Isaiah 49-51

Introduction

Well, we’re beginning to draw to the conclusion of the study of Isaiah, at least after tonight’s lesson, we have only about 14 more chapters to go. And I hope while you may have found the reading through Isaiah is not as easy as many of the books of the Bible. It’s uh it you have to kind of stop and say, well, who is speaking at this point in time and what is the message referring to at this point in time? But I hope still overall that you have a little better grasp of the prophecy of Isaiah. And as I’ve asked in time past, uh, if someone were to ask you basically what is what do you think is the underlying theme of this book, what would you answer?

How would it be? Trust in the Holy One of Israel. All right. First of all, trust in the Holy One of Israel. Return to God. Return unto God. Because at that time that uh Isaiah prophesied, what dates do we generally give about when would we say? Have it fixed in your mind at all. 680. Yeah, probably we say somewhere around 740 to 690, something like that in that time. Basically, who uh what tested their trust in the Holy One of Israel? What put them to the test? Assyria. And then we say the book is divided into two major portions, sections, and the first section, the enemy they’re facing is Assyria, and the second section from Babylon 66 Babylon. And of course, with that second section, there’s also the question how could Isaiah have written that if uh he uh if it was while he’s still alive and before Babylon came.

How could he write it? Inspiration. That’s what we’re talking about. It’s inspiration. And we remember Isaiah often, what do you what is he usually called? As somebody says, Isaiah is what kind of a prophet? Messianic. Messianic. He foretold the coming of the Messiah. Actually, uh, in the uh I don’t know if you’ve looked at, and maybe it’d be time now to go back and look at even the table of contents, and it sort of outline uh the themes of Isaiah as it falls into sections. We talked about God’s complaint against Judah and Jerusalem at the start. What kind of a what kind of a uh material situation existed at that point in time as he began his prophecy and the year of Ziah died? Was it in poverty or in wealth?

Well, it’d be a prosperous time, and generally every period of history of God’s people where there was prosperity, there was that temptation to depart or to leave from the leave the Lord and become indifferent toward the Lord’s will. And so they were tempted, no doubt, uh, you know, to to trust uh even in those around them as well, and certainly their religion, he said their sacrifices in chapter one, he’s pretty blunt about how God would not hear their prayers because of the kind of hypocrisy that existed in the land at that time. But then there made uh a large section, chapters 13 through 27, God is sovereign over all nations. I think that’s a powerful point that while we understand that the law of Moses was given to Israel, and the majority of the Old Testament we would say it traces God’s people, the Israelites, at least the development from Abraham forward, and of course, with the significant promise of the coming of the Christ through his seed.

But was God concerned about Gentiles as well as the Israelites? Yes. Absolutely, and did he punish nations that were not of Israel? Or was he only concerned about Israel? No, he even set forth that He brought down those who were uh had opportunity, no doubt. We we just don’t have a lot of uh uh information about all the the countries and what they might have known about God, but they had opportunity, God would not have brought them down without their having a just opportunity to know him and to know his will and to turn in righteousness, and in fact, uh uh in this section that we’ve just studied uh, well, in the middle part, the only source of true deliverance is uh the Lord of hosts, and so as God dealt with them in in that period of time, the last section of that Assyrian uh period, and which of course there really was a great test as Sennacherib and the Assyrians certainly came and uh besieged or tried to besiege Jerusalem, but Isaiah prayed to the Lord, and of course Jerusalem was spared during that period, but uh then the the last section that we were just in the contrast between the one true God and and idols uh basically would you have an underlying message that you might think of?

What was the folly of idolatry? How did you know Isaiah said present your case? It’s kind of like a debate we’re gonna have. And so, why would God’s people even think about turning to the idolatry of the Babylonians? What was it that uh what what kind of a case did he challenge them? On what basis? If you were talking today, why believe in God? Maybe some of these things I think are even valid today to use as arguments. What are some of the arguments that he uses in that section? The idols could do nothing for them. Because? Because they were wood. They’re man-made. They’re made by man, and how did he sort of make mockery of them? As they built, they cut down this tree and they molded the idol on one end of it and they did what with the other?

