All Glory to God the Father.
Let us turn to Isaiah 51
1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
Who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn
And to the quarry from which you were dug.
Isaiah is addressing the godly Jews, those that believed and looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Of which there were not all that many of them. They had been influenced by their godless leaders. The tribes of Israel, their neighbors, which had fallen into idolatry and had been carried off into slavery and submission by Assyria (722-721 BC), never to return. We remember from last week’s Chapter 50 that God had issued a writ of divorce to Israel. That was referenced in Jeremiah 3:8. And her sister Judah had gotten haughty, seeing their defiled sister being kicked out while they remained; now they started to play the harlot. However there are always some that listen to God and adhere to his ways. It is the same now as in Isaiah’s day. I think we have many more distractions now than the Jews ever did. Instant communication is a blessing and a curse.
Looking at the second half of verse one, the rock you were hewn from and quarry from which you were dug. The Jews being a practical people and one that loved using similes. The rock refers to Abraham and the quarry refers to Sarah. They were very proud of being of Abraham’s. Infact, I think most of them were pretty sure that by claiming Abraham, they thought they had an easy in to heaven. Such was not the case. Matthew 3:7-10 John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, addresses a group of Pharisees and Sadducees.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;
9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
10 The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Oh how we could use a man like that today. Read verse 8 to yourselves again and ponder it. For the ax is already laid at the root of the tree.
2 “Look to Abraham your father
And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
When he was but one I called him,
Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”
God is calling to mind that HE took one man and made him the father of all Jews. And He did it when Abraham and Sarah were well, and I mean well beyond childbearing years. We also have the birth of Ishmael by Hagar, before Isaac. Ishmael is counted as the father of the Arab tribes.
We also have a reference to Genesis 3, God putting curse on Woman. Multiplied pain in childbirth. And Adam got cursed because he listened to his wife. Which plays out in our lives with just a bit of tenison, now and then, in married life. Your mileage may vary.
3 Indeed, the Lord will comfort Zion;
He will comfort all her waste places.
And her wilderness He will make like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and sound of a melody.
4 “Pay attention to Me, O My people,
And give ear to Me, O My nation;
For a law will go forth from Me,
And I will set My justice for a light of the peoples.
The gospel of Christ shall be preached and published. How shall we escape if we neglect it? There is no salvation without righteousness. The soul shall, as to this world, vanish like smoke, and the body be thrown by like a worn-out garment. But those whose happiness is in Christ’s righteousness and salvation, will have the comfort of it when time and days shall be no more. Clouds darken the sun, but do not stop its course. The believer will enjoy his portion, while revilers of Christ are in darkness. From Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary.
5 “My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth,
And My arms will judge the peoples;
The coastlands will wait for Me,
And for My arm they will wait expectantly.
God is always near. That is something that we tend to forget when our lives go south. It is not possible to live a charmed life with nothing to stir you up. Where would God be if you could do it all yourself? Job is a good example. He had a good life. Wealth, wisdom, children to pass everything on to. He is held as our example of when life throws you a curveball. When he got news of the death of all his children, he fell on his knees and said “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:20
This has been something that I have latched on to, and I am so thankful that the Bible gave me the very phrase to repeat, when it is truly needed. When that metaphoric piano falls out of the sky and land somewhere in your life, God is there. This is not our home, heaven, with Jesus is. And He went there to prepare it for us. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:3
My wife made a comment to me the other day. She said she had heard many people angry at death or cancer or something like that. If you believe, truly believe, how could it be such? Oh death, where is thy sting?
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55
Jesus conquered death and sin. And yet we forget. Oh fatih, where art thou? God created you, knows the hairs on your head, Luke 12:7. Death and cancer have no power over the Lord. God is the rock onto which we cling. Now the real tragedy that we can be in sorrow over is losing a friend or loved one that is not a believer. This is why He commands us to go out and spread the good news. You don’t want to lose anyone you love to eternal damnation, so tell them about our Messiah and Savior. It is not up to us to save anyone. That’s God’s job. But you might think to yourselves, “Oh, I am too old.” Let me remind you that Abraham and Sarah had a child at an advanced age. Abraham was a just a year or two younger than Leroy Johnson who went to Jesus at 103 and Sarah was about Carol Nelson’s age. You are never to old to do God’s work.
6 “Lift up your eyes to the sky,
Then look to the earth beneath;
For the sky will vanish like smoke,
And the earth will wear out like a garment
And its inhabitants will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not wane.
7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
A people in whose heart is My law;
Do not fear the reproach of man,
Nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8 “For the moth will eat them like a garment,
And the grub will eat them like wool.
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation to all generations.”
Those who have God’s law written in their hearts vs those carnal Jews whose laws are written on mere stone tablets. Let not the mewlings of the idol-loving countrymen concern you. Those whose happiness is in Christ’s righteousness and salvation, will have the comfort of it when time and days shall be no more. Clouds darken the sun, but do not stop its course. The believer will enjoy his portion, while revilers of Christ are in darkness
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord;
Awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago.
