"Thus says the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, wherewith I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to which I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away. Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stinks, because there is no water, and dies for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. The Lord God has given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I should be able to sustain with words him that is weary: He wakens morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as they that are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that I plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me; therefore have I not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near, that justifies me; who will contend with me? let us stand up together: who is my adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? behold, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of His Servant? he that walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Behold, all you that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves about with firebrands: walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled. This shall you have of my hand; you shall lie down in sorrow." (Isaiah 50:1-11,RV)
Read Galatians 4:25-26, in order to understand the reference "your mother." Jerusalem which now is, old Jerusalem, answers to the old covenant, and "is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of usall," (Galatians 4:25-26) and this answers to the new covenant. Recall what was said concerning Jerusalem, in the last lesson. Although Jerusalem is forsaken, "When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory," (Psalm 102:16) and the new Jerusalem will come with Him, to take the place of the present city, so that it is considered as a continuation of the Jerusalem that has existed so long. It is the old city rebuilt. So the Lord has not cast off Jerusalem, although the city known on earth as Jerusalem will be destroyed with the rest of "this present evil world." (Galatians 1:4)
He has not divorced her. Read in this connection Isaiah 54, especially verses 4-7, and the first verse of this chapter will be much more easily understood. "Fear not; for you shall not be ashamed: neither be confounded; for you shall not be put to shame: for you shall forget the shame of your youth, and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more. For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall He be called. For the Lord has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved inspirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, says your God. For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you." (Isaiah 54:4-7)
God is Not Reduced to Poverty
"Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have you sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away." (Isaiah 50:1)
Among the nations of old it was often the case that a father sold his children into slavery, in order to satisfy a creditor, and this was practiced even among the Jews, as we learn from: "And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do." (Exodus 21:7) "And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards." (Nehemiah 5:1-5)
But God never became so poor that He was obliged to resort to that plan. No creditor ever had so great an advantage over the Lord that he could compel Him to sell His children. He had not sold any of His children, even when He allowed them to go into captivity; but they sold themselves. "You have sold yourselves for nought; and you shall be redeemed without money." (Isaiah 52:3)
So far is the Lord from having been obliged to sell His people to satisfy His creditors, that He is able to buy them back, after they have sold themselves.
The Power That Redeems
"Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinks, because there is no water, and dies for thirst." (Isaiah 50:2)
Who dares doubt God's power to redeem? How can anybody think that He has no power to deliver? We have only to read the account of the deliverance of Israel from the land of Egypt, to see how easy a matter it is for God to save His people. Compare verse 2 with: "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." (Exodus 14:21) "And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuses to let the people go. Get unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goes out unto the water; and you shall stand by the river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shall you take in your hand. And you shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me unto you, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto you would not hear. Thus says the Lord, In this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take your rod, and stretch out your hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, andthe Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt." (Exodus 7:14-21)
That very same power is put forth to save us from our sins, which have been the cause of our being sold into bondage. Don't be afraid of confusing the spiritual and the literal. Every act of God is literal and also spiritual.
If God only told us of what He can do, we should not have anything tangible to lay hold of; no foundation for our faith; for no matter how much we might be disposed to believe Him, our minds could not grasp the meaning; the reality, of what He said; so He gives us visible examples of His power to save, referring us to all His constant working in nature, and also to special working in the past. That is for the purpose of letting us know that the power which He promises to exert on our behalf is so real that we can perceive it in our own bodies; we may know that He saves us.
Christ is the One "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." (1 Corinthians 1:30)
Therefore it is He who speaks here. He is "the everlasting Father;" (Isaiah 9:6) and the New Jerusalem is "the bride, the Lamb's wife." (Revelation 21:9)
So we see that the prophecy of Isaiah is in perfect accord with that in Revelation. Unmistakable proof that it is Christ who is speaking in this chapter, is found in verse 6: "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting." (Isaiah 50:6)
As we read what He says, we must remember that He suffered in our behalf, as the representative Man; His courage and victory are ours.
