Mr. Sword Mouth - Isaiah 49:1-7

Chad Richard Bresson

The Table of Los Fresnos

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Prepping for the Quest

Almost every great movie about adventure or quest has a prep stage… where the hero has a lot of prep and training to do before they actually begin to do what they are supposed to be doing. Batman has to spend time in the east learning how to fight like a warrior. The Karate Kid learns how to “wax on, wax off” on his way to the big showdown. Before you save the world, you have to be trained and equipped.

That’s how Isaiah 49 treats the subject of a Servant who is coming to save his people. Cyrus is coming to save Israel from Babylon. But even after Cyrus, someone is coming who is greater than Cyrus. God is going to save His people, but he’s not going to snap his fingers in order to save them. Nor is he going to use the traditional weapons of warfare. In fact, when God saves his people throughout the Bible, it’s almost never through the use of force. Which is ironic since there are more than a few instances in the Bible in which an army is used by God to free his people… but the way they are freed is not through traditional warfare.

The Servant Speaks

We have a hint about how God is going to save the world through his Servant from the very beginning of this chapter. It’s all about talking and speech and words. Talk, talk, talk. The Servant himself is speaking in verse one. He has an announcement to make.

Isaiah 49:1 “Coasts and islands, listen to me; distant peoples, pay attention.

Coasts and Islands… distant peoples. The whole earth needs to wake up and listen up… pay attention. These are the opening lines of this song. Whatever it is you’re doing, stop it. Drop whatever it is you have going today, whatever I have to say has to be heard.

The Lord called me before I was born. He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.

So… listen up. Pay attention. I have something to say. The LORD called me. The Lord named me. He made my words. We’re not going to dissect all of this phrase by phrase. But what we need to see is that God has something to say, God is speaking, and in His speaking he is preparing His servant to save His people. There’s no quick fix to saving his people. He’s not just going to wave a wand and all of a sudden the sin problem goes away, the idolatry goes away, or even that His people somehow magically reappear in Jerusalem through some space portal.

My mouth is like a sword

God is going to prep his servant. God calls. God names. God has a plan. And God is going to equip His servant:

Isaiah 49:2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;

That sounds really strange to us. Mouths and swords do not go together in our culture, unless you are the sword guy at the circus swallowing swords. There are some things to say here about this really strange phrase. What does it mean for the mouth to be like a sharp sword. Throughout the Bible, spoken words are talked about as if they are swords. And swords are used to both provide judgment and justice and to provide salvation. Words can used to judge right and wrong. Words can be used to condemn and kill. But words also can be used to give life, to create and provide salvation, mercy, forgiveness and grace.

When God speaks, things happen. It only takes a word. For example, a road sign says “Stop” and we stop. A parent might look at a dirty room and say, “Clean,” and we clean—quickly! A bill says “Due,” and if we have the money, we pay now. In these instances, it only takes one word!

God’s Word Kills and Saves

God is constantly using words in both ways. The ten commandments are often spoken about as God’s one word… those words are used to judge right and wrong and to condemn and kill. But God also spoke the world into existence. He also tells the wind and waves to be at peace. His Word is bread… the very creation and sustenance of life. When words are used by God, they actually do the act that they are saying they do. When Jesus says “rise, get your bed together and walk”, that word “rise” is performing the healing action even as it is said.

That’s how words are a sword… justice and salvation. But there’s also this. This phrase goes beyond this. The word use is literally “mouth”. And that points to something else going on. It’s not an accident, nor is it just a metaphor. This is personal. These words being spoken by God aren’t just abstract words. They fall from the lips of a Person. There is a mouth that speaks the words, meaning none of this is arbitrary. The mouth is the body part of a person who is speaking salvation for His people.

So this Servant is like none other. There’s a lot of debate about whether this servant is Israel… and while it is true that God calls his servant, Israel, even here in chapter 49, the stuff that’s being said about the servant far surpasses anything that could be said about Israel, including the sword in the mouth. Israel again and again has failed to provide justice or salvation with its words. It has failed to believe the word it was given. There must be a new Israel to do all of the things that Israel has not done or is not doing.

The Servant of Isaiah is The Word made flesh

And that New Israel is found in the Person of Jesus who is called the Word of God Himself. St. John, in his biography, says this of Jesus:

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the very Word of God made flesh. We often think about the Word of God as the Bible, and we should. But what makes the Bible the Word of God is that Jesus is the Word of God first. The Word of God is a Person. The Servant who has a sword in his mouth. That’s Jesus.

