Jesus: He Shall Not Fail

This Messianic text was brought to my attention by a friend of mine and I thought that I would share it with all of you. For those of you who are not familiar with the theological term Impeccability, it is the Christological view that teaches that Christ could not sin. There are many facets to this debate, but I am going to focus on only one aspect of the debate, and only one text for this short post. The text of interest for this post is:

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. 5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: 6 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; 7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” Isaiah 42:1-7 KJV

I want to particularly highlight a couple phrases from the above messianic text. I will not take the time to articulate all the nuances of this prophecy. The LORD says, “He shall not fail nor be discouraged.” By divine decree it was declared Messiah shall not fail. This answers perfectly the question posed by the Peccability view, "why would Satan tempt Jesus if he knew he could not sin?" I ask this question of the Peccability advocates, "why would Satan temp Jesus if he knew he would not sin?" For all practical purposes, both would be an equal waste of time.

This prophecy makes it abundantly clear that Jesus would not sin during his fleshly sojourn. If you argue that Jesus could have sinned, then you must argue that God’s promise that Messiah would not fail was incredible. You must also argue that the preservation promised to Messiah that he would “hold his hand and keep him” is equally incredible. It was the predestined promise of Jehovah that “He shall not fail." The Peccability view from the prophetic perspective would proudly and presumptuously predict, “He MIGHT Fail.” Yes, I know that is a lot or words in one sentence to start with a P, but I am to lazy to rewrite it.