Mes: enero 2021

Unnamed Individual Servant (Isa. 42:1–7)

What is the role and character of God’s unnamed Servant, whom God chooses and on whom He puts His Spirit? (Isa. 42:1–7.)

Choose the best answer or combination of answers:

1. He provides justice for the nations.
2. He accomplishes His goals quietly and gently, but successfully.
3. He is a teacher.
4. He serves as a covenant between God and the people.
5. He gives light or hope by healing blindness and liberating prisoners.
6. All of the above.

How does the role and character of this Servant compare with that of the “shoot from the stump of Jesse,” on whom the Spirit of the Lord also rests (Isaiah 11)?
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As in Isaiah 42, the Davidic ruler of Isaiah 11 acts in harmony with
God, providing justice and deliverance for the oppressed, as well as wisdom and knowledge of God. We found that this “shoot” and “root” of Jesse is the Messiah, the divine Child of Isaiah 9:6, 7, who also brings “peace for the throne of David and his kingdom” with “justice and with righteousness” (Isa. 9:7, NRSV). The Servant in Isaiah 42 is, obviously, the Messiah.

How does the New Testament identify the Servant of Isaiah 42:1–7, who provides justice? (Matt. 12:15–21.)
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Matthew 12 quotes from Isaiah 42 and applies it to the quiet healing
ministry of Jesus, God’s beloved Son, in whom He delights (Isa. 42:1;
Matt. 3:16, 17; Matt. 17:5). It is He whose ministry reestablishes God’s
covenant connection with His people (Isa. 42:6, Dan. 9:27).
Jesus and His disciples gained justice for people by delivering them
from suffering, ignorance of God, and bondage to evil spirits, caused by Satan’s oppression (Luke 10:19). Then Jesus died to ratify the “new covenant” (Matt. 26:28, NKJV) and to gain justice for the world by casting out Satan, the foreigner who had usurped the position of “ ‘ruler of this world’ ” (John 12:31–33, NRSV).

Look at Isaiah 42:1–4, the depiction of Christ. Spend some time
dwelling on the life of Jesus. What specific characteristics of His
ministry so aptly fulfilled this prophecy? What lessons can we
learn about how we should be ministering to others, as well?

Persian “Messiah” (Isa. 44:26–45:6)

What stunning prediction appears in Isaiah 44:26–45:6?

Isaiah’s ministry lasted from about 745 b.c. to about 685 b.c. After mentioning a conqueror from the east and from the north (Isa. 41:2, 3, 25) and implying that this was to be good news for Jerusalem (Isa. 41:27), Isaiah accurately predicted Cyrus by name and described his activities. He did come from north and east of Babylon and conquer it in 539 b.c.; he did serve God by releasing the Jews from their Babylonian exile; and he did authorize the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem (see Ezra 1).

Put this prediction into perspective. Since there are about one
hundred forty-six years from the time of Isaiah’s death to the fall of
Babylon, his prophecy was a century and a half ahead of its time. It
would be like George Washington predicting that a man named General Dwight Eisenhower would help liberate Europe in 1945!
Because the actions of Cyrus are well attested from a variety of
ancient sources, including Babylonian chronicles, his own report in the
“Cyrus Cylinder,” and the Bible (2 Chron. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1; Daniel
5; Dan. 6:28; Dan. 10:1), the accuracy of Isaiah’s prophecy is beyond
dispute. This confirms the faith of people who believe that true prophets receive accurate predictions from God, who knows the future far in advance.

Why does God call Cyrus “His anointed”? (Isa. 45:1)

The Hebrew word for “anointed” here is the word from which we
get the word Messiah. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, this word could refer to an anointed high priest (Lev. 4:3, 5, 16; Lev. 6:22), an anointed Israelite king (1 Sam. 16:6; 1 Sam. 24:6, 10; 2 Sam. 22:51), or the Messiah, a future ideal Davidic king and deliverer (Ps. 2:2; Dan. 9:25, 26). From Isaiah’s perspective, Cyrus was a future king, sent by God to deliver His people. But he was an unusual messiah, because he was non-Israelite. He would do some things the Messiah would do, such as defeat God’s enemies and release His captive people, but he could not be the same as the Messiah, because he was not descended from David.

