Sustaining Words for those in Darkness
Isaiah 50:4-11
Let’s turn to Isaiah 50. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Isaiah 50 is on page 611 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Isaiah is an Old Testament prophet, which means He was specially gifted by God to write truth directly from God. And Isaiah chapters 40 through 66 to bring encouragement to the people Israel during the time that they are slaves in Babylon, and we will see that specially in chapter 50.
This morning we are going to focus on Isaiah 50:4-11, because the first three verses go with the previous chapter. And when you study verses 4 through 11 you can see that God is not speaking to all of Israel – but to a smaller group within Israel.
You can see that in v.10 –
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant?
So these verses are written to Israelites enslaved in Babylon who fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servant. It’s written to those Israelites in Babylon who are believers.
But then look at what Isaiah says to these believers in the rest of the verse – start again at the beginning to get the flow --
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
So these verses are written to believers who are in the darkness.
Sometimes in the Bible the word “darkness” refers to sin. But here darkness refers to times of difficulty and trial, when we know what God has promised but He has not yet fulfilled His promise.
That’s what Israel was facing. Israel had been the envy of the nations, but now she was conquered and destroyed and taken to Babylon as slaves. But God had promised to restore her to Israel and rebuild her temple and ultimately work through her to bring salvation to all the ethnic groups of the earth. That’s what God had promised. But there she sat – slaves in Babylon.
So walking in darkness and having no light means walking in the darkness of trials -- knowing what God has promised but not yet experiencing the fulfillment of those promises.
And this is something every believer will experience. God promises that trusting Christ brings joy – but we have times when we are trusting Christ but the joy is not yet there. God promises to give us wisdom when we ask – but we have times when we face a decision, have asked for wisdom, but have not yet received it. God promises to provide the money we need – but we have times when we are looking for work and have not yet found work. God promises to deliver us from trials – but we have times when we are in the trial and the deliverance has not yet come.
Dust*n and K*llie Shram*k love Jesus Christ. And when He called them to move to a Muslim country to share the good news of Jesus Christ with Muslims and plant churches – they gladly obeyed. And soon they were overjoyed to discover that they were pregnant.
But K*llie went into labor very early, and since there were no medical facilities in their country, they were medevacked to a hospital in Turkey which was better equipped to deal with premature births. But tragically, after their son Owen was born, he lived only 20 minutes, and then died.
And this plunged them into a time of walking in darkness without any light. Here’s how Dust*n described it:
The pain was unlike anything we had ever experienced. We felt alone. A few nights after Owen died, my wife stayed up for hours scouring the Scriptures for hope and comfort. She finally fell asleep more discouraged than ever because she found none. Of course it was there, but when we are in the depths of pain we often can’t see it, let alone feel it. (Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, p.177).
Believers will have times when they walk in the darkness of trials. That’s what believing Israelites experienced as they were slaves in Babylon. And that’s what many of you are experiencing now.
So what does Isaiah tell believers who find themselves in darkness? First he tells them that when we are in darkness, the words of God’s Servant will sustain us. In vv.4-5 we read words spoken not by God the Father, and not by Isaiah, but by someone else – look at vv.4-5 --
4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.
Who is talking here? When you are studying the Bible you can usually find answers in the immediate context. And Isaiah tells us who is talking in v.10 – “who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant.” The one speaking in vv.4-9 is someone called “God’s servant.”
Who is God’s servant? All through Isaiah we have read about an amazing person who one day would be on the earth. In ch.7 we read that he would be born of a virgin – so he is a man. But in ch.9 we read that his name would be mighty God – so he is also God. In ch.11 we read that he will be born in the line of David, and will end up bringing peace to the whole world. In ch.42 we read that he is called the Servant of the Lord who will bring salvation to the nations, open the eyes of the blind, and free prisoners from their dungeons. In ch.49 we read that this Servant will not just bring Israel, but also people from every ethnic group, back to God. And in ch.53 we will read that this Servant will be punished by God the Father to pay for sin’s guilt, and then will be raised from the dead.
So who is this servant? It’s Jesus Christ, who has always existed from eternity past as God the Son, and who came to earth fully God and fully man 2,000 years ago. And here in v.4 Jesus Christ speaks to believing Israelites who are walking in the darkness of trials.
So with that in mind, read vv.4-5 again to see what Jesus says --
4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.
So Jesus Christ is completely obedient to God the Father, and God the Father has given Him words to say that will sustain those who are weary – those believers who walk in the darkness of trials.
So let’s look at what the Servant says to sustain us during trials. It’s shocking. Start with v.6 --
I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
Here Jesus tells believing Israelites that He is going to suffer. And notice how this is exactly what Jesus experienced 700 years later. Look at these two verses in Matthew:
Matthew 26:67 -- Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him.
