Return in your Bibles this evening to Isaiah, chapter 54, Isaiah, chapter 54. Tonight, we're going to look at four promises made to the church, a fourfold encouragement for Zion, Isaiah 54, specifically verses 1 to 17, the entire chapter. It is a statement from the Lord God, most high to his people. concerning promises with reference to his blessing. Isaiah 54, I'll begin reading in verse 1.
Sing, O barren, you who have not born. Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings.
Do not spare. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited. Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed.
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your maker is your husband. The Lord of hosts is his name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
He is called the God of the whole earth. For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused, says your God. For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.
For this is like the waters of Noah to me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed. says the Lord who has mercy on you. Oh, you afflicted one, tossed with tempest and not comforted.
Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established.
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Indeed, they shall surely assemble, but not because of me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake. Behold, I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire. who brings forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the spoiler to destroy.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me, says the Lord. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Father, thank you for the Word of God. Thank you for the prophets. Thank you for the law. Thank you for the writings and the New Testament scriptures.
And I pray that you would guide us now, that you would encourage us as a local church with these promises set forth in the prophet. We ask, God, that you would give us just great joy as we consider what a blessing it is to belong to the church of the living God, to realize that our blessed Redeemer is building His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. How we praise You that He is calling men from tribes and tongues and peoples and nations, that He is assembling a great church militant, and one day it will be the church triumphant when we pass into the new Jerusalem. Our Father, we just pray now that You would give us all just a love for Christ first and foremost, and a love for His body, a love for the church.
And we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Introduction: The Four Servant Songs
Well, in the prophet Isaiah, there are four servant songs. I am sure that you have heard me say that before. Songs or passages that celebrate the coming servant of the Lord, who is Jesus Christ. as the New Testament makes clear. Those four servant songs are found in Isaiah 42, in Isaiah 49, Isaiah 50, and then the fourth is found in chapters 52 and 53.
Perhaps the one we are most familiar with is that one recorded at the end of 52 all the way through chapter 53. We looked at that servant song several, or probably a couple of months ago, and we saw that it details or highlights the work of Jesus Christ specifically in his substitutionary death on behalf of sinners. His atonement, his burial, his resurrection, and his salvation for sinners. That's the background.
Understanding the atoning work of the Lord Christ, Jehovah now makes promises based on that atoning work to the Church. The Church is a blessed beneficiary to the work of the Savior. John Calvin comments on the entirety of chapter 54. He says, after having spoken of the death of Christ, he passes on with good reason to the church, that we may feel more deeply in ourselves what is the efficacy of his death.
The commentator E.J. Young said this, in chapter 53, the work of redemption is described as spiritual. In this present chapter, therefore, the prophet turns to the redeemed ones, to the Church, and speaks of its glorious exaltation. By coming to the church, Isaiah causes us to understand more deeply the value and efficacy of the servant's atoning work.
The sufferings of the servant were for the church, his body, and not for himself. And then if you follow the flow of thought, it is based on the reality of the atoning work in chapter 53, and the promises made with reference to the church in chapter 54, that that blessed gospel promise comes in Isaiah 55. Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. There's a promise of increase made to the church, and based on that reality, and the fact that our Lord Jesus gave Himself For His church, we go out and we preach the gospel with the expectation that sinners will in fact be saved.
So that's an overview of the entire section. We're going to look at, as I said, four promises with reference to the church of Jesus Christ. And
First Promise: Increase
the first is a promise of increase. A promise of increase. That means more people are going to be added to the church. And we see that in verses 1 to 6.
Call to Rejoice and Enlarge
The first thing to notice is this call to rejoice in verse 1. He says, Sing, O barren, you who have not born. Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child. For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman, says the Lord." We saw that in Galatians chapter 4.
The Apostle Paul cites this passage to teach that there are more associated with New Covenant Christianity than there were with the bondwoman. And this calls for rejoicing. It calls for exaltation. It calls for singing and delight.
Based on the reality of Isaiah 53, we enter into chapter 54 with this rousing call to sing, to praise, to honor, to worship, and to glorify our God. We are to shout for joy. The specific audience addressed here is those who were desolate, and the children of the desolate are going to be more than the children of the married woman. Remember the historical context.
God's people are going into captivity. But they're going to come out of captivity based on His promise and His covenant Word. And they're going to prosper. They will increase.
They will multiply. Under Messiah, there will be more added to the Church of Jesus Christ. If anything, as we study Isaiah 54 and prophecies like that, it ought to stir us up for evangelism and for missions. We ought to see the glorious promises that God holds forth to His Church.
