Isaiah 49

CHAPTER 49

The Servant of the Lord (49:1–7)

1–4 This section is the second passage in Isaiah written specifically about the “servant of the Lord”—who ultimately would prove to be the Messiah, Jesus Christ (see Isaiah 42:1–9 and comment). Here the servant himself is the speaker. He says he was called by the Lord from his birth (verse 1). The Lord made his mouth like a sword (see Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16); he himself was made into an arrow, a symbol of God’s judgment (verse 2). The sword and arrow are figures of Christ’s spiritual ministry.

In verse 3, the Lord says to the servant: “You are my servant, Israel.” Israel the nation was also called the Lord’s “servant” (Isaiah 41:8–9); but here the reference cannot be to Israel the nation, because in verse 5 the servant is commissioned to gather Israel to himself. As in the former “servant” passage (Isaiah 42:1–9), we are to understand this servant to be the embodiment of a perfect Israel, an idealized Israel, who would succeed in God’s mission where Israel the nation had failed.

The Lord says: “I will display my splendor in my servant” (verse 3). God’s own glory will be revealed in this servant (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus did glorify God by completing the work God gave Him to do (John 17:4).

In verse 4, we see the servant frustrated and discouraged; his mission seems to have failed. Yet he places himself in the Lord’s hands; the Lord will surely vindicate him and reward him. All of this came true in the life of Jesus (1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 12:3). And it continues to come true in the lives of Jesus’ followers today. Let Christian workers not be surprised when they meet with frustration and failure; their Master did likewise (John 15:18,20). But like their Master, they will ultimately receive their reward.

5–6 Here the Lord extends the mission of the servant (Jesus) to include not only the nation of Israel but the Gentile nations as well. First, the servant is to bring back those of Israel the Lord has kept (verse 6)—that is, the faithful remnant of Israel. But the servant is also to be a light for the Gentiles—a light that will bring life and salvation to the entire world (see Isaiah 42:5–7 and comment; General Article: God’s Plans for the Unreached).

The prophetic vision of the servant’s mission cannot relate only to the restoration of Israel following the Exile; Isaiah’s vision looks far beyond that. The deliverance of the Jewish exiles from captivity in Babylon was but a foreshadowing of a much greater deliverance to be carried out by the Servant, the Messiah: namely, the deliverance from captivity to sin.

Verse 6 has been called the Old Testament version of Christ’s “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:19–20). This mission of the servant involves not only Christ but His followers as well. Paul quoted verse 6 and applied it to himself and Barnabas—and, by extension, to all believers (see Acts 13:46–47). The commission Jesus received from the Father has been given to us also (John 20:21). We too are to be lights in the world (Matthew 5:14–16), witnesses to the ends of the earth (see Acts 1:8).

7 Here the Lord addresses His servant, the Messiah, one who was despised and abhorred by the nation (Israel). Here we get our first suggestion that the Messiah would be rejected by His own people—which, of course, turned out to be true. He is called the servant of rulers; Jesus was subject to earthly rulers, such as Herod and the Roman emperor. But in the end, the rulers of the world will rise up in respect and bow down in submission before God’s servant, the King of kings and Lord of lords. This has yet to come true but one day it surely will, because God has chosen His servant and God is faithful to His word (see Philippians 2:9–11).

Restoration of Israel (49:8–26)

8–13 In these verses the Lord continues speaking to His servant. He promises to be with His servant, to help him in the day of salvation, the day of redemption, when the servant will offer up his own life to atone for the sins of the world. Through the servant’s death, God will make [him] to be a covenant for the people (verse 8), a new covenant sealed by the servant’s own blood (see Isaiah 42:5–7 and comment). The servant will then restore the land, restore God’s true people, the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16). He will say to the captives of Satan: “Be free!” (verse 9).

In verses 9–13, the Lord pictures the Messiah leading His people to the promised land like a shepherd leading his sheep (Psalm 23:1–6). His people will be gathered from afar—even from Aswan in southern Egypt.

14–18 In verse 14, Zion (Jerusalem personified) speaks up and says: “The LORD has forsaken me.” Here Isaiah’s vision relates primarily to his own historical situation: Jerusalem is soon to be destroyed and its people sent into exile.

But the Lord (through Isaiah) assures His people that He has not forsaken them—any more than a mother would forsake her child. The Lord says that Zion’s sons will hasten back after the Exile and the destroying nation (Babylon) will soon depart (verse 17). The Lord pictures Zion as a mother “wearing” her children as a bride wears her ornaments (verse 18). Though these verses refer primarily to the Jerusalem of Isaiah’s day, they also apply to the new Jerusalem, the universal Church of Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:2).

19–21 The Lord continues His words of comfort to Zion (Jerusalem). He says that when all of Jerusalem’s faithful people return, including their children born during [their] bereavement (exile), there will be so many of them that Jerusalem will be too small to accommodate them all (verse 20).

22–23 Here the Lord speaks about the restored Israel in the Messianic age, when He will beckon to the Gentiles to take part in establishing the Messianic kingdom. The Gentiles will help bring back the scattered Israelites; the Gentile kings and queens will bow down before God’s people, just as they will bow down before the Messiah Himself (verse 7).

24–26 In verse 24, Isaiah asks the rhetorical question: Will all this be possible? Can captives be rescued from fierce warriors? He is thinking here about how the exiles will be rescued from the Babylonians.

The Lord assures Isaiah that the exiles will be rescued and that He will continue to contend against the enemies of His people, just as He has done in the past. Indeed, Israel’s enemies will be so overcome by hunger and thirst that they will eat each other’s flesh and drink each other’s blood¹⁸⁹ (verse 26).