WWUTT 2089 The Light of the Nations (Isaiah 49:1-26)

The Father has said to the Son, it is too small a thing for you to just raise up the tribes of Jacob or cause the preserved ones of Israel to return. I will also give you as a light to the nations. When we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky.

The Messiah as the Servant and Light to the Nations

In our study of the book of Isaiah, we are up to chapter 49 this week. A lot of messianic revelation in this particular chapter. God sending a Messiah who will deliver his people. And I'll explain further how this particular chapter breaks down.

But first, let's begin by reading verses one through seven out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Listen to me, O coastlands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. Yahweh called me from the womb, from the body of my mother.

He made my name to be remembered. He has set my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he has concealed me. And he has also set me as a select arrow. He has hidden me in his quiver. He said to me, you are my servant Israel in whom I will show forth my beautiful glory.

But I said, I have toiled in vain. I have spent my night for nothing in vanity. Yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh and my reward with my God. So now says Yahweh who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to return Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him.

For I am glorified in the sight of Yahweh and my God is my strength. He says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to cause the preserved ones of Israel to return.

I will also give you as a light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Thus says Yahweh, the redeemer of Israel and its holy one to the despised one, to the one abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers, kings will see and arise.

Princes also will bow down because of Yahweh who is faithful, the holy one of Israel who has chosen you. Now, a lot of what we read there was actually pertaining to Christ. And what I appreciate about the legacy standard version is that those pronouns are capitalized.

So you know that it's speaking not about Isaiah when it says that Yahweh called me from the womb. That's not in reference to Isaiah. It's not even in reference to Israel. It is in reference to Christ.

This is all messianic prophecy that we read here in chapter 49. God is going to deliver Israel from the hands of their captors. But the reason he does so is so that he sends his son through the line of Judah who is gonna come about, you know, hundreds of years after what it is that we are reading here.

This particular chapter breaks down like this. Chapter 49, verses one through seven, we're reading about the author of the redemption and the authority of his work. Then in verses eight through 12, we read about how God is the redeemer and the holy one of Israel.

In chapter, well, it's chapter 49, verses 13 to 17, reading about the universal joy that will be because God will have mercy upon the afflicted. And then in verses 18 to 23, Zion is addressed as the one who is afflicted, bereaved of her children.

But then lastly, in verses 24 to 26, the promise that God will deliver the captives by the justice of God. And even through this Messiah who is going to come, ultimate deliverance that will be through him.

Christ the Author of Redemption and True Israel

So let's come back to chapter 49. The heading on this particular chapter as read from the legacy standard is, I will give you as a light of the nations. And the you being talked about here is Christ. So in verse one, once again, listen to me, O coastlands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar.

Yahweh called me from the womb, from the body of my mother. He made my name to be remembered. Now, once again, that's not in reference to Isaiah, and it's not even in reference to Israel. The me, the my, that is being talked about here in this verse, this is Jesus.

It's all messianically pointing to Jesus. Christ the son even speaking here before he is born. Well, before he is born in the flesh, he's not yet become incarnate. But of course, the son of God is with the father eternally.

So the son is the one who is speaking here. Isaiah is the prophet. He is writing it down, but it is the son who is speaking in reference to himself. Verse two, he has set my mouth like a sharp sword. And we see throughout the New Testament that that reference to Christ having a mouth like a sharp sword, it's in reference to Jesus in Revelation chapter one, when John sees the vision of the glorified Christ standing there coming from his mouth as a sharp sword.

Later on in chapter 19, when Jesus comes riding in on the white horse, he's got a sharp sword coming from his mouth. So he has set my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand, he has concealed me.

And he has also set me as a select arrow. He has hidden me in his quiver. So the words that Jesus speaks will bring conviction. They will pierce the heart. They will wound the conscience, but those wounds will be healed.

As we go on to read verse three, he said to me, you are my servant Israel in whom I will show forth my beautiful glory. But I said, I have toiled in vain. I have spent my night for nothing and vanity.

Yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh and my reward with my God. Now that can be a confusing statement there in verse four. I've toiled in vain. I've spent my might for nothing and vanity, but that is just all to say that everything that Christ does is ultimately to the glory of the father.

We read that in Philippians 2 .11. So ultimately does all this to the glory of the father. Nothing that Jesus does has been in vain. His might will not be for nothing or vanity for the justice due to me is with Yahweh.

