Daily Devotional Thursday 8th June 2023
by William Moody
Isaiah 50
Israel’s Sin and the Servant’s Obedience
50:1 Thus says the LORD:
“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
with which I sent her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.”
4 The Lord GOD has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6 I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.
7 But the Lord GOD helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
9 Behold, the Lord GOD helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the voice of his servant?
Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on his God.
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the torches that you have kindled!
This you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.(ESV)
This chapter begins with Israel being likened to a sinful wife who has to be sent away for her sin (v1). Sadly, though she has not looked to the Lord for redemption and deliverance (v2). The Lord mourns for her (v3).
We next come to the third of Isaiah’s servant songs (v4-11). This servant will be so different from the unfaithful mother that Israel was.
There is no doubt this song finds fulfilment in in Jesus and sheds further light on His role and suffering. This Servant will be someone who will allow Himself to be taught morning by morning so that He would be able to teach others (v4). Unlike Israel this servant will listen and will not rebel (v5).
This Servant willingly gives His body to be illtreated and mocked by others (v6). It would be through suffering that the Servant would succeed.
The Servant in all this knows the Lord help sustaining Him as He with great determination perseveres (v7). The Lord sustains Him and will bring vindication in the face of His enemies and their false claims (v8-9).
There is a stark choice to make of either following in the light of the Lord (v10) or in following our own light (v11). The carrier of torches surely points to those who came to arrest Jesus and who would face judgment.
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