By predicting Cyrus, God proved His unique divinity by demonstrating
that He alone knows the future (Isa. 41:4, 21–23, 26–28; Isa. 44:26).
He also reached out to Cyrus: “I will give you the treasures of darkness
and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the
Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name” (Isa. 45:3, NRSV).

Think about some other Bible prophecies that have come to pass
as predicted (such as all the kingdoms of Daniel 2 except the last,
Daniel 7, or regarding the time of Christ in Daniel 9:24–27). What
kind of hope do these prophecies offer us as individuals?

Hope in Advance

The fact that Isaiah accurately predicted Cyrus by name disturbs
people who do not believe that prophets receive predictions from God.
To cope, they accept the theory that a “second Isaiah,” another prophet living in the time of Cyrus, wrote Isaiah 40–66. Thus, the book of Isaiah is “sawn in two,” the same fate traditionally understood to have befallen the prophet himself (see Heb. 11:37).

There is, however, no historical witness to the existence of a second
“Isaiah.” If he did exist, it would be strange for the Bible not to mention him, because his message is profoundly important, and his literary artistry is phenomenal. Not even the oldest Bible manuscript, the Isaiah scroll from Qumran, has any break between Isaiah 39 and 40 that would indicate a transition to the work of a new author.

Isaiah’s basic message is consistent throughout his book: Trust the
true God, including His Messianic Deliverer, rather than other powers.
Scholars rightly emphasize the shift in focus from the Assyrian period
in Isaiah 1–39 to the Babylonian period in chapters 40 and following.
But we have found that Isaiah 13, 14 and 39 already envisage a
Babylonian captivity. It is true Isaiah 1–39 emphasizes judgment and
Isaiah 40–66 emphasizes consolation. But in the earlier chapters, divine
comfort and assurance are abundant also, and later passages, such as
Isaiah 42:18–25, Isaiah 43:22–28, and Isaiah 48:1–11, speak of God’s
judgments on Judah for forsaking Him. In fact, Isaiah’s predictions of
future comfort imply suffering in the meantime.

Though the nation did face terrible calamity because of the people’s sins, some among them did not give up hope. They clung to God’s promises, such as those found in Leviticus 26:40–45. Read the verses carefully. Put yourself in the place of those Hebrews who were alive after the nation’s defeat by Babylon. What hope could you find in these words? ______________________________________________________
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Read once more through Leviticus 26:40–45. What spiritual
principle do you see at work in those verses? What is the Lord
saying to Israel there? How does the same principle work in our
own lives?
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A Feeling and Suffering Servant (Isa. 49:1–12)

Who is God’s Servant in Isaiah 49:1–12?

God calls and names Him before He is born, makes His mouth like a
sword, and will be glorified in Him. God uses the Servant to bring the
nation of Israel back to Himself, to be a light of salvation to all the world, to be a covenant, and to release prisoners. There is plenty of overlap between this description and that of Isaiah 42, where we identified the Servant as the Messiah. The New Testament finds the Servant’s attributes in Jesus Christ, in both comings (Matt. 1:21, John 8:12, John 9:5, John 17:1–5, Rev. 1:16, Rev. 2:16, Rev. 19:15).

If this Servant is the Messiah, why does God call Him “Israel” here? (Isa. 49:3.)

Earlier we found that in this section of Isaiah, God’s servant “Israel”
or “Jacob” refers to the nation. But here the name Israel (without a
parallel reference to Jacob) clearly applies to the individual Servant,
who restores the nation to God (Isa. 49:5). The individual Servant has
become the ideal embodiment or representative of the nation whose
failure has compromised its use of the name “Israel” (Isa. 48:1).

What new element appears here? (Isa. 49:4, 7.)

