Colin Badger - Thematic Study of Isaiah - Class 6 - The Suffering Servant for Jubilee

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1. 0:00

   This is day six of the 1988 Idlewild Bible School. Our third period teacher is brother Colin Badger. His subject is a thematic study of Isaiah and his subtopic for today is the Suffering Servant and Jubilee.

2. 0:22

   My dear brothers and sisters, as we come to this last session together, it should be apparent that we’ve only really just scratched the surface in some of these areas we’ve been exploring. Our intention over this past week was to look at a number of important themes that run through Isaiah. Consider their background in the prophecy itself. Try to explore whether those themes had any roots in the Life and Times of the prophet himself, and especially in the life and work of Hezekiah.

3. 0:55

   We have drawn fairly heavily upon Kings and Chronicles to gain a keener insight into the life of Hezekiah and the circumstances that form the background for these important themes in Isaiah’s prophecy. We’ve carried through a number of keywords or terms, as well as some important ideas and concepts, seeing how they go right through the prophecy and with some careful understanding of the meaning and the associations we have elsewhere in Scripture.

4. 1:25

   They’re like master keys which open up the prophecy. Yesterday we were considering that beautiful theme of the water symbology in Isaiah’s prophecy and how it relates so very much to the circumstances in and around Jerusalem at the time of Hezekiah and the Assyrian crisis. We ended yesterday by concentrating on the symbol of the highway, the cleansing, the water that was there within eyesight of all who would discern the words of the prophets and search for a deeper meaning.

5. 2:03

   I’d like, brothers and sisters, just to pick up that thread and round it off a little bit more before we consider in some detail the importance of the Servant theme in Isaiah. The Servant himself as Messiah brings certain blessings in the prophecy of Isaiah, obviously the blessing of salvation. We’ve seen that he also brings the wells of salvation.

6. 2:30

   We see also in Isaiah 53 that the suffering servant is a sin bearer. We see throughout the pages of Isaiah that the great Servant, God’s Son, usher’s in the Kingdom. He is the righteous king, mentioned many times in the prophecy, or at least described as being one who ruled, a leader, a commander of the people. He is first and foremost a Liberator, one who brings freedom, and in the language of the prophecy of Isaiah, he is one who proclaims a kind of jubilee. And the work we’ve been doing in Joshua this week will provide a useful background for that.

7. 3:16

   As the Servant, he also, through his messianic work of saving and the ushering in of a future Kingdom, provides a place where that highway leads, a place of refuge. And that language is what we’d like to start with in this class. Isaiah chapter 40, the section we were looking at fairly closely yesterday.

8. 3:41

   It is the springboard for another important image that runs through the prophecy, and it’s rich in its exhortation. Thinking as we did yesterday about the symbology of a highway, a way of holiness, the way of salvation that leads to Zion, brings us to the place of the well of salvation, provides a way by which the Zion, the daughters of Zion, might truly be cleansed. Verse 3A Key phrase The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness.

9. 4:16

   Prepare, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. We think of the words of our Master in the Gospel where he described the way of salvation as being narrow. He also used the word straight, didn’t he? The way of salvation is narrow in contrast to the Broadway that leads to destruction.

10. 4:43

    So the Master himself used terms to describe the way of salvation as though it was a straight highway, narrow rather than broad. So his words in the Gospels are in some way an echo of verse 3. But more than that, this phrase prepare. Ye. The way in the Old Testament, in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 19, we believe there’s an important link which fills out the Old Testament thought here, and I think it helps to have that in order to fill out the picture that is given to us in this cry of Isaiah 40. Would you turn then with me to Deuteronomy 19? It’s dealing with the cities of refuge. It provides another Old Testament background that helps us to understand what these words would have meant to one who has seized in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 19 verse one, When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses, thou shalt separate 3 cities for thee. In the midst.

