A translation and exposition by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, 24 May 2008
1. The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah has anointed me
to evangelize lowly ones.
He has sent me to bind up those who are broken of heart,
for the calling out of liberty to the captives,
and opening of the eyes for those which have been bound,
2. for the calling out of a year of acceptance for Jehovah
and a day of striking down belonging to our God,
to comfort all the mourners, 3. for comfort to the mourners of Zion,
to give to them
a tuxedo instead of dust,
oil of gladness instead of mourning,
a wrap of praise instead of a dim spirit;
and they will call them Oaks of the Righteousness, a planting of Jehovah
to beautify himself.
4. And they will build up old, dried-out places –
the first desolations they will raise up,
and they will repair dried-out cities desolated for generation and generation,
5. and foreigners will stand,
and they will shepherd your flock,
and sons of immigrants will be your plowmen and your vineyard-men.
6. But as for you, you will be called priests of Jehovah; “Ministers of Our God” it will be said of you;
You will eat wealth of nations,
and in their glory y’all will boast.
7. Instead of your shame and humiliation, you will be second-in-command,
and they will shout for joy over their share.
Therefore in their land they will take-over second-place – everlasting joy will belong to them.
8. Because I, Jehovah am a lover of justice, hating robbery with wrongdoing,
I will give their payback in truth,
and I will cut an everlasting covenant for them.
9. and their seed will be known within the nations and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will recognize them,
for they are a seed Jehovah has blessed!
10. I will be extremely glad in Jehovah; my soul will rejoice in my God,
for he has caused me to be clothed in garments of salvation,
with a cloak of righteousness He has covered me,
like the bridegroom executes the office of a priest beautifully
and like the bride puts on her instruments.
11. For like the earth brings forth her sprouts
and like a garden causes to sprout what is sown in her,
thus the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to sprout before all the nations.
s Good News/Bad News
s History of the marathon, “Rejoice, we conquer!”
Verses 1-3 are a commission to the servant of Jehovah. The two main verbs for the whole section are in v.1 – Jehovah has anointed me … and sent me. These two main verbs are supported by 8 infinitives which express the purpose, the mission for which the servant of the Lord is anointed and sent:
The Spirit Upon Isaiah and the prophets
s 1Pe 1:10-12 Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11 searching what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them. 12 To whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto you, did they minister these things, which now have been announced unto you through them that preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven; which things angel desire to look into.
s 2Pe 1:21 For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.
The spirit upon the Messiah
s Isa 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. (2) And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah. (3) And He shall delight in the fear of Jehovah. He shall judge, but not according to the sight of His eyes, He shall reprove, but not according to the hearing of His ears (4) But He shall judge the poor with righteousness, and He shall reprove with equity for the lowly of the earth; and He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall kill the wicked. (5) Righteousness shall be the belt of His waist, and faithfulness the belt of His loins. (6) The wolf shall lodge with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.
s Isa 42: 1. Look, my servant; I hold with Him, My chosen one, delight of my soul; I set my Spirit upon Him; He will cause justice to go out to the nations. 2. He will not yell or rise up or make Himself heard in the street, 3. a bruised reed He will not break, and a dim wick He will not quench; He will cause judgment to come out to truth. 4. He will not become dim or bruise until He will establish justice in the land, so for His law the coastlands wait. 5. Thus says the God Jehovah, who created the heavens, and who stretched them out, who spread out the earth and her produce, who gives breath to the people upon her and spirit to those who walk in her. 6. “I am Jehovah; I have called you in righteousness; I will strengthen your hand and I will keep you; I will give you for a covenant of a people, for a light of nations. 7. to open blind eyes, to cause the captive to go out from the dungeon, those sitting in darkness from the prison house.
s If you view this chapter as Jesus speaking, what you have here is a powerful follow-up to the message in the previous chapter. In chapter 60, God the Father promises transformation to bless His people and in chapter 61, God the Son witnesses to the fact that He will be the agent to bring about that transformation!
The Spirit is Upon believers
When the anointing oil was poured upon the head of Aaron in Psalm 133, it also flowed over his body. In the same way, the anointing of Christ also flows to us, the body of Christ.
