May 27, 2024: Isaiah 49:1 - Listen to What God's True Prophets have Written of Him

“Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; the LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.” - Isaiah 49:1

When we read God’s word, we need to read it several times, many times, to fully understand the meaning of it, and I believe this is especially true for prophecy, things which are foretold to happen before they happen. The Bible is the only book ever written that prophecies events before they happen, sometimes even hundreds of years in advance, and those prophesied events DO happen, fulfilling God’s word to us. This is only possible when the book is written not by mere men, created beings, but by God Himself, the Almighty Creator. This prophesying of events before they happen is true throughout the Bible, including in the book of Isaiah, which is said to be a miniature Bible and even has 66 chapters as the Bible has 66 books.

The first time I read the book of Isaiah was early on when I was seeking to know the truth and wanted to know how Christianity could possibly be the only way to salvation from sins, to eternal life with God in heaven. I estimate that first reading was about twenty years ago. I wasn’t saved, but I was seeking. Fast-forward to the time when I turned to Jesus Christ and believed in Him as my Savior, I was born again, and I hungered to learn more about Bible prophecy. I read the books of Ezekiel, Revelation, and other prophetic books many times, but I did not read much from the book of Isaiah. About 1-1/2 years ago, I did a brief study on the book of Isaiah and when I did, it was like God was opening my eyes for the first time to His word. I read things in there that I had not remembered reading the first time. I could see Jesus throughout so many Scriptures in Isaiah; so much of this book points to Jesus! I realized then that it is all connected, the New Testament to the Old Testament! Only Almighty God could write the Bible in such a fashion.

Take for example the Scriptures in the book of Luke below. After having returned from fasting in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights during which He was tempted of the devil three times, Jesus Himself read from the prophet Isaiah in the Jewish synagogues:

“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame [news] of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised [oppressed], to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

“And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:14-21)

The Scriptures that Jesus read from are from Isaiah 49:8-9 and Isaiah 61:1-2:

“Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish [restore] the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.” (Isaiah 49:8-9)

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek [poor]; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn…” (Isaiah 61:1-2)

God Himself chosen certain men that He called to be His prophets, and He had them proclaim and write His words to His people, Israel, so that they would know that their Messiah - Jesus Christ - was coming and to be ready for Him. God is also speaking to ALL people in the world because He knew in advance that His people would reject Jesus as their Messiah, and when they did, He would then turn His attention to the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nations, giving them the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ for such a time until God determines that He will turn His attention back to the Jews. I believe we are drawing oh so near to that time.

One of the men God called as a prophet was a man named Isaiah. Isaiah wrote, through the Holy Spirit of God, during approximately 739 - 681 BC, about the coming of Jesus long before Jesus first came to earth. Returning to today’s Scripture verse in Isaiah 49:1, while it is from the perspective of Isaiah, I do not think this is Isaiah that this verse is speaking of, but a foreshadowing, a prophecy, of Jesus. I say this because the things that are written about in this chapter are of someone that were not fulfilled by Isaiah but could only be fulfilled by Jesus. This will be evident as we make our way through the 26 verses in Isaiah 49. Let us read Isaiah 49:1 again:

“Listen, O isles [coastlands], unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels [inward parts] of my mother hath he made mention of my name.” (Isaiah 49:1)

The first several times I read this verse I missed this, but the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that in this Scripture verse, Jesus, the coming Messiah, was not speaking to the Jews but to the Gentile nations when He refers to them as “isles” and “ye people, from far.” Contrast this with how God addressed His people the Jews in Isaiah 46:3:

“Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne [upheld] by me from the belly [birth], which are carried from the womb: and even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar [gray] hairs will I carry you: II have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” (Isaiah 46:3-4)

God refers to His people in this manner throughout the book of Isaiah and also in the books of Genesis, Leviticus, 1 Kings, Ezra, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Micah, Hosea, Psalms, Amos, Ezekiel, Luke, and Acts.

God established His reference to the Gentile nations as “isles” early on in the Bible, in the book of Genesis after He sent the great flood that destroyed all but eight people - Noah, his wife, their three sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) and their three wives:

“Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles [coastland peoples] of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue [according to his language], after their families, in their nations.” (Genesis 10:5)

Earlier in the book of Isaiah in chapter 9, there is a prophecy of Jesus and that He would come from the Jews, for it is of the Jewish line of David from which Messiah would come:

“Nevertheless the dimness [gloom] shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations [Gentiles]. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isaiah 9:1-2)

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. The Lord sent a word into [against] Jacob, and it hath lighted [fallen] upon Israel.” (Isaiah 9:6-8)

Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures above, and this fulfillment is documented in the book of Matthew. As in the Scriptures I included earlier from Luke 4:14-21, this happened sometime after the devil tempted Jesus three times in the wilderness. Out of all the places in Israel, through the prophet Isaiah, God specifically named the town of Galilee, a land where Jews and Gentiles lived, and that a great light - Jesus - would shine upon it:

“Now when Jesus had heard that John [John the baptist] was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophets saying, The land of Zebulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand [near].” (Matthew 4:12-17)

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils [demons], and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.” (Matthew 4:23-25)

Jesus performed His first miracle in Galilee:

“And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: and both Jesus was called [invited], and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted [ran out of] wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear [take it] unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse [inferior]: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth [revealed] his glory; and his disciples believed on him.” (John 2:1-11)

In God’s word, the Bible, it is clear that Jesus wanted not just the Jews but for everyone to know that He was coming the first time He came to earth, and that is evident in today’s Scripture verse in Isaiah 49:1, just as He wants everyone to know now that He WILL come again.

