51. Isaiah Chapter Fifty-One
Isaiah Chapter 51 The subject of this chapter is the promise of salvation for Israel on a righteous basis and the removal of the cup of wrath. The Lord now addresses those among His people who are faithful and, following after righteousness, long for salvation and the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. They share his spirit of faith in refraining from making mere earthly things and pursuits the objects of their ambition. Abraham was himself the rock from which the stones, of which the house of Jacob was built, had been hewn, and Sarah was the hollow of the pit from which they had been digged. For the reference here is to the fact that, in the advanced and barren condition of the married life of Abraham and Sarah, the Lord wrought by His own supernatural power in response to Abraham’s faith (Isaiah 51:1-2). In this connection the r.v. of Romans 4:19-21 should be noted. Its correct rendering brings out more forcibly than the a.v. the character of Abraham’s faith: “And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb: yea, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God and being fully assured that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.”
All this was the origin of the nation of Israel and the Lord calls them, in the figurative language of the rock and the pit, to remember this, and further reminds them that “when he was but one I called him [r.v.], and I blessed him and made him many.” Hence the strengthening assurance of comfort for Zion and her waste places and the blossoming out of her wilderness “like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody” (Isaiah 51:3). Just as joy came to Sarah after a long period of unfruitfulness, so Israel, after its long time of trouble and desolation, shall yet be made to rejoice. The paragraph beginning at verse 4 speaks of the times when the restoration of Israel will issue in blessing for all the world, and then later in the passing away of the whole of the old creation. The present message of the gospel is not here in view. The Lord makes the promise, “a law shall go forth from Me, and I will make My judgment to rest for a light of the peoples [i.e., the Gentiles]” (Isaiah 51:4). The law is not that of Sinai but stands for instruction which God will give through the instrumentality of Israel. That He will make His judgment to rest is, more literally, “I will make a place for My right.” Hence the Lord declares that His righteousness is near, that His salvation is gone forth, and that His arms will judge the nations, that is, they will come under the judgment which His arms will inflict. But the result of the judgment is that the remaining nations who survive it, even the far distant isles, will rely upon His arm. For that which ministered judgment will subsequently act in mercy and salvation. Thus the might of God’s power, represented by His arm, will be exercised in two great contrasting ways (Isaiah 51:5). Not only will sin exist during the Millennial age, the whole of the old creation has been defiled by it. The heavens are to vanish like smoke, the earth is to fall to pieces like a garment, and its inhabitants are to die out as if they were nothing (this seems to be the meaning of the phrase rendered “in like manner”), Isaiah 51:6 (cp. 2 Peter 3:13).
Those who are saved (these are comprehended in the phrase “My salvation”) will never perish, and God’s righteousness will stand forever. And now, in a striking parallel between this passage and the one in 2 Peter, there follows an appeal to those who know God’s righteousness and share it, “the people in whose heart is My law” (Isaiah 51:7). In the Isaiah passage they are exhorted not to fear the reproach of mortals or to be alarmed at their revilings. The persecutors are to perish just as a garment is consumed by a moth and wool by a worm (Isaiah 51:8). A Jewish proverb says that “the worm is brother to the moth.” God uses little things to accomplish great ends, whether by way of judgment or for purposes of grace. The order here is salvation and righteousness; in the preceding verse it was righteousness and salvation. The whole is in the chiasmic order; the order is reversed again in Isaiah 51:8.
These promises must have aroused in the hearts of the faithful a longing for the promised salvation (Isaiah 51:9). They knew that the arm of the Lord could bring it about. Was it not His arm that overthrew Pharaoh and his hosts? The mention of Rahab has reference to Egypt, and the dragon to Pharaoh himself, with an allusion doubtless to the power of Satan acting through him (Isaiah 51:10). The Egyptians are vividly described as having been cut into pieces. Pharaoh himself was not drowned in the waters but was “pierced.” The memory of past deliverance and the assurance of future deliverance call forth the vivid appeal, uttered three times, for the arm of the Lord to awake.
It is good for the soul to recall the mercies of God in days gone by, but it is needful not to be occupied merely with a retrospect, but to let the power of the hope do its purifying work. The double view strengthens the power of prayer, prayer not merely for deliverance but for what will accomplish the glory of God. This meets with a response on His part far exceeding the mere expectation of deliverance.
What follows is scarcely exceeded anywhere in Scripture in the beauty of its language and in the sweetness of the assurance given to God’s people as to their future. It begins not with the word “Therefore,” but with “And,” connecting the promise with the appeal, not by way of conclusion but with the closer combination, expressing the assurance more directly and decisively: “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 51:11). All this speaks gloriously of the Millennial blessedness to be enjoyed by Israel. The prospect is enhanced and strengthened by the retrospect of past trials and sufferings. So it is with the still brighter prospect that we enjoy who are members of the Church. Our present experiences of sore trial and affliction are brightened by the hope, a hope that “sweetens every bitter cup.”