Isa 44: 2. Thus says Jehovah, your Maker and your Shaper from the womb who will help you: “Do not fear, my servant Jacob, and Jeshurun whom I have chosen, 3. for I will pour water on the thirsty and cataracts upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring. 4. They will spring up in-between grass like the willows along the flowing waters. 5. This one will say, ‘I belong to Jehovah,’ and this one will call in the name of Jacob, and this one will write with his hand, ‘Belonging to Jehovah,’ and will name himself by the name ‘Israel.’”
59: 20. And a Redeemer will come for Zion and to those who turn from rebellion in Jacob declares Jehovah. 21. “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says Jehovah, “My Spirit which is upon you, and my words which I placed in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouth of your seed, or from the mouth of the seed of your seed,” says Jehovah, “from now until forever!”
1John 2:20 Yet you yourselves have an anointing from the Holy [One/Spirit], and you all know. 21 I do not write to you because you DON'T know the truth, but because you DO know it… the one who is confessing the Son also has the Father. 24 What you yourselves heard from the beginning, keep in you. If what you heard from the beginning stays in you, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise which He Himself declared to us: the life eternal... 27 And the anointing which you yourselves received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for someone to be teaching you. But as His anointing is teaching you concerning everything--and it is true; it is not a lie--just as it taught you, you remain in Him.
1 Peter 4:14 If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
“sent me”
s Isaiah: “Here I am; send me” 9.8
s Jesus: 19.20b When they cry to Jehovah because of oppressors, He will send to them a Savior and Defender, and He will deliver them. (cf. 42.19, 48.16)
s Zion: Isa 66:19-22 … I will send their survivors unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations... 21 And of them also will I take for priests and for Levites, saith Jehovah. 22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain.
1. evangelise/preach good news to the poor
s Isa 40:9 Go, get up on a high mountain, evangelist of Zion; Raise your voice with strength, evangelist of Jerusalem; Raise [it] - don’t be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, ‘Look, your God!
s Isa 52:7 How fitting are the feet of an announcer upon the mountains, causing peace to be heard, announcing goodness, causing salvation to be heard, saying to Zion, your God reigns! – (Rom 10:15 applies this to evangelists in the church)
s Isa 60:6 An abundance of camels will cover you - young camels of Midian and Ephah – all of them, from Sheba they will come. Gold and frankincense they will carry, and the praises of Jehovah they will announce.
poor/lowly (lit.)/humble (AJV) are the “poor in heart” (Mt. 5.3) “Woe is me; I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips” (6.5). understand their spiritual poverty and bankruptcy before God (F. Barker) brokenhearted over their sin (Yng.) mourn over sin (Mt. 5.4), captured by sin (“A man is free when he wants to do - and can do - what he ought to do.” – F. Barker) – although also applied to Israel’s captivity in 22.3
2. to bind up the brokenhearted
This binding up has to do with wrapping a bandage around a broken part so that it can heal and knit back together. As the Bible declares in Psalm 147, God will do this figuratively for those whose hearts are broken over their sin, who come humbly before Him and will worship Him 1 Praise Jehovah; For it is good to sing praises unto our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is comely. 2 Jehovah builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. 3 He heals the broken in heart, And binds up their wounds…. 6 Jehovah upholds the meek: He brings the wicked down to the ground.
3. to call out liberty/freedom/jubilee
Last place this word occurs in the Bible is Lev 25:8 …number … seven sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years. 9 Then broadcast the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement broadcast the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And make holy the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all her inhabitants: it shall be a jubilee for you; and you shall return every man unto his possession…
This is a picture of freedom from sin. Through our rebellion against God, we have lost the inheritance of heaven. But the good news of Jesus Christ is that God has provided a way for us to become children of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. God wanted to picture this in a dramatic way, so He set up Jubliee years in the law of Moses to point to this spiritual reality. (F. Barker)
“opening” has to do with eyes
2Ki 4:35 When Elishah prayed for the resurrection of the son of the couple in Shunem, “the lad sneezed seven times and the lad opened his eyes.”
