Isaiah 49:26

These are more pictures in words. These cruel men caused so much trouble for other people. But in the end, they will cause their own deaths. And the *Lord will use the situation to rescue his people.

Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible; in the original language, it means ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
Messiah ~ Old Testament title for Christ.

Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible. It contains 39 books, all from before Jesus was born.

'New Testament ~ the final part of the Bible. It contains 27 books from the time of the first Christians.
glory ~ the splendid beauty and wonderful light of God’s most holy character.
Israelites ~ Jews; people who belong to the 12 tribes of Israel.
Jews ~ people who belong to the countries called Judah and Israel; people who belong to the 12 tribes of Israel.
tribe ~ group of the later family of one father.
Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah.
borne ~ given birth to.
Babylonian ~ a person from the country called Babylon; or anything that has a relationship with the country called Babylon.
BC ~ ‘Before Christ’ (for dates before the birth of Jesus Christ).'Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible. It contains 39 books, all from before Jesus was born.
descendant ~ a later member of an earlier family.
exile ~ someone that an enemy takes away to a foreign country.
tribe ~ group of the later family of one father.
refugees ~ people who have had to leave their homes, especially during a war.
seize ~ to take a person as a prisoner or a slave.

1. Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

God’s Servant Saves God’s People

Isaiah Chapter s 41 to 55

Gordon Churchyard

The words in square brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language. Words in round brackets, (…) are explanations.

Chapter 49

1. The second Servant Song

v1 ‘Listen to me, [you] islands. And hear [this, you] nations that are far away. The *LORD called me from the *womb. From [when I was] inside my mother, he mentioned my name.

v2 And he made my mouth like a sharp sword. He hid me in the shadow of his hand. And he made me into an arrow [that he had] polished. He hid me in his quiver (special bag for arrows).

v3 He said to me, “You are my servant. [You are] Israel, in whom I will show my beauty [to everybody].”

v4 But I said [that] my *labour had no purpose. [I said that] I had used my strength in vain and for nothing. But the *LORD will be my judge and my God will reward my work.

v5 And now the *LORD says [this]. He [is the *LORD] that formed me in the *womb to be his servant.

• [He did this] to bring Jacob back to him.

• Also, [he did it] to gather Israel to himself.

And I will have honour in the eyes of the *LORD. My God will be my strength. He says,

v6 “It is too small a thing for you, as my servant:

• to bring back the *tribes of Jacob;

• and to gather the people from Israel that I have preserved.

I will also make you as a light for the [other] nations. Then you will bring [the news of] my safety to the ends of the earth.”

v7 This is what the *LORD says. [The *LORD is] the *Redeemer and the *Holy [God] of Israel. [He says it] to him, [the servant], that the nation hated very much. [He was] the servant of rulers. [God says], “Kings will see you and they will rise up. Also, princes will bend down on their knees [in front of you]. [They will do that] because the *LORD will be loyal [to you]. [He is] the *Holy [God] of Israel who has chosen you.”

v8 This is what the *LORD says. “When I am favourable, I will answer you. And in the day of safety, I will help you. Also, I will preserve you and I will make you to be a *covenant for the people. You will raise up (give security to) this country, and you will cause [people] to *inherit the empty places.

v9a You will say to the people in prison: Come out. And [you will say] to those people that are in darkness: Be free!

v9b They will eat food at the sides of the roads and there will be food for them on every empty hill.

v10 They will not be hungry and they will not be *thirsty. The heat of the sun in the desert will not hurt them. He who pities them will guide them. And he will lead them by water that springs up [from the ground].

v11 I will turn all my mountains into roads and I will build up all my highways (important roads).

v12 Look! People will come from far away. And look! Some will come from the north and some from the west. Some will [even] come from the region called Sinim.”

v13 [Everything in] the skies, shout for joy! [Everything on] the earth, be very happy! Burst into song, you mountains! [Do this] because the *LORD is comforting his people. He will pity his people that are suffering.’

2. Notes

Isaiah 49:1-13 is the second passage about God’s servant in Isaiah. Bible students often call these passages ‘Suffering Servant Songs’. ‘Suffering Servant’ means ‘a servant that suffers’. They are not actually songs, because we do not normally sing them. Rather, they are poems. The four songs, or poems, are:

1) Isaiah 42:1-4. God describes the servant.

2) Isaiah 49:1-13. The servant describes himself.

3) Isaiah 50:4-9. Again, the servant describes himself.

4) Isaiah 52:13-53. The servant suffers and dies. But God raises him to life again.

There are, of course, other verses about or by the servant, such as Isaiah 44:1 and Isaiah 48:16. We do not include these in the four songs.

