51:1 Hear me, you followers of righteousness, seekers of the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut, to the quarry out of which you were hewn; Now we go to the other group. We have the ones who reject the Lord, who have a dispute with him, who end up in agony, and are alienated from God. But now this is the group that responds to the Servant. Let's see what happens to them. It's quite a different story. "Hear me, you followers of righteousness--" meaning those who keep the covenant of the Lord, first of all, who are converted through the Servant's preaching, who do wake up when he preaches to them and who respond. They are also followers of righteousness also in the sense that the Servant personifies righteousness, so they follow him. They are his followers. And no doubt he'll be accused of creating followers. "Seekers of the Lord" applies to these followers of righteousness who also seek the Lord, just as the same as we saw in chapter 50, verse ten where those who fear the Lord are the ones who heed the voice of his Servant. Those ideas appear in parallel. "Look to the rock from which you were cut, to the quarry out of which you were hewn." Who is like unto a rock, in the book of Isaiah, and in the Old Testament? The Lord is. They're cut out of that Rock. And they should build upon that Rock, on that foundation, which is the Lord himself. He's called the Rock of Israel, or the Rock of Eternity. And the quarry, here is the Lord himself. And we've already seen God and the aspect of male and female, father and mother, which also applies to God, or the Lord, out of which they were hewn. 51:2 look to Abraham your father, to Sarah who bore you. He was but one when I called him, but I blessed him by making him many. They're also a chip off the old block of Abraham and Sarah. They're the descendants of Abraham and Sarah. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the Rock and the quarry referred to are metaphors for Abraham and Sarah. It could mean that, on one level. But on another level, a rhetorical level, rock is the Rock of the Lord himself. So you can read it on two levels. At any rate, if they were like Abraham and Sarah, if they look to them, at their example, the example of their ancestors, then they will do what Abraham and Sarah did. And what did Abraham do? He repented of all the idolatry, or he disassociated himself from it, and sought the blessings of the fathers, and inherited the Promised Land, was persecuted in Ur of the Chaldees when the Lord called him out to the Promised Land. And so should these. These people are the ones who come out from the situation of idolatry, from the false social/economic system of Babylon, come out on a exodus like Abraham and Sarah, travel through the wilderness to the Promised Land. That's why the followers of righteousness and seekers of the Lord should look to them and do the works of Abraham. "He was but one when I called him, but I blessed him by making him many." In other words, when he called Abraham God didn't say, "Now, all you people come out." He called an individual. And the call of Abraham and Sarah's descendants, in the last days, will be like that. God's not going to call a whole group of people. Or, if he does call them, not a whole group of people will respond—only individuals, here and there, like Abraham and Sarah were, and the rest will stay behind and be destroyed or experience the plagues that come upon Babylon. "He was but one when I called him." You ought to be able to stand up as an individual, with just you and God. Don't submit to peer pressure, because this is something that's all-important that has eternal consequences. That's the test for you: Do you walk with God, or do you walk with peers? "I blessed him by making him many." He was only one individual, to begin with, but then he had a son called Isaac. Isaac had a son called Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons. They had many sons. Pretty soon there was a whole nation, a multiple entity. The Lord multiplied him. That is a covenant blessing, to have offspring. And that blessing is also assured anybody who does the works of Abraham and responds to the Servant and comes out of Babylon, prior to the destruction. 51:3 For the Lord is comforting Zion, bringing solace to all her ruins; he is making her wilderness like Eden, her desert as the garden of the Lord. Joyful rejoicing takes place there, thanksgiving with the voice of song. Now we have land. We had posterity and now we have land. What kind of land? Just the old land that we left? No. It's a new paradise; he's making her wilderness like Eden, the "desert as the garden of the Lord." When does he do this? At the very time that the people respond to the Servant's call, and come out from among wickedness, in an exodus and a wandering in the wilderness—that wilderness turns into Eden. Even the desert blossoms and becomes a new paradise. So Isaiah is drawing on the ancient paradise as a type for the future paradise. The rebuilding of the ruins is implied here. We see that motif quite a few times, later on. He comforting Zion. Remember that passage about comforting Zion and Jerusalem, in chapter forty, verse one? That beings the mission of the Lord's Servant. The Servant heralds good tidings. Good tidings are that the people of the Lord who have suffered these