2Ki 6:17 Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." And the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha…
Isa 35:4 Say to the hasty of heart, “Be strong, do not fear, see your God! Vengeance will come – God’s payback! He Himself will come, and he will save you. 5. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.. (cf 42:20)
Isa 42:6 “I am Jehovah; I have called you in righteousness; I will strengthen your hand and I will keep you; I will give you for a covenant of a people, for a light of nations. 7. to open blind eyes, to cause the captive to go out from the dungeon, those sitting in darkness from the prison house…
4. to call a year of favor, day of vengeance
s cf. Isa 63:4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed [cf. favor in 61.2] is come.
s 60:10 in my wrath, I struck you, but in my favor I had compassion on you.
s Note how much longer the favor lasts.
s Isa 34:8 For Jehovah has a day of vengeance – a year of paybacks for the cause of Zion. (Against Edom)
s Isa 35:4 Say to the hasty of heart, “Be strong, do not fear, see your God! Vengeance will come – God’s payback! He Himself will come, and he will save you.
s Isa 47:3 1. Get down and sit upon the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon… 3. your disgrace will be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will not interpose a man. (against Babylon)
s Isa 59: 16. And He saw that there was no man, and He was astonished that there was no intercessor, and His arm caused to save for Him, and His righteousness upheld Him,17. and He put on righteousness as the breastplate and a helmet of salvation on His head, and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and He wrapped Himself in zeal like the cloak. 18. As it is with paybacks, so He will bring closure: wrath to His adversaries – payback to His enemies; He will bring closure to the payback for the coastlands.
5. to Comfort mourners
Isa 12:1 And you will say in that day “I will thank You, Jehovah For You were angry with me Your anger turned away, and you showed compassion to me (v.2) “Look, God is my salvation I will trust and will not dread For Yah Jehovah is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation”
Isa 40:1 “Y’all Comfort! Comfort my people,” says your God. (2) “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her that her warfare has been fulfilled, that her iniquity has been paid for, that she has taken from the hand of Jehovah double in all her sins.”
Isa 51:2 Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who went into labor with you. For I called one of him and blessed him and multiplied him. 3. So Jehovah comforted Zion. He comforted all her dry places and set her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. (Having lots of descendents is supposed to be a comfort, according to the Bible!)
Isa 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, dwelling forever, and whose name is holy, “High and holy I dwell - and with the beaten one and the lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of lowly ones and to revive the heart of beaten ones. 16. For it will not be forever that I contend, and it will not be for always that I am angry, otherwise his spirit from before my face would be overwhelmed, though I myself made his life-breath. 17. With the iniquity of his profiteering I was angry, and I struck him to hide, and I was angry, but he went on turning back in the way of his heart. 18. I have seen his ways, yet I will heal him, and I will lead him, and I will complete comforting for him and for his mourners, (cf Isa 49.13, 52:9; 66:13)
This much can be done by words, but the mission goes farther to actually accomplish the things which will bring about this change prophecied. Only Jesus could do this. Gifts are given here – spiritual gifts – and every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights (James 1)
6. & 7. to place/grant/provide and to bestow
a. beauty/garland/tuxedo for ashes
General idea is a fine headdress/turban that makes you look handsome and dressed up. Analogous to a tuxedo in our day and age. This replaces “ashes/dust” which was a sign of grief and mourning – like wearing black.
This beautiful piece of attire that God gives us is “salvation” according to Psalm 149:4 For Jehovah takes pleasure in his people: He will beautify the meek with salvation.
Are you mourning? Do you figuratively have ashes on your head? If you have not placed your trust in Jesus, but you come to Him mourning over your own failures and looking for Him to make you right, you are doing the right thing and Jesus will give you beauty and gladness.
But if you are a Christian and you are going around with a black scowl on your face because of all that is wrong? Jesus’ message to you is, “get those ashes off your head, put on your glad rags, pick up your trumpet and announce your Liberator to the world!” (F. Barker)
b. Oil of gladness instead of mourning
s 2 Sam 14:2 shows that in Isaiah’s culture, anointing with oil was the opposite of mourning: And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought from there a wise woman and said to her, "Pretend to be a mourner and put on mourning garments. Do not anoint yourself with oil, but behave like a woman who has been mourning many days for the dead.
s Eccl. 9:8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.
s The New Testament quotes Psalm 45:6-7 as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ: Heb 1:8-9 But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."
s 51:3 So Jehovah comforted Zion... Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and a voice of song! 11. So the ransomed of Jehovah will turn and come to Zion with singing, everlasting gladness upon their head. They will obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing have fled!