11. 6:00

    Of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it thou shalt prepare thee away and divide the coast. Of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit into three parts, that every Slayer may flee there. Now, if you look at the context, it’s talking about about one who has unintentionally, through either carelessness or ignorance, slain someone. He has the opportunity of finding asylum within three cities of the land.

12. 6:40

    They were called the cities of refuge. And in these cities, brothers and sisters, he would find protection for, or rather from death. And here you would see, I shouldn’t say 3 cities, 3 parts of the land divided with the cities within. In these cities of refuge, in three sections of the land, there was to be a place provided for him.

13. 7:08

    But there was a certain onus upon those who had those cities or territories within their tribal law, Their responsibility in verse 3 is spelled out. Thou shalt prepare thee our way. Now, brothers and sisters, the force of the original is that they were to make or to maintain some form of route to those cities of refuge. Every tribal area that took in these cities, the municipal areas around them were to ensure that there is these roads were maintained, that they were clear and that they were kept up so that one who was fleeing for his life or for her life would always be guaranteed of a proper Ave. to the city of refuge. Now what’s important to notice here, brothers and sisters, is this phrase which is echoed, we believe in Isaiah 40 For the one who is guilty, or the one who has inadvertently brought guilt upon himself in slaying another who flees for refuge and protection, a way was to be prepared for that person. Thou shalt prepare thee away.

14. 8:25

    Prepare away. And in verse 3 of Isaiah 40, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness to those who have been guilty or to those who are in need of pardoning, those in need of asylum, the voice of him crieth in the wilderness. And for them he says, prepare ye the way.

15. 8:54

    The way of the Lord makes straight in the desert a highway for our God. It was a call to prepare an Ave. by which those who were fleeing for asylum and protection, those who were in need of pardoning and forgiveness, would find refuge. Verse 2. Speak he comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. Now the apostle Paul in Hebrews picks up this picture in part and in reference to the cities of refuge. He tells us that we have a city of refuge, we have an anchor to our soul, and we must flee unto it. So clearly, the cities of refuge in the Old Testament were obviously symbolic of something greater. Paul, picking that up in Hebrews, shows that in a certain sense the Lord Jesus Christ is our city of refuge, and we must flee unto that city for protection. But who has provided the way?

16. 10:12

    The Master has provided the way. For here in Isaiah 40, the way was prepared to those areas of refuge in the Old Testament, and now more fully to the city of refuge that we have in Christ Jesus. The way has been prepared. It has been made straight, a highway for our God and for the remnant that shall go therein. You see, brothers and sisters, once again the language of Isaiah is drawing upon Old Testament imagery. Now consider how this is built up a little further in the prophecy elsewhere.

17. 10:50

    Let’s go to Isaiah chapter 4, the language of the future age, describing the place of asylum that we have in Christ and that the nation shall have when Christ establishes His Kingdom. Now think carefully of the language of the highway and the relationship to washing that we picked up yesterday. Here also in Isaiah 4, verse 4, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion.

18. 11:28

    Remember, the fuller’s field, when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and a smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night.

19. 11:55

    For upon all the glory shall be a defense or a covering, the margin suggests, and there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain. To see that in the future age, Zion with the presence of the king, will be pictured truly as though it was a place of refuge, a city of refuge.

20. 12:29

    A highway has been prepared there, the way of holiness, and when God has cleansed the filth of the daughters of Zion, they will be welcomed to tread that highway, a way of holiness, for as we read yesterday, the unclean shall not pass through it. Cleansing must take place 1st and advance by washing. And those who come will find in Zion, in whom there is all her springs, or their springs, a place like the city of refuge of the Old Testament.

21. 13:05

    And so the words of Isaiah for it emerge with this picture. Prepare, prepare ye the way, says the voice. Make it straight, make it plain, take out the crooked, make it obvious, and make it sure. See how elsewhere in Isaiah the same imagery is carried through. Building on these themes, Isaiah chapter 25, perhaps with this background that we’ve accumulated over the course of our studies, brothers and sisters, when we come across these terms in the future as we read Isaiah, they’ll have a little more meaning, more of a concrete picture behind them, what they would have meant for the readers in those days and what they mean more importantly for us now in the future. Notice verse 2 of Isaiah 25 As a lead in For Thou hast Made of a city, and heap of a defense city, a ruin, a palace of strangers, to be no city.

