This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me

Isaiah 54:1-17

Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord.

your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.

For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit— a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.

Why?

The future glory of Zion will come back, and the descendants will return to the glory and property.

There are many children for they are the sons of the Lord. They are not born from women but come from the Holy Spirit.

The Lord has the unfailing love and we will not be shaken nor the God's covenant of peace be removed.

----------------

v1-3: 錫安復興 ：不生養、人本來不懷孕的心是羞恥，神要讓他們歡喜。懷孕生子代表生命延續下去的含意。幼年的羞愧：指在埃及，寡居的羞辱是指在巴比倫。神把自己比喻為丈夫，以色列人，教會是妻子，以此來安慰人。

4-10 神的怒氣不是一生之久。慈愛才是神的本質。怒氣為了導正他的百姓。

v11-17重新建造：新耶路撒冷。大難的的倖存者多是經過水火，什麼都沒有。神要讓我們更精彩，更豐盛，令人羨慕的生命。即使有人要攻擊我也要仆倒。神向我們保證，這些武器無法攻擊我們。保護我們堅固我們！

----------------

How?

How great is the arrangement of the Lord prepared for his children? Praise the Lord. 

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him— his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Why?

Isaiah describes the servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ, who had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. He was despised and rejected by mankind.

The plan of God's salvation to us is so detailed and described here, It is an amazing story before Jesus came.

God's plan is beyond our imagination, God's way is perfect and full of love for us.

But who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

------------------

僕人之歌：

耶和華的僕人52:13 讓君王無話可說，不是用外貌吸引人，而是權柄

我們所傳的誰信呢?

我們都如羊走迷；各人偏行己路：

他像羊羔被牽到宰殺之地： 僕人無罪受欺壓！

耶和華定意將他壓傷，父親心是傷痛的。父愛世人的心，勝過愛自己的兒子！超越這個愛！

人為什麼不信?人想聽什麼?

------------------

How?

The way to heaven and eternal life is narrow and found people are less. I am fortunate and be a loved one who may become a son of the Lord through Jesus Christ.

Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem

Isaiah 51:17-52:12

Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger.

Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine. This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends his people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again. I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.”

Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendor, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now a captive.

For this is what the Lord says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”

“For my people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,” declares the Lord. “And all day long my name is constantly blasphemed. Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.”

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Why?

The Israelites fear Babylon, but the Lord is more powerful than Babylon. Awake, Riase up Jerusalem, Awake, awake, Zion, The salvation is come the cup of God's wrath is removed.

Proclaim the good news to others, the good news of Jesus is our salvation. This good news is brought by Jesus Christ.

How?

Awake and rise up children of the Lord. My God is a living Lord! Praise the Lord!

 

I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass

Isaiah 51:1-16

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many. The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

“Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.

“Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken my instruction to heart:
Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”

Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction?

For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar the Lord Almighty is his name.

Why?

Listen to the Lord, hear to the Lord, you who know what is right. Most people don't know the Lord and they won't listen to the Lord.

Human beings are but grass, but the Lord is my maker, we cannot forget the Lord, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth.

How?

Fear the Lord is wisdom, listening to the Lord is the right way for living.

Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced

Isaiah 50:1-11

Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away. When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was my arm too short to deliver you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you?

The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me! It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who will condemn me?

Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant?

Why?

Because of the transgressions of Israel so they suffer disaster and pain. God's arm does not short to deliver us.

To be a servant of the Lord may listen to the instruction from the Lord. The word sustains the weary.

Because the Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. 

When the Lord calls us, who answers Him? Am I answering? Or I did not hear the word of the Lord?

It is the light of the Lord that shines my way. I cannot use my own light, and walk my own way.

-----------

人太不了解神了

v1-3 耶和華為自己辯護:神完全沒有對不起人，而是人虧欠神！人卻常抱怨神、忘記我們

v4-7 願意敬畏神的人的益處。開通耳朵是指奴僕時間到了可以離開主人。當僕人願意終身為僕人服侍主人而願意將耳朵在柱子上被釘，即因為後願意永遠服事。敬畏神的人會受到世人的逼迫，

v8-11 主耶和華要幫助我；誰能定我有罪呢？他們都像衣服漸漸舊了，為蛀蟲所咬。他們的指控必然破洞百出。他們引火想照亮自己的路，最後也被火燒死！本來以為對自己有利的，最後反而成為拌腳石。

---------------

How?

Fully humble me before the Lord and listen to the word of the Lord!

Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed

Isaiah 49:14-26

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” 

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

Lift up your eyes and look around; all your children gather and come to you. As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “you will wear them all as ornaments; you will put them on, like a bride.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their hips. Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.

But this is what the Lord says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save. I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Why?

The Lord never forgets us, always it is we forget the Lord, forget the grace and mercy of the Lord. We are easy to proud of what we have done. Actually what we can do is under the grace of the Lord.

I know I belong to the Lord and hope in the Lord will not be disappointed. Thanks the Lord.

Like mother and child, how can a mother forget the baby at her breast, so that the Lord never forgets us. Sometimes God trains us, and disciplines us with trouble and distress. Let us know how great is our God.

-----------------

當時情況，以色列人聽不進去，認為神已經不管他們了。神絕對不會忘記他的百姓，神有父親的形象，也有母親的慈悲憐憫和愛來描寫耶和華的心情。我將你銘刻在我掌上：刻在手上，是痛的，寧可受傷也要紀念我們。

錫安百姓像新娘一樣熱鬧、美麗且豐富的回來。這麼多兒女歸回多到不敢想這是誰養育的?

列王必作你的養父；王后必作你的乳母。他們必將臉伏地，向你下拜。列國是他們受苦的地方，列王是加害者，今天卻成為祝福者，養育者，且向他們下拜。

你便知道我是耶和華；等候我的必不致羞愧。雖然我們現在還看不出來。如果神幫助我們，誰能抵擋呢?這是激勵我們的經文。

------------------

How?

I know that those who hope in the Lord will not be disappointed.

You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor

Isaiah 49:1-13

He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”

he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

This is what the Lord says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” 

Why?

Israel is the servant of the Lord from the beginning.

God will restore the tribes of Jacob and bring them back to the promised land.

No matter what happened in this world, the Lord is the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel. God will turn all mountains into roads,

How?

Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice O earth; burst into sound, for the Lord comforts his people.