FRAMEWORKS:
Isaiah 51 :
Salvation promised for the righteous
Part
1: Salvation is coming [1 - Introduction]
v.1-3
God will comfort the righteousness-seeker, as he did with Abraham
v.4-6
God everlasting salvation, justice, is coming to the world
v.7.8
Fear not, you can trust God's salvation that will remove the
unrighteous
Part
2: Response – come Lord and do it!
v.9,10
Responsive appeal to the all-powerful Lord to come
Part
3: Salvation is coming [2 - Confirmation]
v.11-13
The all-powerful One WILL redeem His people
v.14-16
The all-powerful One will set His people free
v.17-23:
Jerusalem's punishments are now put on her oppressors
[Preliminary
notes: This is a chapter full of encouragement:
v.1,2
– for the righteous to remember Israel's origins
v.3
– promise of comfort and joy for Jerusalem
v.4-6
– teaching, righteousness & eternal salvation coming from
God
v.7,8
- God's instruction brings security and eternal salvation
v.9,10
– to call on the Lord who has done great things, to do it
v.11-13
– the redeemed, fearless exiles, will return because the God is
with them
v.14-16
– the Lord of the earth will release His people
v.17-22
– Jerusalem's awful punishments are ended and God is coming again
v.23
– instead He will bring those punishments on those who had been
against Israel.
Every
verse would encourage exiles, those who thought Jerusalem had
gone, as the Lord promises a new day coming with glorious salvation
that would last forever.]
v.1-3
God will comfort the righteousness-seeker, as he did with Abraham
v.1
You want to know righteousness – look to the Lord
v.1
‘Listen
to me, you who pursue righteousness
and who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were
hewn;
v.2
Look back to Abraham who was declared righteous and was blessed
for it
v.2
look
to Abraham, your father,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
and I blessed him and made him many.
v.3
The Lord will restore desolate Jerusalem and her lands
v.3
The
Lord will surely comfort Zion
and will look with compassion on all her
ruins;
he will make her deserts like Eden,
her wastelands like the garden of the
Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
v.4-6
God's everlasting salvation, justice, is coming to the world
v.4
Listen to God who brings teaching and justice
v.4
‘Listen
to me, my people;
hear me, my nation:
instruction will go out from me;
my justice will become a light to the
nations.
v.5
He is bringing His righteousness, His salvation
v.5
My
righteousness draws near speedily,
my salvation is on the way,
and my arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to me
and wait in hope for my arm.
v.6
The heavens and earth will get wound up but His salvation will
remain
v.6
Lift
up your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last for ever,
my righteousness will never fail.
v.7.8
Fear not, you can trust God's salvation that will remove the unrighteous
v.7
Receive His instruction and be secure
v.7
‘Hear
me, you who know what is right,
you people who have taken my instruction
to heart:
do not fear the reproach of mere mortals
or be terrified by their insults.
v.8
Enemies will be destroyed but His righteous salvation will exist
for ever
v.8
For
the moth will eat them up like a garment;
the worm will devour them like wool.
But my righteousness will last for ever,
my salvation through all generations.'
v.9,10
Responsive appeal to the all-powerful Lord to come
v.9
So rise up Lord and bring it, as you've done in the past…
v.9
Awake,
awake, arm of the Lord,
clothe yourself with strength!
Awake, as in days gone by,
as in generations of old.
Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces,
who pierced that monster through?
v.10
…even as you redeemed your people of old
v.10
Was
it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made a road in the depths of the sea
so that the redeemed might cross over?
v.11-13
The all-powerful One WILL redeem His people
v.11
So God's redeemed people will return to Jerusalem
v.11
Those
the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
v.12
You don't need to fear man when God is for you…
v.12
‘I,
even I, am he who comforts you.
Who are you that you fear mere mortals,
human beings who are but grass,
v.13
… so never forget He is the all-powerful creator
v.13
that
you forget the Lord your Maker,
who stretches out the heavens
and who lays the foundations of the earth,
that you live in constant terror every day
because of the wrath of the oppressor,
who is bent on destruction?
For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
v.14-16
The all-powerful One will set His people free
v.14
Those held in enemy prisons will soon be set free….
v.14
The
cowering prisoners will soon be set free;
they will not die in their dungeon,
nor will they lack bread.
v.15
…. because this is the all-powerful God speaking…
v.15
For
I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves
roar –
the Lord Almighty is his name.
v.16
… the One who has spoken, established the world and His people
v.16
I
have put my words in your mouth
and covered you with the shadow of my
hand –
I who set the heavens in place,
who laid the foundations of the earth,
and who say to Zion, “You are my people.”'
v.17-23:
Jerusalem's punishments are now put on her oppressors
v.17
So come on Jerusalem, you have received the Lord's judgment…
v.17
Awake,
awake!
Rise up, Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
the cup of his wrath,
you who have drained to its dregs
the goblet that makes people stagger.
v.18
… and none of your children are now able to help you
v.18
Among
all the children she bore
there was none to guide her;
among all the children she brought up
there was none to take her by the hand.
v.19
You've suffered awful punishments
v.19
These
double calamities have come upon you –
who can comfort you? –
ruin and destruction, famine and sword –
who can console you?
v.20
Your young, the next generation, have suffered for you
v.20
Your
children have fainted;
they lie at every street corner,
like antelope caught in a net.
They are filled with the wrath of the Lord,
with the rebuke of your God.
v.21
So, afflicted one, listen….
v.21
Therefore
hear this, you afflicted one,
made drunk, but not with wine.
v.22
The Lord has taken away the punishment
v.22
This
is what your Sovereign Lord says,
your God, who defends his people:
‘See, I have taken out of your hand
the cup that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
you will never drink again.
v.23
Instead it has been given to those who took you
v.23
I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,
who said to you,
“Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.”
And you made your back like the ground,
like a street to be walked on.'