I was speaking this week with
a pastor and we were quoting scripture to one another. And
we quoted a scripture and began to try to remember where it was.
And he said, I believe that was Isaiah 51. And after we hung
up, he texted me and he said, read Isaiah 51. This will comfort
you. And I read it and it was one
of those cases where it just leaped off the page and I couldn't
write fast enough. Now at the time the Lord sent
this word, he sent it particularly for Isaiah, but he also sent
it to the elect among Israel. Now at the time Isaiah was cast
down, he was despondent, the children of Israel were as well
because they were greatly troubled. They were taken into Assyrian
captivity and so There was nobody to preach the gospel, they were
captives and they were exiled and there was much trouble, much
tribulation. They were full of anxious thought,
full of unbelief and they were like Peter, they were looking
at all these things going on and it just kept making them
lower and lower and more despondent. And so the Lord sent this word,
now listen to verse 1, He says, Hearken to Me, ye that follow
after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. The Lord turned
them from the things below and He said, hearken to Me. Hearken,
listen to Me. That's what He did. He's going
to turn us and set our affection on Him. He says, listen to Me.
Three times He says, hearken. And each time He says, hearken
to Me. Now this is the Lord speaking,
and He's speaking to you that follow after Christ our righteousness,
who know Christ our righteousness. Verse 1, He says, Look unto the
rock whence you're hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence
you're digged. Look to Abraham your father,
and unto Sarah that bear you. Now each of us here that are
born of God, who are Christ, we are children of Abraham. We
are children of Abraham. We are children of the promise. We are children of the free woman,
born of everlasting covenant promise. And so he says, now
look back to Abraham, look to your father, look back there.
And he says, verse 2, for I called him alone and blessed him and
increased him. God says, I am the only one who
gets the glory. I called Abraham. I called him
alone. I called him. I called him from
eternity. I called him out of Ur when he came out. I brought
him out. I called him throughout his life. We constantly read over in the
Genesis where he would say, Abraham. He would say, here am I. Whenever
Abraham didn't know which way to go, the Lord would call him.
When he was down, the Lord called him. And he said, I called him. I called him. When it came to
the time to die, God called him. God never stops calling His people
and therefore we never stop coming to Christ. Peter said, unto whom
coming? He keeps calling us, keeps calling
us, we keep coming to Him. That's His promise to us. Look
at verse 2, And I alone blessed him, blessed him with all spiritual
blessings in eternity, blessed him throughout his life with
all spiritual blessings, with temporal blessings. Abraham lacked
nothing because God said, I blessed him. Verse 2, and I alone increased
him. He increased him with that promised
son, Isaac, increased him with Jacob, increased him with the
twelve tribes, and is still increasing him today every time he calls
one of his elect to Christ. Every up and every down, every
which way he went, it was God increasing him. And that's God's
summary of Abraham's life. And that's his summary of our
life, believer. I called him along, I blessed him, I increased
him. Now why is he telling us this?
What's the purpose of this? Verse 3, for the Lord shall comfort
Zion. For the Lord shall comfort Zion. This is the promise, the covenant
promise of God who cannot lie. The Lord will comfort his people. The reason we're comforted with
the gospel is because God blessed He called, He blessed, and He
increased Abraham. That's how come we had the gospel
preached to us. That's what He's saying. I called
Him, I blessed Him, I increased Him because I'm going to comfort
my people. That's how come you and I have
the gospel. And He's telling us, I called you, I blessed you,
and I'll increase you because I got others I'm going to call
and I'm going to comfort. That's what He's telling us.
So our covenant-keeping God promises The Lord shall comfort Zion.
He's going to comfort us and He's going to use us to preach
His gospel and He's going to comfort those He calls out. But we're weak, aren't we? We're
desolate. We're in a wilderness. We're
in a desert. And as we go through this, I'm just going to go verse
by verse, but you're going to see they were desolated. I mean,
there was nobody to preach. They were just scattered and
desolated and it sounds like where we live. But look at verse
3. He says, he will comfort all
her waste places, he will make her wilderness like Eden, her
desert like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness shall
be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. Now
he's told us he's not going to do this by might, he's not going
to do this by power, he said, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. He's going to do it by His Spirit.
