Sermon on Isaiah 42:13
Theme: The Promised Warrior
Date Preached: February 26, 2020 – Ash Wednesday

Some of our favorite pictures of Jesus show his kindness, his gentleness, and his love. We have pictures on our walls of Jesus being the Good Shepherd and caring for his sheep. We love the image of Jesus welcoming the little children into his arms. Yet, some could look at these pictures of Jesus and wonder if he is tough enough for the way our world is today. We live in a world at war. We see hostility between races, between political parties, and between families. Violence against governments, terrorism and wars on terrorism, and gunshots ringing through the halls of our schools. We have economic wars and a war on drugs. Yes, our world is at war.
And it has been since shortly after creation. Throughout history a bigger war has been going on. A war that has claimed billions of victims. It is a war that includes the most horrendous and world-changing battle of all time. This Lenten season we plan to take a closer look at how this greatest war was fought as it heads toward the final showdown. At the center of it all is one person. He is: The Promised Warrior 
The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. (Is. 42:13)
In Isaiah’s day (about 2,700 years ago), God’s people had already been expecting the warrior for thousands of years. The first battle put Satan, our worst enemy, against Adam and Eve in Eden. Adam and Eve lost the battle, sin came into our once-perfect world, and with it came death and hell. What a costly battle to lose!
Yet immediately after that lost battle, God promised Satan that he was sending someone a lot stronger than Adam or Eve who would take the fight to him. Listen to God’s promise of future violence: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
The conflict God predicted was not going to be pretty. It was not going to be a discussion. It was not going to be a negotiated settlement. It would be a huge bloody struggle between Satan and the warrior who would come from Eve’s family line. Satan would strike this warrior. Yet, the end result would be that Satan’s head would be crushed. The crushing of a head – a deadly, violent, and powerful blow. There is no coming back from a crushed head. Satan would be completely defeated.
But there would be a lot of waiting—thousands of years—before the time was right for the promised Savior-warrior to arrive. During that waiting period, the world’s population grew, and so did unbelief and evil. God kept giving his people opportunities to stay strong and wait for the promised Savior. But time and time again, they ignored him and brought all kinds of trouble on themselves.
You know the reason. They had something sinister deep inside of them. It’s the same defect that infects all of us. The Bible calls it sin. No medical procedures can remove it. A surgeon’s knife cannot cut it out. There is no drug that will remove it. Radiation can’t burn it out of us. It’s our enemy of the worst kind, and it has powerful allies who fight tirelessly against us—the devil; a corrupt, damaged world; and finally, death. There can be no peace treaty worked out with them because they want us dead. Instead, a war must be waged. But not matter how strong our resolve is, we cannot defeat them. Day after day we have fallen into the traps they have laid out for us, and we find ourselves steeped in sin. We cannot rid ourselves of the sin that has so plagued our hearts.
We need somebody on our side who is bigger and stronger than our enemies. This is a battle for our lives now and for all eternity. Very real enemies are lined up against us. We are desperate and weary and in need of help. When St. Paul took an honest look at his own life, he said it like this: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Romans 7:24).

Isaiah beautifully answers the question of who Paul’s rescuer is. He is the same one who is our rescuer. The Lord will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. (Is. 42:13)
God promises that he is sending a champion for his people. Now, Isaiah and the people of Israel didn’t know exactly when that would be, but the promise given in this verse says that he is on the way. If God makes a promise, he is sure to keep it. Seven hundred more year would go by. That is a lot of waiting. But in the meantime, God gave them this promise and others to reassure them that the champion is about to come marching into this world.

This champion is not just the Good Shepherd portrayed in Psalm 23. Isaiah tells us he is also a warrior! The picture behind this word “warrior” is someone who is a veteran of battle. He has seen combat and knows the ins and outs of what the fight is all about. Who do you think threw Satan out of heaven? When Joshua was near Jericho, whose walls were about to fall, who was that man “standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand” (Joshua 5:13)? Who single-handedly struck down 185,000 experienced Assyrian soldiers when they came to destroy Jerusalem? The Lord of hosts of the Old Testament was none other than the preincarnate Christ! This warrior has thousands of years of battle experience in war, all as a winner. He is a champion! When his people are under siege, he comes with his mighty arm to their rescue. He comes to fight for them.

This warrior is someone so strong that he can willingly allow others to take him captive (only after he has knocked them down to the ground to demonstrate his power over them), beat him, wound him, and even put him on a cross. They could only do that because it was all part of his strategy. He endured it all while knowing that he could at any moment stop the whole thing and blast them with the same power he used in making the universe. With the same voice that said, ‘Let there be light.”, he could have said, “Let those who are arresting me and accusing me be no more.” They would have vanished in an instant. But that was not his plan for our victory.

Though we haven’t mentioned him by name yet, you know who this promised warrior is. Jesus! Jesus is different than any other kind of warrior. He didn’t need body armor or the latest advancement in firepower. Instead, he took on human flesh and blood. He was sent as our substitute. He was like us but with one important difference: He was without sin. He was pure and holy. He was righteous and good. There was no sin or deceit in him. Not once during his entire lifetime on this earth did he ever think, say, or do something sinful. Even in battle, his only motive was love, pure love for both friend and foe alike. The Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers could not and did not kill him. Only he could willingly give up his life, and he only did that when his last enemy was destroyed.

Isaiah writes about this warrior: “With a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies” (Isaiah 42:13). Over the years, many warriors have had certain battle cries such as, “Remember the Alamo!” or the Confederate “Rebel Yell.” Our promised warrior would come with a very unique battle cry. It is not one that came from his lips at the beginning of the battle, but at the very end. You hear it tonight, perhaps not directly, but it’s here. You hear it echoed every Sunday in this place and every day you open up the pages of God’s Word. It is this, “Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30).

You recognize that as the sound of triumph—just as Isaiah had predicted—as our promised warrior brought the end to the battle for the world. His work for you and me was done. Our good and faithful Lord has won. The cry of triumph means that all our sin and guilt is forgiven. It means we are clothed with our warrior’s victory. His righteousness covers us.
Let there be no doubt here tonight that Jesus Christ, the long-promised champion-warrior, came and won that war for our souls. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t without great pain, even death. The great news is that he has indeed conquered not only Satan and hell but also death itself! The Lord Jesus has come to fight on your behalf and to win the great victory for you. He is not just your Good Shepherd who will guide you to quiet waters and green pastures. He is also your warrior, who won your freedom from sin and your place in everlasting life. God has conquered our enemies and continues to fight for us every single day.
And tonight, like every night, each of us can say with David of old, “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8). 
-	Amen.