The notes before Isaiah chapter 41 say who Bible students think the Servant to be. For *Jews, it was their nation. God brought them back from *exile in Babylon. God had given new life to their nation. It felt as if God had ‘raised them to life.’ For Christians, this is a picture of what Jesus did for everybody. He is the servant who offers new life to everybody. See also the note on Isaiah 49:3 below.

Verse 1 Our note on Isaiah 41:1 says, ‘The islands are any places with coasts.’ The note then says that islands is therefore a word, for ‘people in the nations’. Chapter 41 makes it clear that they are not *Jewish people. Here we can add that ‘coasts’ may also mean ‘boundaries’. So, ‘islands’ may mean the countries all round Judah. These countries are near Judah. So God’s servant here speaks to nations that are near and far away. The womb is the place where a baby grows, inside its mother.

Verse 2 People used swords and arrows to fight in a war. But here, the war is a war of words. See Hebrews 4:12. Soldiers used a sword for enemies near to them. They used arrows for enemies far away. God’s words are similar: they reach people that are near and far away. God polished the arrow so that it flew quickly and straight. The ‘quiver’ was a special bag that people kept arrows in.

Verse 3 God names his servant Israel. First, it was Jacob’s new name, Genesis 35:10. Then it was the name of all God’s people. But now it will be the name of God’s special servant. He will show God’s beauty. Nowhere else in the Bible does God say that a person will show God’s beauty. Christians therefore believe that this ‘Israel’ is a name for Jesus, the *Messiah.

Verse 4 This verse tells us that God’s servant is really human. His work seems to bring little or no results. This makes the servant very sad. But the important thing to notice is this. It is God that is the judge of the results. In something to do number 3 below are some verses about Jesus. They tell us that he was like the servant in Isaiah 49:4.

Verse 5 This verse has a ‘broken structure’. In other words, before God speaks, the servant says something. Here, Jacob and Israel mean God’s people. ‘Honour in the eyes of the *Lord’ means the honour that God gives to his servant.

Verse 6 The servant will bring God’s people, the *Jews, back to God. ‘Tribes’ means ‘large groups of people that are each other’s relatives’. These *Jews are the *remnant of Isaiah 10:21. Also, in Isaiah 7:3, Isaiah’s son’s name was Shearjashub. ‘Shearjashub’ means ‘a *remnant will return’. A ‘*remnant’ is a small part or small number of something bigger. But the servant will do more than bring the *remnant of *Jews back. He will bring safety to people that are not *Jews. Simeon used this verse in Luke 2:29-32. Notice that in the *Hebrew language, ‘my safety’ is ‘jeshuati’. Really, that is the same as ‘my Jesus’ in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language. ‘My safety’ does not mean that God is safe. It means that he will make his people safe. In particular, he will do that after they die. Most English Bibles translate ‘jeshuati’ as ‘my salvation (rescue and safety)’.

Verse 7 In this verse, ‘Israel’ is probably the servant, as in verse 3. The word ‘*redeemer’ is important. There is a note about it at Isaiah 43:1. Here it means that God (the *Redeemer) belongs to the same family as the servant (Israel). We believe that the servant here is probably Jesus, the son of God. ‘Nation’ is a word that means everybody outside Judah and Israel. They ‘hated’ the servant ‘very much’. They did not like him. The third and fourth Servant Songs tell us more of this *hatred and *dislike. But God will be loyal to his servant. Kings and princes will have to give honour to the servant in the end.

Verses 8-9a ‘When I am favourable’ means ‘the time when God is ready to do something’. Then God will rescue and save his servant. God will make his servant ‘a *covenant’. In English, ‘*covenant’ is another word for ‘agreement’. But this agreement is one that God makes. People can choose to agree with it or not, but they cannot change it. That is why Bible students call it by the special word ‘*covenant’. It is not an agreement in the ordinary use of the word in English. The first *covenant was not with the *Jews through Abraham and Moses. It was with Noah, who was not a *Jew, Genesis 6:18. Like Noah’s *covenant, this *covenant also includes people that are not *Jews. So this *covenant continues the *covenant with Noah.

Notice that this *covenant offers four things:

1) The servant will ‘raise up this country’. The *Hebrew words probably mean ‘give security to the country’. The ‘country’ probably means the whole world, because the promise is not only for *Jews. It is also for people that are not *Jews.

2) The servant will cause people to *inherit the empty places. ‘*Inherit’ means ‘to receive as a gift’. It usually means the sort of gift that you receive after the giver’s death. The empty places have no people, buildings or plants. Hard work would come before they would enjoy it! But here, the people would establish their permanent homes.

3) The servant will call people out from prison. Here, the prison probably means a foreign country. It could be Babylon, where the *Jews would go into *exile. The people would gain freedom.

4) The servant will call people out of darkness. This would not only give them freedom. It would also make them able to see clearly again. The people would have a new life.

