Isaiah 50:7, commentary and pictures

Because the Lord God will help, the one who trusts Him will not be confused or put to shame but knows with certainty that shame will not come. To set the face like flint is to fix the purpose with settled, brave, firm and unflinching resolve that rests on that promised help. This is the word of Jesus in His dependence on His Heavenly Father in temptation and suffering, resting on His Father's wisdom and strength and holding out His own trust as the pattern for all who fear the Lord yet walk in darkness to trust in His name and stay upon God. That confidence drives out fear of confusion, dismay and shame, and gives courage, strength, fortitude and steadfastness to stand firm, with God working day by day in the believer by His presence, wisdom, saving love and the indwelling power of Christ and the Holy Spirit. It therefore calls for a direct, resolute course through opposition without yielding to doubt, unbelief, despondency, false counsel, falsehood or flattery, standing stiffly and unyieldingly for truth and pressing on in the appointed work of soul-saving and holy living even when appearances are against it.

Language and Context

The declaration rests on promised help: because the Lord God will help, the speaker will not be confounded and knows he will not be ashamed. That confidence removes fear of dismay, confusion and shame and gives courage, strength, fortitude and steadfastness to remain firm and resolute even when pressure mounts and circumstances appear discouraging. It is a word for one in darkness and distress, urging heed to God's word and trust in Him, with its assurance repeated to encourage action on that counsel. The confidence is joined to looking to Jesus as the one who begins and completes faith, and to trusting God who is strength, fortitude and courage to His people.

To set the face like a flint, once rendered like steel, is settled, brave, firm, unyielding and unflinching resolve rooted in that divine help. It is standing firm with brave, unyielding resolve in God's service, refusing to let courage fail or to speak unbelief. It is a watchword to hold against unbelief when appearances are against the worker and lack of means brings pressure in a world of iniquity, declaring instead firm confidence that God hears and answers petitions for help so that confusion and shame will not follow. That same firm, unflinching resolve enables telling individuals of their secret wrongs with no human intimation or information but only divine revelation.

The verse belongs to Isaiah 48, 49, 50, 51 and 52, which show the work to be done now and are to be studied carefully with prayer for willingness to do God's bidding. It belongs also to Isaiah 50 to 58, which carry the Lord's reproof for disregard of great light, for accepting only the word men choose, for lack of thorough consecration to God, and for neglected duty to warn the people what is truth. Those chapters are for leaders in the cause and those connected with institutions to study. Isaiah 50 to 56 contain precious instruction and assurances and the principles underlying the teachings of the Word, to be impressed upon mind and heart as the highest instruction for students of every age and every line of work. That instruction strengthens spiritual eyesight and makes faith in the Word of God and in the words and teachings of Christ which are the words and teachings of Jehovah firm at a time when every conceivable thing is brought in to confuse the people of God.

Isaiah 50, read with Isaiah 35, holds promising words of inspiration given for the encouragement of the churches to be claimed in times of emergency. It is to be read when disappointed by spiritual lack seen in churches and in individuals, when meeting those not willing to be helped and strengthened, and when finding halting and disaffection among believers, to keep faith strong in God who has proved true in the past. The Lord God's help that keeps His servant from confusion and shame and produces unshakable determination to stand firm is a promise for such emergency, disappointment, unwillingness to be helped, halting, disaffection, and a strong spirit of unbelief spread by evil angels working in human form to oppose the Spirit of God. In those conditions faith remains strong in God already proved true, discouragement is refused, opponents' words are never repeated to strengthen evil, and instead God's rich promises made certain in Christ, Christ's words, His sure promise and His mighty assurances are repeated, leaned upon, taken hold of and shared while continuing self-sacrificing work for humanity shown in Christ's life and death for everlasting life.

Christ's Trust and Suffering

The speaker is Jesus telling of His dependence on His Heavenly Father in temptation and suffering, resting on His Father's wisdom and strength in confident assurance that with the Lord God's help He would not be confounded or put to shame. That trust upheld Him in the conflict with Satan so that He did not give way to temptation even in thought. The promised help sustained Him as He faced the future by faith when even His chosen companions could not understand Him and He was alone in the world. He holds out that same trust as the pattern for all who fear the Lord yet walk in darkness and have no light, calling them to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon God as He did.

Confidence From God's Help

Confidence in the Lord God's promised help takes away fear of being confounded, dismayed, or put to shame, and gives courage, strength, fortitude and steadfastness to remain firm and resolute. It is a word for one in darkness and distress to heed God's word and trust in Him, with its assurance repeated to encourage acting on that counsel. Trusting God, who Himself is strength, fortitude and courage to His people, keeps from shame and enables firmness. That confidence is joined to looking to Jesus as the one who begins and completes faith. Setting the face like flint in this confidence means keeping a direct, resolute course and pressing on through opposition rather than yielding to doubts, unbelief, or false counsel. It means being determined toward Mount Zion to reach the treasure there despite Satan's doubts and unbelief.