That's how He's working. Now, first of all, the Lord comforts
us by the gospel of Christ's finished redemption. This is why He's comforting Isaiah
and the children of Israel. He's going to comfort through
the gospel of Christ's finished redemption. He says, verse 4,
hearken unto me, my people. Give ear unto me, O my nation,
for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment
to rest for a light of the people. My righteousness is near, my
salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people.
The isles shall wait upon me, and on my arms shall they trust."
Now a law, the word, the covenant, the gospel proceeded from God. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. He said, this Word is going forth,
this covenant is going forth, and Christ came forth. He is
the Word. He is the covenant. And He came
forth and that's why God says, My righteousness is near. Christ
is God's righteousness. And He comes forth and He said,
My salvation is going forth. Christ is God's salvation for
His people. And on the cross, Christ fulfilled
and honored and magnified the law for His people. He accomplished
that for His people. And so He made judgment to rest
for a light to the people. He made judgment rest for a light
to the people. In Christ crucified is where
we see the light. It's the light. It's God's righteousness
and mercy having met in harmony. It's through the gospel that
he gives light. That's where he gives discernment.
That's where he makes you know his judgment rests. He's satisfied. He's our righteousness and our
salvation. He's comforting us through this
gospel. So now from heavenly Zion, that's where Christ is,
and from heavenly Zion his gospel proceeds from Christ. It goes
forth from Christ and it shall go forth until the last child
is called. He said, on my arm shall they
trust. He's going to bring them all
to trust him. So he's comforting through this gospel. He comforts
us by declaring to us that we who believe have eternal life
and everlasting salvation by Christ. He reminds us of this
over and over. You have eternal life. It's eternal.
You have everlasting salvation. So look at verse 6. Lift up your
eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath. For the
heavens shall vanish away like smoke and the earth shall wax
old like a garment. And they that dwell therein shall
die in like manner. but my salvation shall be forever
and my righteousness shall not be abolished. This heavens and
this earth shall vanish away. It's going to wax old like a
garment. It's going to vanish away and all flesh shall die
because of sin. All flesh. But Christ has created
us anew. He's created a new heaven and
a new earth. That's His people. That's His people. And He tells
us here that He's created us in righteousness. And so His
salvation and His righteousness is forever. It'll never be abolished.
You know what Peter said in the new birth, when Christ gives
us life, we're born of the living Word, the Word that abides and
lives forever. And therefore, that new man that's
birthed by Him lives and abides forever. shall never die. He
said, you're born again of incorruptible seed by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth forever. The new man in you, believer,
is eternal. He's eternally righteous, eternally
saved, and shall never die. Now, our flesh is grass. And
so Peter said, He said, the grass withereth and the flower thereof
falleth away. That's what God said. This earth
and everything in it, this heavens and all flesh is going to die.
All of it. But he said, but the word of
the Lord endures forever. And this is the word by which
the gospel is preached unto you. This is the living word, the
abiding word. And being born of him, we live
forever. We abide forever. That's the
comfort wherewith he comforts all in Zion. He makes you to
know His salvation is forever, His righteousness shall not be
abolished, and therefore, brethren, you have eternal life. You have
it right now, in possession. So the Lord makes the application.
Having said that, listen to this application, verse 7. Hearken
unto Me, hearken unto Me, ye that know Christ our righteousness,
you that know righteousness, The people in whose heart is
my law, the people who have been born of my word, in whose heart
my covenant is. Fear ye not the reproach of men,
neither be ye afraid of their revilings. He just keeps telling
us. He does this constantly. Hearken
to me. Turn from looking at these things.
Hearken to me, God said. Hearken to me. You are righteous
in Christ. You have been made righteous
in Christ. Do not fear the reproach of men. God says, My eternal
word is in your heart. Do not be afraid of men's revilings. For the moth shall eat them up
like a garment and the worm shall eat them like wool, but my righteousness
shall be forever and my salvation from generation to generation.
