Isaiah 51

1 The Lord says, "Listen to me, those of you who try to live right and follow the Lord. Look at the rock from which you were cut; look at the stone quarry from which you were dug.

2 Look at Abraham, your ancestor, and Sarah, who gave birth to your ancestors. Abraham had no children when I called him, but I blessed him and gave him many descendants.

3 So the Lord will comfort Jerusalem; he will show mercy to those who live in her ruins. He will change her deserts into a garden like Eden; he will make her empty lands like the garden of the Lord. People there will be very happy; they will give thanks and sing songs.

4 "My people, listen to me; my nation, pay attention to me. I will give the people my teachings, and my decisions will be like a light to all people.

5 I will soon show that I do what is right. I will soon save you. I will use my power and judge all nations. All the faraway places are waiting for me; they wait for my power to help them.

6 Look up to the heavens. Look around you at the earth below. The skies will disappear like clouds of smoke. The earth will become useless like old clothes, and its people will die like flies. But my salvation will continue forever, and my goodness will never end.

7 "You people who know what is right should listen to me; you people who follow my teachings should hear what I say. Don't be afraid of the evil things people say, and don't be upset by their insults.

8 Moths will eat those people as if they were clothes, and worms will eat them as if they were wool. But my goodness will continue forever, and my salvation will continue from now on."

9 Wake up, wake up, and use your strength, powerful Lord. Wake up as you did in the old times, as you did a long time ago. With your own power, you cut Rahab into pieces and killed that sea monster.

10 You dried up the sea and the waters of the deep ocean. You made the deepest parts of the sea into a road for your people to cross over and be saved.

11 The people the Lord has freed will return and enter Jerusalem with joy. Their happiness will last forever. They will have joy and gladness, and all sadness and sorrow will be gone far away.

12 The Lord says, "I am the one who comforts you. So why should you be afraid of people, who die? Why should you fear people who die like the grass?

13 Have you forgotten the Lord who made you, who stretched out the skies and made the earth? Why are you always afraid of those angry people who trouble you and who want to destroy? But where are those angry people now?

14 People in prison will soon be set free; they will not die in prison, and they will have enough food.

15 I am the Lord your God, who stirs the sea and makes the waves roar. My name is the Lord All-Powerful.

16 I will give you the words I want you to say. I will cover you with my hands and protect you. I made the heavens and the earth, and I say to Jerusalem, 'You are my people.'"

17 Awake! Awake! Get up, Jerusalem. The Lord was very angry with you; your punishment was like wine in a cup. The Lord made you drink that wine; you drank the whole cup until you stumbled.

18 Jerusalem had many people, but there was not one to lead her. Of all the people who grew up there, no one was there to guide her.

19 Troubles came to you two by two, but no one will feel sorry for you. There was ruin and disaster, great hunger and fighting. No one can comfort you.

20 Your people have become weak. They fall down and lie on every street corner, like animals caught in a net. and have heard God's angry shout.

21 So listen to me, poor Jerusalem, you who are drunk but not from wine.

22 Your God will defend his people. "The punishment I gave you is like a cup of wine. You drank it and could not walk straight. But I am taking that cup of my anger away from you, and you will never be punished by my anger again.

23 I will now give that cup of punishment to those who gave you pain, who told you, 'Bow down so we can walk over you.' They made your back like dirt for them to walk on; you were like a street for them to travel on."

Isaiah 51 Commentary

Chapter 51

Exhortations to trust the Messiah. (1-3) The power of God, and the weakness of man. (4-8) Christ defends his people. (9-16) Their afflictions and deliverances. (17-23)

Verses 1-3 It is good for those privileged by the new birth, to consider that they were shapen in sin. This should cause low thoughts of ourselves, and high thoughts of Divine grace. It is the greatest comfort to be made serviceable to the glory of God. The more holiness men have, and the more good they do, the more gladness they have. Let us seriously reflect upon our guilt. To do so will tend to keep the heart humble, and the conscience awake and tender. They make Christ more precious to the soul, and give strength to our attempts and prayers for others.

Verses 4-8 The gospel of Christ shall be preached and published. How shall we escape if we neglect it? There is no salvation without righteousness. The soul shall, as to this world, vanish like smoke, and the body be thrown by like a worn-out garment. But those whose happiness is in Christ's righteousness and salvation, will have the comfort of it when time and days shall be no more. Clouds darken the sun, but do not stop its course. The believer will enjoy his portion, while revilers of Christ are in darkness

Verses 9-16 The people whom Christ has redeemed with his blood, as well as by his power, will obtain joyful deliverance from every enemy. He that designs such joy for us at last, will he not work such deliverance in the mean time, as our cases require? In this world of changes, it is a short step from joy to sorrow, but in that world, sorrow shall never come in view. They prayed for the display of God's power; he answers them with consolations of his grace. Did we dread to sin against God, we should not fear the frowns of men. Happy is the man that fears God always. And Christ's church shall enjoy security by the power and providence of the Almighty.

Verses 17-23 God calls upon his people to mind the things that belong to their everlasting peace. Jerusalem had provoked God, and was made to taste the bitter fruits. Those who should have been her comforters, were their own tormentors. They have no patience by which to keep possesion of their own souls, nor any confidence in God's promise, by which to keep possession of its comfort. Thou art drunken, not as formerly, with the intoxicating cup of Babylon's idolatries, but with the cup of affliction. Know, then, the cause of God's people may for a time seem as lost, but God will protect it, by convincing the conscience, or confounding the projects, of those that strive against it. The oppressors required souls to be subjected to them, that every man should believe and worship as they would have them. But all they could gain by violence was, that people were brought to outward hypocritical conformity, for consciences cannot be forced.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 51

This chapter gives the church and people of God reason to expect comfortable times and certain salvation, though they had many enemies. They are directed to look to Abraham and Sarah, signified by the rock and hole of the pit, and observe how he was called alone, blessed and increased; which should be improved as an argument to strengthen their faith, that God could and would bless and increase his church, though in a low estate, and bring it into a flourishing one, Isa 51:1-3. They are assured of the publication of the Gospel, expressed by the law, doctrine, and judgment of the Lord; by which means the righteousness and salvation of Christ should be brought nigh to them, as the object of their trust and confidence, Isa 51:4,5, and also of the perpetuity of his righteousness and salvation, when the heavens, and the earth, and the inhabitants of it, should decay, even their revilers and persecutors, and therefore they need not fear their reproaches and revilings, Isa 51:6-8, upon which follows a prayer of faith, that the Lord would exert his power as in former times, when he destroyed the Egyptians, and dried up the Red sea for Israel to pass through, the ransomed of the Lord; from whence it might be concluded, that the redeemed of the Lord would be brought into a very comfortable condition again, Isa 51:9-11 wherefore they had no reason to be afraid of men, since the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, would deliver, comfort, and establish them, of which he assured them by his prophet, Isa 51:12-16, and though Jerusalem and her sons were, or would be, in a very distressed condition, through the sword and famine, which is described, Isa 51:17-20, yet they should be delivered out of it, and their persecutors should be brought into the same, Isa 51:21-23.