Isaiah 49 Reader-Friendly Bible: Purple Letter Edition

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◄ Isaiah 49 ►

Reader-Friendly Bible: Purple Letter Edition

Chapter 49 of Isaiah can be comprehensively challenging; but is rich in insight and well worth the effort to grasp its truths. It would be easy to assume that the “servant” referred to in this chapter is either Cyrus (referred to as God’s servant in chapters 41, 45, 48), or Israel (also referred to as His servant elsewhere). Both assumptions would be wrong. The “servant” referred to in verse 3 is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as in Chapter 42. Here, God says “You are My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” One could be misled by “O Israel” to think the servant being addressed by God is Israel – but it is our Lord, Jesus Christ. He is here called Israel because in Christ, alone, all of God’s expectations for Israel (and beyond) were realized. As Dr. Joseph A. Alexander says in “The Prophecies of Isaiah”, “there are clear indications that the words are the words of the Messiah. These two most plausible interpretations may be reconciled and blended, by assuming that in this case as in Isa_42:1, the ideal speaker is the Messiah considered as the head of His people and as forming with them (into) one complex person (entity). If, as we have seen cause to believe, the grand theme of this whole book is the Church, in its relation to its Head and to the World, the anterior presumption is no longer against but decidedly in favor of the reference of this verse to the Head and the Body as one person, a reference confirmed, as we shall see, by clear New Testament authority.” Verse 4 offers unusual insight into our Savior’s heart as He candidly confides how much He is grieved over how few of God’s people (the nation Israel) will respond at His first coming. He knew long before His earthly ministry began, how He would be received – and rejected. While despised and rejected by the majority – and especially the priesthood - those charged with leading the Jewish flock –yet He did establish His church, especially among Gentiles. At His second coming, He will not be despised and abused; but will be honored and worshipped for the righteous King that He is. This passage not only reveals Christ’s dismay at how few among the Jews will respond, but it also reveals that this was declared and written some 600 years before His ministry would begin by His birth in Bethlehem. Note what He says in verse 5: “Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and My God shall be My strength”, and in verse 6, where God says of His ministry “It is a light thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give You for a light to the nations, that You may be My salvation unto the end of the earth.”

1“Listen to Me (Christ), O coasts (islands); and hear, you distant nations: before I was born, the LORD called Me; from my mother’s womb; He has spoken My name. 2And He has made the words of My mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me, and made Me a polished shaft; and has concealed Me in His quiver, 3And He said to Me, “You (Christ) are My servant, O Israel, by whom I will be glorified.” 4But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing, and in vain; and yet surely what is due to me is in the LORD’s hands and my reward is with my God.” 5And now, the LORD Who formed me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, says “Though Israel is not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD (God, the Father), and My God shall be My strength.” 6And He (God, the Father) said, “It is too small a thing for You to be My Servant only to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserve those of Israel; I will also make You a light to the Gentiles, that You may be My salvation that reaches unto the very ends of the earth.”

7Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him Whom man despises, to Him Whom the nation (Israel) abhors, to a Servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise before You, princes shall also worship, because of the LORD Who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel has chosen You. 8Thus says the LORD: ‘In the time of My choosing, I will answer You, and in a day of salvation I will help You; and I will keep and preserve You and make You to be a covenant for the people, to restore the earth, to restore the desolate heritages, 9To say to the captives, “Come out” and to those in darkness, “Be free, and come into the light.”’ They shall be My sheep and feed beside the roads, and find pastures in all high places. 10They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun beat down upon them; for He Who has mercy and compassion on them shall lead them by the springs of refreshing water. 11And I will make all My mountains into roads, and My highways shall be raised. 12Behold, these shall come from afar; some from the north, and some from the west; and some from the land of Sinim (Aswan).” 13Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break out with singing, O mountains; for the LORD comforts His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted ones.

14But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken us, and our LORD has forgotten us.” 15“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the child she has born? Though they may forget, yet will I not forget you. 16Behold, I have written your name on the palms of My hands; the image of your ruined walls is forever before Me. 17Soon your children shall return; those who sought to destroy you shall go away. 18Lift up your eyes and look around, and behold; all your children gather around you. As I live, says the LORD, they will be like precious jewels or bridal ornaments for you to cherish. 19Soon even your most desolate places, and abandoned land shall be crowded with inhabitants, and they who devoured you shall be far away. 20The children whom you shall have shall say to you, ‘The place is too small for me; give me more space to live in.’ 21Then shall you say in your heart, ‘Who has given me all these children, seeing I have lost and been bereaved of my children, captive, and exiled to desolate places? Behold, I was left alone; And where have these come from? ’”

22Thus says the LORD God: “Behold, I will beckon to the nations, and set up My banner to the peoples; and they shall carry your sons and your daughters in their arms, and upon their shoulders. 23And kings shall be your foster fathers, and queens their nursing mothers; they shall bow down to you with their face to the ground, and lick the dust of your feet, and you shall know that I am the LORD; for they who wait for Me shall not be disappointed.”

24Who can snatch plunder from mighty warriors, or demand that tyrants release their captives? 25But this is what the LORD says: “Even the captives of the mighty warriors shall be taken away, and the plunder of tyrants shall be retrieved; for I will contend with him that contends with you, and I will save your children. 26And I will feed your oppressors their own flesh; and they shall be drunk their own blood, as with wine; and all mankind shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”