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I. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF A HIGH VOCATION. "He said unto Me, Thou art My servant," &c. Just as the words, "Out of Egypt have I called My son," never found their full significance until they were applied to God's greater Son, so the name "Israel" was never fulfilled finally in Jacob, who first bore it, nor even in the nation that has borne it after him, but has found its ultimate fulfilment in Him who is pre-eminently a "Prince with God," and our Prince, because He is our Saviour. We have, therefore, here a prediction of the consciousness of a high mission which possessed the Christ, and brought Him to this world of ours. Some of us will never forget the day when we were conscious for the first time of the inspiring fact that God had spoken to us, and through that experience of ours we may be able — as, indeed, the prophet through his experience was supremely able — to understand something of the ecstasy with which Christ, conscious of His glorious mission, came to this world of ours. It was that that Christ remembered throughout His life, and it was that which sustained Him throughout His personal ministry in the face of opposition and discouragement of every kind. He knew that He was doing His Father's will, and it was this consciousness that found expression in the prayer which He uttered on the eve of His great passion, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." It was this assurance, too, that He sought to give to His disciples as the mainspring of all their heroism. "As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." "Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Scholars are divided here in opinion. Some say that this ought to be translated, "In whom I will burst forth into glory." This is a translation that charms me. Jesus was indeed "the effulgence" of the Father's glory — the shining forth of the light which had ever been the light, but which would have been largely invisible to man apart from the Incarnation. Then there is the other translation, "In whom I will beautify" — or "glorify" — "Myself." In harmony with this Jesus exclaimed near the close of His life, "Father... glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." Did not the Son glorify the Father by the very outburst of light which distinguished His life among men?

II. THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF APPARENT FAILURE. "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and in vain." We trace this consciousness at times even in the Master in Gospel story. His disappointment in the face of human unbelief, His sorrow over human sinfulness and ingratitude, the apparent waste of the Divinest life that was ever lived among men in precept and example — these weighed heavily upon Him. In this respect, as in many others, He was touched with the feeling of our infirmity.

III. THE ASSURANCE OF FINAL VINDICATION. "Yet surely My judgment is with the Lord, and My recompense with My God." In other words, He knows the motives which have prompted Me, and what led Me on step by step. Whether life be a failure or not, whether My self-sacrifice appear fruitless or not, He knows what is the root of all. Yea, I know more than that — I know not only that He will vindicate Me and the motives which prompted Me; but I also know that My work must find its reward; that all that is apparent failure is only apparent; that My toil must bring forth fruit — "Surely... My work is with My God" (or, according to the R.V., "My recompense is with My God"). Here again there is the double meaning, and therefore a special wealth of significance. The word denotes more than the "work," and more than the "recompense." It denotes the work and its result; all that the work meant: the toil of saving men, and the reward of seeing them saved. Thus the Christ Himself, amidst all the ignominy and anguish of the Cross and Passion, fell back upon the assurance of the Father's final vindication. These, then, being pre-eminently the words of the world's Redeemer, are surely an example and an inspiration to us to follow His example.

(D. Davies.)

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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."