Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Justice of Jesus | Historical Books | Isaiah 42:1-9

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Where do you see injustice today? Who is the "servant"? Do you submit to biblical justice? In today's episode, Jensen shares how Isaiah 42:1-9 reminds us that Jesus will bring ultimate justice to our hurting world. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Isaiah 42:1-9

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. My TV defaults to the news every time I turn it on. Whether I'm hopping on to help my kids watch an episode of Bluey or to catch up on a show with my husband, we always get a quick glimpse of a top news story. And 75% of the time, that news story is devastating. Even a momentary glimpse into the current events of our world doesn't paint. an uplifting picture. You can't escape it. It seems the waters that we swim in today are ones of

violence, hatred, and tragedy. Political enemies killing each other in broad daylight. Government agencies separating mothers and children in the dead of night. Men and boys with guns entering schools full of innocent children, synagogues, churches, concerts, and creating scenes of terror, senselessly murdering. Mothers watching, watching. their children starved to death, fathers sobbing over lifeless bodies of their families crushed beneath rubble. War, famine, murder, political violence, cruelty abounds, injustice abounds, everywhere you look. Now, when I talk about justice, you may have your preconceived notions about it depending on where you fall on a political spectrum. When I talked about areas of violence and injustice happening across

our globe, you may have been tempted to default to your political party's stance on the issues that you know that I just touched on. You may want to throw out talking points. You may want to explain. You may want to justify. You may want to ignore certain aspects of reality. And I just want to stop you before you jump in to the politics of it all. Because today we're reading from Isaiah, Aya 42, verses 1 through 9. And in these verses, we will find the first of four servant songs that we're going to look at this month as we finish out the year in Isaiah. Now, these servant songs are distinct prophetic visions about the Messiah. They will paint a picture of who this Messiah to come will be, of what he will do, of what his purposes, what he values, what the people of God can look

forward to when he comes. This servant, this Messiah that Isaiah will talk about, it's Jesus. The man that if you call yourself a believer has called you to follow in his ways. We know these servant songs are pointing forward to Jesus because in the Gospels in Matthew 12, Matthew specifically says that Jesus did certain things in order to fulfill these very verses that we will read today about himself. And it's in this first first. servant song that we will learn about Jesus's mission to bring justice to all the earth, to all people. When we as believers talk about justice or talk about injustice, talk about fixing the brokenness of our world around us, the very first place and person that we should look to is the one that we say

we submit our lives to follow. So let's do that now. Chapter 42 of Isaiah opens with, behold my servant whom I uphold my chosen in whom my soul delights this is god speaking through Isaiah telling us to behold his servant the one he has chosen in whom he delights in the chapter previous god has asked us to behold other things in chapter 41 verse 24 when he was speaking about idols he said behold you are nothing and your work is less than nothing an abomination is he who chooses you And then, when speaking of idol-worshipping nations, those who reject God, who replace him with finite things to worship and devote their lives to, he says in 41 verse 29, the verse right before this, behold, they are all a delusion, their works are nothing, their metal images are empty wind. So we have this contrast happening here. In the opening verse, we have beheld the idols and the idolatrous nations, We have found them wanting. They are nothing. They can do nothing. And those who choose them are an abomination. But here, now, behold my servant. He is unlike the idols they choose to worship.

Come and hear what he is like, what he will do. Behold my servant, whom I uphold my chosen and whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. So unlike the idols who are empty wind, God's servant, this man will be filled with the spirit of God. And through the power of God, he's going to bring forth justice to the nations. Now, justice in the Bible always refers to biblical justice. It means fulfilling mutual obligations, caring for one another, treating one another in a manner that is in line with God's moral law. biblical justice creates the perfect human society when everyone follows it. This isn't about politics.

This has been the call of every believer, every member of the people of God from the very beginning of time, because living in line with biblical justice is living in line with who we were created to be. It is the way to produce human flourishing not just for you, not just the flourishing that maybe we think we deserve or want. We aren't talking comfort or prosperity. We are talking human flourishing for all people, living in God's ways, the ways our creator created us to live. That is what this servant has come to bring. He will bring forth justice to the nations, all of them. Not just yours wherever you live. No, this is a global mission, a mission for redemption and restoration to biblical justice for all people.

