Day 206: Isaiah 52-55 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Hey, Bible Nerds, this is Dr. Manny Arango. Welcome to the Bible Department podcast powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebibledepartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. Family, welcome to day 206. We are making our way through the book of Isaiah. We've got just a couple of chapters left in this section. Don't get your hopes up too much, okay? We got a whole nother section of Isaiah, which goes from chapters 56 to 66. But today we're in chapters 52 to 55, which is just the last bit of the second section. Remember, if you just want a mind map in your brain, chapters one to 39, the first section of the book of Isaiah, a lot of people will call that Isaiah of Jerusalem, who is the one that's actually prophesying. And then Isaiah is actually like not in the next part, is Isaiah chapter 40 to 55, okay? So that is the section of the book that we're in right now. The people are in exile, that is the setting or the context. And then we've got Isaiah chapter 56 to 66 is the very last part. People call this section of Isaiah, Deutero-Isaiah or Isaiah of Babylon. And then a lot of people are gonna call the third section of the book, Trito, Trito-Isaiah. That's a discussion for another day.

So, Isaiah chapter 52 to 55, let me give you some context. The context today is really, really short. I've already given you a little bit of context, then I'll give you nerdy nuggets. And like always, I'm always gonna leave us off with a timeless truth so that we can know how this history that God has with his people impacts our lives today and helps us to see God based on his own self-disclosure through the scriptures to us. So, all right, context. We are on the brink of returning home. You should feel the tone in these chapters. God is comforting, he's loving, he's reassuring. And these chapters are brimming with hope, hope of returning home. I don't know if you've ever watched movies where like somebody's got kidnapped or like children have been kidnapped. I've watched a couple of movies, like a handful of movies where like somebody like kidnaps some kids and there's a whole search, you know, the police are out searching and parents are out searching. And at the climactic moment where like the parent or the police are gonna finally find the kidnapper, you can feel that like there's hope. Or like it finally goes to the kid,

like there's a scene where it finally goes back to the kid and you finally go, oh, they're not dead. Okay, thank God, you know? And so there's that hope, okay? There's hope that they're gonna be reunited with their parents, okay? So these chapters are brimming with hope. Hope, we're gonna go back home. Hope, we're not gonna be in captivity forever. Hope, we're not stuck in Babylon forever. We're gonna go back home, okay? And you can like just imagine that hope of, oh my gosh, like we're gonna go back to our homeland. We're gonna go back home. We've been in captivity. We've just been here in Babylon. We're gonna go back home. So hope and restoration are the context, okay? We are down to the brink. The people are on the brink of returning home and you can feel it in these chapters, okay? So that's the context, okay? Nerdy Nuggets, here's the first, is that the most famous of the servant songs is the fourth one, okay? Now, you may be wondering to yourself, okay, we've talked about the first one and the second one and now, Dr. Manning, you skipped to the fourth. What happened to the third one? Yeah, well, we're gonna talk about the third one as well.

Okay, so the third servant song is found in Isaiah chapter 50, verse four to 11. The fourth servant song is found in Isaiah chapter 52, starting in verse 13. It goes all the way to Isaiah 53, verse 12. So let's look at the third servant song first. It's part of yesterday's reading, but I think it's helpful to look at them both together, okay, in tandem with each other. So this is Isaiah chapter 50 and I'll start reading in verse four. You can immediately tell like, oh yeah, like this is the fulfillment of this is found in the person of Jesus. The sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. Now, present day Jews would say that like, this is what Israel, that they wouldn't interpret this as Jesus. They would interpret this as Israel. And it's like, nah, sorry, homie. Like, let's just think, okay. The best prophets, like the peak of the peak of the prophets of, of, of Israel, Judah and Israel, is actually not. Isaiah would be Moses and Elijah and both Moses and Elijah failed. Okay. So the best prophets failed, uh, which means this servant of Yahweh will not fail. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen. Like one being instructed, the Sovereign Lord has opened my ears.

