“I have toiled in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing.” On Good Friday, Jesus certainly had good reason to feel like this. After all, even though prophets like Isaiah had been predicting His coming for hundreds of years, His own nation despised Him (Isaiah 49:7), as the Jerusalem crowd called out for Him to be crucified. Worse yet, at the time He died, none of His disciples stuck with Him: most of them abandoned Him at the time He was arrested, and Peter went so far as to deny that he even knew who Jesus was.

And yet the greatest blessings have flowed from Jesus’ willingness to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecies. For because of His resurrection and ascension, He has drawn not only many of the Israelites to faith in Him, but also attracted followers from all the nations of the world. Yes, Jesus has saved people from the very ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6).

And how does Jesus continue to bless those who belong to Him? He releases those who are in bondage to sin and death (Isaiah 49:9). He leads us and guides and us and provides for all of our needs (Isaiah 49:10). He comforts us and has compassion on us (Isaiah 49:13).

So why wouldn’t we want to join the heavens and earth and the mountains in singing for joy (Isaiah 49:13)? For in Jesus Christ, God has shown us His glory (Isaiah 49:3), glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Isaiah 49:1-13 (NASB)

Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.
2 And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me, And He has also made Me a select arrow; He has hidden Me in His quiver.
3 And He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory.”
4 But I said, “I have toiled in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity; Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD, And My reward with My God.”
5 And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, in order that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength),
6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers, “Kings shall see and arise, Princes shall also bow down; Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”
8 Thus says the LORD, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;
9 Saying to those who are bound, ‘Go forth,’ To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ Along the roads they will feed, And their pasture will be on all bare heights.
10 “They will not hunger or thirst, Neither will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them, And will guide them to springs of water.
11 “And I will make all My mountains a road, And My highways will be raised up.
12 “Behold, these shall come from afar; And lo, these will come from the north and from the west, And these from the land of Sinim.”
13 Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, And will have compassion on His afflicted.