Isaiah 49:1-12; 50:1-11, "If We are Faithless, He Remains Faithful"

called from the womb - identity comes from God (what are the sources we look to for our identity?) - this calling is connected to speaking for God, words that will act as a sword or an arrow, driving God’s words home into the hearts of those that hear Him

Jesus’ identity is the Word of God, but it is also Servant. When God wanted to demonstrate His true nature which is love, He took the form of a servant. Jesus shows us the heart of God. He is not the kind of ruler who lords it over us. He is servant of all. The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Then He calls all of His followers to have the same mindset (explained by Paul in Philippians 2). If you want to be a leader in the kingdom of God, become a slave to all. This teaches us our identity.

But the people of God have never lived up to their identity.

Israel in her intended faithfulness - this Servant will live out the true identity of Israel, who had not lived up to their name (48:1) - “in whom I will be glorified” (49:3, the word used here is the word for showing off your glory, or to wear a beautiful turban. The faithful servant makes God look beautiful.). When someone bearing God’s name delights to do God’s will and walk in His ways according to God’s word, God can be seen in their life in all His glory and beauty.

Chapter 50 expounds this point. Because of Israel’s sins, they were sent away into exile. But the LORD has not disowned them. The Messiah will teach Israel the true meaning of God’s word through His obedience.

Isaiah 50:4–5 (ESV)

The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.

The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.

And because this is a Babylon world, everyone who desires to live a godly life in this world will be persecuted, and none of us has resisted the temptation to assimilate to the point of shedding our own blood, Jesus the Messiah showed us true faithful obedience, as He puts it in Isaiah 50:6

Isaiah 50:6 (ESV)

I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;

I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

Because He was obedient to death on the cross, God has exalted Him (Philippians 2:8-9). This teaches us what faithful obedience looks like. It is laying down our lives in service to others, considering others better than ourselves. In this way, Jesus is our example.

But we also need to recognize that laying down our lives for others is not what saves them. Jesus is more than our example. His sufferings fulfilled righteous obedience because ours never would. His death actually saves us and anyone we may serve in His name. He is our righteousness, our redemption, our sanctification. He is our life. When we unite ourselves to Jesus by faith, we receive our identity and as our union with Him deepens, we become more faithful representations of the glory of God in our world. Which brings us to...

49:4-7 - The Servant’s Mission

What has Jesus done that no one else could do?

49:4 - the Servant in his humanity will become downcast in soul because of the lack of faith in those to whom he ministers. He will serve through hardship, but he also trusts that Yahweh will vindicate Him and reward him.

We can see this in Jesus too. Jesus (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9) took three of His disciples up on a mountain and revealed His glory to them, and Yahweh confirms Jesus’ identity to them as His beloved Son. When the four of them go down the mountain, the rest of Jesus’ disciples are all worked up because a father had brought his demon possessed son to them and they had not been able to cast it out.

Jesus’ response is very human

Mark 9:19 (ESV)

And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”

Then He casts out the demon, vindicating His identity and authority, but also Luke tells us the result is that (9:43), “And all were astonished at the majesty of God.” God was glorified in Him (Isaiah 49:3).

So the mission will not be easy, but God will be with him. And God will use him to fulfill the promise made in the covenant to Abraham, that finally, through this one faithful Israelite, He would not only restore Israel to faith, but also gather in the nations to the blessings of the covenant.

two aspects - restoration of Israel (49:5, expounded in verses 14-26), and the salvation of the nations (49:6-7)

49:8-13 - The Servant’s Covenant

The Servant will be despised by the nation as a servant, but in the end kings and princes will bow down to him. God will use him to establish a new covenant which will include all nations in the kingdom of God.

Isaiah 49:8 (ESV)

Thus says the Lord:

“In a time of favor I have answered you;

in a day of salvation I have helped you;

I will keep you and give you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages,

49:8 - Jesus came at the appointed time of God’s favor as a suffering servant. He took the curse of sin upon Himself so that God would grant favor to sinners. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 5:21,

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Because of Jesus’ afflictions, suffering, crucifixion, God’s grace is now available to everyone. God established a covenant of grace in Jesus Christ through His sufferings, but He also heard Him and helped Him (Is 49:8) in His resurrection.

