Isaiah brings another Messianic prophecy, an amazing reminder that God had a plan from the beginning and executed that plan perfectly. It is easy to forget that God picked Israel to be His chosen people. They were not to be a nation of warriors, but a nation of priests. It was to be Israel that showed the world God’s love and desire to be in relationship with men.
Sadly, Israel wanted to be like everybody else. They wanted to have the idols, the power, the wealth, and the independence from God that everyone else had. What they failed to realize was that came at a price. With the independence they wanted came a lack of provision and protection that they, as a small nation, needed desperately. Still, after the fall, after captivity, and after pushing God’s patience to the edge; God still planned to restore Israel and to provide redemption for all that would follow Him.
Jesus, the Messiah, would come to seek and save that which was lost. He would be a son of Judah and of David. He would show the nation of Israel the true nature of God. He would lead them back to become the great nation that they were meant to be. He would also be God’s sacrifice to show the remainder of humanity what his true nature is. The Lord loves us and wants nothing more than to have a personal relationship with us. Through Christ, that relationship is attainable by simply asking Him to have the relationship and submitting to His leadership.
Isaiah shows himself again to be the great evangelist. He shares the message of hope and salvation for Israel and the rest of the world.
God Bless You
Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the Lord called me;
from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
and my reward is with my God.”
5 And now the Lord says—
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am[a] honored in the eyes of the Lord
and my God has been my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
7 This is what the Lord says—
the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Restoration of Israel
8 This is what the Lord says:
“In the time of my favor I will answer you,
and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’
and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’
“They will feed beside the roads
and find pasture on every barren hill.
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,
nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.
He who has compassion on them will guide them
and lead them beside springs of water.
Walking With God 