Joyfully Sing of His Mercy!

Isaiah 49:1-13 

1 "Listen, O coastlands, to Me,
And take heed, you peoples from afar!
The LORD has called Me from the womb;
From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.

2 And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword;
In the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me,
And made Me a polished shaft;
In His quiver He has hidden Me."

3 "And He said to me,
You are My servant, O Israel,
In whom I will be glorified.'

4 Then I said, 'I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain;
Yet surely my just reward is with the LORD,
And my work with my God.'"

5 "And now the LORD says,
Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him,
So that Israel is gathered to Him
(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD,
And My God shall be My strength),

6 Indeed He says,
'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'"

7 Thus says the LORD,
The Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One,
To Him whom man despises,
To Him whom the nation abhors,
To the Servant of rulers:

"Kings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of the LORD who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel;
And He has chosen You."

8 Thus says the LORD:
"In an acceptable time I have heard You,
And in the day of salvation I have helped You;
I will preserve You and give You
As a covenant to the people,
To restore the earth,
To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;

9 That You may say to the prisoners, 'Go forth,'
To those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.'
"They shall feed along the roads,
And their pastures shall be on all desolate heights.

10 They shall neither hunger nor thirst,
Neither heat nor sun shall strike them;
For He who has mercy on them will lead them,
Even by the springs of water He will guide them.

11 I will make each of My mountains a road,
And My highways shall be elevated.
12 Surely these shall come from afar;
Look! Those from the north and the west,
And these from the land of Sinim."

13 Sing, O heavens!
Be joyful, O earth!
And break out in singing, O mountains!
For the LORD has comforted His people,
And will have mercy on His afflicted.

The Servant who is the fore-proclaimed Messiah, the Light to the Gentiles, is spoken of here for those who came before to be prepared and for we who have His Spirit to read and marvel at His word of our salvation!  When we read these things at first we are like the Ethiopian who Philip had to explain of whom God was speaking (Acts 8:34-35), of the prophet or of another.  These things are of the coming Servant who is the Anointed of God, not the prophets Isaiah who transcribed the message for us.  This is a Messianic prophecy of the Christ.  First we see that He was predetermined to be born, known before gestation in the womb, existing before time began (John 17:5, Colossians 1:16-17).  This announcement then was not to make Him come into being and walk among us as Immanuel, but a statement of what God had already done and predetermined to come to us in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4-5) according to His word given us long ago.  God wanted to glorify Himself in His people as His servants, but came as our Servant of grace and mercy because of our failures to be righteous as He is.  This is the suffering Servant Jesus the Christ foretold to all God’s people.  This Messiah would bring back wandering Israel as well as add from the nations, from the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8), by His light of the gospel (Matthew 4:16).  This Redeemer is despised by man and the nations abhor Him, yet He serves by suffering and dying in our stead.  When seeing His faithfulness, many will see and worship who are chosen to do so by the LORD as verse 7 shows us.  In this predicted acceptable time He hears us (2 Corinthians 6:2) and helps by saving us from the justice of judgment in His wrath on our sin.  He preserves those He calls to Himself in His Servant so none is lost (John 17:12) because He is our New Covenant in His life given for ours (the life is in the blood), and reaches the nations with that good news of reconciliation and an eternal relationship.  He sets the prisoners of sin free and brings us out of the darkness into His marvelous light!  In His mercy and grace He provides for us and leads us for His name’s sake.  The passage leaves us with encouragement and comfort as He has shown this infinite mercy in His unwarranted goodness of grace, and our response should be joyful singing with all creation for our salvation in Him!  He has shown such undeserved mercy on we who are afflicted by sin and facing death as punishment, instead giving us life as He opens closed eyes and ears to His great work in the Messiah.  Let us joyfully sing of His mercy forever, let us sing!