And then he goes on to highlight specifically this increase. Notice verse 2. Enlarge the place of your tent. Let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings.
Do not spare. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. Make it big. Get it ready.
When the gospel is preached, sinners will come to Zion. When the Holy Spirit comes, many will flock to Zion to be taught the law of the Lord. The language here is a population explosion. You have heard of this in places.
It starts off small and then it gets big. Well, the church is like that. Didn't Jesus teach us that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed? It starts off so small, it's almost imperceptible.
But what happens over the years? Over the decades, over the centuries, that mustard seed grows to be a great big tree where the birds of the air find their nest in it. This is what the prophet Daniel speaks of. He sees this great image in his dream or in his vision.
And this image is broken down by this small stone. This small stone begins to grow and gather, and it ultimately becomes a big mountain. There is a promise to the church of increase. We ought to be encouraged by that.
It ought to strengthen us. Notice how he goes on to speak in verse 3. He says, You shall expand to the right and to the left. Your descendants will inherit the nations and make desolate cities inhabited.
J. A. Alexander said the whole verse. is a beautiful description of the wonderful extension of the Church and her spiritual conquest of the nations. That's what's going on.
Based on the reality of Christ's according death, based on the fact that He bore our curse at Calvary, the Church is not to be stagnant. The Church isn't supposed to just sit there. The Church is to take up the gospel invitation of Isaiah 55. and go and preach it, and call sinners to repentance and faith, because God has promised to add to His number. God has promised to add to the church of Jesus Christ.
God's Abiding Presence with His People
With this promise of increase comes this statement concerning God's abiding presence with His people. Notice in verses 4-6, He says, Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed, neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
He is called the God of the whole earth. For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused. So God promises there will be increase. God promises His abiding presence.
When we get to the New Testament, we see those promises worked out. We see them brought to fruition. We see in the book of Ephesians, for instance, we see Jew and Gentile coming together as one new man in Christ Jesus. We see that we have access to the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit.
We get to the book of Revelation and what do we find there? We find Jesus in the midst of the lampstands, working out these promises, blessing His people, adding to their numbers. Again, not numbers for numbers sake. We have a great big church.
No, the idea here is spiritual multiplication, conversion, people coming to know the Lord, people believing the Gospel, people being saved. We ought to expect great things from our God. based on the prophet Isaiah, based on what we read in Psalm 72. The scripture is clear. He will have dominion from sea to sea.
The prophet Isaiah states elsewhere that the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. I believe that as Christians we need to believe those things, even if experience may dictate otherwise, even if experience may cause us great discouragement at times. I mean, sometimes we see these big churches. They're not preaching the truth, but they're packed to overflowing.
And then we see other churches that are seeking to be faithful to the Word of God, and there's hardly anybody there. We need to believe the promises of God, regardless of what our eyes see. We need to be like that godly man Abraham, who in Romans 4, Paul says, who, contrary to hope, in hope believed. It's one of the most powerful statements in all of Scripture.
Who, contrary to hope. Everything in him argued, at least physically or carnally, that there's no way this promise can be worked out. I'm 100. My wife is 99.
How in the world am I going to be the father of the nations? And yet the Apostle says, contrary to hope, in hope he believed the promises of God. Brethren, we need to believe these things, even if we don't physically observe them. That's what faith is all about.
We walk by faith, not by sight. We walk according to the promised Word of God. No matter what it may appear to be on the outside, we need to be faithful and take up the Word of God and be encouraged by it.
Second Promise: Stability
Notice the second promise. It's a promise of stability. A promise of stability. Verses 7 to 10.
Beautiful here. He speaks of a momentary light affliction and an eternal weight of glory. Remember that in 2 Corinthians 4.17, Paul says, Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding weight of glory. And here in this promise concerning stability, the Lord God uses that same language here.
Notice in verse 7, For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. They were judged. They were chastened. They had broken covenant.
They would go into exile, but they would come out of exile. And as they came out of exile, the Redeemer would come. The Redeemer would inaugurate the new covenant. He would be the servant of the Lord that would conduct Himself in terms of Isaiah 53.
He would accomplish all that the Father had given Him. And He would lead captivity captive. He would ascend on high. He would give gifts to men.
And He would call great multitudes unto Himself. And the church would indeed increase. And He promises stability. For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you.
He says, with a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment. Notice, with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. God did forsake the nation, according to Young, but not his church. He had not abandoned his purpose of bringing salvation to the earth.
