Isaiah’s Prophecy of the Apostle Paul

[daywalker]

I had barely started reading Galatians in my Rotherham's Emphasized Bible earlier tonight, when the following verse caught my attention...

Galatians 1:15 But, when God, who set me [Paul] apart from my mother's womb and called me through his favour, was well-pleased

...and I noticed in the reference that the editor made a connection between this verse and Isaiah 49:1, so I decided to read it... My oh my, what a marvelous chapter!!! I enjoyed it so much, I decided to post it here! [Originally, I was going to add witness verses in between certain verses which came to my mind as I read it, and I was also going to highlight parts that jumped out at me, but then I thought it'd be better to just read it as is... feel free to post other scriptures if you'd like]

I broke it up according to how it appears in my bible because I love the way it reads:


Isaiah 49:1 Hearken, ye Coastlands, unto me,
And give ear ye peoples afar off,—

Yahweh, called me, from my birth,
From my nativity, made he mention of
my name;
2 And he made my mouth, like a sharp
sword,
In the shadow of his hand, he concealed
me,—
And made of me a polished arrow,
In his quiver, he hid me;
3 And said to me
My Servant, thou art,—
Israel, in whom I will get myself
glory.
4 But I, said,
To no purpose, have I toiled,
For waste and mist—my vigour, have I
spent,—
Surely, my vindication, is, with,
Yahweh,
And, my recompence, with my God.

5 Now, therefore, said Yahweh—
Fashioning me from birth
To be Servant to him,
To restore Jacob unto him,
And that, Israel, unto him, might
be gathered
And I be honourable in the eyes
of Yahweh,
And, my God, be proved to have
been my strength,

6 Yea he said—
It is too small a thing, for being my
Servant,
That thou shouldest raise up the tribes of
Jacob,
And the preserved of Israel, shouldst
restore,—
So I will give thee to become a light of
nations,
That, my salvation, may reach as far as
the end of the earth.

7 Thus, saith Yahweh—the Redeemer of Israel,
his Holy One
To him that is despised of the soul,
To the abhorred of the nation
To the servant of rulers,
Kings, shall see and arise,
Princes, lo! they have bowed themselves
down,—
Because of Yahweh, who is faithful,
The Holy One of Israel, lo! he hath chosen
thee.

8 Thus, saith Yahweh—
In a time of acceptance, have I answered
thee,
In a day of salvation, have I helped thee,—
That I may preserve thee
And give thee as the covenant of a
people,
To establish the land,
To bring into possession the desolate
heritages;
9 Saying To them who are hound
Go forth,
To them who are in darkness,
Shew yourselves,—
By the roads, shall they graze,
And on all bare places, shall be
their pasture:
10 They shall neither hunger, nor thirst,
Nor shall smite them the glowing sand,
or the glaring sun,—
For, he that hath compassion upon
them, will lead them,
And unto springs of water, will he
conduct them.

11 Then will I make of all my mountains, a
road,
And my highways, shall be upraised.

12 Lo! these, from afar, shall come in,—
And lo! these, from the North and from
the West,
And these, from the land of Sinim.

13 Shout in triumph—O heavens!
And exult—O earth!
And break forth, ye mountains, into shouts
of triumph,—
For Yahweh hath comforted his people,
And on his humbled ones, taketh he
compassion.

14 But Zion had said.
Yahweh hath forsaken me,—
Even, My Lord, hath forgotten me!
15 Can, a woman, forget, her sucking child,
Past taking compassion on the son of her
womb?
Even these, may forget,
Yet will, I, not forget, thee:
16 Lo! on the palms of my hands, have I
portrayed thee,—
Thy walls are before me continually.
17 In haste are thy sons,—
They who have been tearing thee down and
laying thee waste, out of thee, let them
go forth!

18 Lift up, round about, thine eyes and see,
All those, have gathered themselves together
—have come to thee!
As I live, Declareth Yahweh,—
Surely all those as an ornament, shalt
thou put on,
And bind them about thee for a girdle as a
bride.

19 Surely, as for thy wastes, and thy desolations,
and thy land of ruins,
Surely, now, shalt thou be too strait for
thine inhabitants,
And, far off, shall be they who have been
swallowing thee up.
20 The children of whom thou wast bereaved
shall yet say in thine ears,—
Too strait for me, is the place
Make room for me that I may settle down.

21 Then shalt thou say in thy heart,—
Who hath borne me, these,
Seeing, I, have been bereaved and
unfruitful, a captive and banished?
These, therefore, who hath brought them
up?
Lo! I, was left, alone,
These, where were they?

22 Thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh—
Lo! I will lift up, unto nations my
hand,
Yea unto peoples, will I raise high my
banner,—
And they shall bring in thy sons in their
bosom,
And, thy daughters, on the shoulder shall
be borne;
23 And, kings, shall be, thy foster-fathers.
And their queens, thy nursing mothers,
With face to the ground, shall they bow
down to thee,
The dust of thy feet, shall they lick,—
So shalt thou know that, I, am Yahweh,
In that, they shall not be put to shame,
Who were waiting for me.

24 Shall prey, be taken from a mighty one?
Or the captive of one in the right, be
delivered?

25 Surely, thus, saith Yahweh—
Even the captive of the mighty one, shall
be taken away,
And the prey of the tyrant, be delivered;
And thine opposers, I, will oppose,
And thy children, I, will save;
26 Then will I feed thy tormentors with their
own flesh,
And as with new wine—with their own
blood, shall they be drunk,—
So shall all flesh, know, that, I—Yahweh,
am thy Saviour,
And, thy Redeemer, is the Mighty One of
Jacob.


Clearly, parts of this chapter make reference to Jesus Christ; yet don't forget that the Apostle John testified that "as HE is, so are WE in this world". [I John 4:17]


May God Guide Thee,

Christopher.

[DanDoolan]

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing. Dan

[HoneyLamb56]

 :)Daywalker:  I had read Isaiah Ch. 49 this past week.  There are no coincidences; I had not purposely been seeking this passage out but came upon it while researching something else.  Obviously there is something in my heart that I need to look at this scripture again especially in view of what the Apostle Paul stated. 
Thanks for the post.

[Deborah-Leigh]

Hi Christopher

Just a few thoughts.

Who DOES the Will of God? No one,  except Christ.

Who IS the Will of God? Everyone including Christ!

Looking  at the term Christ and Messiah as God is a Title so too is Christ is it not? There are brethren of Christ who is the Son of the Father that is God. We shall be in the family of God through non other than CHRIST.

The term Messiah appears twice in the OT. The expected Messiah is Jesus unveiled in the NT as Christ.

Christ will return on Judgment Day yet He is already present to those who are in Judgment on the House of God now. He is already present keeping those in the bond of peace to whom HE inspires and causes,  to keep the Unity with His Spirit.

Christ an epithet, description or label of Jesus. As He is so too are His Children not so?

I found out the Strong's meanings attributed to Christ and was touched to see stated in description of the word  H4899 Messiah, anointed from a primitive root also to paint.  I see this after posting in the testimonies board that we are to be painting polishing and repairing one another here in the Forum!

Arc

[Akira329]

That was Great Chris!!
I'm sure Paul read that at one time and thought to himself.....hmmmmm.......thats me!!
Love it!!

Antaiwan