Isaiah tells us the results of this covenant God has established in His Servant:

1. to establish the land, the land of Israel is essential to the covenant with Abraham. But this could also be more. Eretz is also translated “earth”, so this could be an extension of the covenant to the whole earth, considering the next phrase...

2. to apportion the desolate places. The wastelands of sin in this Babylon world have now become places where people from all nations can experience the blessings of knowing God. As a missionary to the nations, Paul preaches this message in Athens,

Acts 17:26–27 (ESV)

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

So, the message is: no matter where you come from or where you may be going, you can find God right where you are. In fact, the time and place in which you live was appointed by God for this one purpose: that you would seek and find God. And now, you can find Him in Jesus Christ.

Alex Motyer, in His commentary on Isaiah 49 says verses 9-12 describe “the journey of the heart back to God”.

The Servant of the LORD, the Messiah, will go along saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out”, and to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourself’. These describe people living in captivity to their sins and hide in shame and become forgotten and unseen by the rest of us. They are not unseen by the Messiah.

On their journey of their heart back to God, they will not hunger or thirst because they will find their satisfaction in Him.

And all of this will result in God’s praises being sung,

Isaiah 49:13 (ESV)

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.

When people see the beauty of God’s heart of compassion in Jesus Christ, and when they experience the comfort of His presence, they will glorify Him.

Application

Isaiah describes the work of the Servant as removing obstacles to those who are coming back to God

Isaiah 49:11 (ESV)

And I will make all my mountains a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.

It brings to mind the fact, that sometimes religious people, maybe well-intentioned, sometimes whole churches, put up more obstacles than they do pave roads for the nations to seek and to find God and be restored to Him through the work of Jesus Christ.

This comes to mind when we read Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, from which we read earlier. At the end of chapter 5, He explains the covenant God established with Jesus the Messiah, the suffering servant,

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Then, to help us understand the application, he quotes from Isaiah 49, in

2 Corinthians 6:1–2 (ESV)

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

and here’s the punchline

2 Corinthians 6:3 (ESV)

We put no obstacle in anyone’s way,

If Jesus has fulfilled righteousness for Israel, and now offers it to people of all nations because He has established a new covenant in His blood, which extends grace to all people, then He has paved a way into the kingdom of God that we should not block.

What are some obstacles the people of God have put in people’s way that block them coming to God? (discuss) man-made religious rules of behavior (what if we put a butt can out front on Sunday like Stan does on Wednesday night?), condemning the afflicted instead of comforting them, equating spiritual maturity with knowledge or social standing, using Jesus’ name or Bible verses as a weapon against people we view as enemies...

Paul goes on to describe the way he carries out the ministry of the gospel. And it looks remarkably like the ministry of the suffering Servant of the LORD,

2 Corinthians 6:4–10 (ESV)

but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way:

by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love;

by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;

through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise.

We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live;

as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

If you are in Christ, God has given you the ministry of reconciliation of sinners to Himself through Jesus. It is a difficult ministry of laying down your rights and your comforts for the sake of demonstrating the love and beauty of God to others. But God gives you power, vindicates you, He knows you, He gives you life, He saves you, give you joy in sorrow, riches in poverty, and an inheritance in Christ that gives you claim on the whole world even when your hands are empty (read “The Hope of the Gospel”, by George MacDonald). Every time you speak truth in genuine love, when you endure hardship or slander with patience and kindness, and let the Holy Spirit lead in a relationship, you remove obstacles to that person coming to God.

We can’t make anyone come to God. But we can remove the obstacles and make God beautiful in our reflection of Him to the world around us as Christ lives His life in us.

Questions for Discussion

Who are some people in your life that demonstrate servanthood like Jesus?

What do we learn about Jesus (the “servant Israel”) in this passage?

What are the results of Jesus work as the Servant of the LORD according to our passage today? How do those results impact your life?

What are some barriers Jesus removed so that you could be reconciled to God?

What are some barriers or obstacles Christians sometimes put in the way of people coming to God in Christ? We are some barriers we can help remove?

Have you ever thought about the fact that God may have determined for your neighbor to live next door to you that they may seek and find Him? How does that impact your view of your neighbors and coworkers, and your role in their lives?

Where do you see Jesus at work around you, calling out to the prisoners and those who are in darkness? How can we participate in that work?