s This gladness is equated with salvation: 12.3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation
c. garment of praise instead of a heavy spirit
Could be that the garment is praise or that the garment elicits praise. Young comments that “praise of God is the best way to overcome a faint spirit”
The heavy/fainting spirit is explained in Eze 21 as the result of the Babylonian oppression: 3 say to the land of Israel, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked… 6 … and with bitterness shalt thou sigh before their eyes. 7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt say, Because of the tidings, for it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water… 18 the sword of the king of Babylon shall come… 22 to Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting… 24 Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear … 26 thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Remove the mitre, and take off the crown...
But everywhere else besides Isaiah and Ezekiel, the word “faint/heavy” is used to describe either a skin disease (Lev 13) or failing eyesight due to age (I Sam 3:2, Gen. 27:1; Deu. 34:7; Job 17:7; Zec. 11:17). I believe this is a figure for the effects of sin.
Remember Isaiah 42:3. a bruised reed He will not break, and a dim wick He will not quench; He will cause judgment to come out to truth. This is Jesus, the Servant of God, gently dealing with us in our frailty and brokenness due to our sin, saving us from our sin through His own brokenness on the cross, and restoring us!
David describes this in Psalm 30:10-12 Hear, O Jehovah, and have mercy upon me: Jehovah, be thou my helper. 11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; Thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Jehovah my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
d. they will be called oaks of righteousness, planting of the Lord
The only other mention of oaks in Isaiah was in chapter 1 vs.29 where they were using these strong trees as a symbol for idolatry. God’s transformed people use the oak as a symbol of God’s character rather than as a symbol of foreign gods. We become “oaks of righteousness” - trees bear righteousness. As Frank Barker observes, this is a symbol of the people of God fleshing out the 10 commandments, embodying God’s righteousness in the world. This righteousness is not our own, as I pointed out last week, it is “planted” by God – our faith is a planting of the Lord (Eph 2:8-10 for by grace y’all have been saved through faith; and even that [faith] is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, that no person may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them.)
8. The result of our salvation is “praise” to God. The purpose of all this is “for beautification (see 60.21) to display God’s splendor that He may be glorified. “The chief end of man is to glorify God” (Westminster Shorter Catechism #1)
The outline of the commission of the servant of God in vs.2-3 is followed in vs. 4-9 by a proclamation of the good news that the servant of God will actually deliver: it consists of about fourteen 2nd and 3rd person verbs in the future tense (imperfect or vav consecutive perfect).
We spent a lot of time looking at the change that would come over God’s people in chapter 60, so I don’t want to take much time focusing on the change, but rather on the way that Isaiah, Jesus, and we the church can use this message to spread good news:
#1 - V.4 - What was once broken, desolate, dry, ruined, and uninhabitable will be rebuilt
a. Sin caused the brokenness and desolation in the first place
s Gen. 3 – Adam & Eve’s disobedience to God resulted in the curses of thorns and pain
s This refers not merely to the physical building of post-exilic Jerusalem “but to the building up of the church from the ravages sin has made through the ages.” (E.J. Young)
b. This brokenness is spiritually restored through the work of the Messiah
Isaiah uses these words of the Messiah: “raise up/establish the former devastations/desolations”
s 52:13 Look, my Servant will act prudently… 14. as when many were astonished/devastated over You, so disfigured from man was His appearance, and His form from the sons of man, 15. so He will sprinkle many nations.
s Just as the physical walls of Jerusalem were devastated by the sin of Israel, so the body of Christ Jesus had to be devastated in order to take the punishment for our sin. Through this, Jesus raised up/established a new covenant with a new people.
s 49:8. Thus says Jehovah, “In a time of favor I answered… and I will preserve you and give you for the covenant of a people, to raise up a land, to cause to possess desolated inheritances. 9. to say to the captives, ‘Go out;’…
c. The rebuilding is also done by the repentance and obedience of God’s people
Isaiah uses these words of God’s people
s This is done through turning away from sin and loving your neighbor, establishing a culture of righteousness: 58:9b If you will turn away from your midst the yokes, the thrusting of the finger and the speaking of iniquity, 10. and you will give out your soul for the hungry and satisfy the soul of the poor, 11. Jehovah will guide you continually and will satisfy your soul in scorched places and fortify your bones, and you will be like a watered garden… 12. And those from you will build the old dried-up places - you will raise up foundations of generation upon generation, And you will be called “Breach-repairer” “Restorer of streets to dwell in.”