Was it not You who cut Rahab in pieces,
Who pierced the dragon?
Isaiah appeals to God on behalf of his people, to exert his power as He did in former times. That hath cut Rahab – That is, cut it in pieces, or destroyed it. It was that arm which wielded the sword of justice and of vengeance by which Rahab was cut in pieces. The word ‘Rahab’ here means Egypt.
10 Was it not You who dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
Who made the depths of the sea a pathway
For the redeemed to cross over?
Art thou not it – Art thou not still the same? The crux of the appeal is that the same arm that dried up the sea, and made a path for the Jewish people, was still able to intervene and rescue them.
Which hath dried the sea – The Red Sea when the children of Israel passed over Exodus 14:21. This is the common illustration to which the Hebrew prophets and poets speak of, when they wish to refer to the interposition of God in favor of their nation
11 So the ransomed of the Lord will return
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
And everlasting joy will be on their heads.
They will obtain gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12 “I, even I, am He who comforts you.
Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies
And of the son of man who is made like grass,
We whose lives are but a puff of breeze on a warm summer day, whose home is not here, but with our Father in Heaven. What do we have to worry about when we are children of God and inherit our place in heaven? A God that loves us so much that he sent his only begotten Son to die on the cross, thereby removing the sting of death to us, We just have to have Faith. Ask and it will be given to you. Matthew 7:7
13 That you have forgotten the Lord your Maker,
Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth,
That you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor,
As he makes ready to destroy?
But where is the fury of the oppressor?
These verses are designed to rebuke that state of the mind, all too common, even among the people of God – where they are intimidated by the number and strength of their foes, and forget their dependence on God, and his promises of aid. In such circumstances God reproves them for their lack of confidence in him, and calls on them to remember that he has made the heavens, and has all power to save them.
14 The exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon, nor will his bread be lacking.
15 For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar (the Lord of hosts is His name).
Isaiah has been telling them they are about to be carried off into captivity, whether any of them understood that is not known. But he is also telling them that God will not let them wither on the vine.
16 I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
He had committed his truth to the Jewish people; to Zion. He had entrusted them with his statutes and his laws; he had given them the promise of the Messiah, and through him the assurance that the true religion would be spread to other nations. He would, therefore, preserve them, and restore them again to their own land.
17 Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem,
You who have drunk from the Lord’s hand the cup of His anger;
The chalice of reeling you have drained to the dregs.
Those hard headed, stiff necked Jews are being called to awaken from sin and cast off the despondency and despair that comes from drinking deeply from God’s chalice of anger. When the Jews were in captivity they were so overwhelmed with the sense of their troubles that they had no heart left to mind any thing that tended to their comfort or relief; and therefore when the deliverance came, they were said to be like them that dream. Psalm 126:1 A Song of Ascents. When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, We were like those who dream.
18 There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne,
Nor is there one to take her by the hand among all the sons she has reared.
Neither princes, nor prophets, nor priests were able or willing to lead out of their misery.
19 These two things have befallen you;
Who will mourn for you?
The devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
How shall I comfort you?
The city of Jerusalem had suffered not only property (devastation and destruction) but life and limb (famine and sword).
20 Your sons have fainted,
They lie helpless at the head of every street,
Like an antelope in a net,
Full of the wrath of the Lord,
The rebuke of your God.
The inhabitants lay helpless in the streets, having expended all their strength in fighting against God’s wrath. And I am pretty convinced we have not learned that lesson yet.
21 Therefore, please hear this, you afflicted,
Who are drunk, but not with wine:
22 Thus says your Lord, the Lord, even your God
Who contends for His people,
“Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of reeling,
The chalice of My anger;
You will never drink it again.
This verse contains a promise that they would be delivered from the effect of the wrath of God, under which they had been suffering so long.
Thou shalt no more drink it again – Thou shalt no more be subject to similar trials and calamities. Probably the idea here is, not that Jerusalem would never be again destroyed, which would not be true, for it was afterward subjected to severer trials under the Romans; but that the people who should then return – the pious exiles – should be preserved forever after from similar sufferings. Isaiah is trying to console them, and this he does by the assurance that they should be subjected to such trials no more.
23 “I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
Who have said to you, ‘Lie down that we may walk over you.’
You have even made your back like the ground
And like the street for those who walk over it.”
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict you – The nations that have made war upon you, and that have reduced you to bondage, particularly the Babylonians. The calamities which the Jews had suffered, God would transfer to their foes.
Which have said to you, Bow down, that we may go over – This is a striking description of the pride of eastern conquerors. It was not uncommon for conquerors actually to put their feet on the necks of conquered kings, and tread them in the dust.
Isaiah concludes this chapter with news that should hearten some, those that listen. And it should hearten us too. Surely God’s chalice of anger will come upon us. We, who have turned from God, kicked Him out of our Government, out of our Schools and are pressuring our churches to bow to the whims of a pagan and carnal society, we will drink from that chalice of wrath and feel remorse and abandonment from our Creator. However, if we repent and accept His Son as our Savior and King, this cup will pass too, And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7