It is the father who has sent him and he has done these things to the glory of the father so that nothing that he does will be in vain. His reward is with God and the reward is the saints as talked about in Titus chapter two, he has purified for himself a people for his own possession.

So the father has given us to the son, the reward that has come from God. So going on in verse five, so now says Yahweh who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to return Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him.

For I am glorified in the sight of Yahweh and my God is my strength. Now, let me jump back a little bit. Verse three said, he said to me, you are my servant Israel. And then here in verse five, I returned Jacob back to him so that Israel might be gathered to him.

Jesus is faithful Israel. He is true Israel. Israel was not faithful. They fell away. They disobeyed God. God even handed a certificate of divorce to Israel. So they were unfaithful to the Lord. Christ is faithful in all things.

Those areas where Israel failed, when Christ comes, he will fulfill. And so Jesus is referred to as the true servant, as true Israel, so that Israel might be gathered to him. Therefore, everyone who is in Christ is Israel, Jew or Gentile.

And we're gonna see that as we go on where it is talked about how Christ is gonna be a light to the nation. So this is not just exclusively in reference to Jacob and Israel being gathered back to God, but everybody Jew or Gentile who is in Christ is therefore gathered Israel.

So we go on in verse six. He says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to cause the preserved ones of Israel to return. I will also give you as a light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

So here, Christ faithful Israel, the father says, it's too small a thing that you just raise up the tribes of Jacob and the preserved ones of Israel. So I'm gonna make you a light to the nations. My salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.

And again, back to Titus 2 .14. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for himself a people for his own possession. And that people is made up of Jew and Gentile, people from around the world.

So we go on in verse seven. Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, to the despised one, that's in reference to Christ, because he was the one who was despised, to the one abhorred by the nation, again, in reference to Jesus, to the servant of rulers, kings will see and arise.

Princes will also bow down because he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Because of Yahweh who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you or anointed you. It's another way to understand that.

So that's that first section. We see the author of redemption himself. Remember that in Hebrews 12 .2, Jesus is described as the author and the perfecter of our faith. In the next section, verses eight through 12, we see the father sends the son to be the Redeemer of Israel.

The Redeemer Given as a Covenant for the People

So let me pick up here in verse eight. Thus says Yahweh, in an acceptable time, I have answered you and in a day of salvation, I have helped you and I will guard you and give you for a covenant of the people to establish the land, to make them inherit the desolate inheritance.

And Paul actually references exactly this passage in 2 Corinthians 6 .2. Let me begin reading at the start of that chapter. So 2 Corinthians 6, working together with him, we also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

For he says, at the acceptable time, I listened to you and on the day of salvation, I helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation, giving no cause for offense in anything so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything committing ourselves as ministers of God in much perseverance and afflictions in distresses and in hardship.

So there in 2 Corinthians 6 .2, Paul references this passage back to Isaiah 49 in an acceptable time, I have answered you, in a day of salvation, I have helped you. That is in reference to Christ and he is the one who brings us salvation.

I will guard you and give you for a covenant of the people. Continuing on in verse nine, saying to those who are bound, go forth to those who are in darkness, show yourselves. Along the roads they will feed and their pasture will be on all bare heights.

They will not hunger or thirst, nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down. For he who has compassion on them will guide them and will lead them to springs of water. So we have a description here of those who have been in a dry and weary land and even those who have been in captivity.

They are going to be set free by this redeemer whom God will send. We'll see that come back up again at the end of the chapter. Let's go on to verse 11. I will set all my mountains as a road and my highways will be raised up.

All this to say that the salvation that we receive in Christ, the difficult places will be made level. It was impossible for us to make our way to God in our sinful estate. But now that God has sent Christ and we've been clothed in his righteousness, then those pathways that we could not climb have now been made level.

Behold, these will come from afar. It goes on to say in verse 12, and behold, these will come from the North and from the West and these from the land of Sinim. Shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth.

Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains, for Yahweh has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. And so then coming up in the next section, we read about the joy that will be given to those who have been afflicted, the joy that we receive in Christ, beginning now here in verse 14.

13 is kind of a bridging verse between those two sections. But here in verse 14, Zion said, Yahweh has forsaken me and the Lord has forgotten me. Remember, Zion is the mountain of God. Wherever God dwells, that's referred to as Zion.

