Isaiah 51

Isaiah 51:1-23

Chapter 51 Exhortations To The People To Respond To God. We now have here three remarkable calls to faithful Israel, ‘listen’ (Isaiah 51:1) - ‘attend’ (Isaiah 51:4) - ‘listen’ (Isaiah 51:7). They have heard the voice of the Servant (Isaiah 50:10), now it is open to them to respond. And how are they to appreciate the truth about the Servant? They are to look back to Abraham, and to recognise how when he was but one God blessed him and made him many, and then they are to recognise in this new Servant someone who is similar to Abraham, for in His purposes Yahweh is planning to make His people fruitful and bring His blessing on them too, and all this will be through the One who will become many.Indeed His instruction will go out to the nations, along with His saving purposes, and the isles/coastlands will wait for Him and trust in His arm. The heaven will disappear like a waft of smoke, and the earth will grow old and become worn out, but His salvation will be for ever, and His righteous deliverance will not be done away with.So those who know His word must stand firm and not be afraid. They must be ready to face the reproach of men without fear or dismay, for while the rebellious against God will be eaten up as by moths, those who experience His righteousness and salvation will endure for ever.Here Isaiah makes clear that he recognises that earth and heaven will pass away, but that God’s people will go on for ever within His righteous, saving activity.

Thus in each case those who do hear and listen can look forward to the everlasting kingdom.In the passage a clear distinction is made between faithful Israel and the Servant. It is in the Servant that Yahweh’s saving work goes on, and the people receive it at His hands. They are to trust and not be afraid as they behold His powerful activity.The call then goes up to Yahweh to awaken and reveal His mighty power. He who destroyed Egypt and all that it stood for, can equally make a way for his people to go forward in triumph. All will be joy and gladness, and all sorrow and sighing will flee away. And then the ransomed of Yahweh will return to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads.The chapter then finishes with a description of Jerusalem that reveals its present state, but even this ends with the assurance of God’s deliverance .

Isaiah 51:4-6

God’s Or The Servant’s Call To His True People To Consider His Everlasting Salvation (Isaiah 51:4-6). His people are not just to listen, they must also pay heed. They must ‘pay attention’ to His instruction which will come through His Servant as a light to the peoples (compare Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6; and see Isaiah 2:2-4). They must respond to the salvation that He brings, which is both for Israel and for the Gentiles.Isaiah 51:4-5“Attend to me, O my people,And give ear to me, O my nation.For instruction (a law) shall go forth from me,And I will make my judgment to rest for a light to the peoples.My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth,And my arms will judge the peoples.The isles will wait for me,And on my arm they will trust.”The difficulty here is to know whether these are the words of Yahweh or the words of the Servant. If the words are Yahweh’s then here God refers to the work that His Servant will do as if it were His own (which of course it is). If the words are the Servant’s then they outline His coming activity. His own people and nation are to see and consider.

His Instruction will go forth (compare Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 42:4), and His righteous teaching and requirements, revealed in His jurisdiction over them, will ‘rest’ for a light to the peoples (Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 49:6). It is to be their permanent experience.All are to learn from Him.

For His righteous activity is about to happen (is ‘near’ in God’s timing) and His deliverance has, as far as He is concerned, already gone forth (compare Isaiah 45:8; Isaiah 46:13; Isaiah 56:1; Isaiah 59:16). It is on offer if men will but receive it. Then His arms will judge the peoples, bringing about justice and righteousness (they will be ruled under His mighty arm). He will Himself rule over them with power. The distant isles and coastlands will wait for Him in ready obedience (Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 60:9) and they will rely on His power, His mighty arm. The tenor behind this is reminiscent of previous words to the Servant (Isaiah 42:4; Isaiah 49:6), thus linking Him with the promises in Isaiah 2:1-4.

We can now be in no doubt that the message of the Servant is for all nations, and that He will ensure that it reaches them.The plural ‘arms’ is indicative of the many ways in which God will protect and care for His people , the singular ‘arm’ stresses His mighty power on their behalf (Isaiah 40:10; Isaiah 62:8).Isaiah 51:6“Lift up your eyes to the heavens,And look on the earth beneath.For the heavens will vanish away like smoke,And the earth will grow old like a garment,And those who dwell in it will die in the same way.But my deliverance will be for ever,And my righteousness will not be abolished.”The description above can only apply to an eternal kingdom, for here earth and heaven are to pass away. In a dying world, death is to be the lot of all men, but His people are to enjoy everlasting deliverance and permanent righteous rule.

Compare Isaiah 26:19. So Isaiah is making clear that all His promises have been pointing towards that which is above.The call is to consider both heavens and earth. Smoke in the heavens was regularly seen when armies invaded, when stubble was burned or when there were fires in forests and bushland. But always the smoke eventually faded and disappeared. So will the heavens disappear in days to come, rapidly like thinning, wispy smoke. Similarly the earth will age like old clothing ages, to be thrown away.

