For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Isaiah 49:1-4    

1 Listen to me, you islands;
    hear this, you distant nations:
before I was born the Lord called me;
    from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
    in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
    and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, ‘You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will display my splendour.’
4 But I said, ‘I have laboured in vain;
    I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due to me is in the Lord’s hand,
    and my reward is with my God.’

A. Find Out:

1. What does the speaker say about his destiny? v.1
2. What weapons has the lord make him like? v.2a,c
3. Yet what had the Lord done with him? v.2b,d
4. How did the Lord address him? v.3
5. What did he feel? v.4a,b
6. But how did he encourage himself? v.4c,d

B. Think:

1. What indications are there that this could be national Israel?
2. Yet what is against that?
3. How could these verses be applied to Jesus?

C. Comment:

This is the second ‘song’ of God’s servant. The first one was in 42:1-7. There have been other references to Israel as God’s servant (e.g. 43:10, 44:1 etc.) but this is only the second passage where the ‘servant’ is described.

His origins were long back in God’s mind.  His coming was not a second thought, but he was part of God’s long-term plan.  Much of his activity will be with the word of God (sword-mouth) and he will be direct and all-out in fulfilling God’s purposes directly (polished arrow).

Yet, it will be as if he is hidden and not clearly revealed. It is at this point that any doubts that we might have had about this being Israel, really surface. Although this figure is referred to as Israel, Israel did not come with the word of God with such directness as is referred to here,  and they were certainly not hidden, unless you refer to their time in Egypt as a hidden time (which it was).  This person will reveal God’s glory.

But then the servant sounds very weary and almost defeated, so much so that he has to simply declare his trust in God as an act of faith. There is surely going to come a time in his life and ministry that will be very difficult, where he almost fears failure.

Surely all these descriptions fit the life and ministry of Jesus. A direct word ministry, hidden for 30 years, hidden from the eyes of the ungodly, ending in apparent defeat (that was yet utter victory!). This surely is a proclamation of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.

D. Application:

1. Jesus was part of God’s eternal plan for this world.
2. Jesus came with God’s word and God’s salvation. Hallelujah!

Passage: Isaiah 49:5-7      

5 And now the Lord says –
    he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
    and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honoured in the eyes of the Lord
    and my God has been my strength –
6 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.’

7 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.’

A. Find Out:    

1. What general and specific task is given to the speaker? v.5a,b
2. How is he viewed by God? v.5c,d
3. What does the Lord ask him? v.6a-c
4. What also does He say He will do and why? v.6d.e
5. How does the Lord also refer to him? v.7b
6. What does He say will happen and why? v.7c-f

B. Think:

1. What great task is spoken about in these verses?
2. Yet how will he be seen by many?
3. Yet what will God do for him in the end?

C. Comment:

The ‘servant’ continues to speak prophetically.  First he speaks of the task he has been given. First it is to bring Israel back to God. This is the initial calling of the Messiah. When Jesus came he was careful to go first and foremost to the Jews. But then the Lord reveals something far bigger: this servant is to be a light for the entire rest of the world. God’s heart is not just for one small nation, it is for the entire world.  This was a truth that the Jews found difficult to handle. Even when Jesus told his Jewish followers that they would go to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8), they still thought it would be to Jews scattered across the earth. Peter had a real struggle to cope with this truth (Acts 10:14,28).

Then we are told how this servant will be regarded. There is an indication first (v.7) that he will be despised by many. Today Jesus is written off by many as merely a prophet, or even less! Yet the prophecy then reveals that he will be one before whom even great rulers will bow. This one will be exalted above all else. Why? Simply because the Lord has decreed it; this is His plan for His world.

The purpose of this servant is to bring Israel back to God (hence the servant cannot just be Israel itself), and then to bring the light of God’s presence and revelation to the entire world!  Wow!  How incredible is this!

D. Application:

1. Jesus was rejected by many. Tough on them!
2. Jesus is Lord of all. Worship him!

Passage: Isaiah 49:8-12   

8 This is what the Lord says:

‘In the time of my favour I will answer you,
    and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you
    to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
    and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
9 to say to the captives, “Come out,”
    and to those in darkness, “Be free!”

‘They will feed beside the roads
    and find pasture on every barren hill.
10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,
    nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.
He who has compassion on them will guide them
    and lead them beside springs of water.
11 I will turn all my mountains into roads,
    and my highways will be raised up.
12 See, they will come from afar –
    some from the north, some from the west,
    some from the region of Aswan.’