covenant curses for so long, now they need to do is to repent and renew the covenant relationship, then they may be comforted and blessed. Comfort is a covenant blessing. In chapter forty, verse one, again: " Comfort and give solace to my peoples, says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem. Announce to her that she has served her term, that her guilt has been expiated." This begins a new period of time. It begins the reversal of circumstances in which the ruins will be restored, the wilderness will blossom, enemies will be put down, the exile will now lead to the return from exile, and the disinheritance will become inheritance, and sadness will become joy. Joyful rejoicing takes place there, thanksgiving with the voice of song, whereas there was very little to be joyful about; there were only trials, difficulties, and afflictions. Chapter thirty-five, verse ten says, "They have joy and gladness when sorrow and sighing flee away." So first will come sorrow and sighing, humiliation and disgrace. Then will come the very opposite. The exodus through the wilderness will be a very joyful event. Wouldn't it be, if you found yourself involved in that event, knowing that the rest of the world was condemned and experiencing destruction? I think I'd jump for joy to be there and sing songs of praise and thanksgiving. 51:4 Listen to me, my people; give heed to me, O my nation: The law shall go forth from me; my precepts shall be a light to the peoples. Then, suddenly, I will act: Now the Lord is speaking to his covenant people, asking them to listen and give heed--to what? To his law. "My law shall go forth from me. My precepts shall be a light to the people." Up to that point they haven't heard the law; they're not familiar with God's precepts. They had the precepts of men the laws of men which governed them which had been imposed upon them. So, for those covenant people it will be a whole new thing. It will be like Israel in the wilderness when Moses taught them the law from on high. They hadn't experienced such a thing before. They had been born and raised in bondage; what did they know about the law of God? Nothing. Only, this time it is the Lord's people, his nation among all the peoples, scattered among all peoples. So the gathering is a worldwide event. It's going to be very interesting when that scenario plays itself out, to see the mission of the Lord's Servant being fulfilled among all nations. Who could come and do such a thing? The angel from the east, one who has participated in the creation of the world who is, literally, a God. "The law shall go forth from me; my precepts shall be a light to the peoples." Here there is another definition of what a light is. The light is the precepts and ordinances of God. They are a light. If you observe them you will become enlightened. The law of his covenant is a light if you live it. The Servant has done that; he has lived it. He begins to personify that light, to the degree that he lives it. So does anybody; he can also be called a light. Christ called himself the light, in the New Testament. He said, "I am the light and the life of the world." It's because he's filled with light and all light dwells in him and he responds to God's light, perfectly, and he transmits the light. And he himself is his own self-generated light. "Then suddenly I will act," at the time the law goes forth. 51:5 My righteousness shall be at hand and my salvation proceed; my arms shall judge the peoples—the isles anticipate me, awaiting my arm. There, again, we have the pairing of righteousness and salvation. First righteousness comes, and then salvation comes. Salvation will proceed--in other words, physical deliverance--on the heels of spiritual conversion. That will proceed as soon as righteousness is established, or comes. That begins with the mission of the Lord's Servant who personifies righteousness, who establishes righteousness among the people. As they respond to the Servant, they become followers of Righteousness. They become righteous, by the Lord's definition, not by their own definition of righteousness. And then Salvation can come to them—not to others. And here, Righteousness and Salvation appear in parallel—not in synonymous parallelism—but a complimentary parallelism. And they are summed up in the next line, as God's "arms"-- the two arms of God: Righteousness and Salvation. Now, usually the arms embrace. Here, however, it says they judge the peoples; "the isles anticipate me, awaiting my arm." The arms, here, suggest intervention. There is a day of judgment in which God intervenes in the affairs of his people and judges them. He condemns the wicked and delivers the righteous, or saves them. Then he will embrace them in his arms when they respond to him. "The isles anticipate me, awaiting my arm." Those in the isles, in particular, await his arm. Meaning the coming of the first arm, the one who teaches the law and the precepts, along with the law and word of God. There are those in the isles, anticipating the coming of the arm of God, or the intervention of God, through his Servant. They are awaiting the coming of the Servant, in effect. And if they were not anticipating him, he couldn't come because there would not be enough faith that such a thing could happen. When Christ came, the first time, there was a least a