August 1, 2008
Isaiah 51
Having introduced the Servant, Isaiah speaks urgently to God’s people. A series of imperatives emphasizes the need to hear and respond (51:1-16). The sense of urgency is maintained as God warns of coming wrath (vv. 17-23).
Isaiah 51:1-16. Salvation is everlasting. How comforting the Servant’s message to those “who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord.” When God’s people listen to the Servant, justice, righteousness, and peace will light the world. How good to know that “the cowering prisoners will soon be set free” (v. 14).
“You” (51:1-4). God always has good news for “you who pursue righteousness.” His news for others isn’t quite the same.
The heavens (51:6). The Heb. term, samayim, is used in two senses. First, as part of the created universe, the heavens incorporate everything above the earth—the sky and the stars. Second, the heavens are sometimes viewed as the spiritual realm inhabited by God. The imagery is clear. As the natural heavens are far above us, and beyond man’s ability to experience directly, so the spiritual realm is “above” and “beyond” natural man’s ability to penetrate (cf. Isa. 55:8-9).
The permanent (51:4-6). In this chapter the heavens and earth of the material universe are contrasted with God’s salvation and righteousness. The material is impermanent and will “vanish like smoke.” God’s salvation will remain forever. How vital to anchor our hopes in salvation rather than anything in this passing world.
“Awake” (51:9-11). The prophet’s prayer is a cry to God to act and carry out His promises. We need not pray that God will give us the gifts associated with salvation. But it is valid to pray that we will receive those gifts soon.
Don’t fear (51:12-16). It’s important to understand God’s answer to Isaiah’s prayer. God says first that He comforts us now. We need not wait till history’s end to experience God’s presence, and we need not be afraid (vv. 12-13). He also promises that “the cowering prisoners will soon be set free” (v. 14). These words of the God who laid Creation’s foundation are our security, whatever troubles may come.
Isaiah 51:17-21. Wrath is past. In the first half of Isaiah, the prophet saw the grim prospect of God’s coming day of retribution. But he calls those who have experienced wrath to awake! (v. 17) God takes from their hand the cup of judgment that makes them drunken. Now He calls out to them through the Servant:
Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the Holy City. . . . Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.Isaiah 52:1-2
The good news is, God reigns! His return to Zion will cause the people to break out into songs of joy.
The way of obedience to God is not a path to bondage but to freedom. The ministry of the Servant breaks the chains from the necks of God’s people.
Today too many are enslaved. They are enslaved to anxiety, to passion, to greed, to fear of others, to self-doubt. The Servant offers them freedom. But to find the true freedom that God provides we who have trusted Jesus must walk the path He walked, and become willing servants of our God.
Isaiah 52
The sense of urgency is maintained as God warns of coming wrath (vv. 17-23). God’s people must awake (52:1-2). God in the past acted to punish (vv. 3-6). He will soon act to save, and the joyous message of salvation will be announced to all (vv. 7-10). The momentous announcement culminates in an even more intense call: Israel is to flee Babylonia and return to a pure and holy life (vv. 11-12). The last verses of the chapter properly belong with Isaiah 53, for they return to the Servant, the agent of God’s salvation—but this time to describe His sufferings, through which we will be redeemed.
“Awake” (52:1-2). This call to action is addressed to God’s people, not to the Lord. They are to “clothe yourself with strength,” to “put on your garments of splendor,” and to “free yourselves from the chains on your neck.” This is no call to self-effort. It is a call to remember who we are as God’s beloved and in full faith act as His redeemed.We are not weak, for God strengthens us. We are not poor, but His grant of holiness makes us splendid. We are not prisoners, but are free to do God’s will. Let’s stop sitting around as though helpless, and be what we are in Christ.
Beautiful feet (52:7). The herald of good news is always welcome, the thought expressed in the “how beautiful” phrase. The feet are emphasized because he runs to the city with the good news of salvation, to announce that “your God reigns.”
Isaiah 52:13-15. The wisdom of the Servant led Him to make choices that seem foolish to men. He chose a path, obedience, that led to intense and terrible suffering. When finally men do understand, an awed and stunned humanity will at last begin to sense the depth of the love and holiness of our God.