They could cook their meals. And yet, in contrast, here’s God. What makes God so much greater than even the idols that they would bow down and worship? What could God do that they that the idols did not do? He told the end from the beginning. That’s right, from the beginning. He could tell the end. And that clearly is what prophecy is about, isn’t it? That I say uh in the foretelling of prophecy. I don’t want people to think, well, a prophet only foretold events, because Isaiah was all of his message only about foretelling the coming of future events. He had a pretty strong message to the people of his day, didn’t he? And so a prophet really spoke to the people of his day. But in the midst of, if they did not turn back to God, God would bring just vengeance against a sinful people, but he would also remember his promise, his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that indeed would the Messiah would come forth.

And as we know studying history, that’s exactly what happened. But the fact that is the Lord could tell. In fact, who did who did uh Isaiah by inspiration name as the deliverer of God’s people out of Babylonian captivity? What was the king’s name? Cyrus. Cyrus. Called him a name. Babylonian captivity was probably some hundred years after Isaiah. And even the Cyrus the king was probably some hundred and seventy years later, after the prophecy was set forth. So only by the mind of God could that have uh been predicted and made known. Indeed, it’s a powerful book in so many, many ways. And I hope that uh you’ve benefited from reading it and studying it. And we come into this this section really, beginning with chapter 49, these next three lessons that we will have through verse through chapter 57, is described as the Lord’s servant who bring salvation through various suffering.

1. The Lord’s Servant Who Brings Salvation

Probably most of us, if we know very little about Isaiah, one of the first prophecies we all think of is Isaiah 53, right? Wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And indeed, that is a powerful passage. So in thinking in terms of that, starting with our lesson tonight in chapter 49, he is really leading up to that very uh that very scene that we know of in chapter 53. But the servant is coming. Now, the word servant itself, uh back in the chapter 42, uh, my servant, whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights, I put my spirit upon him. We talked about that, David leading us in the study. Who was the servant as described in that passage? It was Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

And in fact, even this passage is quoted and applied to him in Matthew 12, uh bruised read, he will not break smoking flax, he will not quench. So that it’s a it’s uh a passage that we know by that New Testament application, referring to Jesus Christ. But is Jesus the only one that’s described as God’s servant in this text in this uh context? Actually, not. In fact, the word servant is used to apply to three different, let me say groups, we might call. The Messiah came out of what group of people? The full nation of Israel. The nation of Israel fully. And yet the nation of Israel became a sinful people. And God destroyed them or took them into captivity. Out of that, what did he say, I will spare?

Remnant. There will be a remnant. And the Messiah really came out of the remnant. Actually, look at page 98 in your workbook, and those three times and uses of the word servant is really found in these passages. The Messiah, of course, from chapter 42, 1 through 7, the very top of that triangle. But the spiritual remnant, then in the middle of it, the faithful remnant from chapter 41, verses 8 through 9, and these other references as well. But then next to the bottom line, the physical nation of 12 tribes of Israel were called his servant in chapter 42, which is his stinging rebuke in chapter 42, verses 19 to 25. But you can see how that each of these really fit as God’s servant, because he starts with the nation, the family, the lineage of Abraham, of a God’s servant.

2. The Commissioning of This Servant

Out of that, though, came the faithful remnant. So when we look at our lesson, the first few verses in chapter 49, there’s the commissioning of this servant. Starts off by saying, Listen, O coastlands to me, and take heed you peoples from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb, from the matrix of my mother. He has made mention of my name. And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me, and made me a polished shaft. In his quiver, he has hidden me. And he said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I would be glorified. And I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing, and in vain.

Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now the Lord says, Who formed me from the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him, so that Israel is gathered to him, for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. Indeed, 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 give you as a life to the Gentiles, that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Let’s stop and talk about these verses, first of all. In fact, when in verse 3 he says, You are my servant, O Israel.

It sounds like maybe he’s talking about the nation as a whole when he says, O Israel. But actually not. It fits Jesus even. The name Israel was given first of all to what man? Jacob. Jacob. And literally means what? What is the word Israel literally mean? A but a prince of God. You know, something to that L standing for God. A prince of God. Was Jesus Christ, a Prince of God? So even though we use the term Israel, and the Bible does, as speaking about the nation as a whole, in this passage, in particular to be so, because he becomes singular in verses three and four. I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing, and in vain. It’s as of an individual.

So in this section, what is he saying? To start with verse one, old coastlands. Who are the coastlands? Are those really thought of as Israelites? Gentile nations. Yeah, the Gentile nations. Take heed, you peoples from afar. There’s as though a call out is the servant from what? The Lord has called me from the womb from the matrix of my mother. Even before he was long before he was born, of course, he had foretold the coming of the Lord. The very purpose from the loins of Abraham, he might say, was God’s purpose to bring forth the Messiah and the one whom would bring victory and salvation for the people of God. The script scripture says he has uh in the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me.