22. 14:05

    It shall never be built. That’s called in Isaiah quite often the city of confusion. It’s speaking, of course, not only of Babylon, but in particular of the nations and their cities and powers that have been raised up against God. Now verse 3. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, The city of the terrible nations shall fear thee now in contrast, for thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress.

23. 14:38

    We think of the man who fled to the city of refuge, to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible one is as a storm against the wall. Do you remember the picture we painted a few days ago? The small remnant of those within the walls, the sheep within the pen, like the language of Micah chapter 2, the onslaught of the Assyrian army, the great waters that came down but only went up to the neck.

24. 15:10

    According to the language of Isaiah chapter 8, the blast of the terrible one is as a storm against the wall. So brothers and sisters, these brethren who were faithful within those walls with Hezekiah, whose hearts were tried in this crisis, would appreciate the force of this language. For indeed, around them, beating against the walls of Jerusalem, was the Assyrian and the psychological threats posed by Rab Sheka.

25. 15:42

    But within that city of Jerusalem in those days, they found a covert from the blast of the heat. They found protection from the jaws of the mighty Assyrian lion. They found by fleeing to it, not just those who were native citizens of Jerusalem, as we’ve said before, but those who from other tribes and towns, had taken the opportunity when time allowed and gone down to join Hezekiah and Isaiah. Those who perhaps had experienced the infusion of spiritual strength when Hezekiah celebrated the Passover knew what it was to be around a Hezekiah, a righteous king. Those who had tasted of that experience in the hour of crisis had gone down there to join others who were native to the area and put in their lot with Hezekiah and Isaiah. They had come seeking refuge from the storm shadow, from the heat and the blast of the terrible ones, and the storm of the Assyrians did not touch them. As Isaiah told Hezekiah, not an arrow shall be fired within those walls.

26. 16:57

    Not an arrow. You see, brothers and sisters, once again we find that the experience of Hezekiah and his small flock within those walls was intended by God to be a cameo, just a small picture of something greater. It meant something to them, and when we consider how it was worked out in their real experience, we look forward to the time when the Master will come and establish Zion as a culvert for all the world, a place where He will invite all nations to come from, which will go forth the Law, and He will teach the nation and His brethren as Hezekiah taught those of His own people. We saw how Hezekiah in Chronicles spake comfortably to the heart of the Levites and those who would teach and instruct the Law.

27. 17:54

    You see, even in that limited application, they too could take some meaning from those words. For in his days the Law went forth from Zion, and under his leadership and Isaiah, the law went forth and they taught the people all once again, but a microcosm of something much grander of the future once again. Then we see a theme which runs all through Isaiah building as it goes through the prophecies, creating a complete picture. Once again we see how important it is to grasp the relevance it would have had in those days.

28. 18:31

    Well, let’s go back to Isaiah, to the middle portion that we’ve been often in. Take a look at something else that we haven’t really touched on yet. In the middle of the Assyrian crisis, Isaiah 37.

29. 18:47

    God’s assurances that the Assyrian will be turned back. The mighty raging storm, verse 29 of Isaiah 37 speaking as it were to the Assyrian, verse 29 Isaiah 37 Because thy Rage Against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips. Where have we heard that before?

30. 19:28

    Well, we showed you a slide Monday evening, I believe it was, which showed from an Assyrian inscription, the practice amongst the Assyrians of taking hooks or rings and putting them in the noses of their captives and then stringing chords from captive to captive, nose to nose. A rather painful way of walking along.

