Isaiah 49:5-12 - Homiletics

The lowest humiliation and the highest glory meet in Christ.

The Messiah was to be "glorious in the eyes of the Lord" ( Isaiah 49:5 ); God was to be "his Strength;" "kings" were to "see him and arise; ' "princes also" were to "worship" ( Isaiah 49:7 ); he was to "raise up the earth;" to "cause to inherit the desolate heritages" ( Isaiah 49:8 ); he was to loose the prisoners ( Isaiah 49:9 ), to "restore Israel" ( Isaiah 49:6 ), and to carry salvation to the ends of the world ( Isaiah 49:6 ); yet, at the same time, he was to be "despised of men, an object of abhorrence to the nations, a servant [or, 'slave'] of rulers" ( Isaiah 49:7 ). That such opposites should meet in one person must have seemed, anterior to the event, most improbable; yet the prophet utters no "uncertain sound." He proclaims alike, with the greatest distinctness, both the glory ( Isaiah 9:6 , Isaiah 9:7 ; Isaiah 42:1-8 ; Isaiah 49:1-6 ) and the humiliation ( Isaiah 49:7 ; Isaiah 53:2-12 ), both the exaltation and the depression, of the Redeemer. And the event justified him, in both respects alike.

I. CHRIST 'S EXTREME HUMILIATION . Christ "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" ( Philippians 2:7 , Philippians 2:8 ). Note the chief points of the humiliation. Being "in the form of God" and "equal with God," he consented

The steps of the humiliation were progressive. First it was negative rather than positive, while he worked as a "carpenter" in his reputed father's shop. Then it received aggravation, when he became a homeless wanderer, was "rejected of men," bidden to "depart out of their coasts," threatened with stoning, declared to "have a devil," "hated," plotted against. Finally, it culminated in that night and day of agony when one disciple betrayed him, and the rest forsook him and fled, and he was led before three tribunals, mocked, buffeted, crowned with thorns, smitten with a reed, scourged judicially, nailed to the cross, flouted, railed on, finally buried out of men's sight, as though all was indeed "finished" with him, and the earth would hear no more of One who had lived an outcast's life, and died the death of a malefactor!

II. CHRIST 'S EXALTATION AND GLORY . "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" ( Philippians 2:9-12 ). Note the chief points of the exaltation. No sooner is he dead than he descends to Hades, "preaches to the spirits in prison," and deprives hell of its prey; then rises, "loosens the bonds of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it," cheers his "little flock" with his presence for forty days, ascends to heaven, and sits at God's right hand, King of kings and Lord of lords for evermore. On earth he has "a Name above every name." The Roman empire bows down to him; the barbarians are in great part converted; more and more nations flow into his kingdom; and at the present day three hundred millions of men, more than a fourth part of the world's inhabitants, nominally at any rate, confess him for their Master and Lord. In heaven the angels worship him; he sits upon the great white throne, and before him are the four and twenty elders, and the host of angels, and the ten thousand thousand saints, and the song is sung, "Salvation unto our Gad which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb;" and all the angels stand about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fall on their face before the throne, and worship him, saying, "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen" ( Revelation 7:9-12 ).