Page 103 - Isaiah Student Worktext

V. 2 also states that Jesus was ‘hidden’ in the shadow of His hand until the appropriate time. He’s been
there all along.

V. 3-4 Jesus came as a servant. V. 4 carries a complex thought, which is that Jesus was discouraged.
Labored in vain, spent my strength for nothing. The human side of Jesus would have to have been
discouraged at many points in His ministry.

It is reminiscent of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. ‘If it is possible, take this cup from Me.
Nevertheless, not My will but Yours.’ Luke 22: 42.

Many missionaries labor for years with no discernible fruit. Pastors may preach and minister in their
church for years and wonder if anything has been accomplished, if anyone has been changed at all.
Parents may train up their children in the way they should go, only to see them rebel and become
disobedient.

But V. 4 ends with the acknowledgement that His reward and in fact His work was in God. The same
thing is true for the missionary, the pastor and the parent. They may not know until they get to Heaven
how eternity has been changed from their efforts, even though they may not see the fruit themselves.

V. 5-7 The use of the name ‘Israel’ has led some to believe that it is Israel, the nation itself, who is the
suffering servant. But there was no redemption in Israel.

Only through Jesus did God provide for redemption. In Jesus, the fulfillment of the perfect vision of
Israel completed.

V. 8 Everything is in God’s time. 2 Corinthians 6: 2 When Paul wrote that, it was after Jesus had come
to earth and fulfilled the promise. When Isaiah wrote this hundreds of years before, the message was
not for sinners, but for the servant.

Jesus would be sent to earth in God’s timing…the first time and the last time.

V. 9-13 This applies in many ways, but at to those reading it at the time, it was a command to the exiles
to leave Babylon and return to Israel. For us today, it’s time to leave behind the old ways and become
new creations.

Obviously, we will have physical hunger and thirst, but salvation brings with it the living bread and the
living water, for which we will never lack again. He shall feed us along the roads and protect us from the
heat of the sun.

In V. 11-12, God promises that every mountain will be made a road, every valley will be elevated to a
highway. People from all over will see the work of the Lord and give God the praise.

V. 14-15 There are times in all our lives when we feel like God has forgotten us. But He says that is
impossible…if a nursing mother cannot forget her child, how could God forget His children?

V. 16-18 One of my favorite verses…our names are inscribed on the palms of His hands. The New
Testament application is that the scars from the nails in Jesus’ hands are like my name and your name
being written on His hands.

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