Isaiah, Chapters 49-51

Good morning. We will delve into this lengthy passage shortly here. Now, we understand a lot of you have had a fair amount of pumpkin pie and we understand that and turkey wherever you could find it. And no doubt, a number of you have traveled as well. So we're glad you're here this morning and can join us. And so we will dive into the passage quickly. Just to give us some perspective, and this is included on your handout on the first page, we're galloping towards Isaiah 53. We're kind of moving quickly.

When we get to the Isaiah 52.13 through 53.12, passage, we'll be kind of hovering over that for some number of weeks, as you see, into after today, pursuing even into the beginning of next year. So that's our schedule. A reminder just as we've been going through this that Isaiah has four servant songs in this section. We are in the second one looking at that this morning. The song passage is the verses plus one more that Courtney read for us and then into the refrain.

We're going to be moving of course to the fourth song passage as we get into the Isaiah 52.13 to 53.12 passage. Now, here is the passage we're going through. I was glad that Courtney didn't read it through six times or have you participate in that. It's lengthy, so we'll not be seeing it obviously in detail, but we will be taking a look at each part of it.

So what's so special about this? Here is what it is. It contains the second servant song. It is primarily about Jesus Christ and His first and second comings. So it focuses upon the person of Jesus Christ. It's about Christ's relationship to the people of Israel and the Gentiles, primarily. Isaiah 49 speaks about salvation for Israel and the Gentiles. It doesn't reveal or address the church directly, but because that's in New Testament books, it does tell about Christ.

And we'll take a look at that in a minute. Here's the timeline. You also have this on your handout on the first page. Here is Isaiah who is speaking about seven centuries before the first coming of Christ, writing. He is pointing to that first coming and to the millennial kingdom, which is a time yet to come. And you're about here, okay? I'll let you adjust that line as close or as far as you like, but you're about there, all right?

Now, we're going to do some flash-forwards this morning. Not flashbacks, but flash-forwards. What we're going to do, we're going to flash ahead to some New Testament passages. And why we're going to do that, as we go through the passage, I call it strolling through the passage, we're going to show how Christ fulfills the prophecies, and we're going to get better insights into what God's plan and purpose is by looking at these New Testament passages. So, we'll have that. We're going to see ways in which the prophecies of this passage are fulfilled in the church, even though Isaiah doesn't directly mention the church. We're going to see ways in which, yes, the church does have a part in the fulfillment. And we're going to see God's character shown through this passage here. Some months ago now, I used an illustration that I think is helpful, so I'm going to bring it up briefly.

Some 20 odd years ago, I had a business trip in which I took a side jump into the Alps in Switzerland. This is Eiger, the Eiger Sanction, maybe a movie, a Clint Eastwood movie, that was when he was younger. and Monk and Jungfrau, those are the names of the trio of mountains there. We're gonna look at those particular two mountains on the right and use it for an illustration. Monk and Jungfrau have between them a gap, a high elevation gap, no less, but a gap. And if we picture looking from the side of one mountain towards the other, That'll help us get the point here.

There is, right in this little gap here, actually a restaurant and an ice sculpture exhibit. As I went into that restaurant, here's the ice sculpture exhibits. Here's some of the things that were carved into the ice, some samples. Here's the view from the restaurant that is positioned between those two.

Well, to put it this way, using the analogy, Isaiah is doing a reading between the mountaintops. He's looking from one mountaintop to the next, not seeing what is between them, not seeing the church. Here, the first mountaintop, Monk, as we had named here, would be representing Christ's first coming, and here would be Christ's second coming. The gap between would be representing the church, not seen between the two mountaintops. So from Isaiah's view, the church is not visible, but he does see the two peaks. So the church would be positioned between out of view, but as we have subsequently seen because of Scripture, there and present nonetheless. Isaiah would see the Gentiles and Israel represented in both the first and second comings, and the church would not be seen.

Now, who's talking in this passage? This is what's amazing. This is first person. The passage, particularly the part that Courtney read for us, is written as spoken from the mouth of Christ, from Him. So this is Christ talking to these people. So that's kind of an interesting perspective. It isn't talking about Christ. It's Christ talking, alright, directly. He's talking to the people of Israel and to the Gentiles, those from Isaiah's perspective who were foreseen. the people throughout the earth who are not Jewish, the Gentiles there.

