Isaiah 49:1-13
Isa 49:1
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from
far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he
made mention of my name.
Now Isaiah turns to the prophecy of the coming Messiah
the Lord Jesus Christ and the greatest deliverance which will not be from a
political nation but will be deliverance from sin and its eternal consequences.
Now the LORD is sending out his word beyond the shores of Israel and into
the Gentile world.
But when the fulness of the time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Galatians
4:4) Then the Lord Jesus Christ
came through the womb of Mary in the fulness of time when he was sent forth into
the world by the Father. This is a
prophecy of the true gospel going out to the nations when the Lord Jesus Christ
goes back to Heaven and then sends the Holy Spirit.
Judah and Israel had disobeyed the LORD and now the gospel goes forth
into the world.
Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and
said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to
you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. (Acts 13:46)
Just like Paul and Barnabas who saw the rebellion in Israel in their
time, they now declared that they are going to turn to the Gentiles, that is,
they were now going to bring the gospel to them.
Isa 49:2
And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the
shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver
hath he hid me;
And out of his
mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he
shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. (Revelation 19:15)
The sharp sword is the word of God as it is proclaimed to the nations.
When Christ was born and Herod tried to have him killed, God had
protected him by hiding him and he would be protected from his enemies until he
has completed the task he came to earth to perform.
The polished shaft is that of an arrow which has been polished to the
point that it would go farther and deeper into its target.
This would be speaking of the Holy Spirit who would convict people of
their deepest sins. The quiver is
also speaking about the place of protection because that is where the arrows are
kept and is speaking about the continuing protection of Christ from his enemies.
From the time he was born, Satan tried to have him killed.
Isa 49:3
And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel,
in whom I will be glorified.
Here God states that the Lord Jesus Christ will be his
servant.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine
elect, in whom my soul
delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the
Gentiles. (Isaiah 42:1) That
does not mean he is any less God but that he is coming to earth to do the will
of the Father which will be successful by sealing the Elect with salvation.
Who hath also sealed us, and given
the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. (2 Corinthians 1:22)
The Israel in view is not physical Israel but spiritual Israel which is
the body of true believers where God the Father will be glorified in all his
Saints.
When he shall come to be glorified in his
saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among
you was believed) in that day. (2 Thessalonians 1:10)
Isa 49:4
Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my
strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with
the LORD, and my work with my God.
Then the Messiah speaks about the rejection by the nation
of Israel. They rejected the
miracles they saw and they rejected God by going after the false gods.
Here the Messiah is stating that he labored in vain and spent his
strength for nothing because the more God did for the physical nation of Israel,
it seems the more they rejected him.
This is speaking about the majority of Israelites who were unbelievers
while there were true believers among them.
For the true believers, the LORD did not labor in vain nor spent his
strength for nothing. The Lord
Jesus knows that his mission is of the Father and the works that he does are
ordained by the Father.
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge:
and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the
Father which hath sent me. (John 5:30)
But I have greater witness than that of John: for
the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do,
bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. (John 5:36)
And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not
alone, but I and the Father that sent me. (John 8:16)
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is
day: the night cometh, when no man can work. (John 9:4)
Isa 49:5
And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb
to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not
gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be
my strength.
Then the Lord states that the Father had formed in the
womb to come to earth and fulfill the salvation plan which God engineered to
save all the Elect. To bring Jacob
to him means the Elect within the nation of Israel at the time of Isaiah.
Then he speaks about Israel not yet gathered which means the gospel is
still going forth until the last one has become saved and then the great
gathering of all the Saints from all over the world will take place.
That in the dispensation of the
fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven, and which are on earth;
even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)
Until that time the Lord Jesus Christ will be preached among all the
nations and will be glorious in the eyes of the Father because of his success in
his mission and he will be glorious in the eyes of all the people that he is
saving. God will sustain all the
works that he has done and will strengthen all the people that have become saved
and will become saved through Christ.
This is a couched view of eternal security that if God sustains the
people, then how could anyone lose their salvation.
Isa 49:6
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be
my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of
Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be
my salvation unto the end of the earth.
It is a light or small thing that the Messiah who is the
servant of God to raise up the tribes of
Jacob which will become the remnant that will survive the coming captivity in
Babylon. Nothing is impossible for
the Messiah to perform. Through his
sacrifice upon Calvary, he will restore the preserved of Israel which are the
true believers within the nation of Israel.
Then that same salvation will be sent forth to all the Gentile nations in
the world. That prophecy has been
fulfilled as the internet has made it possible to get the gospel into every
country on earth even if it has not yet reached all the Elect within those
nations, nevertheless the gospel has gone totally worldwide.
Isa 49:7
Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and
his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a
servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship,
because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he
shall choose thee.
Then the LORD who is God the Father who is still called
the Redeemer of Israel which is the true body of believers within that nation
and his Holy One who is the Lord Jesus Christ who when he was here on earth was
despised and hated by both the Jews and the Gentiles.
Christ became the servant of rulers, that is, he was subject to their
laws and to their treatments which eventually ended up with his crucifixion.
Then in the course of time as Kings realize who he was, Christ will gain
a new image in the eyes of these kings and even the princes in nations will come
and worship. Then the term “kings”
could also be applied to the true believer who is called a king in Scripture.
And hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his Father; to him be
glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:6)
Once a person is saved they go from a sinner to a king.
The LORD is faithful in that he is going to perform everything which he
has previously declared and the Holy One, the Lord Jesus Christ, will also
perform everything he had come to do because he will be faithful.
But Christ as a son over his own
house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of
the hope firm unto the end. (Hebrews 3:6)
Even though Christ will be rejected by many people, yet that does not
stop God from choosing him to be the faithful Savior of the body of Christ.
Rejecting Christ does not affect his status as Redeemer.
Isa 49:8
Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard
thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee,
and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to
inherit the desolate heritages;
(For he saith, I
have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured
thee: behold, now is the
accepted time; behold, now is
the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:2)
God has heard them in an acceptable time because that acceptable time was
their time of visitation. That time of visitation was the time when many of them
became saved and God did not leave them alone as orphans, but he had assisted
them after their salvation. This means God had watched and cared for them. He
used the Apostle Paul to bring them discipline and further words of the Lord.
The urgency of the Gospel was such that God stated now was the day of salvation.
There is no such thing in God’s salvation plan as putting salvation off for the
future. Man does not have that ability to do this. God may allow a person to
hear the Gospel and not be saved till some future date but this is in the hands
of the Lord and not man. When the Gospel is being preached, God expects those
who are saved to pay attention and apply what is being preached. God used Paul
to bring the message of comfort to the Corinthians. It was the false teachers
who were trying to destabilize the Christians but God was stabilizing them by
sending Paul with the true Gospel. God does this today as the true Christian
brings the true Gospel from the Scriptures. It is the Scriptures that can
comfort a person and discipline them at the same time. When we hear the Gospel,
now is the time to act on it. If a person is the Elect of God and hears the
Gospel, it is their time of visitation and they will become saved.
Then God will preserve those whom he has saved and will
be in covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not like the covenant of Sinai but it will be the covenant of grace which
will establish the earth, that is, which will go forth throughout all the earth
saving all the Elect in every country it is preached.
Then not only in the most built up parts of the world, the LORD has his
Elect within smaller out of the way communities.
Ask of me, and I shall give
thee the heathen
for thine inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for
thy possession. (Psalm 2:8) Not
one of God’s Elect will ever be overlooked because of location.
Isa 49:9
That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them
that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and
their pastures shall be in all high places.
That made
the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof;
that opened not the house of
his prisoners? (Isaiah 14:17)
Then those who are still in the prisons of sin which are held by Satan, they
shall go forth from that prison which kept them in darkness all their lives.
Then when they are saved they will be able to come out from darkness into
the light and show themselves to the world as witnesses of Christ.
Then they shall be spiritually fed the truths of God according to his
word and not according to the lies they were taught while in the false
religions. The pastures normally
are in the valleys but here it is reversed that the best feeding places will be
high places and that is not speaking of the high places where false gods and
idols were worshipped but is speaking of the high places where there are
mountains and hills that are metaphors for kingdoms.
These people will be fed out of the Kingdom of God where there is only
truth that will guide them along their paths.
Isa 49:10
They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat
nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the
springs of water shall he guide them.
One of the great promises in Scripture to the true
believer is that once they become saved they will never hunger for spiritual
things nor will they ever thirst after righteousness because they will have
these things by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. (Revelation
7:16) The heat and the sun
represent the trials and tribulations which the true believers will face.
They will face these on earth but will come through them because the LORD
will guide them through and because God is the one who redeemed the true
believer, he will lead them in the way which they should go so they will not
have to adopt any worldly methods.
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Revelation 7:17)
The springs of water will be the water of the true gospel which will
guide them so they will never go back to following any false gospel and their
ways again.
Isa 49:11
And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways
shall be exalted.
Then the great promise that the true believer can claim
is that the mountains which represent hindrances to following the LORD will be
removed by the LORD so nothing hinders his children from following him and
making the true decisions.
Who
art thou, O great mountain?
before Zerubbabel thou shalt become
a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone
thereof with shoutings,
crying, Grace, grace unto it.
(Zechariah 4:7) The promise is
revealed in Zechariah 4:7 when God promises Zerubbabel that the building of the
temple will not be hindered by anyone or anything.
The great mountain of hindrance would become a plain as God promise
Zerubbabel. Then not only the
mountains will become plains but through those mountains will go the LORD’s
highway which is the highway of holiness.
And an highway shall be there, and
a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass
over it; but it shall be for
those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err
therein. (Isaiah 35:8)
That is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ and the true gospel on which
the true believer passes over on going through the mountains as they no longer
hide any of God’s people.
Isa 49:12
Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from
the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
Then the promise is that when the true gospel begins to
evangelize the world on Pentecost, it will go out all over the world.
The land of Sinim could be within the land of Canaan or the inhabitants
of Sin.
And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the
Sinite, (Genesis 10:17) It
could also be pointing to the nation of China but whatever it is pointing to it
is the promise that the gospel will go out throughout the entire world.
And they shall come from the east,
and from the west, and from the
north, and from the south, and
shall sit down in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:29)
Isa 49:13
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth
into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have
mercy upon his afflicted.