I can’t believe anybody today would be so bigoted as to think that there is only one way to God. What kind of God is that? That’s not a God I want to know.”

As the plane began to descend Pastor Greear said “I’m sure glad the pilot of this airplane doesn’t look at the airport the way you look at truth. … Say he announces, ‘You know, I’m sick of this arrogant little “control tower” always saying I’ve got to land this 737 on a narrow little strip of cement they call a “runway”. That’s their way, not mine. I am an open minded pilot, so today I’m going to land on the interstate. Or try to balance this aircraft nose first on the tip of the Bank of America building downtown.’ Personally I’m glad that our pilot chooses to enter the airport along that narrow little way the control tower lays out for him”. (from “You Don’t Get To Choose Your Own Personal Jesus, pp 9-10)

Christ is “the Word made flesh Who dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Jesus Christ was the One of Whom it was prophesied He would be “born of a Virgin”

Isaiah 7:14 (KJV)  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23 (NKJV) Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Jesus warned us that “false christs and false prophets shall arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive” (Matthew 24:24). We are not to believe this, nor to even consider it. Though all the world be against us, there is but ONE Savior, ONE Christ, ONE Jesus Who came to save the world. All others who came before Christ were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them (John 10:8). Christ came to save His people.

Isaiah 49:2 (KJV)  And He (the LORD) hath made MY MOUTH LIKE A SHARP SWORD; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;

Jersus came to clearly speak the Word and Will of the Father. He was protected by the Father as He spoke. If you have been here on Sunday nights as we have studied the Book of Revelation we saw Jesus described as the One Who…

Revelation 1:16 (NKJV) … had in His right hand seven stars, OUT OF HIS MOUTH WENT A SHARP TWO-EDGED SWORD, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

Revelation 19:15 (NKJV) Now OUT OF HIS MOUTH GOES A SHARP SWORD, that with it He should strike the nations….

When Christ came His Word would cut the the very soul of those who heard Him (see Hebrews 4:12). The religious but lost Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes, as well as the Priest of the Temple, were so incensed by His Words that they plotted to kill Him (see Matthew 26:4). But Jesus spoke the truth of the Father in love.

Though the word often cut, Jesus like a surgeon cut in order in order to heal.
Until the heart looks upward, broken and repenting,
There is no salvation.

Jesus Is The Israel Of God – The Savior

Isaiah 49:3 (KJV)  And (the LORD) said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

This verse confuses many people, because here the Messiah is called “Israel”. Why does the Father call Him Israel? First because “Israel” as a name means “The Prince of God”. Jesus came to do His Father’s will, to serve Him by revealing the Father in His life. When God named a nation “Israel” that people was supposed to be obedient and loving, revealing God the Father in their daily lives. Israel the nation never came close to this mark. Israel was supposed to shine as a light to the world, telling others of the Coming Christ. But Israel refused to believe. The Bible says of Jesus:

John 1:11 (NKJV) {Jesus} came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

God sent His Son – The Prince With God – to save Israel first. Jesus was born a Jew because God is faithful to His Promises. He promised Abraham that:

Genesus 12:1-3 Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

It was God’s intention to “bless all the families of the earth” through Abraham. But first God would “make of Abraham a great nation”. This was Israel the nation, a nation that should have loved God but did not.

No nation that hates God and His Word can ever truly be great.
No nation that hates God and His Word can ever truly be great.
No nation that hates God and His Word can ever truly be great.

For God to make His promise true to Abraham He had to save Israel the nation. So He sent Christ to Israel FIRST. When Jesus called His disciples He told them:

Matthew 10:5-7 (NKJV) … Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

The modern liberal mind would read this and think Jesus to be racist or Samaritanphobic. They would be wrong. When a Samaritan woman came to Jesus pleading that He heal her daughter He said:

Matthew 15:24 (NKJV) … I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

He was not being racist, but He was doing the Father’s will. Jesus came to the Jew first. He was sent as Israel to redeem Israel. We read this earlier …

Isaiah 49:5-6 (KJV)  And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, TO BRING JACOB AGAIN TO HIM, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.  [6]  And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be MY SERVANT TO RAISE UP THE TRIBES OF JACOB, AND TO RESTORE THE PRESERVED OF ISRAEL: ….

