These verses are about the pilgrimage to Zion – the pilgrims themselves, the doubts that trouble them, the faith that sustains them, and the joy that awaits them at their journey’s end. Pilgrimage to Zion was something that every Israelite of Old Testament times knew about. Three times every year, at the three great festivals – Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles – the pilgrims came, streaming to Zion from every corner of the land. When possible, whole families went together, meeting friends along the way. They laughed, they talked, they sang, and finally they rejoiced together before the Lord in Zion as they recalled God’s goodness to them and renewed their commitment to Him and to one another. Some of the happiest memories of childhood and family belonged to these occasions.

The exile to Babylon, however, was to produce an experience of deprivation more terrible. Many were to grow up with no personal memories of Zion at all, never having seen it, let alone gone there. For them pilgrimage to Zion could only be hoped for, not remembered, and the hope itself must often have seemed like a distant mirage – enticing, but cruelly unreal. Many would simply give up believing that it could happen. A minority, however, would cling to it, not as a kind of mental trick to help them feel better, but as the evidence of an unquenchable confidence in the faithfulness of God and the reliability of His promises. These are the ones the Lord addresses with obvious pleasure in verses 1-7; they are plainly dear to Him.

They are described in verse 1 as those who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord. They have grasped the heart of true religion: holiness of life flowing from personal relationship with God. Jesus said that the only future that matters (the kingdom of God) belongs to such people (Matt. 5:6). Their expectation of what God will do in the future profoundly shapes how they live in the present. They do not rely on their unaided consciences to tell them how they should live; they know what is right, because they have God’s law in their hearts (v. 7).

These pilgrims, then, are faithful Israelites. They may not have literally set out yet, but they are pilgrims none the less. For they know where their home is and long for the day when they will be there, and it is the promises of God, which they believe, that draw them towards it. Zion will be rebuilt; the wastelands around her will blossom again like the garden of the Lord (v. 3). It will again become a place of joy and gladness and thanksgiving (v. 3), and it will stand forever as undeniable evidence of God’s righteous, saving character (v. 8b).

Another group of pilgrims is alluded to in verses 4-6. They are a much larger group, coming from the nations and the distant islands, drawn towards Zion by the promise that light is about to dawn, and the justice they long for is soon to become a reality. These are the “other sheep” Jesus spoke about who would one day hear the shepherd’s voice and be gathered into the fold (John 10:16). They have joined the pilgrimage because they are convinced that only the Lord, the God of Israel, can mend the world’s ills; and they are right (v. 6)!

In the end there are only one people of God, the ransomed of the Lord, and when all God’s purposes for them have reached their goal they will all be together in one place – Zion, the city of God. They will enter it with singing, and joy will be their crown forever (v. 11).

As so often, Isaiah’s vision reaches far beyond the particulars of history to its end; beyond the return from Babylon to the consummation it foreshadowed. And he can hardly wait for the dawning of that final day. There were many obstacles in its way, but he was sure that the strong arm of the Lord had not lost any of its ancient power (v. 9). Isaiah did not doubt either God’s ability or His will. But there was what we might call a “holy impatience” about this great man of faith. “Do it now,” he cries in effect, “Do it now” (vv. 9-10). The Bible itself ends with a very similar cry (Rev. 22:20-21). It should be our cry also.

Isaiah 51:1-11 Reflection Questions:

How often during the year do you recall God’s goodness to you and your family? Will you do it more often?

When going through tough times, do you have an unquenchable confidence in the faithfulness of God and the reliability of His promises?

Do you have God’s Word in your heart?

Where are you with your personal relationship with God?

Once more the Servant speaks, letting us into some of the most deeply personal areas of His life: His communion with God, the physical and mental suffering which marks His way, and the assurance of final vindication that lifts Him up. The words of the Servant are for Israel first of all; but, as a part of Scripture, they are also for us. In this third Servant Song the world at large is left out of the picture, and attention is focused on the Servant Himself and His ministry to the people of God.

The Servant is a skilled counselor because He himself has been taught by the Lord. He is a disciple before He is anything else, and as such His outstanding characteristic is attentiveness to God (v. 4). This, as we recall from chapter 48, is exactly what Israel has failed to do. In stark contrast to Israel, too, He is not rebellious (v. 5). His whole intent is to translate the instruction He receives into obedient action, no matter what the cost. As a disciple He does not shrink from the suffering: He does not draw back, or hide His face, but sets it like flint (vv. 5-7). There is nothing He will not endure if obedience demands it. But finally – and this is important – His confidence is not in His own power to endure, but in the Lord who helps Him, and who will vindicate Him in the end (v. 8). This Servant doesn’t speak from a lofty vantage point; far from it, no one has felt the struggle more intensely, or paid a bigger price for obedience. He is the perfect disciple.

