Sermon Text: Isaiah 42:14-21
Date: March 15, 2026
Event: The Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year A

Isaiah 42:14-21 (EHV)

I have been silent for a long time.
I have kept still. I have restrained myself.
But now, like a woman giving birth, I will scream.
I will gasp and pant.
15I will dry up mountains and hills.
I will make all their grass wither.
I will turn rivers into islands.
I will dry up pools.
16I will lead the blind on a way they do not know.
Along paths they do not know I will direct them.
Ahead of them I will turn darkness into light
and rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will accomplish for them.
I will not abandon them.
17They will be turned back and completely disgraced—
those who trust in an idol,
those who say to molten images, “You are our gods.”
18You deaf ones, listen!
You blind ones, watch carefully so that you can see!
19Who is as blind as my servant?
Who is as deaf as my messenger whom I sent?
Who is as blind as my associate,
as blind as the servant of the LORD?
20You, Israel, see many things, but you do not observe.
Israel opens his ears, but he does not hear.
21Because of his own righteousness,
the LORD was pleased to make his law great and glorious.

God Saves Us from Our Blindness

Have you ever met someone who seems to be completely blind to the reality around them? Maybe it’s a child who doesn’t yet fully grasp the impact their words or actions have on other people. Maybe it’s a family member or a friend who can’t see the long-lasting, negative consequences of their alcohol or drug use, or a poor diet is having on themselves, and how it impacts others they love. Maybe it’s someone fretting about something that has been clearly handled and doesn’t warrant that level of concern. Maybe there’s been a point in your life when you look back and think you were blind to the things right in front of you that seem like they should have been obvious.

It can be frustrating to help a person stuck in that situation because they are so locked into seeing things the way they have been (or not seeing things as they really are) that trying to break them out of that viewpoint can feel impossible. Someone who is actually physically blind knows there’s a problem, knows they need to do something to compensate or adjust, but blindness in how we think or feel is much tougher because you have to start by establishing the need.

That is the problem that comes as God works with human beings. We are sinners who need help—complete rescue—but to fully grasp what God has done, we need to first understand the need we have. In the same way that you probably wouldn’t take medicine unless you knew what problem it was supposed to help solve, we are unlikely to seek out solutions to problems that we don’t know that we have. There are many ways in which the cliché phrase “ignorance is bliss” may actually be true. But ignorance about important things can be dangerous and downright disastrous.

Isaiah chapter 42 begins with the first of the beautiful servant songs in the prophet’s book. There we hear familiar words pointing ahead to the Messiah’s attitude and work: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I am placing my Spirit on him. He will announce a just verdict for the nations. He will not cry out. He will not raise his voice. He will not make his voice heard in the street. A bent reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not snuff out. He will faithfully bring forth a just verdict (Isaiah 42:1-3). The Messiah, the Lord’s Servant, would patiently bring his Word to bear, and his work will lead to a verdict of justification—not guilty—for sinners. His work would be the complete, loving rescue that we all desperately needed.

But as we get into the middle of chapter 42, God’s words through Isaiah take a different turn. He no longer emphasizes his gentleness, but his action. Instead of the quiet, subdued servant of the Lord, God emphasizes how loud he will be. The words God uses almost describe him like a spring that has been squeezed for too long and then just pops. I have been silent for a long time. I have kept still. I have restrained myself. But now, like a woman giving birth, I will scream. I will gasp and pant.

Our spiritual blindness is what causes God to act. When God called Isaiah, part of his commissioning was a directive that may sound a bit strange, considering God’s way of dealing with people: Go! You are to tell this people, “Keep listening, but you will never understand. Keep looking, but you will never get it.” Make the heart of this people calloused. Make their ears deaf and blind their eyes, so that they do not see with their eyes, or hear with their ears, or understand with their hearts, and turn again and be healed (Isaiah 6:9-10). Why would God want people to be deaf and blind, to not hear, see, or understand the Word that he had for them?

It wasn’t that God wanted that, but that’s what he knew Isaiah’s preaching would produce. As Isaiah faithfully proclaimed what God told him to say, the people would continue to turn away from God and his commands. They would ignore his promises and just go about blindly groping through this life in a way that seemed best to them, which would be not at all in line with God’s expectations.

In our reading from Isaiah 42, God expounds on what that looks like: They will be turned back and completely disgraced— those who trust in an idol, those who say to molten images, “You are our gods.” You deaf ones, listen! You blind ones, watch carefully so that you can see! Who is as blind as my servant? Who is as deaf as my messenger whom I sent? Who is as blind as my associate, as blind as the servant of the LORD? You, Israel, see many things, but you do not observe. Israel opens his ears, but he does not hear. The Israelites were supposed to be God’s special nation, his chosen people, his servant, even his messenger in the world. Yet, what had been the result? They closed their eyes and ears to his Word and utterly failed to do what he had expected them to do. Even though they were given so many more blessings and benefits than the Gentiles who did not have God’s Word, they stumbled about as blind as the rest of the world.

Could the same be said of us? Perhaps we’re not bowing down to statues cast out of molten metal, but where are we actively choosing to be blind to God’s will? Are we living our lives as a spouse in a way that seems best to God or to us? Are we living our lives as a single person in a way that brings glory to God or makes us feel good? Do we respect our families and friends in a God-pleasing way, or do we assume that those close to us can take the most abuse and will put up with the worst from our words and actions? Do we prioritize money, work, leisure, or entertainment over and above God and his Word? Where are you actively ignoring the light and plunging into the darkness of spiritual blindness to satisfy your sinful nature?

God’s voice is going to be raised and echoing through the world. To the unbeliever, it will be the fury of his wrath over sin, the announcement of eternal punishment for all who rejected his free salvation. But that voice, loud and clear as can be, will be for the believer the voice of rescue. It will be the echoes of the triumphant “It is finished!” that Jesus declared from the cross. It will be the sound of release; it will be the mud and washing that brings spiritual sight.

This will be God doing what he promised: I will lead the blind on a way they do not know. Along paths they do not know I will direct them. Ahead of them I will turn darkness into light and rough places into level ground. These are the things I will accomplish for them. I will not abandon them. All the things that seem good and important in this life will dry up so we can see our true need for God to lead us; we need the sight that he gives and the light that comes only from his Word. Only the assurance of forgiveness that we have in Jesus brings true vision in this dark world.

And God reminds us that our salvation has absolutely nothing to do with us and everything to do with him: Because of his own righteousness, the LORD was pleased to make his law great and glorious. Note that the reason God is acting is because of his own righteousness. We didn’t earn or deserve any of this; God is acting on his own. His own righteousness, his own innate love for his fallen creation, is what causes him to act in loud and shocking ways, ways that would lead him to take on our own human nature, give us his perfect life in exchange for our sin, and pay the penalty for that sin at the cross.

Though we are spiritually blind on our own, God leads us down his path. He gives us his vision and light so that we can see ourselves as we truly are—sinners deserving of hell—and see him as he really is—our gracious Creator and Savior who sacrificed everything to save us.

As you go about your life later today and in the week ahead, don’t close your eyes to the reality around you, don’t attempt to shut God’s truth out and go about in your self-inflicted ignorance and blindness. No, look to the light of his Word. See yourself in the mirror of his law to see just how much you need to be rescued, and then see your Savior in the glory of his gospel as he truly is: the one who sacrificed everything to save you.

God’s law and gospel leave no room for us to be stumbling in blindness. They show us who we are, fallen sinners who have been forgiven and restored by our loving Savior. May the vision of that truth guide us in our words and actions in this life and support us until the day the Lord calls us home to himself. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

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