Why would he say he has hidden me in referring to Jesus Christ? In what sense and in what way could that be so? Look at 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 10 through 12. And I think this is important that we comprehend even how the prophets, Isaiah, no doubt, has some understanding of the coming of the Messiah. He couldn’t prophesy what he did what he did without that. But did he really know and fully comprehend all that he was speaking about? 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 10 through 12. One wanna read it. Go ahead, uh Cathy. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicated, or indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Things into which angels longed to look. Alright, even the angels desire to look into the translation, the New King James from verse 11. They uh they searched what or what manner of time? When was the Spirit coming? Did they know? No. They knew of the promise. In fact, in the New Testament, many times the salvation that is through Christ is spoken of as a mystery, the mystery of God has now been revealed and made known, the Ephesian letter, the scribes and Colossians as well. So really, how could it be?

And what is he talking about as the mystery? Did God make the coming of the Christ something that uh that could not be understood, but something only that was hidden. Why would God have hidden it? Why would he reveal this much by the prophets, but yet they still did not know what or what manner of time it would be? Any reason? You have any idea? In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 6, the scripture said, Had the princes of this world known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. You ever thought about that? The devil tried long before the crucifixion to put it into Christ, didn’t he? Even, you know, the babies in Bethlehem were slain by Herod. And then when Jesus of Nazareth quoted from Isaiah and said, This scripture applies to me, they took him out the brow of the hill to kill him then, didn’t he?

And there were other times they would have stoned him. They would have put him to death long before. Because the devil sought the death. He thought, he tried to thwart the purpose and plan of God Almighty. Never succeeded until the time came when it was the time for him to be crucified. So I think, in effect, right off in chapter 42, talking about the Messiah, that here is the one that God has planned even before he was born in the matrix of the womb of my mother. He’s made mention of my name, and I’ll be like a sharp sword. And in fact, he would be a polished shaft in his quiver, though. He hasn’t made known everything about him as yet. But in verse 3, he described him as his servant in whom God would be glorified.

But what was the response? As the Lord came, how successful did it appear that he was during his three years of ministry?

Even eleven bled that night, except for two, and even then Peter denied him at the at the uh in the servant’s uh quarters. So that so that have I labored in vain. Had Jesus labored in vain? Has he spent his strength for nothing and in vain? And then the answer, of course, in verse 5 now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, so that Israel is gathered to him. For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, my God shall be my strength. Indeed, he says, It’s too small a thing that you should be my servant. What’s he mean in verse 6? It’s too small just to bring to raise up the tribes of Jacob.

So what would be the real purpose and plan and work of the Lord? When he says in the latter part of verse 6, I’ll also give you as a light to whom? The Gentiles. Again, I think it’s a marvelous fact and wonderment that when the even the early church, the disciples, you might say were jealous of all the Gentiles that were coming in. But when you read this text here, if they had any real knowledge of Isaiah, the Lord promised well in advance that he would bring the Gentiles in. As we’ll get through here in a moment later, even it’ll be so many, they’ll wonder where they all come from, and where do we have room for them all? There’ll be so many to come. In fact, look with me now, Acts chapter 13.

Let me see if that’s what I want you to do. Just a moment. You know, when Jesus cleared out the temple where the money changers were, they are in the court of the Gentiles, and he made mention that that they had made his into a den of robbers, and that he had come for all the nations. And even then he’s telling you.

Acts 13, verse 47, and what is said there. Go ahead and read it, Doug. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Okay. What’s the setting? Do you know in Acts 13? It’s Paul and Barnabas in the first uh missionary journey. They are in what city? Antioch. And what’s happened? They are well received at first. They come back to the second week, and there are a group of Gentiles wanting to come in. And how do the Jews respond to that? With great envy. This one stirred up the wrath of the Jews against Paul and Barnabas, because they would preach to the Gentiles. And so he quotes this very verse that’s in our text tonight and applies it.

Indeed, what is he doing but fulfilling the scripture? I can see that that you know that is repeated here in Acts. But I also had the two 32 when Simeon made uh when he met Jesus when Jesus was being um dedicated at the temple, and he was seven, eight days old and making prophecies. Um Isaiah 42 and verse 6 is a part of that very quotation from Simeon. You know, that that’s uh that’s not a bad thing. That salvation is not to the Jews, but a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. So both of those verses would fit.

