Isaiah 50:4-51:16.  We are in the middle of one of the mini messages to the people of Judah during the invasion by the Assyrians in 701 BC.  The people are discourage, where is the promise of protection and an eternal kingdom that God had made to David?  In chapters 40-48 God had repeatedly reassured them that he would not forget the Israelites, he would fulfill his promises.  If chapter 42 he indicated that he had a servant who would be a big part of fulfilling the promises.  But the servant was described in two seemingly conflicting ways.  He would be hated by the nations and he would be exalted or praised by kings.  Here in chapters 49-55 we learn more about the servant and how God will use him to fulfill the promised destiny of Israel.

This portion of this mini message records the words of the servant.  The servant starts out by saying he has the “tongue of a disciple”.  A disciple is a “learner” someone who is taught.  In this verse I think we see the servant as one who listens and also one who can relate to us.  In the middle of the verse he understands how to help us when we are tired.  We also see that this is a day by day effort by the servant.  God is near and understands and willing to help.

But the listening is not just to help us, the servant also listens to what he is supposed to do, he did not turn back from his task.  In verse 6 we learn tht he was mistreated terribly.  In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John we see Jesus suffering just as Isaiah describes here.  In verse 7 we learn that the servant get his power from God.  As I have pointed out the servant winds up being Jesus.  But you might say, Well isn’t Jesus God?  Yahweh?  The short answer tot hat is yes (See “Three or One?”).  But according to Philippians 2:7 Jesus “emptied” himself of his divine power.  It doesn’t mean he didn’t have it or he stopped being God he just limited himself.  Instead he was empowered in his life like we are (if you have really put your eternity into Jesus’ hands), by the Holy Spirit living in us (again see “Three or One?”).  Because his power and service are from God the servant knows that whatever happens it will not be useless.  That is what he means by ashamed.  The servant continues this idea in verses 8 and 9 and then in verse 9 he challenges anyone to oppose him.

In verses 10-11 the servant challenges people who claim to be following God but really aren’t. They are really in the dark spiritually.  The firebrands and the fire represent manmade light.  These people are finding their own way but the servant warns them, “Keep going your own way and you will die and spend eternity in a place of pain and sorrow.”  Some scholars think that verse 10 is talking to people who are really trusting God and that the servant is encouraging them to be faithful and that verse 11 is warning people who are making their own light and that may be but either way we see that following our own way has disastrous results.

The first eight verses of chapter 51 definitely are talking to people who want to follow God.  Again, remember these people are facing invasion and destruction.  These Israelites are told to look back in their history to the beginning of the promises about their family.  Those promises were made to their ancestor, Abraham, starting in Genesis 12.  Eventually they were passed specifically to Isaac and then to Jacob (or Israel, see “What’s in a Name”).  It seems odd to call Abraham a stone and his wife a quarry but remember that Abraham was close to 100 years old when Isaac was born and Sarah was around 90.  They had not had any children together (though Abraham had had a child with one of Sarah’s maids) in all their years of marriage.  So it would appear that they were like dead lifeless rocks.  But God had promised and so they had a child from which this large group of people, the Israelites descended.  In verse 3 we see the servant assuring the Israelites that one day it would all be restored, like barren Sarah, barren Judah would be made like a the Garden of Eden.  The rest of the verses through verse 8 continue to reassure the people of Judah that God will follow through.  Verse 7 is interesting if you remember the words of Rabshakeh in Isaiah 36.  The Israelites were taunted and challenged by this Assyrian commander not to trust in Yahweh.    Here God is indicating he’s heard it too and the People of Jerusalem need not worry about what he was saying.  The Assyrians would be destroyed and it is God who would endure.

In verses 9-10 the servant calls to God to do what he has promised to do.  It’s like he’s saying, Were gong to Disneyland, Dad?  Well get your shoes on and let’s go.”  The rest of the verses in today’s reading continue to alternate between reminders of God’s past strength and faithfulness toward Israel and statements about Israel’s future.  A  future of joy and goodness in their land.

In Hebrews 2:14-3:1 we see Jesus as the one who is like us.  In Luke 22:42 we see that he is willing to do whatever God the Father has planned to accomplish, whatever needs to be done for us.  It becomes more clear the more we study the Bible that Jesus is the Servant of God speaking in these verses.  As we know from history he suffered greatly.  In Hebrews 2:17 we are told that he “made atonement” for our sins (disobedience and rebellion).  That word, atonement, comes from a root that means to make something be far away.  You might say Jesus took out our trash.  1 John 2:2 tells us that it was his very death which accomplished this.  For me one of the coolest things in today’s reading is the fact that Jesus didn’t use his own power to live his perfect life he relied on the help of the Holy Spirit.  If you are a person who has given your life and eternity to Jesus the Bible teaches that you are the “house” of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 3:16).  He lives in us just like he did in Jesus and helps us remember what we are supposed to do if we what to please God like Jesus did (John 14:26).  God I appreciate that you became one of us.  I appreciate that you were tempted but you never gave in (Hebrews 4:15).  I like it that I have a helper, I’m very pathetic on my own.  Thank you for your compassion.  Thank you for dying for me.  Thank you for loving me.  Thank you for being faithful.  Help my life please you.