Isaiah 49:14-26
Isaiah 49, 14 to 27 is our passage. And you’re probably wondering
where in the world we are in Isaiah. So I’ll explain a little
bit of that in a few moments. But let’s hear God’s word together.
Isaiah 49, beginning at 14. So Zion, that would be the kind
of the church in Jerusalem. Zion said, the Lord has forsaken
me. My Lord has forgotten me. Can
a woman forget her nursing child? that she should have no compassion
on the son of her womb. Even these may forget, yet I
will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on
the palm of my hands. Your walls are continually before
me. Your builders make haste, your
destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you. Lift
up your eyes around and see, they all gather, they come to
you. As I live, declares the Lord, you shall put them all
on as an ornament. You shall bind them on as a bride
does. Surely your waste and your desolate
places and your devastated land, surely now you will be too narrow
for your inhabitants. And those who swallowed you up
will be far away. The children of your bereavement
will say, yet say in your ears, the place is too narrow for me,
make room for me to dwell in. Then you will say in your heart,
who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled
and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold, I was left
alone. From where have these come? Thus
says the Lord God, behold, I will lift up my hands to the nations
and raise my signal to the peoples and they shall bring your sons
in their arms and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers
and their queens, your nursing mothers. With their faces to
the ground, they shall bow down to you and lick the dust of your
feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord. Those who wait
for me shall not be put to shame. Can the prey be taken from the
mighty or the captives of the tyrant be rescued? For thus says
the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken and
the prey of the tyrant be rescued. For I will contend with those
who contend with you and I will save your children. I will make
your oppressors eat their own flesh and they shall be drunk
with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know
that I am the Lord, your savior and your redeemer, the mighty
one of Jacob. Amen. God’s word. Okay. So you’re probably lost
a little. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve been in Isaiah, then
Isaiah just gets long and tedious. Here we are in chapter 49 in
Arthur 66 chapters. You wonder if Isaiah couldn’t
have done it in four chapters. Kind of wonder that about Job,
too, sometimes, don’t you? These long books, God has his
purposes. Remember, Israel, northern tribes, they’ve been hauled off
in the 700s by Assyria, their land repatriated with the people
we call the Samaritans. But Judah, Jerusalem, Judea,
was exiled about a hundred years later by the Babylonians. The
city was laid waste. The temple was laid waste. Their
houses and homes and even the land surrounding was laid waste. Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations
about how they laid it bare. They laid it bare. So Israel,
And now Judah are in exile because of their continual sin against
God. Remember the beginning of Isaiah,
God said, I took a hillside of choice land. I dug it and I planted
a vineyard with choice vines. I built a wall around it. I built
a wine press and I was expecting to have sweet, good wine from
my crop. and that it would drip into my
vats. But what did I get? I got wild grapes. I got sour
grapes. And so Israel, Judah in exile. And so what they are experiencing
in exile is a loss of a homeland, loss of national identity, and
loss of religion, loss of worship. They’re among pagans. They’re
in a foreign land. And we have Isaiah warning them
in the first half of his book. Now he’s giving them hope in
the second half, warning this is going to happen. Now hope
that you’re in the midst of it. You’ll get to, you’ll get to
go home. And remember, we’ve talked about two big problems.
There’s geographical problems. They’re thousand miles from home
in a far away land. And they also have a sin problem.
Now, the geographical problem can be alleviated by taxicabs,
right? Airplanes, buses. Well, in their
case, it’s Cyrus who’s going to make a decree that Israel
or Judah should go back and they should rebuild and repatriate
their land. That’s good for empire building. And so he’s going to send them
back by decree. He’s going to return them with
all the plunder that the Babylonians had taken. And now he, the Persian
conqueror has, and he’s going to give them money. And as they
go back, you read it in Ezra and Nehemiah, the couple waves
of returnees, there’s external struggles. They shouldn’t be
rebuilding. So they send letters and they
look and find no Cyrus wrote about this. He said it was a
decree. It should be done. And so God gives them geographical
homeland blessings through Cyrus. But what’s going to take away
their sin problem? Well, it’s Easter. We know the
answer. It’s Jesus. And Isaiah, the answer
is the suffering servant, Jesus Christ, God’s servant. And we’ve
seen a couple of the servant songs and we just read through
the second one in the chapters before this. But Israel looking
around them needs assurance. They’ve been picking daisies,
right? The Calvinist, he loves me. Right. He loves me not. And you pick
daisies and you hope that you pick the last daisy petal and
it’s on he loves me. That is not how we understand God’s blessings.
