The Book Of Isaiah. Day 184, A Messianic Prophecy, Part One

This next segment we are going to study is titled "The Servant Of The Lord" in the NIV Bible that we use. This prophecy is not about a servant in the usual manner, such as when a believer is referred to as a "servant" of God. Although this person does serve God, this service is not in the mere capacity of a frail and mortal human being but it is in the power of the One who is both wholly God and wholly man: the Messiah.

In the original Hebrew the word rendered here as "servant" can also mean a vassal king. In that context we also see the Messiah, for He is both a servant in His human nature and also the King of kings in His position as God the Son. 

Our current chapter is not the only one that describes the Messiah as the "Servant", for later on we will find Isaiah describing the crucifixion of the Servant centuries before it happened, centuries before the Roman Empire ruled over Judea, centuries before crucifixion as a method of execution was invented.

As we read this text we must read it in the knowledge that it is about the Lord Jesus Christ. With this in mind, I will be capitalizing the references to Him.

God the Father says of this Servant: "Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom I delight; I will put My spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations." (Isaiah 42:1) Who but the King of kings and Lord of lords could bring justice to the nations? There has never been a world leader yet who could do such a thing. There never will be a world leader who can unite all the nations together in peace---no one other than the Messiah. Verse 1 describes the supernatural power of this King.

The next portion of our text describes this King's total obedience to the Lord. It describes His gentle spirit, His desire to magnify God the Father above all, and the way He relates so lovingly to frail human beings. "He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness He will bring forth justice; He will not falter or be discouraged till He establishes justice on the earth. In His teaching the islands will put their hope." (Isaiah 42:2-4)

In His human form the Son of God humbled Himself before Almighty God. The Apostle Paul, when encouraging believers to humble themselves before God, told them to follow Christ's example: "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death---even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:6-9)

The references to the bruised reed and the smoldering wick are references to how gently and lovingly the Lord deals with mankind. Although He is so superior to us in every way, He identifies Himself with us. Because He lived on the earth in a human body, He understands our struggles and He comes up alongside us in our troubles. He strengthens us in our weaknesses. He doesn't upbraid us for our failures but enables us to do better, which is why the Lord says, "A bruised reed He will not break." We are bruised by this life on earth, aren't we? We are bruised by our carnal nature and by the troubles of this world and by the temptations that continually beset us. The Lord doesn't come along and see how bruised we are and chop us down to the ground. Instead He wants to gently tend our bruises until they are healed enough for us to stand to our feet again.

I'm reminded of the way all the corn stalks in my neighbor's garden were lying down on the ground after a recent storm that contained a lot of wind. The wind bruised and knocked over the corn stalks so that they were lying flat. But what you have to do when that happens is be gentle with the corn. You don't go grabbing the stalks and forcing them to stand up. You don't pound stakes into the ground and tie the corn up to them. That could cause the stalks to break which would bring about the death of the stalk. What's needed is gentleness and time, for stalks that are not broken will gradually stand up again, which is exactly what happened with all the corn stalks in my neighbor's garden. When the Lord finds us bruised by life, He doesn't grab us roughly and force us back to our feet, chastising us harshly and breaking our spirits. No, He begins ministering to us right where we are, even if where we are is flat on the ground. His intention is not to break us but to heal us so He can gradually raise us back to our feet stronger than we were before.

Likewise, the reference to the smoldering wick means He fans the flame in us that has almost gone out. This life on earth is hard and there are times when the troubles of the world will cause what was once a flaming fire in us to reduce down to a smoldering wick. The Lord doesn't come along and put out what's left. He doesn't conclude that we are of no use to Him or to anyone else. He doesn't want defeat for us; He wants victory for us! Therefore, He gently blows on the smoldering wick to bring the fire back to life. 

I don't know where you are right now in your spiritual journey. Perhaps you currently feel on fire for the Lord and that's a wonderful place to be. But perhaps you feel like a smoldering wick that's about to go out completely because you have been so battered and bruised by the troubles of this world. The Lord invites us to come to Him to be reinvigorated. He can renew us all the way down to the depths of our souls. I confess I desperately need some renewing right now. I need that smoldering wick fanned back into a flame. I need strengthening in my spirit and I need peace in my heart. Maybe you feel the same way. No one can do that for us except the One who says this: "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

Computer Issues Again And A Prayer Request

I'm sorry I've been having so many computer issues lately with my old laptop. I think I'm just going to have to get another one because this one is too low on memory and is having various problems that take so long for me to deal with in the mornings that I run out of time to do the Bible study before work. That's what's happened this morning. 

Please also remember me in your prayers. I've had three separate health issues over the past two months. They are not life-threatening issues but are beginning to take a toll on me physically and mentally. It seems like I just get one problem cleared up and another one appears. It's like my immune system is low although my checkup and bloodwork were fine. I've seen doctors a number of times since May. Thanks so much for your prayers!

I hope to be able to work on the Bible study after work today when I'll have more time to deal with the computer problem and will probably check some reviews about which one I might want to purchase. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 183, The Helper Of Israel, Part Six

The Lord has been telling Isaiah's people that He is their helper. They are not to look to idols or to their own strength to help them against their enemies. He promises to be their strength.

