Isaiah 51-53
Notes
Transcript
Isaiah 51-53
Isaiah 51-53
Good evening church! Open your Bibles with me to Isaiah chapter 51. We are continuing on in this amazing prophecy together and over and over again discovering Jesus in this old testament book. Just a reminder that Isaiah itself is structured very much like our bibles. There are 66 books in the bible and 66 chapters in this book. 39 old testament books and 27 new testament. Interesting correlation here that this book can also be divided into two sections.
The first 39 chapters are largely written as warning of judgement. Followed by a transition to Comfort that begins in chapter 40 and continues on all the way to the end. It certainly is a comfort for us today, particularly as we read the prophecies about Jesus and can see how they were 100 percent fulfilled. But also to Israel hundreds of years ago. Imagine being in captivity, or imagine being Daniel in Babylon and reading through this scroll writing 150 years before you ended up where you currently were, it certainly would bring them comfort.
But it is not limited to that. As we continue to go through it we will see that he prophecies about the coming of the Messiah, he prophecies about the very last days and God’s plan for Isreal. The whole latter half here is designed to bring encouragement and comfort.
Let’s dig right in tonight…Isa 51:1-2
1 “Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, You who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father, And to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, And blessed him and increased him.”
Parents....you know all about this opening here…Listen to Me…wives, maybe you know…to get the attention rather that assume attention, and God knows it with us. We could probably turn this into a testimony night and only talk about this only thing. The times God has said listen to Me and we haven’t and the methods He has taken to get louder, or to command our attention. God apparently gets it that sometimes His people have difficulty listening. Three times in this chapter He uses this command, Listen to ME.
Verse one sounds like foundational things, and then He begins talking about the Father of the nation Abraham. And look to Sarah. It amazes me how short our memories are! When we face a problem or there is an obstacle in our way, what do we tend to focus on? I say focus kindly, but I really mean obsess, fixate, consume ourselves with.
God here is reminding us to look back to His past faithfulness. Look back to Abraham and Sarah. Not to some great powerhouse. Look back to the feeble old man and the barren old lady that I took and made a nation out of. I don’t need billions of dollars, I don’t need armies of men, I don’t even need a lot of men. I took one man, and one woman, and I made a nation of my chosen people. I blessed them, and increased them. Look to the things I’ve done in the past. Verse 3
3 For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the Lord; Joy and gladness will be found in it, Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
Now remember at the time this was written, there weren’t a lot of problems going on in Isreal. Jerusalem or Zion was whole as a city, they had a Godly King in Hezekiah, but there would be problems, they would be attacked and taken into captivity, so this is a promise for them to remember in those times that are to come upon them. These are what the days of old were like, but I will comfort Zion, and make you like the garden. Isa 51:4-6
4 “Listen to Me, My people; And give ear to Me, O My nation: For law will proceed from Me, And I will make My justice rest As a light of the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait upon Me, And on My arm they will trust.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished.
So no matter what it is that you are facing, never, never, ever forget this perspective…Lift up your eyes to the heavens, don’t fixate upon the person or the problem in front of you, because both of them are temporary. The righteousness of God and His Salvation are eternal, they will last forever. They are lasting and unchanging, meaning that God is never going to change the deal on us, or up the anti to get into Heaven, it is through Jesus and His finished work on the cross and it will be forevermore. Verse 7 starts again with Listen to Me! Check out this perspective God encourages us with…Isa 51:7-8
7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, You people in whose heart is My law: Do not fear the reproach of men, Nor be afraid of their insults.
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment, And the worm will eat them like wool; But My righteousness will be forever, And My salvation from generation to generation.”
Worm food Isa 51:9
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Awake as in the ancient days, In the generations of old. Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart, And wounded the serpent?
Again, looking back to the faithfulness of God, He has already stretched out His arm in power and will do so again. Isa 51:10
10 Are You not the One who dried up the sea, The waters of the great deep; That made the depths of the sea a road For the redeemed to cross over?
This is such a great reminder to them and to us. We sometimes see no way out. When you’re feeling like that re-read exodus 14, the parting of the red sea when there was no way out. We waste so much time and anxiety trying to find a way out of an impossible situation, instead of turning to God and saying I need help, I need you in this situation. And ask Him to part the seas again as He did back then.