And in this particular case, it's in reference to Mount Moriah where the temple was built, but God had removed himself from that place. We talked about that yesterday, even reading through the seven woes that Jesus gives to the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23.

He goes out of the temple and removes his presence from them. And I had likened that to when God had done that before the Babylonians had came and seized Jerusalem. So here, Zion, which has been left desolate after the Babylonians come against it, this is all being prophesied before that takes place.

Zion is being personified here as saying, Yahweh has forsaken me and the Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her infant and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.

Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. Your builders hurry. Your destroyers and devastators will depart from you. Lift up your eyes and look around.

All of them gather together. They come to you. As I live, declares Yahweh, you will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride. So those things that afflict you will eventually be the victory that adorns you.

That's very similar to something that we read about in Romans 8, that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. More than conquerors means we are able to take those things that come against us and use them to be sanctified and become more Christ-like.

We share in the sufferings of Christ, and in this way, we become more like Christ. When we endure, when we look to him, even in the midst of these things. And so by the power of God that has been given to us, his Holy Spirit that dwells within us, our afflictions work to our advantage, and they will even be the very thing that we adorn.

When we enter into the presence of God, we adorn them as victory garments, because we have overcome these things in Christ Jesus. So we go on in verse 19, for you're devastated in desolate places in your destroyed land.

Surely now you will be too cramped for the inhabitants, and those who swallow you will be far away. The children of whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears, the place is too cramped for me, make room for me that I may live here.

Then you will say in your heart, who has borne these for me? Indeed, I have been bereaved of my children, and I am barren, an exile and a wanderer. And who has reared these? Behold, I remained alone. From where did these come?

And so those who had been bereaved of their children, suddenly children come back to them. And this is for us who are in Christ. When we come to Jesus, and he gives us his spirit, and we obey his command to go into the nations, and therefore preach his gospel.

We see many more come to the faith through this work that is done, that Christ does through us. And in this way, we become the spiritual parents of children through the spread of the gospel. And in this next section, reading about how Zion is as an afflicted widow, bereaved of her children, but numbers flock to her.

We read about the joy, the nations that are being given by the hand of Yahweh. Listen to verses 22 and 23. Thus says Lord Yahweh, behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations and make high my standard to the peoples.

And they will bring your sons in their bosom and your daughters will be lifted up on their shoulders. Kings will be your guardians and their princesses, your nurses. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth and lick the dust of your feet.

And you will know that I am Yahweh. Those who hope in me will not be put to shame. All this here is being said to his people. So that even we who had been afflicted by the people of the earth, they will eventually come and bow before us.

And indeed we will sit as judges with Christ on his throne. We become fellow heirs with Christ of his eternal kingdom. I go back to Titus once again, Titus chapter three, verse five, he saved us not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior.

So that having been justified by his grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life, fellow heirs with Christ. So that even those of the world who had been our oppressors, they will bow down, they will be humbled.

And God says, you will know that I am Yahweh. Those who hope in me will not be put to shame. We have this final section here, verses 24 to 26, where God promises deliverance for the captives. Can the prey be taken from the mighty man or the captives of the righteous be granted escape?

Surely, thus says Yahweh, even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away. They'll be taken away from him. And the prey of the tyrant will be granted escape for I will contend with the one who contends with you.

And I will save your sons. I will feed those who mistreat you with their own flesh and they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. And all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, am your savior and your redeemer, almighty one of Jacob.

So even here, it is said that we are saved for his namesake. As John talks about in 1 John 2, your sins are forgiven for his namesake. Back to Philippians 2, Jesus does all that he does to the glory of the father.

This is all for the sake of his name that he would be glorified. Indeed, he loves us and has compassion on us and mercy on us, but he saves us for the glory of his great name. So let us give glory to God for the salvation that you've been given, the forgiveness of sins and the promise of everlasting life with him in his eternal kingdom.

And then may we shine that light of Christ to the nations so that the world may know. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read here, these reminders of what you have given to us in Christ Jesus.

The reminders that we need daily, that our sins are forgiven and we are promised everlasting life with you in your forever kingdom. May this fill us with joy today and help us to take those adversities that come our way and we seize them and we don't give in to temptation, but we use those things, those struggles that we go through to conquer and give glory to God, sharing in the sufferings of Christ that we may praise your name when ultimately we dance through heaven's gates to see our savior face to face.

Let that hope be a strength for us today. It is in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

This has been, When We Understand the Text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

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