Isaiah 53
This is the fourth and most compelling of Isaiah’s servant songs (52:13-53:12). It contains the O.T.’s clearest description of the sufferings of Christ. Isaiah begins with a sharp contrast: The Servant is valued by God, but rejected by men (52:13-15). Eager for a powerful ruler, God’s people see no beauty in the carpenter of Galilee despite His good works (53:1-2). Despised by His own people, Christ was a sufferer, not a conqueror (v. 3). His affliction seems to be evidence of God’s displeasure, but His suffering actually is for us, that we might be healed by His wounds (vv. 4-6). He remains humble in life and death. Though innocent, He dies “for the transgression of My people” (vv. 7-9). It was God’s intent to crush Him, for Christ is a guilt offering, a substitute paying the price of our sins (v. 10). Yet death is not the end. Beyond the grave “the light of life” awaits the Saviour. He not only rises, but is satisfied that His suffering was not in vain, for by it He “will justify many” (v. 11). Vibrant with new life, Christ is raised to glory. In submitting to God’s will, “He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors’’ (v. 12).
“No beauty” (53:1-3). The values that dominate human culture are far from the values held by God. What seems beautiful and majestic to most human beings has no attraction for God. The true beauty of Jesus was His willingness to suffer, and the true majesty was in His humility. Let’s concentrate on making ourselves beautiful—to God.
Those looking for the glorious King of Old Testament prophecy will despise the Servant, who had “no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him.” To those hungry for outward glory, what attraction could there be to One who was despised, rejected, sorrowful, and familiar with suffering?
Looking ahead Isaiah realized that the people of Messiah’s own time would hide their faces from Him in shame, considering Him of no value or worth.
Isaiah 53:4-6. Isaiah went deeper into the great misunderstanding. As the Servant’s obedience led Him into deeper and deeper suffering, and finally death, His contemporaries were convinced that He had been “stricken [and thus rejected] by God.” In fact, the suffering He underwent was for the sins of God’s people. He took our place, bearing our weaknesses and sorrows. He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, punished for our rebellion, and took on His shoulders the iniquity of us all.
The Servant’s great act of self-sacrifice brought peace, healed, and lifted the sin-guilt from us.
Healing (53:5). Some take this verse to mean that there is physical healing in the Atonement, that the Christian can claim victory over sickness by faith. This interpretation is supported by Matt. 8:17 which applies this verse to the healing ministry of Christ. The problem is that in context, Isa. 53 is clearly speaking about inner healing. And the same word for healing, rapa‘, is used by Jeremiah of forgiveness and inner renewal (Jer. 17:9, 14; 51:9). Rather than build a theology of healing on a questionable interpretation of this verse, it’s better to keep the focus where Isaiah clearly does: on the spiritual health that Jesus died to restore. In Christ, we are truly well again. Our bodies will weaken and die, but we will awake to eternal life. And then our transformed bodies too will share in our full experience of all Jesus has won for us. See also sickness (1), sickness (2), sickness (3),.
The meaning of Jesus’ death. Theologians in the Post-apostolic Age struggled to explain just why Jesus had to die. This passage in Isaiah gives what is perhaps Scripture’s clearest single explanation. Jesus died as a guilt offering; He was a sacrifice who took our sin upon Himself and gave His life to pay for it in full. A clear theology of atonement can be developed form such verses as Isa. 53:5-6, 8, 10-12.
Servanthood. Christ’s suffering for us was a unique event in history. It was unique because He was the Son of God and because His death was a substitutionary sacrifice which won us salvation. At the same time, the Suffering Servant of Isaiah serves as an example to all believers. He reminds us that we too are to seek the welfare of others, even when that causes up personal suffering.
Isaiah 53:10-12. We should not ignore the responsibility of the wicked men who plotted the Servant’s death. But we must also realize that God Himself chose this course for His Servant. And that the Servant freely elected to become a guilt offering, and thus be both priest and sacrifice.
This passage tells us the startling results for the Servant. Though He died, as the sacrifice must always die, the Servant will
see His offspring prolong His days
be the Agent who carries out God’s will for men
see the light of life
gain great satisfaction
take His place among the great
gain the treasures associated with victory.
How could a dead man continue past the time of His self-sacrifice and gain all these rewards? The resurrection of Jesus gives God’s historical, definitive answer. God raised His Servant to life again; death could not hold Him captive.
But there are exciting results for men as well. We are beneficiaries of the Servant’s sacrificial act. We become His offspring, and because of Jesus take our place as children of God. We experience justification, and find in the Servant of the Lord the freedom from the sins He bore in our place.
Reflection
Are you willing to follow the wisdom of God even when it seems to be foolishness to the world? God’s path isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it!
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