And how will he do it? Well, if we all tried, I'm sure we could think of examples of people today and throughout history who have tried to bring justice, but in doing so, have created more destruction, mayhem, and injustice in their wake. Will the servant be the same? Will he be like Cyrus, the ruthless conqueror who brought forth his rule by crushing and defeating those beneath him? Verse two. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street. A bruised reed, he will not break.

In a faintly burning wick, he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. Now, the picture we get here is completely the opposite. This servant is gentle. He will faithfully bring forth justice, but he will not do it violently. he will not do it by force of power and will, he will not crush the weak, but defend them. And he will work tirelessly to that end. Verse four, he will not grow faint or be discouraged, till he has established justice in the earth,

and the coastlands wait for his law. This is the picture that we're given of the coming servant. He will restore the earth by bringing justice to everyone, even to the coastlands, to the ends of the earth. It honestly sounds too good to be true that a man could come who could do this, who could establish justice without violence, who could rescue the weak, who could bring real lasting justice to all the peoples of the earth. But verse five is our assurance. Thus says God the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk in it. See, God is saying, remember,

I am the creator. I give breath to all. I give my spirit to those I choose. I made everything. I sustain everything. And in speaking to a servant, he says, I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison, and those who sit in darkness, I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I give to no other nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you them. See, God is going to give this servant as a covenant for his people, a light for the nations. He will be our pathway to God, our way to restoration, the one who brings

justice to all people. And hear how he does it. He opens the eyes of the blind. He brings out the prisoners. He takes those trapped, weak, broken, despised, and he frees them from darkness and into light. And he again talks of idols, carved idols that deserve no praise. They are nothing. All glory is given to the Lord to this servant. The Lord declares that all of this will come true. God has been faithful to all his promises before and he will be faithful to bring this all to pass. We're given such a beautiful and redemptive and motivating picture of Jesus here. Remember, this passage tells us about who Jesus is, what he's come to do and as his followers, as those who have devoted our lives to his ways, this passage tells us what we are called to long for and who we look to in order to produce it.

See, this passage is a warning. Don't put your hope in idols. Don't be like the idolatrous nations who look to worthless idols who can do nothing to save them. How often do we put our hope? Do we look to political leaders and institutions to bring justice? How often do we put our trust in them? Do we give them passes for their part and injustice because we have elevated them so high, put so much of our trust, our hope in them that if we were to admit wrong, if we were to see their imperfection, our worlds would crumble. See, biblical justice following Jesus, calls every believer to cast out idols, to put our hope in the Lord alone, to trust that true justice comes from living in the way that we were created to live, and that one day the servant of God, Jesus will return,

and he will not stop until the entire earth has experienced the restoration of his justice. That is where our hope lies. You are aligned with Jesus, with His ways, with the ways of the God who created you. Deuteronomy 10, 17, and 18 says, For the Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords. The great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. Isaiah 117 says, Learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Matthew 25, 42 to 46. From the servant of God himself, Jesus, our Messiah, our king, the one we devote our lives to loving and following and serving. He says this, for I was hungry and you didn't feed me. I was thirsty and you didn't give me a drink. I was a stranger and you didn't invite me into your home. I was naked and you didn't give me clothing. I was sick and in prison and you didn't visit me. And they will reply, Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and not help you?

And he will answer, I tell you the truth. when you refuse to help the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me. The call of every believer is to submit yourself to biblical justice, to partner with Jesus and his mission, to restore the earth by bringing justice to every corner. It starts with you, and it starts today. Cast out idols of pride and politics and serve the only one worth serving.

call out evil wherever you see it care for those in need be grieved by the plight of the downtrodden of those in prison those in need no matter who they are no matter what they believe in who they worship who they love who they fight for where they were born no matter whether you believe them to be worthy of your care or not because jesus came to bring justice to all people do you believe that we cannot change all the evils of this world but of everyone who professed the name of Jesus as their Savior lived like he did. Can you imagine the impact, the good if we devoted ourselves to justice as he does? Follow the ways of Jesus, the ways that you are created to live in and partner with him in bringing human flourishing to all people. God, I repent of the ways that I cling to idols of pride

and politics. The ways that I get wrapped up in the ways of this world, God use me to bring forth justice. God, fill me with your spirit, and enable me to love and care for those around me. Help me to follow in the footsteps of my King Jesus, the one who died for the oppressed to set us free. God give all of us eyes to see the world the way that you do. Have mercy on us for the ways that we fail. Come, Lord Jesus, bring justice to the ends of the earth and the darkness of our day. God, we need you, we look to you, we follow you alone. Amen.