Maybe that’s how 13 year olds do the boyfriend girlfriend thing
in school. Maybe that’s how Armenians do it in church. But we’re Tulip
people, right? Please say yes. Yeah. Yeah. We,
we have assurance because we believe in God’s oath. We believe
in God’s covenant. We believe in God’s promises.
We believe that what God starts, he finishes not only for his
people, but also for those individuals he saves. And so we don’t want
to be picking daisies, but that’s what Israel’s doing. And so,
uh, in 14 and in 20 and then in 24, you’ve got the beginnings
of three big questions to God. sort of questions, do you love
me not? Do you love me not? Do you love me not? And what
does God do? Well, three times in the chapter, the verses after
14, 20 and 24, God says, I do love you and it’s gonna go great. So let’s think for a moment about
the first exchange. In 14 through 19, you have the
question and that question is in verse 14, Zion. says, or ask, the Lord has forsaken
me. It’s a statement, right? The
Lord has forsaken me and Yahweh, my Lord, has forgotten me. That’s a bit of a non-starter
statement, isn’t it? God cannot forget. God does not
forget. But we do get so far down in
the dumps. One of the best books that a
Christian can read when down in the dumps is Martin Lloyd-Jones’
Spiritual Depression and he doesn’t go through modern day six ways
to get happy and you know Whatever modern things does he just preaches
the gospel? He just attacks spiritual depression
by saying remember who God is remember what God has said look
at what God has done Religion for the Jew religion for the
Israelite was centered around Zion and Zion had been destroyed
by And that destruction, that utter destruction, you read of
it. And Ezra and Nehemiah, particularly Nehemiah, when he rides around
the city by night inspecting the walls, inspecting the gates,
they’ve made a start by the time he gets there at rebuilding and
repairing the ruins and the reproach of the city. But the destruction
represents the dishonor of God’s name and the dishonor of God’s
people. And so we can look around and
say, Yahweh has forgotten. Yahweh has forsaken. Picking
daisies. He loves me not. If you’re a
picking daisies Christian, you need to repent of that, right?
It’s not the way it works. And so what does God answer?
Well, the first answer is, can a woman forget her nursing child? that she should have no compassion
on the son of her womb? And what’s his answer? Yes, sometimes
mothers forget their children. We live in a world of infanticide. We live in a world of abortion.
We live in a world where, what is it, at a fire station, there’s
a safe drop box for babies? Sin-filled world, circumstances
may bring that about. Human love, human bonds is something
Yahweh appeals to, though. Can a mother forget her nursing
child? And the answer is, in most cases,
no. The bond a mom has with a baby lasts forever. One of the most
heartbreaking things, I think, I’ve experienced is to see a
mother who’s outlived her child. What a tough and difficult thing
that is. But the bonds can be broken, but not so with Yahweh. That’s his first response. And
then in verse 16, he says something that we sing about. I believe
it’s in the hymn before the throne of God above. I have a strong
and perfect plea. My name is written on his hands. I kind of wonder if. That hymn
was written with this verse in mind. Behold, I have engraved
you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before
me. You think of the clothing that
was put on the priest some months back, maybe before Christmas.
We looked at that in our Wednesday evening Bible study. And one
of the things that was put on the priest were the names of
the tribes of Israel. And the minister, the elders,
the priest, even Jesus, wears the names. Our names are written
in the Lamb’s Book of Life, but our names are engraved on the
palm of His hands. You can’t get more sweet and
special than that. Well, another assurance here,
it’s kind of rapid fire. Mamas, don’t forget their babies.
I got you written on my hands. Verse 17, he says, builders are
making haste. They’re on the way now to Jerusalem.
And we have these natural disasters like Western Carolina. We have
hurricanes and the They’re probably money grubbers, but people just
in droves start going to these places to lend a hand. Now, Samaritan’s
Purse and some of these good folks do lend a hand, but there’s
gold in those opportunities. And in a sense, you can just
see the carpenters, their walk-in design with their toolboxes.
