1. Celebrating the Servant-Savior
The Gospel of Isaiah
Jason S. DeRouchie, PhD
Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology
Bethlehem College & Seminary
Elder, Bethlehem Baptist Church
Fall 2018

2. Reading Isaiah 54 in Context
The significance of the links between Isaiah 54 and 52:13–53:12:
The “many” in Isa 52:14–15; 53:11–12 with 54:1 are the miracle family of 54:1.
In 53:11 the “righteous” Servant King makes many “righteous,” and in 54:14 the redeemed city is established in “righteousness” (cf. Jer 23:6; 33:16).
The “Servant” singular in Isa 52:13 and 53:11 gives rise to “servants” plural in 54:17 and beyond.
The Servant’s “offspring” in 53:11 are Sarah’s “offspring” in 54:3 who have been expanded by inheriting nations.

3. The Servant’s work and new covenant invitation:
Isa 45:22–25. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.” 24 Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. 25 In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.

4. Isa 49:3, 6. And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified…. 6 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.”
Isa 53:10–11. He shall see his offspring…. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 54:2–3. Enlarge the place of your tent…. 3 For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people desolate cities.

5. A Plea to Not Fear Disgrace (54:4–10)
A Proper Response to Promises of Descendants, Dwelling, and No Disgrace (54:1–10) cont.
A Plea to Not Fear Disgrace (54:4–10)
The Plea to Not Fear Further Disgrace (54:4a– d)
Shame comes to sinners, not to those who trust God.
Ps 25:2–3. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. 3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

6. Jerusalem’s sins of trusting others rather than God and of idolatry would lead to shame by exile.
Isa 30:1–3, 5. “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; 2 who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation…. 5 Everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace.”

7. Isa 42:15–17. I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools. 16 And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. 17 They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”
Now, God was promising a reversal!

8. The Reason to Not Fear (54:4e–5)
No remembrance of past shame (54:4ef).
The old
Isa 1:4.  Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.

9. The Reason to Not Fear (54:4e–5)
No remembrance of past shame (54:4ef).
The old
The new
1 Cor 6:9–11. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
2 Cor 5:17. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.