Brace yourself, okay, for this. Not that way though, okay? I don't need to see a bunch of those. No, there, let's let that do. Okay. Be prepared to read of a paradox. You're going to see a paradox in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of a verse, in a switch between one verse and the next. You're going to be seeing a switch from Christ who is despised and rejected, viewed as a failure, and then suddenly have it switch to a place where God exalts him and he is served by this world's rulers. You're going to see that kind of a paradox through the passage. You're going to see this first coming perspective, despised, rejected, a failure. You're going to see The second coming perspective, the one whom God exalts in both heaven and earth. Both those are in this passage. Sometimes switching quickly from one to the next. Isaiah will use figures of speech. You know what I'm talking about with figures of speech? We use figures of speech in our language, okay? It's like when Vern is speaking off the top of his head, okay? Alright, figures of speech.

All right, let's start into it. Listen to me, O islands, and pay attention to me, you peoples from afar. Let's take a look at these first couple of verses. It is a Hebrew poetry pattern here. Listen to me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. Those rhyme not in sounds, but in meanings. That's the idea of the Hebrew poetry pattern. We have the HPP, right? All right.

The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named me. It is a pattern rhyming but in mirror image, starting off with reference to the Lord and calling and naming, and the middle part of it, from the womb, from the body of my mother. The next, for he has, he has made my mouth like a sharp sword, he has concealed me, he has also made me a select arrow, hidden me in his quiver. All right, islands and peoples from afar.

He is using this islands statement, not as talking to pieces of rock and dirt. He's not doing that. Okay. Not these things. He is talking instead to the people on them. Hopefully the islands are better and more equipped than that one. But anyway, you get the idea.

It's the peoples on the islands that he's referring to in this passage. Isaiah is written as, so islands are equal to peoples. That's the idea, since it's a rhyming idea. In the Greek Old Testament, peoples is ethnos. That's where in our language we get the idea of ethnic. It's the ethnic ones. That's what the Jews thought of when they talked about the Gentiles.

The ones who are of all those ethnic groups, different ones. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother. He named me. Isn't that much like the season that we're now approaching here? The time when we're customarily looking at our Lord's birth. So let's take a look at that.

Isaiah 49.1 is fulfilled in Luke 1.26-36.

And we'll jump seven centuries ahead now of the time that Isaiah was writing, and four empires later into a small village In this little village, probably about 80 people, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph. Of the descendants of David, the virgin's name was Mary. To give you some examples, Mary was, we don't know for certain, but probably Cayley's or Erica's age.

Isn't that something? Probably about that age. So here's Gabriel in Nazareth talking to Mary. And coming in, he said to her, Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was very perplexed at this statement. I can imagine why. And kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him. See, here's named him from the womb, right? Name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end."

How about that for a peasant woman in a town of less than a hundred people who is a virgin in her young teens? Mary said to the angel, how can this be? And that's an understatement. Since I am a virgin, and the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and for that reason the holy child shall be called the Son of God.

We saw in Isaiah 7.14 how Isaiah prophesied seven centuries in advance that this one, this appointed one of the Lord would be a virgin, would bear a child who would be God with us.

He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. Now this one here takes us to Revelation 19. I won't read through this part of the passage, although it introduces it. You have it on page two of your handout. We studied this one through Revelation several years ago, and that's online if you want to revisit that, the audio portion of it. But in the second part, which is also in your handout on page two, he starts us from his mouth comes a sharp sword.

He is the one who fulfills this. Imagine 2,700 years ago, Isaiah said, this is the one who would be born of a virgin. This is the one who would be named from his womb, from the mother's womb. This is the one who would have a mouth like a sharp sword. This part of it is still yet to be fulfilled. Yet, 2,700 years, even now, after Isaiah wrote it.

So, we see in Revelation 1.16, 2.16, and 19.21, Christ is also written in those places as having a sharp sword from His mouth. He used the word ramphaia. It was not the normal Roman short sword, but a five foot long barbarian battle sword.

Isn't that amazing? pictorial standpoint, trying to picture that, that's kind of wild. But the intent there was to convey power, great power. Okay, how about this arrows and quiver in verse two? A select arrow wasn't just any arrow, it was one that was carefully crafted to be very straight, And the feathers to direct it were very straight and well placed so that this was an arrow that must hit its target. This was the one you pick when you'd say, I've got to hit this one and I've got to be very accurate. Arrows, of course, were hidden in a quiver until ready for action. So that fits the verse two passage there. Christ, God's select arrow, came in the fullness of time, the time that we're now celebrating in this next month ahead of us here, dying for us at the right time. This is the Romans 5, 6 passage.

