Isaiah 49:3-4 And said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.… How numerous are God's servants! All things in heaven and upon earth, all worlds, all elements, and all creatures are His servants, which obey His word, and declare His greatness and glory. But of all God's servants in this world man ranks highest, and through his service God is glorified in a sense that He could not be glorified through the service of any other creature. Israel was God's servant in a pre-eminent sense, whether the word be taken to mean the nation as God's chosen people or an individual as God's messenger to do His will. But the ideal of God's servant in this book was realised only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Man appears greatest when he serves, and there is no way to true greatness but through service. And God appears greatest when He condescends to serve. The Son of God looks more Divine on the Cross of His humiliation than on the throne of His glory, for on the Cross that which was deepest in His nature became visible. And it may be said that in every good man God becomes incarnate, and takes upon Himself the form of a servant, and by so doing bestows upon him the highest greatness. God says to every one of His faithful children, "Thou art My servant, in whom I will be glorified." The way to glorify God is by serving man. I. WHAT IS MEAT BY GOD'S GLORY? With glory we associate the ideas of purity, beauty, and sublimity; and God's glory is the energetic expression of His holiness in all His works, in myriad different forms and ways. II. THE SERVICE OF MAN AS THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD'S HIGHEST GLORY. Man has been created for the revelation of the highest glory of the Divine nature, and when he serves God faithfully, God breaks forth into glory in his character and work. This is the glory of His moral attributes, the glory of His love, mercy, compassion, and tenderness, which is infinitely greater than all the glory of the material universe. You can never learn the character of God from the facts of nature, any more than you can learn the character of the artist from his paintings, of the architect from the buildings he has planned, or of the builder from his work. In every gentle and kind word spoken to the affected, in every look of compassion, in every tear of sympathy, and in every deed of kindness, God breaks into glory that would make you tremble and adore if you were spiritual enough to see it. How the Divine glory shone in the life of the apostle Paul! In a dark age, when the superstition of the Papacy covered the land, God called Martin Luther, and said, "Thou art My servant, in whom I will be glorified." And in Rowlands, Whitefield, Wesley, and others, God's glory broke forth in a similar manner. In the only-begotten Son was revealed the glory of God as the Eternal Father (John 1:14). Before the same glory shines forth in us we must become something more than professed Christians, we must become Christ's. (Z. Mather.) Parallel Verses KJV: And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.WEB: and he said to me, "You are my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified." |
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