s Prophets (servants of God) spoke of this happening, then redemption was accomplished through Jesus (the singular servant of God), and now we are also to broadcast this good news (because we are also servants of God) 44:21. Remember these, Jacob and Israel, for my servant is you: I formed you; you are a servant who belongs to me. You will not be forgotten of me, Israel. 22. I have obliterated like the fog your transgressions, and like a cloud your sins. Turn to me for I have redeemed you. 23. Sing out, heavens, for Jehovah has done it. Shout, depths of the earth; burst into song, mountains, forest, and every tree in it, for Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and in Israel He will glorify Himself! … 26. and He will complete the counsel of His messengers, confirming the word of His servant, saying to Jerusalem, “She will be inhabited,” and to cities of Judah, “They will be built,” and her dry places, I will cause them to stand firm.
s 54:1 Sing, barren one – she has not given birth; Break forth into song and cry aloud, she [who] has not been in labour, for the children of the desolate one are more than the children of one who has a husband, says Jehovah. 2. Enlarge the place of your tent… Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. 3. For right and left you will burst forth, and your seed will take over the nations! And they will cause desolate cities to be inhabited. Here is God working through His people to create more people for Himself and raise up desolate places, as God’s people live in these places and faithfully obey Him and pass on the good news to others.
#2 - V.5 - Strangers/aliens/foreigners/immigrants will stand and shepherd your flock, and be your vinedressers and plowmen/farmers
s Most commentators take it to mean “standing by” as in being ready to serve God’s people. I favor the possibility that Isaiah means that Gentiles will “remain standing” among God’s people and “stand to worship God” as He uses the verb in 66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall stand before me,” says Jehovah, “so shall your seed and your name stand. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me”
s As for “foreigners shepherding/tending/feeding/pasturing the flock” of God’s people, (Isaiah has already mentioned Cyrus the Mede doing this in 44:28, and) I believe this may be speaking figuratively of teaching and ruling in the church, just as Jesus told Peter (John 21:17) to “feed my sheep.” I believe this phrase can be taken figuratively in the New Testament age to mean that there will be Gentiles like myself who will be pastors in the church.
s 56:3 And let not the son of a foreigner - the one who has been joined to Jehovah, say, “Jehovah will surely cause me to be separated from upon His people!”…5. “Yet I will give to them in my house and in my walls a hand and the name better than sons and daughters! An everlasting name I will give to him, which will not be cut off. 6. And the sons of the foreigner, those joined upon Jehovah to minister to Him and to love the name of Jehovah, to belong to Him as servants, all who keep the Sabbath from violating it and who keep a strong grasp in my covenant,7. I will cause them to go to my holy mountain, and I will make them joyful in my house of prayer.
s E.J. Young, a commentator whom I greatly respect has this to say about verse 5: The strangers of v.5 are not a matter of Gentiles vs. Jews, but rather of “all who were once strangers to God’s promise… the farming jobs probably refer to all the work necessary to maintain the church of God on earth.”
#3 - V.6 - You will be priests
a. But as for you, you will be called priests of Jehovah - “Ministers of our God”
s Christians are not all agreed on whether or not this means that the Jews will take up a special place in God’s kingdom in the future and what that will look like. Study Romans 11 if you want to take that up yourself.
s Certainly, the priests of Isaiah’s day who were so drunk they couldn’t stand up (28:7) would be gotten rid of (24:2). Then presumably a new group of people who were not priests would be “called” priests.
s Isaiah has prophesied that Gentiles would be included in the renewal of the priesthood (56:6, 60:7-10, 66:21), and Peter also writes in the New Testament to Gentiles, calling them priests, “y’all also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ... y’all are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that y’all may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: who in time past were not a people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1Pe 2:5, 9-10)
s What do priests do? They help people meet with God. They “Instruct” people in God’s word, “reclaim the unbelieving world,” and “represent Christ” (Alexander) and they pray for people.
