In this remarkable chapter we have something in the nature of a
dialogue. Jehovah's word to the Messiah, whom He addressed as the true
"Prince of God," we found in verse 3. The lament of the Messiah, having
wooed Israel in vain, is found in verse 4, and it was historically
verified, as we are told in Luke 13: 34. From verse 5 onwards we get
the response of Jehovah to this lament. The latter part of verse 5 is
really a parenthesis, giving us Messiah's confidence, based upon what
Jehovah is about to say. Israel may refuse and be obdurate, but in the
eyes of Jehovah He will be GLORIOUS- and that being so, nothing of
God's purpose will fail.
The answer of Jehovah begins in verse 6. We are prophetically
advised that in the coming of the Lord Jesus wider and weightier
purposes were involved than the gathering and blessing of Israel and
Jacob. Light was to shine for all the nations, and salvation was to be
made possible and available to the ends of the earth. Here is a
prediction that-praise be to God! -is being verified today. He is the
salvation. It cannot be disconnected from Him, as the Apostle Peter
made so plain before the Jewish council - see Acts 4: 12.
But if we can see the fulfilment of verse 6 today, we wait to see
verse 7 fulfilled in a future day, which, we trust, is approaching.
Jehovah is truly the Redeemer of Israel, though the One whom He sent is
despised and abhorred in the servant's place. The hour draws near when,
in the presence of this Servant, kings shall rise from their seats and
princes shall do homage before Him. Men refused Him but God has chosen
Him.
Again in verse 8 we have the voice of Jehovah. The humbled Servant
whom men would not hear has been heard by Him, helped and lifted up.
And this has come to pass in "an acceptable time," and in "a day of
salvation." The significance of this may have been lost on Old
Testament readers, but the Apostle Paul seized upon it in 2 Corinthians
6: 2. The rejection of the Messiah, foretold in verse 7 would result in
His death and He would be "heard" and "helped" by resurrection from the
dead, and this was to inaugurate the "acceptable time" and the "day of
salvation."
Almost exactly nineteen centuries ago Paul reminded the Corinthian
saints that they were living in that wonderful epoch: it was NOW. The
epoch of grace and salvation still persists. It is still NOW. May we
all be stirred to evangelise, remembering that it may not last much
longer.
But in the latter part of verse 8, and onwards to the end of verse
13 the prophecy carries us into the age to come. The once-rejected
Messiah is to be "a covenant of the people," for they will not enter
into blessing on the basis of the covenant of law. He, and He only,
will bring to pass the blessing on earth so glowingly described in
these verses, so that the very heavens as well as the earth will break
forth into jubilant song.
Verse 13 however, seems to indicate that an afflicted remnant of
Israel is mainly, if not exclusively, in view here. Some will be
prisoners, some hiding in dark places; coming over the mountains from
distant spots in north and west, and even from "the land of Sinim,"
which some identify with China. At last the comfort, announced in the
opening verse of Isaiah 40, will have reached "His people," and those
who for so long had been "His afflicted," will find mercy. MERCY,
notice; not merit, as is shown so conclusively at the end of Romans 11.
And it will be unexpected mercy, as the succeeding verses show.
Zion, representing the godly seed who will receive the mercy, will be
tempted to think in their extremity that they are forsaken and
forgotten by their God: but they are not. Amongst mankind there is no
stronger tie than maternal love. Yet under extreme pressure even that
tie may break. The godly in Israel have a tie with Jehovah that will
never break. While they are disowned nationally and set aside, God has
wider purposes of blessing, reaching out to the remotest peoples. Yet
He is marked by the utmost fidelity to all His promises, given to those
who are the seed of Abraham in a spiritual as well as a material sense.
This will be the case in such abundant measure that in verse 18 Zion
is told to lift up her eyes and see her children flocking to her side.
In the days of her sinful desolation all her children were Lost; now
they appear in such numbers that the land cannot contain them, and the
Gentiles-even their kings and queens -will do them honour, and that
because of the glory and power of their God.
But when this great mercy reaches Israel their plight will be very
great, as we may infer from verse 24 and the opening verses of
Zechariah 14 confirm the inference. Just when they appear to be the
helpless captives of their foes there will be a tremendous intervention
of Jehovah for their deliverance. The New Testament makes it abundantly
clear that the Jehovah, who according to Zechariah 14: 3, will "go
forth, and fight against those nations," is no other than our blessed
Lord Jesus Christ; and by His hands, "the captives of the mighty shall
be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered."
This will be a work of redemption by power but, as we know, it will
find its righteous basis in the redemption by blood accomplished at His
first coming. At the present time the poor Jew still rejects the
righteous basis while hoping for national deliverance. It will be
otherwise when their Redeemer does appear in power. He will then be
manifested as the "Mighty One" of poor crooked "Jacob;" and not merely
as the Mighty One of Israel.
