Isaiah 50:4-51:8 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Isaiah 50:4-51:8. Let’s go!
The previous passage, 49:14-50:3, dealt with three complaints that God and Isaiah expect the Jewish exiles to make in response to God’s promise of deliverance. Having dealt with those complaints, Isaiah goes back to talking about the Servant again.
Isaiah 50:4 (NIV)
4 The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
On 50:4: Here we learn something about the LORD and about His servant. About the LORD, we know His heart is to speak words that sustain the weary. He is the God who “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Isaiah 40:29). He is the same God who says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). So if your soul is weary and your strength is waning, God has a word to sustain you.
About the Servant, we learn that he is humble and teachable. He listens for what the LORD wants him to say. Every day, like the Servant, may we take the time to humbly listen to what the LORD wants to say to us.
Isaiah 50:5-7 (NIV)
5 The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back.
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.
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.
On 50:5-7: Here we learn that the Servant is obedient to the LORD. The LORD seems to be telling the Servant to do something that he knows will result in him suffering persecution, humiliation and rejection, yet the Servant does not draw back or rebel (v5-6). It’s because the LORD is not only the one who instructs the Servant, but He is also the One who helps the Servant. Because the Servant trusts in the LORD’s help, he can remain confident in the face of suffering and persecution (v7).
What can we learn from this?
1. Sometimes we can suffer for doing the right thing. People who believe in the law of karma assume that any bad thing that happens to you is the result of something bad that you did previously. However, the Bible teaches that suffering is not that simple. Sometimes we suffer because of our own poor choices, or the poor choices of others. Sometimes we suffer despite doing the right thing. In this case, the Servant will suffer not because he did anything wrong, but because he is doing right.
2. When we know that we’re doing the right thing and that God is with us, we can suffer trusting that we will not be put to shame for God will defend us in the end.
Isaiah 50:8-9 (NIV)
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 is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.
On 50:8-9: Why is it that the Servant can speak with such confidence in the face of suffering and persecution? It’s because he knows that whoever is against him cannot compare to the One to whom he belongs.
To me verses 8-9 are the Old Testament equivalent of Romans 8:31-35 where Paul writes, “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?… Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…”
Because we have the LORD as our protector and defender, we can live each day with a similar kind of confidence, even when our enemy Satan accuses us. For our accuser is nothing compared to the One we belong to.
Isaiah 50:10-11 (NIV)
10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
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.
On 50:10: It is better to have no light of our own except to trust in the LORD than to manufacture our own light and eventually be painfully set ablaze by it. When it comes to eternity, that is the choice each one of us must make: will we trust in the LORD as our light or will we attempt to make our own light and trust in that instead? To do the former is to be kept safe. To do the latter is to write your own death sentence for eternity.
Here Isaiah seems to put obeying the word of this Servant on equal footing with fearing the LORD (v10). This shows you how important the word of this Servant is.
Isaiah 51:1-3 (NIV)
1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who 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 but one, 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.
On 51:1-3: Here the Servant continues to speak. We can learn a number of good lessons.
First, the best thing you can do every day is to do what the Servant says in verse 1: “Look to the rock from which you were cut” (51:1). In other words, look to God, from whom we came and without whom we would be nothing.
Second, assuming that this is the Servant speaking, notice what he says about himself: he says that he called Abraham, blessed him and made him many (51:2). If this is the Servant speaking, which I believe it is, this means that the Servant existed long before Isaiah existed. It suggests that the Servant is no ordinary human being, but is eternal. Like Melchizedek in Genesis 14, “without beginning of days of end of life” (Hebrews 7:3), the Servant claims to have seen Abraham and blessed him before Abraham had become a great nation. It reminds me of Jesus’ statement in John 8:58, “Before Abraham was, I am!”
Third, God is a compassionate comforter and restorer (51:3) and plans to comfort and restore His people one day. Just as God took Abraham and Sarah when they were just one and made them into a great nation, so God is going to do the same with His people.
Isaiah 50:4-6 (NIV)
4 “Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law 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 forever, my righteousness will never fail.
On 51:4-6: The Servant continues to speak:
· He talks about how the law will come out from him and how his justice will be a light to the nations (51:4)
· He talks about how he will bring salvation (51:5), how the ends of the earth will look to him and wait in hope for him (51:5)
· He talks about how, even when the earth and the heavens wear out, his salvation will last forever and his righteousness will never fail (51:6)
Isaiah 50:7-8 (NIV)
7 “Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in your hearts: Do not fear the reproach of men 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 forever, my salvation through all generations.”
On 51:7-8: Just as the Servant did not fear the insults of people, so he tells his followers not to fear them either. For those critics and their words will not last, but the righteousness and salvation that this Servant brings will last forever.
If you fear what people might say about you, if you are very bothered when people insult you or criticize you, remember these words. Remember who will last in the end: not the critic or their insults, but the salvation and righteousness of the LORD. Knowing this, may you be fearless in the face of opposition as you seek to do God’s will.
Father, when I look to You, the rock from which I was cut, I know that no person or group can compare with You. Thank You that because I belong to You, I don’t need to fear opposition or lose hope in suffering. Rather I can simply focus on doing what is right and trust that You are with me and will defend me in the end. Thank You that while critics and their insults will not last, Your salvation and righteousness will last forever. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