s Are these things you do? As a kingdom of priests, this is your calling: to pass on the good news about Jesus from God’s word and help reconcile people to God.
s ILLUSTRATION: my friend Tim – When he was assured that God’s good news awas for him, he began to delight in reconciling others to God!
b. also as priests, “you will eat the wealth of nations and boast in their glory”
s Who is the glory of the nations? It is Jesus. That is why Paul said in Gal 6:14 far be it from me to boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ... Jesus is the glory of the nations in whom we boast. It is good news to say, “My God is the best; let me tell you about Him!”
s In the last chapter (60:5-11) we saw the cavalcade of people, wealth, camels, gold, frankincense, sheep, and kings streaming in to Zion to pay tribute to God - this was the last time the phrase “wealth of nations” was used.
s Priests and ministers eat from the offerings made to God in exchange for a vocational service to God and His church. This is fulfilled in Jesus as we offer all we have to Him, and it is also fulfilled in believers.
s ILLUSTRATION: Last year I visited several of my neighbors with another pastor friend. We stopped at one woman’s house and talked with her a little bit about spiritual things and prayed with her. It seemed like such an insignificant gesture to share good news, and she never showed further interest in the Bible study we invited her to, but would you know it, when Christmas rolled around, she showed up on our doorstep with a turkey for our family! We ate the wealth of nations that Christmas. When we share good news, people will share with us out of gratitude.
s Franz Delitzsch, one of the greatest Christian Old Testament scholars of all time, who was from a German Jewish family in the mid 1800’s said that he wasn’t sure exactly what this was saying about the status of ethnic Jews, but “if the Gentile church should act according to the words of the apostle in Romans 15:27 and show her gratitude to the people whose spiritual debtor she is, by ministering to them in carnal things, all that the prophet has promised here would be amply fulfilled.”
s Are there ways we could be more of a blessing to Jewish Christians? Are there Jewish friends, neighbors, or co-workers who need to hear the good news you have? You can use these Isaiah studies and share Jesus with them right out of Isaiah!
#4 - V.7 part of the good news is that you will receive an honored status
s This is speaking to those who have experienced shame and dishonor/disgrace/humiliation
o
Isaiah has already used these words to describe the result of
worshipping idols and trusting in man 45:16. All of them have blanched and
have also been ashamed; crafters of shapes walked into humiliation
together. (cf 30:3-5, 42:17)
I have experienced a great deal of shame for not trusting God; it is good news
to me that I can be restored to honor through Jesus Christ’s forgiveness of my
sin (54:4).
s Isaiah has also told us that this would be the experience of Jesus (50:6. My back I gave to strikers, and my cheeks to razors. My face I did not hide from the humiliation and the spitting.) Jesus experienced the shame of my sin in order to remove my shame, and then He was highly honored above every name so that every knee will bow to Him (Phil. 2)
s Instead of shame there will be two/double. Double what?
o Most commentators interpret the word “double/second” to mean a double portion – “twice as much prosperity & joy as there had been sorrow & affliction” (Kimchi). Jesus makes a similar promise in Mat 19:29, although instead of “double” He promises 100-fold! “every one that has left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life.
o However, when I looked to see how the word is used throughout the rest of the Old Testament, it appeared to me to be describing the position of a person who is 2nd-in-command: Joseph to Pharoah (Gen. 41:43), Jonathan to David (I Sam. 23:17), Second-string priests under the chief priest (2 Ki. 23:4, 25:18, I Chr 16:5, Jer. 52:24), Elkhana - second-to- -king Ahaz of Judah (2 Chr. 28:7), Senuah - 2nd-in-command over the city of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day (Neh. 11:9), and Mordecai who was second-in-command over Persia under King Ahasuerus (Esther 10:3).
o This is a position of great honor. So what if they weren’t first-in-command? Say the board members of a company get a share of 5 million dollars, and you’re the Vice President of the company so you get a share of 10 million dollars, and the president of the company gets a share of 20 million dollars. Would you complain about that? You’re second in command you’ve got twice as much as anybody below you. I think that’s what this passage is saying. “They will shout for joy over their share/ inheritance/ portion!”
s There is a switch in the pronouns in v.7 from “your” to “their.” (“You get 2nd; They shout for joy”)
o Most people consider that Isaiah is speaking of the same group of people because he often changes his pronouns from one person to another.