St. John meets up with Jesus on the island of Patmos some years after Jesus has ascended to His Father’s right hand… and this is what it says:

Revelation 1:14–16 The hair of his head was white as wool—white as snow—and his eyes like a fiery flame...a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength.

John sees what Isaiah saw.. a servant with a sword in the mouth. A mouth that speaks judgment and salvation. The risen Christ in all his glory is still The Word of God. His mouth still speaks judgment and forgiveness. But we need to say this. Later, John sees Jesus using that sword in the mouth against Jesus’ enemies. And waaaaaaayyyy too often, we see this imagery and we think, man, I can’t wait till the enemies of Jesus get what’s coming to them. You know that’s just one piece of what “enemies” means, right?

Jesus speaks death and forgiveness.. to sin

Let me show you an enemy that is being killed by the Servant Sword Mouth. Jesus is at dinner. A prostitute wipes his feet with perfume and her tears and this is what Jesus says:

Luke 7:47–48 “Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Your sins are forgiven. In one fell swoop… judgment and salvation. Sin is killed. The woman is saved. Jesus, the Divine Warrior, wages war on sin and death with life and forgiveness. Sin is the enemy that is killed in forgiveness.

The Sword Mouth speaks from the Cross

But that also brings up this… while John is using the image of Jesus being the glorious Divine Warrior, that imagery is missing from Isaiah. It’s the Suffering Servant with the sword mouth in Isaiah. You see, the Divine Warrior IS the Suffering Servant… and the Suffering Servant is riding the white horse and waging war on sin, death, and the devil, and yes, His enemies… at the cross. And do you know what the Servant Sword Mouth is saying at the cross?

IT IS FINISHED!

That’s the Word that kills. What is finished. The work of salvation and redemption. AND sin. Sin is finished. Death is finished. And while we still have to live with sin and death, make no mistake their time is limited because they are finished. Jesus spoke death to sin. Jesus spoke life and forgiveness FOR YOU… it is finished. All that the Old Testament had foreshadowed, foretold, predicted, prefigured, and promised is now complete, done, finished. The serpent is crushed, the Lamb is slain, the atonement is made, the Passover is complete, and the banquet is ready. From the cross, He speaks one-word descriptions over us—forgiven, washed, cleansed, justified, loved!

Jesus is the Servant Sword-Mouth FOR US

But Jesus is still doing this Sword-Mouth work to us, FOR US, and in us. He speaks into the chaos of our lives.

Hebrews 4:12 “The word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

One of the bad ways of reading this is to only read this in terms of God’s Word, the Bible. This is there. But more importantly, this is talking about Jesus, The Word himself. Jesus, as The Word, is living and active, still FOR US. Jesus sets right what is wrong with our lives. Every time we gather. In His Word preached, and in the sacraments. It is there that sin is killed and we are given life and forgiveness again and again. There’s nothing stale about this Word. There’s nothing lifeless about this Word. It is living and active, constantly at work FOR YOU in your salvation from sin and death.

And this promise isn’t just for those of us here.

Isaiah 49:6 The LORD says, “It is not enough for you to be my servant raising up the tribes of Jacob and restoring the protected ones of Israel. I will also make you a light for the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

These promises of life and salvation aren’t just for the chosen few. Not just for Israel. But for the whole world. I love how God phrases this… “it’s not enough”. He’s not interested in only a few being the recipients of the promises flowing out of his Sword Mouth. This is where you hear God’s heart talking. He wants it for the whole world. And the Words flowing out of the Servant’s Sword Mouth are a light for the nations. A light. That’s hope. That’s love. To the ends of the earth. There’s nowhere on earth where there is to be zero forgiveness and zero salvation. Jesus is constantly speaking life and salvation into the lives of people everywhere so that eventually the entire earth is covered with his light.

So.. to all those who feel beat up by life, Jesus speaks life and hope. To those who have been handed severe disappointment and tragedy, Jesus speaks healing. To those who constantly fight with sin and self-sufficiency and self-reliance, Jesus speaks forgiveness and faith. To those who feel the hurt and pain of guilt or even death, Jesus speaks freedom and comfort.

Let’s Pray.

The Table

This table is the Servant Sword Mouth for you. This is where sin and death and the devil meet their end. This is Christ’s forgiveness, life, and salvation for you. Jesus speaks forgiveness into existence and salvation into existence through His body and His blood. FOR YOU.

Benediction

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