“And He said, It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
These words were presumably directed to the Son by the Father as the Triune God prepared to implement the ancient promise that a Savior would come to bring salvation to a world lost in sin. That salvation would not only be the restoration of Israel as God’s elect nation, but also would reach the Gentile nations and spread to the ends of the earth.
The old prophet Simeon referred to this prophecy when he took up the infant Jesus in his arms, and said: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. . . . For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29–32).
Similar prophecies occur in other Old Testament passages as well. “I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:6). “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. . . . And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isaiah 60:1,3). The latter verse apparently prophesies even the coming of the Magi to worship the child Jesus in Bethlehem.
Paul used this truth as he preached to Gentiles in Antioch and elsewhere. “So hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47; also note Acts 26:23). In fact, Jesus not only enlightens both Jews and Gentiles, but is “the light of the world” (John 8:12). HMM
