Isaiah 51, Part 3 - The arm of the Lord
Isaiah 51v9-11
12th October 2013
Again, we're continuing our study of Isaiah 51. Having prophesied about God's plans to help His people, Isaiah turns to prayer. When they were still slaves in Egypt, God had said to the Israelites "I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm" (Exodus 6v6). Isaiah now uses the same metaphor in his prayer:
Isaiah 51:9-10
Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations
of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?
Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea
so that the redeemed might cross over?
The Bible contains a great deal of anthropomorphism - describing God as if He were human. The idea of God having an arm may seem strange to us, but it's a metaphor for His strength and His willingness to intervene in human affairs.
I'm told "Rahab" means "noisy, proud, boisterous". It's a metaphorical name for Egypt, see Isaiah 30:7, which says "Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the do-nothing." Job 9:13, Job 26:12, Psalm 87:4 and Psalm 89:10 may also use "Rahab" to refer to Egypt.
Egypt was the moster that held the Israelites captive. In his prayer, Isaiah remembers that God set the Israelites free from slavery there. God dried up the [Red] sea, the waters of the great deep. God made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over. And God pierced that monster through; He destroyed the Egyptian army that was persuing the Israelites.
When things look bad, its good to remember that God is willing to perform wonders to save his people, and has done so in the past. And, in response to the promises of God (such as we've seen earlier in this chapter) we pray to Him to intervene again.
After his prayer, the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, promising that God was going to set His people free again. He prophesied:
Isaiah 51:11
The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their
heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
When the Jews were held in captivity in Babylon, they could see no way they could be delivered. They only had the stories of God delivering them in earlier times, and the promises of God given through men like Isaiah and Jeremiah that He would deliver them again. They held on to those promises and, seventy years after they were taken into captivity, God caused Cyrus, King of Persia, to issue a decree allowing them to return to the land of Israel (2 Chronicles 36v20-23). They couldn't have delivered themselves. They needed God to do it. And God did it!
The arm of the LORD doesn't only perform miracles. It doesn't only destroy foreign armies. Sometimes God works by simply persuading people to do the right thing. But, one way or another, God is always able to deliver His people. As Isaiah said in Isaiah 59:12 "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear". Sometimes God doesn't seem to respond as quickly as we might wish. But He always hears our prayers, He always does what is right, and He loves His people.
And it happened! The Jews returned to their land. They entered Jerusalem, rebuilt the temple, restored the walls of the city, and lived there until the time of Jesus Christ. And Jesus brings everlasting joy.
No situation on Earth, no human life, is beyond God's reach. God still sets people free. He still heals bodies, still restores relationships, still binds up broken hearts.
Are you held captive by anything or anyone? Don't give up. Remember God's mighty acts in the past, pray for His help, and receive His word. Jesus came to set the capitives free (Luke 4v18). God can deliver His people.