Isaiah 51

Isaiah 51:1

3. The Messiah as Righteous Ruler (51:152:12)51:1-3 All in Israel who seek deliverance should remember God’s care for them since He took them from the rock quarry (Mesopotamia). They should be encouraged by the memory of God’s gracious dealings with Abraham . . . and Sarah, and how He gave them a numerous posterity. And they should be heartened by His promise to comfort Zion. Notice three calls to listen (vv. 1, 4, 7) and three calls to awake (Isa_51:9, Isa_51:17; Isa_52:1). 51:4-6 The Messiah will rule over the Gentile peoples as well as Israel during the Millennium. At the close of the kingdom, the heavens and the earth will be destroyed, and all unbelievers will perish, but God’s people will be eternally secure. 51:7, 8 The Lord urges the remnant not to fear the wrath of men during the dark days of the Tribulation period, because the doom of evil men is sealed, and the deliverance of His people is assured. 51:9-11 This prompts the remnant to call on the LORD to deliver His people as He delivered them from Egypt (Rahab) and from Pharaoh (the serpent, his symbol), drying up the sea so the redeemed could cross over. The memory of God’s intervention in the past causes them to foresee the ransomed captives’ return to Zion. F. C. Jennings describes the event beautifully: Their heads are garlanded with joy and gladness which they have vainly pursued hitherto, but have overtaken at last, while the storm through which they have passed rolls off like a thick cloud, taking with it all their sighs and tears! 51:12-16 Jehovah speaks a message of comfort to those who fear the tyrant, whether Nebuchadnezzar in that day or the man of sin in the future. They should fear the LORD who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth; then they would lose their fear of frail man. The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, that he should not die in the pit, and that his bread should not fail. These captives were loosed at that time by Cyrus, and will be loosed by the Messiah at His appearing in glory. Jehovah will bring it to pass; He who is infinitely high is also intimately nigh, hiding His people with the shadow of His hand. He puts His words in their mouth so that they might be His missionaries to the world.

Verse 16 may also be applied to the Lord Jesus. The Father put His words in the Messiah’s mouth, protected and equipped Him that He might plant the new heavens and new earth of the millennial period and say to Zion, “You are My people.“51:17-20 “Awake, awake!” He bids Jerusalem after her dark night of suffering when none of her sons could guide her, when she was devastated by famine and sword, when her men lay helpless like an exhausted antelope caught in a net. 51:21-23 He will take the cup of His fury which has made Jerusalem stagger, and He will give it to her enemies who have gone beyond the limits assigned to them by God by being cruel and merciless.