ISAIAH 51: 9-16
THE LORD ESTABLISHES HIS PEOPLE
[Luke 12:4-5]
God is called upon to demonstrate His strength as in the days of old that His people’s sorrow might become joy. God then tells His people not to be afraid of what men could do, but remember the power of their Creator. He will restore His people no matter who or what stands in their way. He will do a new thing in His covenant people and bring about a new creation.
Security comes to the redeemed from the Creator. Instead of fearing that man will take your security away, trust in the power that sets free the captives and provides for His own. He is the One who establishes what cannot be broken.
I. ZION’S CRY, 9-11.
II. UNBELIEF’S FEAR, 12-14.
III. GOD’S ACTION, 15-16.
The arm or strength of the LORD is addressed directly in verse 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 Thou who cut Rahab in pieces, Who pierced the dragon?
The revealing of the LORD’s arm is the revealing of His power. The verse is an appeal to God’s use of power in the past as a reason to exert it again in the present. The thought expresses faith in God along with an understanding that He is there but also it expresses a lament that He has not been seen as powerfully active. Thus Isaiah voices the cry of the remnant for the LORD to act now as He did in days long ago.
Rahab was a mythological seven headed female sea monster sometimes associated with Leviathan (27:1; 30:7; Job 9:13; 26:12). The name was used of the hippopotamuses that sat on the Nile and became associated with Egypt (30:7; Ps. 87:4-which paired Rahab and Babylon).
The dragon (tann n) or monster can be a term for pharaoh (Ezek. 29:3) or Satan (Rev. 12:7). The Lord has defeated mighty monsters in the past, hasn’t He?
God had just told them to look back and consider their past (51:1-2). He then promised them a forever future (vv. 6, 8), but what about the right now?
We can feel this way too. We know we have been saved from our sins. We know there is a future in heaven for us. But we wonder if God is aware of our present difficulties and if He is, why doesn’t He do something about them.
The remnant continues to voice questions to God in verse 10. Was it not Thou 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?
God has referred frequently to Himself as Creator and to His display of power in the Exodus. So the remnant ask for Him to affirm that He is the same One who opened the Red Sea to deliver His people. They seem to ask, "If You are so powerful, why don’t You display Your power again in Babylonia captivity. Act again on behalf of Your people."
We too wonder why our God who has done such great things for others in the past, does not act in our trouble and difficulty. It is good to express in faith our questions concerning God’s promises to us. Yet we should also reaffirm our faith as Isaiah does in verse 11. Our God is the same God who made a way in the depth of the Sea and He will make a way for us also. The display of His power may change, but His love and care for His covenant people never changes.
Verse 11 declares God’s promise of joyful deliverance. 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.
As the prophet pours His cry, the lament of the people to God, there comes about a change. It is as if God changes His people’s attitude in the midst of their intercession. One of the great blessings of prayer is that as we talk to God we begin to get insight and a renewal of faith that God will see us through, that He will make a way when there seems to be no way. It is of great advantage to pour your heart out before the Lord because, as in this case, the answer is often found to the questions or the grace is given to handle the problems. [John Courson, Application Commentary OT, 442]
The strength of God will ransom and return His people to a new homeland, Zion. There they will obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and signing will flee away.
The final outcome of God’s path of deliverance is Zion, the Holy City of God. It is the place of worship of Zion’s king, our Messiah. There the redeemed find a gladness and joy that will drive away all sadness forever. There God’s people will be set free from their own sins and the sins of others. There they will be restored to God image, full Christ-likeness, and there they will be fully at home with God. There life long struggle with sorrow and sighing will be ended & everlasting joy will overflow their mind.
The promise to the ransomed of the Lord is that they will have everlasting joy, with no sorrow, for they will realize what God has done for them. They will rejoice that He has saved them from destruction & brought them into blessed peace & prosperity, by the fulfillment of His promises. Lord, we await the day! Come quickly.
II. UNBELIEF’S FEAR, 12-14.
In response to the prophet’s prayer God announces that He will act to redeem. In verse 12 God asks His people to examine the cause of their distress. "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;
I AM He is an expression of self-existence. He does not draw His life or sustain His life from any other source than Himself. He is the source of all life. The reason God is able to comfort His people is because He is the unique incomparable being. Not only did He create the world and bring Israel out of slavery but He is the sovereign of the universe. Out of His unselfish love He brings life, hope, strength, and encouragement to His faithful people, even in the midst of distress.
If God’s actions or lack of actions cause questions about who He is, what do their actions say about them, who they are. They are dominated by fear because of withering man. They do not act like the children of an almighty and trustworthy God. The people and things they fear will wither away after a season like grass.
What is CYBERPHOBIA? It is one of America’s newest phobias. According to a team of business professors at George Mason University, a large number of people are admitting to having a serious fear of computers. Just being in the same room with one causes some to suffer from feelings of panic, irregular heartbeat, breathing difficulties, dizziness, and trembling. One therapist says that these individuals have more than the normal fear of failure while learning to work with computers. They become so anxious that they are afraid they’re going to pass out, go crazy, or lose control. Does this make sense? No, but then no phobia makes much sense. Yet the fear is real and extremely disturbing.
