Reading: Isaiah chapter 49 verses 7- chapter 50 verse 3.
Ill:
• When Lloyd C. Douglas, author of The Robe and other novels,
• Was a university student, he lived in a boarding house.
• Downstairs on the first floor was an elderly, retired music teacher,
• Who was infirm and unable to leave the apartment.
• Douglas said that every morning they had a ritual they would go through together.
• He would come down the steps, open the old man’s door,
• And ask, “Well, what’s the good news?”
• The old man would pick up his tuning fork; tap it on the side of his wheelchair and say,
“That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now.
The tenor upstairs sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune,
but, my friend, THAT is middle C!”
• The old man had discovered one thing upon which he could depend:
• One constant reality in his life, one “still point in a turning world.”
For the Jewish people of Isaiah’s day;
• They too could experience one “still point in a turning world,”
• They had a God who was unchanging in his character,
• A God who was consistent in the way he treated them.
• A God who revealed his character to his people himself through descriptive names.
• Names that were word pictures.
• These could be easily understood & could bring encouragement & comfort to his people.
In this chapter (49) God uses a descriptive name:
• He calls himself Israel’s redeemer!
• In fact the word ‘redeemer’ occurs 11 times in Isaiah.
e.g. Chapter 49 verse 7:
“This is what the LORD says--the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel”
e.g. Chapter 49 verse 26b:
“Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Saviour, your Redeemer,
the Mighty One of Jacob”.
Quote: The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook:
• Originally, it meant the payment of a price to secure the release of a prisoner of war.
• The word also came to be used for the release of a slave,
• And sometimes of a person under sentence of death (Exodus chapter 21 verses 28-30).
• Redemption always means the payment of a price to secure release.
The first 7 verses of Isaiah chapter 49:
• Have to do with the Servant of the Lord.
• This is a reference, a poetic prophecy concerning Jesus Christ.
• We know this because Simeon in Luke chapter 3 verse 25;
• Tells us these words were being fulfilled in Jesus.
• Now rather than rush through it;
• We are going to look at it in more detail in a few weeks time.
• For now, we will just note a couple of things,
• In a few weeks we will look at it in ore detail.
In these verses The servant is given several meaningful names;
(1). He is a weapon:
“He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver”.
Verse 2: He is God’s weapon to conquer the enemy:
• Notice both the sword and the arrow are hidden;
• In other words the servant will appear harmless.
• But do not be fooled by his apparent ordinaries;
• At any moment his armed and ready to fight.
• His sword is sharp and his arrow polished (ready for use).
• And he will fight to bring salvation to the nations.
(2). Verse 3 calls him God’s Israel.
“He said to me, You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendour”.
Ill:
• Cabinet in which trophies are displayed.
• E.g. Reception at Perin’s school.
• This servant will accomplish what the nation called Israel failed to accomplish.
• That is to bring salvation to the nations.
Verse 9 (The Message):
“He says, "But that's not a big enough job for my servant--
just to recover the tribes of Jacob,
merely to round up the strays of Israel.
I'm setting you up as a light for the nations
so that my salvation becomes global!"”
(3). Verse 6: He is a light for the Gentiles.
“I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.
At the time of writing, in the culture of his day this was revolutionary stuff!
• Gentiles were considered only good enough to quote ‘light the bonfires of hell’.
• Which is not a good statement for inter-racial relationships!
• Yet Isaiah tells us God plan has never been exclusive;
• But it has always been from the very beginning a plan to bring the world to himself.
• And God’s servant says Isaiah is not just coming to set the Jews free from Babylon;
• But he will also be a light to guide to set the Gentiles free and to bring them to God.
(4). Verse 8: He is the covenant of God.
“This is what the LORD says:
In the time of my favour I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,”
• Verse 8: The servant Messiah is the covenant of God.
• In other words Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of all God’s promises regarding salvation.
Note the expression: "to reassign its desolate inheritances".
• For the Jewish people their inheritance that they were expecting from their for-fathers;
• Had been dissipated throughout the Babylonian empire.
• Their money, their property, their possessions had all been lost;
• Taken as plunder or destroyed by the Babylonians.
Yet there is an inheritance no-man can take away:
• That is the promises of God!
• The salvation of God in his servant Jesus Christ.
• It is safe and secure and it is permanent.
• No earthly army and no earthly circumstances will take it from his people!
Restoration of Israel
• To the people still in captivity;
• This all sounded too good to be true;
• That’s why in verse 14 instead of singing and rejoicing at God’s promise;
• They are complaining!
“But Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me”.
• They want to be sure that all this will actually happen?
• How can they be sure God has not forsaken and forgotten them?
• So the Lord responds with three illustrations, three pictures to underscore the fact;
• That he will never forget his people:
(1) A compassionate mother (vs 14-23).
Verse 15:
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”
• The Bible emphasizes the fatherhood of God,
• But let’s not forget there is also a "motherhood" side to God's nature.
• In fact chapter 66 verse 13: God uses this very picture to convey that;
• Where he says He is compassionate and comforts us as a mother comforts her children.
Ill:
• This is an intimate picture;
• Not just a child and a mother, but a child at its mother’s breast.
• The older a child gets the more independent that child becomes;
• Ill: Arlo will not eat from his bowl unless he can feed himself (meals now take 2 hours).