31. 19:54

    And how they would use this as a source of daily torment when they’re captive, often naked, as you saw in that slide, would follow along all the way to the cities that they were to be placed in, whether it was back to Nineveh or some other surrounding place of deportment. So, brothers and sisters, that language drawing from the practice of the Assyrians would have had special meaning. Now it’s that very kind of language that is used to describe the latter day Assyrian. Perhaps it echoes something in your mind. It’s used in Kings elsewhere, giving a parallel record to Isaiah 37 of the Assyrians.

32. 20:34

    But hold your hand here and slip over to Ezekiel 38. This brings perhaps a little more relevance to our times. Here in Ezekiel 38 we have the threat of another northern invader, with many parallels to the Assyrian of Hezekiah’s day. And Speaking of this Great Northern invader, whose objective is to come down to the same city that Sennacherib came to, whose objective is to annihilate the same people as the Assyrian had intended to in the days of Hezekiah.

33. 21:12

    Of the future power it is said, verse 3. Ezekiel 38 And say thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal, and I will turn thee back. Now notice the language of the Assyrian practice, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth. And all thine army and horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armor, even a great company with bucklers and Shields, all of them handling swords. Now the language of Ezekiel 38 describes an army. And of course it doesn’t describe this invading northern army in terms of Modern Warfare, but the language is reminiscent of the Assyrian invasion.

34. 22:04

    The same kind of forces, the same kind of approach from the north. In your margin, you might want to note Second Kings 19 verse 28, Second Kings 19, verse 28, where part of this language is used in application to the Assyrians as an addition to the Isaiah 37 passage we just began from. Now let’s flip over to Micah, a prophet contemporary with Isaiah.

35. 22:35

    See how Micah puts this Speaking of the latter days and yet no doubt having meaning to his contemporaries, thinking of the backdrop of the Assyrian invasion in Micah’s day, but looking forward to something the Lord Jesus Christ must handle in the future against another Assyrian. Micah 5. We know it’s a Messianic chapter. We know that because it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ in verse two.

36. 23:09

    Well known words to all of us. But thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me. That is to be ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth earlier in the week we said it means to spring or descend out. Whose going forth or spring from of old from everlasting.

37. 23:33

    Therefore will he give them up until the time that she which prevaileth Travaileth hath brought forth. Then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he, Jesus, shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and he shall abide, for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

38. 24:00

    And this man like Hezekiah, shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land. Verse 6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof. Thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian when he cometh into our land, when he treadeth within our borders.

39. 24:25

    Who is this, Brothers and sisters? It’s the one born in Bethlehem. It’s the one who shall be our peace when the latter day Assyrian comes into the land of old, the land of Israel. Taking Ezekiel 38 and the language of the hooks in the jaws, the language of Micah chapter 5, describing this northern invader Gog as a latter day Assyrian, and bringing with it the language of Isaiah 37 and a passage in Second Kings. A picture form showing us clearly that once again, the events in Hezekiah’s day, the backdrop for much of Isaiah’s prophecy only is a microcosm of something on a much grander scale.

40. 25:13

    And we suggest that a careful examination of this Assyrian crisis and the movement of the Assyrian himself is perhaps a kind of blueprint that should guide us into an understanding of how these events shall stack up in the latter days when we have once again an Assyrian in the land. Well, we could explore that much further.

41. 25:37

    It’s to show us how valuable it is to watch for these connections and to use them as keys for an understanding of future events. Back to Isaiah 37, for there’s more here that opens doors through the prophecy.

42. 25:57

    Isaiah 37, we ended verse 29. I will turn the back exactly what is said in Ezekiel 38. I will turn thee back by the way, by which thou camest. So perhaps in your margin at verse 29 you want to write in Ezekiel 38, verses 1-2 and three. Then verse 30 we move on to a sign. This is one of four signs given to Hezekiah, verse 30. This shall be a sign unto thee.

43. 26:36

    Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself, and the second year that which springeth of the same. And in the third year sow ye and reap and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. And the remnant that is escaped to the House of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. Once again we ask ourselves, what is the source of this language?