And he will come again in the Father's time, at a time that the Father will call. As we pointed out in times past, the rapture will take place at the time the Father calls out. It was customary in the Jewish wedding ceremony for the father to tell the son, now go get your bride, to call the time. So we'll come again at the father's time.

Christ remains hidden like the arrow in the quiver until the right time. Verse 3 in this chapter sounds at first like it's written of Israel. This is God the Father speaking to Jesus Christ. Isn't that interesting? You see an example of that in Psalm 110, verse 1, which is the most quoted verse in the New Testament out of the Old. And it's, the Lord says to my Lord. This first half of verse 4 sounds like Christ will have worked for nothing. This is the paradox that we talked about. It looks like He's just going to waste His time. Oh, what a worthless thing.

But it turned out that God used the events of the cross and the grave for His eternal purpose. Can you imagine what did the Jews who sought to have Jesus crucified, what did they think when they saw him on the cross? We did it. All right. Got rid of that problem, right? How about the Roman soldiers? They, of course, well practiced at driving nails in the people's arms and into their feet. They thought, another job done. I just got to stick around for a while, make sure he's dead. Failure. You think you're so great, come down off that cross. The world thought, failure. Loser!

God's assessment? This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, but upon whom now I must pour wrath. Because He's taking upon Himself the sins of the whole world. Scripture repeatedly says that Christ gave Himself. He didn't go upon the cross struggling and saying, no, no, no, and the Roman soldiers holding him down. He willingly laid his hands out and his feet out for the nails.

Verses 5 and 6 start off like this in verse 5, Now says the Lord who formed me from the womb, same message again, a repeated message, to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him. Doesn't this fit very well with the message given by Gabriel to Mary?

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob who will be gathered together with him.

Right? His kingdom will have no end. In verse 6, the last part of it, I will also make you a light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Amazing. Christ as the light of the nations comes forward in the New Testament. Look at this procession. Simeon at the dedication of Christ at the temple. Here's Simeon, an aged man, holding the Messiah in his arms. Paul and Barnabas upon rejection of the gospel by the Jews. Paul's first missionary journey.

What does he do? He points. The light now goes to the Gentiles. Paul testifying before the Roman governor Festus says the light is now going to the Gentiles. Isaiah writing in the Millennial Kingdom, Isaiah chapter 60, we'll see that in weeks to come.

And John writing in the New Heavens and the New Earth, Revelation 21.4, a light to the nations. Here's some practical personal principles here. From creation until just before the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2, God had commissioned various ones to be lights unto the nations, including people within the people of Israel. You, the people of Israel, this is your job. Christ, the light, was sent to shed spiritual light among the nations. That's what Isaiah said. This is what he's going to do. He's going to shed that spiritual light among the nations.

We who believe in the church are the light, that's what is written in Ephesians 5.8, because we are in the Lord Jesus Christ, the light to the nations. We're in Him. We are the light as well. Here is another paradox that comes up in verse 7.

Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, to the despised one, to the one abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers. Kings will see and arise, princes will also bow down, because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you. God the Father here is speaking to the Son. This says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, is Holy One to the despised one. rejected by his own people, Israel, the nation.

It's a pattern you see through much of the Old Testament. The reference to the nation in many contexts is Israel. This is the same. It's not the nations, it's the nation. Israel rejected him. Isaiah said what we read in the Gospels now, seven centuries in advance, Christ will come and the nation, Israel, will reject him. Isaiah said it, seven centuries before it happened.

Yet Gentile kings and authorities will stand or bow in honor of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The kings will arise and princes will bow down because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel has chosen you. Verse 8 starts, Thus says the Lord, in a favorable time I have answered you, in a day of salvation I have helped you. Paul quoted and made application of those phrases in 2 Corinthians 6.

A favorable time is a time that is in accordance with God's will. The conditions of heart and the actions of people, the actions in progress are pleasing to Him. That is a favorable time. A time of God's favor. A day of salvation is a time in which God's work of salvation has been accomplished, and that salvation, accomplished by Him, is available to all. So while Paul made this quote from the beginning of that passage here, these verses primarily point to the millennial reign of Christ. It will be a day of salvation. It will be an acceptable and favorable time.

