Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 51:18-23 The Lord Pleads the Cause of His People
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Isa 51:18-23 The Lord Pleads the Cause of His People - Discussion
Isa 51:18-23 The Lord Pleads the Cause of His People
[Study Aired January 5, 2020]
Isa 51:18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
Isa 51:19 These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
Isa 51:20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
Isa 51:21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Isa 51:22 Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:
Isa 51:23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
To begin this week’s study let’s review these very comforting and encouraging words which were near the end of our last study:
Isa 51:15 But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.
Isa 51:16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
What an awesome promise! The very reason for which the Lord has called us and has chosen us and for which He will preserve us to the end is, “that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth!” These words are not referring to this present dying sinful world nor to the present defiled and impure heavens:
Gal 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
Job 4:17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker?
Job 4:18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
Job 4:19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these [“the blood of calves and goats” - vs 19); but the heavenly things themselves [His elect first] with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself [His elect], now to appear in the presence of God for us:
We are to be the Lord’s channel through which He will execute His “planting of [a new] heavens” and His “foundation [for His new] earth”.
With such a glorious calling, why are some of the Old Testament types of the Lord’s elect such lying, thieving, adulterous scoundrels?
To answer that question, we will look at what the Lord reveals to us about two of the most prominent types of His elect. We will first look at Jacob, and we will compare what we are told about Jacob to what we are told about his twin brother, Esau, who typifies those who are the Lord’s rejected seed of Abraham. Then we will compare King David to King Saul, who typifies the Lord’s rejected anointed.
The very next verse begins to give us the answer to that question and to how the Lord is capable “of the same lump make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor” (Rom 9:29), and of “calling light out of darkness” (2Co 4:6):
Isa 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
The books of 1st Peter and Revelation reveal that it is the Lord’s elect who are the first to experience the fires of the Lord’s judgments:
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints<: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
Compare Rev 14:10 with verse 17 of this 51st chapter of Isaiah, which we quoted above:
Isa 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
It is only “when your judgments are in the earth” [that even “the chief of sinners”] shall learn righteousness:
Isa 26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
Therefore the Lord wants us to be keenly aware that “No man can enter into [His] temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels… which fill up the wrath of God… are fulfilled” in every person’s life:
Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
The Lord wants us to know that He has deliberately and purposefully chosen the foolish and weak of this world to become His “firstfruit… saviors” of all the rest of mankind:
1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
Let’s be honest about what the Lord is telling us about ourselves in these verses. What He is telling us here in 1st Corinthians is nothing less than confirmation of what we are shown so graphically in the stories of Jacob and King David. The Lord’s elect are elect because they are “foolish… weak… base… despised… and are not” yet what He has determined we are to become. He did not choose us because of how qualified we are, rather He did so in spite of our lacking any qualifications in and of ourselves. Our only ‘qualifications’ as His elect are our foolishness, our weakness, our baseness, and the fact that we are despised of this world. The Lord has chosen us to be His instruments of salvation, not because we are worthy of such an honor, but for the very fact that we are so very unworthy of and so completely incapable and unbecoming of such a glorious calling. For what reason… “that no flesh should glory in His presence”.
The next verse here in Isaiah 51 makes even more clear this “foolish… weak… despised… things that are not” hopelessness of our unworthiness in and of ourselves:
Isa 51:18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.
Our “sons that [we] bring forth” who ‘cannot guide us’ are all our false doctrines (Mat 13:36-41). It is all our lying doctrines which offend our Lord
Mat 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
Mat 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world [1Co 3:13-15).
Mat 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity.
Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, is the father of the nation which typifies the Lord’s elect. What we are told of him serves very well to demonstrate the truth of 1st Corinthians 1:26-29… ‘God has chosen the foolish, weak, base, despised, and the things which are not’. So let’s compare what we are told about Jacob to what we are told about Esau and see if this is true.
Taking just what we know about Jacob and Esau, it is very clear that the Lord has purposely and with aforethought made the wise, the mighty, and those who are naturally admired of all men, to appear to be far better suited to rule this world than a scoundrel like Jacob, the type of those whom God had predestined to “prevail with God”, which is the meaning of the name, ‘Israel’:
Gen 32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
Jacob’s twin brother, Esau failed to “have respect unto the recompense of the reward” given him as the birth right of the firstborn (Heb 11:26). In a moment of hunger and weakness, Esau sold Jacob his birthright for a bowl of pottage. Typical of God’s elect before they are judged, Jacob took advantage of his brother in that moment of weakness. However, the worst was yet to come for Esau. Not only had Jacob connived a way to take away Esau’s birthright, he later also lied to his elderly, blind father and ended up stealing Esau’s blessing. Esau sought repentance with bitter tears, but it simply was not ordained to be given to him.
Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
We can all see and witness to what a conniving, lying thief Jacob was, and we cannot help but wonder what God saw in Jacob. Well, one thing is painfully clear, Jacob’s typical election certainly was not because Jacob was an honest, upright and righteous man who was just naturally a better person than His twin brother, Esau. No, not at all. Jacob was a lying, conniving thief who had done nothing magnanimous nor in any way righteous. He had lied and stolen and was completely unworthy of himself of typifying the Lord’s righteousness. That is until we are given to see that the Lord’s elect, were all, to begin with, ‘children of the prince of the power of the air’:
Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
In like manner, King Saul was replaced by David simply because King Saul feared the people more than he feared his God and he brought back from the battle the best of the cattle and Agag, the king of the Amalekites. That was the sin of the Lord’s typical rejected anointed. He was more of a man-pleaser than a God-pleaser.
King David, on the other hand, typifying the Lord’s accepted elect, took Bathsheba, the wife of one of his most loyal captains, a man named Uriah. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then, after failing to cover his sin by bringing Uriah home out of the battle to spend time with Bathsheba giving him cover for his sin (Uriah refused to spend time with his wife while his fellow soldiers were still in the battle), King David simply had Joab, his chief captain, deliberately let the Moabites slay Uriah. The Lord saw it all happen, and as a matter of fact He made it all happen for His own reasons, as Isaiah makes so clear to all who are given to see and hear what is the mind of God concerning all sins:
Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
God knew King David before he was born (Psa 51:5), just as much as He knew Jacob and Esau before they were born. He had written the fate of all three of these men in His book before any of them were born, before any of them “had done any good or evil”.
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.
Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. (ASV)
So, the Lord made Jacob and King David, types of His elect, to be such dirty, rotten scoundrels for the specific purpose of letting us know that they typify us, and that it is really each of us who are “the chief of sinners”:
1Ti 1:15 Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief: [G4413]
1Ti 1:16 howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief [of sinners, G4413] might Jesus Christ show forth all his longsuffering, for an ensample of them that should thereafter believe on him unto eternal life. (ASV)
I ‘accidentally’ left my e-sword on the ASV module when copying 1st Timothy 1:15-16, and for the first time I realized that the word translated as ‘chief’ in verse 15 is repeated in verse 16.
Here is Strong’s definition of this Greek word:
G4413
πρῶτος
prōtos
pro'-Contracted superlative of G4253; foremost (in time, place, order or importance): - before, beginning, best, chief (-est), first (of all), former.
Here now are these two verses in the KJV:
1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. [G4413]
1Ti 1:16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first [G4413] Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
The Lord used Paul as a pattern of how He could make a man ‘breathing out slaughter against… the Lord’, into a man full of the love of God, and of love for all men.
None of the other apostles had ever “breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord”:
Act 9:1 And Saul [later renamed ‘Paul’ (Act 13:9)], yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
“Saul of Tarsus”, who later became ‘Paul the apostle’, is a type of the Lord’s accepted anointed in spite of himself, not because he was such a loving and compassionate and righteous man.
Act 13:9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,
“Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” before they were even born! That statement just naturally sounds so fundamentally unfair that Paul rhetorically poses the questions he knows we will all ask:
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
So much for mankind’s vaunted and fabled “free will”. “It is not of him that wills… but [it is all] of God” who either shows mercy or hardens “after the counsel of His own will… [in] all things”:
Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
All these very straightforward statements… “It is not of him that wills but of God that shows mercy… who works all things after the counsel of His own will”… are lost on eyes which the Lord had blinded and the ears which the Lord has stopped from hearing and understanding the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
Paul uses the very graphic example of the Pharaoh of the Exodus to drive home the total sovereignty of God in all things:
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Such a statement simply cannot be understood by our “natural… carnal minded… old man”. Knowing and understanding how his own natural mind worked, Paul again rhetorically poses the question he knows we will all ask:
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Paul’s answer reflects his knowledge of the scriptures which emphasize the total sovereignty of God from Genesis to Revelation:
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Rom 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Our old man, and the old man within every person who was ever born into this world, is first “fitted for destruction” and must begin to die before he can begin to be judged:
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die [aorist], but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Leading up to being dragged out of the harlot religious systems of this world, this is what the Lord has in store for our self-righteous, rebellious old man:
Isa 51:19 These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
Isa 51:20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
It is the kingdom of our old man which is being destroyed and made desolate. It is the Word of God which robs our old man of his Babylonian nourishment of lies and false doctrines, which nourish the kingdom of our rejected anointed old man.
