One of the things I enjoy most is music. I don’t think a day goes by where I am not listening to an old movie soundtrack or some familiar tune. I find myself instinctively humming it throughout the day. I love music, especially the Christmas classics that fill our every store. Perhaps many of you also enjoy music in this way. Music is this wonderful gift that can transport us to a different time and place. It can remind us of former joys. It can comfort us when we are in the midst of despair.
Martin Luther, the great protestant reformer, was also an accomplished musician. He wrote several hymns that the church continues to use even today. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of reading Luther for himself than you know he has a unique sound all of his own. I love his frankness. Luther said, “I have no use for cranks who despise music, because it is a gift of God. Music drives away the Devil and makes people joyful; they forget thereby all wrath, unchastity, arrogance, and the like. Next after theology, I give to music the highest place and the greatest honor.” To build off of Luther’s comments, we utilize music in all the greatest moments of our lives from baptisms, burials, and everything that finds itself between.
Singing was not created by men but by God. The command to sing was not instituted by men but commanded by God. One place we see this is in Isaiah 42:10 which says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.” (ESV) Notice with me that God is not recommending that you sing praise to Him. It s a command from Scripture; not a suggestion. Just as the word of God commands, “You shall not steal.” so the Word of God says, “You will sing!”
The command to sing does not come abruptly or without cause. Even in this passage of Isaiah, we find sufficient evidences in the surrounding context. To no one’s surprise, especially this time of year, the entirety of it is rooted in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are unaware, the prophet Isaiah penned these words 700 years before the birth of Christ. Although some modern theologians want to claim that the book of Isaiah was written by more than one author (even perhaps 3) this is often founded because of a refusal to accept the reality that God speaks through ordinary people in a supernatural way. Another problem with such a view is that Jesus flatly denies it by quoting the beginning and ending of Isaiah and referring to the whole as the work of an individual prophet.
Returning to the text, Isaiah 42:1-9 all point to the coming Servant of the LORD (cf. Matt. 12:15-21). As you examine this passage you find more than enough reasons to sing as you learn about the character the Messiah who is to come. This Messiah would be a physician of the soul, as we see Jesus refer to Himself in Mark 2:17. But here in Isaiah 42:6-7 we read that the promised Servant will come “to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” (ESV) Here we see both the outworking of this promised covenant that the Lord will make through His Servant (Isaiah 42:6) and the sweet music of heaven in this promise.
The Lord Jesus did this literally and physically as the countless stories of the Gospels teach us. He did not merely heal our physical eyes, but our spiritual eyes to see our spiritually neediness and His spiritual spiritual provision. He takes the broken hearted and gives them a new heart so that through the power of the Holy Spirit they can experience real transformation. To what end? That they are no more slaves of the darkness of sin, their own darkness, or the darkness of others. Jesus comes to bring true spiritual, life-altering freedom.
This is why we sing. This is our response to the promises and sweetness of God’s gospel promises. We sing because we find from this text that God is not seeking out those individuals who have gotten their act together. Neither is He looking for those who are looking for Him on their own for Scripture tells us “no one seeks for God” (Rom. 3:11). God is the One who actively seeks out the very dregs of society, and in mercy transforms people like us into His glorious saints. How? Through the perfect obedience and righteousness satisfying sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What are some obstacles in your life right now that you think will keep God from entering into your world for the better? Which parts of your world seem too big or too bad for God to fix? What is it? A character defect? A miserable failure? A checkered story full of horror? A diagnosis? A lost family member? A Broken home? A terrible job you can’t escape? What is it that you think is stronger than the hand of God?
Our text is a challenge to put every obstacle you think is too big or strong fro God so that when you’ve put it all before Him He asks, “Is there anything else?” And by a simple breath from His lips they are scattered away as if a tornado had blown them clear across the county. We don’t think of God like that. But perhaps that is because all too often we’ve created a god in our own image: limited, weak, insufficient. Perhaps we think too often of God in this diminished way because we don’t know enough about Him.
God’s command to sing is a call to faith. It is a call to sing of the new things God will do even before He does them. It is a call of faith to praise God for what He will do even when things look their worst. How can we know this to be true? Because the Lord Jesus Christ is no longer in the grave. He conquered the grave and His resurrection is the stamp of God’s approval of the whole of His words and work.