Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.–Isa. 42:1
Angels reproved disciples of old with, "why stand ye gazing up to heaven?" Acts 1:11. How much do we deserve this reproof, Why stand ye gazing upon the vanities of the earth? Soul, at what art thou looking? What is the present object of thy attention? Be it what it may, God calleth to thee, and demands audience and attention. It is for your comfort and his glory. The Majesty of heaven speaks to sinful worms of the earth.
Behold; take off your eyes and thoughts from every object: be all eye, ear and attention to me. Ye poor, miserable, condemned souls, behold my Servant. Wonder, adore, rejoice and love. My beloved, my co-equal Son, who is Lord of all, becomes man, takes on him the form of a servant to do my will perfectly, and to finish your salvation completely.
Whom I uphold: carnal reason, bow: pride, avaunt: high thoughts, submit to faith's mystery. Christ, as perfect man, was too weak to sustain the load of a world of sin, and to support the suffering of divine wrath, in atoning for sin and satisfying divine justice: therefore all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him to uphold his manhood. O sinners, in your precious Saviour behold the man: adore the God.
Mine elect. Christ was chosen to the office of God's servant and our Saviour; chosen in the eternal counsel, before time, to assume human nature in the fulness of time. In whom my soul delighteth.Says St. John, "We know that we are of God." I John 5:19. How? By this sure mark, this infallible evidence, we are of one mind with God. Doth God's soul delight in the person and work of his beloved Son: so doth ours. Is God's soul delighted that Christ hath satisfied his justice, magnified and made honorable his law, and finished salvation for miserable sinners? So is ours, Then as surely as our souls delight in Christ, the Lord's soul delights in us. We are called Hephzibah, that is, the Lord's pleasure is in thee. Thou art married to him. His soul delighteth over thee. Isa. 62:4. He hath given his Spirit to thee: for, says Christ, he shall receive of mine, my love, my atonement, my redemption, my righteousness, my salvation, my resurrection, ascension and intercession, and shall show it unto you. Thus ye shall glorify me in your eyes and in your hearts. John 16:14.