They’ve ordered up lumber from Tyre and Sidon. The cedars of
Lebanon are being cut as we speak. And he says in verse 17, quit
saying you love me not. I got builders making haste to
your place. And guess who’s leaving, the
destroyers. Those who laid you to waste go out from you. And
he says in 18, lift up your eyes around and see. They all gather,
they come to you as I live, declares the Lord. And he’s speaking of
the wicked ones, the destroyers. As I live, you shall put them
on as an ornament. You shall bind on them as a bride
does. They go off in chains. Surely
your waste and desolate places and your devastated land. Now
it’s going to be too narrow. There’s not going to be enough
room for all the people that go back. And those who swallowed
you up will be far away. There’s a sense here where there’s
overcrowding in the church, overcrowding in Zion. One of the things we’ve
got to remember is, yes, God loves us. He never loves us not.
He may be angry with us. He may chastise us as a good
father does. But our God hears our cries. And when the needy calls, he
answers. Now, it may be in his time and
it may hang you out for a little bit. But it’s to work out his
purposes, as we thought about today. God does all things for
his glory and for our everlasting good. So that’s the first exchange
with the people of God and with Yahweh. The second one begins
in verse 20. And it’s, I believe, from the
perspective of Zion as the mother. You know, we often think of the
church or Jerusalem as our mother. What was the famous saying with
God as our father and the church as our mother. I think the saying
went, we can’t have God as our father without the church as
our mother. I think that was Saint Cyprian, maybe. And the
idea is that we have a heavenly father and he has put us in a
family and that family is the mother church. We’re living in
a day of Christless Christianity and even a day of churchless
Christianity. Those can’t be, right? Those
terms negate themselves. But here we have in verse 20,
the children of your bereavement will say yet in your ears, the
place is too narrow for me, make room for me to dwell. Can you imagine having a home
with all the beds filled? Can you imagine having a church
with all the seats filled? Today, we put out some more chairs
for Easter. That’s always a neat thing. They
tell you, psychologically, you should have more seats so people
will feel welcome and there’s not nowhere to sit. Plus, you’ve
got to have the space seats because you don’t want to touch somebody
you don’t know. or sit on the family pew of so-and-so. But
it’s always sweet or neat to put out more chairs, that sort
of thing. And that’s the idea here. The
city is gonna be so full of children flocking to Zion to have the
church as their mother. Verse 21, then you will say in
your heart, who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren,
mother Zion says. I was exiled. I was put away.
But who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone. From
where have these come? You know, when we’re left alone
and we have thoughts, and this popped up over in verse 18, lift
up your eyes around and see. We need to stop and think, don’t
we? We need to stop and listen. We
need to read our Bibles and we need to be left alone for a few
moments and realize the glass is not half empty, but it is
running over, right? The glass is not half empty,
it’s half full. In fact, it’s better than half
full. But we kind of wind ourselves down in a hole, woe is me, sky
is falling, chicken little. Eeyore, you know, life is terrible
and everybody hates me. And that is not the way it is
when we have God. There can be darkness around
us. There can be hardship around us. We can be in the midst of
losses and crosses. We can be bereaved and barren.
But God does bring blessing. In verse 22, the Lord says, Behold,
I lift up my hands to the nations. I lift up or raise my signal
to the peoples and they shall bring your sons in their arms.
And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. You get the
picture of them being escorted. First class limousine service
in a sense from Babylon to Jerusalem. Kings shall be your foster fathers
and their queens, your nursing mothers with their faces to the
ground. So there’s humiliation. They
shall bow down to you. They shall lick the dust of your
feet. And you will know that I am the Lord. Those who wait
for me shall not be put to shame. So our covenant Lord is reminding
us of what we now know in the New Testament. Christ shall have
dominion over land and sea. Christ shall have dominion over
the nations. The church will grow. The church will prosper.
Bigger things for God’s people than just the rebuilding of Judah
and Jerusalem. People of the earth, even kings,
foreign kings will depend on Yahweh. I don’t know what shift
has taken place in our country. I don’t know what shift has taken
place in the Republican Party. And I don’t know what shift has
taken place in our president. But I do wonder if a little of
this is true. You hear more faith words. Now,
I’ll give it to you. Some of the faith stuff that
we’re seeing nationally is a little hokey. It may not be our reform
stuff. It may make the hair on our neck
if we haven’t been to the barber. It may make it stand up Some
of the stuff that gets said but don’t you at least see a trend?
