Okay, turn in your Bibles to
Isaiah 53, please. Our text today is Isaiah 54,
but to put it into context, I'd like us to begin reading 53 and
noting the parallels between our Saviour and ourselves. Throughout
His life, and especially at the cross, our Lord appeared to this
world as weak and insignificant. So it's no wonder that his people
are often seen in this world and by the world to be in a similar
state. In Mark 10, the Lord promises
that we'll drink of the same cup as he did and be baptised
by the same baptism. In 1 Peter 2, we're promised
that in suffering we're to follow in his footsteps. And in Mark
24, that we'll be hated of all nations for his namesake. Even
in these days the Saints are often broken, afflicted and troubled,
just as our great representative was in his day. So I want to
start reading Isaiah 53. You'll have to excuse me, I'm
going to read from my notes because I need to get a bigger print
Bible. I just tried here but I can't read it. So Isaiah 53, we'll begin at
verse 1. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground, he hath no
form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire of him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we
hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Just for a moment,
look at the description of our Lord and Saviour there from a
worldly perspective. No form, nor comeliness, no beauty,
despised and rejected of men. Not only the world in general,
not only his own nation, but even his precious bride, the
Church, esteemed him not. The ones he suffered for, are
the we's and the ours in this passage. They're the saints of
God. Verse six, all we like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb. So he opened not his mouth. He
was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare
his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living, for the transgressions of my people he was stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his
death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit
in his mouth." Just imagine for a moment what the Lord, the God
of all creation, was suffering, wounding, bruising, chastisement,
affliction, and all on behalf of his people. More than that, he suffered the
shame and agony of prison and of judgment. But behind all this,
and most importantly, he was smitten of his father in heaven. And as the world mocked him,
and as we mocked him, he opened not his mouth. Verse 10, Yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Through the eyes of the new creation,
we see a sinless saviour, Suffering is a righteous offering for the
sins of His people. We see Him justifying them before
a holy God. We see Him presenting them faultless. We see Him dividing the spoil
of His victory with the strong in faith, the joint heirs of
His love. We see our Lord forever interceding
on behalf of His people, that they may always have peace with
their Father in heaven. But what did the world see? They
saw a weak and insignificant man, a sinner justly cursed of
God and rightfully persecuted by the authority of the day,
or so they thought. Yet even on the cross, he still
remained the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. As he perfectly
lived out the gospel of God's grace toward chosen sinners,
he still remained God. While the world saw the defeat
of a troublemaker and a blasphemer, the true and only living God
suffered on behalf of His people. He suffered that He might both
victoriously and eternally present them before His Father in heaven,
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. And this all leads
us to Isaiah 54 and the division of the spoil in verse 12. But
it's also a good reason to just pause and sing. So we'll do that
and I'll come back in a minute. I need Thee every hour, most
gracious Lord. No tender voice like Thine can
peace afford. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, stay
Thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when Thou art nigh. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, in joy
or pain. Come quickly and abide, for life
is vain. I need Thee, oh, I need Thee,
every hour I need Thee. Bless me now, my Savior, I come
to Thee. I need Thee every hour, Most
Holy One. O make me Thine indeed, Thou
blessed Son. I need Thee, O I need Thee, every
hour I need Thee. O bless me now, my Savior, I
come to Thee. Heavenly Father, thank you that
in spite of who we are and what
we seem to be in this world, you are an amazing God. And I
pray that this morning, We look into your word that you'd
make it spirit and life to us, that you'd apply it upon our
souls liberally, Heavenly Father, that you'd convince us and strengthen
our faith, and that you'd bless us with new glimpses of our Saviour,
new views of his perfect work on our behalf, that you'd just
bless us to know more of him. Pray, Father, for those that
can't be with us, Pray for your churches around the world that
you just continue to bless them and reveal yourself even in the
most difficult trials and just secure them, set them at peace,
Heavenly Father, in spite of the chaos around them. And I
do pray for our pastor, please strengthen him. We miss him.
And I pray you bring him back to us safely and just give him
a good break. I thank you again for your mercy,
Heavenly Father, and pray that you bless this message and this
time together for your glory's sake. Amen. So how do you think the world
sees true Christians, true believers? In most of my experiences, we're
seen by the pagan world as a soft or a weak people. People that
have unusual priorities, people that often miss out on much that
the world has to offer because of a superstitious fear of a
God that can't be seen. They're often ridiculous. They
often label us as hypocrites, as people who think they're better
than others and people who sit wrongly in judgment of others. Romans 2.24 tells us that much
of what the pagan world thinks of us is because they associate
us with the common religious world. Now this religious world,
and again I'm mainly speaking about people that describe themselves
as Christians here, they have their own assumptions about who
we are, don't they? They see us as a troubling minority.