These verses also address the release of the people from a variety of bondage, illness, and disability, including the turkey bowl, also providing for their material needs. All right. Though Isaiah did not know or reveal it, we in the church will be there with Christ. We will. We'll talk about that in a minute. One of the passages we pointed out last week, we'll bring up again here. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-17. You have it on page 3 of your handout. The very end of verse 17 says this brief but very comforting thing. We shall always be with the Lord. Where are you going to be a thousand years from now? Always be with the Lord. Where are you going to be a million years from now? Always be with the Lord. That's wonderful. That's great. Verses 10 through 13, let's step through them quickly.

They will not hunger or thirst, nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down, for He who has compassion on them will lead them and will guide them to springs of water. This verse 10 is about the provision of water in the coming reign of Christ, literal provision of water. We've seen other passages earlier in Isaiah where there was actually great discussion and revelation about the plenty of water in places like this is the Ereba, the desert just south of the Dead Sea. Look dry? It describes that area as flowing with springs and water and marshes and plenty of water.

Verse 11, I will make all my mountains a road and my highways will be raised up. Now, do you know what that verse means? Do you know what it means? Think about this. I will make all my mountains a road and my highways will be raised up. Do you know what that means?

It means that finally, the speed bump will get fixed on Eccles Road. You can see the speed bump from space. Here it is. You can put other signs there besides the one they have. Even this one. It is really something that will finally get dealt with. No, that's not what it's about.

Verse 11 is about the greater ease of access and travel because people will want to see the Messiah. They will want to come see the Lord. Verse 12, Behold, these will come from afar and lo, these will come from the north and from the west and from the land of Sinim. Sinim has been an area of kind of interesting study and conjecture. In times past, it was thought to be China. More recently, they're thinking it's down near Ethiopia. So anyway, nonetheless, the point is well taken. It's from a great distance. People from all directions. Verse 12 is about the many who will come to see the Lord, even some from distant places, from far away.

Verse 13, shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth. Break forth into joyful singing, O mountains, for the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted. Verse 13, it tells of rejoicing throughout the earth. about Jesus Christ even greatly restoring the earth. The peace on earth that the angels declared, that's this time, okay? That's this time. Substantial restoration of the creation is told about. The Romans elective is going to be studying this passage here in some weeks to come.

And this is a time where it says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. We're going to see this, folks. And that's a key thing for us to keep in mind. We read about these. We say, oh, that's about Israel. That's about the Gentiles. Well, yes it is. We're going to be there.

In verses 14-16, it says, The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me. This is Zion, standing for Israel and Jerusalem. But he says, Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. These tell us of the Lord's heart towards Israel, and of course, we have by authority of other passages we'll see shortly, we may go through all kinds of difficulties. It is important for us to remember that the Lord has those in our lives for a purpose, but they are not an indication that He has forsaken or forgotten us. Hebrews 13, 5, the last half of the verse, He Himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.

He's quoting what appears to be from Joshua 1.5. It's a message given repeatedly throughout the Old Testament. I will not desert you. I will not forget you. I will not forsake you. The author of Hebrews brings the same message home to the church. The Lord will not forget us. The Lord will not forsake us. The Lord will not leave us. The Lord will not desert us. He will not desert or forsake those who are his, period.

You will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride. A bride in biblical times would be decorated with the best that they could afford. He is saying, the Lord instead values you. You will be made a decoration, a personal decoration. And you will be close to Me. It will be a special time. Verses 20 and 21, the children of whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears, the place is too cramped for me. Make room for me that I may live here.

What had been very sparsely populated was then to be an area where lots of people gathered. Remember there was a time when Israel had but a few come back from Babylon. A few come back to rebuild things, and they were threatened by a great number of enemies. They felt greatly outnumbered in their project to rebuild. But the Lord is saying a time would come in which the numbers of Israel would grow to a great number. People would be drawn there, and also by just fertility. We have a chart here on the left of an interesting, there's been since the middle 1800s, a series of census takings of Jews in Jerusalem. Look at the chart. I'll make that a little bit bigger. Here's the chart. Look at the growth.

So what we see, you know, has prophecy been fulfilled in the direction of fulfilling the Lord's coming again? Yeah, that's a part of it. Does it give us an exact timing? No. But boy, something's happened. And something is happening, isn't it? It's amazing to see. Now, let's look at some practical, personal principles here.

