QT 17/04/2025 Thu. Isaiah 49. Looking forward to the glorious future. 展望辉煌的未来.

QT 17/04/2025 Thu. Isaiah 49. Looking forward to the glorious future.
READ http://www.esvbible.org/isaiah49

With exile fading away, Isaiah 49 marks a new beginning. Babylon and the Persian king Cyrus are no longer mentioned. The question of whether God’s people would have a glorious future remained: the pagan gods were helpless, God’s people then were faithless—so how can their future look bright?

The mere release from exile did not change these captives into nation building people of high calibre, did it? How can God’s people then and now experience that glorious future?

Isaiah 49:6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (ESV)

We do well to look beyond ourselves, to see God’s plan for the moral and spiritual revival of His people, and the glorious plans for the whole world, all nations.

Isaiah 49:22–23 [22] Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
[23] Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.” (ESV)

This glorious future was envisioned by the prophet Isaiah as the collaboration between Israel and the nations. While Israel had always remained small in numbers since the time of Exodus, this shortfall in number would some day be filled up with sons and daughters from the nations. The LORD’s promises to Abraham of a multitude of descendants would come true one day.

The moral quality of the lives of God’s servant and Israel would point the world to the fact that the LORD is Holy and He is “the Holy One of Israel” (49:7). This was possible not because God had ignored their sins, not because they were merely sent back home by Cyrus, not because they had cured their illnesses of being blind, deaf or of their inclination to rebel rather than submit.

The LORD’s answer was this: the Servant, the ideal Israel, which Isaiah would continue to reveal in the coming chapters, would be the Person whom Israel could never herself become. The LORD would reveal mightily how He was going to achieve this glorious future (See upcoming devotions on 50:2; 51:9; 52:10; 53:1).

However, this Servant would act not in the military or harsh styles of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon or Cyrus of Persia even though these are without doubt powerful. Instead, this Servant would seem more like a tender plant, looked more like the weakling and seemingly a failure before the watching world.

By God’s providence of arranging this reading, tonight we commemorate this Servant’s greatest work for the same watching world—He will atone for the sins of all nations, all the world.

The Servant awaits your participation to ensure that his salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Would you join?

QT 17/04/2025 星期四 以赛亚书 49. 展望辉煌的未来.
阅读 http://m.bbintl.org/bible/ncv/isa/49

随着流亡的过去，以赛亚书第49章标志着一个新的开始。巴比伦和波斯王居鲁士不再被提及。问题依然存在：异教的神明束手无策，上帝的子民也没有稳固的信心，那他们的未来怎么会是光明的呢？

仅仅从流放中获释并不能将这些俘虏改变成建国的优秀人才，不是吗？当时和现在的上帝子民如何才能经历那荣耀的未来？

以赛亚书49:6 “你作我的仆人，使雅各众支派复兴，使以色列中得保全的归回，只是小事，我还要使你作列国的光，使我的救恩传到地极。”

我们应该超越自己，看到上帝为祂子民的道德和灵性复兴所制定的计划，以及为整个世界、所有国家所制定的荣耀计划。

以赛亚书 49:22-23主耶和华这样说：“看哪！我必向列国举手，我要向万民竖立我的旗帜；他们要把你的儿子都抱在怀中带来，把你的女儿都放在肩上背来。23 列国的君王要作你的养父，他们的王后必作你的保姆；他们必脸伏于地向你下拜，舐你脚上的尘土。那么，你就知道我是耶和华，那些仰望我的决不会羞愧。”

先知以赛亚将这一辉煌的未来设想为以色列与万国的合作。虽然自出埃及记以来，以色列人的数量一直很少，但有朝一日，来自列国的儿女将填补这一数量上的不足。耶和华向亚伯拉罕许诺的子孙万代终有一天会实现。

上帝的仆人和以色列人的道德品质将向世人昭示，耶和华是圣洁的，祂是 “以色列的圣者”（49:7）。这不是因为上帝忽视了他们的罪，不是因为他们只是被居鲁士送回了家，也不是因为他们治好了属灵瞎眼、耳聋的病，或者治好了叛逆而非顺服的倾向。

耶和华的回答是这样的：以赛亚在接下来的章节中将继续揭示的仆人，理想中的以色列，将是以色列自己永远无法成为的那个人。耶和华将大能地揭示祂将如何实现这个荣耀的未来（见接下来的灵修 50：2；51：9；52：10；53：1）。

然而，这位仆人不会像巴比伦的尼布甲尼撒或波斯的居鲁士那样，以军事或严酷的风格行事，尽管他们无疑是强大的。相反，这位仆人看起来更像一株柔弱的植物，更像一个弱者，在世人面前似乎是一个失败者。

借着上帝的安排，我们今日阅读的这篇经文，正是为了纪念这位仆人最伟大的作为——祂将为所有国家、全世界赎罪，使那些观看的世人得以看见。

仆人等待着你们的参与，以确保他的救赎可以到达地极。你愿意加入吗？