This prophetic strain now ceases for in Isaiah 50: 1 we return to
the existing state of the people, estranged from their God. This was
not from God's side but from theirs. If He had issued a bill of
divorcement against them, it would have been permanent and they would
have been "cast away," (Rom. 11: 1), as to which Paul says, "God
forbid." The fact was that they had sold themselves into disaster by
their many transgressions.
And there was more than this, for the succeeding verses are a
prophetic arraignment of the people as to their rejection of their
Messiah at His first advent. When He came, there was, as verse 2
predicts, none among the leaders of the people to answer to His call.
As the Gospels record He came announcing the kingdom is at hand Had He
no power to bring it in? Did the establishment of the kingdom fail
because He had not the redeeming energy? Why, He moved in the seas and
the heavens with the power of the Creator! Yet He was to take a lowly
and subject place.
The word "learned" in verse 4, really means a disciple or one who is
instructed, and our Lord took that humble and subject place when He
came as the Servant of the will of God. He had indeed the opened ear,
as was also predicted in Psalm 40, and He took that place that He might
be man's true neighbour, and speak the word in season to him that is
weary. Morning by morning He heard the words He was to speak to others;
hence His own statement to His disciples, "the words that I speak unto
you I speak not of Myself (John 14: 10).
And having taken this lowly place of Servant, He had to face the
scornful rejection of men. Smiting, shame and spitting were to be His
portion though He came in such grace with blessing for men. Nothing
however moved Him from the path of devotion to the will of God. His
face was set as a flint in that direction, and therefore the power of
God was with Him.
Moreover, as verses 8 and 9 intimated, the day will come when He
shall be vindicated and His adversaries confounded and brought under
judgment. So here again, as is so often in these prophecies, the two
advents are brought together though many centuries come between them.
Verses 5-7 have been fulfilled, when He came in grace. Verses 8 and 9
will be fulfilled when He comes in judgment.
Then in the two verses that close the chapter we pass from prophetic
utterances to words of counsel and warning. There were those that
feared the Lord and yet they walked in comparative darkness. This was
acknowledged by the Apostle Peter, when in his first epistle he
reminded the converts from Judaism, to whom he wrote, that they had
been called "out of darkness into His marvellous
light." (1 Peter 2: 9). But while they still dwelt in darkness, waiting
for the light, they were to trust in the name of Jehovah-for so He had
revealed Himself to them, and stay themselves upon His faithfulness.
This they did, as the opening chapters of Luke's Gospel show. Jesus
was, "the Dayspring from on high . . . to give light to them that sit in darkness"
(Luke 1: 78, 79); and in Luke 2, we are given a glimpse of the godly
souls who were obeying the instruction given in verse 10 of our chapter.
But there were many in those days that did not fear the Lord nor
obey the voice of His Servant when He came in grace, and there are
today a multitude who are of the same mind. They kindle a fire of their
own to illuminate the darkness, and in the light of it and of its
sparks they pursue their way. This is figurative language; but how
graphic and striking it is!
In this twentieth century men have created a huge bonfire which is
throwing sparks in all directions, and it appears that "science" is
adding fuel to its flames at a rate that is becoming alarming. The
sparks that are generated by human cleverness are flying everywhere. So
let us not miss the application of these two verses to ourselves. If
saints of old were to trust in their God, while they waited for the
light, should not we, who walk in the marvellous light of the Gospel,
be filled with faith in the God so perfectly revealed in the Lord
Jesus? Yet all around us are the multitudes charmed and intoxicated
with the myriad bright sparks that spring from the fire of human
inventions and cleverness, though some among them - those who know most
and think more clearly -have many a twinge of fear as to the end of it
all. Verse 11 indicates the end. Mankind will lie down in sorrow under
God's heavy judgment hand.
Isaiah 51 opens with a call to the godly; for such
are those that, "follow after righteousness." The figure of a quarry is
used to direct their thoughts to their origin as descended from
Abraham, who had originally been called out, and in whom the promises
had been deposited. When Isaiah wrote, the people had for centuries
been under the law of Moses and they might easily assume that they
would ultimately attain to blessing on a legal basis. But they will
not. The blessing will only be theirs on the basis of the covenant with
Abraham. It will be theirs not on the ground of their merit but of
God's MERCY, as the end of Romans 11, so clearly states.
Therefore, remembering His covenant with Abraham, God will yet
"comfort Zion," and bring about rich earthly blessing. At the present
time the diligent work of returned Jews is producing in the land
fertility where barrenness has prevailed for many centuries, but there
are forbodings and distress and a voice of anxiety rather than of
melody. At present it is but a national and purely human movement.