Although the servant will bring salvation to the Gentiles as as light to the ends of the earth, he’s not going to be well received. Man in general will despise him. And they did, didn’t they? Uh regarding him to be a servant of rulers, even rulers will disdain him as if he’s far beneath them, but all this will change. Verse 7, thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, their holy one, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to the servant of rulers, but kings shall arise, shall see and arise. Princes also shall worship, because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, and He has chosen you. Verses 8 through 13 is really now where the Lord is speaking.

3. The Lord Is Going to Comfort His People

He’s going to comfort his people.

In fact, in verse 8, in an acceptable time I have heard you. And in the day of salvation, I have helped you. Again, that’s kind of an interesting verse. In 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and in verse 2. Maybe let’s go and read that one as well and kind of put it together. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Maybe the last verse, verse 20 of chapter 5, start there. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 20. Where it says, Thou then, Paul writing this, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf be reconciled to God, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. We then, as workers together with him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

For he says, In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation, I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now we’ve just read how that that the prophecy was that the Lord had hidden him in the hollow of his hand. He’s hidden him until what? The acceptable time. And so the apostle Paul really, I think, referring to this very passage in 2 Corinthians 6 and verse 2 says, Now it’s that time. Now he has been delivered. Now he, him who knew no sin became sin for us. It’s the time to obey him. Had God hidden him, so to speak, until this time, yeah, you couldn’t really preach salvation until the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

So, but now that he’s made to be sin for us, the prophecy of Isaiah also comes to pass. Now is the acceptable time. In verse 9, so it’s acceptable time that you may say to the prisoners, Go forth. To those who are in darkness, show yourselves. They shall feed among the roads, and their pasture shall be on all desolate heights. They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them. For he who has mercy on them will lead them. Even the springs of water, he will guide them. I will make each of my mountains a road, and my highway shall be elevated. Surely these shall come from afar. Look, those from the north and the west, and these from the land of Sinem.

4. Zion Said, the Lord Has Forgotten Me

We don’t really know where Sinem is, but it’s a far distant place, is about the best we could say. What’s he really saying? Well, there will be disciples come from every part of the earth. And because of the hope that fills their heart, the heavens, the earth, and mountains really are exhorted in verse 13. Sing, O heavens, be joyful, O earth, break out in singing, O mountains. For the Lord has comforted his people and will have mercy on his afflicted. If the Messiah is coming now is going to be made known, why not rejoice? Even the Gentiles shall also rejoice. In the beginning of verse 14, the question it says, but Zion said, So, who does Zion seem to represent here? The people of God, the Israelites.

And perhaps now those that are really in bondage. Babylon, the Lord’s forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. I say you’re writing about us in Babylon, and you’re saying, sing and rejoice, and here we are in captivity. Do you think the words might kind of go in one ear and out the other as we sometimes say, how can the Lord say this? We’re in we’re in captivity. Lord’s forgotten us. The answer. Verse 15, can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. I mean, that’s a discharge the Lord as having forgotten his people.

Any more than a mother will forget her, or forget having compassion on the son of her womb. See, verse 16, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. Your sons shall make haste. Your destroyers and those who laid you waste shall go away from you. Lift up your eyes, look around and see. All these gather together and come to you as I live, says the Lord. You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament and bind them on you as a bride does. What he’s really saying, I believe, in here is the fact that you know Zion is told really to lift up your eyes. There’s God’s purpose to use Israel was always before him. Even in Babylonian captivity.

In fact, out of that would come certainly a faithful remnant, and out of that faithful remnant would indeed come the Messiah. And so lift up your eyes and look on the plan of God Almighty. The time is going to come, and in fact, where the children will increase in number. In verse 19, it says, Your waste and desolate places, the land of your destruction will even now be too small for the inhabitants. Wait a minute, what are you saying? The very things that you think are desolate, when the people come from the coastlands, from the Gentiles that are in, you’ll think there won’t be room enough. And those who swallowed you up will be far away. Your enemies will be gone. So the land area in which they had lived would really be too narrow to hold all those who might come.

