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The Bible is a missionary book because its divine author is a missionary God. As we read through the Bible with its many human authors, different situations, written over many centuries we will still get glimpses right the way through of our missionary God.
Isaiah 49:1-6 gives us a clear view of this missionary God in the person of his missionary servant, speaking for the most part autobiographically. The audience addressed is universal (1) Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. What God says here is for everyone.
This servant who has been introduced in Isaiah 42 goes on to describe the Lord’s calling on his life (1) The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name, the Lord’s equipping of this servant with the sword of the word of God and yet his hiddenness (2): He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.
In V3 we have the servant’s job title and purpose given to him by the Lord: And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” and yet, despite the note of failure in V4, the Lord extends the remit of the servant from a focus on Israel to one that embraces being ‘a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth’ , because of the greatness of this servant. What God speaks of here is for everyone.
V6 is quoted twice in the New Testament:
God’s concern continues to be for all the families of the earth. Jesus is God’s missionary sent to carry out God’s missionary mandate. The people of God, the church, being the body of Christ, are engaged in making God’s salvation in Christ known to the end of the earth.
Bishop Andy Lines
Presiding Bishop, Anglican Network in Europe
