He [the Lord God] says:
Isaiah 49:6 NIV
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Isaiah 49:1-7 is one of the messianic Servant Songs of Isaiah. In the first four verses of this song, the Servant spoke of his calling, the words God gave him to declare, and the splendor of God that would be revealed through him. And while his labor seemed to have been in vain, he trusted that his reward was with the Lord God.
The latter three verses of the song are the Lord’s response to the Servant. The Servant had been called to restore the tribes of Israel and bring back those of Israel that God had kept. He was the Jewish Messiah. But, God told him, his task was much greater than that. This Servant would also be a light to the Gentiles and take God’s salvation to the ends of the earth.
Who is this servant? As Christians, we understand the Servant to be Jesus. He was called from creation yet born in obscurity. As a mighty prophet, he boldly proclaimed the kingdom of God. But his mission seemed to end in failure on a Roman cross.
But it was not a failure. The message of the cross and the one who died on it, the one that death could not keep, has spread throughout the world, bringing God’s salvation with it. It has become a light to Jews and Gentiles alike.