I've not been rebellious. I've not turned away. See, I, unlike all these human prophets or human leaders, I've not been rebellious, I've not turned away. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mocking and spinning because the Sovereign Lord helps me. I will not be disgraced. Therefore I've set my face like flint and I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near who then will bring charges against me. Let us face each other. Who is my accuser? Let him confront me. It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me, who will condemn me. They will all wear out like a garment. The moths will eat them up. Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let the one who walked in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God. But now all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches. Can you see the, the army, the, the band of, uh, of soldiers with Judas coming into the Garden of Gethsemane? But now all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand. You will lie down in torment. All right. That is the, uh, the third servant song. Okay. Isaiah chapter 50 verse four through 11.

Obviously the parts of that, that immediately jump out should be verse six. I offered my back to those who beat me. My cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mocking and spinning because the sovereign Lord helps me. I will not be disgraced. Therefore I set my face like flint and I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. And then who then will bring charges against me? You can see the link between this law court courtroom language in the book of Isaiah, and then the literal courtroom that Jesus is in, where he is accused falsely of speaking out against, against Caesar. Um, and so that is the second servant song. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book crushing chaos is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold literally today. I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble, or you can go to a books a million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right.

Back to the episode. All right. Now let's go to the fourth servant song. This is the one that everyone knows. Okay. So Isaiah chapter 52 verse 13, Isaiah 52 verse 13. And, um, I read this every good Friday. See, my servant will act wisely. He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted just as there were many who were appalled at him. His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being in his form marred beyond human likeness. So he will sprinkle many nations and Kings will shut their mouths. Sprinkle many nations means atone and Kings will shut their mouth because of him for what they were not told. They will see for what they, uh, have not heard. They will understand who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed. He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or madness to attract us to him. Nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind and man of suffering and familiar with pain, like one from. from whom people hide their face, he was despised. We held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

The punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each one of us has turned to our own way. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted yet did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shears is silent. So he did not open his mouth. Verse eight, by oppression and judgment, he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgression of my people, he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. This is incredible. Though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth, yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days. And the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. How? There's nothing else that can account for this, but resurrection. This is definitely talking about resurrection. The resurrection of the servant of the Lord

is supposed to give them hope that we will be restored. We're gonna go back to the land. If God can resurrect the servant of the Lord in the future, he surely can resurrect us and resurrect who we're supposed to be and bring us back to the land. So the restoration into the land is seen as a resurrection because exile is seen as death. Okay, so I need you to make that connection. Exile is seen as death for the people of Israel and then restoration back into the land or the undoing of exile is seen as a resurrection of sorts. Okay, we just got a couple more verses. Verse 11, after he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities. This is atonement language. Therefore, I will give him a portion among the great and he will divide the spools with the straw because he poured out his life unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors for he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. There's no other way to see this but that Jesus is an atoning sacrifice for our sin, period. And atonement is a big, huge theological category but Isaiah chapter 52 and 53 are gonna set. What does atonement mean?

I mean, right here, there's a vision in the Old Testament or the Hebrew scriptures for what atonement means. And we have in servant song number four, a clear case to build on how Jesus becomes the atoning sacrifice for many, for all, for Israel for sure, but also for Gentiles. All right, two more nerdy nuggets for you and then we'll get into our timeless truth, our timeless truth for the day. I love this, these next two nerdy nuggets. We're gonna go to 54 verse one. So literally the next verse, sing barren woman, you who never bore a child, burst in a song, shout for joy. You who were never in labor because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband, says the Lord. And then the next nerdy nugget is right after it. The next verse, enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide. Do not hold back, lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. All right, so first thing, a barren woman is definitely the symbol that we get all throughout the beginning of Genesis for the issue with, I mean, golly, pick one of the patriarchs, okay?

