UNROLL
First gray light over a quiet Judean hill village, flat roofs and olive trees below, one small window glowing with lamplight.

The Servant and Zion

Isaiah 50

What do you listen to first each morning?

11 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
  2. 6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
  3. 7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
  4. 13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  5. 24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
  6. 28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
  7. 36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
  8. 40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
  9. 49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restoredChapter 50
  10. 56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

Israel’s Sin

God

This is what the LORD says:

“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce

with which I sent her away?

Or to which of My creditors

did I sell you?

Look, you were sold for your iniquities,

and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

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God
A broad riverbed dried to cracked gray mud under a hard sky, a small wooden boat stranded on its side, dead brown reeds along the banks.

Why was no one there when I arrived?

Why did no one answer when I called?

Is My hand too short to redeem you?

Or do I lack the strength to deliver you?

Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea;

I turn the rivers into a desert;

the fish rot for lack of water

and die of thirst.

God

I clothe the heavens in black

and make sackcloth their covering.”

Question

Quick question

The exiles might think the LORD had divorced them or sold them off. Read verse 1 again before you answer.

In 50:1, why does the LORD say His people were sold?

The Servant’s Obedience

The Servant
First light through a small window of a plain stone room falls on a low table with a rolled scroll and a clay lamp just put out, a thin line of smoke rising from its wick.

The Lord GOD has given Me

the tongue of discipleship,

to sustain the weary with a word.

He awakens Me morning by morning;

He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

The Servant

The Lord GOD has opened My ears,

and I have not been rebellious,

nor have I turned back.

The Servant

I offered My back to those who struck Me,

and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard.

I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.

The Servant

Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.

The Servant

The One who vindicates Me is near.

Who will dare to contend with Me?

Let us confront each other!

Who has a case against Me?

Let him approach Me!

The Servant
The Servant

Surely the Lord GOD helps Me.

Who is there to condemn Me?

See, they will all wear out like a garment;

the moths will devour them.

Isaiah

Who among you fears the LORD

and obeys the voice of His Servant?

Who among you walks in darkness

and has no light?

Let him trust in the name of the LORD;

let him lean on his God.

Isaiah 50:10

God
Night on a bare hillside: a small crackling fire of brushwood and a few burning branches stuck upright in the ground, its little circle of light tiny against the vast dark.

Behold, all you who kindle a fire,

who array yourselves with firebrands,

walk in the light of your fire

and of the firebrands you have lit!

This is what you will receive from My hand:

You will lie down in a place of torment.

Pray

Pray

Lord GOD, awaken my ear morning by morning to listen as a disciple. When I walk in darkness and have no light, help me trust in Your name and lean on You. Thank You for the Servant who did not turn back. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 50

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A verse to carry with you

Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His Servant? Who among you walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD; let him lean on his God.

Isaiah 50:10

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