Isaiah 49-50 "The Servant as Redeemer"



In Isaiah 41-48 we were introduced to Israel, my servant.

We saw that the nation of Israel as a whole is the Servant of the Lord

who is to bring the judgment of God upon the nations,

resulting in the salvation of God's people and the destruction of the wicked.

The problem, though, is that the Servant is blind and deaf.

Israel does not hear what God is saying,

Jacob does not see what God is doing.

Therefore, God's peace cannot come to Israel or the nations.

Isaiah 41 began "hear O coastlands"-listen you nations to what God is doing.



Now once again, here in 49:1, God calls the coastlands to listen up.

There is a certain parallelism between chapters 44-48 and chapters 49-53.

If Cyrus is the agent of liberation from Babylon,

the Servant is the agent of the great redemption to which the restoration points.

While chapters 41-48 identify the Servant as Israel,

chapters 49-55 contrast the servant with Israel,

while still calling the Servant "Israel"!

This contrast is explained here in the opening section, chapters 49-50.

This section opens "Listen to me, O coastlands"-the same words as 41:1,

but whereas in chapter 41 it was God speaking,

this time it is the Servant speaking.

The Servant is now the prophetic herald calling the nations to hear what God is saying.

After introducing himself in verses 1-4

the Servant's message begins with three "thus says the Lord" (49:5, 7, 8)

and Zion's response: "but Zion said" (49:14-21)

followed with three more "thus says the Lord" (49:22, 25, 50:1),

concluding with the Servant's confession of and exhortation to faith (4-11)



In chapters 41-48, the Servant needed to be redeemed.

That is why the last two sermons were titled,

"the Redemption of the Servant"

and "the Redeemer of the Servant."

But at the end of chapter 48, we discover that the redemption of the servant from Babylon

has not solved the problem.

The redemption from Babylon has no more power to change the people of God

than the redemption from Egypt did.

And so Yahweh, the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says,

"Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea..."

But because the Servant is still blind and deaf,

"There is no peace for the wicked."



But now the Servant speaks.



The Servant's message takes the form of a dialogue.

There are three speakers in the dialogue: Yahweh, the Servant, and Zion.

There are also two listeners: the coastlands and Israel.

But the whole of chapters 49-50 are related to us by the Servant.

He is the speaker throughout these two chapters.

And we need to keep this straight as we move through the passage.

First the Servant relates his call.

Speaking to the coastlands, the Servant declares:

"The LORD called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name."

This is what God had said of Israel, his servant, in 44:2.

"He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away."

This is what God had said of Israel in 41:15,

that Israel would be his instrument in judging the nations.

And in case that was not clear enough,

He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."

The Servant here recapitulates all that has been said of him in Isaiah 41-48,

including the problems!

But I said, "I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God."

Servant Israel has failed to produce righteousness and does not have peace.

Yet still, Servant Israel's hope is in the LORD.



But now.

There they are again-those two most precious words in scripture.

(Yes, your translation may say "and now" but in Hebrew

the waw can mean either "and" or "but"--

and here the meaning plainly contrasts with the lament of verse 4)

But now the LORD says-but before saying what the LORD says,

the servant reminds us of his relationship to the LORD:

the LORD is the one who formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him;

and that Israel might be gathered to him-

for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD,

and my God has become my strength-

Wait!

The Servant is Israel-but he has been called and formed as the servant

To bring Jacob back!

That Israel might be gathered!

There is a contrast here between the Servant and Israel.

The Servant is Israel.

That has already been affirmed in verse 3.

But the Servant is also the one who restores Israel.

In other words, the Servant is the personification of Israel.

Israel is embodied in the Servant.

In the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

the people of God found expression in the one man.

The covenant promise existed in one man.

So this is not something that is unimaginable to an Israelite.

And even more, this is not the message of the "but now"!

You might think that the message of an individual who will take on the persona of Israel,

who will restore Israel to be the true Servant of the LORD

who brings judgment to the nations-

You might think that this was worthy of a "but now"!

But it's not.

The message of the But NOW is found in verse 6.

Raising up the tribes of Jacob,

restoring the preserved of Israel,

is too light a thing.

That is too small a thing for my Servant.

My Servant has a bigger task.



"I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."



This "but now" is the foundational message of the entire section of Isaiah 49-55.

The rest of the section is rooted in this "but now."

The Servant will redeem Jacob, but will also redeem the nations.



Yahweh has a second message in verse 7.

Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

and this is his message to "the servant of rulers."

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation.

This is the first intimation that the Servant must suffer.

But his message to his servant is that

"Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they who prostrate themselves;

because of the LORD who is faithful,

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

One day, every knee will bow to the Servant-every tongue will confess that he is Lord.



And Yahweh has a third message to his Servant in verses 8-12.

God declares that is the one who answers and helps his Servant.

(Think of Jesus calling upon the Father throughout the gospels)

I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people,

(echoing the language of 42:6).

The Servant is the one who will bring Israel back from Exile.

Wait a minute.

I thought that was Cyrus?!

God said in chapters 44-46 that Cyrus would restore the people from Exile.

But don't forget chapters 47-48.

