Isaiah 49:24 - 50:3

Passage: Isaiah 49:24 - 50:3
24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?
25 For thus says the LORD:
"Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that I am the LORD your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."
Isaiah 50
Israel’s Sin and the Servant’s Obedience.
1 Thus says the LORD:
"Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
with which I sent her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering."

Journal: Judah is to be given over to Babylon as a consequence of its rebellion. This captor is a tyrant. [v. 24 -- "Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?"] Yet, God is faithful even in the midst of His children's unfaithfulness. He is adamant that this captivity will not be the end of the story. He compares it to a divorce, where the husband is required to give the wife a certificate evidencing the termination of the marriage and the relationship. Here, God points out that there is no certificate of divorce between He and His people. [v. 1a -- "Thus says the LORD: "Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away?"] He also compares it to a debtor / creditor relationship, emphasizing that His children have not been bargained away in payment of a debt. [v. 1b -- "Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you?"]

In other words, it is not God's action that has consequential repercussions. Rather, it is the sins of the people of Judah that have created a liability against God's justice. [v. 1c -- "Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away."] Yet, God will redeem His people and take them out of their self imposed bondage. He is the creator of all things and there is no act that is beyond His redemptive powers. [v. 2b -- "Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert . . ."]

We often find ourselves in our own captivity; imprisoned by our own sinful rebellion. Our imprisonment may seem like it has no hope of freedom. Yet, God is forever faithful to His children and will never terminate the relationship His children have with Him through Christ. We will never be given a certificate of divorce or be sold into slavery. [v. 25a -- "For thus says the LORD: "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued . . ."]