If you're familiar with the Psalter, you'll know that this sounds just like Psalm 30 and verse 5. His anger is but for a moment. His favor is for life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Again, this promise of stability ought to encourage us.
The promise of stability teaches that local churches may come and go. There are those whom Jesus rips the lampstand away from them, but Christ's church will march on. There will always be a witness for Jesus in this world. Remember when Elijah was underneath that broom tree and he was feeling quite downcast?
He was despairing quite a bit. What was God's encouragement to him? He says, I have 7,000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal. We need to be encouraged by that, brethren.
We need to realize that though it may not appear to be this great time of promised blessing and revival and increase, we have stability. The Lord does not forsake. The Lord has promised to sustain His people. The Lord will indeed see us through.
John Calvin said what the prophet says in this passage must therefore refer to our feelings and to outward appearance, because we seem to be rejected by God when we do not perceive His presence and protection. We need to be encouraged that though there are these seasons, though there are these trials, God says, with everlasting kindness, I will have mercy on you.
The Noahic Oath as Illustration
Notice how he illustrates this stability that the church will enjoy. Verses 9 to 10. I think this is an important message because it's easy to complain about the church. I don't mean just this church.
You ever hear people say, oh, the church is so messed up. Oh, the church. They've all but given up on it. In fact, one man has predicted the end of the world.
May 21st, this year. His name's Harold Camping. He predicted the end of the world in 1994. He was wrong, as you obviously see.
Well, somewhere about the 2000s, he said the church age is over. He told people to leave their churches. All churches are apostate. What was his encouragement?
Probably to go home and sit down and listen to family radio. He happens to be the general manager of family radio. All the churches are bad. All of them are apostate.
All of them have gone the way of all flesh. They're wicked get out from among her. Well, that's an extreme form. You run into people all the time and say, oh, the church is weak.
The church doesn't do what she's supposed to do. You know what? In her weakness, in her not doing what she's supposed to do, nevertheless, Jesus is building her. The church is an imperfect organism because it's made up of imperfect people.
The church as Christ's institution is worth fighting for, it's worth propagating, it's worth loving, it's worth delighting in. And I think that this passage, hopefully, will call our attention to how important the church really is. Notice the illustration of stability within the life of Christ's church. For this, verse 9, is like the waters of Noah to me.
For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you, just as he promised to never flood the earth again. There's not going to be an exile. You're not going into Babylon. You're not going to be chastened to that degree anymore.
There is stability for you in your gospel preaching, in your invitation, in your calling men to believe on the servant of the Lord. It'll be like the days or like the promise that he made to Noah. Notice in verse 10, he says, For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you. Isn't that a beautiful image?
Hopefully it recalls Psalm 46, that blessed psalm of refuge. It talks about the physical calamities in the earth itself, but God, her God, will keep her. We need to be still and know that God is God. These are wonderful illustrations concerning the stability of Christ's church, the Noahic covenant, the physical calamity shall not stop God in His kindness toward her.
And then notice thirdly in verse 10,
The Covenant of Peace
Nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you. I believe that's a reference to the new covenant, the everlasting covenant, that covenant of God to bless and protect and keep His people. Notice in the invitation, in verse 3 of chapter 55, Incline your ear and come to me, here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David.
Indeed, I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people. God's covenantal dealings with His people is the ground of encouragement for our stability.
Third Promise: Blessing
Notice the third promise. It is a promise of blessing. A promise of blessing, verses 11 to 14, both outward and inward. Notice in verse 11, O you afflicted one, tossed with tempest and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones." It's the language suggestive of. That's blessing. It doesn't mean all our buildings will be ornate. All our buildings will be bejeweled.
All our buildings will be laden with gold and crystal and all those sorts of things. It's a metaphor. It's physical language to describe a spiritual blessing. The church will have an outward glory.
The church will be decked by God with glory, with blessing, with beauty, with luster, with shine. You know, as we understand that passage, we as a church ought to seek by God's grace to pursue holiness so that we luster and shine appropriately. If God describes us this way, we ought to strive to live like this. We ought to strive by the grace of God, to shine or to show forth that glory, to show forth that blessedness that God has bestowed upon us.
This is reminiscent of what we find in Revelation 21, when that new Jerusalem descends out of heaven. How does John see it? It's as if it's a bride adorned for her husband. God adorns us.
God blesses. God takes care of us.
Inward Blessing: Teaching and Peace
Not only outwardly, but then he goes on to highlight the inward blessing that he gives his people. Notice in verses 13 and 14, they are all taught by God. Isn't that a beautiful statement there? All your children shall be taught by the Lord.