Of an appeal to God of an appeal to Yahweh, I believe even in
our president At some point people do hear the words comfort Comfort
and they do realize that success is not in a can-do spirit though
that helps But it is by the might and the power and the spirit
of Almighty God and and something to think about You know this
first exchange. I don’t forget moms. Don’t forget
babies the second exchange God is gonna fill his church full
One of the things we have to remember is God blesses in latter
days. He gives back the years the locust
of Eden he restored Job’s fortunes and Job had more in his latter
days and than he had in his beginnings. Now not doing the whole health
and wealth thing here, but that is the way God works. And it
may not be fulfilled in this life. It may be all your splendor,
riches, and goodness comes in heaven. Well, there’s a third
exchange and it’s a short one. It comes up in verse 24. Okay. They’re playing, picking daisies. He loves me. He loves me not.
What does God say? Can the prey be taken from the
mighty or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? And maybe you’re
looking around and saying, no, it’s been 70 years. No, they’re
big and mighty. Well, the Lord says, even the
captives of the mighty shall be taken. Even the prey of the
tyrant will be rescued. Now, remember your stories of
Daniel in the lion’s den, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the
fiery furnace. The story, the handwriting on
the wall, Babylon and Persia were big, mighty nations with
big, mighty armies, and they did big, nasty things. And they
were strong in might. And so they’re asking, can God
release their claws and their paws and their fetters and their
chains off of us? And the answer is yes. Even the
captives of the mighty shall be taken, even The prey of the
tyrant rescued. God will contend with those who
contend with you and he will save your children. That sounds
a little like the promise God made to Abraham, doesn’t it?
I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who
curse you. Jesus, as we sang several times
today, Jesus rescues us from sin, Satan, death, and darkness. He goes into the dungeon and
cuts the chains. He releases our souls from the
prisons. And he not only sets our feet
on firm ground, but he takes over cleaning us up and giving
us new life. Read something this week that
said, you have to look at the six days of creation and see
how God on day six made man in his image. And how on day six
of Passion Week, so you had Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Good Friday, how on day six, God made the new man. He made
the new humanity. He made the new creation by his
death. And so when Jesus rescues us,
whether it’s out of the clutches of our enemies, maybe David and
Saul or David and Goliath or now Jesus and Satan, We realize
God can and will fight for us. He does love us. Verse 26, he
says, I’ll make your oppressors eat their own flesh. He’s going
to put them under siege like they put Judah under siege and
they’re going to turn to cannibalism. That’s a lovely one, isn’t it?
They’re going to be drunk with their own blood as with wine.
You know, the longer you’re under siege, you get desperate. You
know, what was the big controversy? They’re eating cats. Except that
whole thing y’all forgotten last fall, hadn’t you? But when you
get desperate, you do desperate things. And what’s the result? All flesh shall know that I am
the Lord, your savior. I am your redeemer, the mighty
one of Jacob. So here’s a challenge. There is evil around us and there
is evil in this world. It’s all under the the providence
and lordship of almighty God. And we can look around us and
we can see darkness. We can look around us and see
death. We can look around us and see strife. We can be sick
in our own bodies. We can read the news and watch
the headlines and become depressed and sad and think, oh, well,
you know, all is lost. But if you stew over the promises
of God, if you quit picking daisies and you remember the character
of God, the actions of God, the promises of God, You see the
favor of God. You’ll realize a couple things,
and this passage tells us very quickly, God does not forget. He also tells us his church will
grow and prosper. He says Jesus wins and the world
loses. And also the people that hurt
you, they’re going to get it. Now, I don’t know if those things
help you or not. I think they should. But they should lift
the cloud of depression. Let’s do pray together. Lord,
we remember the great declaration in the book of Revelation that
Babylon has fallen, that the warfare has ended, and you bring
your church home to heaven to be with you. You’re the God. Your people are with you and
they dwell together in peace. We look forward to that day.
We trust your promises and we want to remember them this coming
week. We pray in Christ’s name for
your help and blessing. Amen.