Isaiah 42:1-25 - The picture of the Lord's servant is awesome in the truest sense of the word. He will establish justice, but not through loud shouts, nor through strength of arms. He will never grow faint or be discouraged. When we typically think of establishing justice this means use of force and bold declarations. Consider how any justice department has to work. The picture of the servant is different. He does not come to establish justice the way we think. His is a quiet resolve. He will establish justice to the ends of the earth.
Revelation 9:1-12 - If this passage doesn't cheer you up, I don't know what can. I'm joking. Here we get into the more complex aspects of Revelation. Probably we're beginning to ask questions about when this will take place, or why God is allowing these things to happen. The second question, dealing with the problem of evil, is too big to go into here, but the first question can at least be introduced. There are many views about the timing of these events. Though some people attempt to predict what these visions literally mean and when they're coming, we know from Jesus' own words that the Day cannot be known by us. It is most helpful for us to see not simply a time-line that we should try to identify, but rather cycles of the reality of our fallen world until the end. In this way, John is not trying to give us insight into how it all goes down, he's preparing his readers for the reality of sin and chaos in the here and now. We aren't called to be optimists or pessimists, but realists. The reality is that sin is in the world and it causes problems. The reality is that Jesus has overcome the world and claims us in his victory.
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