Let us examine Isaiah 49:1 at a deeper level. Again, I had read this verse several times and at first, I thought the words were referring to the prophet Isaiah. However, unlike with the prophet Jeremiah when God specifically had him write that God had called Jeremiah from his mother’s womb, that is not what we have here in this verse. This is why it is critical that we not only read God’s word for ourselves but we study it, with the Holy Spirit leading us. We must not read it by scanning just a few verses from a chapter and choosing those which we find comfort in at that moment, which I admit I used to do, but we must read the entire chapter and the entire book to learn its deeper meanings. As with any book written by mere men and women, you cannot understand the big picture until you have read the entire book. The same is true with God’s word, the Bible.

With my prior devotional message in Isaiah 46:12-13, the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that I must stop relying on commentaries to help me understand God’s word and let the Holy Spirit alone lead me. Commentaries are written by human beings and it is their understanding, which may include bias or false interpretations. It is likely that many commentary authors may have no evil intent in what they write, but some may in order to deceive. It may also be that at the time the commentary was written, some prophetic events in the Bible may have not happened and as we see certain Bible prophecies being fulfilled, it sheds more light on other prophetic events and provides a better understanding. Further, I must admit that when I was relying on commentaries rather than the Bible itself to interpret God’s word, it was like I was reading “fast food,” and I did not need to take the time to really get into God’s word for myself and study it at a much deeper level to see how the Scriptures in the New Testament connect to the Old Testament and how Scriptures within the testaments connect to each other. Hence, when I have taken this time to go deeper, studying God’s word for myself and letting the Holy Spirit interpret it for me, it is taking me much longer to write these devotionals but it doesn’t matter. The point of writing these is not to get a lot of devotionals written quickly but to KNOW God’s word and to KNOW the truth.

Returning to today’s Scripture verse, I say all of this with the point being: I think Isaiah 9:1 is a prophecy that Jesus would be born of a woman and God would speak His name, the name of JESUS. This was not revealed to me by any human commentary but by the Holy Spirit of God. This may not be the first time you have read this and you already knew that, but I did not know that until I was writing this devotional. I cannot tell you how humbled I am by the Holy Spirit of God and how thankful I am to Him for revealing this to me. It was indeed confirmation to me that I must continue to rely on Him alone to understand God’s word. I am reminded of what Jesus said to Peter:

“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:13-17)

Let us consider more about this prophecy of Jesus’ birth in Isaiah 9:1. Before the virgin Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph, would be married to him and have sexual intercourse with him, the angel Gabriel appeared before her and told her that she would conceive a Child in her womb, a Son, and His name shall be called JESUS:

“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused [betrothed] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail [rejoice], thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast [considered] in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest [Most High]: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man [I am a virgin]? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing [one] which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:26-35)

Joseph, who was not there with Mary when she was told by the angel Gabriel what would happen to her, found out that Mary was pregnant. Joseph knew it was not his child because they had not yet had come together. After hearing this, Joseph “being a just [upright] man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily [secretly]. (Matthew 1:19) Next, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and in that dream God told Joseph that Mary had conceived a Child by the Holy Spirit and the Child would be a Son whose name was to be JESUS:

“But while he thought on those things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21)

Next in Matthew we are told that this would happen so that the prophecy in Isaiah - Isaiah 7:14 - about Messiah’s coming would be fulfilled, and it was. I have included both the prophecy from Isaiah and the fulfillment of it as recorded in Matthew:

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: and knew her not [kept her a virgin] till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.” (Matthew 1:22-25)

This prophecy of Jesus in Isaiah chapter 49 sets the tone, establishing the focus of what this chapter is all about, and that is Jesus. As we will see in the second half of this chapter, it is also about the fact that Jesus will redeem Israel and that He has not forgotten them. Throughout this chapter, we will read many prophecies of Jesus, some of which have been fulfilled, and some are to be fulfilled at some point in the future. Let me ask you this: What are the odds that the prophets could get all of this right? The odds are too high to even imagine, seemingly impossible, but let us consider what the angel Gabriel told Mary after he not only told Mary that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit a Son in her womb but also that her cousin Elisabeth in her old age had conceived a son who would be known as John the baptist:

“And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:36-37)

In closing, I ask you this: In your mind, in your belief in Him, is there anything impossible for God? Do you believe what the true prophets of God have written? Do you believe that Jesus not only came to earth the first time, when He offered salvation from sins, but will come again, but this time as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and will bring judgment upon the wicked who choose to remain in sin and reject salvation? Are you listening to what the true prophets of God have written of Him? ✝️