The Righteous Remnant Must Never Be Discouraged

Isaiah is a book of warning, judgments, dark imagery, and everlasting hope. The people of Israel have been harassed for years by Assyria and they know their doom will come one day at the hands of Babylon. It's a dark time in Israel's history. 

I've always had a question about the people of God during those dark times: Were they all utterly corrupt? The truth is, NO, they were not. In a time of overwhelming national sin, there were still people who sought Him diligently. And in Isaiah 51, Isaiah has a message for them. 

Isaiah 51:1–2 (ESV) “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. 2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.

You can imagine the need for this word of hope among those few people who pursued righteousness. They were vastly outnumbered and they watched as the majority of their citizens ran down the cliff of disobedience. How would they survive? And if God's just judgment arrived, what would become of them? Was this the end of the nation as they knew it? 

No. There was still hope. All they had to was look back at their founding. God took a man named Abram out of idol worship from Ur of the Chaldeans and made his progeny into a great nation that once stood high above the rest of the nations of the Earth. God did it once, He can do it again. 

Those who seek after God always have hope no matter how many refuse or reject Him. No matter the depth of idolatry in a nation, there's a remnant that God can strengthen and rebuild. Now Isaiah also stipulates, the new beginnings God promises will end in enthusiastic joy!

Isaiah 51:3 (ESV) For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

I love the theme of joy and gladness. That is the future of God's people in every generation. Even if we suffer and die for our faith, celebration awaits us in heaven. Thus, Isaiah promises that even as the Earth is doomed to fade, salvation awaits those who trust in Him. 

Isaiah 51:6 (ESV) Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

Then Isaiah directly encourages the faithful not to fear those who reject the Lord. 

Isaiah 51:7–8 (ESV) “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. 8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool, but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.”

You may be mocked, but their mocking will not last. Their glory will fade and shame will grip their future. 

Consider who we study on Sundays today. We study those men who stood for faith in a time of apostasy. Elijah and Elisha, Peter and James and John. We study the lives of Ruth and Mary and others who put their hope in God while they were greatly outnumbered by those who denied them. We may weep for a season, but a song of joy is coming.

Isaiah 51:11 (ESV) And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.