representative group of people among the Jews who were hoping for the Deliverer, to come, who were hoping for the coming of the Messiah, who like in the days of Moses hoped to see the Deliverer come, and not die until he had come. Right at the beginning of the New Testament there are those individuals there, at the temple who witnessed Christ, or who pronounced something up the Christ child who said, something to the effect: "Mine eyes have seen the Deliverer. Mine eyes have seen the Salvation of Israel." And so it is with the Servant. There are those who are watching for the signs of the coming of the Lord, including that coming of the forerunner of the Lord, his Servant. And when that kind of faith exists out there, then God sends him. God does nothing until there is that kind of faith, or anticipation. If nobody could care less then he won't come. With people in general who couldn't care less then he wouldn't come. Also, the word judge is a word link, because in the book of Isaiah there are two who judge. The Lord judges--he's called The Judge—and the Servant judges. In chapter eleven, and other places, he judges. There are those two who judge. That's another way you can know who he's talking about. He's talking about the Lord who personifies Salvation, and his Servant who personifies righteousness who are the two arms of God, and they judge the peoples. The Servant judges them in the Lord's name, or in the name of the Lord. That's why the Servant can put down the idolaters. That's why he has power over the Babylonians. That's why he can rebuke the United Nations. That's why he can do all the things that he does—because he comes in the name of the Lord. He is sent by the Lord himself who commissions him, who calls him, chooses him, empowers him and prospers him. 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens; look on the earth beneath: the heavens shall vanish as by smoke, the earth wear out like a garment—its inhabitants shall die in the manner of vermin. But my salvation shall be everlasting; my righteousness shall never fail. Yuck. Vermin, like lice, can die overnight, huge quantities of them, millions of them. Have you ever them swarming? Have you ever seen lice swarming in a chicken coop or somewhere, and a frost can come along and kill them all off in one night? That's how they die, in the manner of vermin. It's all the inhabitants of the earth. All, that is who don't respond to the Servant's mission, or summons. All who are not, in some measure, righteous in God's eyes. When will the heavens vanish as by smoke, and the earth wear out like a garment? In the time of destruction, the calamity, the catastrophe that overtakes Babylon, or the world. " But my salvation shall be everlasting; my righteousness shall never fail." Here, we have salvation and righteousness reversed, because by that time the righteous will have been saved. They were righteous, so they were saved. And that salvation is not just temporary. It's not just until the next calamity comes along, or until the next cycle of wickedness and repentance, then deliverance, happens. It is everlasting from then on, because the whole earth system changes into a different entity. There will be no more mortality. There will be no more things wearing out. There will be no more ascendancy of the wicked. They will not appear on the earth anymore. But my salvation shall be everlasting; my righteousness shall never fail." What happens to the Servant after the Lord comes? Is he going to go away? No. He's going to be there, too. Righteousness and Salvation will both remain, all the way through the Millennium and the time beyond. 51:7 Hear me, you who know righteousness, O people in whose heart is my law: Now, do you notice the progression between verse one and verse seven? Verse one talks about the followers of righteousness, who are seekers of the Lord who looked to Abraham and started doing the things he did, who heeded the law of God and obeyed his precepts, and so forth. When they do that, what happens? "Hear me, you who know righteousness, O people in whose heart is my law" They had acquired a measure of righteousness, by now. They have a covenant relationship. The words, "to know" is a covenant term. Adam knew his wife, Eve, and she conceived and bore a son. And now they have a covenant relationship with the Servant, or with the Lord, through the Servant who's the mediator of the covenant. In chapter fifty-five, verse five it says, of the Servant who's appointed as a witness, prince, and lawgiver to the nations: "You will summon a nation that you did not know. A nation that did not know you will hasten to you." So when the Servant first begins his mission people don't know him; the people of God don't know him. Just as the people of God didn't know Moses when he first began his mission. But gradually, as they began to see God began working through Moses, they began to know him and who he was. Then Moses became the mediator of God's covenant with his people. And so it is, here. By this time, after their acceptance of the law and so forth, they know him. They know Righteousness. But, of course, they also know righteousness itself, what it is to be righteous in God's eyes and how to observe his commandments, to obey his word, and so forth, all the way through. "O my people in whose heart is my law." His law has