ISAIAH 50-51 “God’s Ideal Servant Is A Model Disciple And
All Are Called To Be Obedient To Him”
By
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at chapter 49 and saw that in that chapter God’s ‘ideal servant’ who was
introduced in chapter 42, began himself to proclaim his future coming and works
1.1.1.
We saw in that chapter how
several aspects in the description of the ‘ideal servant’ convince us that his
identity could not be that of any prophet nor the nation of
1.1.2.
We saw how that Isaiah now
began to reveal to us the ways in which God’s ‘ideal servant’ will be called to
come not as a conquering Messiah, at least not initially, but rather to suffer
for mankind
1.1.3.
We concentrated upon the
hope that we have in Jesus the Messiah, the ‘ideal servant’ who will meet all
of our needs
1.2.
In our study today, we are
going to see Isaiah continuing to reveal God’s ‘ideal servant’ to us. We will see that the ‘ideal servant’ is
definitely a man of flesh and blood, and we will also begin to see the
vicarious suffering which He will submit Himself unto on behalf of mankind. We will also see the Lord continue to
encourage the future generation of captive Judeans who will live 100+ years
after Isaiah’s writing, however the encouragements that are given are general
enough to provide encouragement to all of God’s people throughout history
1.2.1.
Chapter 50:
1.2.1.1.The Lord tells His people
1.2.1.2.God’s ‘ideal servant’ is revealed to us as a model disciple
1.2.1.3.God’s ‘ideal servant’ will eventually be vindicated by the Lord, when
He is raised from the dead
1.2.1.4.We will see that all are called to be obedient to God’s ‘ideal servant’
when he appears, and the result of the choice for obedience will have eternal
consequences
1.2.2.
Chapter 51:
1.2.2.1.The Lord encourages His people not to despise the day of ‘small things’
but to realize that the Lord will do with them what He did in bringing a mighty
nation out of just one faithful man, Abraham
1.2.2.2.God’s ‘ideal servant’ is seen establishing a new law, or abiding
principle or covenant for God’s people
1.2.2.3.God’s captive people are called upon to not fear man and their
oppressors but to call upon the Lord to be strong on their behalf just as He
has been in their history-past
2.
VS 50:1 - “1 Thus says the Lord, “Where is
the certificate of divorce, By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell
you? Behold, you were sold for your
iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.” - The Lord asks His people if
He has given them a certificate of divorce
2.1.
Addressing the people of
2.2.
The covenant relationship that
2.2.1.
Hosea 2:1-5,
for instance, are some verses which reveal how that the people of Israel had
committed spiritual adultery against the Lord, “1 Say to
your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.” 2 “Contend with your mother, contend, For she
is not my wife, and I am not her husband;
And let her put away her harlotry from her face, And her adultery from
between her breasts, 3 Lest I strip her naked And expose her as on the day when
she was born. I will also make her like
a wilderness, Make her like desert land, And slay her with thirst. 4 “Also, I will have no compassion on her
children, Because they are children of harlotry. 5 “For their mother has played the
harlot; She who conceived them has acted
shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go
after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil
and my drink.’”
2.3.
In Deut. 24:1, we read about how there was
provision in the law of Moses for a man to put away, or divorce his wife,
however in order to do so he had to complete a certificate of divorce first. If
a man divorced a woman in this way and then she married another, he was not
allowed later to take her back as his wife.
Therefore, if the Lord had truly given the Israelites a certificate of
divorce, He wouldn’t have been able to take her back later. So, the point that the Lord is making is that
He had not given
2.4.
Likewise, the Lord tells them that He did not
sell
2.5.
However, because of their iniquities and
transgressions of His law, the Lord sent
2.6.
Jeremiah, a prophet who lived during the time
of the Babylonian captivity, wrote in Jer. 3:8-12
about how that Israel, the northern kingdom, was in fact given a certificate of
divorce by the Lord and thus He never restored her to this day, however, the
Lord did not give a certificate of divorce to Judea but instead sought to bring
her back to Himself, “8 “And I saw that for
all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a
writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went
and was a harlot also.9 “And it came about because of the lightness of her
harlotry, that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and
trees.10 “And yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not
return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the
Lord. 11 And the Lord said to me,
“Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.12
“Go, and proclaim these words toward the north and say,‘Return, faithless
Israel,’ declares the Lord; ‘I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious,’ declares the Lord; ‘I will not be angry forever.”
3.
