Contributor: Esther Alajiki
INTRODUCTION
Last week explored God's desire for a harmonious relationship with His people and His desire for us to live holy and walk intimately with Him, He made us for companionship and we should hunger and thirst for Him. Today we will be looking at His comfort and assurance of salvation for Zion in Isaiah 51 and deliverance for Jerusalem in Chapter 52.
The first 7 verses reveal 3 promises for His people. The LORD here speaks to His people, but His people have had trouble listening to Him. So, three times in this chapter, the exhortation is given - Listen to Me. We have evidence of how God has dealt with His people and this gives us faith and guidance for His work in our lives – if we will listen to Him. God’s people were in a discouraging place. They felt defeated, and the prophet told them to look at God’s work in and through His people in days past. This should remind His people today that God does not need many people to do a great work. He can bless and increase one man alone. When we hear of what God has done and is doing in the lives of others, it can build our faith for God’s work in our own lives. God can do a lot with a little (Zech. 4:6-10) 1 Cor. 1:26 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world”
It takes a great deal to shake off the Christian who has been eaten up with discouragement and unbelief. These two emotions are the masterstrokes of Satan. But, so long as the child of God maintains an attitude of praise and trust in the Lord, then he/she will not be hit by the devil’s arrows.
Promise #1: God Will Restore (51:1-3)
The three promises are delineated by the three calls for the people to listen to the Lord. Isaiah 51:1, 4, 7 all begin calling for the people to listen to what God has to say. “listen” (Shammah) in verse 1 and verse 7 are the same. The word means to listen in the sense of understanding, applying and obeying the Word of God, We must be comforted by looking at what God is able to restore. – consider what He did with Abraham. God is a covenant keeping God.
Zech. 4:6 -7 “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” Says the Lord of hosts.7‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!
Promise #2: God Will Teach The World (51:4-6)
God’s revelation and instructions would not be limited to the physical nation of Israel any longer. God’s faithfulness (righteousness) and salvation will extend to the entire world.
Those tied to the earth will be cast away, and even the earth will vanish away., When the LORD ultimately regathers, blesses, and saves Israel, He will also shine forth His justice to all the world – to Israel (My nation) and to all the nations.
Promise #3: God Will Give Lasting Salvation (51:7-8)
God is faithful to his people and he has promised salvation to those who know him. This world is temporal - don’t be temporal
A Prayer and Response (51:9-16) - A prayer to God (51:9-11) and a response from God (51:12-16). The call is for the arm of the Lord to be awaken. God’s power to be made manifest so “the ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing.” God responds that there is no reason for His people to live in fear.
We will only live in fear continually every day if we forget the LORD. When we forget the LORD, we forget His tender love and care for us. “I have covered you with the shadow of My hand”. The phrase I have covered you with the shadow of My hand reminds us of how God covered Moses with His hand, as Moses hid in the rock and the LORD made His glory to pass before Moses (Exodus 33:17-23).
A wakeup call is directed right at Jerusalem. God’s people sometimes spiritually “fall asleep” and need to be awakened. A common picture of judgment in the Old Testament is the cup of God’s wrath or fury. The idea is that God gives a cup “full” of His wrath to those who are under judgment, and they must drink it. Here, God calls Jerusalem to remember that they have drunk at the hand of the LORD, the cup of His fury when they experienced God’s judgment through the Babylonians. This powerful image was in the mind of Jesus when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion. When He prayed, Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done (Luke 22:42), He had in mind the cup of God’s wrath He was about to drink – to the dregs – at the cross.
Romans 13:11-12 says, And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
There were none to give guidance to her children (vs.18) - That those who should have been her comforters were their own tormentors…..in spite of judgement, God is mindful of us and our children, He sees if the children are being taught or not
The judgment of God affects generations but God is merciful and compassionate, whatever the distresses of God's people may be, He will not disown His relation to them, even if they have they lost their interest in Him and in His promise.
They have fallen so low that no one mourns their affliction. That is, because of their sins, they have no friends. It is easier for men to look down on those who are reaping negative consequences for their choices than to have compassion on them. God, however, is not that way; although they have been under God's wrath, God will deliver the Jews. He has compassion on those who are afflicted, even if they are afflicted because of their sins.
This promise of deliverance is a specific prophecy concerning Babylon; the Babylonians who took the Jews captive were themselves overthrown by the Persians. As they took advantage of other's weaknesses, they would be made weak and lowly. This prophecy, then, is not to be extended to all believers. God delivered the Jews because of His covenant; this does not mean that He will deliver one from the consequences of one's sins. He may do so, but then again He may not.
Comfort #1: God’s Wrath Has Ended (51:17-23)
Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over.” (Isaiah 51:22–23 ESV)
The only escape that can be found from the wrath of God is in the mercy of God., when we look to the God of all comfort, only then are we able to have hope of mercy for our sinful condition.
