Day #211

Sermon - Audio
Isaiah 49-53 - Audio
Isaiah 49-53 - Reading

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Isa 49-53

Isaiah 49 speaks of restoration with underlying hints of condemnation for those who refuse to follow Yahweh.

• 49.1-7: God’s servant will not only rescue Israel, but he will also reach out to the Gentiles. Together Jews and Gentiles will serve God.
• 49.8: The great hope of Israel is that God will restore her to her land and to her place with God. We discover in the New Testament that God’s plan is bigger than Israel imagined: The people of God will inherit the entire earth.
• 49.10: This verse reminds us of an important principle in Biblical interpretation: the New Testament tells us what the Old Testament writers meant. We read in Revelation 7.16, “They shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.” The people being referred to in Revelation are God’s people from every tribe and nation (Revelation 7.9). Isaiah’s prophecy fully understood includes God’s people from all nations.
• 49.23: “those who hope in me will not be disappointed” -- this means those who believe the promises of God and live out those promises in their lives.

Isaiah 50: This short passage includes 1. God’s power to judge 2. the obedience of God’s servant 3. call to trust in God and leave evil behind

• 50.2: “arm too short” i.e. did I not have enough power. God is as powerful today as he has ever been.
• 50.2: God expressed frustration that more people don’t return to the promised land because it shows a lack of trust in him.
• 50.4-9: Hints of Jesus and his life on earth.

Isaiah 51.1-52.12: The words become urgent to the people of Israel to pay attention to God.

• 51.1: A word of promise to the faithful remnant that God would not abandon them. Their faithfulness is reflected in the fact that they are a people who pursue righteousness/justice and seek God.
• 51.1-2: Like Abraham and Sarah, the faithful though few in number, can be assured that God will increase their number.
• 51.7-8: As God does so often through the scriptures he calls his people to faithfulness in the face of powerful opposition reminding them that he rules and that when all comes to an end, he wins.
• 51.9ff: “Awake, awake!” A cry from the faithful for God to come to their rescue. To use his power as he did to defeat Rahab (the forces of chaos) at creation and the Egyptians at the Red Sea.
• 51.17ff “Awake, awake!” God’s response is that it is not he who has been asleep, but the people of Israel. Their sleeping is the cause of their present plight.
• 52.1: Awake, awake!: God calls the city of Jerusalem to awaken from its brokenness and once again be clothed majestically as a royal wife (cf. Revelation 21.2 “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”)
• 52.1: “uncircumcised and defiled”—the wicked have no place in the city (cf. Revelation 21.8 and the ones who are not allowed in the new Jerusalem.)
• 52.5: God’s name is being held lightly in the world because his people are in exile—this he can not allow to continue.
• 52.7: Good news: “Your God reigns” Isaiah provides the Old Testament background to the New Testament “gospel” (literally “good news”) The good news, the gospel at its heart is that God reigns and his kingdom has come.
• 52.11: “Depart, depart!” A call to leave Babylon and return to the promised land.
• 52.12: God’s promise that he will go with them even as he went with Israel on the first Exodus.
• 53.1ff: Those who see the suffering servant are amazed that God would use such a one as this to bring deliverance.
• 53.4: We believe that the suffering servant is receiving what he deserves (stricken by God)—when the reality is God strikes him for our sins.
• 53.5: “by his wounds we are healed” the wonder of these words is that they are all encompassing. Not only is our sinful self healed, but so is our need to have a purpose in life (we are brought into his kingdom), to have direction for our lives (we are given God’s word as a guide), and finally, we will have our bodies healed of all our diseases (see 1 Corinthians 15, “Listen, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep….”). The salvation of God encompasses our complete humanity, not only our sinful hearts.
• 53.11: “knowledge” not only does the Father know the plan, so does the Son. Jesus comes knowing that he will die, being a guilt offering to make restitution to God for the sins of the world.