Our scripture lesson tonight comes from Isaiah chapter 51. Isaiah chapter 51, hear now the word of our God. Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord, look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah who bore you. For he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. For the Lord comforts Zion. He comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation, for a law will go out from me. and I will set my justice for a light to the people's. My righteousness draws near. My salvation has gone out and my arms will judge the people's. The coastlands wait hope for me and for my arm they wait. Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth beneath for the heavens vanish like smoke. The earth will wear out like a garment and they who dwell in it will die in like manner. But my salvation will be forever and my righteousness will never be dismayed. Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations. Awake! Awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. I, I am he who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies of the son of man who is made like grass and have forgotten the Lord your maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth And you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor when he sets himself to destroy. And where is the wrath of the oppressor? He who is bowed down shall speedily be released. He shall not die and go down to the pit. Neither shall his bread be lacking. I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand. establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, You are my people. Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne. There is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. These two things have happened to you. Who will console you? devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will comfort you? Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of every street like an antelope in the net. They are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God. Therefore, hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk but not with wine. Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people. Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of my wrath, you shall drink no more. And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors who have said to you, bow down that we may pass over. And you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over. Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion, put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust and arise. Be seated, O Jerusalem. Loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus says the Lord. You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. For thus says the Lord God. My people went down at first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. Now, therefore, what have I here, declares the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing. Their rulers wail, declares the Lord, and continually all the day my name is despised. Therefore, my people shall know my name. Therefore, in that day they shall know that it is I who speak. Here am I. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns. The voice of your watchmen, they lift up their voice, together they sing for joy, for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted His people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart. Depart. Go out from there. Touch no unclean thing. Go out from the midst of her. Purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight. For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. This is the word of the Lord. we sang at the beginning of our service, comfort, comfort ye my people, speak ye peace, thus saith our God. That's the famous opening of Psalm 40 that began this section with its encouragement and it's the voice of comfort coming to Zion after the exile. And this word comfort is used 17 times in Isaiah and almost entirely in this second section, chapters 38 to 55. And it's used twice in chapter 40. It's used again in chapter 49, which we saw was the transition of part two. And then it's used five times in our text, twice in verse 3, once in 12 and 19, and then again in chapter 52, verse 9. In other words, we have come to the fulfillment of the promise of Isaiah 40 when Isaiah had said, the word of comfort will be spoken, and here it is in 51 and 52. Chapters 38 to 55 focus on the restoration from exile, which will come about through the servant of the Lord. And so sometimes these chapters are called the book of the servant. And throughout the first part, as we went through the first part of the comfort in chapters 41 to 48, We heard a refrain, listen to me Jacob, listen to me Israel, but now it turns. In chapter 51, the three calls in verses 1, 4, and 7 speak not to Israel as a whole, but to the remnant of Israel. I've been suggesting that Isaiah is pointing us to how, yes, the servant is Israel. The problem is that servant Israel is blind and deaf. Servant Israel does not see what God is doing. Servant Israel does not hear what God is saying. Isaiah is driving us toward the conclusion that Israel, my servant, can only succeed at God's mission if Israel becomes one man. And now in Isaiah 51 verse 2, Isaiah speaks to the faithful, those who pursue righteousness and says, remember Abraham? He was but one when I called him. Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Remember whence you came. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you. Are you seeking righteousness? Are you looking for righteousness? He was but one when I called him. If I can bring a whole nation into existence through one man, imagine what I can do through my servant. God will comfort Zion. And God says that he is the one who makes Zion's wilderness like Eden, like the garden of the Lord. We've often seen from the prophets how God's judgment turns the promised land into the Tohu Vabohu, the barren wasteland of death. And because that's what God's judgment does, the Garden of Eden turned into the land of death. Well, now Isaiah says, but God will also turn your wastelands, your wilderness, into the Garden of the Lord like Eden. The day will come when the seed of Abraham will inherit the earth. And so a second time, he says, give attention to me, verse four. And again, it starts, you might think, oh well, you know, my people, is this referring to all Israel? He says, give ear to me, my nation, for Allah will go out from me and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near. The first call was to those who pursue righteousness. Now in the second call, God promises that his righteousness