<p>12:19<em> He shall not strive, nor cry aloud, neither shall anyone hear his voice in the streets- </em>Is. 42:1,2 concerning Christ's witness to the&nbsp;<em>Gentiles</em>&nbsp;is quoted in Mt. 12:19 regarding His witness to an apostate Israel. Those among God's people who break their covenant with Him, He sees as the world. Israel were to be made like &ldquo;the top of a rock&rdquo; just as Gentile Tyre would be (Ez. 24:7; 26:4). &ldquo;Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers&rdquo;, the Lord said to Israel (Mt. 23:32)- yet He was alluding to how the Gentile Amorites filled up the cup of God&rsquo;s judgments and then had to drink it. Pharaoh's heart was hardened to bring about God's glory, but Paul uses the very same language, in the same context, to describe what was happening to an apostate, Egypt-like Israel (Rom. 9:17). Korah and his company were swallowed by the earth, using the very language which Moses so recently had applied to how the Egyptians were swallowed by the earth at the Red Sea (Ex. 15:12).</p>
<p><em>Not strive-</em>&nbsp;This is quoted from the servant song of Is. 42, and the Lord is applying it to all those who follow Him. If&nbsp;<em>He</em>&nbsp;is not to strive or clamour in the streets, then neither are those who follow Him to do so. For all that is true of Him is true of them. Paul makes the same point in stating that &quot;the servant of the Lord must not strive&quot; (2 Tim. 2:24). The &quot;servant&quot; is ultimately the Messianic servant of Isaiah's servant songs, but the point is that all that is true of that Servant is true of all those in Him.</p>
<p><em>The streets-&nbsp;</em>The Lord didn&rsquo;t shout out in the streets who He was. He wished His followers to follow His example in&nbsp;<em>showing</em>&nbsp;the message to the world just as He did- in who He was (Mt. 12:18). Christ's instruction to His recent converts not to spread the Gospel in an unseemly way, because it was written about&nbsp;<em>Him personally&nbsp;that</em>&nbsp;&ldquo;he shall not strive nor cry; neither shall any man hear&nbsp;<em>His</em>&nbsp;voice in the streets&quot;. In other words, the true preacher of Christ is solidly identified with Him by the very act of preaching. Truly &quot;we are ambassadors for Christ&quot; (2 Cor. 5:20) in our witnessing. His voice is our voice.</p>