Last time we started looking at a section in Isaiah referred to by many as the ‘Servant Songs’. But who is the servant? Is it Isaiah? Is it Israel? Is it Jesus?
Isaiah 50
In verse 1 we read ‘This is what the Lord says' – so this is not Isaiah, nor Israel, but is it Jesus or is it Almighty God? looking at verses 4, 5, 7 and 9 we see that it is obviously not ‘The Sovereign Lord’ so we can happily assume that this is Jesus himself who is speaking.
Now what is the relationship between the Lord Jesus and his people? In Ephesians 5:25-32 Paul compares it to husband and wife, and he repeats it in in 2 Corinthians 11:1-2 .
In Revelation 19:7, 21:2 and 21:9 the ‘Bride, the wife of the Lamb’ is both the redeemed community and the holy city, the New Jerusalem.
But this relationship started a long time ago, when God chose the people of Israel to be his chosen people. Jeremiah 2:2 says ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness’ and later in Jeremiah 3:14 ‘Return, faithless people... for I am your husband.’
Now it would appear the relationship had failed, the people of Isael had turned their backs on the Lord, who in response had driven them away, and divorce seems imminent.
But that is not the Lord’s reading of the situation; his love is unfaltering and extends to not only all those who will repent and turn to him, but also to those who now seem to be totally lost. But here he is speaking directly to those he regards as his children.
1 This is what the Lord says:
‘Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away?
Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?
In Biblical times, women and girls were definitely regarded as second-class citizens. They could be sold in payment of a debt, or wives could be divorced fairly easily. But for her sake, and to allow her to legally remarry, the husband had to issue his wife with a written certificate of divorce.
But here no divorce had occurred, even though the separation seems insoluble.
Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer?
Sin has to be punished, and many times they had been warned. Firstly the Lord has already come through his prophets. Soon he will come in person. But has no-one repented? Has none truly turned from the sins for which they had been punished, and tried to seek him out? Whose fault was it that none had responded?
Was my arm too short to deliver you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you?
By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert;
their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with darkness and make sackcloth its covering.’
Look back in your history. Have you read Genesis? And Exodus? The Lord asks, are you trying to say it’s my fault that you have not been rescued? Let me make my defence:
4 The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.
5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away.
6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.
Jesus seems to be looking back – so that poses a question – When is ‘now’ in heaven?
He appears to be talking as if his time on earth, his crucifixion and resurrection are completed. And that is true. For one living in eternity there is no time, which confuses us, because these prophecies in Isaiah seem to flit from past to present to near future, distant future, and end times without pausing for breath! Perhaps we need to grasp a wider perspective . . .
7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.
Jesus faced his accusers with unshakeable certainty. There was no charge that could be brought against him. So in that case, does that mean that his accusers are at fault?
8 He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other!
Who is my accuser? Let him confront me!
9 It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God.
Honestly, that’s all you have to do. Simply repent and come and put your trust in the one who has consistently been trustworthy.
11 But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand: you will lie down in torment.
But, and there’s always a ‘but’, if you continue to say we don’t fear the dark, we can trust in our own torches to see with, then there will be no hope – only the certainty of outer darkness.
Isaiah 51
1 ‘Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord:
The previous chapter ended on a sad note. Now let’s look at the other side of the coin and think of those who have decided to turn, and ‘seek the lord’.
look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.
3 The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins;
he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
The destruction and despair that you see now is nothing compared to the restoration and joy that The Lord has in store. Look again at verse 3. But how and when?
4 ‘Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation:
instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.
5 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last for ever, my righteousness will never fail.
We asked ‘How and when?’ The Lord says you are looking for answers in the here and now. Look beyond that to a time when my salvation will have been bought and paid for, when righteousness has become freely available to all who seek it.
7 ‘Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken my instruction to heart:
do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults.
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool.
But my righteousness will last for ever, my salvation through all generations.’
Obviously, people will want to know their immediate future, but they are encouraged to look beyond that to the amazing future that the Lord has provided for those who have been redeemed – those who the Lord recognises as righteous – an existence that will last for ever.
But what about the here and now? Is the Lord able to save the people who are currently suffering in exile?
9 Awake, awake, arm of the Lord, clothe yourself with strength!
Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old.
Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep,
who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over?
Please Lord, we remember your miraculous interventions in times past. Can you step in again and save us now?
11 Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
How about that as an answer?
(In the 1960’s and 70’s people started putting scripture (King James Version) to modern music. This was one I remember singing! – try HERE. This led to new Christian songs being written for the emerging pop culture In the decades that followed.)
12 ‘I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass,
13 that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
Look, when you refer to me as the Lord God Almighty, what do the words mean to you? If you accept me as your Lord, then for my part I accept responsibility for your welfare and protection. If you are prepared to accept me as your God, then accept too that I am Creator and Sustainer. And what do you understand the word Almighty to mean?
14 The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread.
15 For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar – the Lord Almighty is his name.
16 I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand – I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, “You are my people.”’
Trust me. You tried trusting other gods – made by your own hands, and as expected they failed you. Come back to me. I made you, I have bought you, ‘you are my people’.
17 Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath,
you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger.
Yes, I had to punish you because your sin was so great. Look at the terrible consequences you had to endure as a result.
18 Among all the children she bore there was none to guide her;
among all the children she brought up there was none to take her by the hand.
19 These double calamities have come upon you – who can comfort you? –
ruin and destruction, famine and sword – who can console you?
20 Your children have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like antelope caught in a net.
They are filled with the wrath of the Lord, with the rebuke of your God.
That was then, and the suffering was immense, but now that is past and the suffering has been redirected to the nations that oppressed you
21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.
22 This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends his people:
‘See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again.
23 I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, “Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.” And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.’
Notice verse 22 ‘from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again’.
This is not a promise that Jerusalem will never be attacked again, but rather an indication that God is to introduce a New Covenant with his people, and a different way of working with individuals.
There is more to follow!