is indeed drawing near. Salvation is coming. It will not be thwarted. I think sometimes we get so focused on seeing the mess that surrounds us that we lose sight of the fact that God's purposes are not thwarted. My righteousness draws near. My salvation has gone out. My arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. My righteousness will never be dismayed. My salvation will be forever. Heaven and earth will pass away, but the word of the Lord endures. And so in his third call, God speaks saying in verse 7, You who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. God had said in Deuteronomy that he would write his law on his people's hearts. And he says, so listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. This call is not merely to those who seek, This call does not merely promise righteousness will come. This call is to those who know righteousness. God calls the remnant, those who have God's law in their hearts. And he says, don't be afraid. Fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the moth will eat them up like a garment. The worm will eat them like wool. But my righteousness will be forever and my salvation to all generations. Scoffers will come. Scoffers will say, when will your God ever show up and rescue you? You need to have the same confidence that Daniel's three friends did. They're about to be thrown into a fiery furnace. And they say, our God can rescue us. Even if he doesn't, we're still not gonna worship the golden image. They recognize. They have no promise that God will rescue them if they get thrown into the fiery furnace. So they're like, he might not rescue us, that's none of our business, but he can. And if he doesn't, it doesn't make a difference. We still won't bow down to your image. That's the sort of confidence that Isaiah is talking about. Because those who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is God's law, know that God's ways work in the end. It doesn't mean everything goes smoothly in the middle of the story, but we have confidence that God's ways work. So these three calls emphasize the remnant, those within Israel who still seek the Lord, who still know righteousness, those in whose heart is God's law. chapters 41 to 48 have shown us that Israel is the servant of the Lord, but servant Israel is blind and deaf. He does not see what God is doing. He does not hear what God is saying. And chapters 49 to 55 are explaining that God will send one servant who will redeem the servant. The servant is Israel, but Israel will be reduced to one man. Jesus will be the remnant of one. Now the threefold call to the remnant is followed at the center of our passage by a threefold cry to wake up. And Isaiah sort of gives us a very clear structure because you have these three doublets, awake, awake, wake yourself, wake yourself, awake, awake. And so you can see it coming easily. But perhaps the first call surprised you. Who is the one being called to wake up? Verse nine. Wake up, oh God. And you're like, wait, wake up, oh God? I thought when Elijah's at Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal, he's teasing them, mocking them, saying, oh, maybe your God's asleep. Does our God actually sleep? What Isaiah is saying is that there are times when it appears as though God is asleep. And I suspect all of you have experienced moments like that where you're sort of like, okay God, where are you? What are you doing? I don't see your work. I don't hear what you're saying. And Isaiah calls to the arm of the Lord. Awake, awake, put on strength, oh arm of the Lord. Awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Remember your promises and come and do what you have said you will do. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces? Now, Rahab here is not referring to the Rahab in the book of Joshua. Rahab here, we saw this back in Isaiah chapter 30. Rahab is used as sort of a code name for Egypt. It's a mythical monster which in the Babylonian myth the god Marduk slew Tiamat, the dragon, and Rahab is another name for that, because God is frequently portrayed in scripture as the true slayer of the dragon. So in Isaiah 30, Rahab was used as a code name for Egypt, and here again, Rahab is connected with Egypt, because Egypt was like the monster that held captive God's people. The Lord rules the seas, as was demonstrated at the Red Sea. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? In a sense, the Exodus was when God tamed the sea and opened the way for God's people to be delivered from Egypt. the seas frequently represent the power of the nations. Isaiah often uses the image of the rushing sea to describe the coming of the Assyrian armies in the first half of Isaiah. And so Isaiah here again uses that image to speak of God's power over the nations. And using, in a sense, it's interesting how he uses this imagery from a Babylonian myth to declare the glorious truth that the Babylonian captivity is no more troublesome to God as the Egyptian one was. And when God redeems his people, verse 11, the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. In a sense, you hear the righteous remnant crying out, calling out, Lord, remember how you delivered us from Egypt to the Red Sea. Do it again, oh God. but this time do it so that everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. As you can see that this isn't really just talking about return from exile in Babylon, because when Israel came back from Babylon, everlasting joy, sorrow and sighing, fleeing away. Well, read Ezra and Nehemiah, not really. Isaiah is speaking of something more. that God will do than just return from Babylon. And that's where we come to the very center of our passage. As God himself replies to Zion, and again, doubling the pronoun, which is a very strange, rare thing to do in Hebrew, I, I am he who comforts you. Isaiah had used this back in chapter 43 to emphasize God's power in salvation. And here he's using it to call us to remember what God has already said. I am he who comforts you. I'm the one who does what I promise. Now, verses 12 to 16 probably look fairly straightforward to you because English doesn't have gender in the second person pronoun. But verse 12a, I am he who comforts you, That's a masculine plural. I am he who comforts y'all. But then, in the next two lines, who are you that are afraid? The you is feminine singular. So, I am he who comforts you, masculine plural, all you people, Israel. But then, who are you, feminine singular? Who's the feminine singular here? Zion, Jerusalem, the city of God. who are you that you are afraid of man who dies of the son of man who is made like