The restoration from Exile in Babylon won't work.

The Servant is still blind and deaf!

They are back in the land, but they still do not understand God's purposes.

So when Isaiah says that the Servant will bring Israel back from Exile,

he is not talking about "Babylon"--

he is talking about the one who will bring Israel back

from their spiritual exile-their rebellion against God.

For Isaiah, Babylon is a picture of the true spiritual condition of Israel.

And while chapters 41-48 do refer to the restoration from historical Babylon,

chapters 49-55 refer to the restoration from the real Babylon-

the city of Man (which Isaiah spoke so forcefully about in chs 24-25).



These three messages to the Servant are concluded with the Servant's call in verse 12 (read)

This message of deliverance should cause the heavens and earth to shout for joy,

because God has comforted his people.

He has promised deliverance!



But Zion does not see.

Zion cannot hear.

So Zion said, "Yahweh has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me."



In response the LORD declares:

Can a woman forget her nursing child?

I know from personal experience that trying to get a nursing mother

away from her child for an evening is a challenge.

Getting her to forget the child?

Forget it.

But Yahweh says that it is far more likely for a nursing mother to forget her child,

than for him to forget Zion.

Zion is engraved on the palms of his hands,

he cannot forget her walls.

Zion is alone and barren.

Her children are scattered to the ends of the earth.

But the day is coming when Zion will be filled with inhabitants.

Zion will overflow because there will not be enough room to hold her children!



How shall this be?

God now speaks three messages to Zion, paralleling the three messages to the Servant.

First, thus says the Lord GOD,

The nations will bring your children home to you.

Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers.

The nations will bow down before you and serve you.

Again, this is not just about the Restoration from Babylon.

This is equally about the conversion of Constantine,

the conversion of the Germanic tribes in the middle ages,

and the conversion of a 900,000 member tribe a few decades ago.

It might seem impossible that the captives of a tyrant would be rescued,

but in the second message to Zion the LORD declares

"Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,

for I will contend with those who contend with you,

and I will save your children.

I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.

Then all flesh shall know that I am Yahweh your Savior,

and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."



The third message to Zion in 50:1-3 reminds her of the true situation.

Why did God divorce Jerusalem, the mother of his people?

Why did God sell his people, into slavery?

"Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,

and for your transgressions your mother was sent away."

But then God asks,

"Why, when I came, was there no man?

Why, when I called, was there no one to answer?"

If Israel is my Servant, the one who is to redeem the nations,

why did no one answer when I called?

why did no one spring to my side when I came?

These first two pairs of questions are not so comforting.

But the final two questions bring us to the point:

Is my hand shortened that it cannot redeem?

Or have I no power to deliver?

Remember who I am, O Zion.

When you are tempted to think that I have forgotten you,

remember who I am!

"Behold..."



We have heard God's three messages to the Servant.

We have heard Zion's complaint.

We have heard God's three messages to Zion.

Now the Servant speaks again,

confessing his faith and calling Israel to hear and fear the Lord.



The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught,

that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.



The Servant of the LORD will proclaim the Word of the Lord,

bringing life and sustenance to those who hear.

And why is the Servant able to speak such words?

Because "he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught."

The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.



Think of what Jesus says over and over in the gospel of John:

I speak only what I hear from my Father.

The Son does what he sees his Father doing.

Jesus is the Servant who sees what God is doing, who hears what God is saying.

In Jesus we have a Servant who is no longer blind and deaf!

And in Jesus we have a suffering Servant as well: (verse 6-9)

The Servant knows that God will vindicate him because God is his helper.

This is the Servant's confession of faith.

God has given me a tongue to speak.

He has given me ears to hear.

He helps me and will vindicate me.

But then the Servant turns to you and asks:

Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant?

Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD

and rely on his God.



In order to understand this,

remember that Isaiah is speaking to an Israel that is headed for Exile.



Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches!

Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled!

This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.



You are about to walk out into the darkness.

Where will you find your light?

Will you kindle your own torches?

Will you find your own path?

The Servant has confessed his faith and confidence in Yahweh.

The LORD is his helper.

Who is your helper?

If you fear the LORD and obey the voice of His Servant Jesus,

then you must rely on God.

Notice that the Servant does not say that you will then walk in the light.

No, he says that you will walk in darkness,

but that you can still trust the name of Yahweh even in the darkness.

Don't worry about how well you can see.

That's not the point!

Those who kindle their own fire can see quite nicely!

But that will not save them from torment.

Isaiah's whole point is that Israel the Servant is blind and deaf.

Israel does not see what God is doing

Israel does not hear what God is saying.

Israel's only hope is for a Servant who is not blind and deaf.

For a Servant whose ear is open and whose eye sees.

Your hope is not that you will become seeing and hearing.

Your hope is that Jesus sees and hears.

Because if Jesus sees and hears, then he can teach those who are weary.

He can open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf.

So don't go trying to light fires of your own.

Go to Jesus.

Who among you fears Yahweh and obeys the voice of his servant?

Trust in the name of Yahweh and rely on your God,

because he is the one who delivers you through Jesus Christ our Lord.