o However, it is possible that Isaiah is speaking of two different groups of people – Jewish believers and Gentile believers (cf Abarbanel), in which case, the Jews fall back to second-string while the Gentiles rejoice in receiving a share of God’s grace and enjoy everlasting joy and begin sharing the same status as Jews in their position with God – Jesus is #1 and we’re #2. I think this fits well with what Paul says in Romans 11 about the Jews falling down a notch so that Gentiles could be grafted in to God’s family tree.
s This can be interpreted in terms of spiritual blessings: it is “everlasting joy” in heaven that we receive, we “sing for joy” in the grace which God has given to us! This is good news!
o 51:11 So the ransomed of Jehovah will turn and come to Zion with singing, everlasting joy upon their head. They will obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing have fled!
#5 - V.8 God will be faithful to pay them justly and keep an everlasting covenant with them
s The “because” refers to what follows later in v.8.
s i.e. Because God loves justice and hates robbery, you can be sure that He will pay fairly and not back out of His promises of rich blessings in His covenant.
s Translators go two ways, either rendering it “robbery in burnt offering” or “robbery with wrongdoing/iniquity” The reason for this is that the Hebrew words for “wrongdoing” and “burnt offering” can be spelled the same way. Although God did say he hated Israel’s hypocrisy in worship in 1:14, introducing the concept of people’s hypocrisy in worship by robbing God of His due seems to be introducing an idea tangential to the main force of the argument that God will pay fairly and keep His covenant because He loves justice, so I favor translating it “wrongdoing” and that also fits well with Leviticus 19:35 where God says “do not commit wrongdoing with justice.”
s God promises to give them lit. “in truth” what their work deserves – a recompense/reward for their labor. (I don’t think that the KJV does well in translating the word “give” as “direct.”) We’ve already seen what kind of works Isaiah’s people had done, for Isaiah has used this word in 31:2 to say that they have done “works of iniquity” and in 59:6 “works of violence,” so, in Isa. 65:7 God promises that, “your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, who have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills; therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom.” This is speaking of the punishment that would come in payment for sin. Those punishments were outlined in detail at the end of the Mosaic law – the penalties for breaking covenant with God.
s BUT Just like we see judgment and grace next to each other in Rom. 6:23 “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus,” so they are juxtaposed here “payback/ recompense” for their work AND the making of an “everlasting covenant” for them. Is that good news or what?
s This is the third time Isaiah has used this phrase “everlasting covenant:”
o The first time was in 24:5 and refers to the covenant with Moses “…they have passed over the Torah, changed statute, broken the eternal covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth…”
o The second time was in 55:3 and refers to the “the faithful lovingkindnesses of David”
o Now this third and final time that Isaiah uses the phrase “eternal covenant” is referring to a future NEW covenant which would be cut. Actually a continuation of the old eternal covenant with new features, including the death of Jesus on the cross (which made an end of animal sacrifices) and the universal gift of the Holy Spirit.
s A God who makes a new covenant to pay for our sins through the death of His son in order to give us everlasting blessings IS GOOD NEWS!
#6 – V.9. Finally, renown and blessing upon your children are promised as part of the good news
“For they are the blessed seed of Jehovah”
s Wait a minute; didn’t Isaiah say they were the “seed of evildoers” (1:4), “a seed of adulterers” and “offspring of liars” (57:3-4)? How do they become blessed? They are also the “seed of Abraham” (41:8) whom God blessed and promised blessing to His seed.
s But how can God bless evildoers? By justifying them first (45:25. In Jehovah all the seed of Israel will be righteous). How will they be made righteous? 53:6 All we like the flock have strayed, each has faced toward his own way. But Jehovah interposed in Him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all. 10 …His soul would place itself for a sin-offering, He will see seed” Those for whom Christ died become His seed, His offspring!
s What sort of “blessing” will God’s seed see? In addition to being “made righteous” and reconciled to God, they would receive the “Spirit” of God and the “word” of God says 59:21, and they will “inherit the Gentiles” (54:3), just as God promised Abraham that “all the families of the earth would be blessed” through his seed.
s Are you recognizable as the seed of the Lord? Paul reminded the Corinthians that they were “known and read by all” (2 Cor. 3:2)
o Does humble reliance on Jesus characterize you?