VS 50:2-3 - “2 “Why was there no man when I
came? When I called, why was there none
to answer? Is My hand so short that it
cannot ransom? Or have I no power to
deliver? Behold, I dry up the sea with
My rebuke, I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink for lack of water, And die of thirst. 3 “I clothe the heavens with blackness, And I
make sackcloth their covering.”” - The Lord asks
3.1.
The reason why Judea had been taken captive
to Babylon (some 100+ years after the writing of Isaiah since Isaiah beginning
at chapter 41 has been speaking prophetically to a generation of people living
after his time) was not because the Lord was not able to be strong on their
behalf and perform the same incredible deliverances of the nation as He had
when they were being oppressed in history-past.
The only reason that
3.2.
The Lord recounts for the Judeans some of His
mighty acts on their behalf in history-past.
3.2.1.
At the crossing of the
3.2.2.
When they had entered into the
3.2.3.
In Exod. 10:21-23,
the Lord revealed His mighty power by a plague of darkness that came across the
whole land, “21 Then the Lord said to
Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over
the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.”22 So Moses stretched out
his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt
for three days.23 They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place
for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.”
4.
VS 50:4-5 - “4 The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples, That I
may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens
My ear to listen as a disciple. 5 The
Lord God has opened My ear; And I was not disobedient, Nor did I turn
back.” -
God’s ‘ideal servant’ speaks out again, this time about his being a
disciple
4.1.
The tendency of the church throughout history
has been at times to forget the humanity of Jesus Christ and to see Him more in
the mighty and glory of His divinity.
However, when we look closely at the gospel accounts, as well as the
prophesies made concerning Him, we also become struck by the fact of His
humanity. Jesus had to struggle with all
of the things that we have to struggle with here on this earthly plane, aside
from being indwelt with sin, and the hardships and disciplines of life He had
to learn first-hand by experience, as does every man and woman.
4.2.
In these verses, we see that Jesus is
prophesied to be the model disciple, one who is the perfect example for all of
His disciples to follow:
4.2.1.
He had to learn to control His tongue, as do
all of us who are Christians.
4.2.2.
He had to spend time with the Lord every
morning in His word, and learn what it means to be a seeker of the Lord.
4.2.3.
He had to train His ear to listen to His
heavenly Father, as do all of us who are Christians.
4.2.4.
He had to submit Himself in obedience to His
heavenly Father, as do all of us who are Christians.
4.3.
Notice that as a result of Jesus’ letting His
heavenly father control His tongue, and His seeking the Lord in His word, that
He had the ability to ‘sustain the weary one with a word.’
4.3.1.
This reminds me of Matt. 11:28-29, “28 Come unto me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest
unto your souls.”
4.3.2.
Prov. 25:11
speaks about how wonderful it is when the right word is spoken appropriate to
the circumstances, “11 A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”
4.3.3.
Those of us who would want to minister to
others must become disciplined to seek the Lord and His resources in our life.
5.
VS 50:6-7 - “6 I gave My back to those who
strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and
spitting. 7 For the Lord God helps Me,
Therefore, I am not disgraced;
Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I shall not be
ashamed.” -
God’s ‘ideal servant’ declares that He will give himself to humiliation
and that he will be tortured
5.1.
The first thing that I notice here is that by
this description of God’s ‘ideal servant’ is that he could not be a metaphor
for Israel, for these verses make it completely obvious that a real flesh and
blood person is being referenced.
5.2.
Secondly, the fact that God’s ‘ideal servant’
is willingly giving himself to this torture and humiliation suggests that he
was doing what he did vicariously in another’s place, that he was giving
himself for the sins of others. Jesus
died for the sins of the world and thus willing received the full fury of God’s
wrath as just punishment for the sins which we committed.
5.3.
The accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion show that
His back was struck, for He received 39 lashes with a cat-of-9-tails, that He
was humiliated for besides being randomly punched and beaten He was also placed
naked up the cross of
5.4.
We cannot image the degree of humiliation
that Jesus experienced during the events that transpired the day of His
crucifixion:
5.4.1.
The Treasury Of Scripture
Knowledge has the following quote in their notes on these
verses about the humiliation suffered by one having his beard plucked out in
Jesus’ day, “The eastern people always held the beard in great
veneration; and to pluck a man’s beard is one of the grossest indignities that
can be offered. D’Arvieux gives a
remarkable instance of an Arab, who, having received a wound in his jaw, chose
to hazard his life rather than suffer the surgeon to cut off his beard.”
5.4.2.
Spitting in the face has always been in every
culture one of the greatest of humiliations for people.
5.4.3.