now sunk deep into their hearts, because they have assimilated it by are obeying it. They follow God's precept and it has begun to work in them, to have a good effect in them. But, what happens when they do that, or anybody does that? 51:7–8 Do not fear the reproach of men; be undaunted by their ridicule. For the moth shall consume them like a garment; moths shall devour them like wool. But my righteousness shall endure forever, my salvation through endless generations. When you know righteousness, and the law is in your heart, you are going to meet opposition and persecution. It's for sure. And if you're not receiving persecution, maybe it's because you haven't gotten that far yet. "Do not fear the reproach of men; be undaunted by their ridicule." They reproach the Servant; they ridicule him. They spit in his face. They pluck out his beard. They mar him, eventually, and it gets worse and worse as time goes on. And so they do to those who follow the Servant, or those who are in a covenant relationship with God, through the Servant. They do the same to them. And here's another instance that shows that what happens to him happens to them. And Jesus said, too, of his followers, in the New Testament—did he not-- that "as they have done to me, they will do to you." "My righteousness shall endure forever, and my salvation through endless ages." Those two will remain, forever. If you are righteous there will always be salvation for you, throughout endless ages. It continues. And there are various degrees of righteousness, of course. To ascend to a Zion level, from an Israel level, requires obedience to certain law, to covenant keeping. To ascend to a Zion level, to becoming a servant son of God requires a higher law. It requires being faithful to God under all conditions. To ascend from being a son and servant of God, to being a seraph, requires even greater law, a greater degree of righteousness. So there are different levels of righteousness. And they endure forever, because progression, or a spiritual ascent upward, endures forever and ever. It goes on and on and on and on. Isaiah, himself, establishes that pattern, in his book. But what happens when they do that, if anybody does that: "Do not fear the approach of men; be undaunted by their ridicule. For the moth shall consume them like a garment; moths shall devour them like wool." "But my righteousness shall endure forever and my salvation through endless generations." Those two will remain forever. If you're righteous there will always be salvation for you, throughout endless ages, continues. And there are various degrees of righteousness, of course. To ascend to a Zion level from an Israel level requires certain law, covenant keeping. To ascend from a Zion level to becoming a servant and son of God required a higher law; requires good and faithful to God under all conditions. To ascend from being a son and servant of God to being a seraph requires a greater law, a greater degree of righteousness. So there are different levels of righteousness and they endure forever because, progression to a spiritual ascent upward, endures forever. It goes on and on and on and on. Isaiah himself establishes that pattern in his book. 51:9 Awake, arise; clothe yourself with power, O arm of the Lord! Bestir yourself, as in ancient times, as in generations of old. Was it not you who carved up Rahab, you who slew the dragon? The arm that is sent intervene, whom the isles were awaiting, who taught the law to his people, who is a light to them, now can do his work physically in delivering the people. In Isaiah's scenario, the people first have to respond to the law and the word of God, and magnify it; and then God can intervene on their behalf and deliver them, save them, physically. So righteousness before salvation. As Israel anciently apostatized spiritually and was physically exiled, so in the end of time they have to be spiritually converted in order to be physically restored. And that physical deliverance will happen when they do that. Awake, arise, clothe yourself with power, O arm of the Lord. This is the endowment of power that comes upon the Lord's servant, who is the arm of the Lord, through whom the Lord intervenes in the affairs of His people to deliver them. And that arm has to awake and arise. That's a resurrection motif. It's also a motif denoting new-birth, or spiritual awakening on a higher level of the spiritual ladder. When the servant is empowered he ascends from being the Lords servant and son to the lever of a seraph, on which level Moses was. Moses had power over the elements; that was more than King Hezekiah had. Here it's saying that: at certain point when the servant passes his test and he also suffers the ridicule and disappointment of failure or of seeming failure, and so forth, then the Lord's going to empower him, and it's going to be like coming out of Egypt. When that kind of power is manifested through Moses, so that power will be manifested again, in the servant. Destroy yourself as in ancient times, as in generation of old, in days of Moses. Was it not you who carved up Rahab, you who slew the dragon? Rahab was a ??? for Egypt, or pharaoh in Egypt. The dragon meaning the power of chaos, a demon, something that threatens the safety of God's people. And the servant is given power of the forces of chaos. 