Isaiah 61:1-11.  In this final section of Isaiah we see that God has not abandon his people or his promises to them, nor his promise to make them a blessing to the whole world.  We saw yesterday that when the Jews turn back to God that the whole world will be drawn to Him and many will be saved.  Jerusalem will be rebuilt and receive much wealth.  The Jewish people will be a huge example to the world of how great God is.  Glory can mean shining but it’s root also means heavy.  Back in the 1960, in the hippie era, when something was very awesome or profound or serious, people would call it heavy, they would say “heavy, man, heavy.”  The solution to our sin problem was that God became a man and took the punishment for us.  He did this to “clear our slate” and make our lives a suitable place for the Holy Spirit to live and help us live.  This “plan of salvation” originally included the Jewish people, then moved to the church, but will one day return to the Jewish people.  God is very faithful, he is “heavy”, and that glory will one day return to the Jewish people.  “Heavy, man, heavy”.

In today’s reading we return to the “Servant” from the last several chapters (see Isaiah 52:13-53:12).  The Servant is filled also with God’s Spirit which would indicate to the Jewish people who originally read this that he was living and serving in a way consistent with who God is.  The rest of the description encourages us about both the Servant and the LORD (Yahweh) God.  God’s plan is to heal, set free, and proclaim a favorable year.  That word “favorable” means pleasurable acceptable, or desirable.  The result of God’s plan is an awesome existence is coming.  Specifically to those in Zion (another name for Jerusalem) but also for the rest of us too (remember yesterday’s reading.  See also Romans 11:1, 11-36).  Verse 3 continues to describe the relief they will have in eternity and at the end of verse 3 we see that God is greatly honored because of all of this.  Remember that that is one of the two big ideas Isaiah is trying to communicate to the Jewish people (and us) in this book, God needs to be honored.  The other is that we need to be humble (God will deal with human pride).  It is interesting that in those verses in Romans that I listed above that both of theses ideas come out too.  Paul’s response after he writes about God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people and how he used them to reach to the whole world with his plan of salvation in spite of their rebellion was to praise God (v. 36).  In verses 17-20 we see a warning to gentile (non-Jewish) believers to not get a big head about their part in God’s kingdom.  We all get in as a gift from God and the Jews will not be forgotten.  Romans 11:30-32 tell us everyone who spends eternity in Heaven with God got there because of mercy not because we earned or deserved it.

Verses 4-7 tell us that in their promised kingdom the Israelites will be served by those whom they led to God (the foreigners and strangers in v. 5).  Also we learn that the Jewish people will be priests to God (v. 6).  The word priest has the idea of a religious leader.  In that same verse (6)  they are also described as “ministers of God”.  That word, minister, means to serve like a waiter.  That doesn’t mean that they serve food to God but that they serve others for God by teaching others about God.  So they will be served by the people they lead to God but they will be servants in a spiritual way to those same people.  And they will love it (v. 7).  Notice that they will receive a “double portion”.  It is interesting that in the New Testament we see a very similar idea in Paul’s teaching to a young pastor named Timothy.  In 1 Timothy 5:17-18 he tells Timothy and the church he is leading to give “double honor” to the elders (religious leaders of the early church) who worked hard at teaching and preaching.  It is clear from verse 18 that the “double honor” they were to receive was first, honor or respect, and second financial support, food clothing, pay.  That is the idea behind the you shall not muzzle the ox” quote (Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9-11).

Verse 8 tells us who is behind all of this, God.  He loves it when everything in the world is fair (justice).  There is a bit of seriousness in these verses though.  Back in verse 2 we saw the servant not only proclaiming the favorable year but also the day of God’s vengeance.  In verse 8 we see that God hates false efforts to honor him.  The robbery in the burnt offering could refer to an unworthy offering by the person giving the offering (god was very specific about the quality of the animal which was sacrificed) or it could refer to the priest’s keeping parts of the animal which were to be burned.  In any case those people will get what they bargained for.  So we see both the love of God and his holiness or purity always together.  It is interesting to me though that in verse 2 that it’s a favorable year and a day of vengeance.  I wonder if even here we see a bit of God’s heart always wanting the best.  We see part of this “best” in the fact that he makes a forever promise to the “children” of the faithful Jews, these “children” will be a constant reminded of God’s goodness to them.

In the last two verses (10-11) we see the Servant also extremely happy.  Why?  Because the servant has been “clothed with salvation”.  There are certain times people take pride in what they have on.  Brides on their wedding day and kings when they receive their crowns come to mind.  But here the servant is overjoyed to be dressed in salvation.  That is especially surprising when you remember that our salvation involved him being crucified, but it was a joy to Jesus to do it (Hebrews 12:2).  That just tells us how much God and Jesus love people.  The salvation that he brings involves us living right before God, finally (with a little (lot) of help from the Holy Spirit), it also involves us honoring God with praise.  And this will be in front of all the nations and actually by people form all nations.

It is awesome how much God loves us and how much Jesus loves us and how patient God is with all of us including the Jews.  It’s nice to know that when we screw up that God will not just dump us.  God is pulling for us all the time.  Because of this we should turn our lives back to him and do our best to do the things that make him happy.  Not to get to heaven but because we get to go there, and stay there.  Of course God won’t force us to be with him but if we reject him we will feel his vengeance, it’s what is fair and right.  Thank you God for your love.  Thank you for your patience.  Thank you for taking my punishment.  Help me be a witness of your love to the world around me.  And thank you that you let all mankind have the opportunity to be a part of your forever family.