"Who is addressed in Isaiah 49:8-9? Who are the prisoners, and when and from what are they to be freed?"
The verses referred to read thus: "Thus says the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That you may say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places." (Isaiah 49:8-9)
By reading the preceding verses in connection with these, we readily learn who is addressed. "And now, says the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him. And He said, It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation unto the end of the earth." (Isaiah 49:5-6)
These passages show unmistakably that Christ is the one addressed. Compare verse 6 with: "Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word: For my eyes have seen your salvation, Which You have prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel." (Luke 2:29-32)
The 8th verse itself shows that Christ is addressed, in the words, "I will preserve You, and give You for a covenant of the people." (Isaiah 49:8)
Compare this with: "Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not, and nations that knew you not shall run unto you because of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you." (Isaiah 55:4-5)
The "day of salvation" is the entire time during which God's mercy to man is manifest in the gospel. In this day--this acceptable time--Christ is heard in behalf of the people, and is given for the objects mentioned in verses 8 and 9.
Opening the Prison
One of these objects is the opening of the prison, and saying to the prisoners, "Go forth." It might appear to some, from the words that immediately follow (verse 10), that this has reference to the opening of the graves at the last day; but from almost identical language used elsewhere in prophecy, and applied by our Lord himself, we are obliged to place the opening of the prison within the "day of salvation." "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." (Isaiah 61:1-2)
When our Lord went into the synagogue at Nazareth and read this much of the prophecy, He closed the book, and said to the people: "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." (Luke 4:21)
The fact that He said this, and that He refrained from reading the next clause,--"and the day of vengeance of our God,"--shows that all that He read is fulfilled in the day of grace. But the dead are not raised until the day of mercy is past. Therefore the "opening of the prison to them that are bound" must be during the "day of salvation."
What Is the Bondage?
Then we have to inquire, Who are bound, and what is their bondage? The following verses will set us in the way of the correction answer: "They [the wicked Jews] answered Him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man; how say you, You shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abides not in the house forever; but the Son abides ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." (John 8:33-36)
From these words we learn that sin is a bondage, and that it is from this bondage that Christ sets men free. To further show that sin is a bondage we need only to refer to the following verses, out of a multitude that might be quoted: "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." (Romans 7:14) "While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." (2 Peter 2:19)
Again, we know that Christ's special work is to save people from sin: "And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21) "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15) "Looking for...our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2:13-14)
Both these points, namely, that sin brings men into bondage, and that Christ releases them from this prison, are brought out in the following passage: "For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which [i.e., by the Spirit] also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing." (1 Peter 3:18-20)
Christ, by the Spirit, went and preached unto the spirits in prison; this was in the days of Noah, while the long-suffering of God waited. God's long-suffering waited one hundred and twenty years, and during this time His Spirit was striving with the wicked antediluvians. "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." (Genesis 6:3)
Those wicked men were in the bondage of sin; Christ was ready and anxious to give them freedom,--the same freedom that Noah had, namely, the righteousness which is by faith,--but they refused to be made free, and were therefore destroyed.
The Condemnation of the Law
Still further: We have seen that men are bound in prison because of sin. Said Paul, "The law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin." (Romans 7:14)
Now, "sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4)
And therefore it is the transgressed law that shuts men up in prison. David said, "I will walk at liberty; for I seek your precepts." (Psalm 119:45)
But when he turned aside from the commandments he was at once bound as a criminal. This bondage in which the transgressed law holds its victims until they accept freedom in Christ, is most forcibly indicated by Paul in the following words: "But the scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." (Galatians 3:22-23)
It is well known that human law casts its violators into prison. The sheriff who arrests the criminal, the judge who sentences him, and the jailer who locks him up, are only the agents of the law. The massive bolts and prison walls simply represent the outraged law. Now notice the parallel in the case of a transgressor of divine law. Having willfully sinned, he is justly accounted guilty of a violation of the whole law: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10)
For a time he is unconscious of his bondage. Said Paul, "I was alive without the law once." (Romans 7:9)
The office of the Spirit is to make men conscious of this bondage: "And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." (John 16:8)
It does this by bringing the word home to their hearts, for the Bible is the Spirit's sword. Some, it is true, resist the influence of the Spirit, and never become conscious of their need until it is too late. But we will consider the case of one upon whom the Spirit works effectually.
As the truth is impressed upon his heart, his prison walls seem to contract about him. Whereas before he thought he had unlimited freedom, he now finds that he is in a narrow cell, the walls of which are the ten commandments. He resolves that he will be free, and starts out in one direction. But he has taken the name of the Lord in vain, and the third commandment says, "You can't get out here."
He turns in another direction, but he has borne false witness, and the ninth commandment presents an effectual barrier to his escape in that direction. Whichever way he turns, a commandment, stronger than any earthly prison wall, drives him back. He is shut in on every side.
Freedom Through Christ
But Christ is the door that ever stands open. Toward this door the enclosing walls seem to drive him, and he is shut up to it as the only avenue of escape. At last he escapes through this door, and becomes in Christ a free man. In Christ he is as though he had never sinned, and in Him he is, "made the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
That is, he becomes a commandment-keeper, and therefore continually walks at liberty. He has now only to "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith God has made him free." (Galatians 5:1)
One more point. Christ is the "tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion." (Micah 4:8)
Now turn to the exhortation of the prophet: "As for you also, by the blood of your covenant I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn to the strong hold, you prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double unto you." (Zechariah 9:11-12)
The blood of the covenant is still offered before the throne of God, and is powerful enough to set every prisoner free. Therefore we are all prisoners of hope. We may all be free if we will. No matter how high our sins may seem to be piled up against us, backed by the law of God, we need not despair, for: "the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin;" (1 John 1:7) and, "Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound." (Romans 5:20)--Signs of the Times, January 13, 1887--Isaiah 49:8-9
E. J. Waggoner