You remember that passage? John 6. The Lord Jesus cites this in John 6, 45. What's the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31?
They shall all what? Know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. And here the prophet says, in this promise of blessing, this promise of future glory, all your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. So we are taught by God and we have great peace.
John Gill comments here, the inward peace of their minds, in and from Christ, arising from a view of their justification by His righteousness, from the sprinklings of His blood upon their consciences, and from the discoveries of His love to their souls." Isn't that a great way to describe that? The discoveries of His love to their souls. We need to make more discoveries of that love. Paul, when he prays for the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 3, says, I want you to know, This is what I pray for you.
I want you to know this. I want you to know the love of Christ. I want you to know the breadth, the height, the width, the depth. I want you to be a scholar in the school of Christ's love.
Paul's prayer is not that you know how much you love Jesus. That wouldn't take a lot of effort. He says, what I want you to do is know how much Jesus loves you. That's where peace lies.
That's where comfort is. That's where joy is in what Gil describes as the discoveries of His love to their souls. He goes on and says, Enjoy it in a way of believing and by means of the Word and ordinances. Also, peace among themselves.
You see, when we're justified freely by His grace, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and hopefully we have peace with one another. Hopefully we can get along with one another. You know, sometimes we have such debates within the life of the Church. Baptists versus Paedobaptists.
Covenantal theologians versus Dispensational theologians. Premils versus Postmils. You know, just multiply the various doctrines, and we can get pretty fired up. This difference I've noticed, though.
Christians can disagree with each other, but we don't bomb each other's houses. We don't confiscate each other's property. It's not like being in a Muslim land. You defy Islam, and what do they do?
They put you in prison. What kind of a religion is that? It's force. It's totalitarianism.
Yeah, you can live as a non-Christian in a Christian neighborhood. We're not going to destroy your house. But just for a moment, consider all the differences we have. We ought to conduct ourselves still peacefully.
We ought to realize we're going to spend an eternity together. You may actually stand before the throne next to a dispensationalist. And you're not going to say, Lord, can I move? Somebody once asked George Whitefield, do you think you'll see John Wesley in heaven?
You know, this person that asked Whitefield was a staunch Calvinist. George Whitefield, staunch Calvinist. John Wesley, a staunch anti-Calvinist. The questioner asked, do you think you'll see John Wesley in heaven?
And George Whitefield's answer was no. So the guy said, oh, okay, yeah, okay, you're thinking along like me. He says, he'll be so close to the throne and so close to the light of the Lamb that I won't be able to see him. That's a spirit of peace.
That's what we are to endeavor to keep, the unity of the spirit of peace. Brethren, we are going to dwell together forever. We need to get along. Now, having said that, we still contend earnestly for the faith.
We still contend earnestly for baptism, or for covenant theology, or for whatever in terms of our confession of faith. But they have great peace. He says, also peace among themselves, harmony and concord, and no more strife, contentions and animosities. Likewise, outward peace from enemies, no more persecution or war.
This word includes all kinds of prosperity, external and internal, temporal and spiritual. So they are taught by God. They have great peace.
Justification and Protection
They are justified. by faith alone. Notice in verse 14, in righteousness you shall be established. Notice in verse 17, and their righteousness is from me, says the Lord. Prophet Jeremiah says that Jesus is the Lord, our righteousness.
So the church is made up of those who, based on the work of Christ's atonement at the cross, have been justified freely by grace. Again, John Gill says, in the righteousness of Christ, from whence flows the peace before spoken of, and which is the stability of the church of Christ and the security of it and its members from condemnation. And then the final aspect of this inward blessing is we are protected. Notice in verse 14.
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you." What does that mean but that God defends His people? Jesus defends His people. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, how does Christ execute the office of a king? Christ executes the office of a king by subduing us to Himself.
That's the great first major task that He does. He subdues us to Himself, by His Word, by His Spirit. Then it goes on to say, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. It's a promise here, given by our God.
Fourth Promise: Security
And the fourth is a promise of security. It sort of flows into that. Notice in verses 15 to 17. Indeed, verse 15, they shall surely assemble, but not because of me.
Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake. We know that this isn't a prophecy confined for heaven. Because in heaven, no one's going to assemble against the church. In heaven, the church is the church triumphant.
On earth, the church is the church militant. It's here on earth that the church is assailed. God acknowledges the reality of that. God acknowledges what Jesus teaches in John 16.