Now, when the Lord comforts us. This is how he renews our inward
man. Isaiah is cast down and the children
of Israel are cast down. He's true elect among them or
cast down. But when he speaks this word
and really speaks effectually and says, hearken to me, we hearken
to him, we hear him. And when he does that, he renews
the inward man and he mortifies his flesh. It's our flesh that's
despondent. It's our flesh that's cast down.
It's our flesh that can't look at anything. It looks at everything
else but God. But when He says this, He strengthens
us and He wakes us up. Now watch this. Now Isaiah starts
crying for Him to awake. Verse 9. He wakes you up and
He makes you call on Him. We wouldn't otherwise. We wouldn't. Imagine if we were invaded by
a foreign nation and taken captive. Think how despondent we'd be.
What's going to keep you in the midst of something like that?
Same thing keeps us every day. He wakes you up. He renews the
inward man. And when he does that, then you
start calling on him. Look what he says in verse 9.
Awake! Awake! Put on strength, O arm
of the Lord! Christ is the arm of the Lord.
Isaiah is calling out to Him now. Awake! Awake! Put on strength,
O arm of the Lord! Awake as in the ancient days
and the generations of old. Who woke who here? We start praying
to God and calling on God and begging God to awake to do something
for us. Why do we call on Him? Who woke
who here? The Lord came first and said,
hearken to Me. And He said all these promises
of how He's going to comfort His people. And what we're going
to see here is Isaiah says the same thing right back to Him.
He says, Awake, hearken. And He says, verse 9, Art thou
not it that hath cut Rahab? You're not the one who destroyed
Egypt. You're the one who wounded the dragon, the serpent, Pharaoh.
Are thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great
deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransom
to pass over? He wakes you up to call upon
Christ, Oh, arm of the Lord, power of the Lord. You're the
one who delivered your people out of Egypt. You're the one
who came forth and opened the way for the ransom to pass over.
You bore the justice that we deserve and made us righteous
and gave us this salvation. awake for us. He conquered sin, death, and
hell for us, and in Him we are passing over. And when He brings
us to cast it all on Him, then He gives us this assurance. Since
Christ ransomed us, He promises, verse 11, therefore the redeemed
of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion.
In Adam we departed. Our sin separated us from God.
And Israel here was separated out of Zion because they had
turned to idolatry and sin and self-righteousness and trying
to come to God by their own hand. And God is saying, I'm bringing
you back. And that's what He's telling
you and me. You're coming to heavenly Zion. You're returning
to the Lord. We really are marching to Zion. That's what we're doing. This
is not our home. This is going to be burned up.
We're marching to Zion. Verse 11, you come with singing
with everlasting joy upon their head, they shall obtain gladness
and joy and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. Notice there
He says everlasting joy shall be upon their head, singular. Back in Isaiah 35.10 He says
everlasting joy will be on their heads, plural. And we are going
to have everlasting joy on our heads, each of us. But when He
brings us to glory, There is going to be everlasting joy on
Christ our Head. He said, He will dwell with them
and they shall be His people and God Himself shall be with
them and be their God and God shall wipe away all their tears
from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former
things are passed away. And we have reason right now
to rejoice. We have no reason not to rejoice
because This is eternal, what I'm talking about. This is eternal,
and we have this. Now, our Lord reminds us again
that He alone is the one who's going to comfort. He says in
verse 12, I, even I, am He that comforteth you. Who art thou
that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and
a son of man which shall be made as grass? And forget the Lord
thy maker? that hath stretched forth the
heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and has feared
continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor,
as if he were ready to destroy, as if the oppressor made himself
ready to destroy. Where is the fury of the oppressor,
he said? Our Savior promises here, I,
even I, am he that comforts you. Do you think anything is going
to stop his people from being comforted? Nothing. So, after he's reminded us that
we're eternal, and he reminded us that we're immortal, and he
reminded us that we have everlasting righteousness, that we're eternally
saved, he asked this, now who are you that you should be afraid
of a man that shall die? Or the son of man who's perishing
grass, and forget your maker? He says, you have eternal life,
you have eternal righteousness, you have eternal salvation, you're
never going to die. Who are you to be afraid of men
that are nothing but grass? He said, I stretched forth the
heavens, I'm your maker, I laid the foundation of the earth.