In addition, He promises to send them help from a human source. "I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes---one from the rising sun who calls on My name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay. (Isaiah 41:25) The Medo-Persian Empire will arise and conquer the lands north of Babylon before conquering Babylon itself and setting the captive people free. This is why the Lord says "from the north". But He also says "from the rising sun" because Cyrus the Great of Persia was born east of Babylon. Cyrus will be the one who conquers Babylon and tells the people taken from Jerusalem and Judah that they can go home.

The Lord says that Cyrus "calls on My name" and although Cyrus' religion was likely Zoroastrianism, he did believe that the God of Israel was real. As we move on through the Bible we will find him giving honor to the name of God and displaying a belief that God told him to liberate the captive people stolen from Jerusalem and Judah.

These things are going to unfold just as the Lord said they would. Therefore, as the people begin to see these predictions coming to pass, they should be encouraged to place all of their faith in God. No idol has ever told them the future. No soothsayer or false prophet has ever predicted any event with complete accuracy, especially not events that don't occur until decades or centuries later. In this next segment the Lord reminds the people to put their trust in the only One who can tell them things to come.

"Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know, or beforehand, so we could say, 'He was right?' No one told of this, no one foretold it, no one heard any words from you. I was the first to tell Zion, 'Look, here they are!' I gave to Jerusalem the good news." (Isaiah 41:26-27)

False prophets are going to arise and tell the people what they want to hear. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets of their era are going to tell the people the truth: that the Lord will allow the nation to fall if they do not utterly reject idolatry. But false prophets will speak soothing words, promising that the Lord would never allow the city of His temple to fall. Thankfully, there were men like the prophets of the Bible who faithfully relayed the message of God (often to their own peril) but as the nation progresses toward its downfall there will be far more people scoffing at the words of truth and far more false prophets promising peace and prosperity. There will be people depending on idols and on soothsayers to tell them what to do. Thinking ahead to this, the Lord says: "I look but there is no one---no one among the gods to give counsel, no one to give answer when I ask them. See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion." (Isaiah 41:28-29)

The one thing we can absolutely count on in this crazy world is the word of God. We are told a lot of misleading things in this world. Sometimes people deliberately tell us falsehoods; other times they mean well but are just mistaken and are being led by human reasoning and human feelings instead of by the word of God. Sometimes we unintentionally tell ourselves lies when we go by how we feel or by how things look rather than by what the Lord promised. This is why it's so important to study the word of God. It is the foundation---the unmovable foundation---we must stand on.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 182, The Helper Of Israel, Part Five

Today's text begins with the Lord putting the idols on trial. He invites them to bring their evidence that they are gods. They cannot.

"'Present your case,' says the Lord. 'Set forth your arguments,' say's Jacob's king. 'Tell us, you idols, what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods.'" (Isaiah 41:21-23a) No idol (or the deity it represents) can tell us the things that happened in ages past; only God can because He was there. No idol can predict the things to come; only God can because He knows the future. 

In the Bible we find many prophecies and a number of them have already been fulfilled. They came about just as the Lord said they would. It doesn't matter how far ahead He gave the prophecies, whether the event was predicted to come within days or within hundreds of years or within thousands of years, for there is no point so far in the future that God cannot see it. These things have unfolded exactly as He said they would. This is proof that He is God. This is proof that He is God alone; no idol ever predicted anything. Indeed, no idol has ever done anything.

The Lord continues His speech to the mute and useless idols of this world. "Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; whoever chooses you is detestable." (Isaiah 41:23b-24) If we were to paraphrase the Lord's taunting words to useless idols, it might go something like this: "Don't just stand there! Do something! Amaze us with signs and wonders. Shake the ground underneath our feet. Display amazing sights in the heavens above. If you really are anything, prove it!"

Of course all the idols remain standing exactly where they are, doing and saying nothing. In contrast, let us consider the mighty works of our God! He spoke the word and created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. He holds all of creation together. He works on behalf of those who love Him. He knows the future and can guide our decisions accordingly so we don't get off track. He knows our weaknesses but loves us anyway, choosing to provide a way of redemption for us. He did not withhold anything good from us. But idols---what have they ever done for anyone?

Idols in modern times are usually not graven images. If someone brought an idol into my house and set it up on a pedestal and ordered me to bow down and worship it, I would be horrified. I would resist. Everything in me would recoil from such an act. That's why the enemy of our souls has chosen to dress idolatry in different clothing than it wore in ancient times. Today's idols are things like money, status, popularity, ambition, possessions, relationships, substances, habits, and so on. I daresay we have all knelt at some type of altar at some point in our lives, perhaps not even realizing it. But can any of these things save our souls? Can any of these things provide us with a lasting source of peace? Can any of these things work miracles in our circumstances? Can any of these things change the hearts and lives of those around us? I'm not saying it's a sin to make a good living or to enjoy relationships with our loved ones or to have a nice house. But we have to keep in mind that those things are only the icing on the cake. And if we were to lose those things today, were they all we had? Or do we have the Lord and is He the bedrock of our lives?