In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. The Lord God acknowledges what Paul says in Acts 14.22. Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. When he says, indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of me, he doesn't mean that God isn't sovereign.
It means that this is not a direct judgment or chastisement by the Lord, the way He employed Babylon, the way He employed Assyria. They will assemble, they will seek to assault. You're not going to just skip your way into heaven. The church is in fact the church militant.
There are battles to fight. There are arguments to win. There is gospel to propagate. There is holiness to pursue.
There are enemies to confront. There is a devil roaring about like a lion seeking whom he may devour. But notice the blessed promise of God. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
It is a promise of lasting security. As we saw this morning, as Herod is empowered or enabled or used by the devil to try and destroy the Lord Jesus Christ, God is behind the scenes. It's very interesting. We were discussing after the sermon this morning.
I'm sure you'll probably hear this again as we move through Matthew chapter 2. Notice how God confronts this assault. Herod wants to destroy Jesus. What's God's Word?
Joseph, take him to Egypt. Just get out of town for a while. He didn't say, go get as many guns as you can. Get a bandolera, you know, have guns blazing, Joseph, and launch an attack upon her.
You just walk right up there and you destroy him. No, God's ways aren't like that. God often operates in the normal, in the ordinary, in the mundane. In fact, that beautiful scene in Matthew 2 just highlights the ordinariness of it.
The whole image that has been fabricated of the shepherds and the animals and the wise men and all of the people with the halos around them, that's something romantic almost. It's almost a warm fuzzy that pleases us in some sort of a carnal way. It is so ordinary and so mundane what we find in Matthew 2. Again, the emphasis falls upon the extraordinary God working in these ordinary events.
Same thing with the flight into Egypt. Go to Egypt. When Herod dies, come back. It's a great way to defend oneself, a great way to attack the devil.
You know, God doesn't call us to charge hell with a squirt gun. It might just be, go hide for a little while. That's okay. Beautiful.
It says, whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
No Weapon Formed Shall Prosper
Verse 16, Behold, I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the spoiler to destroy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. It's a promise of security. They will try to destroy the Church.
They will try to take you out. Remember Paul's statement in 2 Timothy. He's near the end of his life. He says, I am in chains, but the Word of God is not chained.
You see, they thought taking Paul out would stop the spread of the Gospel. Absolutely the opposite. In Philippians, he says, the things that have happened to me have actually turned out for the progress of the gospel. They thought by putting Paul in prison, they would stop the spread of Christianity.
He says, you know what? These things have turned out for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. Why? Because the formerly timid are now emboldened.
They have seen, hey, yeah, Paul's suffering, we can too. He says the whole praetorian guard is hearing about Jesus. Why? because Paul opened his mouth and told them why he was in jail. So while they thought they were stopping the spread of the gospel by putting the apostle in prison, they're actually causing it or fanning the flames of it.
It is the blood of the martyrs, which is the fertilizer for the seed of the church. Brethren, any time there has been attack and assault and a full-blown striving to destroy the church, what happens? Does the church go away? Think about the early Christians in the first century.
Do you ever think they thought the Roman Empire would crumble? Think about it realistically. The Roman Empire was the most powerful, the most formidable, the most dominant of all world empires. And yet, when you get to the scriptures in the New Testament, what do they constantly say?
The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. You might have been in the cell next to them and said, what are you talking about? You saying that this Roman Empire is an enemy that the Lord Jesus is going to drop his foot upon? Yeah.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. They would have said, you're crazy. You are out of your mind. You Christians are wackier than we could have ever imagined.
That was their battle cry. That's the most quoted Old Testament text in the New Testament. It was what they never tired of declaring. They get to Thessalonica.
What was the crime that they were guilty of? They preached another king, Jesus. They didn't bow down. They didn't succumb to the Lord and Savior, which was the Emperor.
No, they preached Jesus as Lord and Savior. God has promised security. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. Now notice this.
This is beautiful. The grace of God secures this promise. Notice at the end of verse 17, this is the heritage of the servants plural, of the Lord. And their righteousness is from me, says the Lord.
Four servant songs, right? The servant of the Lord goes and makes atonement according to Isaiah 53. By his wounds we are healed. Because the servant of the Lord took the crushing from the Lord, the servants of the Lord are richly blessed.
We are given this heritage. We are given the promises of increase, of stability, of blessing, and security from enemies.
Application: Faith, Kindness, and Evangelism
Well, brethren, in closing, we need to have faith. I know just preaching through this, we're going, wait a minute here, come on. Joel Osteen is the most popular preacher in America. How does that square with Isaiah 54?
