| << Isa 48 | |
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| This is the New King James text of the passages. |
Isaiah 49-53 Listen 
There's coming a day (Isaiah 49)
1 “Listen, O coastlands, to Me,
And take heed, you peoples from afar!
The LORD has called Me from the womb;
From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.
2 And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword;
In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me,
And made Me a polished shaft;
In His quiver He has hidden Me.”
3 “And He said to me,
‘You are My servant, O Israel,
In whom I will be glorified.’
4 Then I said, “I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;
Yet surely my just reward is with the LORD,
And my work with my God.’ ”
5 “And now the LORD says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel is gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD,
And My God shall be My strength),
6 Indeed He says,
“It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
7 Thus says the LORD,
The Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One,
To Him whom man despises,
To Him whom the nation abhors,
To the Servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of the LORD who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel;
And He has chosen You.”
8 ¶ Thus says the LORD:
“In an acceptable time I have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will preserve You and give You
As a covenant to the people,
To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;
9 That You may say to the prisoners, “Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.’
‘They shall feed along the roads,
And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.
10 They shall neither hunger nor thirst,
Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;
For He who has mercy on them will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them.
11 I will make each of My mountains a road,
And My highways shall be elevated.
12 Surely these shall come from afar;
Look! Those from the north and the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”
13 Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For the LORD has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.
14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
17 Your sons shall make haste;
Your destroyers and those who laid you waste
Shall go away from you.
18 Lift up your eyes, look around and see;
All these gather together and come to you.
As I live,” says the LORD,
“You shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament,
And bind them on you as a bride does.
19 “For your waste and desolate places,
And the land of your destruction,
Will even now be too small for the inhabitants;
And those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 The children you will have,
After you have lost the others,
Will say again in your ears,
“The place is too small for me;
Give me a place where I may dwell.’
21 Then you will say in your heart,
“Who has begotten these for me,
Since I have lost my children and am desolate,
A captive, and wandering to and fro?
And who has brought these up?
There I was, left alone;
But these, where were they?’ ”
22 ¶ Thus says the Lord GOD:
“Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations,
And set up My standard for the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their arms,
And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers,
And their queens your nursing mothers;
They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth,
And lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the LORD,
For they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.”
24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
Or the captives of the righteous be delivered?
25 ¶ But thus says the LORD:
“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible be delivered;
For I will contend with him who contends with you,
And I will save your children.
26 I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh,
And they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine.
All flesh shall know
That I, the LORD, am your Savior,
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
This chapter looks to the time when the Messiah of Israel will rule over all the earth - Gentile nations and all, a clear reference to the period we know as the yet-future millennium. The emphasis here is that God has not forgotten Israel, but has dealt with her through trial. When the Messiah comes, everything will be restored and Israel will be the center of dominion over all the nations under the Messiah, including the Gentile nations. As a matter of fact, the Apostle Paul quotes verse 6 here as his justification for turning to the Gentiles to minister in Acts 13:46-47 (see notes). These first 7 verses prophesy the ministry of the Messiah during the millennium.
Paul quotes verse 8 in II Corinthians 6:1-2 (see notes):
1 We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
2 For He says:
“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
It's interesting that Paul uses this quote. He seems to be saying that the time for Gentile salvation has arrived, and it would be a shame for the Corinthians to treat this occasion with anything less than enthusiasm. There is a heavy emphasis in Isaiah 49 on the Messiah's role in establishing Israel as the center of Messianic rule, respected by all nations on earth as such.
The remaining verses in this chapter serve as an encouragement to those in captivity who think that perhaps Israel has been forgotten by God. Not only has Israel not been forgotten, but there's another reference to Gentile salvation under the Messiah in verse 22. Notice also in verses 23-26 how that the Jewish people will be ministered unto by these Gentiles, and those who would do otherwise will be dealt with harshly (to say the least) by God.
Israel's sin and the servant's obedience (Isaiah 50)
1 Thus says the LORD:
“Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce,
Whom I have put away?
Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
For your iniquities you have sold yourselves,
And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man?
Why, when I called, was there none to answer?
Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink because there is no water,
And die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness,
And I make sackcloth their covering.”
4 “The Lord GOD has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
5 The Lord GOD has opened My ear;
And I was not rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
6 I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
7 “For the Lord GOD will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore I have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
8 He is near who justifies Me;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand together.
Who is My adversary?
Let him come near Me.
9 Surely the Lord GOD will help Me;
Who is he who will condemn Me?
Indeed they will all grow old like a garment;
The moth will eat them up.
10 “Who among you fears the LORD?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who walks in darkness
And has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the LORD
And rely upon his God.
11 Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—
This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down in torment.