All these things happened to the *remnant when they came home from *exile in Babylon. But they are also signs, or pictures, of what can happen to all people. It can happen when people trust in Jesus, the servant! Jeshuati (see the note on verse 6) gives people security, a permanent home, freedom and new life.

Verses 9b-11 These verses remind us of the journey that God’s people made from Egypt to Canaan. That was about 700 years before Isaiah lived. God will take care of them also when they return home from Babylon. There will be food, even on hills where nothing grows. There will be drink, enough for them all. There will be shade from the sun that beats down on them in the desert. Our translation has ‘hurts’ for ‘beats down’. God will guide them and he will lead them. Look in the notes about Isaiah 40:3-4. They explain ‘roads in the mountains’ and ‘highways’ (important roads). As in verses 8-9a, God does similar things for people who come back to God today. John uses some of the words from verse 10 in Revelation 7:16-17.

Verse 12 Nobody knows where ‘Sinim’ is or was. Some Bible students think that it is Aswan in Egypt. That would add ‘south’ to ‘north and west’. Perhaps Isaiah did not mention ‘east’ because he did not want people to think only about the return from Babylon. He wanted them to think about the greater meaning as at the end of verse 6.

Verse 13 This ends the section that Bible students call the second ‘Suffering Servant song’. (That is, the second poem about the servant that suffers.) Because God is calling people from the whole world, then everything must shout for joy. Everybody must be happy. It is hard to see how mountains can sing! Perhaps they are in this verse because the good news came from them, Isaiah 40:9.

v14 But *Zion said, ‘The *LORD has left me. The *Lord has forgotten me.’

v15 [The *LORD answered], ‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast? Can she have no pity on the child from her *womb? These [mothers] may forget, but I will not forget you.

v16 Look! I have written [your names] on the palms (flat parts) of my hands. Your walls are always in front of me.

v17 Your sons will hurry back [to you]. The people who destroyed you [will leave you]. The people who ruined you will go away from you.

v18 Use your eyes and look all round you. All your [sons] will gather [together] and they will come to you. [It is as certain] as I live’, says the *LORD. ‘You will certainly wear all of them as something beautiful. You will put them on as a bride [does].

v19 [The enemy] broke you down and ruined you. They emptied your land. But now you will be too small for the people [that come to] you. The people that destroyed you will be far away.

v20 Your children will speak, and you will hear. These children were born to you while you were a widow. [And they will say,] “This place is too small for us. Give us more room to live in.”

v21 Then you will say in your heart, “How were these [people] born to me? I was a widow and I could have no [children]. I was in *exile and [God had] thrown me away. So who brought them up? Look, [he] left me alone. So where have they [come from]?” ’

v22 The *Lord, [who is] the *LORD, says this. ‘Look! I will signal with my hand to the nations. I will lift up my sign to the people [from many countries]. And they will bring your sons in their arms and they will carry your daughters on their shoulders.

v23 Then kings will be as fathers for you and their queens will be as mothers [to your children]. They will bend down on their knees in front of you. Their faces will look to the ground. And they will taste the dust by your feet. Then you will know that I am the *LORD. I will not disappoint people that hope in me.

v24 Can you take things away from strong soldiers? Or can you rescue prisoners from people that have a right to them?

v25 But this is what the *LORD says. Yes! [I] can take the prisoner from the strong soldier. And I will take back what the fierce man took away. I will fight with those people that fight with you. And I will make your children safe.

v26 [Some] people are cruel to you. [But] I will make them eat their own bodies. They will become drunks with their own blood, as if it was wine. Then everybody will know that I, the *LORD, have made you safe. [I am] your *Redeemer, the Strong [God] of Jacob.’

3. Notes

Most Bible students agree that Chapter s 40 to 55 are about the return of the *Jews from Babylon to Judah. This is correct. But we have seen that chapter 40 is not only about this. It is also about the return of the *LORD to Jerusalem. And this section is about more than the return of the *Jews. This section is about people from all over the world who return to God. Verse 21, in particular, shows that. ‘The walls’ in verse 16 may be the walls of the New Jerusalem, not the old one!

Verse 14 *Zion is a name for the *Jewish people here. Notice the two names for God:

• *LORD means something like ‘I always am.’ He never changes.

• *Lord means ‘master’. He has authority over everything. And as verses 15-16 tell us, he never forgets his people.

Verses 15-16 We would say that the answer is ‘No!’, However the end of verse 15 says that the answer could be ‘Yes!’ But God cannot forget *Zion. He has written their names on the palms (flat parts) of his hands. The *Hebrew word for ‘written’ means ‘cut into a stone’. The *LORD’s love is better than anything that we can find on the earth. ‘Your walls are always in front of me’ probably means ‘I am always thinking about *Zion.’ ‘You’ in verses 15-21 means ‘*Zion’, the *LORD’s people.

Verse 17 Notice that the idea of children continues. Perhaps the mothers forgot their sons until their return!

