NOTES for Isa 41:13-20
The prophets of Israel speak much about the Messiah and the messianic Kingdom. Isaiah of Babylon was no exception: in his writings the Messiah and the Kingdom appear with a clarity found nowhere else in the Old Testament. Yet he also uses entirely traditional imagery, rooted in the pre-exilic period and connected with traditional ideas about the messianic Kingdom. One such image was the desert transformed by God's breath and blossoming under its influence.
This is how Isaiah sees the Kingdom (verses 17–20). It is open to all who seek living water in the desert of the fallen world (verse 17). Yet this Kingdom becomes a reality only within the history of God's people, as that history's natural and logical fulfilment (verses 13–16). Here is the answer to the question the prophet repeatedly asked himself and God: what are God's people? What is the meaning of their history? Is it like the history of any other people? If not, how does it differ?
The answer came from God: God's people are not like others. But not in the sense of some special historical destiny. What distinguishes God's people, their uniqueness, is not within history but above it. God's people are to receive the promised Messiah and lay the foundation of the Kingdom. This is both their principal task as God's people and the distinctive character of their historical path.
This distinctive character does not lie in some unique historical task God assigns to His people. It lies beyond history, where God's eternity touches history and enters it. To become the place where God enters history and meets humanity: this is the Jewish people's principal task. In the process of fulfilling it, they become God's people. For its sake they receive from God a new, a second historical life: their history cannot end until this principal task has been accomplished. It can be fully accomplished only on the day of the Messiah's coming and the Kingdom's manifestation.
From the beginning, God intended the world to be His Kingdom. It must become that Kingdom again: its Creator will accept nothing less. And the Messiah and God's people are to be His helpers in accomplishing this task. Then there will be hope for the future and meaning in history, both for the Jewish people and for all humanity. And, most importantly, for every individual—at least for the person seeking the Kingdom.