Christ came first for the Jews. He came as a Jew to save the Jew, to save Israel, to redeem Abraham’s nation. He was not racist, nor gentilephobic. Jesus was given an orderly mission, to come and present Himself as the Servant of YAHWEH, the MESSIAH that Israel so desperately needed. As the Apostle Paul said:

Romans 1:16-17 (NKJV) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, FOR THE JEW FIRST and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

Though Jesus would tell the Samaritan woman:

Matthew 15:26 (NKJV) … “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

When she persisted in faith, saying “But Lord, even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the children’s table” our Lord commended her faith and healed her child. Christ was not racist. He came for Israel first. But when Israel – through the Scribes, Pharisees, and Priests rejected Christ He told His disciples

Later on in His ministry Jesus would tell His disciples to go to the Gentiles. In His Great Commission to the Church Jesus specifically commanded that the whole world hear of His Gospel. He said:

Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV) Go therefore and make disciples of ALL THE NATIONS, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

and before Jesus ascended into glory He said:

Acts 1:8 (NKJV) But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in JERUSALEM, AND IN ALL JUDEA AND SAMARIA, AND TO THE END OF THE EARTH.”

Racism is of the devil, not of God. God sent His Son into ALL the world to save ALL who will believe in Him. We even see this in Isaiah. The Father says to the Son:

Isaiah 49:6 (KJV)  And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I WILL ALSO GIVE THEE FOR A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES, THAT THOU MAYEST BE MY SALVATION UNTO THE END OF THE EARTH.

Jesus was to “raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore Israel”. But the Father said that Jesus was also “to be a light to the Gentiles, to be God’s salvation to the end of the earth”. Jesus came for the Jew first. When Israel rejected Christ, the Apostle Paul says the the Gentiles …

Romans 11:19-24 (NKJV) You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

God always intended on saving the world through Christ His blessed Son, but He sent Jesus to Israel first. Once He presented Himself to Israel, Jesus went on to present Himself to the Gentiles as the Savior of the world.

John 4:42 (NKJV) … “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

1 John 4:14 (NKJV) … we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.

How Then Does Christ Save Us?

Isaiah 49:8 (KJV)  Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give Thee for a Covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

How did Christ save whosoever will? How is salvation possible through Him and only Him? He Himself became the Covenant of the people. How did Jesus become the Covenant of the people? We read:

Isaiah 49:16 (KJV)  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

we start with the word BEHOLD! The word BEHOLD is a word of wonder, of admiration, of excitement. Found in 1275 verses in the Bible BEHOLD was used by God when He presented Paradise to Adam and Eve:

Genesis 1:29 (KJV)  And God said, BEHOLD, I have given you…

Behold Him. Behold the Jesus, mocked and beaten,

John 19:5 (KJV) … WEARING THE CROWN OF THORNS, AND THE PURPLE ROBE. And Pilate saith unto them, BEHOLD THE MAN!

Behold Him! Behold Him Who said “I have graven thee on the palms of my hands”. Jesus said:

John 10:17-18 (NKJV) …. I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I LAY IT DOWN OF MYSELF. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

Jesus says “I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands”. He was not murdered, but sacrificed. He was laid upon the altar of the Cross so that – dying and bleeding – He could pay for your sins and mine.

Jesus died for SINNERS.

Romans 5:8 (KJV) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US.

Jesus died for SINNERS.

Mark 2:17 (KJV) … They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus died for SINNERS.

God manifested Himself in the flesh for all people, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). He chose the nails. He chose to die. He died to pay my way into glory. Jesus says:

I have engraved YOU.

There will come a day when you will stand before God. Perhaps the Lord will ask,

Why do you deserve to enter My Heaven, My Paradise?
Adam enter My Paradise because He was born it it.
Why should YOU deserve My Paradise?

What will you say? What work will you rely on to enter Heaven. I am told that a few weeks ago someone left the service complaining because the preacher went 15 minutes over time. Will grudgingly given attendance at a worship service get you into Heaven? Will the little bill you put in the offering plate get you entrance into Heaven? Will your twice a year visits to the Church at Easter and Christmas get you into Heaven.

Why do YOU deserve to enter MY Heaven, My Paradise?

On the day that I am asked this question I will not note the number of sermons I preached, nor my tithe, nor my attendance, nor my work in nursing homes and hospitals. When I stand before God and hear this question asked I will look for my Jesus, and find Him faithful. He will speak for me. He will point to the nail scars in His hands and say “Father, here is David. These wounds are David. They are His sins. My Blood covers them. I paid the penalty. He is engraved in My hands!”

Praise God for this unspeakable Gift of salvation. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I hope you love Jesus. If you are engraved on His hands, if He was pierced for You, He says:

Isaiah 49:16 (KJV)  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; THY WALLS ARE CONTINUALLY BEFORE ME.

Jesus cares for His own. He protects His own. He is able to protect me now, and throughout eternity … blessed be the Name of Jesus!

May God touch your hearts with His Word!