44. 27:08

    Where have we heard this kind of language before in the Old Testament? This reference to fruitfulness, the promise of a blessing of harvest, the mention of the 1st and 2nd and 3rd year, Well, some margins will tip you off that the background for this is Leviticus 25, Speaking of the year of Jubilee and the Sabbath years.

45. 27:32

    So we pause, put a marker there and go back to Leviticus 25. I’d like just to survey that chapter for a moment and pick out some of the key thoughts and terms Leviticus 25. And I think we’ll prove, we’ll find that it’s very useful for Isaiah’s prophecy. Back we go to Leviticus 25.

46. 27:57

    I suggest you read the chapter when you’ve time in detail to get the full context. Let’s just pick out these key ideas as they have a relation to Isaiah 37 verse 2. Moses is told, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord six years.

47. 28:28

    Thou shalt sow thy feel. Now listen carefully to those words that run parallel to Isaiah. 6 years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard. But in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord. Thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyards. That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed. For it is a year of rest when we come down and expand that a little more.

48. 29:11

    Read over here now to verse 18. Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them, and ye shall dwell in the land in safety, and the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. Now God anticipates a question, verse 20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the 7th year? Behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase. Good question God says.

49. 29:46

    And the answer verse 21 then says God, I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. Now that means the harvest in that year would be bountiful enough to carry them over for three years, not 3 full years. In fact, why does it say that?

50. 30:14

    Because the land is to rest in the seventh year, so that when the 7th year is over, what must they do? They must sow and then after sowing they must wait through that year before the harvest comes. And it must be a good enough harvest, brothers and sisters, to provide them food and ample seed for the next sowing.

51. 30:39

    So there’s about a three-year period here related to the time of rest in the land in the operation of these Sabbath years. And God is saying, I promise in that 6th year to give you sufficient to carry you over almost a three-year period, enough seed and enough fruit to look after you. It’s my promise if you’ll respond in faith. Now that’s the background beyond any shadow of a doubt in those words in Isaiah, of those words in Isaiah 37. What’s it saying to Hezekiah and the people? It’s a promise that at the end of the Assyrian crisis, this will be a sign I will bless you with the terms of blessing from the Sabbath year.

52. 31:33

    It’s a promise that the remnant that had stayed with Hezekiah and would come out into that city would be blessed with fruitfulness. But first they would be carried through sufficiently. And the promise is in terms of the jubilee or the Sabbath language, brothers and sisters. Now taking another look here at Leviticus 25, pick up some of the keywords in this whole context, verse one mention of a Sabbath. Verse 5, a rest year, a year of rest, key idea, rest course, it’s married with the idea of Sabbath. Then in this context of the Sabbath year’s reckoning, the jubilee is introduced in verse 9. 7 * 749 years marked out, and at the end a jubilee marked in verse 9 by a trumpet. And when the jubilee is to be marked at the end of seven sevens, it shall be in conjunction with the Day of Atonement, verse 9.

53. 32:38

    Thou shalt pause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the 10th day of the 7th month in the Day of Atonement, and he shall make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. So a trumpet the Day of Atonement, Sabbath rest. Verse 10, proclaim liberty throughout all the land. At the end of verse 10, assurance that they shall return to their possessions. Then other key terms.

54. 33:10

    Verse 25. The word redeem is introduced in this context. Middle of verse 25. Redeem. And verse 26. If a man shall have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it, and so on, then elsewhere in the chapter concern about the poor. Verse 35. And if thy brother be waxing poor, and fallen in decay, such and such shall be provided for him.

55. 33:38

    Verse 39. The idea of being a prisoner or being sold in bondage is brought to our attention For verse 39. If thy brother that dwelleth by thee be waxed and poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bondservant. Now the terms in this context of that of a jubilee and that of the promise of promised blessing and fruitfulness, stack up one after another, about 10 key terms. Sabbath rest, a trumpet, atonement, liberty, returning, possessing, redeeming, and being redeemed. Concern for the poor, for those who were sold, for those who are in bonds.