Verse 20, the children you will have after you’ve lost the others, will say again in your ears, the place is too small for me. Give me a place where I may dwell. Then you will say in your heart, Who’s forgotten these for me? Since I’ve lost my children and am desolate. A captive and wandering to and fro. Who’s brought these up? There I was left alone, but these, where were they? And you sort of see just sort of putting words in the mouth of the other remnant of saying, look, you say all these are coming in. Where’d they come from? We’ve been a captive. We’ve been in Babylon. And what’s happening? Where did they all come from? In bewilderment. Who’s begotten these for me? Since I was lost my own children, and a desolate, a captive and wandering to and fro.

Verse 22 really gives an answer. The question that Zion asked, the answer comes from the Lord. Verse 22, thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will lift my hand in an oath to the nations and set up my standard for the peoples. They shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers, their queens, your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth and lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know what? And I am the Lord. For they shall not be ashamed to wait for me.

Well, the question might ask, well, verse 24, shall the prey be taken from the mighty? I mean, you know, the mighty is Babylon at this point in history, as Isaiah’s looking down history. And the prey would be the Israelites. Shall the prey be strong enough to be released from the mighty? Shall Israel go free from Babylon? That’s the question. Or the captives of the righteous be delivered. Verse 25, thus says the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible be delivered. For I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children. I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh. They shall be drunk with their own blood, as with sweet wine.

All flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. We call him throughout the holy one of Israel. In this verse, he’s called the mighty one of Jacob. Jacob, of course, given the name of Israel. But you see the flow here. How can God do this? Did Isaiah also not only predict the captivity of Israel in Babylon, he also predicted even the deliverance. And as we’ve already seen earlier, here was Cyrus’ names as the deliverer. What is the spiritual Zion that’s referring to? Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 12. In Hebrews chapter 12, I want us to read the passage that I think is a fulfillment ultimately of these verses and of this prediction that there will be many who will come.

And Isaiah, sorry, in Hebrews chapter 12. It’s as though to say to the Hebrew Christians, who maybe have become somewhat discouraged by this point in time, maybe just a little bit indifferent. And maybe we’re tempted to go back into Judaism, where they had had family relationships and had had jobs, and now becoming a Christian, some of this had been taken from them. So the Hebrew writer in chapter 12 is saying, Look who you are and where you’ve come to. I I try to read this and say to Christians now, and to you as a class, let me say, if you’re a Christian, think about this verse. Who are you? And what what what how great is it to be a child of God? In verse 22, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

See that you do not refuse him who speaks. Or if they did not escape, who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks in heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he is promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not only the earth but also heaven. Now this, yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

5. Israel Is Encouraged to Trust

In chapter 50, Israel is encouraged to trust men, Lord. These next three verses really are as kind of a rebuke for thinking that they’ve been rejected. It’s sort of a bridge, you might say, between the two chapters, when he says, Why were they even in exile? Chapter 50, verse 1, thus says the Lord, where’s the certificate of your mother’s divorce? Whom I have put away. Of which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you’ve sold yourselves. For your transgressions, your mother’s been put away. Why, when I came was there no man? Why, when I call was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed, with my rebuke, I dry up the sea, I make the rivers and wilderness.

Their fish stink, because there is no water, or die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sack cloth their covering. In other words, really, why would you say, The Lord has delivered you? Had God sold the children of Israel into Babylon as uh payment for something that he that was due? No. He said, You sold yourselves. What does he mean by that? How did Israel so he said, Have I put you away? Where’s the certificate of divorce? There is none. Did God divorce Judah? No. He said he divorced Israel, the northern ten, but they never married again, so God called them back through Hosea, and the story in Hosea with Gomorrah is that God would call them and did bring back as individuals to obey.

But he’s saying, even here now, I said, Why would you charge God with this? You the ones who wanted to be like Babylon. You’re the ones who introduced and got into idolatry. You’re the ones who sold yourself. I had power to deliver you. But when I called, there was no one to answer. There was none to stand up for me. There was not a people in this nation righteous enough to save the people of Judah. Jeremiah, a hundred years virtually after Isaiah pled with the people of Judah, and he was. What do we remember Jeremiah’s being? You remember? Weeping brother. Weeping problem, because they rejected his word. So God is saying, Why would you blame me? You the ones who caused your own destruction. In verse 4, the servant now speaks.

He’s not introduced as such, but as you read through the text, you know who’s speaking. When he says, The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak. A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave mine back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my praise from shame and spitting. Does that sort of indicate those last few verses? Kind of give you some idea of what may have happened at the time Jesus was betrayed and tried and even crucified.