Here is the first intimation of the difficulty involved in the Servant’s
task. He laments, “ ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for
nothing and vanity’ ” (Isa. 49:4, NRSV), an idea echoed in Daniel 9:26:
“ ‘an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing’ ” (NRSV).
But He clings to faith: “ ‘Yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my
reward with my God’ ” (Isa. 49:4, NRSV). J. Alec Motyer observes: “Thus, Isaiah foresaw a Servant with a real human nature, tested like we are and proving himself to be the author and perfecter of the way of faith, a real, personal faith that can still say my God when nothing any longer seems worthwhile.”—The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993), p. 387. Isaiah 49:7 is startling. The Servant is “deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers,” but the Lord says to Him: “ ‘Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you’ ” (NRSV).

Look back at Christ’s ministry. Right up until the end, didn’t He
have reasons for discouragement? Yet, He stayed faithful, despite
outward appearances. How are we to do the same—despite outward appearances?
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Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White’s description of Jesus’ healing
and teaching ministry in “At Capernaum,” The Desire of Ages, pp.
252–261.

“In the work of soul winning, great tact and wisdom are needed.
The Savior never suppressed the truth, but He uttered it always in love.
In His [dealings] with others, He exercised the greatest tact, and He
was always kind and thoughtful. He was never rude, never needlessly
spoke a severe word, never gave unnecessary pain to a sensitive soul.
He did not censure human weakness. He fearlessly denounced hypocrisy, unbelief, and iniquity, but tears were in His voice as He uttered His scathing rebukes. He never made truth cruel, but ever manifested a deep tenderness for humanity. Every soul was precious in His sight. He bore Himself with divine dignity; yet He bowed with the tenderest compassion and regard to every member of the family of God. He saw in all, souls whom it was His mission to save.”—Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, p. 117.

Discussion Questions:
 As a class, read over what Ellen G. White wrote above about
how Christ ministered to others. Discuss the principles there, and
then as a class discuss how well your own church reflects those
principles corporately.
 Do you know a “bruised reed” or “dimly burning wick” (Isa.
42:3, NRSV)? How can you help this person without “breaking” or
“quenching” him or her? In what ways can you point such people
to the Lord? In a practical sense, what would you tell them to do
in order to get healing and help?
 The argument for different authors of Isaiah originated from
the premise that people cannot tell the future the way Isaiah did.
What is the fundamental problem with this argument, and why
must we, as Christians, reject that premise outright?

Summary: Deliverance requires a Deliverer. God’s servant nation would be delivered by two deliverers: Cyrus, who would set the captives free from Babylonian exile, and an unnamed Servant, whose identity as the Messiah is progressively revealed. This Servant would restore justice and bring the community of survivors back to God.

Read for This Week’s Study: Isa. 40:1, 2; Isa. 40:3–8; Isa. 40:9–11; Isa. 40:12–31.

Memory Text: “Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, you who bring good tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ ” (Isaiah 40:9, NKJV).

World War II ended in 1945 while a Japanese soldier named Shoichi Yokoi was hiding out in the jungle on the island of Guam. Leaflets dropped from U.S. planes proclaimed peace, but Yokoi thought it a trick. A loyal, patriotic soldier of the emperor, he had vowed never to surrender. Because he had no contact with civilization, he lived on what he could find in the jungle, a sparse, hard existence indeed.
“In 1972, 27 years after the end of World War II, hunters came across Yokoi while he was fishing, and he only then learned that the message of peace had been true. While the rest of his people had been enjoying peace for decades, Yokoi had been enduring decades of privation and stress.”—Roy Gane, Altar Call (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Diadem, 1999), p. 304, adapted.
Many centuries earlier, through the prophet Isaiah, God announced that the time of His peoples’ stress and suffering was really over: “Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Isa. 40:1, 2, NRSV).
Let’s take a look at what this means.

Comfort for the Future (Isa. 40:1, 2)

In Isaiah 40:1, 2, God comforts His people. Their time of punishment has finally ended. What punishment is that?
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There are many answers to this question. There was the punishment
administered by Assyria, the rod of God’s anger (Isaiah 10), from which God delivered Judah by destroying Sennacherib’s army in 701 b.c.