King Saul’s kingdom was being ‘starved to death’ by the Truth. He knew David would one day be given the kingdom, and yet the knowledge of this Truth tormented him because he knew for that to happen he must give up his dominion over the kingdom, and He simply was not given to do that. It was not what the Lord had written in King Saul’s book. He, as the type of our own self-righteous ‘old man’ “lies at the head of all the streets”, ‘the streets’ signifying our walk and our way of life. But hearing The Truth and not being given to accept the Truth, as was the case with King Saul, the type of the Lord’s rejected anointed, we are all “as a wild bull in a net”, that ‘net’ being the Lord’s words regarding the pre-ordained doom of our old man.
1Co 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Here is the story of the struggle between our rejected, yet anointed old man, and our new man while coming out of Babylon. Like Jacob being hunted of his father-in-law, Laban, then fearing the revenge of his brother, Esau, it is a time of great struggle in our lives, all the while the Lord is “pleading our cause”.
1Sa 24:1 And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.
1Sa 24:2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
1Sa 24:3 And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
1Sa 24:4 And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily.
1Sa 24:5 And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.
1Sa 24:6 And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.
1Sa 24:7 So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.
1Sa 24:8 David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself.
1Sa 24:9 And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?
1Sa 24:10 Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD'S anointed.
1Sa 24:11 Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it.
1Sa 24:12 The LORD judge between me and thee, and the LORD avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
1Sa 24:13 As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
1Sa 24:14 After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
1Sa 24:15 The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.
1Sa 24:16 And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.
1Sa 24:17 And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.
1Sa 24:18 And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not.
1Sa 24:19 For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.
1Sa 24:20 And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.
1Sa 24:21 Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house.
1Sa 24:22 And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.
The Lord gives no quarter to our natural old man with his carnal, self-righteous lying doctrines of men. Yet the way of the new man is very narrow and hard and David must remind those in his charge of “the sum of Thy Word is Truth”, and He restrains himself from “touching the Lord’s anointed”. Quoting only part of the Lord’s word is itself a thought which ‘exalts itself against the knowledge of God’. This is the fate of every such thought which exalts itself above the knowledge of God:
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
It was the Lord Himself who avenged David of all the injustices King Saul inflicted upon him. King Saul was spiritually drunken on the power the Lord had given him, but like Esau, he simply was not ordained to be given to “Godly repentance not to be repented of”:
2Co 7:9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
2Co 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
2Co 7:11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Because of the Lord’s sovereign will, and for that reason only, we are told this about the kingdom of our old man:
Isa 51:21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
If by God’s own sovereign will we are given to be the foolish, the weak and the despised of this world, who are given the repentance denied Esau and King Saul, then these words are written to us in “this present time” (Rom 8:18):
Isa 51:22 Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:
Isa 51:23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
The Lord Himself pleads the cause of His firstfruit elect who are faithful to the end (Mat 10:22 and Rev 17:14). Every verb in Isaiah 51:22-23 is in the Qal stem, which is the equivalent of the Greek ‘aorist’ tense. In other words, the Lord is at this very moment in the process… “by little and by little” (Exo 23:30 and Deu 7:22), of taking the cup of His wrath out of our hand, and He is in the process of putting it ‘by little and by little’ into the hands of those who have troubled us and have ruled over us for so very long.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
All the promises of God in Christ are all yes and amen toward us to the glory of God:
2Co 1:18 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
2Co 1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
2Co 1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;
2Co 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
What “great and precious promises” are given to us! If we drink of the wine of His wrath in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), then, contrary to what anyone might say, the Truth is: “thou shalt no more drink it again.”
That is our study for today, and these are our verses for our next study:
Isa 52:1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
Isa 52:2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Isa 52:3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
Isa 52:4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Isa 52:5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.
Isa 52:6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.
Isa 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
Isa 52:8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.