And as he’s saying in verse 4, really, the Lord was with him and helped him, gave him the ear to hear and understand the tongue to speak. And then he said, I was not rebellious in verse 5. I asked that on your thought question. Could Jesus have rebelled? Could he have resisted the cross? Was the cross simply because the Father made him do it and he had no choice in the matter? No, he prayed three times for it so there be some other way.

I asked you to give scriptures which show that the Son, as well as the Father, made a choice in the gift of salvation. Anybody look up some scriptures there? Matthew 26, 52 to 54. Alright, I don’t remember that in our quote. Can you tell me? Not offhand. Hebrews 5 and verse 8. He was obedient, though as the Son of God, he uh learned obedience, he obeyed. John 8, John chapter 10 and verse 18, he said, I have power to lay my life down and to take it up again. I believe Jesus had the power to do, but he willingly gave himself. It wasn’t only the Father, but it was also with the will of the Son. But I found just the verse that says, He was not rebellious, as though to say, could he have been?

Well, evidently he could have been, but he was not. He was obedient to the Father. In verse 7, for the Lord God will help me, therefore I will not be disgraced. Therefore I upset my face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed. He is near who justifies me, who will contend with me. Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near me. Surely the Lord God will help me. Who is he who condemn me? Indeed, they all grow old like a garment, the moth will eat them up. In other words, those who might reject him will be taken up about as easily as a moth can eat up an old garment and as quickly. So who among you fears the Lord?

Who obeys the voice of his servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? The answer, let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God. But what about those who do not trust in the Lord? Verse 11, those who kindle the fire. That is, I think here he’s saying, those who might reject, encircle yourselves with sparks, walk in the light of your fire and the sparks you have kindled, this you shall have from my hand. You shall lie down in torment. Verse 10 is a blessing to those who would turn to God who might need help. Verse 11 is the condemnation on those who reject the Lord. Many passages in both Old and New Testament, of course, teach the blessing of the righteous and the vengeance of God against the wicked.

6. The Lord Speaking to the Faithful Remnant

In chapter 51, the Lord or Jehovah is speaking to the faithful remnant. When he says, Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord, look to the rock from which you were hewn, the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father, to Sarah who bore you, for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. And you stop and think, what’s the message there? How many children Abraham and Sarah have when God made the promise? You know, he’d have. And they were Abraham was a hundred, and Sarah 90 when Isaac was born. But what did God do with the family of Abraham? Expanded. And though he says, So saying to the remnant of Israel, you may think you’re small and insignificant.

But when the gospel goes forth, just as I blessed Abraham and Sarah, so I will bless you. And my name will be magnified in all the earth. Well, I ask you now, nearly 2700 years later, has this prophecy been true? Has the church of the Lord magnified the name of the Lord? Has his cause reached to thousands, people from all corners of the earth, south, north, east, and west? I think we’d have to say yes. Indeed, the word of the Lord has gone forth. Indeed, there has been a blessing. I know the catch me here. Look at verse 7, would you? While we’re in chapter 51. Where he says, Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people in whose heart is my law. Do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults.

For the moth will eat them up like a garment, the worm will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation. Listen, the Lord would say. Indeed, that too has come to pass. Isaiah speaks as though to the Lord in verse 9 when it says, Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are you not the arm that cut Rahab apart? Rahab in earlier passage referred to in chapter 30 and verse 7 referred to Egypt. Sat still. So he’s saying here. Really, what he’s saying in these few verses, God, you’re the one who parted the waters and people left Egyptian captivity on dry land. You’re the one who’s blessed God’s people in time past.

Oh Lord, please deliver us again, is the message in those three verses. And verse 12, the Lord replies, I, even I, and He who comforts you. Who are you that should be afraid of a man who will die, and of the Son of Man who will be made like grass? You forget the Lord your maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth. You have feared continually every day because of pure depression. When he’s prepared to destroy it. Where is the fury of depression? Well, obviously we must quit. But as if you read this passage and lead it right on in, our lesson Sunday morning is chapters 52 and 53. And these are saying, you know, the Lord will bless you. But here is his servant, and his servant is going to indeed give himself as a sacrifice for the people who love God.

Conclusion

So I think it’s a beautiful part. I hope you will take time to really think about chapters 42, I mean 52 and 53 as we lead into our lessons anymore.