They see us as people that are too dogmatic about the gospel,
as people that are too unloving, and not willing to compromise
for the sake of unity. They then make accusations about
our character. They spread false rumors about
us. They often label us in some particular way to strip us of
any credibility and they warn others to avoid us at all costs.
But as much as both these elements of humanity would trouble us,
For a true believer, there's often no greater persecution
in this world than how we see ourselves. As much as we know
better, we look around and see the things that pagans enjoy,
and at times, we look upon them with jealousy. We look at the grand buildings
and big congregations of the religious world, and it's hard
not to see ourselves as something of a failure. Even worse, and
much to our shame, we now have a very acute knowledge of the
sin that continues to cling to us and at times manifests. And even when we look to the
scriptures for comfort, often it's just with a fleshly eye. We read that we're living stones
of a holy temple, the habitation of God. And at these times, we just see
ourselves as even more unworthy and unacceptable. Is that how
you feel at times? Because that's who we are in
the flesh. We're weak, frail sinners. And that's how the world sees
us, especially ourselves. Brothers and sisters, we may
very well be a frail, weak, overwhelmed, and insignificant people. But
we're also, by God's grace, children of faith. In spite of what we
see ourselves to be, in spite of who we are, really, in this
body of death, we're a people that trust in the unseen promises
of our faithful God. It's no wonder that Peter describes
us as a peculiar people. So I want to read Isaiah 54 together
and read about the spoil that our Saviour divides with the
strong. Isaiah 54. Sing, O barren, thou
that didst not bear. Break forth into singing and
cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child. For more
are the children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent,
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine inhabitations.
Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. For
thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities
to be inhabited. Fear not, for thou shalt not
be ashamed. Neither be thou confounded, for
thou shalt not be put to shame. For thou shalt forget the shame
of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood
any more. For thy maker is thine husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called. For
the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved
in spirit, and a wife of youth when she was refused, saith thy
God. For a small moment I have forsaken
thee, but with great mercies I will gather thee. In a little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness I will have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of
Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the
waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For
the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my
kindness shall not depart from thee. Neither shall the covenant
of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
O thou afflicted and tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold,
I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations
with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of
agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant
stones. And all the children shall be
taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shall thou be
established, thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt
not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.
Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me. Whosoever
shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the
fire, and that bring forth an instrument for his work, and
I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment Thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of
me." We know what we look like to
the world, to the fleshly eye, yet Isaiah 54 describes us from
a heavenly perspective. Angus often says that the chapter
divisions aren't always helpful, And I think this is one of those
times because there's a beautiful flowing encouragement for the
brokenhearted here, and it begins with the Gospel declaration in
Isaiah 52. It's followed in 53 by the manifestation
of the grace of God in the life and death of our substitute.
We've just read it. Then we come to this passage,
Isaiah 54, and the promise of the distribution of that grace
in the lives of his people. I would really recommend you
go home and just read the three together. It is a great comfort
and it's a great encouragement. Here in Isaiah 54 we have the
yes and the amen of our victorious Saviour, fulfilling all the promises
of God in applying the spoil of eternal life. Here God the
Holy Spirit reminds us to lift our eyes and to set them on things
above, on things not seen. Here we have a great assurance
based on the finish and sufficient work of our Lord that no matter
what we look like here, we are and we always will be joint heirs
with him. Here we have the most amazing
encouragement to faith in spite of what comes upon us in this
world. Isaiah 54 presents us with a progressive argument as
to why, even in our most broken and overwhelmed state, we can
rejoice. It also presents us with a description
of the unseen foundations that we all rest our hopes in. Verse 1 says, Sing, O barren
thou that didst not bear, and break forth into singing, and
cry aloud thou that didst not travail a child. For more are
the children of the desolate than the children of the married
wife, saith the Lord. Our passage begins with a comparison
between two women, two women that represent all of humanity. It's a comparison made from a
worldly perspective. And yet for one of these women,
there's a great and precious promise. Often in the scriptures,
women are used to depict the church or the spiritual element
of an individual's relationship with God. One of these women in our passage
is married and through our own travail has brought forth children. No doubt in the world's eyes,
she appears blessed. blessed of God. The other woman
is described as barren, seeming to have no fruit and therefore
not blessed from God. In fact, under the Mosaic law,
she was cursed. She was seen to be cursed and
she was persecuted for that, for her lack of fruit. But we know from Galatians that
it's deeper than that, isn't it? She doesn't have any righteousness
of her own. But she waits, just like Sarah
did. She waits for God to fulfil his
promises. The married woman represents
the fleshly covenant, the one we all entered into in the fall.