God is not at all ignorant of the circumstances that faces each of us, whether daily or from time to time, a pain in the neck, a flat tire, crowds, crying kids, nasty bosses, droning pastors, all those trials and difficulties. Everything that takes place in our lives happens for God's good purpose. If something bad happens in our lives, we should never view it as God forsaking or forgetting us. God hasn't rejected us. We should always remember that. Something bad happen in your life? Something bad happening in your life? Is something bad going to happen tomorrow?

God will never leave us or forsake us or reject us or deserve us. Not happen. Forget it. God's eternal purpose includes you personally. God is not forgetting us. He Himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you. Both of these negations are written in the strongest possible terms in the Greek language. The Greek has various ways of saying not and never. This one is ou-me, not au-me, but ou-me. Can you say that? Ou-me. Ou-me. See, I know a bunch of Greek scholars here. All right.

The Lord forgetting us is the very definition of what is impossible. See that? The Lord forgetting us is the very definition of what's impossible. If you think the Lord's forgotten you, forget about it. It is as impossible as these drawings you see here. You're not going to make those things. Why? They can't be made. It's impossible. Is the Lord going to forget you or forsake you? No. It's impossible. It's not going to happen. Don't even think about it.

Here we have in the last verses the relationship between the Gentiles and Israel during Christ's reign on earth. In the end there in verse 23, God is with you. What will happen, it says there in Zechariah 20-23, the Lord of Hosts says, In those days, ten men from all the nations, Gentiles, will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, Let us go with you. For we have heard that God is with you. Immanuel, okay, is the idea. God is with you. And therefore, We want to go see the Messiah. Take us. Take us.

When Christ reigns, the people of Israel will be highly regarded, because Christ will be highly regarded. The Gentiles will truly uphold and support and even highly regard the people of Israel. We have seen within the last century horrible atrocities carried out upon the people of Israel, even today. dedicated populations to getting those people wiped off the map. This will be a time quite different. They will be highly prized.

This is an aspect of the Gentiles' part in fulfilling God's eternal purpose. The Lord has seen fit to set saved Jews, Gentiles, and us in different places, different relationships to Himself. All three groups will glorify God and fulfill God's eternal purpose in the role that God has given them.

Now, this is something you don't have in your handout. Copies are available. It is something that we use setting through the end of Revelation. You can pick one up in the cabinet on the right as you exit. If you like, if you run out, let me know. This is not a wiring diagram for the space shuttle. We're going to look at just this corner of it, so you don't need to worry about things like, oh no, this is another one of Verne's charts. Don't need to worry about that. We're going to just look at that corner there and simplify it, so just like this. Alright, so here is just the part we're going to look at.

The idea is on this part, you've got the Old Testament and the Gospels, and here is Christ's first coming, which Isaiah wrote about in the passage here in chapter 49. Here is the church age, which was invisible to Isaiah's prophecy. And here is the second coming, where Christ comes and returns. Now, Vern's almost done with the chart, okay?

All right, so you can relax. All right, let's take a look here. Here is the first coming in which Christ comes, and shortly thereafter then is the beginning of the church age. Here is then the second coming, and we want to focus on that part right over on the upper right-hand side. Okay? So it looks like this.

Christ will come with the church saints, us. He will come with the tribulation saints, the ones who had died in the seven years just prior to this. He will come with the Old Testament saints, Jew and Gentile, resurrected. He will come with angels. All those will come.

And this is one reason why multiple times in Scripture it describes His second coming as coming with the clouds. I don't think it's just a lot of vapor. is a massive number of saints and angels coming back with Him, so as to appear like a cloud. This is the second time that Isaiah is describing here, when the Lord comes again, bringing all these saints and angels with Him to be upon the earth. And remember that first Thessalonians passage we saw?

We will always be with the Lord. Always. All of us who believe will always be with the Lord. Isn't that neat? Isn't that wonderful stuff? That is just tremendously comforting. And yes, we will be there. If you're a believer here this morning, you're on the list. Okay? And Hal, too. Okay?

Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, what hope we have and what an incredible, marvelous future. Forever we will be with the Lord. Forever we will be with Him, even as He reigns upon the earth and is glorified in a multitude of ways. All that time we can look forward to being with Him, even when this earth is finally done and gone and replaced by a new heavens and new earth. Ever with You, Lord, how wonderful, how marvelous a time that will be. We thank You that we are in You now, that we're seated with You now. We give You praise for it all. In the name of Jesus our Lord, Amen.