I'm reading this as a modern empire totters - News Corp might be about to fall. Now Isaiah gets down to talking about what God is going to do with the remnant of Israel. What is this small number of righteous people going to be able to do in a world of superpowers and empires?
The Lord’s servant
Isaiah 42:1-9
A song of praise
Isaiah 42:10-13
God promises his help
Isaiah 42:14-17
Israel’s failure to learn
Isaiah 42:18-25
God’s promised rescue
Isaiah 43:1-7
Israel is God’s witness
Isaiah 43:8-13
Escape from Babylon
Isaiah 43:14-21
Israel’s sin
Isaiah 43:22-28
The only God
Isaiah 44:1-8
Idolatry ridiculed
Isaiah 44:9-20
The creator and saviour
Isaiah 44:21-28
The remnant is so small that sometimes it is described as an individual, the Servant. Nevertheless, great things will be accomplished through this figure. Salvation, healing, peace, a light to the Gentiles - all are promised in chapter 42, through someone who might as well be blind and deaf, so narrow and feeble is his strength in human terms.
God promises to lead out of captivity his people who act as if they’re blind and deaf, even though they have eyes and ears. The day will come when he will have mercy on them, despite the fact that they have ignored his ways.
Chapter 44 contains a wonderful passage in which the folly of worshipping an idol is stripped bare. You make something, then bow down to it, and say “You are my maker, save me!” It isn’t just lumps of wood that people worship - we all do it, giving inappropriate honour to things that are our own creation.
The Lord’s servant
Isaiah 42:1-9
A song of praise
Isaiah 42:10-13
God promises his help
Isaiah 42:14-17
Israel’s failure to learn
Isaiah 42:18-25
God’s promised rescue
Isaiah 43:1-7
Israel is God’s witness
Isaiah 43:8-13
Escape from Babylon
Isaiah 43:14-21
Israel’s sin
Isaiah 43:22-28
The only God
Isaiah 44:1-8
Idolatry ridiculed
Isaiah 44:9-20
The creator and saviour
Isaiah 44:21-28
The remnant is so small that sometimes it is described as an individual, the Servant. Nevertheless, great things will be accomplished through this figure. Salvation, healing, peace, a light to the Gentiles - all are promised in chapter 42, through someone who might as well be blind and deaf, so narrow and feeble is his strength in human terms.
God promises to lead out of captivity his people who act as if they’re blind and deaf, even though they have eyes and ears. The day will come when he will have mercy on them, despite the fact that they have ignored his ways.
Chapter 44 contains a wonderful passage in which the folly of worshipping an idol is stripped bare. You make something, then bow down to it, and say “You are my maker, save me!” It isn’t just lumps of wood that people worship - we all do it, giving inappropriate honour to things that are our own creation.
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