51:10 Was it not you who dried up the Sea, the waters of the mighty deep, and made of ocean depths a way by which the redeemed might pass? In the exodus out of Egypt; and that's the kind of power we are talking about. So we've learned to repeat in latter times what happened anciently, that lends substance to the expression when the Lord says that I was at the first and I will be at the last. What happens at the last will be happened at the first. There will be a new exodus, patterned after the old exodus in Egypt. 51:11 Let the ransomed of the Lord return! Let them come singing to Zion, their heads crowned with everlasting joy; let them obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing flee away. While the word for return is also the word for repent so the ones who return physically during the exodus are the ones who repent. Let them come singing to Zion. Well, Zion is also a place, besides being a people; it is where those who are on the level of Zion dwell, and that dwelling place is the new paradise. It's a stage up from what we have now; it's a degree higher than the Israel-Jacob level. The physical manifestation being of a spiritual reality. Let them come singing to Zion, their heads crowned with everlasting joy. Let them obtain joy and gladness when sorrow and sighing flee away. The sorrows and the sighing come because of sins, because of wickedness, because of ridicule and reproach, and because of not getting very far, because of waiting for the Lord through hard times, through all kinds of afflictions and the refiners fire. And finally there comes a turn-around, and that sadness turns to gladness; sorrow to joy. It almost seems like right up the last minute things don't look good. The Lord has to empower His servant just before the exodus in order to bring this exodus about, but before that time he and his followers are going through hell. They're meeting with opposition and reproach from all sides. But then comes that turn-around; then comes that reversal of their circumstances that the wicked never expected. 51:12 I myself am your Comforter. Who are you that you fear mortal man, the children of men who shall be turned to grass? In the New Testament that would be called the second comforter, the first comforter being the Holy Spirit of God – Holy Ghost. And then there is that other comforter, another comforter, Jesus said He would send, which is Himself, here. I myself am your comforter. Who are ye that ye fear mortal man, the children of men that shall be turned to grass. Who are threatening you with destruction, are tormenting you by lording it over you unjustly. You realize the comforter can't come until that situation arises. How do you think men anciently saw God? Do you think they were just walking along the street and suddenly God appeared? No, they had gone through all kinds of tests and trials, through the refiners fires, as these people are, then they could be comforted. Then once having been comforted in that way, once having been empowered of God, that empowerment stayed. And that's how they progressed, that's how they ascended higher. In order to ascend higher, you must first descend through the trails that are commensurate with that degree of ascent. The degree of descent is commensurate with the degree of ascent. If you want to be exalted you have to first be humiliated to the degree that you want to be exalted, and be willing to suffer that for God's sake, in His service, in His cause. And the servant is willing to do that, and those who follow him are willing to do that. You have to go into that situation with your eyes open, and not say 'huh, I didn't knot that was gonna happen'; you go into it knowing that it's going to be rough. Who are ye that ye fear mortal man, the children of men that shall be turned to grass. When will they be turned to grass, which is the chaos motif, or to the weeds that are burnt in the fire? We saw in Chapter 37 that the wicked are like weeds on the roof that scorch before they grow up and never mature. They will be turned to grass when that tyrant destroys them; that's the context of Chapter 37. He burns them up. 51:13 Have you forgotten the Lord, your Maker—who suspends the heavens, who sets the earth in place—that you go all day in constant dread of the oppressor's rage as he readies himself to wreak destruction? What is there to the wrath of the oppressor? What is there to the wrath of the oppressor? Here we have a very threatening situation. God, the maker of Heaven and Earth, who suspends the heavens, who sets the earth in place, remember, it's a place for the habitation of His people, as a place where they can grow, progress, and ascend, to become exalted beings (chapter 40). It is the God who empowers His servant, like Moses. And when you are there with Moses, do you have to worry about anything? Do you have to worry about all those Philistines, and about the Amalekites and the Canaanites? Certainly not! But there will be a point when there is this oppressor, in terms of rage and wrath clue you in to who that oppressor is. It's the King of Assyria. And he is getting himself to wreak his kind of destruction - world wide destruction by fire and by the sword – a Sodom and Gomorrah type of destruction. And he is going to do that and he is getting ready, and he has started to rattle his sabers, his missiles, whatever