Isaiah 51 Commentary
Wilderness Like Eden
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KEY THOUGHT: And her desert like the garden of the Lord; [Isaiah 51:3d NKJV]
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Isaiah 51 NKJV
The Lord Comforts Zion
51 “Listen to Me, you who [a]follow after righteousness,
You who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
For I called him alone,
And blessed him and increased him.”
3 For the Lord will comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.
4 “Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
As a light of the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
And My arms will judge the peoples;
The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And on My arm they will trust.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not be [b]abolished.
7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people in whose heart is My law:
Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool;
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation from generation to generation.”
9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake as in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart,
And wounded the serpent?
10 Are You not the One who dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
11 So the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I, even I, am He who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made like grass?
13 And you forget the Lord your Maker,
Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
And where is the fury of the oppressor?
14 The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
15 But I am the Lord your God,
Who divided the sea whose waves roared—
The Lord of hosts is His name.
16 And I have put My words in your mouth;
I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
That I may [c]plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”
God’s Fury Removed
17 Awake, awake!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who have drunk at the hand of the Lord
The cup of His fury;
You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
And drained it out.
18 There is no one to guide her
Among all the sons she has brought forth;
Nor is there any who takes her by the hand
Among all the sons she has brought up.
19 These two things have come to you;
Who will be sorry for you?—
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—
By whom will I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted,
They lie at the head of all the streets,
Like an antelope in a net;
They are full of the fury of the Lord,
The rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk but not with wine.
22 Thus says your Lord,
The Lord and your God,
Who pleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
23 But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to [d]you,
‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”
Footnotes
a. Isaiah 51:1 pursue
b. Isaiah 51:6 broken
c. Isaiah 51:16 establish
d. Isaiah 51:23 Lit. your soul
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 51 Commentary
A Message to and for the righteous: Consider Abraham’s case. The mention of Sarah alongside her husband may remind the remnant of the God of miracles. He makes dead situations live again. Israel’s situation isn’t impossible at all.
The LORD intends to transform the dead ground into Eden – the Garden of God. Let life begin again. Or like the famous exodus, let Israel prepare for restoration. The LORD is doing something new, but not exactly new; the LORD is restoring Israel’s blessings.
Verse 6 may remind us of the words of the LORD Jesus Christ. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”
Do not be afraid, Israel. Don’t fear mortals. The LORD is on your side. These are the words of the LORD to the remnant.
Chapter 51 is interesting because the LORD is talking to the remnant, those who are serious about living right and are committed to seeking the LORD God. And they are in exile and experiencing hardships. It is clear: the LORD’s wrath affected even the righteous.
When the LORD stretched out His hand against Israel, even the righteous felt it. Nothing has changed. God’s people experience fear. There is suffering. But the LORD encourages us not to fear. The LORD God has taken up His people’s case: He will judge in favor of His own. Oppression isn’t permanent. The LORD will make things right again.
Concerning the nation of Israel, many sin; consequently the entire nation sins. Or, some are righteous, consequently, the entire nation, Zion, experiences restoration. The Book of Isaiah seems to give us this general picture.
But we need to zoom in and see the details. Even this book makes a clear distinction between the righteous and the wicked. “Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them,” or “Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord”.
Salvation could be a meal for two groups. The first one is for “the righteous,” or the “saved” who must be saved from the suffering inflicted on them by wickedness. Salvation from the power and presence of sin.
But we also have salvation from wickedness. From the penalty of sin.
The mention of Eden makes us think of purity. The presence of sin will have vanished – achieved by the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29.
We have chapters 52 and 53 to define and describe the process by which the Servant achieves this feat. But today we can bask in the knowledge that “Eden” awaits the renewal of all things by the Servant’s work.
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