49 Listen to Me, O islands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
The Lord called Me from the womb;
From the [a]body of My mother He named Me.
2 He has made My mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me;
And He has also made Me a [b]select arrow,
He has hidden Me in His quiver.
3 He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel,
In Whom I will [c]show My glory.”
4 But I said, “I have toiled in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the Lord,
And My reward with My God.”5 And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him
(For I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
And My God is My strength),
6 He says, “It is too [d]small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light [e]of the nations
So that My salvation may [f]reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One,
To the despised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers,
“Kings will see and arise,
Princes will also bow down,
Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”8 Thus says the Lord,
“In a favorable time I have answered You,
And in a day of salvation I have helped You;
And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people,
To [g]restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages;
9 Saying to those who are bound, ‘Go forth,’
To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’
Along the roads they will feed,
And their pasture will be on all bare heights.
10 “They will not hunger or thirst,
Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down;
For He who has compassion on them will lead them
And will guide them to springs of water.
11 “I will make all My mountains a road,
And My highways will be raised up.
12 “Behold, these will come from afar;
And lo, these will come from the north and from the west,
And these from the land of Sinim.”
13 Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth!
Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted His people
And will have compassion on His afflicted.
When reading Isaiah this time of year, it is difficult not to see Jesus in this (and many other) chapters. This one seems even more so, though at first we might have thought Isaiah was writing about Israel itself. After all, hasn’t Jesus always been fully God, present at the creation of the world (and beyond)? Yet in v. 5, we see that the prophet is writing of someone who is “to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (God)…”
So yes, we’re talking about the Messiah here, and the first verses speak of His humanity, since that did indeed have a beginning in the womb of Mary (v. 1). We might then look at v. 4 and think, “Huh? When would Jesus have said such a thing? He knew what was going on, and that it was not in vain…” However, think of the disciples, Jesus spent three years teaching them, and some (or all) still thought He was going to overthrow the Roman occupation.
Or think even of the night of Jesus’ betrayal, when He asked the disciples to keep watch, and they fell asleep… multiple times! So certainly, in His humanity, Jesus could have uttered such words, or at least had those same thoughts, until He remembered that it was all about the plan, to bring justice, and to gain the reward–which was to restore us to Himself via the cross.
As the passage continues, we see even more about the Messiah, how He will be a light to the nations, “so that God’s salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” He would indeed be despised, and abhorred by the nation (v. 7), broken on that cross, but Kings and Princes bowed before Him, and still do to this day.
In all of this, there is a nugget tucked into v. 2, which speaks of the Messiah being concealed and hidden. It reminds me of a verse I heard recently, where it speaks of “things into which angels long to look.” Like many of God’s plans, He knew this day was coming, and yet He didn’t tell anyone, it was a secret, but yet not secret, because God told them all about it right here.
How many understood? Who knows, but probably not that many, much like the disciples who had spent three years with Jesus. The same plan is still being carried out today, even in our own lives. Do we understand it? Probably not very well, and though we may get stuck on that, and crave understanding, that isn’t our role.
Like Jesus, we might be tempted to say, “I have toiled in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity…” Paul reminded us that the results aren’t up to us, when He wrote, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.” We can’t be, and aren’t, responsible for the results. We are to be planters, and waterers, working in God’s fields, doing whatever He asks of us.
Don’t get hung up trying to understand God’s plan, remember His ways are higher than ours, His thoughts greater than anything we could imagine. Put your hand to the plow, fix your eyes on Him, and do whatever work He has put before you today–with all your heart, mind, and soul.