Isa. 53 has been called: “the summit of OT prophecy”; “the crown jewel of the Hebrew Scriptures”; ‘the most important chapter in the entire OT, if not the entire Bible’. Polycarp called Isa. 53, ‘The Holy of Holies in OT prophecy’; Spurgeon called it, “The Bible in miniature”. – D.L. Moody called it, ‘My creed’, his entire confession of faith.
Isaiah 49
Isaiah has been called the Romans of the OT. – None of the other 65 OT books comes close to the grandeur and gospel vision of Isaiah 40ff. – Compared to Isaiah, nowhere else in the OT will you get a clearer picture or more gorgeous panorama of God’s great salvation plan.
WHY would Israel have to spend 70 bitter years in exile? – Because they had failed God in two ways: they were a disobedient son & and unfaithful servant of their Lord.
HOW then would God comfort & save them?…
Through another Son and another Servant, in the line of David. This coming Son & Servant would succeed where Israel failed. – He would be the Son & the Servant that Israel was supposed to be, everything that they were NOT. In this final Jewish Seed & Servant of the LORD, God’s original purpose for Abraham’s offspring would be fulfilled: “all the families of the earth” would finally be blessed.
Wherever God’s people have met, in whatever time and place and culture, under whatever circumstances, there are certain things they’ve always done. – Whether the early Christians met in the courts of the Jewish Temple, or in the home of a Lydia in Philippi, or underground in the catacombs of Rome while fleeing persecution – wherever Christians have met, they have always shared in certain activities: the reading and teaching of Scripture; prayer; giving; the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (as we’ve just enjoyed); and [one other thing]…