56. 34:28

    At least 10 key terms. Now brothers and sisters, when you go through Isaiah beyond chapter 37, you see that although Hezekiah and his people experienced a kind of 7th year blessing, there was also experienced in that a kind of jubilee experience for those who were within the walls were liberated. There had indeed been a Sabbath or a rest within those walls from the bondage of the Assyrian. The mention of a trumpet is mentioned elsewhere in Isaiah in Jubilee terms.

57. 35:10

    We’ll notice that in a moment. Terms that relate to an atonement are referred to in Isaiah’s prophecy, often in those passages that speak of liberation and freedom, The promise of returning the remnant of possessing their possessions that were rightly theirs, the promise of being redeemed, concern for the poor and those who had been sold, and those who had become bond servants. All of the.

58. 35:38

    Language surrounding these few verses in Isaiah 37 are built on elsewhere in the restoration passages, so let’s look for a sample using this as a key to an understanding of what it meant to Hezekiah and the remnant with him, and then further in the Kingdom. Isaiah 35A Restoration passage. But words that hearken back to the terms of the Sabbath year, blessings and the terms of Jubilee Messiah. 35 Notice the terms of blessing and fruitfulness from that which had been waste, that which was dry without hope.

59. 36:22

    Verse one. The wilderness in the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the Rose. Verse 2. Promises of fruitfulness and blessing. Caramel means fruitfulness. Down to verse 10. This is the key one well. Verse 9. Perhaps for context. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon.

60. 36:50

    It shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. Verse 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow, and sighing shall flee away. Hear language that promises fruitfulness, the blessings of God’s goodness, the promise though of liberation and freedom, the promise of the ransomed being liberated and freed, those who now can return and come to Zion, the promise, brothers and sisters, of a future kind of jubilee. Let’s go elsewhere.

61. 37:40

    Isaiah chapter 58. Many have noticed that the terms in Isaiah 58 contain a kind of double strand. Many of the terms in Isaiah 58 hearken back to the Day of Atonement, but also many of the terms in Isaiah 58 hearken back to the days of Jubilee, and they’re not disassociated. Remember, Leviticus 25 talks about the Jubilee being pronounced in conjunction with the Day of Atonement for that year. So thoughts related to Jubilee and thoughts related to the Day of Atonement are actually married together in Leviticus 25, and thus there’s two strands running through the language of Isaiah 58.

62. 38:37

    First, notice the trumpet verse. One cry aloud. Spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the House of Jacob their sins. And what’s the promise? What’s the hope? Well, here’s how it ought to be viewed. Verse 6. Now in the language of the Sabbath, Verse 6. Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness?

63. 39:09

    Remember freedom from bondage, to undo the heavy burdens and to let the oppressed go free. Did she break every yolk? The one who was in bondage was to be liberated. Leviticus 25. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? The concern about the poor.

64. 39:32

    Leviticus 25 Again, when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Then we come down to liberation again in verse 9. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer, Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity, if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and the darkness be as the noonday. Now the language of fruitfulness and blessing. Verse 11.

65. 40:15

    The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones. And thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Verse 12. And they shall be, and they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places. Rejuvenation.

66. 40:40

    Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations. Restoration, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. And then in verse 13, the prophet merges into the language of a true Sabbath, a Sabbath liberation, concern for those who were poor and needy, concern about liberation from bondage and if done properly, the promise of God’s restoration, health and blessing for fruitfulness, and all introduced by the blast of a trumpet. 58 verse one, and the mention of sin and transgression in terms of the Day of Atonement announced by that trumpet sound. He’s seen, brothers and sisters, as you look at these restoration passages in Isaiah, His people knew what a jubilee was, as it were, or the promise of a Sabbath blessing, The 7th year Sabbath blessing given on the 6th insurance that if they were faithful would walk in His ways, God would bless them. So that when Isaiah and his people heard these words, Isaiah 37.

