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More Isaiah commentaries
Isaiah 48:1-11
The Lord Corrects His People
Isaiah 48:12-22
It is Best to Obey The Lord
Isaiah 49:1-13
Bringing Light to The Gentiles
Isaiah 49:14-26
God Will Remember Zion
Isaiah 50:1-11
God’s Servant Must Suffer
Isaiah 51:1-11
Reassurance of Israel’s Future
Isaiah 51:12-23
Reassurance of God’s Forgiveness
Isaiah 52:1-15
Reassurance of Israel’s Future Restoration
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Reassurance of Israel’s Future
Isaiah 51:1–11
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
Jason Smith is a basketball player for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. He is a walk-on, which means he did not receive a scholarship. He played very little during his fours years on the team, but he stayed with it. He demonstrated real faithfulness. But more than that is … More
The faithful remnant may have felt alone because they were few. But God reminded them to look back (vv 1-3) to their ancestors, the source of their spiritual heritage–Abraham and Sarah and how much had come from their faithfulness. He was suggesting that if they as a faithful few would remain faithful, even more could come from them.
Next God tells them to look ahead (vv 4-6) and realize that justice will come to the world and they will be vindicated by the Lord. He makes it clear that there is a day coming when “the heavens shall vanish away” and “the earth shall wax old” (v. 6), a time when the heavens and the earth shall be no more. The inhabitants of the earth “shall die in like manner” which indicates the frailty of human life apart from God who is the source of all life. However, all who submit to Him through faith and trust in His grace shall experience His salvation, which shall last longer than this temporal earth.
God’s final admonition (vv 7-8) focuses on looking within, where we find either fear or faith. He illustrates how the moth and worm shall destroy the enemy, but God’s salvation will endure forever. Moths and worms do their work for the most part unnoticed but they do their work just the same. The prophet is referring to the fact that the seeds of destruction are already at work in the Babylonian Empire, and the leaders are unaware of what is happening. The prayer is that God in His power will rise again and save His people as He did in the exodus (vv. 9-11). When Israel escaped from Egypt the Egyptian army was drowned in the Red Sea while the Israelites crossed over on dry ground.
Application
My God is the same God who made a road in the depths of the sea. His methods may change, but His love and care do not.
Isaiah 51:1-11 (English Standard Version)
"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. "Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed. "Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. 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 to all generations." Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
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