God is strength, fortitude and courage to His people. He works in the believer and gives day-by-day wisdom and an abiding sense of His presence, so the believer can set the face as flint to do God's will and trust the Lord perfectly. His saving love revealed at Calvary gives courage to stand firm, resisting the enemy's falsehoods and flattery and setting the face like flint against them. Belief in that love revealed at Calvary calls for following Jesus, who has led the way even through the loneliest paths of human life. Because God so works and loves, He is to be trusted perfectly and implicitly without doubting His love.

This confidence looks to Jesus as the beginner and completer of faith. It connects with God as the source of all strength, for those united to Christ by faith may resist sin's dominion through the indwelling Holy Spirit and Christ's divine power. Jesus Himself relied on His Father's wisdom and strength, confident that God would help Him and He would not be put to shame, and that trust sustained Him in conflict with Satan so that He did not yield to temptation even in thought. Setting the face as flint means connecting with God as the source of all strength, refusing to talk of weakness and Satan's power and speaking instead of Christ and His strength. Because Christ bore human sins in His own body on the tree, believers have power given by Him to resist the world, the flesh and the devil, so that falling into sin again and again need not continue, and as they draw near to God He draws near to them and the enemy is driven back. For all things are possible to those who believe.

When appearances are against them and workers for God feel pressure for lack of means, the verse gives the language to use. It is a watchword to hold against unbelief when appearances are discouraging in a world of iniquity. It means refusing to let courage fail or to speak unbelief, and instead declaring firm confidence that God hears and answers petitions for help, so confusion and shame will not follow. Hardship and opposition need not bring shame or discouragement, but call for firm, determined resolve to continue God's work even when circumstances are against it or resources are scarce, trusting that God hears and answers prayer. Setting the face like flint in that trust means standing firm with brave, unyielding resolve in God's service.

Unyielding Stand for Truth

To set the face like flint is to keep a direct, resolute course and press on through opposition rather than yielding to doubts, unbelief, or false counsel. It is to refuse to let constantly occurring troubles weaken faith, to allow no despondency to weaken effort and no discouragement or weakening of hope and courage, keeping harmony with fellow workers with no place for alienation.

It is to set the face against all falsehood and pretense, against doubts and infidel or unbelieving sentiments that would shake faith in the truth, and against flatteries that would draw from holiness or weaken the purpose to do right. Trust in the Lord's help gives courage and strength to stand firm in this way, confident in saving love revealed at Calvary and following the One who has led the way even through the loneliest paths of human life. This decided stand is the resolve needed by those who have erred and seek to redeem themselves, to refuse to spend time in the company of those who would unfit them for the pure and sacred work of God and to stand decided for duty and truth.

A minister must keep a firm, unyielding face, meaning indomitable faith and courage with a heart made strong by constant communion with God. Without that firmness he will shape his testimony to please unsanctified ears and hearts in order to avoid criticism, and in doing so he separates from God, loses the sense of divine favor, and his testimony becomes tame and lifeless, with courage and faith gone and labors powerless, whereas the faithful refuse flattery and self-interest and love their brethren too well to leave sin unreproved.

It means standing stiffly and unyieldingly for truth in troublesome and troublous times of deception without turning to the right hand or to the left, even when called stubborn, lest faith make shipwreck. In particular it means being decided against the spiritual view of Christ's coming and against fanatical human or satanic influence called the Spirit of God, having no fellowship with it and resisting it in the Lord's name. It means staying on guard against those who work with insinuating, serpent-like mildness, staying strengthened on every side with Scripture testimony about the literal, personal appearing of the Saviour, faithfully warning the honest, and refusing to yield when flattered, terrified, or commanded.

Through laying the close conflict with the powers of darkness before the mighty Helper in repeated prayer for strength and wisdom with the conviction that help must come, believers see the enemy's opposition turned back in glorious victories for truth. God's help then brings special evidences of His love and manifestations of His Spirit that set His seal to the truth, map out the course, and guide amid trials, disappointments, and fierce conflicts, strengthening believers to fight the battles of the Lord and grow stronger with rich experience at every step. Those who seek God in humility and contrition of soul are thereby enabled to discern between the true and the false and refuse to yield the point when prejudice and opposition threaten to overwhelm the faithful standard-bearers.