The thought, in parallel to what happens to the heavens, is that it too will come to an end. What is more all earth dwellers will die ‘in the same way’, that is, like old, tossed aside clothing (compare Isaiah 50:9; Isaiah 51:8).‘But my deliverance will be for ever, and my righteousness will not be abolished.’ In contrast this is promising life, continuing existence in glory, in contrast with the wispy smoke and the death just described, confirming that this is the everlasting kingdom, and it is after earth and heaven have passed away.

The thought is not analysed and expanded on but the thought is clear. It strongly confirms that Isaiah’s many pictures of the future state do have what we would call ‘Heaven’ in mind. Compare here Isaiah 25:8.

Isaiah 51:7-8

God’s Call To His People Not To Fear Men Or Their Reproaches Because They Will Fade Away While God’s People Will Go On For Ever (Isaiah 51:7-8). Again, for the third time, He stresses the importance of ‘listening’. They are to observe His instruction from their hearts. For those who have His instruction in their hearts need fear nothing, because they are not living in the light of this world, but of eternity. The world will pass away, but His word and His salvation will never pass away.Isaiah 51:7-8“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,The people in whose heart is my instruction (law).Do not fear the reproach of men,Nor be dismayed at their revilings (virulent insults).For the moth will eat them up like a garment,And the worm will eat them like wool.But my righteous deliverance (righteousness) will be for ever,And my salvation to all generations.”The fact that there are three calls emphasise the threefold completeness of the message. All are concerned with righteousness. In the first they are people who follow after righteousness and seek Yahweh (Isaiah 51:1).

In the second His righteousness is near to come (Isaiah 51:5). Here in the third the hearers ‘know’ righteousness.

Thus His faithful people are in mind.In the second His instruction went out to the nations to enlighten them, here He speaks to those in whose heart is His instruction. It may be that we are to see a progression from the people who look back to Abraham their father, to the nations who receive His instruction and light and come under His righteous jurisdiction, moving forward to a combination of these two as one people, conveying the idea of the reproach that they will face, and the triumph that will be theirs.If that be so He addresses all His own as a people who know righteousness, they have heard it spoken of, they have come to an understanding of it, and they live it out in their experience. And through it they know the Righteous One. (To follow after righteousness is to seek Yahweh - Isaiah 51:1). For His instruction is within their hearts. They love His Law.The command to them is then not to regard the reproaches of men (’enosh - weak and frail man), or their insults and vile words, for they are to recognise that the destiny of such people is to wear away, for like old clothing they will be eaten by moths and devoured by worms. In contrast the faithful will enjoy God’s everlasting righteous deliverance, and a salvation that goes on and on and on.

They will enjoy the everlasting kingdom.Note again the similarities with 50. 6, 9. But while for the Servant in chapter 50 it was the present endurance that was in mind, here it is the reception of His word and of His instruction, and the future glory of His own, both Israel and the nations, that is emphasised.

The work of the Servant has resulted in Israel turning to God and the nations receiving His light (Isaiah 49:6). His task is seen as fulfilled.

Isaiah 51:9-52

Yahweh Is Called On To Awake and Reveal His Power and Israel Are To Awake To The Power And Holiness Of Their Redeeming God (Isaiah 51:9 to Isaiah 52:12). God having given to His faithful people the commands to ‘listen – attend – listen’ the prophet now calls on Yahweh also to awaken on behalf of His people, for Him too there is a plea that He listen to the call of His people. It is then followed by a call to all His people to awake. Thus there is a threefold call to ‘awake, awake’, in Isaiah 51:9; Isaiah 51:17 and Isaiah 52:1, firstly to Yahweh and then to His people. The tension is now mounting. Note the constant use of repetition. ‘Awake, awake’ (three times). ‘Depart, depart’ (Isaiah 52:11). There is a sense of urgency. This will then be followed by the depiction of the cost of the salvation that is being offered to them in Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12, as the Servant’s destiny is described in full. The culmination of their deliverance is near.

Isaiah 51:17-23

The Second Call To Awake - Spoken to Distressed Jerusalem (Isaiah 51:17-23). These words are spoken in view of Yahweh’s previous ‘awaking’ (Isaiah 51:9) and are to stir up Israel to respond, having drunk sufficiently of God’s anger against their sins. Again it is followed by a word of assurance and promise from Yahweh. He will remove that which is causing her distress and her dreadful condition, and will pass it over to her enemies.Isaiah 51:17‘Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem,Who has drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of his fury.You have drunk the bowl of the cup of staggering,And have drained it.’Their position is first stated. They (represented as Jerusalem) had been under His wrath and made to drink of the cup of His fury, the cup that had rendered them helpless and unable to cope for themselves, so that they have staggered and collapsed. But now they have drunk it and drunk it to the full, so that His anger against their sin is over. The cup represents all the historical events that have come on them leaving them destitute and helpless, the consequence of God’s anger over the continual sin and rebellion that had finally become too much. ‘The cup of staggering’ does not just refer to being drunk, but to having come to such a drunken state that is impossible to recover.

