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©July 17th, 2022 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Isaiah
Surely you have had the experience of going to an ice cream shop where they have dozens of different flavor combinations as well as different things you can mix into your ice cream.
If you’re like me, this is a wonderful experience where you get the chance to order whatever it is you are feeling like that day.
But for some people, having all those choices is overwhelming.
If you’ve ever been with a child when they have their first experience with such a place, you’ve likely seen this in action.
The sheer number of choices tends to overwhelm most children, and they don’t know what to choose.
Sometimes they just choose the first one they see.
Wise parents usually anticipate this and give the child just a couple options they know they’ll like.
It tends to make life a bit easier for everyone!
In many ways, choosing the direction of our lives is much the same way.
There is a seemingly endless number of voices that call out for our attention.
Everyone seems to have a philosophy of life to convince us of, or worse, they have something to sell us.
Often, we struggle to figure out what is worth our time and energy, and what is not.
In our passage this morning, Isaiah speaks prophetically about the Messiah.
In it, he shows us that the Lord’s promised Servant navigated this difficult aspect of life perfectly.
As we look at His example today, we should not only learn about who Jesus is, but we should also be reminded of how we should make the decisions of our life.
Israel’s Charge
This morning, we turn our attention to Isaiah chapter 50.
The first part of Isaiah 50 records the Lord’s response to Israel during the Babylonian captivity.
As you might expect, they felt as though God had abandoned them and turned His back on them.
Listen to how God responds to that charge.
This is what the Lord says: “Was your mother sent away because I divorced her? Did I sell you as slaves to my creditors?
No, you were sold because of your sins.
And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins. 2 Why was no one there when I came?
Why didn’t anyone answer when I called?
Is it because I have no power to rescue?
No, that is not the reason!
For I can speak to the sea and make it dry up!
I can turn rivers into deserts covered with dying fish.
3 I dress the skies in darkness, covering them with clothes of mourning.”
(Isaiah 50:1-3, NLT)
The Lord asks some rhetorical questions to drive home His point that He had not abandoned them.
He first asks if their mother was sent away because He divorced her.
The clear answer is no.
He uses the analogy of filing for divorce to drive home the point that He is not the reason for the distance between himself and Israel.
In essence, the Lord was saying, I didn’t divorce you—you chose to leave me!
Similarly, He asks if He sold them as slaves because He was in debt.
Again, the answer is a resounding, No! The Lord cannot be in debt to anyone, so that also can’t be the reason Israel feels distant from God.
He makes it very clear that it is not He who abandoned Israel, but Israel who abandoned Him.
After addressing Israel’s charges against Him, the Lord asks some questions of them.
Specifically He asks why no one answered Him when He called.
Surely it is not because He had no power to rescue them.
He points to His own power to dry up the sea, to turn rivers into deserts, and to turn blue skies to darkness.
The Lord is reminding the people of Israel who He is.
They have abandoned Him, and so this time of trial is intended to bring them back to Him, to remind them in whom they should place their trust.
As Dad mentioned last week, sometimes difficult times come into our lives to remind us that we have strayed.
Rather than turning our backs on the Lord in those times, the wise course is to run to Him.
We should examine our lives to see where we have strayed and what God might be trying to teach us.
Difficult times often help us learn lessons we might otherwise never learn.
If we turn away from the Lord in those times, we only hurt ourselves.
The Servant
After the Lord addresses Israel’s charges against Him, the tone of the passage shifts.
Now, we see the Lord’s Servant speaking about Himself.
As we read them, we can see how they are fulfilled in Jesus’ life on earth.
4 The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary.
Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.
5 The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me, and I have listened.
I have not rebelled or turned away.
6 I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.
I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting.
7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced.
Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will.
And I know that I will not be put to shame.
8 He who gives me justice is near.
Who will dare to bring charges against me now?
Where are my accusers?
Let them appear!
9 See, the Sovereign Lord is on my side!
Who will declare me guilty?
All my enemies will be destroyed like old clothes that have been eaten by moths!
(Isaiah 50:4-9, NLT)
These verses tell us a great deal about the Messiah, and with the benefit of hindsight, we see how they are fulfilled in the life of Jesus.
In the first few verses, the Servant describes how the Lord has given Him words of wisdom and daily guides Him into His will.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He spoke in a way that no one else did.
Jesus’ words had an authority the teachers of His day didn’t have.
He spoke with a power, insight, and clarity that caused His words to stand apart from everyone else.
We can see that even today because people still quote Jesus, often without even realizing it.
The reason Jesus’ words are timeless is because He was speaking the words of wisdom given to Him by the Lord.
But not only did Jesus speak on behalf of the Lord, verse 5 tells us that He listened to the Lord.
Jesus did something no other human being did.
He lived in absolute obedience to the Lord.
Jesus was perfect in everything He did.
Because He lived a perfect life, He was uniquely qualified to offer himself as our perfect sacrifice.
And that’s what He says in verse 6.
He says He offered his back to those who beat Him and his cheeks to those who pulled out His beard.
He says he did not hide from mockery and spitting.
All these words were fulfilled literally at His crucifixion, but they are also symbolic of the disgrace Jesus experienced at the hands of evil men throughout His ministry.
What is striking is that Jesus offered himself to these things.
Jesus could have stopped the evil and disgrace at any time with a word, but He willingly allowed himself to be subjected to these things, because He knew what it would accomplish.
Jesus knew that evil would not prevail, but that God would vindicate Him.
As such, He says he set his face like stone—in other words, He became hardened in His resolve to do the Lord’s will, no matter what the world did to Him, because He knew doing God’s will would ultimately turn out for good.
It is a testament to God’s sovereignty that the greatest injustice ever carried out (the execution of the only innocent man, Jesus, and the sinless One taking on our sin) was used to accomplish the greatest good.
Through Jesus’ offering of himself, God effected the salvation of many, including you and me.
If you ever find yourself doubting that God can bring good out of evil, you need look no further than the cross.
Though these verses are speaking specifically of Jesus, they also have a good reminder to us, which is that when we serve the Lord, we will be attacked by the world.
There is a group of people who preach that if you are doing the Lord’s will, then nothing bad should ever happen to you.
If you do what God wants you to do, then you will be spared of sickness, you will be made wealthy, and life will be easy for you.
But these verses show us how untrue that notion is.
Jesus did exactly what God told Him to, yet the world attacked Him.
Jesus told His disciples the same thing would happen to them as well.
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