The Wisdom of Christ
"The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakens morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as the learned." (Isaiah 50:4)
The learned person is the one who has been taught, and who is still a disciple. So it makes no difference whether we read verse 4 as in the Revision or in the Common Version; "the tongue of the learned" [KJV] is "the tongue of them that have been taught." [RV] "I speak that which I have seen with my Father." (John 8:38) "The Word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me." (John 14:24)
It may be even so with us; for we read, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God." (John 6:45)
If we come to the Lord to learn, He will give us, as well as Christ, the tongue of the learned. But the learning does not come without labor. Learning of God is not a mere lazy assent to certain doctrines, not a sentimental yielding to Him, and a fancy that because we say that God is our Teacher, we are necessarily taught by Him. Many people have had good teachers, but have not profited by them, because they were too lazy to study.
It is often the case that people think to make their religion a substitute for real knowledge. They have an idea that if God is their teacher, they must never study anything. That is the reason why they should study a great deal more.
Here is a man with a thirst for knowledge, but his opportunities are few. At last he has a chance of studying under a celebrated teacher. Ah, it is a rare chance, and he will exert himself in study to the utmost. One must not throw away such an opportunity as that!
Even so it ought to be with those who have an opportunity of studying under God's teaching. No moment should be neglected; the Word of God, printed in the Bible, and spread out in all creation, should be studied with zeal and patience. The "royal road to learning" {"The easiest, most direct, or most effective way to reach or achieve something. This expression alludes to a remark attributed to the Greek mathematician Euclid (c. 300 BC). When the Egyptian ruler Ptolemy I asked whether geometry could not be made easier, Euclid is said to have replied: 'There is no royal road to geometry.'" (thefreedictionary.com)} is laid down by the wisest of men in: "My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you; So that you incline your ear unto wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; Yea, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures; Then shall you understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom: out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding." (Proverbs 2:1-6)
No person in the world ought to be content with his present attainments. We cannot exhaust the "treasures of wisdom and knowledge," (Colossians 2:3) that are hid in Christ. Dig for them, it is worthwhile. What will God's teaching enable us to do? "To speak a word in season to him that is weary;" (Isaiah 50:4) not to speak empty phrases, but words that "sustain the weary one." [RV] The One of whom we are to learn is "meek and lowly in heart." (Matthew 11:29) "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits." (James 3:17)
Some Word of Comfort
Listen to some of the "words" with which Jesus sustained the weary when He was here on earth. "Son, be of good cheer; your sins be forgiven you." (Matthew 9:2) "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." (Luke 7:50) "Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more." (John 8:11) "Daughter, be of good comfort; your faith has made you whole." (Matthew 9:22) "Go in peace." (Luke 8:48)
With many such words did Jesus sustain the weary ones; may we speak the same words to sorrowing souls? Indeed we may, for we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were beseeching by us even as by Christ. Sin is the cause of all tribulation, and "[God] comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." (2 Corinthians 1:4) "God sent ... His Son into the world ... that the world through Him might be saved;" (John 3:17) and He says, "As my Father has sent me, even so send I you." (John 20:21)
We are therefore to be able, from personal experience, to speak words that will set at liberty the groaning captives of sin. But we must first receive a tongue from the Lord, and allow Him to control it.
