“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, my Elect One in whom My soul delights!” (Isa. 42:1) So began my readings this morning . . . such was the tone set for my encounter with God’s Son through God’s Holy Word . . . not a bad way to start the day.

He is God’s Elect . . . the Father’s blessed Son come as His faithful Servant. He is the gentle Jesus . . . not crying out in the street . . . “a bruised reed He will not break . . . and smoking flax He will not quench” (42:3). Jehovah God had called Him forth in righteousness and sent Him in service to a hostile “mission field” with the promise that God would “hold His hand” and would uphold Him through the work He was to accomplish . . . determined that He would present His servant as a “covenant to the people” (42:6).

He has sent His Servant that I might know my God . . . and believe in and understand the nature of the Almighty . . . knowing that apart from God, and His blessed Servant, there is no savior (43:10-11). That He is my Lord, my Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel (43:14) . . . that He is the Lord, the Holy One, the Creator of Israel, my King (43:15) . . . that it is He, who by grace and through the Servant’s work, has provided the means by which He can blot out my transgressions for His own sake, determining to not remember my sins anymore (43:25).

And, after beholding the Servant through the writings of the ancient prophet, I then read in the letter to the Hebrews and there continue to behold His Servant . . .

The One who, with His own blood, “entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12) . . . “who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God” in order to purify not just the outside but to cleanse my conscience — my inner man . . . the very essence of how I am wired and operate — to cleanse me from the inside out in order to serve the living God (9:14). Behold the Servant . . . “He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death . . . that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance (9:15) . . . He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (9:26) . . . “so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many” (9:28a) . . . Behold the Servant . . . Behold your salvation!

Is there a more glorious theme? . . . a more magnificent contemplation? . . . than to heed God’s call to look upon His Son . . . His Servant . . . the Sacrifice . . . the Savior.

And so, I try and pause and reflect . . . I marvel afresh at the Christ . . . I’m humbled anew at the work He completed because of my sin . . . and I whisper, “Thank You, Lord.” Behold the Servant!

And then I read this, “To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” (9:28b)

He will appear a second time . . . and we will again Behold the Servant. But it will not be the lowly Jesus I see . . . it will not be Him who divested Himself of His heavenly glory in order to take on flesh and enter into the struggle of sin and a fallen world. No, this second time He will come in all His glory . . . as King of kings and Lord of lords . . . to complete the work of salvation . . . not through shedding of blood again . . . but through the wielding of a victor’s sword as He puts down the enemy, and sin, and death once and for all. And I shall behold Him.

And who knows, perhaps the “beholding by faith” I enjoy this morning may, by day’s end, be a beholding “face to face.” Am I part of that company that “eagerly wait for Him?” How I desire to be. That His Spirit within me would awaken me to the possibility of His return today . . . that I would live in a constant anticipation of the completion of my salvation . . . that I might have an eye to the sky . . . ready to see the Savior . . . ready to “Behold My Servant!”