Expecting God – Isaiah 51
“Lord, the sky’s still blue, for my hope is in You, You’re my joy, You’re the dream that’s still alive … Like the wind at my back and the sun on my face; You are life You are grace You are blue skies.” The lyrics to this Point of Grace song connect with the theme of hope and expectancy in Isaiah, especially the familiar 40:28-31 .. “He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power … Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
Hope and expectancy is frequently connected with the “coastlands” or “islands” in these texts. One interpretation is that the islands refers to the Gentiles, and this is how the verse was carried over into the New Testament in Matthew 12:18-21 – “And in His name, the Gentiles will hope.” (See Isaiah 42:4 - “He will not be disheartened or crushed, until he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands wait expectantly for His law.”)
In a general sense, the use of “coastlands” or “islands” our texts refers to those who wait for the law and the justice of God to come to their rescue. This turns a common human use of law and justice on its head, for often people use these concepts to beat down others. But here the prophet uses the imagery of God’s arm as means of rescue to those whose hope is in His deliverance.
What ties together the justice, righteousness, and the law of God by the arm of God, and the expectancy of the people? The justice and righteousness of God is worked out in human relationships. God will “judge the peoples” based in part on their relationships with others. And the expectancy of those who hope in God is that the arm of God will be the salvation of God’s own, the comfort and joy, gladness and thanksgiving of God’s people, and the destruction of evil and the evildoer.
Consider these reflections on human relations by Abraham J. Heschel:
“Righteousness is not just a value; it is God’s part of human life, God’s stake in human history. Perhaps it is because the suffering of man is a blot upon God’s conscience; because it is in relations between man and man that God is at stake. … the infamy of a wicked act is infinitely greater than we are able to imagine… People act as they please, doing what is vile, abusing the weak, not realizing that they are fighting God, affronting the divine, or that the oppression of man is a humiliation of God. “He who oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, He who is kind to the needy honors Him. Proverbs 14:31, 17:5”
The greater masterpiece (of God’s work) is still in the process of being created … history. For accomplishing His grand design, God needs the help of man. Man is and has the instrument of God … Life is clay, and righteousness the mold in which God wants history to be shaped. But humans deform the shape. … The world is full of iniquity, injustice, and idolatry … but God needs mercy, righteousness; His needs cannot be satisfied in temples … but in history. It is within the realm of history that man is charged with God’s mission.
Justice is a transcendent demand … It is not only a relationship between man and man, it is an act involving God … Justice is His line, righteousness His plummet. It is not one of His ways, but in all His ways.”
Abraham J. Heschel, The Prophets, p. 198
51:4-5 Pay attention to Me, O my people; and give ear to Me, O My nation; For a law will go forth from Me, And I will set My justice for a light of the peoples; My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth. And My arms will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait for Me, And for My arm they will wait expectantly. Lift your eyes to the sky …”
The blue skies …
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