I think that is a totally legitimate prayer to say, God I am hemmed in on every side and there is no way out. I need You please to stretch out Your arm as You have in the past and make a way here were there is no way that I can see. Lord, remember how you had me in that bible study on a Wednesday night and reminded me of all of these ways you were faithful in the past and Your people saw You stretch out Your hand. Please, do it again!
On top of that, look for other areas in the bible when you’re struggling with a different situation. Was there ever a time or a person in the bible that was facing this trial in the past, or that felt discouraged, or defeated, or depressed, or that they were going out of their mind? Read about how God delivered them. Reach out to your growth group, hey any of you guys ever deal with this. Pastor’s elders, are you aware of anyone else that has faced this trial that maybe could be an encouragement to me? Isa 51:11
11 So the ransomed of the Lord shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness; Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Remember this was written before they were, but what a comfort to them once they were, reading this while in their captivity. So we see this literally fulfilled with the people returning from Babylon. It is fulfilled again as Jews continue to return to Isreal today. And it is fulfilled as we sing being made free from our sin.
12 “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid Of a man who will die, And of the son of a man who will be made like grass?
Again worm food.
13 And you forget the Lord your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens And laid the foundations of the earth; You have feared continually every day Because of the fury of the oppressor, When he has prepared to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, That he should not die in the pit, And that his bread should not fail.
15 But I am the Lord your God, Who divided the sea whose waves roared— The Lord of hosts is His name.
16 And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, That I may plant the heavens, Lay the foundations of the earth, And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”
Back in verse 13 there is a reminder there again to remember, if that makes sense. The idea is not just you feared the scary fury of the oppressor, but you have feared because you have forgotten the LORD your Maker. When we forget the LORD or take our eyes off the Lord and fix them on the threat we are going to be consumed by fear because the enemy is all we can see.
17 Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk at the hand of the Lord The cup of His fury; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, And drained it out.
18 There is no one to guide her Among all the sons she has brought forth; Nor is there any who takes her by the hand Among all the sons she has brought up.
19 These two things have come to you; Who will be sorry for you?— Desolation and destruction, famine and sword— By whom will I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted, They lie at the head of all the streets, Like an antelope in a net; They are full of the fury of the Lord, The rebuke of your God.
Where are our leaders, where are the ones that will stand up? They have been defeated, the young and the strong have been carried off by Nebuchadnezzar, and taking their eyes off God it looks bad, so they are told to wake up, the discipline is over and you’ve drank the dregs, that’s all of it…Isa 51:21-22
21 Therefore please hear this, you afflicted, And drunk but not with wine.
22 Thus says your Lord, The Lord and your God, Who pleads the cause of His people: “See, I have taken out of your hand The cup of trembling, The dregs of the cup of My fury; You shall no longer drink it.
We read about that or a partial fulfillment of that on Sunday when we talked about what Jesus is doing for us right now! Sitting at the right had of the Father pleading the cause of His people. Isa 51:23
23 But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, Who have said to you, ‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’ And you have laid your body like the ground, And as the street, for those who walk over.”
Huge contrast here from being walked on, in chapter 52 we see the order to put on Holy Garments because God is going to deliver. Isa 52:1-3
1 Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean Shall no longer come to you.
2 Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!
3 For thus says the Lord: “You have sold yourselves for nothing, And you shall be redeemed without money.”
Now this has not yet fully been fulfilled. Isreal doesn’t yet have all of it’s land yet.
4 For thus says the Lord God: “My people went down at first Into Egypt to dwell there; Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here,” says the Lord, “That My people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them Make them wail,” says the Lord, “And My name is blasphemed continually every day.
6 Therefore My people shall know My name; Therefore they shall know in that day That I am He who speaks: ‘Behold, it is I.’ ”
There will be a continual demonstration of God’s power through Isreal. Today and in the days to come. Isa 52:7-10
7 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
8 Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, With their voices they shall sing together; For they shall see eye to eye When the Lord brings back Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, You waste places of Jerusalem! For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The salvation of our God.
11 Depart! Depart! Go out from there, Touch no unclean thing; Go out from the midst of her, Be clean, You who bear the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you shall not go out with haste, Nor go by flight; For the Lord will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
More about Jesus here.
13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you, So His visage was marred more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men;
15 So shall He sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at Him; For what had not been told them they shall see, And what they had not heard they shall consider.
1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Dry 400 years between old and new. Devil will come looking like an angel of light. Why suffering?
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.