Sat Aug 15

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the words servant and he.

Reading

Isaiah 42:1-9-The Bruised Reed

Optional Reading

Matt 12:15-21

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

Jesus is the Servant who will bring justice to the nations.
He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick.
He accomplished what God sent Him to do.

Questions

(Some read the ?s before the notes/ ask them after.)

Who is this Servant?
How do we know who this Servant is?
What does this passage tell us about the Servant?

Notes

(See below for all authors.)

This is the first of Isaiah's four Servant Songs, fulfilled in Christ. He is the servant of the Lord. He is God; alternative to our idols. He is not an abomination; he is a delight. But he also stands in contrast with Cyrus the conqueror who "shall trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay" (41:25). Cyrus stepped on people. But when Jesus rose in history, he did not break a bruised reed or quench a faintly burning wick. When Matthew quotes this text in the New Testament, he says it was fulfilled when Jesus was healing sick people, and Jesus was quiet about it (Matthew 12:15-21). He gave suffering people their lives back, and he didn't use his success with them to take advantage of them or promote himself. No destructive swagger. No brutal grasping. A gentle servant brings forth justice to the nations.

Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., Isaiah: God Saves Sinners, Preaching the Word

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 116a, 51d

Prayer

Thank God for sending Jesus, who will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick.
Pray for the reading and preaching of God’s word tomorrow.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.

Notes this week are drawn in part from commentaries by John Calvin, William Hendriksen, Kent Hughes, Gordon J. Keddie, the Theological Dictionary of the Old and New Testaments (TDOT, TDNT) and notes from the CSB Study Bible, and the Reformation Study Bible (RSB).