Verse 18 The children that return to *Zion will be like something beautiful. They will be as beautiful as what a bride wears at her wedding.

Verse 19-21 More people come to *Zion than:

• the mothers could have;

• and the city could give homes to.

This means that it is not only about the return from Babylon. It may not even be about that, because many of the *Jews did not return. They preferred life in Babylon. So, here:

• *Zion probably means the New Jerusalem. That is, the place where all God’s people will live always. So here, we should think about how God increases the number of people in his Church across the world. (See Hebrews 12:22-23.)

• And the children are people from all over the world, who come to God through Jesus Christ.

The word ‘children’ here and in verse 25 is ‘sons’ in the *Hebrew Bible.

Verse 22 The sign is a *banner, which is a special flag. Only Isaiah says that the *LORD lifts up a *banner, in Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 13:2; Isaiah 18:3; Isaiah 30:17; Isaiah 31:9; Isaiah 33:23, here, and 62:10. This *banner (sign) makes all the nations obey the *LORD.

Verse 23 Kings and queens mean ‘foreign countries’. People from those countries will come. And they will bend down on their knees in front of the *LORD. They will declare that he is the real God. People from those countries will come to be together with the *LORD’s people.

Verse 24 The answer to these questions is usually ‘No!’ But here it is ‘Yes!’ because God is so powerful.

Verse 25 The word ‘fight’ in this verse means ‘fight in a court of law’. When God rescues people from their enemies, he has a right to do it. Christians believe that this is because of Jesus’ death. That means that the strong soldier and the fierce man really mean Satan (the devil) and his evil forces. ‘Children’ in this verse is really ‘sons’ in *Hebrew. This links verses 14-26 together.

Verse 26 People that do not obey God really *destroy themselves. Here the word-picture is that they ‘eat themselves’. It means that they bring about their own troubles. Other examples are in Judges 7:22 and 1 Samuel 14:20. There is a note on ‘*redeemer’ in Isaiah 43:1.

4. Something to do

1. Read Jeremiah 1:4-5 and compare it with Isaiah 49:1.

2. Study these verses: Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Psalms 22:9-10; Micah 5:2-3. Many Bible students believe that they refer to the mother of the *Messiah.

3. Make a list of the things that made Jesus sad. You will find some of them in these verses: Mark 8:21; Mark 14:27 and Luke 9:41. When things depress you, remember Jesus. His trust in God made him strong and confident again. Use Isaiah 49:4 as a prayer! We could translate part of that verse as:

I seem to have worked hard for nothing.

But God is the real judge of what I have done.

4. Compare the *covenant that God made with Noah (Genesis 6:17-22) with the one that he made with Abraham (Genesis 17:1-8).

5. Pray for security, a permanent home, freedom and new life for (1) yourself and (2) your family and friends.

6. Compare Isaiah 49:16 with John 20:19-20.

7. Note how many times baby, child, sons and children come in verses 14-26.

12. heavens ~ another word for ‘skies’. It can also mean the place where God lives and the skies above us.
    Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
    LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YHWH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YHWH.
    lord ~ master. When it has a capital L (that is, ‘Lord’) it is a name for God.
    Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
    womb ~ the place where a baby grows, inside its mother.
    labour ~ the pain that a woman suffers when she gives birth to a baby.
    tribes ~ large groups of people that are each other’s relatives.
    holy ~ very, very good. Only God is really holy. He is so holy that he is separate from everybody else.
    covenant ~ the agreement between God and his people. In this agreement God agrees to help and to protect his people. His people agree to love and to serve God. Or, an agreement between nations.
    inherit ~ to receive a gift. It is the sort of gift that you receive after the giver’s death.
    thirsty ~ the feeling when a person desperately needs something to drink.
    Jews ~ the people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
    exile ~ a person whom enemies force to live away from his own home or country. Or, the place where that person has to live.
    Jewish ~ a description of something that has a relationship to the Jews.
    Jews ~ the people that lived in Judah (which sounds like ‘Jew-dah’) and Israel.
    messiah ~ a leader such as a king. With a capital M (that is, ‘Messiah’), it means Jesus for Christians.
    LORD ~ LORD is a special name of God. In the Hebrew language it is YHWH. It may mean ‘always alive’. So LORD is a sign that the Hebrew word is YHWH.
    lord ~ master. When it has a capital L (that is, ‘Lord’) it is a name for God.
    Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
    remnant ~ a small part of something that is larger. In Isaiah, it often means the few people that still obeyed God.
    hatred ~ the attitude that you have if you hate someone.
    dislike ~ the attitude that you have if you do not like someone.
    inherit ~ to receive a gift. It is the sort of gift that you receive after the giver’s death.
    Zion ~ a name for Jerusalem.
    banner ~ a special flag.
    destroy ~ to punish severely, often by means of death.