(Isaiah 37). There was the punishment administered by Babylon, which
would carry away goods and people from Judah because Hezekiah had
displayed his wealth to the messengers from Merodach-baladan (Isaiah
39, NRSV). And there was the punishment administered by one of the
other nations against which Isaiah wrote messages (Isaiah 14–23).
Meanwhile, though “Assyria” and “Assyrian[s]” are mentioned 43
times from Isaiah 7:17 to 38:6, this nation appears only once in the rest
of Isaiah, where Isaiah 52:4 refers to past oppression by Egypt and then by “the Assyrian.” In the latter part of Isaiah, deliverance from exile in Babylon is mentioned (Isa. 43:14; Isa. 47:1; Isa. 48:14, 20), and it is Cyrus, the Persian who conquered Babylon in 539 b.c., who is to free the exiles of Judah (Isa. 44:28, Isa. 45:1, Isa. 45:13).

Isaiah 1–39 emphasizes events leading up to deliverance from the
Assyrians in 701 b.c., but at the beginning of chapter 40, the book leaps
ahead a century and a half to the end of Babylon, in 539 b.c., and the
return of the Jews shortly thereafter.

Is the theme of return from Babylon linked with anything earlier in Isaiah? If so, what?
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Isaiah 39 serves as a transition to the following chapters by predicting
a Babylonian captivity, at least for some of Hezekiah’s descendants (Isa.
39:6, 7). Furthermore, the oracles of Isaiah 13, 14, and 21 predict the
fall of Babylon and the liberty this would bring to God’s people: “But the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land. . . . When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon” (Isa. 14:1–4, NRSV). Notice the close connection with Isaiah 40:1, 2, where God promises His people there is an end to their suffering.

What do Bible promises about the end of suffering mean to you
now, amid your present suffering? What good would our faith be
without those promises? Why, then, is it so important to cling to
them, no matter what?

Presence, Word, and Roadwork (Isa. 40:3–8)

How do God’s people receive comfort? (Isa. 40:1–8.)
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An unnamed herald announces that God is coming to reveal His glory
(Isa. 40:3–5). Another voice proclaims that although humans are transient like foliage, “the word of our God will stand forever” (Isa. 40:8, NRSV).

After the exile, God’s people gain back what they had received at Mount Sinai and then rejected all throughout their apostasy, for which they were punished: God’s presence and His Word. These are the basic ingredients of God’s covenant with Israel, which were enshrined at His sanctuary in their midst (Exod. 25:8, 16). Because they had violated His Word, God had abandoned His temple (Ezekiel 9–11), but He is coming back. His presence and His eternally dependable Word bring comfort, deliverance, and hope.

What preparation is necessary for the Lord’s coming? (Isa. 40:3–5.)
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It is not fitting for a king to be jolted by a rough road. So, his coming
is preceded by roadwork. The more so for the King of kings! His
coming, apparently from the east, where He has been in exile with His
people as a sanctuary to them (Ezek. 11:16), would require major
rearrangement of the terrain. Construction of a literal, level superhighway through the rugged hills east of Jerusalem would be daunting, even with dynamite and bulldozers. God is the only One who can do the work; it is He who turns “the rough places into level ground” (Isa. 42:16, NRSV). But He doesn’t need a literal road for transportation because He has an airborne chariot of cherubim (Ezekiel 1, 9–11).

The New Testament explicitly applies Isaiah’s prophecy to the spiritual
roadwork accomplished through the preaching of John the Baptist
(Matt. 3:3). His message was: “ ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has
come near’ ” (Matt. 3:2, NRSV) and the baptism that he performed was “of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4, NRSV). So, the roadwork was repentance, willingness to turn away from sin, in order to receive the comfort of God’s forgiveness and presence.
Jeremiah 31:31–34 proclaimed the same spiritual message in plenty of
time for the exiles of Judah to understand the spiritual nature of roadwork for God. In this passage, the Lord promises those who are willing a fresh start: a “new covenant” in which He puts His law in their hearts and pledges to be their God. They know Him and His character, because He has forgiven them.

Read carefully Isaiah 40:6–8. What hope can you, who fade away
as does the grass, derive from what these verses say? In what
should they warn us against putting our trust?