It gives steadfastness to carry out painful and uncongenial duty in delivering God's message of admonition to people stubbornly pursuing their own wrong course, even when giving that message is painful and when people stubbornly pursue wrongdoing. It is firm, unflinching resolve, once rendered like steel, when telling individuals of their secret wrongs, saying you did this thing, with no human intimation or information but only divine revelation, sustained by confidence that the Lord God gives help so His servant will not be confounded or ashamed. Setting the face toward Zion in this way means pressing on in God's service without being discouraged by criticism, while responding with Christ's meekness rather than retaliation.

Steadfastness in Mission and Life

The verse calls for united and determined effort with no delay in the work to be done now shown in Isaiah 48, 49, 50, 51, and 52. It calls for decided work in the cities, for more workers to meet the demands of the cities, and for means to be brought in to carry forward soul-saving, with attention turned to the cities and lay members who have means helping without delay. It calls workers to gird on the armor, to reconsecrate, to be in harmony with the Lord God and with Christ His only begotten Son, to proclaim throughout the world the message given for the past twenty years, and to resist temptation to enter commercial enterprises instead of investing means in the Lord's work, and those chapters are to be studied carefully with prayer for willingness to do God's bidding.

It gives firm, undiscouraged resolve in the appointed work of publishing the truth, which is as important as preaching it. That resolve goes forward even when others do not feel the same interest, and lack of interest from fellow workers must not stop the work or bring discouragement that halts it. The reason is that the flock is waiting and hungry, looking for the paper like hungry children ready to receive and eat the published truth.

It is the resolve needed by those who have erred and seek to redeem themselves, especially young men in the canvassing work, to stand decided for duty and truth with Jesus' help. Setting the face like flint means holding firm against all falsehood, against the flatteries of companions who would weaken the purpose to do right, and against doubts and infidel or unbelieving sentiments meant to shake faith in the truth. It means refusing to spend time in the company of those who would unfit them for the pure and sacred work of God.

Setting the face Zionward and heavenward means fixing purpose firmly toward Zion and the treasure there and toward heaven, with steadfast purpose inspired by heaven's attractions to a faithful life. It means clinging more firmly to God, pressing on by faith to perfection of character in the Redeemer, partaking of the divine nature in order to succeed in overcoming, honoring Jesus, enduring as seeing the Invisible, and trusting Jesus implicitly without doubting His love. It means never doubting that God has a mission and work for each person even when the powers of darkness oppose, and this steadfast trust gives rest and peace. It means pressing on in God's service without being discouraged by criticism while responding with Christ's meekness rather than retaliation, refusing to let constantly occurring troubles weaken faith, keeping harmony with fellow workers with no place given to alienation, and allowing no despondency to weaken effort and no weakening of hope and courage, because where there is union there is strength and the warfare will soon be ended.

Those who turn from serving the world to serving God must fix purpose firmly toward Zion with divine help, go contrary to the spirit and influences of the world, and feel the opposition of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The same prejudice, unbelief, opposition, and reproach that met the Son of God still meets His servants, so they must stand unmoved and bear reproach as He did. In personal holiness this is fixed, flint-like determination to overcome sin by connecting with God as the source of all strength, refusing to talk of weakness and Satan's power and speaking instead of Christ and His strength. Because Christ bore human sins in His own body on the tree, believers have power from Him to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil, so falling into sin again and again need not continue, and as they draw near to God He draws near to them and drives the enemy back.

It shows true religion in a soul purified by the Spirit with the face firmly fixed heavenward, refusing to let sin gain the mastery and fighting most earnestly when sin strives within. Such a soul holds childlike trust that the Saviour works for good in all things and hears every cry for help, and when wounded by the sting of sin cries to the great Physician with assurance that calling upon Him in faith brings successful help through every temptation. Young Christians apply the same resolve by setting their faces firmly against selfish, health-destroying indulgence, standing for temperance and resisting its harmful influence.

For churches facing disappointment over spiritual lack in churches and individuals, unwillingness to be helped and strengthened, halting and disaffection among believers, a strong spirit of unbelief spread by evil angels working in human form to oppose God's Spirit, and constantly occurring troubles and the hellish shadow of Satan, Isaiah 50 read with Isaiah 35 holds promising words of inspiration for encouragement to be claimed in times of emergency. In those conditions faith is to stay strong in God who has proved true in the past, the heart is to stay true in helping the Lord against satanic powers, discouragement and despondency are to be refused, and opponents' words are never to be repeated to strengthen evil. Instead God's rich promises made certain in Christ, Christ's words, His sure promise, and His mighty assurances in Christ and His word are to be repeated, leaned upon, taken hold of, and shared with others. At the same time the self-sacrificing work for humanity shown in the life and death of Christ for everlasting life is to continue, with clinging more firmly to God and pressing on by faith to perfection of character while seeing human imperfections everywhere.