People are often looking for God to move and they don’t understand that he already has. It is sin that separates us, just as an offense separates you from friends or family. You can carry on your life without them thinking we could be reconciled if they would just … These few chapters are a little like that. We could be reconciled to God if he would in Isaiah 50:8 “contend with me” and he does, it is the Lord that has made the first move. Still, we cry out as in Isaiah 51:9 “Awake! Awake; put on strength, O arm of Yahweh!” as if it is all up to him. But he says for us to “Awake!” in Isaiah 52:1-2. His arm has been revealed, and in Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and rejected by men” even though in Isaiah 53:11 “he is the one who will bear their iniquities”. It is for us to accept his salvation and in Isaiah 52:1-2 to “shake yourself free from the dust” and “free ourselves from the bonds”.
Because of Your Transgressions
Isaiah 50:1–3
People have often said that God is far off, that he is not involved in any longer in the world as if he started the earth spinning and walked away. But there is a covenant between the Lord and Abraham. There is a covenant between the Lord and the children of Israel and in Isaiah 50:1 the Lord asks “Where is this divorce document?. The separation is not because of God, but it is “because of your sin”.
He Who Obtains Rights for Me is Near
Isaiah 50:4–11
It is the Lord that gives us in Isaiah 50:4 “the tongue of a pupil, to know how to help the weary with a word”. Though this is talking about Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as described in Isaiah 61:1 and quoted by Jesus in Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because of which he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor”, it is also for us who are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. It is this same Spirit that Jesus said would come and that he called counselor and the spirit of truth and it is the same prophetic gift spoken of in
1 Corinthians 14:3 “But the one who prophesies speaks to people edification and encouragement and consolation”.
But even more than having a word of encouragement “to help the weary”, it says in Isaiah 50:8 “he who obtains rights for me is near. Who will contend with me?” and the answer is in Isaiah 50:9 “Look! The Lord Yahweh helps me. Though in Isaiah 50:11 people may come with their “flaming arrows”, they will come to nothing because the Lord is our defender and in Isaiah 50:10 “Who is the one who will declare me guilty?” There is no one that can.
Look to the Rock
Isaiah 51:1–11
Remember where you are from, in Isaiah 51:1 “Look to the rock from which you were hewn” and in Isaiah 51:2 “Look to Abraham your father” because the Lord is faithful to his promises. Though we may think things are going wrong, and though there are times when we suffer injustice, the Lord says in
Isaiah 51:4 “Listen attentively to me, my people, and my nation, listen to me! For a teaching will go out from me, and I will cause my justice to rest for a light to the peoples”.
So no matter what our momentary experience, there is a sure word from the Lord in Isaiah 51:6 “my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be broken to pieces”. Then the Lord goes on and says it again this way in Isaiah 51:8 “my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation for generation after generation”. And now comes our prayer to the Lord in Isaiah 51:9 “Awake! Awake; put on strength, O arm of Yahweh!” because it is time to deliver your people. And when he does deliver, it will be, in
Isaiah 51:11 “So the redeemed ones of Yahweh shall return, and they shall come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy shall be on their heads. Joy and gladness shall appear; sorrow and sighing shall flee away!
Rouse Yourself!
Isaiah 51:12–23
Now the admonition comes to Zion, to Jerusalem, to those called by His name and he says in
Isaiah 51:16 And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, to plant the heavens and to found the earth, saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”
and now it is time for us to do our part. We must get up, have faith in God, and take our rightful place as it says in in Isaiah 51:17 “Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Stand up, Jerusalem” and in Isaiah 51:22 “Look! I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering” and in Isaiah 51:23 “I will put it in the hand of your tormenters”. The Lord is saying, there was a time when the world ran right over you, but no more will they make, in Isaiah 51:23 “your back like the ground, and like the street for those who pass over you”.
Awake! Awake; Put On Your Strength, Zion!
Isaiah 52:1–15
The prayer was for the Lord to awake in Isaiah 51:9 but this has always been a two way relationship. God is all powerful, but he put choice and dominion in our hands. It is time to “Awake!” in Isaiah 52:1-2 he says:
- “put on your strength”
- “put on the garments of your beauty”
- “shake yourself free from the dust”
- “rise up; sit”
- “free yourselves from the bonds of your neck”
The Lord heard the prayer in Isaiah 51:9 and has answered in
Isaiah 52:10 “Yahweh has bared his holy arm to the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God”.
Now he says in Isaiah 52:11 “Depart, depart, go” and in Isaiah 52:12 “Yahweh is going before you, and your rear guard is the God of Israel”.
He is the One Who Will Bear Their Iniquities
Isaiah 53:1–12
The last few chapters were about the “arm of the Lord” to bring salvation. The question here is in Isaiah 53:1 “to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?” Well, the answer is to everyone on earth, in the heavens, and under the earth. It wasn’t that “the arm of the Lord” was hidden, it was “who has believed our message”. Jesus Christ wasn’t what the world expected. He didn’t come and validate the world system or the ways of the world because sin had entered. What was important to man, power, wealth, position, … these things didn’t matter to Jesus so in
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering, and acquainted with sickness, and like one from whom others hide their faces, he was despised, and we did not hold him in high regard.
Jesus was the very one that took sin for us and the Lord said of him in Isaiah 53:11 “my servant, shall declare many righteous, and he is the one who will bear their iniquities”. Jesus Christ is the one in
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his wounds we were healed.
Study Verses
- Isaiah 50:4–11 He Who Obtains Rights for Me is Near
- Isaiah 52:1–15 Awake! Awake; Put On Your Strength, Zion!
- Isaiah 53:1–12 He is the One Who Will Bear Their Iniquities
Today’s Reading
- Isaiah 50:1-11
- Isaiah 51:1-23
- Isaiah 52:1-15
- Isaiah 53:1-12