NOTES for Isa 42:1

In this verse of the prophet Isaiah, is given to us an almost physically visible image: here is the servant that God upholds, - does not retain, but supports, because He is the elected, the beloved. And the immediate association: a Father upholding His Son - hearty and fondly. The words about the benevolence of the Father towards the Son reecho with this testimony that John the Baptist heard during the Lord’s baptism, when God put His Spirit on Jesus standing in the water of Jordan. And after that the Christ begins His service as Servant of God, doing good and driving away evil, - "For judgment I am come into this world" (John 9:39). Thus, all this verse augurs about the earth way of the Son of Man: the exceptional, the benevolence and support of the Father, growth, fulfillment with Spirit, service, judgment.