Isaiah 7.7, 60 Part 3

Prayer Requests

Carol, Jamison, doing well

Arlene—Christy should hear today test results

Pam—Gaylene

Jenny—Derek, health his week

Judy—Bob and Suzanne

Laura—US military, Pentegon

Jean—husbands sister-in-law, in hospital, fell, Suzanne

Miguel—Jenny says HI, pray for her journey back

General Assembly

VBS—

General Assembly in Denver

Isaiah 60:15–22 ESV

15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age. 16 You shall suck the milk of nations; you shall nurse at the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. 17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron. I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness. 18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. 19 The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20 Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. 21 Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. 22 The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it.

We pick up where we left off last week, with this continued vision of the City of God, His people the center of the world, essentially—the nations coming to them.

Again, it’s helpful to remember context. I think we as believers, we as those who live in light of Christ’s victory over death through His resurrection, we live with some internalized expectation of the scene we read about here. We know this future has been secured because of Christ. But the context is of a people in exile, a people who have been at the mercy of all the nations around them, a people disregarded, a people used as a puppet in geopolitical games. That’s who Israel has been, and now they’re in exile. They’re nothing. They’re hardly a people, they have no land, no power, nothing.

But God will change everything. Look at the movement, the agency, who is making the transformational change?

You were forsaken and hated…I will make you majestic forever. I am the Lord, your savior, your redeemer.

God will make the change. See v. 17, instead of bronze, I will bring gold, instead of Iron, I will bring silver, and so on. He’s changing who they are, he’s building a city, a nation, that they couldn’t. The imagery here is of God making the city sturdy, unshakeable, precious. And then see the end of that verse: I will make your overseers peace and your taskmasters righteousness.

God is laying out the foundation of this city: peace, righteousness, His justice, His way and will and purpose. God is laying down the law and that law is peace!

Do you see? It’s all the work of God. This is not about Israel getting their act together, it’s God fundamentally changing them and ruling over all people. And then v. 19: The sun shall be no more your light by day…but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

This is language that will be used again in Revelation 21:23 “23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

Isaiah is giving a foretaste of what we see in Revelation, and by then we know that this light is the light of the Son, the lamb of God.

But the whole section is a reminder of who God is, and it’s rooted in so much of what has come before. The covenant with David, that the line of David would reign forever; the covenant with Abraham, that his descendents would be a great people and the nations would be blessed through them; in Genesis 3, when the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin are given, there is a promise of redemption, that this exile from the garden and God’s presence would not be permanent, but that through the seed of the woman—that is through Christ—we could dwell in the presence of the Lord again.

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66 c. Gold for Bronze (60:17–22)

God will keep his promises to his people; God’s aim for his people is peace and righteousness; those aims are to be realized through his power alone; the greatest blessing of all is the presence of God.

In these final two verses, we see, at least, four things:

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66 c. Gold for Bronze (60:17–22)

Four things are said: they are all righteous; they are assured permanence; they are established by God for his beauty; and their influence will be out of all proportion to their size.

The people are made righteous by God—that’s the Lord’s doing, not their own.

They are assured that this will last forever—again, this is guaranteed by God and because of God, this new city does not depend on the goodness and obedience of the people—but God makes them righteous.

They will be planted in this new city for a purpose: to bring Glory to God, for his beauty and His glorification. Our salvation brings glory to God.

Their influence will be totally unexpected, out of proportion with their size and might. God takes the weak things, the small things, and uses them for His purposes.

Now that is great—This is the fulfillment of so much of the themes of isaiah—how can they go back to the land? The Lord will make a way. How can they be righteous? God will make them righteous! That’s the end point, the city that is a light to the world, a righteous people, that’s where it’s all headed. Now, as we turn to the page to chapter 61, we’ll see through whom this is accomplished.

Isaiah 61:1–3 ESV

1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

The chapter opens with the Spirit coming upon this One of the Lord. What comes into view once again is the servant of the Lord—I want us to see all the threads coming together. Isaiah has given us a vision of the coming redemption of Israel, their salvation and their dwelling place with God. Now, he brings back into focus the servant, who plays a major role in securing that salvation, that transformation that makes Israel truly God’s holy people.

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66 a. The Anointed One (61:1–3)

This person has been personally chosen and empowered by God for a purpose, and that purpose is to bring about the deliverance of his people

Yes—the servant of the Lord here is anointed by God. The word anointed there comes from the Hebrew word, massah, where we get the word Messiah from. There’s little debate that Isaiah 61 then is about a messiah, but the thrust of the whole section, that this messiah would bring about the great transformation and salvation of this people, that makes it clear that this is THE messiah.

And in case there was any confusion, I’ll read this again from Luke

Luke 4:16–21 ESV

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

So Jesus takes this mantle on Himself, He understood himself as being this servant, and taking on this work, the work described here in 61.

The servant is anointed and is filled with the Spirit—a mark of wisdom and power coming upon this one.

We focus on the language of servant in Isaiah when we see this messiah figure and as we should because that’s the language of Isaiah. But the language of Spirit filling AND anointing are exclusively used in scripture to talk about the establishment of a kingdom: Saul and then David.

1 Samuel 16:13 ESV

13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

The Messiah is being purposely and consciously associated both with the servant and with the Kings of Israel! The role of the messiah is the be a servant to the people and to be their king! We’ve already seen this, in Isaiah 9, to us a child is born, the government will be on his shoulders, he will be called prince of peace!

Now…

What is the work? To preach the good news! The servant is the one who brings the good news of God’s triumph and because he can do what no one else could do (we saw that in Isaiah 53:4–5 “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 pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” ). This is important, the servant is not only a preacher of the good news, he is the good news, able to give what he announces.

What does it mean to preach good news to the poor?

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66 a. The Anointed One (61:1–3)

preaching good news to the poor” means. Who are the poor? Those who are so broken by life that they have no more heart to try; those who are so bound up in their various addictions that liberty and release are a cruel mirage; those who think that they will never again experience the favor of the Lord, or see his just vengeance meted out against those who have misused them; those who think that their lives hold nothing more than ashes, sackcloth, and the fainting heaviness of despair. These are they to whom the Servant/Messiah shouts “Good news!”

He’s not just giving them nice words, no, he binds them up—it means he’s putting a bandage on their wounds, he’s healing them, caring for them, there’s an intimacy and a glorious promise of restoration.

The language here is a reflection of Isaiah 1:5-6

Isaiah 1:5–6 ESV

5 Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.

Then it says he will proclaim liberty to the captives—this is language of a royal, kingly announcement of pardon or amnesty!

The year of the Lord’s Favor—this time when we will enjoy the work of the messiah and the gifts that that time brings: freedom for the captives, rescue for the oppressed, liberty from exile! freedom from suffering of all kinds—poverty, blindness, it’s economic and physical and spiritual!

It parallels the law of Jubilee in Leviticus/Deuteronomy, when, in God’s law for Israel, debts were forgiven and slaves set free. Every fiftieth year

The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66 a. The Anointed One (61:1–3)

It is a great source of comfort to anyone who is oppressed to know that the source of the oppression will one day get exactly what it deserves, and that its power will be broken. Thus we have no reason to take the statement at anything other than its face value.

Do you long for this hope?