Isaiah 51:1-23
51:1-3
This chapter begins with “Listen” just as 48 and 49 did.
“Listen” means to hear and act on what you heard.
Encouragement for the
Faithful Remnant
Here is an example of a fulfilled promise in the midst of the Israelites in 700
BC
Abraham and Sarah waited for a son and became many.
Now the remnant must wait faithfully and patiently for God to fulfill his promise to them
The people and the land will be blessed.
51:4-8
Justice and
Righteousness for the Nations
The nations of the world will receive justice, righteousness and salvation from the Arm of the Lord.
The natural world (standards, morals, culture, etc.) of the nations will wear out and pass away.
The example of a moth eating clothes is used to indicate the declining direction the world is going since the fall of man.
The Lord’s work and the Lord’s standards will endure now and forever.
a) The Lord’s Work . . . . . . Salvation by the arm of God
b) The Lord’s standards . . . .Justice and Righteousness
51:9-11
The Prayer from the
Remnant Waiting on Earth in Time
The faithful recall the first exodus out of
“arm of the Lord” refers to his power that brings deliverance and salvation.
“awake” indicates they felt God was not moving in their life
“Rahab” a mythical sea monster:
1) a name for Satan, destruction and the chaos of the days of Genesis 1:2
2) a
symbolic name for
a.
b. The
world empires transferred this power through
c. This power will ultimately reside with the anti-Christ’s kingdom
i. Revelation 13:1-9
ii.
The world power transfer is seen in Revelation 12:1-17
where Rahab is described as an enormous red dragon with 7 heads (the seven
world empires
The confrontation in the beginning repeats itself throughout history in the major world empires, and will continue until the very end.
God will always control history inspite of Rahab and will win every contest.
Here the people recall God’s defeat of Rahab at
51:11
The same fate awaits those who are oppressed in:
1) 700 BC
2) in the future generations in 445 BC when Cyrus sends the people back
3) when the Messiah comes and brings his salvation from sin by the arm of the Lord
4) the
return of
These are all the same war only different battles at different stages of the war.
51:12-16
The Speaks His
Promise
This promise would apply to any of the battles along the way through history.
Promises and Exhortations (51:12-13)
1) It is God himself who comforts you, surely he will also fight the battle for you.
2) Do not forget God when you deal with mortal men
a. Men
i. Mortal
ii. Sons of men
iii. They are grass
b. God
i. The LORD, Yahweh, the covenant making and keeping God
ii. Your maker
iii. Stretched out the universe that we can not even understand yet today.
iv. Laid the foundational principles and physical elements of our world.
3) Do not live in constant terror every day
The Problem is Identified
The people are too aware of the natural world and events that they have
forgotten God and his promises.
This means the people are insensitive to God’s work in:
1) their time
2) Through out history
The result is that they are in the world with out God because they do not know or believe God’s plans, purposes and his promises
The real problem for their oppression is they have forgotten God and have failed to use him as their foundation of reality.
51:13
The Wrath of the
Oppressor, Bent on Destruction
Where is this wrath?
In light of God’s comparison in 51:12-13 there is no power in the oppressor’s wrath.
The oppressor (the Assyrians in 700 BC, Babylonians in 605 BC, Persians in 545 BC, and situations today) indeed exists but THEY HAVE NO WRATH when compared to God
51:14
The promise: The prisoners will be freed and fed!
The promise should be considered in these contexts:
1) Individual people and their situations
2) Thought individual Israelites may perish the believers know that God will fulfill his promise to them and their nation
3) God’s promise to the church as a whole body will be fulfilled
51:15
“churns up the sea” refers to controlling history (nations are often referred to as “sea”)
51:16
The same one who stretched out the immeasurable universe and laid the foundations explains how (from 51:12) he plans on comforting his people:
1) Put his words in our mouth
2) Covered us with his hand that stretched out the heavens and works salvation.
51:17-23
Same Request but God
Asks This Time
Isaiah had recorded the prayer of the remnant in 51:9-11.
Here the people asked God to:
1) “Awake, awake!”
2) “Clothe yourself with strength”
3) Fight today in the battles like he used to
In 51:17
1) “Awake, awake!”
2) “Rise Up”
God is waiting on
them.
God has done all he is going to do (51:16):
1) Given his Word
2) Placed them in His plan
Why the Problems in Their Lives? (51:17-18)
They have drank the cup of his wrath.
This means they have gone into sin and forgot God.
He had given them his Word to guide them but all the sons of
51:19
The Double Calamities
47:9 refers to:
1) widowhood – the lost of protection and provision
2) childlessness – the loss of future security
Or,
1) ruin and destruction – culture destroyed
2) famine and sword – death of people
Who can comfort you here?
There is no hope since they have no perception of God and his promises.
Who can console them? God can not help
them since they will not receive his help which is for them to understand his
word.
Pattern
Ignore the Word of God . . . . . . . go off into sin.
Destruction of culture and life . . . . . . only the Word can bring any hope of recovery
Continue to Ignore Word of God. . . . . there is NO Comfort and No Consoling
Life is meaningless and hopeless (or, at least, it must be perceived that way)
51:20
Disaster for having rejected God’s ways and promises
51:21-23
1)
2) God will then use the oppressor to punish his people
3) God’s faithful remnant will repent and return to his word and be delivered
4) The nations that God used as oppressors to bring his faithful back never understood that God was using them and they also rejected God’s revelation and became arrogant. They are now punished the same way