{"id":25787,"date":"2023-04-04T22:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T05:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-49_14-50_3-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-03-21T20:16:55","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T03:16:55","slug":"isaiah-50_4-51_8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-50_4-51_8\/","title":{"rendered":"Confident Even In Suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 50:4-51:8 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 50:4-51:8.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

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\u2019s promise of deliverance.\u00a0 Having dealt with those complaints, Isaiah goes back to talking about the Servant again.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 50:4 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0has 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On 50:4:\u00a0 Here we learn something about the LORD and about His servant.\u00a0 About the LORD, we know His heart is to speak words that sustain the weary.\u00a0 He is the God who \u201cgives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak\u201d (Isaiah 40:29).\u00a0 He is the same God who says, \u201cCome to me, all you who are weary and I will give you rest\u201d (Matthew 11:28).\u00a0 So if your soul is weary and your strength is waning, God has a word to sustain you.<\/p>\n

About the Servant, we learn that he is humble and teachable.\u00a0 He listens for what the LORD wants him to say.\u00a0 Every day, like the Servant, may we take the time to humbly listen to what the LORD wants to say to us.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 50:5-7 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I 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.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Because the Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.<\/em><\/p>\n

On 50:5-7:\u00a0 Here we learn that the Servant is obedient to the LORD.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 It\u2019s 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\u2019s help, he can remain confident in the face of suffering and persecution (v7).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?
\n1.\u00a0Sometimes we can suffer for doing the right thing.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0People 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.\u00a0 However, the Bible teaches that suffering is not that simple.\u00a0 Sometimes we suffer because of our own poor choices, or the poor choices of others.\u00a0 Sometimes we suffer despite doing the right thing.\u00a0 In this case, the Servant will suffer not because he did anything wrong, but because he is doing right.
\n2.\u00a0<\/strong>When we know that we\u2019re 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 50:8-9 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He 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!
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It is the Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.<\/em><\/p>\n

On 50:8-9:\u00a0 Why is it that the Servant can speak with such confidence in the face of suffering and persecution?\u00a0 It\u2019s because he knows that whoever is against him cannot compare to the One to whom he belongs.<\/p>\n

To me verses 8-9 are the Old Testament equivalent of Romans 8:31-35 where Paul writes, \u201cWhat, 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.\u00a0 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…\u201d<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 For our accuser is nothing compared to the One we belong to.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 50:10-11 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Who among you fears the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and rely on his God.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On 50:10:\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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?\u00a0 To do the former is to be kept safe.\u00a0 To do the latter is to write your own death sentence for eternity.<\/p>\n

Here Isaiah seems to put obeying the word of this Servant on equal footing with fearing the LORD (v10).\u00a0 This shows you how important the word of this Servant is.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 51:1-3 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the\u00a0LORD: Look to the rock from \u00a0which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0look 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.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will 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\u00a0LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.<\/em><\/p>\n

On 51:1-3:\u00a0 Here the Servant continues to speak.\u00a0 We can learn a number of good lessons.<\/p>\n

First,\u00a0the best thing you can do every day is to do what the Servant says in verse 1: \u201cLook to the rock from which you were cut\u201d (51:1)<\/strong>.\u00a0 In other words, look to God, from whom we came and without whom we would be nothing.<\/p>\n

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).\u00a0 If this is the Servant speaking, which I believe it is, this means that the Servant existed long before Isaiah existed.\u00a0 It suggests that the Servant is no ordinary human being, but is eternal.\u00a0 Like Melchizedek in Genesis 14, \u201cwithout beginning of days of end of life\u201d (Hebrews 7:3), the Servant claims to have seen Abraham and blessed him before Abraham had become a great nation.\u00a0 It reminds me of Jesus\u2019 statement in John 8:58, \u201cBefore Abraham was, I am!\u201d<\/p>\n

Third, God is a compassionate comforter and restorer (51:3) and plans to comfort and restore His people one day.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 50:4-6 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“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.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0My 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.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Lift 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On 51:4-6:\u00a0 The Servant continues to speak:
\n\u00b7\u00a0He talks about how the law will come out from him and how his justice will be a light to the nations (51:4)
\n\u00b7\u00a0He 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)
\n\u00b7\u00a0He 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)<\/p>\n

Isaiah 50:7-8 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“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.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For 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.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On 51:7-8:\u00a0 Just as the Servant did not fear the insults of people, so he tells his followers not to fear them either.\u00a0 For those critics and their words will not last, but the righteousness and salvation that this Servant brings will last forever.<\/p>\n

If you fear what people might say about you, if you are very bothered when people insult you or criticize you, remember these words.\u00a0 Remember who will last in the end: not the critic or their insults, but the salvation and righteousness of the LORD.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Knowing this, may you be fearless in the face of opposition as you seek to do God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

Father, when I look to You, the rock from which I was cut, I know that no person or group can compare with You.\u00a0 Thank You that because I belong to You, I don\u2019t need to fear opposition or lose hope in suffering.\u00a0 Rather I can simply focus on doing what is right and trust that You are with me and will defend me in the end.\u00a0 Thank You that while critics and their insults will not last, Your salvation and righteousness will last forever.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 50:4-51:8.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

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\u2019s promise of deliverance.\u00a0 Having dealt with those complaints, Isaiah goes back to talking about the Servant again.
\n\u00a0
\nIsaiah 50:4 (NIV)
\n4\u00a0\u00a0The Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0has 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.
\n\u00a0
\nOn 50:4:\u00a0 Here we learn something about the LORD and about His servant.\u00a0 About the LORD, we know His heart is to speak words that sustain the weary.\u00a0 He is the God who \u201cgives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak\u201d (Isaiah 40:29).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25787"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25798,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25787\/revisions\/25798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}