Verses 4 and 5 show what will come to pass when the movement
proceeds from God and they are obedient to His law and ordering. Then
His salvation based on righteousness will be manifested. There will be
blessing, not only for those whom He acknowledges as "My people" and
"My nation," but also for "the peoples;" -for the word at the end of
verse 4 and the middle of verse 5 is in the plural. The distant isles
will be brought under Divine rule in that day. The secret of it all is
this:- "on Mine ARM shall they trust." That ARM was introduced to us in
Isaiah 40: 10, and is a designation of our Lord Jesus in the power and
glory of His second advent.
Earlier in the verse "Mine arms" are mentioned; these we believe to
be glorified saints, enjoying a heavenly portion, such as those to whom
the Lord spoke the words recorded in Matthew 19: 28. In that day the
trust of men, who are blessed, will be centred in Jehovah's mighty ARM,
but saints will act as His "arms," deputed by Him to "judge the
peoples."
What a wonderful day that will be; for nothing either in heaven or
on earth, is stable, as verse 6 declares. Things physical and men
themselves pass away but the salvation which God will bring to pass in
righteousness will abide. We are called upon to hearken to God's word
in verses 7 and 8; and we who "know righteousness" cannot but rejoice
that only what is established in righteousness will remain and all else
will be worm-eaten and destroyed. In the assurance of this no saint
need fear the reproach and revilings of men.
These verses have unfolded before our minds a glorious and desirable
prospect, only to be realized when the Lord Jesus comes again. Hence
the call of verse 9: "Awake, awake, put on strength, O Arm of the
Lord." In prophetic vision John saw Him so doing, in Revelation 19:
11-16, when He will be displayed as King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Lord Jesus has ever been the Executor of the purposes of God. He
acted in the mighty scenes of creation. It was He who cut in pieces
Rahab-a name meaning "Arrogance," given to Egypt in contempt-and dried
up the sea, when God brought the people under Moses out of the land of
their bondage. When He puts on strength and acts in the future day,
there will be a far greater deliverance, and the ransomed of the Lord
shall return to Zion with singing, and their joy will be everlasting
and not transient and fleeting as all joyful deliverances have been
hitherto in this sinful world. We today may call upon the Arm of the
Lord to awake, only the language we use is, "Even so, Come, Lord Jesus."
In verse 12 and onwards another call to the godly is before us.
Their tendency was, as our tendency today is, to have their eyes on
man, and fear, as all his evil tendencies and activities are observed.
But men die and the One who comforts His people is the Maker of heavens
and earth. When God acts, where will the fury of the oppressor be?
These striking verses are intended to put heart into the saints of God
in all ages. They have done so in the past and doubtless they are doing
so today, especially where saints are confronted with "the fury of the
oppressor," whether he be Communist or Romish.
God is far above the actions and agitations of men. The nations are
like the sea with its roaring waves but He divides them at His
pleasure. In verse 16 the One who is the Arm of the Lord is addressed
for He is the One who speaks on God's behalf, the Divine word being in
His mouth; just as He is the One who acts beneath the Divine hand, and
the result of the speaking and the acting is given.
The result is going to be threefold, as this remarkable verse
states. The first is that the heavens are going to be planted. The
reference here is not to creation, for that was mentioned in verse 13,
but, as we believe, to what God is doing today. The Lord Jesus Himself
said, "Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be
rooted up" (Matt. 15: 13) ; thus showing that to plant is a figurative
expression for establishing in a place of blessing. By the Gospel today
men are being called out from the nations for His name, and theirs is a
"heavenly calling" (Heb. 3: 1). The coming age will display that the
heavens have been planted by the grace of God in this age.
Secondly, the foundations of the earth will be well and truly laid.
Again, this not the material creation, but laying the moral foundations
in righteousness, for at present, " all the foundations of the earth
are out of course" (Ps. 82: 5). Through the centuries men have striven
in vain to establish a righteous order of things and the best of them
have utterly failed. They could no more accomplish it than they could
reach up to plant the heavens.
But there is a third thing that is to be brought to pass: Zion is to
be formally acknowledged as God's special people. The prophet Hosea
lived about the time of Isaiah, and it was through him that God said
"Ye are not My people and I will not be
your God" (1: 9). So up to this present moment they are disowned,
though not set aside for ever. The day will come when they will be
owned and blessed.
And these wonderful results will come to pass through the One who is
presented to us in Isaiah as not only the lowly Servant but also the
mighty Arm of Jehovah-our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder that the
next words of the prophecy are the call, "Awake, awake." Jerusalem will
awake presently: let us, who are called that we may be planted in the
heavens. see to it that we are very much awake today- awake to our God;
awake to His service. We are exhorted to this in Ephesians 5: 14.