This reminds me of another phobia that many of us have - the fear of the opinions and actions of others. How must it look to God when we begin thinking and acting as if our fate and well-being rests in the hands of people? How does it look to the One who is in control when we become so afraid of the reaction of people that we are scared and refrain from fully trusting and following God?
Well, Isaiah told us. He said that fearing the reproach of people is foolish because they are dying creatures who have little more real strength and longevity than grass. [Oh yes, the Lord knows what great harm people can do to us (vv. 13,14). But He has the last word. Our future and everlasting well-being depend on Him and Him alone.] Let your faith in Him break the stranglehold of fear. God is the ruler over all.
The thought of verse 13 is that if we live in fear of man we have forgotten who God is. "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?
The fear of mortals caused them to forget the Eternal Creator. This preoccupation with man and life on earth is the problem. The problem is not God’s seeming lack of miraculously active but that His people have forgotten Him.
Continuing fear show a lack of faith. It shows our eyes are on man and our circumstances and not on God and His creative power. He is the Mighty Maker of the world and us. He stretched out the endless heavens and hung the earth in space. If we believe He did all this then we need not fear the plans of any angry oppressor.
God then asks them what evidence do they have of what this furious oppressor anyway can do. Did their fears have a solid bases? Did they have real evidence to substantiate them? Often our worry and fear are based on supposition and not reality.
Yes, there are real horrors in the world, but if I dwell on them then I will be ruled by fear or hatred. But if God and His new eternity is my focus, the fear or hatred of the oppressors loses its control over my life. Ultimately all they can do is hurt or kill us. They do not control our destiny. Our life is in our Maker’s mighty hands.
Verse 14 gives concrete confirmation of what action God will take. "The exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon, nor will his bread be lacking.
God does not allow His people to be oppressed continuously. The oppressor’s rage will be thwarted. God is the God who delivers His people and provides for His people. Always has, always will. Remember who God is and don’t fret or be fearful of who the oppressor is. Trust in who God is.
God’s promise of deliverance and provision has always been the hope of His people. Some may have died before deliverance became an earthly reality, but the exile or deliverance would become a reality. No oppressor will be allowed to continually oppress God’s people.
Since the resurrection of Jesus Christ this promise to God’s new covenant people gives even greater, clearer, brighter hope. Not only is there earthly hope, there is an eternal hope. God will never forget His people. Romans 8:36-39.
[The Spirit could impress this promise to a parent whose child is in the bondage of sin, self, and Satan and has forgotten God or is alienated from God. If so, lay hold of the promise and the hope it gives. Luke 4: 18-19]
III. GOD’S ACTION, 15-16.
Verse 15 conveys the basis for hope as the power and plans of God. "For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar (the Lord of Hosts is His name).
God’s people feared Babylon, but not God. Yes Babylon wanted to enslave them and harm them, but they should also have faith in God’s great power and care. Babylon could make them captive, but God’s power could make them free. Remember who God is. Focus on Him, not them.
Our hopes, our fears, our dreams, our failures, our pride, our insufficiencies, our oppression and our deliverance should all be viewed from the perspective of who God is. The oceans’ roar because He has given them power. Otherwise they would have none. This same God who stirs up the seas will stir up the awesome eternal power of His promises also.
Having stated the power of His promises God now declares that His word will be the means of His powerful deliverance in verse 16. "And 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.’"
The way God remakes and establishes His new covenant people and His new creation is by His word. He will bring new order out of the chaos and confusion man has made of life. The word of God has the power to renew life.
The one who takes hold of the implanted Word of God is the instrument of God to bring about marvelous and amazing changes. This agent would seem most naturally to be the Servant or Messiah. The powerful words are a divine revelation of God. By this word of God placed in their (His) mouth they are (He is) to plant the heavens and found the earth. [Establish is literally plant the heavens as if it is a growing developing organism.] Through the word His redeemed people will be protected and the cosmos will be remade and God’s covenant will be wonderfully acknowledged and reaffirmed. How we need to open our heart and really hear Jesus speak to us the words, "You are My people!."
CONCLUSION / RESPONSE
The fact that we are God’s covenant people should be comfort enough no matter what our situation is or who is our enemy. How foolish we are to fear what our fellow man thinks of us or will do to us, when God holds life and eternity in His hand. He has good designs for our life no matter the designs of dying man.
As Jesus said in Luke 12: 4 & 5; "I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. (5) "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!"
The best is yet to come for God’s people. Sure, in this life we sample foretastes and foreshadowings of what is to come, but the best is still to come. God’s people will not continue to face opposition in an oppressive land. God’s purified people will walk on His highway, the Highway of Holiness on their way to Zion to worship the Lord. Holiness or Christ-likeness will lead to great reward. If God be God, then He will keep all His promises.
Remember, God’s will keep His promise to restore His people no matter what stands in their way. ["We’re Marching to Zion," # ]