The greater part of this chapter is on the same subject with the chapter before, concerning the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon, which yet is applicable to the great salvation Christ has wrought out for us; but the last three verses are on the same subject with the following chapter, concerning the person of the Redeemer, his humiliation and exaltation.
God's people are stirred up to appear vigorous for their own deliverance- let them awake from their despondency, and pluck up their spirits, encourage themselves and one another – be hopeful - all will be well yet, don’t be discouraged, let go of doubt and distrust, take hold of God’s promises, look into the providences of God. There shall be a cleansing - the uncircumcised and the unclean sneaked in with their idolatrous customs in Ezra's time and Nehemiah's, the unclean crept in, they were soon by the vigilance and zeal of the magistrates expelled again, and care was taken that Jerusalem should be a holy city. Thus the gospel Jerusalem is purified by the blood of Christ and the grace of God, and made indeed a holy city.
There is a call to prepare for liberty - that the bands of their necks should be loosed, that they should not now be any longer oppressed, nay, that they should not be any more invaded –every band the enemy has put around lives will be destroyed. No invasion- keep close to God, and keep in with him, God will keep off, will keep out of the enemy; The gospel proclaims liberty to those who were bound with fears and makes it their duty to take hold of their liberty. Let those who have been weary and heavily laden under the burden of sin, finding relief in Christ, shake themselves from the dust of their doubts and fears and loose themselves from those bands; for, if the Son make them free, they shall be free indeed.
Here God says both got nothing by indulging in sins, Satan/world reproaches God when we partner with them. "Therefore, because my name is thus blasphemed, I will arise, and my people shall know my name, my name Jehovah." By this name He had made Himself known in delivering them out of Egypt, Ex. 6:3.
God will do something to vindicate His own honour, something for His great name; and His people, God would manifest His providence governs the world, and all the affairs of it, that it is He who speaks deliverance for them by the Word of His power, that it is He who speaks deliverance for them by the Word of His power. His Words will be fulfilled- Christ Himself brought these tidings first (Luke. 4:18, Heb. 2:3), and of Him the text speaks: How beautiful are His feet! His feet that were nailed to the cross, how beautiful upon Mount Calvary!
Those that bring the tidings of deliverance of the messiah ought to be welcomed with abundance of joy and thankfulness. the tidings of peace and salvation- good tidings of good- Let us be encouraged to proclaim the covenant Keeping God and His power to deliver.
There shall be illumination - when the LORD shall bring again Zion. They shall see an exact agreement and correspondence between the prophecy and the event, the promise and the performance; they shall see how they look one upon another eye to eye, and be satisfied that the same God spoke the one and did the other.
God's people will have the comfort of this salvation; and what is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving
Chapter 52
Comfort #2: You Are Holy (52:1-10)
The second comfort is God decreeing that Zion is no longer polluted and defiled. This is a God-given holiness, not an intrinsic holiness. God is cleaning His people up from the mess of their sins and setting them free. God has no trouble setting His people free.
Go Out In Freedom (52:11-12)
The call is for His people to live in holiness. God has set you apart and purified you to belong to Him. The last thing we are to do is go back into our sinful ways that enslaved us. We have been purified and set apart to walk away from the ways of the world. Do not act like the world. Do not think like the world. Do not look like the world. The apostle Paul used this prophecy when he wrote to the Corinthians.
The Servant Exalted (52:13) (Philippians 2:5-11)
“Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.”
Are you God’s servant or you think only pastors and leaders are God’s servants - Christ qualified for it. Isaiah11:2 says: “And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,”
God exalted Him, because He humbled himself. Three words are used for this (v. 13): He shalt be exalted and extolled and be very high.
Jesus: He was buffeted, smitten on the cheek, and crowned with thorns, and hid not His face from shame and spitting. His face was foul with weeping, for He was a man of sorrows; He that really was fairer than the children of men had His face spoiled with the abuses that were done Him. Never was man used so barbarously; His form, when He took upon Him the form of a servant, was more mean and abject than that of any of the sons of men.
His cleansing blood will cleanse, purify blot our sins and iniquities they shall not open their mouths against Him, as they have done, to contradict and blaspheme His name no more – every knee and every tongue shall bow before Him
CONCLUSION
God goes to great lengths to get our attention. He wants to communicate to us His plans for the future. He wants us to patiently trust Him and rely on His faithfulness to His promises despite the bleakness of our present circumstances. He does not want us to be paralyzed by fear. Here God calls on His people 3 times to pay close attention and listen to His encouragement regarding the future. Remember Your Past – God has been faithful and will continue to fulfill all of His precious promises to those who are children of Abraham by faith
Anticipate Your Future – Ultimate Salvation and Righteousness are Coming
In the Present, Choose Faith, not Fear – Walk by Faith and proclaim the Righteousness of God — not intimidated by Fear, live in expectation of the Lord’s return