Again His identity teases us. But more important at this stage is the question: why the powerful portrait of the Servant at this point? What impact is it intended to have on those still on the knife-edge of belief or unbelief that was reached at the end of the previous section? We don’t have far to look, because verses 10-11 at once drive the message home. The Servant is not simply to be admired or wondered at; He is to be obeyed (v. 10). In short, in describing His own discipleship the Servant has shown them what God requires of all His people; not empty profession, but wholehearted, costly obedience. The Servant and the challenge that He brings, force a separation between the true and the false, the righteous and the wicked, the saved and the lost – among those who profess to be God’s people.

While this should exercise our consciences mightily, and cause us to search our hearts, it is at the same time reassuring, and provides some relief from the impasse we were left with in verses 1-3. There will never be a generation of God’s people that rises as one to the faith and obedience that He requires of them. Some will and some will not. Some, by their persistence in indifference or rebellion, will show themselves, in the long run, not to be His people at all. But God’s ultimate purposes will not be frustrated by their mixed response. There will always be those who genuinely do rely upon their God (v. 10), and they will move on in faith to inherit all the glorious things He has promised. In the end, as we have seen, it will be the Servant, whose testimony we have heard in verses 4-9, who will force the division between the true and the false among God’s people. The “fear the Lord” and “to obey the Word of His Servant” are one and the same thing. We must all decide whether or not we will follow Him!

Isaiah 50:4-11 Reflection Questions:

Morning by morning do you listen to God’s instruction?

Are you willing to obey God’s Word even if it means ridicule or suffering a loss of some kind?

How much do you rely on your own strength in adversity versus relying on God who helps you?

Do you call yourself one of Christ’s disciples? If so, what does that mean for you?

At last the particular issue of the Lord’s choice of Cyrus has faded into the background, but a deeper tension in the relationship between God and His people remains to be worked through. How could God abandon Zion and still be committed to its people? As long as Zion lay in ruins, the sense of being abandoned by God would prove exceedingly hard to shake off. Some, like Daniel, would be resilient enough to rise above it. Most would sink into deep depression and find the struggle to believe and hope again long and difficult. These verses are about that struggle and the pain at the heart of it.

Zion’s lament and the Lord’s response (49:14-21): Zion’s lament in verse 14 is in the end, irrational and groundless; it simply does not accord with the facts. God, being the God He is, can no more forget His people than a mother can forget the baby at her breast (v. 15). Like a master architect, He thinks about the plans for them day and night (v. 16). Like a father who is inordinately proud of His daughter God will not rest until His people are decked out like a bride (vv. 17-18) and settled like a happy mother with her family about her (vv. 19-21). Zion’s children will return to her, and more besides; she will overflow with them. She herself will not be able to comprehend the full extent of the blessing that will break over her. The images are mixed and do not always cohere logically, but they all affirm God’s love for His people and His tireless commitment to their welfare.

The choice facing the world (49:22-26): This of course, means that the rest of the world has a decision to make. They can co-operate with God by blessing His people (vv. 22-23), or they can defy Him by continuing to persecute them (vv. 24-26). They can share in the blessing God intends to bestow on His people, or they can entirely cut themselves off from it. But they cannot claim any relationship with God that bypasses identification with His people. The picture of kings and queens serving God’s people as foster fathers and nursing mothers in verse 23 is not one of abject submission but of love and affection; inclusion rather than exclusion. The horror of gruesome defeat is reserved for the warriors and the fierce of verses 24-26 who are too proud to change. But either way, all will know, in the end, the invincible strength of God’s commitment to His people (v. 26b).

The divorce that never was (50:1-3): After this powerful affirmation, the opening verses of chapter 50 look rather anti-climactic. In fact, however, they are more like a quiet appeal at the end of a stirring sermon. The sermon began with Zion’s sorrowful lament (49:14); it ends by addressing her children (50:1), especially those who would find themselves cruelly separated from her. Has the Lord divorced their mother? No, He has not, for no bill of divorce has been issued. Has He sold her to clear a debt? No; the very suggestion that He has creditors is preposterous. The explanation for Zion’s destruction is the sin and transgressions of its people, not any cooling of affection or straitened circumstances on God’s part. Since there has been no divorce, the Lord can take Zion back, and since He has not sold her she is still His to claim as by right. Furthermore, as the Creator He has the power to make good everything He has promised her (vv. 2b-3). The only hindrance is the one that has always been there, namely, the unresponsiveness of her children to His Words and deeds (v. 2a). But the need for change is urgent, for there is the possibility of a new beginning if only God’s people will grasp it by faith and move forward into it. That is the challenge with which this sermon ends. Hardly anti-climatic, but a tense and uncertain moment, for the response the Lord seeks is apparently lacking.

Isaiah 49:14-50:3 Reflection Questions:

Have you ever felt that God has forgotten you?  How do verses 14-21 help you?

Is that something that you are going through, making it a struggle to believe and hope again long and difficult?

Does this study offer you any encouragement? How so?

Are you responsive to God’s Word? How can you improve on it?