In Luke 22:64, we read that the Roman guards
blindfolded Jesus and then began to hit Him in the head and then tell Him to
prophesy about who it was who had hit.
5.4.4.
The paintings of Jesus on the cross always
have Him with a sheet of some sort over His private parts, however in truth He
hung upon the cross of
5.4.5.
Etc., etc.
5.5.
Isaiah gives us a detail of Jesus’
crucifixion however of which there is no account in the gospels, none-the-less
we must assume also occurred: they
plucked out His beard.
5.6.
In the gospels, Luke 9:51,
it is written that when it came time for Jesus to go to the cross that He set
His face like flint and did not look back, “51 And it
came about, when the days were approaching for His ascension, that He
resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem;”
6.
VS 50:8-9 - “8 He who vindicates Me is
near; Who will contend with Me? Let us stand up to each other; Who has a case against Me? Let him draw near to Me. 9 Behold, the Lord God helps Me;
Who is he who condemns Me? Behold,
they will all wear out like a garment;
The moth will eat them.” - God’s ‘ideal servant’ speaks about how that
though men would condemn him that the Lord would vindicate him and his enemies
would wear out and be eaten up
6.1.
These verses speak to the fact that the death
that Jesus died, He died not for His own sins, but for the sins of others, of
all mankind. Jesus was totally sinless
and without guilt, however as Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to become sin so that we might be made become the
righteousness of God in Him, “21 He made Him who knew
no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God
in Him.”
6.2.
Jesus was finally vindicated of the wrong
that was done to Him when God raised Him from the dead. Though He suffered death which was the
penalty for the sins of mankind, because He had in truth never sinned Himself,
He fulfilled Psalm 16:10 when
He suffered no decay in the tomb and was raised to eternal life on the third
day, “10 For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to
Sheol; Neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy
One to undergo decay.”
6.2.1.
In Leviticus chapter 16, there is a
description of the procedure for transferring the sins of the nation upon the
head of the scapegoat. After having
those sins confessed upon the head of the scapegoat it was to be let free to
roam. The scapegoat is a type of Christ
taking the sins of the world upon Himself.
However, I believe the fact that the scapegoat was in fact let free to
roam after taking those sins upon himself may have been symbolic that, because
in fact the scapegoat was sinless itself, that justice was vindicated for it,
and, that this was also a foreshadowing that Christ would in fact be vindicated
and raised from the dead after three days in the heart of the earth.
7.
VS 50:10-11 - “10 Who is among you that fears
the Lord, That obeys the voice of His servant, That walks in darkness and has
no light? Let him trust in the name of
the Lord and rely on his God. 11 Behold,
all you who kindle a fire, Who encircle yourselves with firebrands, Walk in the
light of your fire And among the brands you have set ablaze. This you will have from My hand; And you will lie down in torment.” - The Lord gives an encouragement
to those who obey His ‘ideal servant’ and a curse to those who do not but
insist upon being rebellious ‘firebrands’
7.1.
These verses prove to us that the text
beginning with verse 4 of this chapter refers to God’s ‘ideal servant,’ the one
who has been a topic of Isaiah’s off and on beginning in chapter 42 and
continuing again in chapter 49.
7.2.
The ones who obey God’s ‘ideal servant’ are
described as walking in ‘darkness’ and having ‘no light.’ This is a way of saying that they are walking
in faith, not by sight. That is to say
that people in this world who are living their lives for themselves and not the
Lord are living according to what things appear to be, by their own sight and
limited understanding or light. However,
those who are walking by faith in the Lord are trusting in promises whose
fulfillment cannot be proven nor intellectually determined but are completely
received by faith.
7.2.1.
Those who obey God’s ‘ideal servant’ when He
appears will receive all of the covenant blessings given to
7.2.2.
Those who are ‘firebrands’ and walk with
other ‘firebrands’ in the light of their own fire will spend eternity in hell,
for the Lord says that when they die they ‘will lie down in torment’ in Hades.
8.
VS 51:1-2 - “1 “Listen to me, you who pursue
righteousness, Who seek the Lord: Look
to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the quarry from which you were
dug. 2 “Look to Abraham your father, And
to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
When he was one I called him, Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”” - The Lord tells the remnant of
captive Judeans living 100+ years after Isaiah’s writing to look to Abraham and
Sarah as their encouragement
8.1.
There as captives in
8.2.
When the Judeans finally left
8.3.
The Lord encourages this small remnant of
faithful Judeans, those who ‘pursue righteousness,’ to consider Abraham and
Sarah, whom the Lord calls ‘the rock from which you were hewn.’ The Lord made a mighty nation out of one man
and woman, and He did that when Abraham ‘was one’ individual man. The Lord is able to make of them a mighty
nation once again, which in fact history records that He did.
