#BibleLesson. Timeless Truths – Releasing God’s People - Isaiah 49:1-6

Listen to me, you islands;
    hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the Lord called me;
    from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.

² He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
    in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
    and concealed me in his quiver.

³ He said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
⁴ But I said, “I have labored in vain;

    I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
    and my reward is with my God.”

⁵ And now the Lord says—

    he who formed me in the womb to be his servant

to bring Jacob back to him

    and gather Israel to himself,

for I am^[a] honored in the eyes of the Lord

    and my God has been my strength—

⁶ he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
    to restore the tribes of Jacob
    and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah 49:1-6

In this passage, God says to Israel, “you can do great things. Don't name small. You can make a difference period.”

• Israel has settled with helping themselves. They could/should be impacting the world. 
• Israel is in exile, but God still calls them to greatness, as they were intended. This is a recommissioning.

It's not that Isaiah hadn't heard and preached God’s Word. The people had ignored it.

Vv 3-4.

Israel is to show the world and tell them what it could be. 

• God wants your words to have the same impact as His Word: sharp and penetrating.

Sometimes the world doesn't want to be in God's house because of what goes on there.

• Your swords (speech) are designed to set captives free, but too often they are used to “kill the wounded.”

Are the things your church cares about the same as that God cares about?

V 4. 

Are we investing in things God cares about things that really matter to him?

• We fight about agendas and have missed Our Calling.
• We must care about those going to hell.
• God cares most about people. 

 

V 6. 

God says worrying, then restoring “us” (the church) is too small a thing.

• Don't settle for using your sword for the wrong purpose. 
• Be a light outside God's house. 
• You cannot settle for what the world offers. 

God has called you to be a minister “out there.”

  

Thanks to Dr. Scott Peterson for the primary teachings in this post.

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