B18-devotions

Isaiah 51:9-16

Devotions for Wednesday 29th October

The stirring message here is ‘get ready!’ The Lord is about to do a mighty deed and His Servant will be there to do the work! This reading begins with a summons to ‘awake’, and if you look ahead in Isaiah, you will find three calls to awake in succession; here, 51:17 and 52:1. These three summons introduce three poems (51:9-16, 17-23 and 52:1-12) which prepare us for the climactic revelation of the Servant (52:13f.), and each of them is a prophetic announcement of the Lord for all who will hear. In different ways, all of them call for people to pay attention to the evidence of God at work in the world, and all of them contain a glimpse of the Servant, awaiting His final revelation. In our passage today, we discover something amazing about the Servant; He has been with the Lord God, kept by Him since creation ‘in the shadow of my hand’ (51:16), ready to do the Lord’s will!

Some of the words in this passage are wonderfully inspiring, but it is hard to work out who is speaking at different places, and the way the passage is interpreted is heavily dependent upon who you believe to be speaking to whom. There are a number of possibilities, but it is best to read this prophecy as God speaking. In other words, when we read, ‘Awake, awake, put on strength ...’ in the first verse, the prophet Isaiah is speaking out God’s words addressed to His own ‘arm’, which is the symbol of His strength and power to act within the world; so God is calling on His ‘strength’ to do something. If many of these words were not so familiar to us, this might all sound more strange. However, when Hebrew prophecy speaks of the Lord God summoning Himself to act in this way, it is a form of very powerful emphasis found in numerous places in the Old Testament. Some people find it strange that God is often described as having human attributes which represent His character and power, such as an arm (51:9) representing His strength. However, the Bible revels in such language and although it forbids people from making a visible ‘image’ of God, it is quite comfortable with the idea that God is ‘like’ us just as we are made in His ‘image’. So the Old Testament speaks about not just God’s arms, but His feelings, His emotions and His thoughts and ‘wisdom’, for example.

In the days of Isaiah and in later centuries, most people of the ancient world believed a variety of myths about the gods and their role in the creation of the world. This is not the place to look at them in detail, but here in this passage God speaks to exert His greatest authority as the Creator who made all things and who has destroyed all the creatures (Rahab, and the dragon – 51:9) of popular myth. The truth about God, as the Old Testament records it, is that He is not like some religious myth, for He is a God who has acted in power to do things within the world. The redemption of Israel through the Red Sea was an observable fact of history, so the faith of God’s people is always based on historical fact, not religious or mythological presumption. Indeed, the prayers of His people such as the famous prayer and song in verse 11 (see also 35:10) are always fulfilled. Pilgrims sang the great song ‘the ransomed of the Lord will return ...’ as they travelled to Zion (the origins of the song), and it also had a new meaning when the Exiles returned from Babylon (in the fifth and sixth century BC). This prophecy indicates that the prayer will have new meaning when the Servant brings redemption to all peoples (51:4,5)!

This prophecy appeals to all who hear it not to live in the oppressions of this world (51:12,13), but to answer the questions posed by the truth of God’s deeds in the world. The Lord has a solution to human oppression and mortality, and He is about to set the broken free (51:14) and provide for them by means of the Servant who has been kept hidden in ‘the shadow of His hand’ since the beginning of time (51:16)!

Going Deeper

This whole passage is the first prophetic poem leading up to the great revelation of the Servant in Isaiah 53, and it records a series of events by which people may have confidence in the deeds and promises of God; Creation, the Exodus, and the Exile. All of these are historical events and as we unravel this great poem, they help reveal a message in which not only is God’s strength summoned to act, but we are challenged to respond.

9 Awake, awake, put on strength,

O arm of the Lord!

Awake, as in ancient times,

the generations long past!

Was it not you who cut Rahab down,

who wounded the dragon?

10 Are You not the One who dried up the sea,

the water of the great deep;

who made the depths of the sea

a path for the redeemed to pass through?

11 So the ransomed of the Lord will return,

and come to Zion with singing!

Everlasting joy will be upon their heads;

they will take hold of joy and gladness,

for sorrow and sighing will have fled away.

12 I, I am he who comforts you;

So why are you held by fear of men, who die;

of people, who fade like grass?

13 You have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

who stretched out the heavens

and set the foundations of the earth.

Every day, you remain in fear

because of the wrath of the oppressor,

As if he was able to destroy!

But where is the fury of this oppressor?

14 The broken will be released quickly;

they will not die and go to the Pit,

and they will not lack bread.

15 For I am the Lord your God,

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar

the Lord of hosts is His name.

16 I have put my words in your mouth,

and hidden you in the shadow of my hand;

to set out the heavens,

lay the foundations of the earth,

and say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’

Forgive me for rushing, dear Lord, for there is too much to do and I can never get everything done. Bless me by Your Spirit, Lord God, who is able to strengthen me for what lies ahead, show me what is right and what is wrong, and guide me through all life’s complexities. Your support and presence is the most amazing blessing; how could I ever succeed without You? Thank You, Lord God: AMEN

Weekly Theme: Land

Praise God for the beauty and magnificence of the land and the world in which we live. Each of us sees it differently, so all our praises are immensely valuable to our Lord!

On-going prayers

Give thanks for personal prayers which have been answered
Pray for those affected by extremes of weather in different ways
Pray for the worsening situation for poor people in Zimbabwe

For the full Bible study, click link above,

or for a brief review, scroll page down.

click on highlighted words to access the Dictionary

Read on / TRANSLATION NOTES / FURTHER STUDY / APPLICATION

We are called to show the compassion of Christ;

To open ones heart to dirty and squalid men and women who live on the streets;

To recognise the humanity of all who have been poorly treated in our world today.

To contribute every penny beyond one’s needs to help the poor of this world.

To persist in loving all those who openly declare that they hate God and Christians;

To stand firm in the midst of the oppression of the Church, whatever the cost;

To love one’s brother and sister in Christ without any hint of prejudice whatever.

To give one’s soul to what is right within the workplace and in every walk of life;

To offer love and affection to all who have given up hope, for whatever reason;

To provide every means of support possible to those who have been oppressed.

So let us do this, openly, in the name of our Lord.