8.3.1.
In Zechariah chapter 4, we read about the
restoration of the temple that was being carried out under Zerubbabel’s
leadership, after the captives had returned from
9.
VS 51:3 - “3 Indeed, the Lord will comfort
9.1.
The Lord promises ‘comfort’ for Judea, for He
will ‘comfort all her waste places,’ which He will make ‘like
9.2.
The Lord promises Judea that the
10.
VS 51:4-6 - “4 “Pay attention to Me, O My
people; And give ear to Me, O My
nation; For a law will go forth from Me,
And I will set My justice for a light of the peoples. 5 “My righteousness is near, My salvation has
gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples;
The coastlands will wait for Me, And for My arm they will wait
expectantly. 6 “Lift up your eyes to the
sky, Then look to the earth beneath; For
the sky will vanish like smoke, And the earth will wear out like a garment, And
its inhabitants will die in like manner, But My salvation shall be forever, And
My righteousness shall not wane.” - The Lord speaks out and tells His people to
listen up because when His ‘ideal servant’ comes he will bring a new ‘law’
10.1.
The Lord has already told His people in verse
10 of chapter 50 that when His ‘ideal servant’ would come that they were to
obey Him.
10.2.
In Deut. 18:15,
Moses told the children of Israel of the coming of a prophet, whom we know was
to be the Messiah, and Moses told them that this one would be a prophet like he
was, and that when he came that they were to listen to him, “15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from
among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.”
10.3.
Now, the Lord tells His people that a new law
would go forth from Him when His ‘ideal servant’ would come. This new law is of course the New Covenant in
grace that Jesus came to bring to God’s people.
10.3.1.Ezekiel
wrote in Ezek. 11:19-20 about
that future time when under a new covenant or law that the Lord would give them
new hearts and place His laws within them, giving them hearts of flesh to
replace their hearts of stone, “19 “And I shall give
them one heart, and shall put a new spirit within them. And I shall take the
heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,20 that they
may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. Then they will be
My people, and I shall be their God.”
10.3.2.The
apostle John wrote in John 1:17
about this new law or principle of living that came through Jesus Christ and
the new covenant and gospel that He brought to mankind, “17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were
realized through Jesus Christ.”
10.4.
Unfortunately, history has recorded that
10.5.
In these verses, we see that the Lord is
emphatic that though heaven and earth would pass away and people perish,
however His salvation through His ‘ideal servant’ would last forever.
10.6.
Note in these verses that the salvation that
would come through God’s ‘ideal servant’ would come in justice and the
righteousness of the Lord. Jesus you
see, did not talk God out of justly punishing mankind, nor did He somehow get
rid of the need for God’s justice and righteousness concerning mankind. Rather, God’s justice and righteousness were
completely satisfied by Jesus, the lamb who was without spot of blemish, upon
whom the justice and righteous indignation of the Lord was poured out in full
for the sins of mankind.
10.7.
We will see later on in the book of Isaiah
that God’s ‘ideal servant’ turns out to be called the ‘arm of the Lord.’ In these verses, there may also be a distinction
between ‘arm’ (singular and referring to the ‘ideal servant’) and ‘arms’
(plural).
11.
VS 51:7-8 - “7 “Listen to Me, you who know
righteousness, A people in whose heart is My law; Do not fear the reproach of man, Neither be
dismayed at their revilings. 8 “For the
moth will eat them like a garment, And the grub will eat them like wool. But My righteousness shall be forever, And My
salvation to all generations.”” - The Lord admonishes His people not to ‘fear
the reproach of man’ nor ‘be dismayed at their revilings’
11.1.
Prov. 25:29 tells
us that the fear of man brings a snare, “25 The
fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.”
11.2.
In Matt. 10:28,
Jesus taught His disciples not to fear man who would try to kill them, but
rather to fear the Lord, “28 “And do not fear
those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him
who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
11.3.
The Lord tells His people that the wicked
people will be eaten by ‘the moth’ and ‘the grub.’ That is to say that wicked men will just die
and be no more, for their wicked rule will not last long, however the
righteousness of the Lord will be forever, and the salvation that He brings
through His ‘ideal servant’ shall go out to those who will live in ‘all
generations.’
11.3.1.The
reason why we should not fear those who are wicked and would seek to even kill
us because of whom we stand for as God’s people is because the most that people
can do is take our life in this world, and when we leave this world we will
have eternity to spend in bliss and contentment with the Lord. Death is not to be feared for the believer in
Christ, for it is just the door to blessed eternal life.
