49:1  Hear me, O isles; listen, you distant peoples: The Lord called me before I was in the belly; before I was in my mother’s womb, he mentioned me by name.

This is another Servant passage. “Hear me, O isles; listen, you distant peoples.” Read somewhat through chapter 48: 16. “ Come near me, and hear this. I have not made predictions in secret.” You see the shift, here, from the Lord speaking about his servant to the servant beginning to speak up, more. He’s beginning to assert himself, or assert his mission that the Lord has commissioned him with. Chapter forty two’s a Servant passage, but it begins with the Lord speaking about his Servant. This is a Servant passage very similar to chapter forty two , but, here, the servant himself is speaking: “ Hear me, O isles, listen, you distant people,” because the Lord has commissioned him to all of the nations of the world. Chapter forty two says, “him I have endowed with my spirit. He will dispense justice to the nations. “ He’s to bring about justice in the earth, in chapter forty two, verse four. He’s created and appointed to be a covenant for the people, a light to the nations, 42:6. The ends of the earth are involved, there. He’s commissioned to the united nations, even, as we saw, in chapter 43:9

So, the Lord “called me before I was in the belly. Before I was in my mother’s womb he mentioned me by name,” very similar to what Jeremiah says, as everything in Isaiah says has some type of precedent in the past. Jeremiah was called, before the womb, before the belly, for his particular mission, which was to “uproot and to plant. “ –to uproot the present system, and to plant a new one in its place. And in Jeremiah’s day, what happened? There was a day of judgment and the wicked of Israel were destroyed, taken captive. The mentioning by name is also a choosing, or a covenantal calling. Now, the Servant is called by name, in other places, as well. He’s “grasped by the right hand,” in chapter forty five, verse one, and he’s “called by name,” in 45:4.

49:2  He has made my mouth like a sharp sword—in the shadow of his hand he hid me. He has made me into a polished arrow—in his quiver he kept me secret.

plying, that for a time, this person is kind of unknown. He’s hidden. Remember, when the Lord says things go along, and suddenly he acts? And this is one of the things he does, suddenly, is the mission of the Lord’s Servant. Perhaps, because if it were known about him the forces of evil would try to destroy him. He’s called a polished arrow. An arrow is a destructive weapon, that, in this case, is going to be used against who? Against the Babylonians, right? “His arm shall be against the Chaldeans., it says in 48:14. And, there we have the metaphors, mouth, sword, and hand, also. “He’s made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand he hid me.” He is the Lord’s mouth, on one level, in the book of Isaiah–that’s a metaphor describing him. He’s also a sword that destroys the wicked. The king of Assyria is also a sword; he’s also the fire; we saw that. He’s also the Lord’s hand. That’s on one level. And yet you can read it literally as making his mouth a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand, hiding. It depends on which level you read that. You want to read it as metaphors, then you can read it like that. And if you want to read it as literal, you can read it like that.

49:3  He said to me, You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

Now he calls him Israel. And yet, there is a corporate servant, Israel, because in verse six it says, “ It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob to restore those preserved of Israel. The servant’s mission is to Jacob, or Israel, to bring them up from that level, on the spiritual level, to the Zion level. Then, why does he call him Israel, here? Is he talking about the corporate servant or the individual servant? Is he talking about the nation, as a whole, of Israel, or of this individual servant?

All the way through, here, these verses are talking about the individual servant and he’s calling him Israel because he personifies his people who is called Israel to begin with, Jacob. And when was Jacob called Israel? Right from the beginning? No. He was called Israel when he passed his test of loyalty and he was given a new name and he rose to a higher level. So, that implies that the servant, at some point, passes his test of loyalty and is given a new name. And that name, in this case, represents all of Israel, or the corporate entity, Israel. He personifies them in his person . And that’s a very prophetic idea in the Old Testament. It’s a very common idea that the individual goes through the motions that the corporate entity does. What he does, they do. So, it’s another way of saying that he’s their exemplar.

“You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” Well, whoever fulfills a mission on behalf of the Lord, in serving God, glorifies God, right? And the corporate Israel can do that, too. That’s why he gives Israel his glory. ( That’s in chapter forty six.) He gives them his glory when they glorify God. They glorify him and then he sheds his glory upon them, in the sight of the nations. What was the servants test?

49:4  I had thought, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose! Yet my cause rested with the Lord, my recompense with my God.

His test was that he wasn’t getting anywhere. And it required a real act of faith, to continue. The Lord called and commissioned him, and he started laboring and serving the Lord, and it just didn’t come to anything. He spent his whole strength, just like king Hezekiah was cut off in the prime of life. It’s that kind of scenario where he just spends his energies until he doesn’t have any more, and he’s not getting the support that he was looking for. Where’s the parallel in that? Where’s the type of that in the past? Moses, in Egypt, right? What do they say to Moses, in the beginning? “Who are you? What do you think you can do?” He met with opposition when he started to work among the slaves in Egypt and tried to deliver them. He says, “My cause rested with the Lord, my recompense with my God.” He left that part of it, his success, up to the Lord. The Lord said, just a minute ago, that he would prosper his way, right? “I, Myself, have spoken it, and also called him, I’ve brought him; I will prosper his way.” So he has to trust in that, that at some point he will prosper his way, even though it doesn’t have a good beginning. In fact, in chapter fifty-two he’s marred. He meets with opposition to such an extent that people mar him, trying to destroy him.

49:5  For now the Lord has said—he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to restore Jacob to him, Israel having been gathered to him; for I won honor in the eyes of the Lord when my God became my strength—

So, here we have a transition from the weak state to the empowered state. We have a reversal of circumstances that happens for the Servant, as it later on will happen for the Lord’s people. They experience a reversal of circumstances, from a state of weakness, or bondage, to sitting on their thrones-- to an exalted state as his servants. Everyone experiences a reversal of circumstances in the end of days. Babylon experiences a reversal of circumstances. She’s exalted now, she’s in power, she has all authority–then she becomes a non-entity. And it starts off with the Servant. He labors in vain, or he thinks and feels like he’s laboring in vain: he spends a ll his strength for nothing? He, himself, has to keep reminding himself that the Lord did call him from the womb to be his servant, to restore Jacob. What does it mean to restore Jacob? It means to restore them from their scattered and captive state, out of exile in the world, at large, to bring them back to Zion, on an exodus from the four directions of the earth, as we saw in chapter eleven, to reconstitute them as the people of God, to renew the covenant of God with them, as Moses did with the children of Israel in the wilderness. That’s restoration of Jacob, to restore Jacob to the Promised land, to them on a wandering through the wilderness to the Promised land, and there to give them lands of inheritance. That’s all part of the restoration of Jacob. And it is the Jacob/Israel level he’s called to, the lesser level of the Lord’s people, those who are his covenant people but who are not yet observing the laws of the covenant.

Before there can be a physical restoration, there has to be a spiritual conversion. Correct? They can’t inherit the Promised land without keeping the law of the covenant that has to precede it; they have to merit that. That physical inheritance has to come on the heels of covenant keeping. It has to come as a covenant blessing. So, he has a big job ahead of him. He has to covert all these people to the God of Israel, from an idolatrous state, from a scattered and peeled condition, and far-flung places: the isles of the sea, nations of the world, at large. He has to convert them to the God of Israel, renew the covenant with them to qualify them for the physical blessing of coming on the Exodus, and inheriting the Promised land. What a job! No wonder he’s not getting anywhere! And yet, that’s his mission. His test is that he’s not getting anywhere, and he could give up, couldn’t he? But, instead of that, he’s faithful and serves the Lord with unweariness, even though his strength, it seems like to him, has all been spent.

“Israel having been gathered to him.” Now, that’s an interesting phrase , because the King James Version says, “ Israel shall not be gathered.” But the Hebrew word, Lob, means not, which is the same word that means, to him, Lob. It sounds the same. “Israel having been gathered to him, already. By the time he comes along there has already been a gathering of Israel. There has been a “pre-gathering,” you might say. “For I won honor in the eyes of the Lord when my God became my strength.” Instead of relying on his own strength, he overcame that idea, and made his God his strength. He made God his head; he made God lead him: “My covenant God, my God.” It’s a covenant relationship he has with his God. And at a certain point, when he passed the test, God empowered him. And that empowerment changes everything around, and from then on he becomes like Moses who had power over the elements, he had power to put down armies, to bring plagues, to bring water out of the earth. That power no nations of the world could withstand.

Once a man is endowed with that kind of power, then God can prosper him. It is through that power that God prospers him. So we see how he goes from a stage where he’s not prospered, where things don’t go well for him, to one where he is prospered and he is empowered., where God’s purposes will be fulfilled in him, as his servant, as it says in chapter forty six: “I speak and my purposes take effect. I will accomplish all my will. I summon a bird of prey from the east, from a distant land, a man who performs my counsel. What I have spoken I bring to pass. What I plan, I do. I’ve brought near my righteousness,” and so forth. So, at the time he empowers him he gives him an additional mission, or complimentary mission in connection with the gathering of Israel with Jacob.

49:6  he said: It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore those preserved of Israel. I will also appoint you to be a light to the nations, that my salvation may be to the end of the earth.

Not only those of those who have been born of the covenant lineages, but also, anybody can come. His mission is to anybody. The nations, the Goyim, the Gentiles, same word. “I will appoint him to be a light to the Gentiles, that my salvation may be to the end of the earth. “
The Lord’s salvation is himself. He personifies salvation, and he’s going to come to the earth to save his people at a critical time. And he’s going to come and rule among them in that great, Millennium of peace that is to come. And who’ll be included in that? Anybody may. If they’re not literal lineages they can still be adopted into the lineages. By now, anyway, the lineages of Israel are scattered far and wide. There are those who have been able to maintain their ethnic integrity, as Israelites among the nations, such as the Jews. And there are also those who are of mingled lineages of Israel who don’t know that they’re of the House of Israel, anymore . By now, the lineages of Israel are out there, mingled and diluted, and so there’s justification, even, for the Servant’s mission to the ends of the earth because they might still be invisible even though they are known as Gentiles.

He’s appointed as a light to the nations. He is the light. It’s a metaphor, like the other metaphors we’ve been seeing. And the light is a light that lights up the darkness. As we see in chapter fifty, verse ten, “Who among you fears the Lord and heeds the voice of his Servant? Though he walk in darkness and has no light, he trusts in the name of Lord and relies on his God.” A servant comes to light up the darkness of the wicked. We saw that, also, in chapter nine. In the ancient near east, kings were called the light of their people. “People walking in darkness have seen a bright light,” Isaiah 9:2. “On the inhabitants of the land of the shadow of death has the light dawned.” So, he comes to those who are the inhabitants in the land of the shadow of death, or people who are in darkness. That’s the whole purpose; he’s to convert people and bring them out of darkness into the light, the light of truth, the light of God, the light of his covenant. “That my salvation may be to the end of the earth,” that it may be universal. The Lord wants to include everybody in that salvation, not exclude any person, because he’s not a respecter of persons. If they will keep the conditions of the blessings of salvation they may come in and partake.

49:7  Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to him who is despised as a person, who is abhorred by his nation, a servant to those in authority: Rulers shall rise up when they see you, heads of state shall prostrate themselves, because the Lord keeps faith with you, because the Holy One of Israel has chosen you.

This was his trial. This was the Servant’s test. He was despised; he was abhorred by his own people, just like Christ was. But, this person’s mission is different. It’s like that of Christ. Christ is his exemplar. The Lord is his paradigm. And what he goes through, all those who follow that paradigm have to go through. It’s part of the way things are. In Isaiah there’s always humiliation before exaltation. There’s always suffering before salvation, the trial before the blessing, a mere servant to those in authority, on the lower echelon, nobody in particular, not somebody in a position of authority, himself, seemingly.

“Rulers shall rise up when they see you, heads of state shall prostrate themselves because the Lord shall keep faith with you, because the Holy One of Israel has chosen you.” What a reversal of circumstances that is! The one who was abhorred, despised, and looked down upon, people worship him, now. They bow down. They prostrate themselves. In Hebrew that’s worship. Now, why would people do that? The person who has that kind of power–as Moses had–if somebody came along, today, with that kind of power over armies, like those of Pharaoh, over the elements, over animals, over insects, over the sea, over waters, and over the earth, then, people who are not familiar with that kind of thing would think he was some kind of God, wouldn’t they?

“Because the Lord keeps faith with you.” The Lord keeps faith with you because you’ve kept faith with the Lord. When things looked bleak, you remained faithful; you fulfilled the word of God and kept his commandments. “Because the Holy One of Israel has chosen you.” He was called first: “The Lord called me before I was in the belly,” verse one. Now he’s chosen. The covenant has been confirmed with him. Now he’s endowed with power, permanently. God’s not going to take that away, as he did not take it away from Moses, either.

49:8  Thus says the Lord: At a favorable time I have answered you; in the day of salvation I have come to your aid: I have created you and appointed you to be a covenant of the people, to restore the Land and reapportion the desolate estates,

This is kind of a development on chapter forty two. Chapter forty two also mentions that he was appointed as a covenant of the people. There, it says, “ I have created you and appointed you to be a covenant for the people, a light to the nations: to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from confinement, from prison, those who sit in darkness.” That’s part of his mission. He’s empowered for a redemptive purpose. Not for his own, self-aggrandizement, but to deliver God’s people, to convert them, to bring them on the Exodus, to the wandering in the wilderness, to the promised land. And, when they get there, then what do they do? They need to restore the land and be apportioned the desolate estates.

When did the estates become desolate? They become desolate when the king of Assyria destroys them. While the Servant is performing his mission, the king of Assyria is also doing his thing of world conquest, destroying almost the whole world, Babylon, a world-wide entity. And when that destruction is all over, and the king of Assyria has served his purpose –or the king of Babylon who is the same person–then the Lord makes an end of that king. And what’s left is a destroyed world. And that is what the Servant portions out, to the elect, the people of Zion, a destroyed world. And that is what the Servant portions out to the elect, or the people of Zion.
Well, that’s not very nice, to get a destroyed world for an inheritance, is it? It is, when the whole world assumes a higher vibration and trees and flowers and herbs and vegetables and everything grows spontaneously. Isn’t it? It’ll all change. I wouldn’t mind inheriting the desolate estates, in that case, in rebuilding there, according to the Divine architecture of that time period, houses and estates. That is what Joshua did when Israel came into the Promised land. They came out of bondage in Egypt–signs and wonders, in an exodus through the sea, Pharaoh’s army was destroyed, a plague came upon the Egyptians, they renewed the covenant in the Sinai wilderness, wandered in the wilderness to the Promised land. And, there, they disinherited the nations who were there, the Canaanites. In the conquest, some of those places were destroyed.

And that is a scenario that the covenant people, in the last days, go through–the same scenario: they’re in some kind of bondage, they’re in some kind of darkness, they’re converted, they go on an exodus, the wicked are destroyed, plagues come upon Babylon, and while on the exodus all the while they are being instructed, renewing the covenant, inheriting the Promised land as a covenant blessing as a permanent inheritance all through the Millennium. Those inheritances were not to be sold, anciently. They remained in families and in clans.

49:9  to say to the captives, Come forth! and to those in darkness, Show yourselves! They shall feed along the way and find pasture on all barren heights;

Those are the ones who are going to inherit the desolate estates. The Servant’s mission, again, is to the captives, as it is in chapter forty two, the captives of Israel. From a state of captivity to one of permanent inheritances. They are completely free. “They shall feed along the way and find pasture on all barren heights.” That is the wandering in the wilderness, again, like a flock of sheep led along by the Shepherd, as in chapter sixty three, that I mentioned, led by Moses .

49:10  they shall not hunger or thirst, nor be smitten by the heatwave or the sun: he who has mercy on them will guide them; he will lead them by springs of water.

As they were not, when they were in the wilderness. When they needed to drink, Moses brought water out of the rock. When they were hungry, he brought the quail, or the manna. To hunger or thirst would be a covenant curse, but they’re a blessed people; the Lord provides for them. “Nor be smitten by oppressive heat or by the sun.” As the wicked are being smitten by oppressive heat, the fire that destroys them, Isaiah likens that to the fire that actually burns them up. But the cloud of glory will cover them over, and protect them from the sun and from all of the elements, as we saw in chapter four where it says, “the Lord will form a cloud by day and a mist glowing with fire by night. Above all that is glorious shall be a canopy, shall be a shelter, and a shade from the heat of the day, a secret refuge from the downpour and from rain.”

“He who has mercy on them will guide them; he will lead them by springs of water.” The water idea is all through these passages, as we’ve seen, because people are disbelieving, perhaps, that there’s going to water out there when they wander through that arid waste. And he keeps reassuring us with the fact that there will be water. They will be guided. Who guides them? All the Lord’s servants guide them, as Moses guided them. “Like a shepherd he passes his flock, the lambs he gathers up with his arm and carries in his bosom. The ewes that give milk he leads gently along,” in chapter forty, verse eleven.

“His arm presides for him.” The arm being the Lord. The “guiding” is a reference to the Exodus, specifically, and the wandering in the wilderness. It’s a word link. “Then his people recalled the days of Moses of old: Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who put into him his holy Spirit, who made his glorious arm proceed at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them making an everlasting name for himself when he led them through the deep? Like the horse of the desert, they stumbled not; like cattle descending the slopes of ravines, it was the spirit of the Lord that guided them. So thou didst lead thy people, O Lord, acquiring illustrious renown,” chapter 63:11-14.

49:11  All my mountain ranges I will appoint as roads; my highways shall be on high.

We can see the kinds of terrain that they come through. They come through the desert, where they’re protected, and they also come over mountain ranges; they will serve as roads. So, where you have mountain ranges expect them to be coming along through the tops of those mountains. “My highways shall be on high.” This idea of the highway we saw, in chapter thirty five, which was called ‘the way of holiness,” it was the way of return. It was the way by which the Redeemed would walk the paths, “coming singing to Zion, their heads crowned with everlasting joy,” chapter 35:9-10. The highway is also the route back from captivity, in chapter nine: “At the last he will exalt the sea route, by Jordan, and Galilee of the nations. And the people walking in darkness have seen a bright light.” They come back along the way that took them into exile. They’ll come back from captivity, to Zion.

49:12  See these, coming from afar, these, from the northwest, and these, from the land of Sinim.

We see, again, that it’s from all over the world. We’ve seen four directions–north, south, east and west, in chapter 11, and other places. The land of Sinim is the orient. Sinim is generally associated with China, but it can refer to the Orient, in general. So, just as the Servant comes from afar,–he comes from afar, like Abraham came from afar. “ The Lord has brought near his righteousness.” They were far from righteousness; the Servant comes from the east, from a land that is distant, a land who performs the Lord’s counsel. He says “these” come from afar, so “these” come far afar. They do what the Servant does. He’s their paradigm, in everything. If you were to take all of the things that the Servant does, all the way through the book of Isaiah, you’ll see that the righteous of Israel, or those who become Zion, do all the same things. Almost everything that he does, they do, as they begin to emulate him in keeping the covenant of the Lord. They become like him; they do what he does. And they inherit the same blessings that he does. Because, ultimately, the whole goal is to lift them, also, to an exalted level, which is the level that he’s on, now. He’s their paradigm. They can become like him, in every respect, if they will do what he does, if they’ll keep the same law that he does.

49:13  Shout for joy, O heavens; celebrate, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! The Lord is comforting his people, showing compassion for his afflicted.

It’s a worldwide event. It’s a universal event, it’s cause for rejoicing, it’s a song of salvation. The Lord is comforting his people, showing compassion for his afflicted. His covenant people is paralleled here with the afflicted. They first go through a stage of affliction, which comes about as a result of covenant breaking, in the past. Their covenant breaking has brought about a state of curse, a fallen state. “Fallen,” meaning from an exalted state to a lesser state. When Israel was exiled, anciently, for example–they fell. Then they must suffer the curses of the covenant , for a time, until that price has been paid, and then, if they repent, like Abraham, they can turn it around for themselves. They can bring about a reversal of their circumstances, from one of covenant curse, as in the days of Abraham of idolatrous lifestyle into which he was born-- when he turned it around it brought about a blessed state for himself and succeeding generations.
And that is the Lord, comforting. That idea goes back to chapter forty, verses one and two, which is cross referenced there, which says: “Comfort, and give solace to my people , says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem. Announce to her that she has served her term. Her guilt has been expiated. She has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” But now it’s over. It’s like a term of pregnancy. It come to an end, and there is a new birth. All the curses have been paid off; the guilt has been expiated. She has served her term.

49:14  But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.

Kind of like the Servant, right? He was wondering why he wasn’t getting anywhere. And, in his affliction it seemed like the Lord forsook him, too. That’s the test. But God does not forget. He keeps saying, over and over, that he does not forget. “Zion said, the Lord has forsaking me, my Lord has forgotten me.

49:15  Can a woman forget her suckling infant, or feel no compassion for the child of her womb? Although these shall forget, I will not forget you.

Which is what Israel is. We have already covered that, that God was actually the literal father of his people. “Though these shall forget, I will not forget you.” A mortal woman may forget the child of her womb, but not God.

49:16  See, I have engraved you on my palms; I have sealed you to be continually before me.

How did he seal them on his palms? With the piercing of his hands and feet. And those marks remain with him forever after, as a reminder of his people, for whom he suffered. He sealed them before him. The signs, tests, are to be faithful, as the servant was faithful through that ordeal, of seemingly being forgotten and forsaken, being in the situation of a covenant curse, being afflicted with all manner of oppressions at the hands of those in authority, as it says , and also the whole Babylon social structure. It’s oppressive to the Lord’s people; they’re showing no mercy, and so forth.

49:17  Your sons shall hasten your ravagers away—those who ruined you shall depart from you.

49:18  Lift up your eyes and look around you; with one accord they gather and come to you. As surely as I live, says the Lord, you shall adorn yourself with them all as with jewels, bind them on you as does a bride.

Your sons,” first of all, means covenant blessing, and it also implies a Promised land–people gather and coming to you where you already are. And the lands of inheritance that are given, that the Servant apportions when he restores the Promised land, implies covenant blessing. Land and offspring are the two fundamental blessings of the covenant. Instead of being scattered, now they gather home. Instead of being in a state of bondage, now they’re free. Instead of being weak and under others’ subjection, now they are the ones who are able to subject others.

“Your sons shall hasten the ravagers away. Those who ruined you shall depart from you.” It’s kind of a takeover by alien, or unfriendly powers who lorded it over you and destroyed your land. Now, you return and you have power over them. “You shall adorn yourself with them all,” those who return, that is, “ as with jewels,” jewels being a precious stones signifying an elect posterity. And the same imagery is used by Malachi when he says, “And those who feared the Lord spake often, one with another, and a book of remembrance was written of the things that they spoke.” He says, “these will I make my jewels,” when he comes. He says, “then you will discern between the righteous and the wicked , between him who serves God and him who does not serve him.” The righteous, meaning those who serve him, who are the jewels.

“Bind them on you as does a bride.” Here, we begin to see bride and bridegroom imagery creeping in. That return of the elect posterity of the Lord’s people, implies, again, a reversal of their circumstances. It’s a win/win situation, for both those at home and those abroad. It implies that there are already some who are at home who are already there who can welcome those who return from abroad . And, those who are abroad are glad to come because they were in a situation of bondage, out there. Those who are at home, who were oppressed, thought they were the only ones.

49:19  For your ruins and ravaged places, and your land laid waste, shall now be too small for your inhabitants, despite the departure of your devourers.

 “For your ruined and ravaged places, and your land laid waste,” by the king of Assyria, “ shall now be too small for your inhabitants, despite the departure of your devourers.” The devourers, the oppressors, were thrown out, the ravagers gotten rid of , and now, in that Promised land you’re multiplying and people are returning, so much, that the original Promised land is too small. Then, what do you do? You spread abroad.

49:20  The children born during the time of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, This place is too cramped for us; give us space in which to settle!

 “The children born during the time of your bereavement,” when you were alone, when you thought you were alone, when Israel was in exile, when you were not really part of a people of God, outcasts in society, perhaps “shall yet say in your ears, this place is too cramped for us; give us space in which to settle!”

49:21  And you will say to yourself, Who bore me these while I was bereaved and barren? I was exiled, banished; by whom were these reared? When I was left to myself, where were they?

I guess everybody might say that about themselves, in those days, who are people of God. There are scattered and peeled people all over the world. Little pockets here, little pockets, there. It’s not like it use to be when they were all one people, one language, and one nation of God. They had prophets and righteous kings. So, they went through a stage of bereavement and barrenness, which is exactly now what Babylon inherits, as we saw. She’s widowed and bereaved of children. While these get their children back. And there’s more children than anticipated. Because, out there in exile they were multiplying. And at some point, when God brings them home and makes them one nation, again, in the Promised land, there’ll be many of them, millions of them. This, then, is a reversal of the curse of exile.

49:22  Thus says my Lord the Lord: I will lift up my hand to the nations, raise my ensign to the peoples; and they will bring your sons in their bosoms and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

At the time of the Lord’s Servant, who is the hand, and the ensign, as we saw in chapter eleven–and this is very much like chapter eleven, verses ten through twelve-- at that time, the gathering will take place . Chapter eleven, verse ten says: “The sprig of Jesse, who stands for an ensign to the peoples shall be sought by the nations. In that day my Lord will again raise his hand to reclaim the remnant of his people, those who shall be left out of Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea. He will raise the ensign to the nations and assemble the exiled of Israel. He will gather the scattered of Judah from the four directions of the earth.” That’s the same idea here. That’s the mission of the Lord’s servant who is to restore Jacob, again, to him. He’s sent as a light to the nations. He’s a covenant of the peoples. And when that hand is lifted up, when that ensign is raised, that rallying standard, then the nations will bring your sons in their bosoms, and carry your daughters on their shoulders. Who will? The Gentiles will. Who are these Gentiles? Well, particularly the kings and queens of the Gentiles, as it says in verse twenty three:

49:23  Kings shall be your foster fathers, queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you, their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust of your feet. Then shall you know that I am the Lord, and that they who hope in me are not disappointed.

And they will be the ones who will bring about this restorative, gathering, work. We might ask ourselves, who are these kings and queens of the Gentiles ? Are they political kings and queens of the Gentiles? Are they the ones who are doing this gathering? Are they even interested? Most of the time they simply oppose the gathering of the Lord’s people. So, these kings and queens of the Gentiles will special ones. The mission of these kings and queens will be to be saviors of those who are scattered, of the House of Israel. And not just the men, but the women, too, will be involved in that missionary work.

“They will bow down before you, their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust of your feet. Then shall you know that I am the Lord , and that they who hope in me are not disappointed.” Who will lick the dust of their feet? Kings and Queens of the Gentiles, the ones who are foster fathers and mothers? The ones who are bringing them from exile? Surely not. There’s no indication that they’re the ones. They’re honorable people; why would they bow down and lick the dust? In Isaiah, only the wicked bow down before the people of God. That is really a covenant curse. Those who are part of the Restoration would not be the ones under covenant curse. They would be in a situation of covenant blessing which would enable them to do that work. Those who are under covenant curse cannot do anything of themselves.

“Then shall you know that I am the Lord,” because you’ll know the Lord. Isaiah makes it clear that this people will know him in that day. That “they who hope in me are not disappointed.” That is the test. Again, those who wait for the Lord, those who hope in the Lord–that’s the Servant’s test; that’s Israel’s test. Chapter forty, verse thirty-one makes clear that that leads to an exalted state, passing the test of hoping and waiting for the Lord in times of extreme trial. “But they that hope in the Lord shall be renewed in strength; they shall ascend as on eagle’s wings. They shall run without wearying; they shall walk and not faint.” So, those who hope in the Lord can receive the same exaltation, or the same empowered strength and state, as the Servant, himself. All the way through there is this motif of waiting for the Lord. And when the going gets rough you still hope; you still trust. You still believe. You still have faith.

49:24  Can the warrior’s spoil be taken from him, or the tyrant’s captives escape free?

The one who spoils in the book of Isaiah, who’s the tyrant, the wicked warrior, of course, is the king of Assyria. And he takes the world captive. He conquers the whole world, destroys most of it, and takes many captives, as we’ve already seen. And people say, “Well, who can stand up against him? “ There are those who say that, but God is more powerful than them all, of course, than this tyrant. The Lord says, in Verse 25:

49:25  Yet thus says the Lord: The warrior’s spoil shall indeed be taken from him, and the tyrant’s captives escape free: I myself will contend with your contenders, and I will deliver your children.

Yes, he may take some captive. He will take some captives, not the elect, not those who go on the Exodus, not the precious category, but, maybe the semi-precious category. Not the silver, the gold, or the jewels. But the others who remain on a lower level who will get their act together, at some point. The king of Assyria spoils the whole world, as we saw in chapter fourteen. He raids it, so to speak. He strips it of all the spoil. But when he, himself, is destroyed, what happens to the spoils? The same as what happened when the Assyrians besieged Jerusalem, in the days of king Hezekiah and the angel of the Lord smote them with a plague. In one night they all died. And these soldiers, warriors, were carrying upon their persons all the spoils of the whole world that they’d conquered. And the Israelites went and helped themselves to those spoils. “The warrior’s spoils shall, indeed, be taken from him,” in that way. “And the tyrant’s captives escape, free.” Who lets them go free? The Servant does. Because, after the king of Assyria is destroyed–or at the time he’s being destroyed–the Servant is reconquering the world on behalf of the Lord. The tyrant captures the whole world, or conquers it, and then the Servant reconquers it back, this time, for the Lord. The Tyrant does away with the borders of nations, and the Servant, in reconquering the world, makes the earth the Lord’s. He consecrates the whole world to the Lord himself. “I, myself, will contend with your contenders, and I will deliver your children.” God will be there. Remember he’s also a warrior, as we saw. He’s the paradigm of a warrior and he will deliver his children, or Zion’s children.

49:26  I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh; they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. And all flesh shall know that I the Lord am your Savior, that your Redeemer is the Valiant One of Jacob.

This is the great reversal of their circumstances , and reversal of the circumstances of the wicked who were in positions of power and they used their power to oppress, and now they’ll be drunk with their own blood. There we have several of the titles of the Lord : Savior, Redeemer, Valiant One of Jacob. And that, like the Holy One of Israel or Holy One of Jacob, is a title that we should emulate. Those who are saved are like him.