The Old Covenant, or the Mosaic Covenant, is just another illustration
of this same obligation. Those who do well in their religion,
they really do bring forth fruit, don't they? Fruit like morality,
evangelistic zeal, charity, theological programs, and often they have
many followers. You can read about these people
in Matthew 23. This woman, this church, the
people in this religion, according to the Lord in Matthew 6, they
have their reward now in this world, and it's a reward that's
seen by men. whereas the desolate woman represents
the true Church of God. Even though the world sees her
to be fruitless toward God, she waits for a blessing of God knowing
that she has no righteousness of her own. She's been made to
trust in the grace of God, to live on His precious promises
instead of her own strength. And while she has little or no
fruit to be seen by the world, She, we, are encouraged in our
passage to trust that these things are the work of our God on our
behalf. And therefore they are assured
in spite of the fact that we can't see them. That's why our
passage now encourages in verse two and three to enlarge the
place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of
thine habitations Spare not, lengthen the cords and strengthen
thy stakes, for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on
the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make
the desolate cities to be inhabited. I love that the Holy Spirit uses
the language of pilgrims. Like our Saviour in Matthew 8,
the true church have nowhere to lay their head. And what I
mean by that is they have no place of refuge. No place that
will give them comfort in this world. But thankfully, we look
beyond the realms of this world, and we look to a city that has
foundations, whose maker and builder is God, just as Abraham
did. Recently, our son Noah was struck
with the words in Exodus 2.22, a stranger in a strange land. Well, that's what the Lord's
church is in this world, isn't it? We're strangers. We're in
the world, but we're not of the world. For enlightened saints,
that's how the world seems to us, strange. Now that God has
opened the eyes of our understanding, we see everything differently,
don't we? Now, through the lens of scripture, we see everything
rightly, the way our God sees it. And what a great promise. No matter what our circumstances
are, no matter how afflicted we are, no matter how unfruitful
we feel before the world and even before our God, the Church
is promised to grow and to bring forth fruit to the glory of God. Brothers and sisters, we have
every reason to expect our faithful God, by the power of His gospel,
to fulfil His promise to reveal his sheep, his lost sheep in
this world, and to bless them for his name's sake. First of
all, fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou
confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame, for thou shalt
forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach
of thy widowhood any more. Just because something can't
be seen with the physical eye doesn't mean it's not real. We
won't always be seen this way and thankfully we won't always
see ourselves this way either. Here we're encouraged not to
fear, not to be confounded or confused because the fruit that
we wait for in faith will be revealed. This is a promise that's
so good, it's so complete, that even the shame of all our failures,
past, present, and future, will be completely removed. Brothers
and sisters, we can have full assurance in this promise, even
when we can't see it, simply because of the one who made it.
Verse five, for thy maker is thine husband, The Lord of hosts
is his name, and our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. The God
of the whole earth shall he be called. Many promises are made
in this world, but not all are kept. So often while our intention
is genuine, our promises fail because there's so many things
that we can't know or control. This promise can never, ever
fail. because the one who made this
promise is God himself. And what a picture of the fullness
of the grace of God. Unbeknown to this woman as she
sits rejected, fruitless and alienated, unbeknown to the world
that looks upon her in judgment, this woman has always been married. She was given in marriage to
a husband in eternity, And before the world ever was, he took full
responsibility for everything necessary for her life, both
physically and spiritually. This woman desperately needs
an advocate, doesn't she? Not only to sustain her in this
world, but also to justify her before a holy God. Any other
husband would sooner or later fail her, but not this husband. This husband is described as
the Lord of hosts. That means that all powers, both
in heaven and in earth, are subject to him. It means that he's sovereign
over anything and everything that can ever bring harm upon
this woman, this church. More than that, he's also described
as a redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. This husband is more
than able to provide a perfect righteousness on her behalf. He's able to present her faultless
before a holy God, even in spite of her sin. He is the God of the whole earth.
He's perfectly holy. He's unable to look upon sin.