The Lord's Submissive Servant
The secret of success is submission. "The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back." (Isaiah 50:5)
This reminds us of the words of Christ: "My ears have You opened." (Psalm 40:6)
And this also reminds us of what is written in the law. When a servant refused to go away from his master when the year of release came, but said, "I love my master, ... I will not go out free," (Exodus 21:5) the order was, "Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever." (Exodus 21:6)
That act signified that his ear was his master's, always open to hear his commands. We are the Lord's servants, if we yield ourselves to Him as His servants: "Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:16)
And we are to do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven, (Matthew 6:10) where the angels "do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word." (Psalm 103:20)
Our ears are to be at the service only of God, and what we hear we are to accept as our "reasonable service." (Romans 12:1)
If we thus submit to the Lord, we may have the support, and the power to sustain others, that Christ had. "He that has ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 11:15)
Christ was not rebellious. He had, as "the Man Christ Jesus," (1 Timothy 2:5) given himself to be the Lord's servant for ever, and He was not rebellious, and did not draw back, even when the service involved the receiving of blows, and still worse treatment, and also the vilest insults. That was in the contract, when He made the bargain, and He did not back out. So it was with the Apostle Paul. God said, "I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake;" (Acts 9:16) and Paul submitted himself to be the Lord's servant for ever, knowing what it involved; and so when "bonds and afflictions" (Acts 20:23) awaited him in every city, he could calmly say, "None of these things move me." (Acts 20:24)
Power Gained by Submission
The Master is responsible for the servant, and, knowing this, the Servant says, "The Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed." (Isaiah 50:7)
Even so Paul said: "Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day." (Acts 26:22) "Well, what is the practical use of all this to me?" someone will ask, "I am neither Jesus nor Paul, and cannot expect to do such work as they did, nor to be noticed by the Lord as they were."
Why, my dear man, you are losing the benefit of the whole Gospel story. Do you not see that the strength of Jesus and of Paul was their weakness? Jesus said, "I can of my own self do nothing." (John 5:30) "I do nothing of myself." (John 18:38) "The Father that dwells in me, He does the works." (John 14:10)
It was only when Paul was weak, that he was strong: "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10)
God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness;" (2 Corinthians 12:9) and Paul exclaimed, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on me." (2 Corinthians 12:9)
"The power of Christ" that rested on him in weakness, was the same power that rested on Christ in His infirmity. Now here is the comfort for you, whosoever you are: Are you weak, the very weakest of the weak? very good; then you afford the Lord the most excellent opportunity for manifesting the perfection of His strength. Christ's power was His submission to the Father; you certainly are not too weak to allow yourself to rest in the hands of God, that He may do what He will with you. If Christ dwells in your heart, you may, like Him, be "filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:19)
Every experience of Christ may be ours. He says that the Lord God will help Him, and that therefore He shall not be confounded nor ashamed; and have we not but recently learned that: "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end?" (Isaiah 45:17)
Then let us also set our faces like a flint.
Our Deliverer Near
"He is near that justifies me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is my adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up." (Isaiah 50:8-9) "[God is] not far from everyone of us." (Acts 17:27) "It is God that justifies;" (Romans 8:33) therefore we may say with Christ, "He is near that justifies me." (Isaiah 50:8)
And then we may be as bold as He, in saying, "who will contend with me? let us stand up together: who is my adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me." (Isaiah 50:8) "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ... Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;" (Psalm 27:1,3) "[For] the angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivers them." (Psalm 34:7) "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7)
The True Light
"But the way is so dark!" you exclaim.
Very well; "Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of His Servant? although he walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." (Isaiah 50:10,RV,margin)
So we can say with a humble man of old, "Rejoice not against me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. ... He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness." (Micah 7:8-9)
None that put their trust in the Lord shall be ashamed. (Psalm 25:3) Take heed, however, not to manufacture a light for yourself. "Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow." (Isaiah 50:11)
The sparks of your own kindling are a very poor substitute for "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God." (2 Corinthians 4:6) "This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. ... If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:5,7)
Our ideas, our opinions, whatever proceeds from us, is darkness, even though it seems for a moment to flash as light. The word of God is light and with that in our hearts we may successfully resist "the rulers of the darkness of the world." (Ephesians 6:12) "The true light now shines." (1 John 2:8)
Let us therefore give thanks to God, "Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." (Colossians 1:13)--Present Truth, February 22, 1900--Isaiah 50:1-11.