Isaiah 51:12-15 continue in a different way the comfort ministered by the Lord. Many of His people were in fear because of the oppressor, and doubtless in the coming day, in the time of “Jacob’s trouble,” the oppression of the man of sin will tend to have a similar effect. To this time the present passage seems to point. The Lord speaks of Himself as their Comforter. This being so, what had they to fear? “Who art thou,” He says, “that thou art afraid of man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass (lit., “made a blade of grass”)?” The tyranny of the Antichrist will be short-lived. The Lord has ever had His own way and time for delivering His earthly people.
Fear is the offspring of forgetfulness of God. The realization of the presence and power of the Lord is the all-sufficient antidote. Again and again the Lord reminds Israel that He was their Maker and that His power had stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. Why then should they continually stand in dread of the fury of the oppressor even when he was preparing to destroy?
Isaiah 51:14 is rightly put in the r.v. as a promise: “The captive exile [lit., he that is bowed down, i.e., bound in fetters in prison] shall speedily be loosed; and he shall not die and go down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail.” While the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus is probably immediately in view here, the prophecy will ultimately have its fulfillment in the coming time when Jews, suffering privation in exile among the nations under the Antichrist, will be set at liberty to come back to their land in recognition of their Redeemer Messiah. The Lord pledges His all-sufficiency for this, in that He terrifies the sea when its waves roar, by putting His restraint upon it. That is probably the true meaning in Isaiah 51:15. The Hebrew verb is the same as that rendered “rest” in Isaiah 51:4. The reference here does not seem to be to the dividing of the sea when Israel was delivered from Egypt, but to the roaring of the waves which by His word are frightened into stillness. That is what the Lord did on Lake Galilee. The waters of the sea are interpreted in Scripture as symbolizing the restlessness and tossings of the nations (see Psalms 65:7; Psalms 98:7; Isaiah 17:12-13; Ezekiel 26:3; Luke 21:25-26 and Revelation 17:15). The greatest turmoil among the nations will prevail during the latter part of the rule of the man of sin, and especially at the time of the warfare of Armageddon. But the Lord will still that tempest by His Personal intervention.
Isaiah 51:16 tells how the Jews will become His messengers. He will put His words in their mouth (the perfect tense is prophetic). He will cover them in the shadow of His hand, not only protecting them but equipping them for His purpose in view. This purpose is stated as follows: “that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art My people.” The last clause refers to Millennial conditions and accordingly the planting of the heavens and the founding of the earth may point to changed conditions in the universe when the Kingdom of righteousness and peace is established. For the forces of nature both in the heavens and the earth will not be used any more for the exercise of divine judgments, as has often been the case and must again be so before the Lord comes in glory. There is doubtless also a reference to the new heavens and earth which are to be created hereafter. The messenger of the gospel may apply to himself the comfort of the assurance “I have put My words in thy mouth.” He is “the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message”; his testimony is effectual only as he adheres to the truth of Scripture. Again, as His messenger he is under His protecting care, covered by the shadow of His hand, indicating the pleasure the Lord has in one who rightly ministers His truth. The last paragraph of this chapter, beginning at Isaiah 51:17, describes in vivid language the effects of the judgments inflicted upon the nation as a result of its persistent rebellion against God. Jerusalem is depicted as a woman lying on the ground in a state of helpless stupefaction through having drained to the dregs the cup of staggering, the cup of the fury of the Lord. Not one among all her sons was able to guide her or, taking her by the hand, to lift her up. Devastation, ruin, famine and the sword had come upon her, and the prophet himself, like Jeremiah in his lamentations, could not find how to comfort her. Her sons, instead of assisting her, were lying helpless at the corners of all the streets, like an antelope taken in a hunter’s net and exhausted by vain struggles to be free (Isaiah 51:18-20).
Deliverance could come only from God, and in His pity and mercy He promises to bring it (Isaiah 51:21-23). He remembers that they are His people, and describes Himself as the One who pleads, or, rather, conducts, their cause as their Advocate or Defender. And inasmuch as the nations whom He has used, and will yet use for the punishment of His people, overstep the limits of the power committed to them, and, acting as the agents of the evil one and priding themselves in their despotism, wreak their vengeance upon His people, God will take “the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of His fury,” and will make their tormentors drink it. They thought they would trample upon the nation just as foes tread upon a street. God reverses the position and brings human pride down to utter degradation.
All this will yet be enacted in the coming time of “Jacob’s trouble,” when Satan’s efforts to destroy Israel reach their height.