Yet his love for her is so great and so perfect that he would
take her sin upon himself, and he'd suffer the full wrath of
the holy justice of God until her sins are no more. Verse six. For the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth,
when thou hast refused, saith thy God. That's a great picture
of the church, this woman, isn't it? She's forsaken by the pagan
world, she's convicted of a sin, and she's refused by a religious
world that promises grace on the basis of a work beyond her
capability. Wasn't that the state of every
saint of God when God first called us to himself? And what a great
platform to magnify grace, a lowly, broken, rotten sinner. favoured
by the God of all creation. But for peace and favour with
God, she must first be cleansed of her sins. Verse 7 and 8. For a small moment I have forsaken
thee, but with great mercies I will gather thee. In a little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
kindness I will have mercy on thee. saith the Lord thy Redeemer. When could our faithful God ever
have forsaken His Church? Especially if He loves her with
an everlasting love and is merciful toward her through everlasting
kindness. So often our God seems to leave
us He seems to not hear our prayers and he seems to be angry with
us. But all of this, all of it, is still the chastisement of
a wise and loving father. There was only ever one time,
according to the promises of God, that he really did forsake
us in anger. And that was when he found, at
the cross, when he found our sin upon his son. And while justice
was carried out fully at the cross, it was also satisfied
in the God-man Redeemer. Because we have such a sufficient
Savior, such a faithful husband, there has never been one time
in all eternity that we have not been loved of our God, no
matter what we go through here on this earth. The question is,
do you believe this in spite of your circumstances? Brothers
and sisters, we should believe it, because it is a promise from
a God who cannot lie. Verse nine, for this is as the
waters of Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the
waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For
the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my
kindness shall not depart from me, neither shall the covenant
of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy upon
me. The greatest assurance we could
ever have in this world lies in the word and the promises
of our gracious God. Promises revealed and confirmed
at the cross. He declares here that no matter
what our circumstances are, no matter what state this world
is in, we have always been sheltered in His eternal grace. We were
given in marriage to the Lord Jesus Christ before eternity
or in eternity. And by His perfect work and worth,
we will always stand, even in the greatest of trials. Verse 11. O thou afflicted, tossed with
tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair
colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I'll make
thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all
thy borders of pleasant stones. So often we find ourselves beaten
down in this world, not only by the consequences of our sin,
not only by the people that surround us, but by spiritual wickedness
in high places as well. Yet even in the greatest of afflictions,
we're encouraged here to behold the absolute grace of God by
the eyes of faith. The language of gemstones is
used by our God to illustrate the salvation of his people because
they're both precious and beautiful in our eyes. But what I find
most amazing about this illustration is how comprehensive it is. God's
salvation is complete, from the unseen foundations to the gates
and the borders. Even the windows by which we
view this world are blessed of God. Verse 13, And all thy children
shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace
of thy children. In righteousness thou shalt be established. Thou
shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear, and
from terror, for it shall not come near thee. It's not by our
wisdom and strength, but it's in this grace that we have a
completely secure union with our Father in heaven. Under the
Mosaic law, a man was responsible for his own relationship with
God, but here by the finished work of our Saviour, through
the power of God the Holy Spirit, we have peace and an unbreakable
intimate union with our Father in Heaven. There's also a great
reminder here that no matter what our situation, we're compassed
about by the grace of God and shielded from all of our enemies. The saints of God, no matter
what their situation, are surrounded by grace, just as when the Lord
opened the eyes of Elisha's servant, and he saw the mountain was full
of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Behold, verse 15, they shall
surely gather together, but not by me. Whoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created
the smith that blows the coals in the fire. and that bringeth
forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the waster
to destroy. No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against
thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the saints
of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Well,
we do have a promise here that there'll be opposition to the
gospel. It's also an even greater promise that any opposition will
fall, and it'll fall for our sakes. More than that, because
our God is sovereign, not only will this opposition fail, it'll
end up being a blessing for us, just like we're promised in Romans
8.28. It's for our sakes. There's another part of this
promise though that should humble us, humble us in regard to how
we see our enemies. It says, every tongue that shall
rise against thee in judgment, thou shall condemn. There's a time coming when this
world will fade away and men will rise to face judgment. Those
who have oppressed the church and opposed the church will be
called to give account. In that day, they will see the
saints of God crowned, sitting with Christ in his throne and
ruling the nations with a rod of iron. In that day, they will
be made to worship at our feet and to know that Christ, our
husband, has loved us. So it's an amazing promise, it's
a threefold promise, and it's a great encouragement to look
through the sufferings of this world, beyond all that, and to
see the amazing grace of God that eternally surrounds and
defends His precious bride, the Church. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord. So my hope today has been to
encourage you in your faith. So much has been going on in
the world lately. We've had droughts, we've had
fires, we've had floods, and we've got this corona thing going.
The church of God has always had much opposition to deal with,
and we look pretty insignificant, we look pretty weak, even at
the best of times. But then you get extra suffering
that comes along from other sources, like this corona thing, and it
can just make us feel all the more depleted and even more unworthy
before our God. Thankfully, God the Holy Spirit,
in great grace, causes us to see that no matter what we look
like, in spite of what Satan and this world throw at us, we're
eternally blessed in our husband and King, our Lord Jesus Christ. May he cause us to rest heavily
upon his promises. May he open the eyes of our understanding
to see who we really are in him. And may he cause us to know his
love more intimately every single day.