Isaiah 49-53

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I am going to try to save all my words for chapter 53.  It will rock your world.

Isaiah 49- You know by now this is a split-screen prophecy (Current and Jesus)

Before I was born the Lord called me;
    from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.

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⁵ And now the Lord says—
    he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
    and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord
    and my God has been my strength—

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I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

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⁷ This is what the Lord says—
    the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
    to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up,
    princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

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¹³ Shout for joy, you heavens;
    rejoice, you earth;
    burst into song, you mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people
    and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

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The near-sighted prophecy can be seen within these scriptures too as he speaks to the ones in captivity that feel forgotten by God.  (I can relate at times).  They are in Babylon, alone.  Through the words of Isaiah God promises to restore them:

“Yes, captives will be taken from warriors,
    and plunder retrieved from the fierce;
I will contend with those who contend with you,
    and your children I will save.
²⁶ I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;
    they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine.
Then all mankind will know
    that I, the Lord, am your Savior,
    your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

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Isaiah 50- This is pretty cool- Has God divorced Himself from His people? (Has he today?) NO!  The Lord asked two more questions.

1. Why had they not responded to His calls for repentance and faith (which came through the prophets)? Had they done so, He implied, He would not have sold them into captivity.
2. Was His lack of deliverance when they called to Him for help the result of His inability to save them? No, He could reach them, and He was strong enough to save them.  He then describes His might through his control over nature.  Surely if he can control the waters, He has the power to save you.

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Isaiah 51- So picture the people in captivity, a small, tired, hungry, hopeless group.  God says, out of Abraham (old) and Sarah(barren) I can make a nation!!

look to Abraham, your father,
    and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
    and I blessed him and made him many.

What is there to fear?  If God is for you, who can he against you??  Or how about…There is nothing to fear but fear itself!

¹² “I, even I, am he who comforts you.
    Who are you that you fear mere mortals,
    human beings who are but grass,
¹³ that you forget the Lord your Maker,
    who stretches out the heavens
    and who lays the foundations of the earth,
that you live in constant terror every day
    because of the wrath of the oppressor,
    who is bent on destruction?