Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 1 – 3
Recall from last week, this word for follow means “chase it like it
stole your purse!” HA! To chase, to pursue, to run after to harass…,
that’s the picture. God has made amazing promises and in Him are
hidden all of the riches of wisdom. And some have accepted that!
Figured that out! And so, they don’t wait for righteousness to happen
or for someone else to teach them, they pursue wisdom all on their
own.
And you who seek the Lord. The word here is demand, require, to
search and search until something is secured. What’s the point?
There are things, many things…, most things, in the Word of God and
in the heart of God and in the mind of God that folks simply cannot
hear and will not benefit from and will not ever know, because they
are literally reserved only for those that this is what they do…
And so, what is it God has for them in these verses? When you are in
the grip, in the situation, in the season, in this life, remember…,
remember that you were formed from dust. Remember that God
created the intricacy of YOU from a hole dug in the earth…, and if He
is that God, He is not restrained. AND, remember the impossibilities
of taking a couple like Abraham and Sarah and completing His Word
through them. AND in light of that, hold fast…
Zion, this is why perhaps people get things wrong like Replacement
Theology or Reformed Theology, because there is Israel and there is
Zion. Israel is Israel, the Jewish people, the Jewish nation and that
bloodline and land specifically, but Zion, that is the Kingdom of God
on earth partly hidden and fulfilled in part, to be perfectly fulfilled in
the New Heaven and the New Earth, the New Jerusalem. Spiritual
Israel. Comprised of the entirety of the family of God, Jew and gentile,
Israel and the church and yet the portion of the bloodline of Israel that
rejects the Messiah, and in that rejects God, that is not Zion… So
perhaps this is how folks twist doctrine and say God is finished with
the Jew… He is not, Zion is simply His entire earthly spiritual
Kingdom…
And so, Zion, those that we’ve already mentioned, in this life, through
even tragedies and crisis and hardship, and as Zion groans in this
fallen dark and sinful world and life, God holds us like His beloved
children in the palm of His hand. He does comfort. Wildernesses are
as joy-filled as Eden, He does spring forth produce and beauty in
deserts and even so we sing, we have joy, we have gladness and the
heart of Zion is filled with thanksgiving!
Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 4 – 6
Notice, those who tie themselves intimately to the things of this world
will incur loss… Those that tie themselves intimately to the things of
God will incur upgrade!
These are promises of hope to the people of God and really, we use the
word “promises” and it’s not needed. This is the word of God. These
are His commitments and yes, His promises but really, it’s just His
word and that is enough. This is hope for Isaiah, hope for the nation
who will soon be in captivity, hope for the people of God throughout
their lives because it is a revealing assurance that this world, this life is
not all there is and there is coming a place, an existence, where God’s
salvation and righteousness fit entirely!
Isaiah Chapter 51 Verse 7
The third “listen to Me” statement which is a command but is also a
revelation of those that are ABLE to listen. (God would not command
what we are not able to do…) And this listen to Me is “you who know
righteousness…,” and what’s that mean? “You people in whose heart
is My law,” and that is significant.
Knowing righteousness is not that you do what is right or that you are
educated in terms of proper doctrine. Those that know righteousness,
and let’s go back, those that are the people of God, and those that seek
the Lord and follow after righteousness, are those that have opened
their heart, cleared out room, and welcomed the Word and Person of
God in and above anything or anyone else, including themselves.
These are they that in whose heart is God’s law. Not their own…,
God’s law... That is the only path to knowing righteousness.
And…, look, more revealing assurances…, those that grow to know
righteousness…, do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their
insults… Why do people offend us so much and so easily? Because we
are so afraid. Fear manifests in offense… Offense is to be eaten up
over what someone else has said or done… But those that hope and wait
on the Lord…., those that know righteousness, there is a strength of
character that blooms… And now, even the fiery darts of the enemy are
stopped…, by what? The breastplate of righteousness…!
Isaiah Chapter 51 Verse 8
The moth and the worm speak of natural, worldly decay (and even the
condition of Gehenna) and the duality being discussed here is that the
things of God remain but the reproach and insults of men have an
expiration date. Or maybe let me say it this way SHOULD have an
expiration date. What’s that mean!?
The Christian that is growing in the Lord is changing. And you are
NOT what you were. Season to season, strength to strength. And so,
insults and reproaches from before shouldn’t even fit anymore! AND,
the moth and the worm are small, insignificant, easily terminated
irritants, just swat them with an identity built in the Lord and in His
Word! Fear less, get irritated less, love more…
Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 9 – 20
I love this stretch of scripture because essentially it is the statement,
“Have you had enough yet!?” I have seen this in my own heart and
life and in so many others as well! The Word of God is right there!
Salvation and life and strength and breakthrough and just an end to so
much nonsense, its like you’re in a round-about and you just keep
passing it and looking at it and not taking the exit! Awake!
That word means “WAKE YOURSELF UP!” No one can do this for
anyone else. And everyone has the right to waste years and years on
this unmerry go round of serving self and thus living in the many
shades of fear. Lust, pride, agitation, frustration, arrested
development! Unteachable, uncorrectable, offended constantly…
But at some point, the sons and daughters of the King ought to wake
up and accept the kingdom, step into their divine due through the
blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit which is to
OVERCOME the evil one!! Another translation for this word awake is
to raise up, to be the variant, to master and to finally triumph!!
Isaiah Chapter 51 Verses 21 – 23
Drunk but not with wine is a call of mercy to the people because its
verse 17 says that what has been guzzled down is the cup of His fury,
the dregs of the cup of trembling meaning the consequence of the
Word of God and the implication here is that as a people, they even
lick the bottom of the cup as it says in that verse, “and have drained it
out.” What’s that mean? They have settled into a pattern of
navigating soulishly, living in a lesser state, rather than trusting the
Lord, obeying His Word and thus steering their stories spiritually!
And so, God gives them the answer and it’s super hard. This is why
the majority never enter into the life God has planned for them…
Their path has been so difficult already. So many trials and
tribulations and troubles and torments, but the answer is to trust the
Lord, value His Kingdom over your own or even this life and to
CHOOSE humility. And when you have laid your body like the
ground and as a street for those who walk over, that’s when God puts
that cup in the hands of those who afflict you… The answer (doesn’t
matter what the situation or past or whatever, the answer to fix ME
and to fix YOU) is simple…, return to the cross of Christ. Personally,
and even practically…