Isaiah 42:1 speaks of Jesus as the Servant of Jehovah who is anointed by the Holy Spirit. "Behold My Servant whom I uphold." A true servant of God is one who is upheld by God, not by money or by an organisation or any human agency. The Lord is the One Who should uphold us at all times. Men may give us gifts. But we must never depend on men or money. The word "uphold" refers to that which we are dependent on. We must be dependent on the Lord alone. It is when we come to the place of helplessness that God puts His Spirit on us.

Isaiah 42:2: "He will not cry out or raise His voice in the streets. "This is quoted as referring to Jesus in Matthew 12:19, 20, where it goes on to say, "He will not make His voice heard in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break." That means that the Lord will never discourage anyone who has made a mess of his life but will encourage him and heal him. The Lord will not put out the wick of a candle that is about to die. On the other hand, He will blow it into a flame. God is interested in helping weak believers who have failed. He is interested in helping those who are discouraged and depressed and to lift their spirits. A true servant of the Lord will always have a similar ministry of encouragement, lifting the spirits of those who are depressed and discouraged and who feel hopeless and are fed up with life. Let us all seek for such a ministry because people need it everywhere.

Isaiah 42:19: "Who is blind but My Servant? Who is deaf like My Messenger? Who is so blind as the One who is at peace with Me totally, so blind as the Servant of the Lord?" This looks like a puzzling verse, especially since it refers clearly to Jesus (as we can see from verse 1). What does it mean? It means that a true servant of God will be blind and deaf to many things that he sees and hears around him. He sees many things, but he doesn't observe them (verse 20). He doesn't go around looking for sin in others. He doesn't go around listening to people in order to catch them in something they said. The Pharisees were like that - always waiting to catch Jesus in something He said in order to accuse Him. Many Christians are unfortunately like that too - always waiting to accuse someone in something he said - very often because they are jealous of his ministry. Don't be like them. Be deaf and blind to many things that you hear and see around you. Did you hear that someone made a false accusation against you? If you were deaf you would not have heard it. Be "deaf" then! Isn't it good for a servant of the Lord to be "blind" to attractive women? You have eyes, but you don't see. You are "blind"! You have ears, but you don't hear! Because you do not judge by what your eyes see or what your ears hear. This is how Jesus lived and this is how we must live too (Isaiah 11:3)

Isaiah 50:4 is a prophecy about Jesus. It says here that Jesus would have a disciplined tongue which He would use to comfort weary people with words in season. The tongue is the main part of our body that God uses and so every servant of God must discipline its use. We see that Jesus' mouth was like a sharp sword (49:2). God's Word that comes out of our mouths is at times like a sharp sword that cuts the heart open and exposes wrong motives, and at times it is a gentle word that encourages. We read here that Jesus would wake up every morning to listen to what the Father had to say (verse 4). And when He heard something He was immediately obedient. He accepted His Father's will even when that involved allowing other people to slap Him and hit Him and spit on Him (verses 5, 6). And when people did all this, Jesus "set His face like a flint" (verse 7), not to take revenge on them or to threaten them but to forgive them and bless them. He knew that he would not be ashamed because the One who vindicated Him was always near (verse 8).