A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES

Isaiah 49:1-26 / Keywords 49:6

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.”

 

The Servant of the Lord

49:1 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 splendor.”

4 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.”

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[a] honored 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.”

Restoration of Israel

8 This is what the Lord says:

“In the time of my favor 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.[b]”

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.

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.’

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.”

24 Can plunder be taken from warriors,

    or captives be rescued from the fierce[c]?

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 Savior,

    your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Footnotes

a. Isaiah 49:5 Or him, / but Israel would not be gathered; / yet I will be

b. Isaiah 49:12 Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text Sinim

c. Isaiah 49:24 Dead Sea Scrolls, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint and verse 25); Masoretic Text righteous

1. God promised to deliver Israel from Babylonian captivity by means of his servant Cyrus. Now God introduces another servant, Israel’s ultimate deliverer, Jesus the Messiah. He is God’s chosen servant, and his ministry focuses on the word of God, which is the sword of the Holy Spirit. The servant’s labor seems to be in vain, but he trusts God because his reward is with God. Jesus’ messianic ministry appeared to be a failure when he was crucified. But God vindicated him by raising him to life and making him both Lord and Messiah. He completed his mission to not only bring back his people to God, but to also be ‘a light for the Gentiles’. And today, his salvation is brought to the ends of the earth through his witnesses (Lk 2:32).

 

2. God promises the restoration of Israel through his Servant with a new covenant, liberation, and satisfaction (8-12). In response, his people in Babylon should rejoice and shout for joy. Instead, they feel forsaken and doubt God’s love. God assures them that just as a mother never forgets her nursing baby, he never forgets his people. They are engraved on the palms of his hands. God keeps his promises to his people to let all mankind know that he is LORD and the Savior. Those who hope in God will never be disappointed.

 

Prayer Lord, thank you for Jesus, our light and salvation. Let me put my hope in him and share the gospel of Jesus with those in the dark.

One Word Jesus, a light for all people on earth