67. 42:01

    This shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat of this year such as groweth of itself, and the second year that which springeth of the same, It’ll carry you through. And in the third year sow ye, and reap and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. They were being told in the terms of Leviticus 25. God would bless them if they were faithful, and they would experience a Sabbath year blessing such as they’d never known.

68. 42:34

    Verse 31. And the remnant that is escaped of the House of Judah, those who’ve been liberated shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. Such a beautiful Old Testament context, giving such concrete meaning to the promises experienced in the days of Hezekiah after the Assyrian crisis. One of us brothers and sisters, he has showered upon us blessings. We have the promise of the future age, no matter how difficult our various trials are, no matter how many distresses we have at home in the domestic scene, no matter how many disappointments we might experience in our ecclesial life and in our own personal lack of health at times, as Hezekiah well knew, no matter how we may. Feel like looking at the wall?

69. 43:31

    And feeling that we were down by the bars of death, there is hope. There is always the vision of a better day. Let us take heart, brothers and sisters, that those people with Hezekiah in the pressure experienced within their walls, when everything looked so dismal and their king was sick nigh on to death in the critical hour, there was nevertheless a spring, a spring of righteousness, a spring of refreshing water, constantly an assurance of God’s blessing. There was always the hope of a brighter vision in the future, the promise of a jubilee of a Sabbath rest, the hope of being finally liberated and experiencing the freedom of one who could walk in the ways of holiness. Never let us think that we have it too bad, or that others have not walked in our steps.

70. 44:31

    We’ve never yet walked in these kind of conditions. It’s a source of hope and strength. It’s an encouragement against despair on those cloudy days. And if we are tending to looking at the earth, it’s an encouragement to look up to heaven. Brothers and sisters, the one who promises himself in Isaiah to be the faithful servant who will bring ultimately this jubilee, this liberation into effect is described, as most of you know, I’m sure, in Isaiah 53.

71. 45:09

    But Isaiah 53, brothers and sisters is but a climatic chapter that is part of another theme running through Isaiah. If you look up the word in the concordance, there’s a pattern that emerges very intriguing. From chapters 1 to 40. The term servant singular is only applied to individuals as follows. Isaiah, Eliakim, and David all described as God’s servants. The other uses of servant would be even apply applying in Isaiah 14 to Babylon and his servants.

72. 45:51

    Other references are to other nations or powers. These would be the personal applications in the first part of Isaiah. Now as you advance from Isaiah 40, the hinge of the book, just notice how the term servant singular is applied and I have I think an exhaust list here. 41 verse 8 and 9 it applies to Israel the nation and 42 verse one it applies to Messiah. 42 and 19 to Israel the nation and 43 the nation. 44 numerous references Israel the servant as a nation. 48 and 20 Israel the nation.

73. 46:31

    Then a congested series that apply to Messiah chapter 49, chapter 50, chapter 52, chapter 53, the servant, Messiah the servant, Israel, the servant, the singular servant. But now here’s something to note. After Isaiah 53, every reference to servant becomes plural. Every reference to servant becomes plural after Isaiah 53. And in every case it has no reference to the nations or to their slaves or servants, as it does in the first part of Isaiah. It always has reference to the redeemed, either from the nation of Israel or to the Saints themselves directly. So there’s a transition at Isaiah 53. Why there?

74. 47:30

    Isaiah 53 ends by mentioning a plural seed. For the suffering servant shall see his seed plural, and shall be satisfied. God shall prolong his days and thus right after Isaiah 53, all references to the servant is plural and we have chapter 54 redeemed, the redeemed called the servants in verse 17 once again, verse 6 of chapter 56, then my servants 63 and 17, applying it would seem to the nation. First of all, 65 and 8, the nation of Israel. Then in those verses of chapter 65 you can see on the overhead the redeemed from the nation of Israel and no doubt having a double application to the Saints. And it would seem in 66 and 14 plural, the servants there is referring to the redeemed as a whole, both from the nation of Israel and the Saints themselves. Now once that pattern is grasped, you can take a look at Isaiah’s prophecy and you’ll observe there are 4 servant songs in Isaiah.

