Outline of Isaiah chapters 49, 50, 51
—Poems of Hope
This page provides an outline of Isaiah chapters 49, 50, and 51. The complete outline of Isaiah is spread over several lessons.
1 Context Overview
Chapters forty to fifty-one of Isaiah deliver a series of messages to Judah and the remnant of Israel. Isaiah looks into the next two centuries. He sees beyond the Babylonian captivity to the fall of Babylon, and even predicts that Cyrus king of Persia will return the captives to Jerusalem to rebuild it. Chapters 49 to 51 contain especially strong messages of encouragement and hope.
2 Hope on the Horizon
Throughout Isaiah there are intense messages of hope amid all the tribulations and failures. In these encouragements, Isaiah looks beyond his time to the coming of the Christ, and even beyond that to the second coming and the eternal kingdom. Chapters 49 to 51 are typical of such messages.
Isaiah's poetry is very powerful. To our ears it may sound repetitive and overly laden with symbolic imagery. However, if we can escape our own cultural mindset for a while, and let ourselves be transported to Isaiah time and vision, we will find great beauty and hope in his poems, and in them we will find not dead history, but a glorious future in which we ourselves participate. The Babylonian captivity is a type or foreshadowing of bondage in sin. The fall of Babylon is a type of the destruction of Satan’s kingdom of darkness. Isaiah's poems look beyond the shadow. They forsee both type and antitype.
Isaiah 49 to 51
- Christ for the world.
- 1. Christ speaks to the nations (Isaiah 49:1-6).
- 2. God speaks to Christ (Isaiah 49:7-8).
- 3. God speaks to Zion and all nations (Isaiah 49:8-26).
- God ’s love for sinners.
- 1. I have not divorced you. You left me (Isaiah 50:1-3).
- 2. Christ obediently endures humiliation. God vindicates him (Isaiah 50:4-9),
- 3. Fear God and trust him in dark times (Isaiah 50:10-11).
- Awake and listen to Me! —1st triad.
- 1. Look to the Rock (Isaiah 51:1-3).
- 2. Look to the skies (Isaiah 51:4-6).
- 3. Do not fear (Isaiah 51:7-8).
- Awake and listen to Me! —2nd triad.
- 1. Freedom from bondage through a powerful God (Isaiah 51:9-16).
- 2. You will drink fully from the cup of wrath (Isaiah 51:17-20).
- 3. Then your tormentors will drink from it in turn (Isaiah 51:21-23).