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Scripture Reading: Isa. 49; Isa. 50; John 14:10; Hosea 11:1; Matt. 2:15b; John 13:31b; Rom. 8:31, 33-34a
Chapters forty-nine and fifty of Isaiah present Christ as typified by Isaiah, the prophet of Jehovah, for a covenant of the people to restore the land. In this message we will consider these two chapters.
In order to understand Isaiah 49, we need to see the three persons of the servant of Jehovah — Christ (vv. 5-9a), Isaiah the prophet (vv. 1-4), and Israel (v. 3). Both Isaiah the prophet and Israel consummate in Christ. All three are one servant. First, all are Israel. Israel, of course, is Israel, Isaiah was an Israelite, and Jesus Christ was a typical Israelite. Thus, as Israelites they all are one. Second, as a whole, Israel was God's servant, His witness, in the Old Testament. Isaiah as a part of Israel also was a servant of Jehovah. In the New Testament Christ is unveiled as the Servant of God (Mark 10:45) and His Witness (Rev. 1:5). This again shows the oneness of Isaiah, Israel, and Christ as servants of Jehovah. But in the New Testament, our oneness with Christ as servants of God is seen more clearly, because the New Testament says that we are in Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Together we are one corporate Christ. Since we are in this corporate Christ, and Christ is the Servant of God, we also are one servant of God, one witness of God. This is God's eternal view, and this is the view we need to have in order to understand Isaiah 49—50.
Isaiah, the prophet of Jehovah (typifying Christ as the Servant of God for God's speaking — John 14:10), served Jehovah as His mouthpiece to speak forth His word, which is the embodiment of Himself (Isa. 49:1-4). Isaiah spoke for God, but Christ spoke for God much more. In His ministry on earth, the main thing He did was speak for God. Even after He ascended to the heavens, He continued to speak, for He spoke in the speaking of the apostles. The Epistles of Paul, for example, are a continuation of Christ's speaking.
The word of God is God's embodiment. When we speak forth God's word, we speak forth God. We cannot speak forth God without speaking forth God's word. We all need to learn how to speak forth God's word.
According to 49:2a, Jehovah made the prophet's mouth "like a sharp sword" and also concealed him "in the shadow of His hand."
Jehovah made the prophet a polished arrow and hid him in His quiver (49:2b). The words of the prophet were arrows, and his speaking was the shooting of an arrow.
"He said to me, You are My servant,/Israel, in whom I will be glorified" (v. 3). This indicates that Jehovah considered the prophet as His servant, a part of Israel, for His glorification. Isaiah, Israel, and Christ are all for God's glorification.
The prophet considered himself as laboring in vain, using up his strength for nothing and vanity (v. 4a). Nevertheless, he was assured that the justice due to him was with Jehovah and that his recompense was with his God (v. 4b).
Since Isaiah typifies Christ, the word in verse 4 applies to Christ. People judged Christ wrongly, thinking that His word was nothing and vain. However, Christ was assured that the justice due to Him would come from God. God values Christ's word and will reward Him for His speaking.
The second of the three persons of the servant of Jehovah is Israel (v. 3). Isaiah, the prophet of Jehovah, was a part of Israel; hence, he was one with Israel as the servant of Jehovah. Christ also is a part of Israel (Hosea 11:1; Matt. 2:15b). In the servant mentioned in Isaiah 49:3, Jehovah will be glorified. This typifies that God is glorified in Christ as the Israel of God (John 13:31b).
In Isaiah 49 whatever is spoken concerning Isaiah and Israel is also spoken concerning Christ. This means that Christ as the Servant of Jehovah fulfills all that Isaiah and Israel are as the servant of Jehovah.
From the womb Jehovah formed Him to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel would be gathered to Him. He will be glorified in the sight of Jehovah, and His God will be His strength (v. 5).
Verse 6 is God's word to Christ as the Servant of Jehovah. In this verse, God says, "It is too small a thing that You would be My Servant/To raise up the tribes of Jacob/And bring back the preserved of Israel;/I will also set You as a light of the nations/To be My salvation unto the ends of the earth." We have seen and are continuing to see that Christ is the great light to the nations and that He is God's salvation extending to the ends of the earth.
In verse 7 we have Jehovah's word to Christ as the despised One, the One abhorred by the nation, the One subjected to tyrants. Jehovah says to Him, "Kings will see and arise,/And princes will bow down;/Because of Jehovah, who is faithful,/The Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You." Christ was subjected to tyrants when He stood before Pilate and submitted to him. He, the Creator, was thus subject to a created human being. To this One who was subjected to tyrants such as Herod and Pilate, kings will arise and princes will bow down because Jehovah, who is faithful, has chosen Him.
"Thus says Jehovah,/In an acceptable time I have answered You,/And in a day of salvation I have helped You; / And I will preserve You and give You for a covenant of the people,/To restore the land, to apportion the desolate inheritances,/To say to the prisoners, Come forth,/To say to those who are in darkness, Show yourselves" (vv. 8-9a). Here we see that Christ as the Servant of Jehovah has been given as a covenant of the people. A covenant is a signed agreement between two parties, in which promises are made. A covenant becomes a will upon the death of the covenanting party. In a will someone may promise to give all his riches to another person. The will becomes the title deed of all those riches. But if there are no actual riches to receive, the will is meaningless. Christ is our will, our covenant, and He is all the riches given to us in the will. The Bible is a will that mentions many wonderful items that are to be our portion. But without Christ as the reality, the Bible would be only empty pages. Christ is the reality of the items given as bequests in the Bible.