The divorce procedure of Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (see notes) is referenced in this passage with regard to Israel (the wife) and God (the husband). In this passage Israel is shown as temporarily put away because of her sin. It is emphasized that Israel sold herself in this process. In other words, God did not cast Israel away; Israel alienated herself from God in the first place with her idolatry and worship of other gods. God remained faithful; Israel left. Now...what about Israel's redemption from this state?
The servant in this passage appears to speak of the Messiah who will redeem Israel and bring her back into a relationship with God, but that doesn't happen until the regathering of the millennium. That being said, verses 6-7 logically identify the suffering of the Messiah, Jesus, on the cross, along with the events leading up to the crucifixion during his first advent. This picture of the suffering Messiah emerges clearly in Isaiah 53 (see below). Were it not for chapter 53, these verses might stand as ambiguous. However, the picture is presented here and expanded upon in chapter 53 that the redemption of Israel is paid for by the suffering of the Messiah.
Now for a word to Jerusalem (Isaiah 51)
1 Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness,
You who seek the LORD:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
For I called him alone,
And blessed him and increased him.”
3 For the LORD will comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the LORD;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
4 “Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
As a light of the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
And My arms will judge the peoples;
The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And on My arm they will trust.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not be abolished.
7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people in whose heart is My law:
Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool;
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation from generation to generation.”
9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the LORD!
Awake as in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart,
And wounded the serpent?
10 Are You not the One who dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
11 So the ransomed of the LORD shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I, even I, am He who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made like grass?
13 And you forget the LORD your Maker,
Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
And where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
15 But I am the LORD your God,
Who divided the sea whose waves roared—
The LORD of hosts is His name.
16 And I have put My words in your mouth;
I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
That I may plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, “You are My people.’ ”
17 Awake, awake!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who have drunk at the hand of the LORD
The cup of His fury;
You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
And drained it out.
18 There is no one to guide her
Among all the sons she has brought forth;
Nor is there any who takes her by the hand
Among all the sons she has brought up.
19 These two things have come to you;
Who will be sorry for you?—
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—
By whom will I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted,
They lie at the head of all the streets,
Like an antelope in a net;
They are full of the fury of the LORD,
The rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk but not with wine.
22 Thus says your Lord,
The LORD and your God,
Who pleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
23 But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to you,
“Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”
To get our bearings in this chapter, notice that the reference to Abraham and Sarah in verse 2 clearly identifies Israel and Zion in verse 3 as Jerusalem. Jerusalem's redemption is in view continuing on into chapter 52. This final redemption does not take place until the millennium, although a return by Jews to Jerusalem did take place during the reign of Cyrus the Persian King after 538 B.C.
God's relationship to Jerusalem is presented in verse 16, "And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, That I may plant the heavens, Lay the foundations of the earth, And say to Zion, 'You are My people.'" But then we see God's wrath poured upon Jerusalem for their disobedience in verse 17, "Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk at the hand of the LORD The cup of His fury; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, And drained it out." The description of God's wrath continues until verse 21 where we are told that God will withdraw his wrath from Israel and put it upon those who have afflicted them (verse 23). It would appear that these verses refer to the destruction of Israel's enemies (Assyria and Babylon) in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. rather than the final destruction of Israel's enemies at the yet-future Battle of Armageddon.
The salvation of Israel (Isaiah 52)
1 Awake, awake!
Put on your strength, O Zion;
Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised and the unclean
Shall no longer come to you.
2 Shake yourself from the dust, arise;
Sit down, O Jerusalem!
Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion!
3 ¶ For thus says the LORD:
“You have sold yourselves for nothing,
And you shall be redeemed without money.”
4 ¶ For thus says the Lord GOD:
“My people went down at first
Into Egypt to dwell there;
Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here,” says the LORD,
“That My people are taken away for nothing?
Those who rule over them
Make them wail,” says the LORD,
“And My name is blasphemed continually every day.
6 Therefore My people shall know My name;
Therefore they shall know in that day
That I am He who speaks:
“Behold, it is I.’ ”
7 How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
8 Your watchmen shall lift up their voices,
With their voices they shall sing together;
For they shall see eye to eye
When the LORD brings back Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together,
You waste places of Jerusalem!
For the LORD has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has made bare His holy arm
In the eyes of all the nations;
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The salvation of our God.
11 Depart! Depart! Go out from there,
Touch no unclean thing;
Go out from the midst of her,
Be clean,
You who bear the vessels of the LORD.