A. Find Out:

1. What are the for “I will”s the Lord says, and why? v.8
2. What will the servant say to whom? v.9a,b
3. What 4 things will the delivered do & won’t do? v.9c,d,10a,b
4. What 2 things will the lord do for them? v.10c,d
5. In what ways will He prepare for them? v.11
6. From where will they come? v.12

B. Think:

1. What is the servant’s role in all this? (be careful)
2. How will the Lord make it easier for the dispersed to return?
3. How will He help them in their return?

C. Comment:

Continuing this passage about the servant (because it must be about him) the Father says He will be there in close contact with the Son and will give him wisdom (help him) and protect him (keep him) and the purpose of all this is to make the servant the basis of a covenant between believers and God.   Everything we are and have today depends on Jesus, on whether we receive the Lord’s goodness that is released to us through the work of the Cross. Then comes the prophetic language to describe all this in detail.

He will speak to the captives, those in slavery to sin, in the darkness of lostness, “Come out!”, and we came!  Today we are on a path that is taking us towards heaven. Along the way the Lord feeds us and provides sustenance even in apparently barren places. The promise is that we will not be in need, and the heat of the day (struggles against the pressures of life in 21 st century) will not wear us down, and the Lord will guide us and lead us to places of refreshment, and obstacles will be brought down and the way made easy to come to Him. Yes, we have spiritualised this passage, but that is the practical application of the prophetic outworking of the work of the servant. This did happen physically in the exile but the picture is bigger than that. It is for now! It is for the greater outworking of the work of Jesus Christ.

D. Application:

1. Are we receiving the Lord’s provision, His grace for today?
2. Are we knowing His guidance, provision and protection – today?

 Passage: Isaiah 49:13-16      

13 Shout for joy, you heavens;
    rejoice, you earth;
    burst into song, you mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people
    and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

14 But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me,
    the Lord has forgotten me.’ 15 ‘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!
16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are ever before me.

A. Find Out:

1. Who does the Lord tell what to do? v.13a,b
2. Why? v.13c,d
3. What had Jerusalem said? v.14
4. What does the Lord ask? v.15a,b
5. But what does the Lord say? v.15c,d
6. How has He ensured that? v.16

B. Think:

1. Why is the Lord telling the world to rejoice?
2. Why do you think the occupants of Jerusalem feel as they do?
3. So what is the point of these verses?

C. Comment:

The Lord has just made the most wonderful of announcements – that His deliverer is coming! This is going to be wonderful, so He exhorts the whole earth to rejoice in the wonder of what is happening.  We can’t stop saying it – it is wonderful!  The Lord is going to intervene in the affairs of men and He is going to bring His people out of darkness into the light of His love.  This is something to shout about!

The only trouble is that Jerusalem, the city at the heart of Israel, is in a state of gloom. Why?  Because when things have been going wrong for a while it is so easy to think that God has forgotten you and that this state is going to go on and on.

So the Lord seeks to reassure them.  Look, He says, think about a relationship where there is a strong bond – say a mother and her tiny baby.  Is it likely that she will forget the child at her breast or have no feelings for her little one?  This is inconceivable!  Well, says the Lord, if that was remotely possible, my forgetting you is not!   Look, He says, it’s like I’ve actually engraved your name on my hands so that every time I see my hands (figuratively), I see you.  There is no way that I can forget you.

D. Application:

1. One of my biggest temptations is to think that the Lord has forgotten me when things go wrong.  I must resist this lie!
2. The Lord watches over me at all times (Psa 121:5).  I will rejoice and thank Him for this.

Passage: Isaiah 49:17-20

17 Your children hasten back,
    and those who laid you waste depart from you.
18 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. 19 ‘Though you were ruined and made desolate
    and your land laid waste,
now you will be too small for your people,
    and those who devoured you will be far away.
20 The children born during your bereavement
    will yet say in your hearing,
“This place is too small for us;
    give us more space to live in.”

A. Find Out:

1. What 2 groups do what? v.17
2. What does the Lord tell them to do to see what? v.18a,b
3. What does He say about them? v.18c-e
4. What had been their state? v.19a,b
5. But what will be their state? v.19c,20
6. But what about the enemy? v.19d

B. Think:

1. What do you think the ‘ornaments’ reference means?
2. What is the main thrust of these verses saying?
3. How therefore will the future be different from the recent past?

C. Comment:

The Lord has been saying that He will restore the land (v.8) to bring his people from afar (v.12). Now He reiterates this with full strength.   First He declares that there are two things that will happen: the enemy in the land will be gone, and their children who are scattered will return to the land.

