Thus says the Lord:
“Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce,
    with which I sent her away?
Or which of my creditors is it
    to whom I have sold you?
Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
    and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 Why, when I came, was there no man;
    why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
    Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,
    I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water
    and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the heavens with blackness
    and make sackcloth their covering.”

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.
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.

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.

10 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.
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. (Isaiah 50 ESV)

In this passage we see the faithful son contrasted with the harlot mother, she who would not walk in the ways of her God. But notice that the Mother becomes the child in the second half of verse one. This is because the child and the Mother are the same before the manifestation of the sons of God. Now is the time when we either qualify or not to become a son. “Today if you hear God’s voice….” Cry out that you may have ears to hear and eyes to see! Cry out that you will in fact hear God’s voice instead of the voice of the world and the prince of the power of the air who calls you to sin and disobedience.

Almost the entire Word of God concerns this aspect of our salvation. Most of the Bible assumes that you already believe in God, that you have already “accepted Jesus Christ as your LORD and Savior.” The vast majority of Scripture teaches us what to do after we do believe, and this is exactly what most believers fail to understand. Thus the majority of true believers will be found in the woman and not in her child. But, God has a glorious plan for her as well!

Notice again in this passage how God compares the sons of God to Jesus himself. Clearly Jesus the Christ fulfilled prophecies contained in this chapter. The Father did awaken Jesus morning by morning to teach him and speak to him and Jesus did not rebel against that word. And Jesus did in fact give his back to those who struck him and his cheeks to those who pulled out his beard. Yet, God calls his sons today to do the very same things. (He woke me up this morning, for example, to give me this teaching) So, here again we see the doctrine of Immanuel includes both Jesus and the sons of God yet to be revealed.

The great challenge for us now is to set our faces like flint to walk in all that God has revealed to us. Deception lurks around every corner and behind every tree. The facades of society fall down before our very eyes, yet the revelation of their manifold conspiracies always brings some new mystery, some secret thing which would tear our faith from God and his revealed Word should we relax our guard.

“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.”

Amen.