Matthew 27:26 -- Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
Now you might think Jesus was a passive victim here – that these things were just being done to Him. But notice the language in v.6. “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard.” Just like Matthew tells us, at any moment Jesus could have called for legions of angels and been delivered. At every moment Jesus was giving Himself to this suffering.
And why would He do this? So that He could be punished for the guilt of our sin – so that whoever will repent of sin and bend the knee in submission to Jesus will be completely forgiven, clothed with His perfect goodness, changed, loved, and welcomed into the joy of knowing God forever.
That’s why Jesus would suffer. But here Jesus is describing His sufferings as an example of how we should suffer. We don’t suffer as payment for our sins; only Jesus could do that. But He tells of His sufferings as an example for us. So the first thing Jesus tells Israel is this: “When God ordains suffering, submit to Him.”
There’s nothing wrong with asking God to keep us from suffering, and to remove suffering from us. Paul prayed three times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed. But there are times when after we have prayed it’s clear that God ordains suffering for us – to draw us closer to Him, to display His glory, to give us even more joy in Him. And at those times Jesus calls us to follow His example and submit to the Father.
Then look at vv.7-9 --
7 But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
9 Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
The second truth the servant says to sustain us when we are in trials is this: “Keep trusting that God will help you and vindicate you.” When you go through trials it is easy to think that God has left you; that He is far from you. But that’s not the case. God is near to you – ready to help you with all the strength, comfort, and wisdom that you need during your trial. And God will ultimately vindicate you so you will not be disgraced. So keep trusting God. Set your face like flint to keep trusting God.
Those are the words the Servant, Jesus, speaks in order to sustain us during trials. But at this point the Holy Spirit gives Isaiah himself one more crucial truth for Israel – and for us: it’s what we must avoid during trials. Look at v.10 --
10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness [the darkness of trials] and has no light [sees no deliverance coming yet] trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
So in v.10 Isaiah repeats what Jesus, the Servant, has said to us – when we face trials, keep trusting the Lord and relying on God. But this next verse is very strange --
11 Behold all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.
Notice that last line: “you shall lie down in torment.” That shows that this kindling of a fire is not a good thing; it refers to ways to gain relief from the darkness of trials that are against God’s will.
See, when you are in the darkness of trials there are steps you can take that are in sync with God’s will. If you are looking for work, you can work hard to find a job; that’s God’s will. If you are sick, you can go to the doctor; that’s God’s will. If you are feeling empty, you can open God’s Word, put on the worship music, pray; that’s God’s will. If you face what seems hopeless, gather your home group and pray; that’s God will.
But Isaiah also knows that when we are in the darkness of trials – when all we see is trials and we can’t see any light of deliverance from God coming -- we can turn from God and try to create our own light. We can turn from trusting God and try to get relief in ways that go against His will – anything from stealing to get money, lying on a job application, escaping with porn or too much TV, or self-medicating with or eating or drinking too much. When we are in the darkness of trials we can turn from God and try to create our own light.
So here Isaiah tells us: don’t try to get relief in ways that are against God’s will. Instead, as Isaiah says in v.10 – trust in the name of the Lord and rely on God. Trust that He will help you. Trust that as you take the steps He lays out in His Word, He will deliver you in His perfect time.
Questions?
Here is what Dustin Shramek concluded after the death of his son Owen:
When we are in the pit of despair we must look around and see that only God can bring us out. There is no other hope. And what’s more is that God himself is committed to bringing us out.
Yes, the night is long and the weeping intense, but the morning is coming. And as we wait for the coming dawn, the return of the Son of God, we can know that we are not alone. Jesus himself endured the long night of weeping, and God promises to carry us even when we don’t feel his arms around us. (ibid., pp.189f)
Some of you do not know Christ and you are in the darkness of trials. Let Jesus sustain you with His Words. He suffered to pay for the guilt of all your sin – if you will turn to Him and receive Him into your life as your Savior, your Lord, and your heart-satisfying Treasure. If you will do that, you will be completely forgiven, Jesus Christ will sustain you, you will feel the Father helping you and being near to you, and in His good time He will vindicate and deliver you. So right now – receive Jesus Christ into your life.
Others of you have friends who do not know Christ and who are walking in the darkness of trials. Call them – ask them to meet you for coffee – and share this passage with them. Tell them about Jesus’ sufferings to pay for the guilt of sin. Tell them that if they will receive Him into their lives, then Jesus will sustain them in their time of darkness. Tell them about how God will help them, be near to them, and vindicate them.
And all the rest of us who are in the darkness of trials – don’t try to get relief in ways that are against God’s will. Trust that God will help you, trust that God is near. He will help you. He will vindicate you. And in at the perfect time He will deliver you.