grass. But then in verses 13 to 16 it switches to masculine singular and have forgotten the Lord your maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth and you masculine singular fear continually all the day. This is no longer speaking of Israel in the plural. This is not speaking of Zion, the fearful Zion. But now this is speaking of the singular servant. Not the plural servant Israel, but the singular servant. Because the movement here is from fearful Zion and fearful servant to a restored servant, a restored Zion. The Lord says, I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in your mouth. Again, masculine singular. The singular servant. I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth and saying to Zion, you are my people. This is the message that the singular servant will bring to Zion. And that's the message that our Lord Jesus Christ brings to us. If the Lord is the God who comforts his people, who are you that you are afraid of man who dies? Why are you afraid of the Babylonians? I mean, that's Jesus' question to you. Why are you afraid of Babylon? And you can insert your own particular fears there. What is it that worries you? Is it radical Islam? Is it political extremism of the left or of the right? Or even closer to home, is it what other people think of you? Or are you intimidated by others? And Jesus asks you, who are you that you should be afraid of them? To be afraid of them is to forget the Lord your maker. The city of God has no business fearing the city of man. You fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, verse 13, but where is the wrath of the oppressor? If you are my people, then you should fear me, says our Lord Jesus. I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The noise of the nations is stirred up because God stirs them up. They've been sent to test you. follow Jesus or will you fear the nations? And what is more, God says that his servant should, he says, I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth and saying to Zion, You are my people. Now, the righteous remnant had called to God in verse 9, Awake, O Lord! But now, God himself replies, Wake yourself! Wake yourself! Stand up, O Jerusalem! You who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. You want me to wake up, God says? Now the problem is you are still asleep. Jerusalem is in a drunken stupor from having drunk the cup of the Lord. This whole passage is constructed in pairs. Two calls to wake yourself. Two references to the cup, verse 17. Two statements of the lack of sons in verse 18. Devastation and destruction. Famine and sword, verse 19. The wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God, verse 20. Zion has received a double portion for all her sins. And if you recall from Isaiah 40, the double portion is not saying twice as much as you deserved. The double portion is this is the portion of the firstborn. This is the full inheritance. And notice the problem. The cup of wrath has been drunk deeply by God. But verse 18, there is none to guide her among all the sons she has born. There is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. Where is the Son of God? Where is the Son of Zion? Where is the servant of the Lord? Verse 20, your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net. They are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God. She's desolate, comfortless, due to the wrath and rebuke of the Lord. But even in the midst of her desolation, God speaks comfort in verse 21. Therefore, hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine, you are drunk with the wrath of God's cup. Thus says the Lord, the Lord your God, who pleads the cause of His people. It is God Himself who will plead for His people, not a mere son of Zion. I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more. I can only wonder whether Isaiah understood fully the implications of what he had just said. God says he himself will take the cup of staggering. You should be hearing echoes when our Lord Jesus says, if it be your will, Let this cup pass from me." He held in his cup, in his hand, the cup of staggering, the cup of God's wrath. He had come as the servant of the Lord, but no ordinary son of Zion was he. He was the Word of God incarnate. And yet, when our Lord Jesus takes that cup and drank it to the dregs, he would stagger. He would be full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God, because he who knew no sin became sin for us. The only way that God could take the cup of staggering from us was for him to drink it himself. But because he has drunk that cup to the dregs, he then says, I will put it into the hand of your tormentors. The nations will now drink the cup of God's wrath." So why do you fear the nations? Why do you fear the ones that God has said He will deal with? And because of this, again God calls, Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion, put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. And as the arm of the Lord put on strength back in chapter 51 verse 9, so now Zion puts on strength in chapter 52 verse 1 because the singular servant takes the cup of God's wrath. Therefore, now Zion is purified and made beautiful. desolate and abandoned Zion, becomes beautiful and glorious Zion. For there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust and arise. Be seated, O Jerusalem. Loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. Wake up. The day is at hand when the people of God will be glorified." the explanation that Isaiah gives in verses three to six returns to the themes of Egypt and Assyria, the persecution that they had endured. As God delivered his people from Egypt, so he will do it again. And as God sent a messenger to Egypt from the desert before, in Moses, so also now one will come from afar to bring good news to Zion. And then we hear those glorious words, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news. How many times had Jerusalem seen a single runner coming over the mountains from battle to report the news? Isaiah says there will come another runner. There will come one to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God. One who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. And when the watchmen see the coming kingdom, when they see the return of the Lord to Zion, they will sing for joy. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted His people. Think of how Luke portrays this at the beginning of his gospel through Zechariah and Simeon and Anna. As Simeon sees the little baby Jesus, he says, Lord, now let your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen the salvation that you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Simeon had spoken of this in the temple as one who had waited patiently for the kingdom of God because he understood the exile wasn't really over. They had been restored to the land. They had rebuilt the temple. But Zion was still desolate. Israel did not see what God was doing. Jerusalem did not hear what God was saying. but the righteous remnants still clung in faith to God's promises, all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. And when Simeon sees this little baby, he sees the runner who would bring the news of God's victory. Paul cites this passage in Romans 10 to speak of the work of the preacher today, because it's my task to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. Your God reigns. The kingdom of God has triumphed. The king is sitting at God's right hand, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead. And so Isaiah calls to the exiles, Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing. Go out from the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. For you shall not go out in haste, you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Sure, in one sense that speaks to the exiles in Babylon. Like in the days of the Exodus, they will go forth openly with the full consent of the Babylonians. The king of Persia will send them forth with his blessing. They don't have to hide or scurry. They go forth with the full support of the king because God has opened the door for them to go. But they must still maintain their purity, especially those who bear the sacred vessels, the priests, the Levites. But at the same time, as we see what Isaiah is doing here, he's plainly speaking beyond Babylon. It's why Paul will cite verse 11 in 2 Corinthians 6. The call to depart and be separate, to be holy, is God's call to us today. you may not find your identity and purpose in Babylon, in the city of man. Now, when Paul quotes this, he's actually speaking, you might say, economically. When he says, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? And then he quotes verse 11, go out from their midst and be separate from them. I think sometimes we, sometimes we misunderstand what Paul's saying because when he says do not be unequally yoked, he's not talking about marrying an unbeliever. I mean, sure, I suppose that's an appropriate implication, application, but not of this passage. You actually get that from other passages. unequally yoked with unbelievers, when he asks what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness, he's talking about business dealings. If your business dealings are leading you away from Christ, leading you into idolatry, then you need to change your business. John also quotes the same verse in Revelation 18 with a similar focus. where Babylon the Great is portrayed as the great economic and religious power of the age. And John says in Revelation 18, starting in verse 4, Then I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues. For her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds. Mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see. For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire, for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her. That's why John will say, come out of her. The cup of wrath will be given to Babylon, just as Isaiah had said. Babylon will receive the double portion, the full inheritance of what she deserves. And that's why Jesus warns us, don't identify with the culture you live in. It really doesn't matter which one because your identity needs to be found in the kingdom of God, in our Lord Jesus Christ. God has established his kingdom. You see, this is not a sort of future eschatology that's, oh, someday all of this will be taken care of. No, Isaiah's point, John's point, Paul's point is that we are to live in the midst of this age as citizens of the heavenly city. We are to live in the midst of this age by the power of the age to come. This is what should characterize us in our business and economic dealings. Sure, don't marry an unbeliever. That's true. But also, as you think about how you conduct yourself in your economic, in your daily life, don't enter into entanglements that lead you away from Jesus. how you walk in the midst of this age is to be driven by Jesus, by the servant of the Lord who has come and has made the arm of the Lord known as he has delivered us from the bonds of sin and death. Let us pray. Oh Lord our God, how we thank you and praise you for what you have done in Jesus. We thank you for your servant who took the cup of wrath, the cup of staggering, and He drank it for our sakes, that He might endure the wrath and curse that was due to us. How we thank you for your servant, Jesus, who has redeemed us and saved us and delivered us. And help us to live as His people. Help us to depart and to go out from Babylon, that we might not touch the unclean things, that we might not dabble in Babylon's delicacies. to trust in your grace and mercy, that you will go before us, that you would be our rear guard because you have brought us into fellowship with your beloved some, and help us by the power of your spirit to walk humbly before you as your children, and help us to hear your voice, that we might see what you are doing, that we might hear what you are saying, that we might love you and love one another. Lord, have mercy on us in our several callings. Help us in our economic lives, in the work that we do, in our engagements with the world around us. Lord, help us to live faithfully, to live with confidence, knowing that your ways are right, and your judgments are true, and your law is now written on our hearts. the way that you have called us to live and help us to encourage one another, to build each other up, to look for ways in which we can strengthen each other's hands and help the ones who are weak and frail, whose joints are out of whack. Lord, help us to build each other up and strengthen each other that we might walk together in the midst of this age with confidence that that your kingdom will continue to advance, that your kingdom will continue to come. Your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May we live as those who are citizens of that heavenly kingdom. And Father, we pray for all who are weak, all who are suffering and afflicted, all who are enduring the trials and the troubles of this age. Lord, have mercy and strengthen and comfort the weak. bring healing to those who are afflicted. Renew and refresh those who are bowed down and lift them up and grant them victory in Jesus Christ our Lord. For it's in his name that we pray. Amen.