So Sarah is barren, Rachel is barren, Rebecca is barren. So the barren woman keeps being a theme and now this culminates in Israel is a barren woman. So I want you to see two things going side by side. Not only is Israel being portrayed as a divorced woman or a widow, but she's also being portrayed as a barren woman. And the prophet is saying, sing, sing. God is gonna bring restoration. So the tone of this whole portion of scripture is not God's gonna bring destruction. It is hope, it is restoration. Hey, I know that it's been difficult. I know that you're in exile. I know that you feel like a divorced woman. I know you feel like a widow. I know you feel barren, but I want you to sing because the God of the universe is on the move and God is doing something and he's up to something. will restore you and your response to hearing this servant song, this fourth servant song should be that you rejoice, rejoice, because you're not barren. You're actually going to have children. Let's do one last nerdy nugget. And that is this verse right here. Literally the next verse after it, 54 verse two, enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch your tent curtains wide. Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords, strengthen your states. So enlarge the place of your tent in context that, uh, that means, uh, Gentiles are going to be in the mix.

Okay. Like enlarge the place of your tent. Okay. You, you need to go back into the land and the tent represents Israel and you need to enlarge the place of your tent, make room for the nations. I know we use enlarge the place of your tent for all kinds of things. And I've taken this verse out of context and I think it's okay to take it out of context. I definitely took this out of context when me and my wife were believing God for children. I was like, the Bible says enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back, man, lengthen your cords, strengthen your states. That means let's buy a bigger house. Cause we're believing God for children. Uh, I've taken that I've taken this verse to mean that, but in context, it definitely means that God has a place in the tent for Gentiles and that the people of Israel have to enlarge the place of their tent, but that's not just a physical thing that has to happen. Like in the heart. Hey, but get emotionally ready for there to be Gentiles that are going to be a part of the true Israel. And that leads us perfectly into our timeless truth because here's, here's what's true forever. Yahweh's heart is to make more room for those who are lost and who are far. Our timeless truth of the day is that God's heart, Yahweh's heart is to always make more room for those who are lost and those who are far. If you're lost, man, if you're far from God, God's heart is that believers will be stretching their tent pegs. They'll be enlarging their territory.

It'd be that Christians would never have what I call only child syndrome. Right? Uh, my son's an only child right now. And there are times where I'm like, buddy, you better buckle up and get ready for more kids because right now all your tours are yours and you're not good at sharing, but it's because you're an only child and there are times where I hear people say like, I don't like big churches and I'm like, Oh God, it. You don't like salvations. Like you don't like people getting saved. Like, what do you mean? A big church is actually the sign that a lot of people are getting baptized. A lot of people come to know Jesus. I've heard people literally say, I just like a small church. Well, what happened to that small church actually starts evangelizing and discipling people. That small church would become big, right? Like if it's actually about the great commission. So there's so many times where people say things like, I just want to be able to like meet the pastor and like shake hands and it's like, Oh, okay. Got it. Only child syndrome. All right. Only. All right. You just want, you want all the Christmas gifts. Okay. All right. All right. At some point, you're going to have to realize that the heart of God is that all of those who are lost and that are far come home.

The question that every Christian has to ask is, do you have space in your home for those who are lost and those who are far, do you have literal space emotionally, but also practically to, to begin to pull those people who are lost and who are far into proximity so they can be in a relationship with God, but Yahweh's heart, his heart is always to reach more and more and more people, he, God's heart is not, you know, I'm just so happy that the Bible says that God doesn't delight in, in the destruction of the wicked, he doesn't delight in people not knowing him. His delight is in people coming to a knowledge of who he is and who his son is and coming into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So, uh, we need to be his hands and feet, which means we need to enlarge the place of our tent, stretch our tent curtains wide. We need to not hold back. We're going to lengthen our cords and strengthen our stakes. And that I think is a timeless truth because it reflects the eternal heart of God forever. All right, guys, tomorrow we are in a brand new section of the book of Isaiah. We finally enter into the third and final movement of the book. Uh, so we'll start with chapter 56 tomorrow. I'll see you right here. Hey, if you're on a streak, I'm so proud of you. Even if you're not on the street, I'm still proud of you, but I'm extra proud if you are on a streak. I love you so much. I'm so glad that we got to, that we're getting to journey through the book of Isaiah together. See you right here tomorrow. Love you. Peace. Thanks so much.

for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend, and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebibledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.