Christ is given as a covenant to restore the land. To restore the land is to accomplish something of God's economy concerning His kingdom. The restoring of the land is mainly for the kingdom of God, which will eventually consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.
In our experience of Christ today, to restore the land means to have the land enlarged or expanded. Christ is the land. To experience Christ as the expanding land is to occupy Christ as the land for the building up of God's kingdom that His temple, His testimony, may be established. If we have only the Bible but lack the experience of Christ as the reality, we do not have the feeling that Christ as the land is expanding. But if we have the Bible with the experiences of Christ, we sense that Christ as the land is expanding. The more we experience Christ, the more we sense that Christ is expanding within us. The more we experience Christ in this way, the more God's kingdom is established with God's temple as His testimony.
Isaiah 49:9b-13 speaks of the blessed return of the captives. Because Christ has become a covenant for the people of Israel, the captives will return.
The captives will feed along the roads, and their pasture will be on all the bare heights. They will not hunger or thirst, neither the scorching heat nor the sun will strike them; for He who has compassion on them will lead them and will guide them beside the springs of water (vv. 9b-10). Today the Lord not only leads us in a general way but also guides us in a specific way.
In verse 11 Jehovah says, "I will make all My mountains into a road,/And My highways will be raised up." We may apply this in a spiritual way to our experience. Before we returned to the Lord, we were lost, and we did not know where we were or where we should be. But when we returned to the Lord, immediately there were roads and highways, and we knew what to do and where to go.
Verse 12 says, "Behold, these ones will come from a distance,/And some will come from the north and the west / And others from the land of the Sinim." Here the word Sinim probably refers to the Chinese.
In verse 13 the heavens are commanded to give a ringing shout, the earth to rejoice, and the mountains to break forth into singing, for Jehovah has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.
Isaiah 49:14-21 reveals how Jehovah treasures Zion.
Because Jehovah treasures Zion, He will not forget her. "But Zion has said, Jehovah has forsaken me,/And the Lord has forgotten me./Can a woman forget her nursing child,/ That she would not have compassion on the son of her womb? / Even though they may forget,/Yet I will not forget you" (vv. 14-15).
In verse 16a Jehovah tells Zion that He has engraved her upon the palms of His hands.
Zion's walls are continually before Jehovah (v. 16b).
Zion's captives will make haste to return. She will put all of them on like an ornament and will gird herself with them like a bride (vv. 17-18).
Her waste, desolate, and devastated land will be too constricted because of her returned captives (vv. 19-21).
Jehovah will lift up His hand to the nations, and unto the peoples He will lift up His banner for the gathering of the dispersed captives of Zion (vv. 22-26a). Then all flesh will know that Jehovah is the Savior of Zion and her Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob (v. 26b).
In 50:1-3 we have the reason for Zion's being forsaken.
Isaiah 50:4-9 describes the instruction the servant of Jehovah (Isaiah typifying Christ) received and the life he lived.
Referring to Isaiah as a type of Christ as the Servant of Jehovah, verses 4 and 5 say, "The Lord Jehovah has given me /The tongue of the instructed,/That I should know how to sustain the weary with a word./He awakens me morning by morning;/He awakens my ear/To hear as an instructed one./The Lord Jehovah has opened my ear;/And I was not rebellious,/Nor did I turn back." Christ as the Servant of Jehovah was instructed not by man but by God. Christ did not speak His own word but spoke according to God's instructions. He thus learned how to sustain the weary ones, the weak ones, with a word. Jehovah awakened Him every morning. This indicates that every day the Lord Jesus had a morning revival. Furthermore, the Lord was never rebellious; rather, He was always obedient, listening to the word of God.
The servant of Jehovah gave his back to those who struck him and his cheeks to those who plucked out the hair. He did not hide his face from humiliation and spitting. The Lord Jehovah helped him; therefore, he was not dishonored. He set his face like a flint, and he knew that he would not be put to shame (vv. 6-7). According to verses 8 and 9, he said, "The One who justifies me is near; who will contend with me?/Let us stand up together! Who is my adversary in judgment [Rom. 8:33a]?/Let him come near to me./Behold, the Lord Jehovah helps me [Rom. 8:31],/Who is the one who condemns me [Rom. 8:34a]?/Behold, they will all wear out like a garment;/The moth will consume them." This is the life Christ as the Servant of Jehovah lived on earth.
Finally, in verses 10 and 11 we are told how he who fears Jehovah and hears the voice of His servant has light while walking in darkness. Concerning such a one, verse 10b says, "Let him trust in the name of Jehovah,/And rely on his God." Verse 11 goes on to give a warning about self-made light. "Behold, all of you who kindle a fire,/Who surround yourselves with firebrands,/Walk into the light of your fire/And into the firebrands which you have lit./You will have this from My hand:/You will lie down in torment." Those who make light for themselves and walk in their self-made light instead of God's light will suffer torment. This should be a warning to us that we may walk in the light given by God, not in the light we make for ourselves.