We need faith. J. A. Alexander says the whole verse is a beautiful description of the wonderful extension of the Church and her spiritual conquest of the nations.
That's what he commented on verse 3. C. H. Spurgeon said this, not necessarily in connection with Isaiah 54, but in connection with the prosperity of the kingdom of Jesus.
He said it would be easy to show that at our present rate of progress, the kingdoms of this world could never become the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ. Indeed, many in the church are giving up the idea of it, except on the occasion of the advent of Christ. That means his second coming, which, as it chimes in with our own idleness, is likely to be a popular doctrine. He said, I myself believe that King Jesus will reign and the idols be utterly abolished, but I expect the same power which turned the world upside down once will still continue to do it.
The Holy Ghost would never suffer the imputation to rest upon his holy name that he is not able to convert the world. It takes faith. Isaiah 54 takes faith. You need faith to believe the gospel as it's depicted there in Isaiah 53.
You need faith to respond to that imputation of Isaiah 55. As believers, as members of local churches, we need faith to believe that God, in fact, will increase the church. We need faith to believe that God, in fact, will stabilize her, will keep and preserve her. We need faith to believe that God will indeed bless, not with just the outer glory, but that inward glory, that righteousness, that peace, that joy, that protection.
And we need faith to believe in that security, because we oftentimes see the threat as being overwhelming. But God overwhelms our threat. Secondly, we need to understand in this passage the kindness of God. He chastises, but he does not forsake his people.
There are seasons. There is weeping for a night. There is great mercy in the morning. God deals with his people faithfully.
He knows our frame, He encourages us, and He comes to our aid. He protects and defends us and promises to advance His cause in the earth. Can you think of anything better to be a part of than the church? I go through passages like these and I just get excited.
It's good to get excited about the cross, about Jesus. Most assuredly, that should be our most exciting thing ever. The blessed privilege that we have of being part of Christ's body. being members of Jesus Christ's body. With all of our weakness, with all of our imperfection, you've often heard me refer to Dale Ralph Davis.
He's an excellent writer and a preacher. Well, he was a pastor up until recently, and he pastored a church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. And something caught my eye on their website, not just all the sermons that he's preached that I keep loaded up on my iPod, but he gives a brief introduction to the church. And he says something to the effect that we're not perfect here.
If you're looking for a perfect church, please do not come here, because you will not find it. We hear that often. If you think you've found a perfect church, the moment you walk in, you've spoiled it, right? God's able to work through our imperfections.
Jesus builds his church using unlikely people. Jesus builds his church using unlikely resources. I imagine you builders in the church here try to get the best, the best tools, the best nails. I don't know if there's a best nail.
The best lumber. You try to get the best for your construction projects. What's Jesus do? He draws magi from the east to bow down and worship.
He calls the apostle Paul, who was bent on destroying his church, and uses him as his chief messenger. He takes Peter, Peter who denied Him three times, and sends Him into the lion's den, preaching the Word of God. You see, God, the Lord Christ, takes imperfect people to do His tasks. We need to believe that.
As well, we need to understand the place of Isaiah 55. based on the atonement, based on the peace and prosperity of Christ's church. We ought to be bold evangelists. We ought to be bold testifiers. We ought to be bold witnesses.
And Isaiah 55 ought to find its way into our lives as we call sinners to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. You who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me, Jesus says, here and your soul shall live. Brethren, as the church, that is our chief, main emphasis is to proclaim this message.
We can feed people. We can clothe people. We can help people. We're free to do that.
But the time or the moment we reject or neglect the preaching of the word, we have ceased to be a church. That's what makes us different. It is the ministry of God's holy word. It is the ministry of the sacraments.
It is those things that God has ordained for the good of the soul. That is the primary focus of the church, is to seek by God's grace to call sinners to be reconciled unto him. through Jesus Christ. Let us pray to God that we will never tire of witnessing and testifying for Christ. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for these promises in the prophet. Thank you so very much for the promise of increase and for the promise of stability and protection and security and blessing. God, all these things truly reflect a good and a merciful Father. And I pray that we as your people would be faithful, that we would be prayerful, that as the gospel is proclaimed, we would just pray that your spirit would attend it with power to the saving of sinners.
We pray, Father, as well, that you would give us a mindset for evangelism, for missions, to be in prayer, to be faithful witnesses wherever we live or wherever we conduct ourselves. and to do this for your glory's sake. God, go with us now and watch over us and grant us peace in this coming week and help us not to forget these promises. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.