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 181, The Helper Of Israel, Part Four

We closed our last study session with the Lord telling Isaiah's people, "Do not fear". He continues with His promise to help them.

"'Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I Myself will help you,' declares the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 'See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.'" (Isaiah 41:14-16) 

The Lord does not call Israel a "worm" in a derogatory way. Instead He is speaking of the power with which He will enable them to conquer their enemies. A worm's body is soft but there are many types of worms that can destroy crops and wood with their mouths. The Lord has enabled the lowly worm to cut down forests and in this same way He will enable His people to subdue enemies.

The Lord will look after His people, even the lowliest of them. The world often overlooks the poor and needy but the Lord never does. "The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them." (Isaiah 41:17)

The Lord is able to turn wastelands into fruitful fields and forests. He can turn deserts into springs. "I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it." (Isaiah 41:18-20) 

Such miracles as those outlined above can be performed only by God. The people will see this and believe in and glorify Him.

Just as the Lord is able to turn barren wastelands into lands of plenty, He is able to turn the barren places of our lives into places of blessing. We may be going through tough times but our God is able to turn our circumstances around. Our God is able to give us peace in the midst of the storm while we are waiting for things to change. Our God is able to comfort us like no one else can.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 180, The Helper Of Israel, Part Three

As we concluded yesterday's study we found the Lord cautioning the people of Isaiah's nation not to seek help in the places where the pagan nations seek help. They are to seek help from Him. They are to remain faithful to Him, having nothing to do with idols. In time He will defeat their every enemy---including sin, death, and Satan himself.

"All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all." (Isaiah 41:11-12) The Lord has already allowed many nations and regimes, which were the enemies of the Jewish people, to fall. He will continue to keep the promise He made to Abraham that anyone who curses his descendants will be cursed and that anyone who blesses his descendants will be blessed. (Genesis 12:3) 

This does not mean that everything the descendants of Abraham have done has been good. On the pages of the Bible we find many of them falling into the same snares of sin that confront us today. On the pages of the Bible we even find a number of them falling into idolatry and bowing down to idols. So the Lord doesn't mean He is protecting them based on their own righteousness. But what He does means is that He is merciful and is faithful to His word and what it does mean is that there will always be people from among Abraham's descendants who remain faithful to the Lord and are blessed by Him in return.

The Lord has made many beautiful promises to the descendants of Abraham and to the Gentiles who accept the Lord as their God. Though we fail to lead perfect lives, this doesn't negate the mercy of God. This doesn't void His promise that if we place our faith in Him we will be redeemed from our sins. We make mistakes but, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) Our salvation is not by works but by faith. Our salvation depends on the Lord's ability to purify us, not on our ability to purify ourselves.

How will the descendants of Abraham be delivered from their enemies? How will anyone on the earth be delivered from their sins? By the power of the Lord, who says this: "For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 'Do not fear; I will help you.'" (Isaiah 41:13)

Thanks be to our God who loves us too much to leave us without any remedy for sin! Thanks be to our God who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves! I am so glad that my salvation doesn't depend on my ability to perfectly keep the laws of a holy God, for I cannot do it. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 179, The Helper Of Israel, Part Two

In the first portion of Chapter 41 the Lord called upon all the nations to witness the fact that He alone predicts things that come to pass exactly as He says they will. Way back in generations past He foretold many things that had already come true by Isaiah's day, yet we find a lot of the nations not taking this knowledge to heart in today's text.

Seeing the mighty works of the Lord causes a lot of the citizens of the world to fall into fear but in our passage today it's not the holy and reverent fear that leads to repentance. It's a worldly fear that causes them to double down on looking in the wrong direction for help.

"The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward; they help each other and say to their companions, 'Be strong!' The metalworker encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer spurs on the one who strikes the anvil. One says of the welding, 'It is good.' The other nails down the idol so it will not topple." (Isaiah 41:5-7)

Earlier in our study this week we found the Lord reminding mankind that He is the source of true and enduring strength. But here we find the people of the pagan nations encouraging each other to find strength in the inner man. And what do they do when they summon a little strength by sheer effort of will? They make more idols! They call upon false gods instead of calling upon the Lord their Creator.

The Lord cautions the people of Isaiah's nation not to do what the heathens do. They are not to fall into worldly fear and fall into the trap of idolatry. They are to remember who they are. "But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham My friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are My servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you." (Isaiah 41:8-9)

These people are to remember who their God is and who they are in Him. This will anchor them in the truth. This will keep them from falling into the sins of the nations. This will keep them connected to the source of their protection and strength. "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10)

I daresay that verse 10 is the "life verse" of a lot of believers. It is a beautiful and comforting verse for the child of God---not only for the descendants of Abraham who believe in Him but for the Gentiles who believe in Him. This verse is for everyone who has made Him their God: "for I am your God". Because He is always with us every second of every day, we can rely on Him like a small child relies on his father. When I was a small child I was never afraid whenever one of my parents was with me. In that same way we can trust in and rely on and rest in our heavenly Father. He is with us, so we need not fear. He has everything under control, so we need not be dismayed. He will provide the strength we need. He will uphold us with His powerful and righteous and loving hand, just as an earthly father holds the hand of his child to keep the child from stumbling.