When they come, He continues, these returning children (future generations?) will be a clear and obvious sign to everyone else that you are blessed (ornaments) and that you are my bride.

In the past the land was laid waste by enemy invaders who swept through devastating it and destroying all the people. In the past the land was left desolate with hardly any inhabitants (and of course, this was how it was in the Exile which was yet in the future), but when the children of the present generations return, the land will almost be over populated, so great will be the return.

Children born in their bereavement? Is that a reference to children born in exile in Babylon, or even perhaps, those born through the centuries of their dispersion after AD70 and before the return in the middle of the 20th century? Or does it refer spiritually to the multitudes who will simply be saved as a result of the work of Jesus on the Cross?  Eternity will tell!  But it has happened and will happen for God has decreed it.

D. Application:

1. God’s plan is to bring a holy people into being. We’re part of it.
2. God’s plan is worked out over centuries and is still working.

Passage: Isaiah 49:21-23

21 Then you will say in your heart,
    “Who bore me these?
I was bereaved and barren;
    I was exiled and rejected.
    Who brought these up?
I was left all alone,
    but these – where have they come from?”’

22 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.
23 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.’

A. Find Out:

1. What question will arise in their hearts? v.21a,b
2. What will provoke that question? v.21c-e
3. Who will the Lord speak to? v.22a,b
4. What will they do? v.22c,d
5. What will have a hand in all this? v.23a,b
6. What will be the result? v.23e

B. Think:

1. How does v.21 continue from the previous verses?
2. What is special about this return in these verses?
3. What questions and answers will it provide?

C. Comment:

From verse 17 the Lord has been speaking of a return to the Land that He is planning for the descendants of the present Israel.  This is nothing small, this is a mighty return of many, many people.  The land will be full of the returning people.  In fact, He goes on now, you will look at what is happening and wonder how such a thing could be. They will look at the past and see the fact that they were exiled and apparently totally devastated, and then look at the returning people and wonder how such a thing could have happened.

The answer to that, continues the Lord, is that I am going to use the Gentile nations to bring my people back, so it will be the provision of the rest of the world than enables this to happen. World leaders (kings and queens) will have a part in this, enabling it to happen, and they will be looking after my people.  They will honour you, and when all this happens, THEN you will know that I am the Lord, the eternal One who plans purposes and acts.

At the end of the Exile it was a Gentile king, Cyrus, who was instrumental in enabling Israel to return to the land again. In the mid-twentieth century it was other nations and world leaders who helped start restoring Israel to their own land.  Those who had an eye to see,  recognised the work of God fulfilling His purposes.

D. Application:

1. The Lord can use all nations for His purposes, both Jew and Gentile.
2. The Lord works over millennia, not simply years.

Passage: Isaiah 49:24-26

24 Can plunder be taken from warriors,
    or captives be rescued from the fierce?

25 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.
26 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 Saviour,
    your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.’

A. Find Out:

1. What two questions does the Lord ask? v.24
2. What does He reply to His own questions? v.25b,c
3. What does He say He will do withy their enemies? v.25d,e
4. What further does He say about them? v.26a,b
5. What will be the result of all that? v.26c,d

B. Think:

1. What worry is the Lord addressing here?
2. Why do you think Israel would have that worry?
3. What is the Lord’s response to it?

C. Comment:

From verse 17 on, the Lord has been talking about how He will bring back their sons (future generations) and how it will be at the hand of Gentile rulers that all this will happen.  Now we find the Lord answering a question that is obviously there in the background of the minds of the Jews.  It is a very natural question when you have been invaded by a more powerful nation who have devastated you and taken off thousands of your people into slavery – is it possible that they will ever be returned?   In the face of the shock and horror that must come when that has happened to you, this must be a very real question.

So it is that the Lord speaks the question out in the open, and then answers it – yes, it is definitely possible and (implied) I will do it.  This of course is exactly what He did at the Exile and in the mid 20th century. The Lord then expands on that: I will stand against them so that your children will be released.  Indeed I will turn your enemies in on themselves and they will be destroyed, so that when anyone looks on they will know without doubt, that it is I who have done this thing.

These verses are concluding summary verses of all that have gone before: have no doubt, says the Lord, I will free your children from the nations among who they will reside and I will bring them back here. Why? Because I am the Lord, and I want all nations to see and to know that that is my work.

D. Application:

1. When the Lord speaks, He means it! Thank Him.
2. Nothing is to difficult for the Lord to change. Seek Him.