12.
VS 51:9-11 - “9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the Lord; Awake as in the days
of old, the generations of long ago. Was
it not Thou who cut Rahab in pieces, Who pierced the dragon? 10 Was it not Thou who dried up the sea, The
waters of the great deep; Who made the
depths of the sea a pathway For the redeemed to cross over? 11 So the ransomed of the Lord will return,
And come with joyful shouting to
12.1.
The three-fold request for the Lord to
‘awake’ comes about because God’s people long for the Lord to be strong on
their behalf as He has been for them in history-past, in the ‘generations of
long ago,’ as Isaiah puts it.
12.2.
Again, the great deeds of deliverance by the
Lord are recounted:
12.2.1.Who
‘cut Rahab in pieces.’
12.2.1.1.Rahab
is a code-word for
12.2.2.‘Who
pierced the dragon.’
12.2.2.1.Psalm 74:13-14 possibly reveals that this is another
reference to
12.2.3.‘Who
dried up the sea,’ ‘made the depths of the sea a pathway for the redeemed to
cross over.’
12.2.3.1.This
is a reference to the Lord parting the waters of the
12.3.
In the same way that the Lord in times past
mightily delivered
13.
VS 51:12-16 - “12 “I, even I, am He who
comforts you. Who are you that you are
afraid of man who dies, And of the son of man who is made like grass; 13 That you have forgotten the Lord your
Maker, Who stretched out the heavens, And laid the foundations of the
earth; That you fear continually all day
long because of the fury of the oppressor, As he makes ready to destroy? But where is the fury of the oppressor? 14 “The exile will soon be set free, and will
not die in the dungeon, nor will his bread be lacking. 15 “For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up
the sea and its waves roar (the Lord of hosts is His name). 16 “And I have put My words in your mouth,
and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to
found the earth, and to say to
13.1.
This is just another passage encouraging the
Judeans not to fear their oppressors and not to be afraid to come out of
13.2.
The Lord tells the captive Judeans living
100+ years after Isaiah’s writing that they will be set free and will not die
in a dungeon.
13.3.
The Lord says that He is the one who stirs up
the sea and its waves, which is possibly a reference to His working politically
amongst the nations in bringing about His purposes and will in the establishing
of His kingdom.
13.4.
The Lord tells His people that He has even
put His words into His faithful remnants’ mouths, and that He covers them with
the shadow of His hand.
14.
VS 51:17-20 - “17 Rouse yourself! Rouse
yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk from the Lord’s hand the cup of His anger; The chalice of reeling you have drained to
the dregs.18 There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne; Nor is there one to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has reared. 19
These two things have befallen you; Who
will mourn for you? The devastation and
destruction, famine and sword; How shall
I comfort you? 20 Your sons have
fainted, They lie helpless at the head of every street, Like an antelope in a
net, Full of the wrath of the Lord, The rebuke of your God.” - The Lord tells His people who
have drunk from the His hand the cup of His anger to ‘rouse’ themselves
14.1.
The captive Judeans could not be more humbled
and beaten down there as captives in
14.2.
Two judgments have occurred in her because of
her sin and turning away from the Lord, which has caused her to go into
Babylonian captivity, she has no one to take her hand and she has no one to
lead her.
14.3.
The Lord appeals to His people Judah. He asks who it is among the nations who would
mourn for her? She has reaped
‘devastation and destruction, famine and sword.’
14.4.
The Lord tells the captive Judeans that even
her sons have fainted and they lie helpless at the head of every street. They are like an antelope in a net, for they
are ‘full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God.’
15.
VS 51:21-23 - “21 Therefore, please hear this,
you afflicted, Who are drunk, but not with wine: 22 Thus says your Lord, the Lord, even your
God Who contends for His people, “Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup
of reeling; The chalice of My anger, You
will never drink it again. 23 “And I
will put it into the hand of your tormentors, Who have said to you, ‘Lie down
that we may walk over you.’ You have
even made your back like the ground, And like the street for those who walk
over it.”” - The Lord promises His humbled people who are
there in Babylonian captivity that He will contend for them and that the
chalice of His anger which they had already drunk to the full they will never
drink again, however the Lord will put that chalice into the hand of their
tormentors
15.1.
The Lord promises that what the Babylonians
have done to
15.2.
He also promises in these verses that His
judgment will be completed at the end of the 70 years of their captivity, whose
length Jeremiah accurately prophesied, and then He will judge those who have
tormented them.