The Birth of Evangelism (Isa. 40:9–11)

What kind of event is described in Isaiah 40:9–11?
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Later in Isaiah there appears a male herald of good news for
Jerusalem (Isa. 41:27, Isa. 52:7). But in Isaiah 40:9 the herald to proclaim “ ‘Here is your God!’ ” (NRSV) from a mountain is female, a fact brought out in the Hebrew.

In Psalm 68, David praises God because He “gives the desolate a
home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity” (Ps. 68:6,
NRSV). Though here these words apply to the Exodus from Egyptian
bondage, Isaiah uses the same ideas with reference to the proclamation
of a second “Exodus”: the return from Babylonian captivity.
Meanwhile, the New Testament applies Isaiah 40:3–5 to John the
Baptist, who prepared the way for Christ, the eternal Word who became the Lord’s presence in flesh among His people (John 1:14).

Even earlier than John, others spoke about the good news of His
coming. Among the first of these were the elderly Simeon and Anna,
who met Baby Jesus when He was dedicated at the temple (Luke
2:25–38). Like Isaiah’s heralds, they were male and female. Simeon
was looking forward to the consolation/comfort of Israel in the form of the Messiah (Luke 2:25, 26).

In light of Isaiah’s prophecy, it does not appear coincidental that
Anna, a prophetess, was the very first to announce publicly at the
temple mountain to the people of Jerusalem that the Lord had come:
“At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38, NRSV). This was the birth of Christian evangelism as we know it: proclamation of the gospel, the good news, that Jesus Christ has come to bring salvation. Later, Christ entrusted to another woman, Mary Magdalene, the first tidings of His triumphant resurrection (John 20:17, 18), which ensured that His gospel mission to planet Earth was accomplished. Flesh is like grass, but the divine Word who became flesh is eternal (see Isa. 40:6–8)!

Look at Isaiah 40:11. What kind of imagery is presented here?
Write out for yourself a paragraph on how you, personally, have
experienced shepherding by the Lord. Why is it good to recount
in your mind the way the Lord has led you?
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Merciful Creator (Isa. 40:12–31)

How does Isaiah 40 develop the themes of God’s mercy and power?

Throughout this chapter, God’s mercy and power are interwoven (see
below) and even blended together, because they are both necessary in
order for God to save His people. He wants to save them, because He is merciful; He is able to save them, because He is powerful.
Mercy (Isa. 40:1–5): comfort, coming of the Lord to deliver
Power (Isa. 40:3–8): glory, permanence versus human weakness
Mercy (Isa. 40:9–11): good news of deliverance, Shepherd of His people
Power (Isa. 40:12–26): incomparable Creator
Mercy (Isa. 40:27–31): as Creator, gives power to the faint
Having introduced God’s might in terms of His glory and permanence
(Isa. 40:3–8), Isaiah elaborates on His power and superior wisdom,
which make earth and earthlings appear puny (Isa. 40:12–17). Here
Isaiah’s style, with rhetorical questions and vivid analogies referring
to the earth and its parts, sounds like God’s answer to Job (Job 38–41).

What is the answer to Isaiah’s rhetorical question: “To whom then will you liken God?” (Isa. 40:18, NRSV.)
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For Isaiah, as for Job, the answer goes without saying: no one. God
is incomparable. But Isaiah picks up on his question and refers to the
answer that many ancient people implied by their actions, which is that
God is like an idol (Isa. 40:19, 20).
To this notion Isaiah responds. Already it looks foolish to use an idol
as a likeness of God, but just to be sure people get the point, he elaborates on God’s uniqueness and brings in the unanswerable argument that He is the holy Creator (Isa. 40:21–26).

How does verse 27 reveal the attitude of the people addressed by Isaiah’s message? In what ways are we guilty of having the same attitude?
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The purpose of God’s message is to comfort people who need it! Like
Job, their suffering had made them confused and discouraged concerning
His character.

Look through the verses for today. They talk not only of God’s
mercy and His power but also of the fact that He is the Creator.
Why is this truth so important to understand? How does the
Sabbath, each week, help reinforce this crucial point?