Isaiah 51:1-16

‘’Take time to remember your spiritual roots; you will be encouraged in your faith.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.483.

The opening words of this chapter mirror Matthew 6:33: ‘’Listen to me, all you who are serious about right living and committed to seeking God.’’ The Message. We can only be encouraged when we think about the miracle God did with these two ordinary people, Abraham and Sarah. May He make more of you than you ever thought you could be! May He multiply your numbers and give miraculous church growth! In the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus took 5 and 2 and multiplied them. Here He took 1 and did His multiplication work. If your life seems small in your eyes; if your church seems tiny, you can take heart as you read (2). ‘’Think of it! One solitary man when I called him, but once I blessed him, he multiplied.’’ The Message. As we have seen before in Isaiah, these promises in (1-3) relate to the near future (deliverance from Babylon) and to the distant future (the Messianic age).

In the Bible ‘’righteousness’’ and ‘’salvation’’ are closely linked. We know from the New Testament that being saved and being made righteous are synonymous. God’s righteousness and salvation were initially manifested when He overthrew Babylon. He saved His people, acting in righteousness (i.e. doing justly). He set everything right. But these verses look ultimately to the Messianic age and the world-wide spread of the gospel. God’s ‘’righteousness’’ and ‘’salvation’’ will last forever (6b, 8b), unlike the present universe, which is temporary (Psalm 102: 25, 26; Mark 13:31; Hebrews 1:10, 11). You might also like to consider 1 John 2:17.

In (7, 8) God tells His faithful people not to ‘’fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.’’ (‘’Pay no attention to insults, and when mocked don’t let it get you down.’’ The Message.) Why? Because their enemies will be destroyed, but God’s ‘’righteousness’’ and ‘’salvation’’ will endure. ‘’…my salvation will last forever, my setting-things-right will never be obsolete.’’ (6b) The Message. Here are words always relevant to the church, for saved people, who seek to live right, are still the objects of derision. And the more vocal and visible we are in our witness, the more we’re going to be laughed at.

What God promises, we can ‘stand on’, and pray into fulfilment. That’s what Isaiah does in (9-11; compare verse 9 with 51:17 and 52:1). He recalls some of God’s great deeds in the past: the cutting to pieces of ‘’Rahab’’ (Egypt), and the drying up of the ‘’sea’’ (the Red Sea). Again we see the ‘second Exodus’ theme. ‘’Wake up, wake up, flex your muscles, GOD! Wake up as in the old days, in the long ago.’ The Message.

God answers prayer! He speaks again in (12-16) in response to Isaiah’s prayer in (9-11). The people of God in Isaiah’s day, lived in ‘’terror’’ of the ‘’oppressor’’ (13) – first, Assyria, then Babylon. God tells His people to stop worrying about their human enemies, and consider Him. ‘’Why should I ever anxious be, when such a God is mine?’’ ‘’What are you afraid of – or who? Some man or woman who’ll soon be dead? Some poor wretch destined for dust? You’ve forgotten me, GOD, who made you, who unfurled the skies, who founded the earth. And here you are, quaking like an aspen before the tantrums of a tyrant who thinks he can kick down the world. But what will come of the tantrums? The victims will be released before you know it. They’re not going to die. They’re not even going to go hungry.’’ The Message.

Prayer: I choose to fix my eyes on you Lord, not my fears.