75. 48:51

    The one we are most familiar with therefore, in Isaiah 53, which begins actually back in chapter 52, is not the only key Servant section in Isaiah. I must admit, I hadn’t appreciated this myself until we looked at this in detail. The Servant Song, as it is sometimes called in Isaiah 53, is but the fourth of four songs. Each of those songs are worth a detailed examination. Each throw out light on different aspects of the Servant Messiah of the nation of Israel to become ultimately his national Servant.

76. 49:37

    And most importantly, pictures of the servants, plural, the redeemed, the Saints of God. Now, brothers and sisters, time doesn’t allow for a careful examination by any means of those four servant songs. But in each of them, brothers and sisters, there is hope. In each, there is the assurance, the vision of a brighter day to come.

77. 50:05

    Each promises for all of us as it promised for the people of Hezekiah’s day. The hope of a jubilee, the hope of promised blessings, liberation from bondage, the opportunity of returning to our possessions, to our spiritual inheritance, the hope of fruitfulness, God’s blessing in our lives, and most importantly, in our salvation. For each of the Servant songs there are terms which richly describe our hope. So see Isaiah 53, the better known one, against this context. And it helps us to more keenly appreciate that this one that we know so well is but the climatic picture focused in the Servant. For insomuch as the national servant failed as the servant of God, Messiah, the servant succeeded where the national servant failed.

78. 51:10

    A key idea in these prophecies, brothers and sisters, the servant failed as a nation, Jacob, my servant, whom I have called. But in Jesus, where the national Servant fails, we find victory, the conquering of sin and death. And thus the nation that is sick and afflicted in Isaiah 1 is therefore saved by the Servant in Isaiah 53, who takes upon him the graphic terms of a kind of leprous individual.

79. 51:45

    Not that he has sinned, but insofar as he is a sin bearer, he takes upon him descriptions, as we saw in our second class this week, descriptions of the sick nation. For he bears their iniquities, He bears their sins. For brothers and sisters, what is a servant but one who helps? What is a servant but one who bears burdens?

80. 52:11

    What are brothers and sisters together as a sheepfold, but fellow servants, the one who in the upper room, brothers and sisters who knelt down by a basin, who took an apron and girded himself and washed the feet of his disciples, show them what it is to be a servant. Brother to brother, sister to sister, brothers and sisters. We end on that theme, and let’s read the following passages by way of conclusion.

81. 52:42

    Just a few verses. Isaiah 30. The thoughts brought together, we believe, gives us a rounded picture of all that we’ve been considering in this past week, these beautiful and marvelous themes from Isaiah’s prophecy. Here is our hope. We’ll just walk through these three references. Isaiah 30, verse 15. For thus saith the Lord God to all of us here, the Holy One of Israel. He says to us in returning and rest shall ye be saved In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. Brothers and sisters.

82. 53:29

    Chapter 32, verse one. We look forward to this as we leave our school. Come down the mountain once again to the land surrounded by Assyria. Behold verse one. A king shall reign in righteousness, and Princess shall rule in judgement, and a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from The Tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

83. 54:10

    And finally, chapter 33. A warning and an exhortation to all of us. Verse 14 As those who wish to pass through our own crises. Verse 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness have surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? Who he that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly? He that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, he shall dwell on high.

84. 54:57

    His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks. Bread shall be given him. His waters shall be sure thine eyes, Brothers and sisters shall see the King in his beauty. They shall behold the land that is very far off. On that note, the vision of a brighter day. We end, but not totally of course, our studies and the themes of Isaiah. We will be leaving this afternoon, brothers and sisters, and we wish you all Godspeed.