• But a nursing child is totally dependent;
• On its mother for food, protection, for love etc.
• This is the glorious picture God uses of himself and his people.
• The Lord who will never forget them or forsake them.
C.E.V verse 16:
"Could a mother forget a child
who nurses at her breast?
Could she fail to love an infant
who came from her own body?
Even if a mother could forget,
I will never forget you.
Sadly at times even some mothers are forced by circumstances or poverty to abandon their child:
• So God reinforces the bond between him and his people:
• Look at verse 16: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands”
Question:
• How often do you look at your hands?
• Probably do not notice unless there is a mark or dirt etc upon them.
• Ill: Decorator (using black paint, never ever got fully off)
• When preaching or at meal times, or when courting very conscience of stain.
Now in a similar way, using word pictures:
• God says my hands are stained, tattooed, engraved with your name on my hands;
• They act as a constant reminder to him of who we are.
Ill:
• Embarrassing things as a preacher visiting Churches;
• You meet people and forget their names.
• But because you have known them over a period of time, you are supposed to know,
• So you have to play the name game (art of conversation without using names)
Question: Aren’t you glad this morning God never has that problem?
Question: Isn’t it great when you have not seen someone for ages & yet they know your name!
Well for us this morning:
• But God has engraved His children's names on His hands.
• The word "engraved" means "to cut into," signifying its permanence.
Ill:
• For the Christian this verse takes on extra meaning;
• 5 things in heaven that Jesus took back with him.
(2). A courageous warrior (vs 24-26).
“Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce?
25 But this is what the LORD says:
Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Saviour, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
• The Babylonians were fierce warriors,
• But Isaiah says that the Lord will snatch Israel, his people from their grasp.
• In His compassion,
• He would set the captives free and see to it that Babylon would never afflict them again.
Although Babylon had conquered God’s people;
• It was not because God was weak or unconcerned.
• The opposite God had permitted it! He used the Babylonians as an agent of chastening.
• And so when the right time comes, He will set His people free.
• Verse 23: "Those who hope in Me will not be disappointed".
Verse 26:
• In addition, just as Jerusalem's people were reduced to cannibalism;
• During the final days of their siege in 586 B.C. (Lamentations chapter 4 verse 10),
• So also Zion's oppressors would find it necessary to "eat their own flesh".
• A case of ‘sowing what they had reaped’.
• It’s a picture of total defeat and total depravity!
• Can a nation get lower than this! “How the mighty have fallen!”
(3) A constant lover (ch 50 vs 1-3):
“This is what the LORD says:
Where is your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 When I came, why was there no-one? When I called, why was there no-one to answer? Was my arm too short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the sky with darkness and make sackcloth its covering”.
• The image of Israel as the wife of Jehovah is found often in the prophets;
• Chapter 54 verses 4-5; (62:1-5; Jer. 2:1-3; 3:1-11; Hosea 2; Ezek. 16).
• Israel was "married" to Jehovah when they accepted the covenant at Sinai (Ex. 19-20),
• But they violated that covenant by "playing the harlot" and worshiping idols.
• But God did not forsake His people even though they had been unfaithful to Him.
• In contrast to Israel’s fickle character, we see that there is no fickleness in God.
Ill:
• According to the law of Moses (Deuteronomy chapter 24 verses 1-3)
• A husband who divorced his wife was required to give his wife a certificate of divorce
• Yet God had never issued one to Judah, the southern kingdom.
• The reason for her separation from God was totally due to her disobedience.
• Yet says God, even after such shocking behaviour;
• After a period of chastening; God would indeed welcome her back.
Noting:
• Hosea was declaring his message to Israel;
• At the same time as Isaiah proclaimed God’s word in Judah.
• Hosea is a perfect illustration of an unfaithful wife and a loving husband.
• Hosea chapter 3 verses 1-2 (The message):
“1Then GOD ordered me, "Start all over: Love your wife again,
your wife who's in bed with her latest boyfriend, your
cheating wife.
Love her the way I, GOD, love the Israelite people,
even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy."
2I did it. I paid good money to get her back.
It cost me the price of a slave.”
God is a redeeming God:
• Willing to pay whatever it costs to get his people back;
• Ill: Emblems on the table remind us of that fact.
Ill:
Our Daily Bread.
• An orphaned boy was living with his grandmother when their house caught fire.
• The grandmother, trying to get upstairs to rescue the boy, perished in the flames.
The boy’s cries for help were finally answered;
• By a man who climbed an iron drainpipe and came back down;
• With the boy hanging tightly to his neck.
• Several weeks later,
• A public hearing was held to determine who would receive custody of the child.
• A farmer, a teacher, and the town’s wealthiest citizen;
• All gave the reasons they felt they should be chosen to give the boy a home.
But as they talked, the lad’s eyes remained focused on the floor.
• Then a stranger walked to the front and slowly took his hands from his pockets,
• Revealing severe scars on them.
• As the crowd gasped, the boy cried out in recognition.
• This was the man who had saved his life.
• His hands had been burned when he climbed the hot pipe.
• With a leap the boy threw his arms around the man’s neck and held on for dear life.
• The other men silently walked away, leaving the boy and his rescuer alone.
• Those marred hands had settled the issue.
Quote: 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18-19:
“You were rescued [3] from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don't last forever. 19You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb.”