it may be, and everybody's standing there with their knees shaking – the wicked are anyway, because they realize now He has the power to do it, too. Is that the response of the Lord's people? No! It's a test for them. It's another test of faith. Who are you, that you fear mortal man when the Lord Himself is your comforter? Why should you fear this tyrant? God is more powerful than them all. He says in chapter 54 "It is I who create the smiths" which is the tyrant "who fans the flaming coals, forging weapons to suit His purpose, is I who create the ravager to destroy. Whatever weapon is devised against you, it shall not succeed, every tongue that rises against you, you shall refute." This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. You don't need to fear this guy, this Hitler, this Stalin, this Darth Vader all rolled into one. Chapter 41 verse 12: Should you look for those who contend with you, you shall not find them, whoever wars against you shall be reduced to nothing. All who are enraged at thee shall earn shame and disgrace or ??? shall come to naught and perish. They'll be here today, gone tomorrow. The terms dread, rage, wrath, depression, destruction, all of those linked to the King of Assyria. 51:14 Soon now shall he who is bowed down be set free; he shall not die as those destined for the Pit, neither shall he want for food. Meaning, at this very time, when this oppressor is going to wreak his world-wide destruction, is the very time when the Lord will release those who are now bowed down, those who are oppressed. His own people who are in bondage. They're not going to go down into the pit, in that same destruction that the king of Assyria is orchestrating, they will come out in exodus like Lot did, on the eve of the destruction, come out of the destruction. Neither shall he want for food because that would be a covenant curse. When the Lord delivers them in the exodus He will also provide for them, food and drink. 51:15 It is I the Lord your God, whose name is the Lord of Hosts, who stir up the Sea so that its waves roar. I, the Lord. That is one who has a covenant relationship with you) whose name is The Lord of Hosts (the Lord who can access all the powers of heaven) who stirs up the sea so that it's waves roar (the sea being the King of Assyria, power of chaos). The Lord uses that king as a His instrument, He commissions him (chapter 10). He stirs him up against the wicked so that he does that destruction through the Lords instrumentality. The roaring of the waves in the sea, and so on, is the power of chaos, and we saw that that links to chapter 5 verse 30, which says "He shall be stirred up against them in that day even as the sea is stirred up." Talking about the King of Assyria and his army, the proceeding verses, and the Lord stirred up, is another link to the King of Assyria in chapter 37 verse 28, which says, "I know your comings and goings and how stirred up you are against Me." And then in chapter 17 the king of Assyria does this destruction with the help of an alliance of wicked nations, and they are likened to the sea in commotion. "Woe to the many people within an uproar" chapter 17 verse 12, "who rage like the raging of the seas, tumultuous nations and commotions like the turbulence of mighty waters." Even though we are in chapter 51, where the King of Assyria in not mentioned directly by name, we have had all of these word links and metaphors linking these chapters to the King of Assyria. One of the problems scholars had with the Book of Isaiah is that these chapters are supposed to be talking about Israel in exile a hundred years after Assyria, the time Babylon was in power, yet are all these rhetorical links to the King of Assyria, which they haven't seen or don't even recognize. 51:16 I will put my words in your mouth and shelter you in the shadow of my hand, while I replant the heavens and set the earth in place, that I may say to Zion, You are my people. Again, we have a two fold scenario, we have the sea roaring, all stirred up, the wrath of the oppressor, the destruction that he causes, the dread, everybody is in dread of him on the on hand, that is among the wicked, and among the righteous, quite a different scenario. They are going to be sheltered in the shadow of His hand, His words are going to be in their mouth. The King of Assyria, in chapter 13, is the one who is responsible for the Earth being jarred out of place. The Earth will be jarred out of place by the anger of the Lord of Hosts in the day of his blazing wrath, it says in chapter 13. The Earth, while it goes out of orbit, will be set back in place, perhaps in a new orbit, but it will be set back in a proper orbit. He will set the Earth in place after it's been displaced, and there will be new heavens, of course, because there will be a new configuration of stars at that time, that I may say to Zion, you are my people. Meaning my covenant people, meaning that at that time when they keep covenant with Him, He does these things for them, He shelters them, endows them with His words. The shadow of His hand is the protection that they receive through the agency of the Lord's servant, who is the Lord's right hand and delivers them. The shelter and the shadow are also word links to chapter 4 which talks about the cloud of glory, sheltering the Lord's people in its shadow, which implies that through the servant's instrumentality they receive divine protection, just like they did through Moses in the wilderness. When they followed Moses into the wilderness then the cloud of glory covered them and protected them. I will put my words in your mouth, meaning they themselves will have inspiration, but also the servant has revelation for them. He is the Lord's mouth or mouthpiece to His people at that time. 51:17 Rouse yourself; awaken and rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the Lord's hand the cup of his wrath, drinking to the dregs the bowl of stupor. Now as he wakes and arises, so do they – what he does, they do. Now all of these linking ideas establish the pattern that he's their exemplar – he's their model they follow. And when they do that they become like him, and they receive the same blessings he receives, they ascend the spiritual ladder as he ascends the spiritual ladder. When do they wake up and arise? They awake and arise on a lower level, of course, because the servant is sent to minister to them, he is on a higher level than they are; those who are above minister down to those who are below. They have been on the Israel and Jacob level. They have been subject to the Lord's wrath. They have been made drunk by His hand, His left hand, the hand of punishment, the King of Assyria who is the Lord's wrath and hand. They are now being delivered from that, and they are becoming a Zion people, or a Jerusalem level people. They are the ones who have finished paying off the debt of the covenant curses that have come upon them. And as they do so and as they respond to the summons of the Lord and His servant, they ascent the spiritual ladder. 51:18 There was none to guide her among all the children she bore, none to take her by the hand of all the sons she reared. This is among the wicked, now. Among the wicked who reject the light there is no one to guide. They are left to themselves. 51:19 Twofold calamity has befallen you: desolation, ruin—and who laments you? famine, the sword—and who consoles you? Again, we have the two fold phenomenon. There are those who respond, who rise up and awaken, for whom things turn around. And there are those who don't respond, who don't wake up, who don't have any guidance and that remain in that condition. They remain under a curse. Desolation, ruin, famine, the sword – all covenant curses. The sword also meaning the Lord's instrument of destruction, the King of Assyria – He lord's it over them. No one laments them, no one consoles them, there's no mercy there, they come under the law of justice because they don't repent. 51:20 Your children lie in a faint at the corner of every street, taken in a net like bison. They have their fill of the wrath of the Lord, of your God's angry rebuke. The ones who don't respond to the Lord's summons to the servant of the Lord, who don't participate in the exodus, are left in the power of the King of Assyria. That's the great day of his power. Now they are in his power. They had their chance to repent, they did not, so they sealed upon themselves their own condemnation. 51:21 Now therefore hear this, O wretched one, drunk, though not with wine. 51:22 Thus says the Lord, your Lord and God, who defends the cause of his people: I am taking the cup of stupor from your hand; you shall drink no more from the bowl of my wrath. 51:23 And I give it into the hand of your tormentors, those who said of your life, Lie prostrate that we may go over you—so that you made your back as the ground, a mere thoroughfare to passers-by. Here we have a people who are not delivered in the exodus but are subjected to the King of Assyria's powers, and oppression, his authority. Who after enough of that are also delivered. We have those who come under a covenant curse because they did not repent in time and did not participate in the exodus, who suffer the day of judgment, who suffer the ravages of the King of Assyria, the cup of stupor in His hand, the bowl of His wrath, the hand of the tormentor, (all those are metaphors, hand, wrath) but somehow survive through it. These are not the very wicked whom the King of Assyria destroys, these are an intermediate, the semiprecious category who never the less survive. And for them too, there will come an end of covenant curses, because those very afflictions will have a refining effect upon them, by the time the day of judgment is over, they too will become a refined group of people. Not on the same level as the people of Zion, but nevertheless an intermediate level that also lives through that time and is saved indirectly, without God's direct intervention. And there will be a reversal of circumstances for them when He gives the cup of stupor of bowl of wrath into the very hands of those who dished it out, so that what they did to others now happens to them. What the King of Assyria and his people did to the people of God is now done to them. And there again we have humiliation, lie prostrate so that we may go over, so that you made your back as the ground a mere thoroughfare to passers by. They were a down trodden people, people walked all over them, did whatever they wanted with them, they were like slaves to them. They suffered this affliction, this humiliation. Finally, when they have come out of it, their lot will be improved also.