At dawn, a stony road climbs to a ruined city gate of Jerusalem, spring flowers growing between the fallen stones in the first sun, the sky above clear and calm.

The Servant and Zion

Isaiah 51

What makes you sigh, and what would joy look like?

23 verses≈ 6 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restoredChapter 51
56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

Salvation for Zion

God

An old limestone quarry wall in morning light, the square marks of blocks cut out of it still sharp, a few cut blocks lying at its foot.

“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness,

you who seek the LORD:

Look to the rock from which you were cut,

and to the quarry from which you were hewn.

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God

Look to Abraham your father,

and to Sarah who gave you birth.

When I called him, he was but one;

then I blessed him and multiplied him.

God

A valley where bare desert ends in a sharp line and a lush, watered garden of fruit trees, vines and grass begins, a stream running through, ruined houses behind overgrown with green.

For the LORD will comfort Zion

and will look with compassion on all her ruins;

He will make her wilderness like Eden

and her desert like the garden of the LORD.

Joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and melodious song.

God

Pay attention to Me, My people,

and listen to Me, My nation;

for a law will go out from Me,

and My justice will become a light to the nations;

I will bring it about quickly.

God

My righteousness draws near,

My salvation is on the way,

and My arms will bring justice to the nations.

The islands will look for Me

and wait in hope for My arm.

God

God

Listen to Me, you who know what is right,

you people with My law in your hearts:

Do not fear the scorn of men;

do not be broken by their insults.

For the moth will devour them like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool.

But My righteousness will last forever,

My salvation through all generations.”

Question

Quick question

The LORD tells a small, scattered people to look back before they look ahead. Read verses 1–2 again before you answer.

Whom does 51:1–2 tell the people to look back to?

Isaiah

Awake, awake,

put on strength, O arm of the LORD.

Wake up as in days past,

as in generations of old.

Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces,

who pierced through the dragon?

Isaiah

Morning on the far shore: a great crowd seen from behind stands still at the water's edge, looking back over a calm sea.

Was it not You who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep,

who made a road in the depths of the sea

for the redeemed to cross over?

Isaiah

So the redeemed of the LORD will return

and enter Zion with singing,

crowned with everlasting joy.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee.

God

“I, even I, am He who comforts you.

Isaiah 51:12

God

Why should you be afraid of mortal man,

of a son of man who withers like grass?

God

But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker,

who stretched out the heavens

and laid the foundations of the earth.

You live in terror all day long

because of the fury of the oppressor

who is bent on destruction.

But where is the fury of the oppressor?

God

God

The captive will soon be freed;

he will not die in the dungeon,

and his bread will not be lacking.

God

Heavy waves crashing white against dark rocks under a storm-lit sky, spray flying, a strip of light on the far horizon.

For I am the LORD your God

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the LORD of Hosts is His name.

I have put My words in your mouth,

and covered you with the shadow of My hand,

to establish the heavens, to found the earth,

and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

God’s Fury Removed

Isaiah

Close and low on a stone step in gray light: a heavy clay goblet tipped on its side, dark dregs pooled inside it, a smaller cup beside it, no one there.

Awake, awake!

Rise up, O Jerusalem,

you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD

the cup of His fury;

you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—

the cup that makes men stagger.

Isaiah

Among all the sons she bore,

there is no one to guide her;

among all the sons she brought up,

there is no one to take her hand.

These pairs have befallen you:

devastation and destruction,

famine and sword.

Who will grieve for you?

Who can comfort you?

Isaiah

Your sons have fainted;

they lie at the head of every street,

like an antelope in a net.

They are full of the wrath of the LORD,

the rebuke of your God.

Isaiah

Therefore now hear this, you afflicted one,

drunken, but not with wine.

God

The same heavy clay goblet, now upright and empty, set on a bare wooden table beside an open door, clean morning light falling across it.

Thus says your Lord, the LORD,

even your God, who defends His people:

“See, I have removed from your hand

the cup of staggering.

From that goblet, the cup of My fury,

you will never drink again.

0:12

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

God

I will place it in the hands of your tormentors,

who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’

so that you made your back like the ground,

like a street to be traversed.”

Pray

Lord, when I feel small, help me look to the rock I was cut from and remember that You make the one into many. Teach me not to fear the scorn of men. Thank You that You have removed from my hand the cup of staggering, and that I will never drink it again.

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Isaiah 51

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A verse to carry with you

I, even I, am He who comforts you.

Isaiah 51:12

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