They have reached the final stages of delirium.We can contrast the Lady Babylon on her throne, who was dragged down to her dreadful state (chapter 47) without hope, with this drunken helpless woman who is to be dragged up from her dreadful state by God’s rescue mission. When Babylon drags men and women down, God can lift them up again.

God’s power works both ways.So now they are to ‘stand up’. Note that while Yahweh’s arm was to ‘put on strength’ on awakening (Isaiah 51:9), all that is required of Jerusalem is that they ‘stand up’, that they stagger to their feet. All that is required is that they stand and see the salvation of Yahweh. Yahweh will do the rest.The picture is vivid, Jerusalem slumped like a dishevelled woman by the wayside, drunk, prone and helpless, and now being exhorted to pull themselves together and stand up because God is about to act. For without God her situation is hopeless as we will now see.Isaiah 51:18-20‘There is none to guide her among all the sons that she has borne,Neither is there any who takes her by the hand of all the sons that she has brought up.These two things are befallen you, who will bemoan you?Desolation and destruction, even the famine and the sword.How shall I comfort you? Yours sons have fainted.They lie at the top of all the streets, like an antelope in a net.They are full of the fury of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.’But what hope is there for her if she stands up?

There is no one to take her by the hand and lead her. She has had many sons, the people of Jerusalem and Judah, those who had claimed that they were the people of God, but they cannot help her.

For they themselves have fainted away, having become hopeless drunkards, and having collapsed at the road heads, unable to get home. They are like an antelope caught in a net, thrashing about and not free to do anything, a permanent victim with no hope of recovery. For they too are under the heavy hand of Yahweh because of their sins, they are still surfeited with Yahweh’s fury, God’s rebuke.And she has faced two things, desolation and destruction in terms of dire famine and sword (no mention of exile). This is what has actually caused her state, continual bouts of famine and invasion. But there is none to bemoan her for they are all taken up with their own deep problems. With her sons in the condition that they are, how is God to comfort her?The aim is to demonstrate how totally helpless she is, so that from an earthly point of view God can find her no comfort.

Her position is totally hopeless. What on earth can she do?

The answer is, nothing.However, there is an answer, and God will provide it. But before that answer is produced the truth must be out.Isaiah 51:21“Therefore hear now this, you afflicted and drunken, but not with wine.”Here is the truth of the matter. Her drunkenness is not due to wine, it is due to that which has brought on them God’s wrath and rebuke, His fierce anger (Isaiah 51:20). It is due to sin. It is due to an oversurfeit of wickedness and rebellion against God. And it results in their not being aware of Yahweh’s words (Isaiah 29:9-10).

This is why no one can help her, for her sins are too deep-dyed.Isaiah 51:22“Thus says the Lord Yahweh,And your God, who pleads the cause of his people.See, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering,Even the bowl of the cup of my fury.You will no more drink it again.And I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,Who have said to your inner heart, ‘Bow down that we may go over’.And you have laid your back as the ground,And as the street to those who go over.”Indeed her full humiliation is now described. As a drunken woman in the street those who had afflicted her had taunted her and told her to lie there while they walked all over her, and she had done as she was bidden.

She had become the lowest of the low, the drunken plaything of drunkards. Everyone walked over her. This scene of a misused, drunken woman is played out in many drinking places around the world. It is a sign of the world’s sinfulness.But now Yahweh steps in, the One Who makes the plea for the cause of His people, their judge. He will take the cup from her hand, the cup that is causing her all the trouble, and give it to those who afflict her. She will be released from her problem, and it will be laid on others. She has Yahweh’s promise that she will be made free. It remains for the next verses to reveal how this will come about.‘The Lord Yahweh.’ Unusually, in this phrase ‘Lord’ is in the plural.

Perhaps the idea is to bring out that He is not only her Sovereign Lord, but also her ‘lord’ as her husband or parent (Isaiah 54:5) He is acknowledging responsibility for her. Or it may be placing great stress on Lord, a plural of intensity.We note here a typical Isaianic reversal. In Isaiah 51:17 it was ‘the cup of His fury – the bowl of the cup of staggering’, here it is ‘the cup of staggering – the bowl of the cup of His fury.’ Fury begins and ends the situation, resulting in the staggering.‘You will no more drink it again.’ Isaiah thus has the final everlasting kingdom in mind. The cup will then be given to those who take part in the final judgment.Who then is Jerusalem in this sad picture? As with all illustrations we must not press too closely. In one sense it is all Israel, for all will be welcomed if they come.

Certainly they are all drunk and have drunk of the cup of His fury. But in the finality it is those who will respond and will come to Yahweh, and listen to the voice of His Servant.

It is only they who can be sure that the cup of Yahweh’s fury has been taken from them. It is only they who can stand rightly and recover to walk again. And certainly it is they who are spoken of in the next verses. It is the holy seed who come from the remnant who are left (Isaiah 6:13).