12 For you shall not go out with haste,
Nor go by flight;
For the LORD will go before you,
And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
13 Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently;
He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
14 Just as many were astonished at you,
So His visage was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men;
15 So shall He sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.
This chapter begins with the oppression of Jerusalem and the promise that it will not always be so. There's a recognition of the fact that the Babylonians take great delight in their captivity of Jerusalem, as seen by the comment in verse 5, "...My name is blasphemed continually every day." Paul quotes that verse in Romans 2:24 (see notes). The transition to promise begins in verse 6, and we notice that Paul quotes verse 7 in Romans 10:15 (see notes) as he speaks about the salvation of the Jews when he says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!" Verses 13-15 are clear references to Christ's suffering on the cross as the obedient servant redeeming Israel and all mankind. This message continues on into the next chapter. Paul quotes verse 15 in Romans 15:21 (see notes) to justify taking the Gospel to Gentiles rather than to the Jews when he says, "but as it is written: “To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall understand."
Incidentally, Paul quotes verse 11 in II Corinthians 6:17 (see notes) when he says, "Therefore 'Come out from among them And be separate,' says the Lord. 'Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.'" In that verse, the Jews are being told to leave Babylonia and return to their sacred land when the time comes. When that time does come, Israel is under the dominion of the Persian King Cyrus. In that situation, some might not see the urgency of leaving that comfortable environment to return to Jerusalem.
Isaiah prophesies the crucifixion of Christ (Isaiah 53)
1 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.
You need to get a running start into this passage by reading again 52:13-15. Here's the suffering servant, the Messiah, in great detail enduring what we now know to be the crucifixion of the Messiah. It is remarkable that Isaiah saw this over 700 years before it was to happen. You will notice that verses 2-3 identify the horrible disfiguring beating that Jesus received prior to being placed on the cross. Then, on the cross, he suffered as a criminal...despised and rejected.
Verse 4 needs a little bit of special attention here regarding two phrases - "borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." In actuality, the Hebrew word for "griefs" is "choli" which is almost always translated "sickness" in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for "sorrows" is "mak-obe," a word expressing the result of that sickness being "pain" or "sorrow." So, this verse tells us that Jesus suffered the physical ailment and resulting pain of the cross on our behalf. However, he was counted as rejected by God as he was enduring that pain. Matthew captures the essence of this verse when he quotes it in Matthew 8:17 (see notes), "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.'" One might get the impression from the English translation of Isaiah 53:4 that this verse refers to spiritual grief and sorrow, but Matthew makes it plain that it is "infirmities" and "sicknesses" i.e. physical suffering. I might add that, while the Hebrew in this verse clearly depicts physical suffering and not spiritual, the Septuagint (Old Testament in Greek) actually gets it wrong by translating the Hebrew "choli" as "hamartia," the word for "sin." Perhaps this faulty Greek translation has led to the common misunderstanding of this verse to be regarded as spiritual grief and sorrow rather than physical. Nonetheless, Matthew renders it correctly in Matthew 8:17 (see notes).
The passage indeed turns spiritual beginning in verse 5 where we see that Jesus' death on the cross made a spiritual impact on mankind. In other words, spiritual healing (reconciliation to God) was made possible as Jesus paid the penalty of our sin on the cross. Thus, "with his stripes we are healed." We further see this point driven home in verse 6 where we see the phrase "the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." There's your spiritual healing.
John quotes Isaiah 53 in John 12:37-41 (see notes) with regard to the ministry of Christ:
John 12:37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him,
John 12:38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:
“Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”
John 12:39 Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:
John 12:40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,
Lest they should see with their eyes,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.”
John 12:41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
Notice verse 9, "And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." We seem to see the fulfillment of verse 9 in Matthew 27:57-60 (see notes):
Matthew 27:57 Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
Matthew 27:58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him.
Matthew 27:59 When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
Matthew 27:60 and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.
It should be pointed out here that this chapter is the cornerstone prophecy for the atonement which makes our salvation possible. All the theological terms used to describe the proposition of our salvation are found here - propitiation, atonement, sacrifice, substitution, sinless sacrifice, spiritual healing, our Savior's suffering, man's sinful nature, man's rejection, Christ's obedience - it's all here. There is simply no serious contention that this is not a reference to the Messiah, the redeemer of all Israel...and the world. The chapters leading up to chapter 53 have set the stage, and here it is.
It's interesting that the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day highly regarded the prophecy of Isaiah, but had a hand in fulfilling the cruel stipulations of chapter 53 while they were looking for the Messiah. This demonstrates to us that people see what they are conditioned to see. Paul said in I Corinthians 2:14 (see notes), "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." With their natural minds, they rejected the Messiah and fulfilled the very prophecy regarding the Messiah for whom they said they were waiting. Hey! This is fascinating stuff!
Notice the other New Testament references back to Isaiah 53: