Two Servants of God

Division

1. v1-17: God Servant the Lord Jesus Christ
2. V18:25: God servant the nation of Israel

Exposition

• Isaiah 42:1-7 is the first of four “Servant Songs” in Isaiah, referring to God’s Servant, the Messiah. The others are 49:1-6. 50:1-11; and 52:13-53:12.
• Matthew quoted Isaiah 42:1-3 in Matthew 12:17-21, referring to Jesus. Clearly Isaiah was prophesying Christ in v1-17. Jesus Christ is the God chosen Servant whom God delight (v1).
• v1: [I will put my Spirit on Him]. Jesus’s ministry started with His baptism by the Holy Spirit.
• v2: [He will out shout or cry out or raise His voice in the street]. Peter told us in 1 Peter 2:23 [When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats.]
• v6: “You” here is referring to Christ. God is speaking directly to Christ.
• v6: [to be a covenant for the people]: Christ is the mediator of the new covenant (Heb 8:6)
• v6: Simeon saw baby Jesus and proclaim the fulfillment of this prophesy: Christ is the light to the gentiles (Luke 2:32). Jesus Himself said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
• v10-13: A song of praise to God.
• v14: God is speaking here. [I have been quiet..]: God has been quiet and waiting for the time He had set, to send His Son into this world. [But when he time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law] (Gal 4:4-5)
• v18-25: Isaiah turned from Christ God Chosen Servant to Israel, the Israel, who is also called servant. However this servant is spiritually blind and deaf.
• v24: [Was it not the Lord?] It was God who disciplined the Jews by using Babylon to destroyed Jerusalem and exiled them into foreign land. God is the righteous Judge, He is the loving father who does not enjoy but need to discipline His children who are blind and deaf to His voice.

The Rise of Cyrus

Background

• Cyrus is not named here, but he is named later in 44:28 and 45:1
• Armies from the east always entered Palestine from the north, since they had to follow the Euphrates River.
• Isaiah died 150 years before the days of Cyrus, yet here is a vision of Cyrus’s rapid conquest of the world, which is ascribed to the providence of God (v4). God promises protection for Israel (v8-20), and challenges the gods of the nations to show their ability to predict the future (v21-29).

Division

1. v1-7: The rise of Cyrus and the fear of the nations
2. v8-16: God strengthen the Jews, He promised He will help them
3. v17-20: God will turn the desert into garden
4. v21-29: God challenged to idols worshipers in the nations to bring in their idols to prophesy, in order to prove to them these idols are all false

Exposition

• v2-3: the “He” mentioned here is referring to Cyrus, the king of Persia.
• v21: [“Present your case”]: God is the Judge, the nations are the defendants in a court room. The case is God vs. idols.
• v25: [I have stirred up one from the north]. Referring to Cyrus. Cyrus had conquer Media before coming to Babylon.
• v29: The verdict of the case: [they are all false!].

Preparing the way for the Suffering Servant of Yahweh

Division

1. v1-11: Preparing the way for Good Tidings
2. v12-26: How Great Thou Art
3. v27-31: Soar on wings like eagels

Exposition

1. Preparing the way for Good Tidings (40:1-11)
   1. The voice of pardon (v1-2)
      1. God instructed Isaiah to comfort His covenant people who was in captivity in Babylon. They should feel comfort because their sin has been paid. A hint of deliverance will happen soon
      2. Our sin has been paid fully by Christ on the cross, that is the greatest comfort message in mankind!
   2. The voice of providence (v3-5)
      1. It is a practice of some monarchs in ancient time to send out herald to clear the road, straighten crooked ways, and level hills to prepare for the King to come.
      2. Israel return from Babylon to Canaan would not be an easy journey. They need to be prepared to handle these obstacles.
      3. All four gospel writers quoted these verses to refer to John the baptist (Matt 3:3, Mark 1:2-3, Luke 3:4-6, John 1:23). In John 1:23, John the baptist quoted these verses himself. He was preparing to way for the Lord (v3) Jesus Christ, who is God (v3). John asked people to repent and confess their sins to prepare their hearts of the King. When Jesus came, the glory of God will be revealed!
   3. The voice of promise (v6-8)
      1. The glory of God (v5) is contrast with the glory of men (v6).
      2. Assyrians, Babyron and all nations and people, no matter how great they were, would eventually perish like grass and flowers.
      3. James used the same illustration in James 1:10-11 to teach the folly of trusting in material wealth and Peter used the same illustration in 1 Peter 1:24-25 to compare the life of born again Christians vs. the life of non-believers.
      4. Isaiah compares the temporal life of men to the eternal Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Word of God.
   4. The voice of peace (v9-11)
      1. In ancient time, there is no electrical amplifiers and speakers to convey information. If you want to tell a message to a lot of people, you would go up to high places and shout out loud. Isaiah was giving good tidings to the Israelites whom would be in captivity by Babylon. The good new is God will deliver them from Babylon and lead them back to Zion to rebuild the city.
      2. We are called to bring good tidings to the lost in captivity by Satan. Our good news is the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not need to be afraid (v9) to proclaim the good tidings to the lost. We have the responsibility to tell the world that Jesus Christ is the one truth God.
      3. God is the all powerful Captain of His army (v10), and at the same time, God is the most caring Shepherd to His flocks (v11).
      4. The Lord Jesus Christ is the all powerful Captain and Judge. He leads us in battles with the enemies. He rewards those who are faithful to Him and punish who to reject Him. As the same time, Jesus is the Great Shepherd, we are His flocks. He carries us close to His heart when we proclaim His good tidings.
2. How great Thou Art (40:12-26)
   1. God is greater than anything on earth (v12-20)
      1. greater than any man (v12-14)
      2. greater than nations (v15-16)
      3. greater than idols (v18-20)
   2. God is greater than anything on heavens (21-26)
3. Soars on wings like eagles (40:27-31)
   1. The Jews in Babylon would be given the freedom to return back to Zion by King Cyrus, however the road back home will not be easy. 70 years after they lived in Babylon, they must have restarted new life in Babylon. To left everything and return will not be easy. They knew they needed to return because Zion was their promised land from God. Stuck in a crossed road, they complaint “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God” (v27)?
   2. God responded by proclaims His greatness to them. He is the everlasting God. He is the Creator of the ends of the earth. Even tough men will go weary, God will not.  His understanding no one can fathom (v28).
   3. His promises to those who wait upon Him is they will renew their strength in God no matter how tired they were. They will soar on wings like eagles! (v31)

Background

• Isaiah can be called a miniature bible because there are 66 chapters in Isaiah and 66 books in the Bible. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah can be compared to OT, both focus primarily on God’s judgement of sin. The second part of Isaiah, which consists of 27 chapters, can be compared to NT, both focused on the grace of God.
• The “NT” section of Isaiah opens with the ministry of John the Baptist (40:3-5, Mark 1:1-4) and closes with the new heavens and new earth (Isaiah 65:17;66:22). In between there are many prophesies to the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and King.
• In chapters 1-39, Isaiah was speaking to his own generation. His primary message was that God would defend Jerusalem and defeat the Assyrian invaders.
• In chapters 40-66, the prophet looks far ahead and sees Babylon destroying Jerusalem and the Jews going into captivity (586BC). Isaiah also saw God forgiving His people, and delivering them from captivity, and taking them back to Jerusalem to rebuild the template and restore the nation.
• The primary world figure in Isaiah 1-39 is Sennacherib, king of Assyria.
• The primary world figure in Isaiah 40-66 is Cyrus, king of Persia. Cyrus was the king who issued decree to allow Jews to return back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and temple (Ezra 1:1-4).
• The heart of Isaiah 40 – 66 is chapters 49-57, in which Isaiah exalts the Messiah, Gods Suffering Servant.
• The heart of chapters 49-57 is 52:13-53:12, the description of the Savior’s substitutionary death for the sins of the world. That is why Isaiah has been called “the evangelical prophet.”
• Isaiah’s “Servant Song” about Jesus (Isaiah 52:13-53:12) is quoted or alluded to nearly forty times in the NT.
• Jewish rabbis have called Isaiah 40-66 “The Book of Consolation”. Isaiah sought to comfort the Jewish remnant in Babylon, after their difficult years of captivity, and to assure them that God was with them and would take them safely home. Israel’s restoration from Babylon is a preview of what God would do for Israel at the end of the age. Revelation mentions the last Babylon will be destroyed (Rev 17-19) before new heavens and new earth will be formed (Rev 21:1), and the new Jerusalem will come down out of heaven (Rev 21:2).
• Some modern critics of bible thought the first part of Isaiah 1-39 and the second part of Isaiah 40-66 were written by two different Isaiah. This is not true. All ancients manuscripts, including the dead sea scrolls, and all rabbis and christians scholars in history have never mentioned, or even a hint of two authors.

Isaiah Greatest Achievement

• Isaiah spent his life under the threatening shadow of the Assyrian Empire. Assyrians destroyed portion of northern Israel in 733 BC, and the rest of the northern kingdom including Samaria in 722 BC. They invaded Judah in 712 BC and by 701 BC had taken all of Judah except Jerusalem. Throughout these years Isaiah had steadfastly predicted that Jerusalem would stand. It did stand.
• Isaiah also prophesied the southern Kingdom, Judah would fall into the hand of Babylon, and the Jews would be exiles in Babylon (Isaiah 39:6-7).

Division

The same statement “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” on the last verse of chapter 48 and chapter 57 (48:22;57:21) make divide Isaiah 40-66 into three sections.

1. 40-48 – emphasize he greatness of God the Father in contrast to the vanity of the heathen idols
2. 49-57 – extol the graciousness of God the Son, the Suffering Servant
3. 58-66 – describe the glory of God in the future kingdom, and the emphasis is on the work of the Holy Spirit (59:19,21;61:1;63:10-11,14)

The Prophet Isaiah

• Isaiah means “salvation of the Lord”.
• He was married and his wife is called “the prophetess” (Isaiah 8:3).
• He had two sons: Shearjashub (a remnant shall return), and Maher-shalalhash-baz (quick to plunder, swift to the spoil).
• A prophet of the southern Kingdom, Judah, at the time the northern kingdom, Israel, had already been destroyed by the Assyrians
• Isaiah was a man who loved his nation. The phrase “my people” is used at least 26 times in his book. He fervently plead Judah to return to God and warned kings when their foreign policy was contrary to God’s will.
• Apostle John told us that Isaiah saw Jesus’s glory and spoke about Him (John 12:41)
• Isaiah lived during the reigns of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. God called him in the year of Uzziah’s death, but he may have received some of his visions earlier (6:1).
• Isaiah hated sin and sham religion. His favorite name for God is “the Holy One of Israel”, and he used it 25 times in his book. This name of God is only used 5 times elsewhere in the bible.
• Isaiah active ministry was at about 740-686BC, from the death of Uzziah to the death of Hezekiah.
• Although Isaiah prophesied the falled on Israel to Assyria in Chapter 28, however his focus was Judah and Jerusalem.
• Rabbinic tradition has it that Isaiah’s was the first cousin of King Uzziah. Isaiah was one of the grandsons of King Joash, the son of Amoz. Which means Isaiah was a man of the palace.
• Isaiah is the most quoted OT prophets in NT.
• Isaiah wrote two other books but were not preserved. “A Life of Uzziah” mentioned in 2 Chronicles 26:22 and “Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah”.
• According to Jewish tradition, Isaiah was sawed in half by the order of King Manasseh of Judah. Hebrews 11:37 may refer to Isaiah’s death.

Assyrian Background of Isaiah’s Ministry

• Assyrian Empire has been expanding for 150 years before Isaiah.
• As early as 840 BC, Israel, under King Jehu, had begun to pay tribute to Assyria.
• When Isaiah was a young man (734 BC), Assyria took away the population of the northern part of Israel.
• 13 years later (721 BC), Samaria fell, and the rest of Israel was forced into exile.
• A few years later, Sennacherib of Assyria came into Judah, destroyed 46 walled cities, and took 200,000 captives with him.
• In 701 BC, Assyrians army that were invading Judah were annihilated by an angel of God, and Sennacherib withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons cut him down and the sword. (2 Chronicles 32:21).
• Isaiah’s whole life was spent under the shadow of the threat of Assyria, and he himself witnessed the ruin of his entire nation at their hands, except Jerusalem. Assyrian conquered the northern kingdom when Hezekiah was the King of southern kingdom.

The Kings of Judah

• Uzziah became king when he was 16 years old and he reigned for 52 years (2  Ch 26:3) (792-740 BC). He very capable King that brought Judah to its greatest days since David and Solomon. Uzziah was also called Azarish son of Amaziah. Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of God, just as his father Amaziah had done (2 Ch 26:4). [But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense (2 Ch 26:16). So God afflicted Uzziah with leprosy until the day he died. (2 Ch 26:19, 2 Kings 15:1-5)
• Jotham was co-regent after his father became a leper(2 Ch 26:21), and his record as king was a good one (2 Kings 15:32-38; 2 Chron 27:2). He was 25 years old when he became king, and reigned in Jerusalem 16 years. (2 Ch 27:1) He grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God (2 Ch 27:6). It was during his time that the Assyrian Empire began to emerge as a new and threatening power. During the last twelve years of Jotham’s reign, his son Ahaz served as co-regent, but Ahaz was not one of Judah’s good kings.
• Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 16 years (2 Ch 28:1). [He did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made cast idols for worshiping the Baals. He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his sons in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites] ( 2 Ch 28:1-3).  He sent asked Assyrians for protection against the Arameans of Damascus(2 Ch 28:5), the northern kingdom (2 Ch 28:5), the Edomites and Philistines in the south (2 Ch 28:17). Ahaz offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus (2 Ch 28:23). [In ever town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers, to anger (2 Ch 28:25). Isaiah warned Ahaz that his alliances with godless gentiles would not work, and he encouraged the king to put his trust in the Lord (Isaiah chapter 7).
• Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 29 years (2 Ch 29:1). He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD (2 Ch 28:2). He was one of Judah’s greatest kings (2 Kings 18-20; 2 Chron 29-32). He not only strengthened the city of Jerusalem and Judah, but led the people back to the Lord. He built the famous water system that still exists in Jerusalem. Hezekiah has restore the Passover Feast, which was not celebrated by many Jews anymore. He even invited the northern kingdom to come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover to the LORD (2 Ch 30:1). Remember the northern and southern kingdoms were in wars in Ahaz time.