o Does eager obedience to His standard of what is right characterize you?
o Is there evidence that your life is directed and helped by the Holy Spirit?
o Does the word of God dwell richly in you?
o You will of course grow in all these things throughout your life, but if you have these family traits of the seed of Christ growing in you, you will be recognizable as His children!
s Not only are you blessed but also your children.
o Parents want their children to be famous and blessed: Paula’s parents told her she could become President of the United States, and they worked hard to see that she made it through college, even though they had not. They wanted her to be wealthy & famous. Likewise Paula wants her children to be famous and blessed. I recently overheard her talking to our sons’ debate opponents at a tournament. She said, “I want to see you all working together in congress when I become the mother of the President!” We have great dreams for our children.
o God delivers on this desire that parents have for their children to be famous and blessed. That’s why we baptize children when they are born to Christian parents – they are a seed Jehovah has blessed!
SUMMARY: You have a fabulous future and a message which is truly good news to anyone who will heed it: the end of brokenness and desolation, new sources of help and companionship, a job with eternal significance to be a minister of reconciliation of people to God, a new position of honor second only to Christ, the grace of God’s new covenant in the blood of Christ, fame and blessing for your children. What more could you ask for??
TRANSITION: So what is the proper response to all this good news? V.10 says the proper response is to rejoice in the Lord and exult in our God.
#1. Because He has clothed you with garments of salvation and righteousness
This sounds a lot like what some godly women said in the Bible:
s 1 Sam. 2:1 And Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Jehovah; My horn is exalted in Jehovah; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Your salvation.”
s Luke 1:46-47 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour...”
A) Can this be Isaiah speaking? Sure. He is receiving the promise of the garment of praise and the planting of the Lord from the commission in v. 3. He has truly good news to tell the people of Israel if they will only listen.
B) Can this be Jesus speaking?
1. The last time we saw somebody putting on a robe of righteousness in Isaiah was when Jesus did it in 59:17 in order to bring His righteousness to bear on this earth.
2. As Franz Delitzsch put it, this is Jesus’ outlook on the blessed future of the church, and he rejoices (Isa 62:5b as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.)
3. He is the bridegroom who acts as the great high priest for the church and died for us so that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Eph 5:27)
4. Jesus was the initial bearer of good news to mankind.
C) Can this be the church speaking? Certainly!
1. We who believe that Jesus died for us have been clothed with God’s salvation instead of with our webs of deception (59:6) and the “filthy rags” of our attempted good works (64:6).
2. You can see in the picture of the bride adorning herself the delight the church takes to wear Christ’s robe of salvation He has given us. (Yng.) This is a symbol of justification.
3. Husbands, try this on for size: Do you adorn yourself/fulfill the office of a priest toward your wife? Eph 5:26 says that Christ gave himself up so that he might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, and that this is an example for us. Do you give yourself up to make your wife more holy? Do you cleanse her mind by teaching her from God’s word? (As Voddie Bocham says, “If you can’t say Amen, say Ouch.” And I say Ouch to that one!)
4. Let us be ecstatically glad for our salvation and rejoice in our God because He has saved us! Hallelujah!
#2 The second reason to rejoice (in v.11) is Because we are confident that it will happen
God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up in the earth.
s As the sovereign “lord” He has the power to make it happen.
s As I’ve mentioned before, it is God’s purpose for world history to “make praise and righteousness sprout up” in every nation and family on earth, and He will achieve His purpose.
s This is a further motivation for us to be gospel-bearers; God will make our message successful.
s v.11 speaks of the process of world missions. Like farming, it takes hard work and time, and the results are beyond human control, but God will cause the seed of the good word which we proclaim in the field of the world to bear fruit.
s Just as we love to see the strawberries developing in the strawberry patch and the beans popping their sprouts above the surface of the soil, so God loves to see his purpose fulfilled as new sprouts of righteousness form in our lives and in the lives of new believers.
s Let us rejoice in this good news that we carry and let us joyfully proclaim it to the world! Let us run that marathon and say, “Rejoice, Jesus has conquered and brought good news for us!”
Nate Wilson’s website – Isaiah Sermon Expositions
Christ the Redeemer Church website - Sermons