You remember Isaiah 40 verse 12 says, He meted out heaven
with a span. He stretched out the heavens
as a curtain. He spread them out as a tent to dwell in. When
he says he meted out heaven with a span, that's what you do on
your computer when you put your fingers on there and you spread
them out like that and open a window. He said, I made the heavens that
way. I spread them out like a curtain
with his hand. Why are you fearing continually
every day because of the fury of the oppressor? As if he were
ready to destroy. Where is the fury of the oppressor? Anybody who would oppress one
of his people, anybody who would try to pour out their fury on
one of his people. Listen to this, Isaiah 54, look
over there, 54 verse 5. Thy maker is thy husband. The Lord of hosts is His name.
That means He rules everything. Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel, the God of the whole earth shall He be called. Now
drop down to verse 15. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake. They're going to gather
together, he said. They only can gather together
if he permits them to. But he says, if it's not my will
for them, he says, they're going to gather together, but they're
going to fall for your sake. Look at verse 16. Behold, I have
created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and it
brings forth an instrument for his work, and I've created the
waster to destroy. No weapon, that's formed against
thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against
thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the inheritance of the
servants of the Lord. This is God's covenant promise
to us, brethren. Their righteousness is of me,
saith the Lord. That's why he says every tongue
that's going to rise against thee in judgment, you're going
to condemn them. Because your righteousness is
of me. Your righteousness is of me, God said. Now he's going
to illustrate our fear and our anxiety. Go back to Isaiah 51
and look at verse 14. He says here, the captive exile. Now they're taken by the Assyrians
and they're captive and he's describing here, he's illustrating
what people do when they get fearful and anxious because of
looking at things below and circumstances. He says, the captive exile hasteneth. He's full of anxiety that he
may be loosed and that he should not die in the pit nor that his
bread should fail. You know how unbelief takes us
captive. It just takes us captive. We're
in a body of flesh and unbelief will take you captive. We start
fearing men, we start fearing circumstances, we start fearing
tomorrow, we start fearing things. And we hasten to loose ourselves.
We try to loose ourselves lest we die in the pit or our bread
fail. God says in verse 15, but I am
the Lord thy God. I'm the Lord thy God. They divided
the sea whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts is His name.
He's speaking this primarily to His prophet Isaiah. But He's
speaking it to all His messengers, all His people who He's gathered
us together to bear witness to Him. He's comforting us, He's
strengthening us, He's renewing us. He says, I'm the Lord thy
God. The Lord thy God. Don't be acting
like the... the captive exile who is all
full of anxiety and trying to loose himself and save himself.
I am the Lord thy God. I redeemed you from the sea of
my wrath, from the depths of that sea. And He spoiled principalities
and powers and made a show of them openly tromping over them
in it. This is what He accomplished.
The Lord of hosts is His name. Men and things and all creation
is controlled by Him. We are controlled by Him. Everything
is controlled by Him. And He reminds us why He called
us. Why did He call you? What's our purpose? Why did He
call Isaiah? Verse 16, I've put my words in
thy mouth. Remember back over there when
he saw the glory of the Lord and heard holy, holy, holy, and
they brought up a coal from off the altar and put it on his tongue?
And the Lord said, ìWho shall go for us?î And he said, ìHere
I am, Lord, send me.î The Lord said, ìI put my words in your
mouth. I put my words in your mouth. I called you and Iíve
sent you to preach my word.î Look at verse 16, ìAnd Iíve covered
thee in the shadow of my hand.î Christ said, ìNone shall harm
you. Iíve got you covered.î What does He send us forth to preach? Why does he send us forth to
preach? Why does he have us preach this gospel? Now look at this.
This is assurance. Verse 16, that I may plant the
heavens. He's planting the new heavens.
And lay the foundations of the new earth and say unto Zion,
thou art my people. With every chosen, redeemed child,
every sinner he calls to Christ, he's planting the new heaven.
And he's laying the foundations of the new earth, when he puts
us, plants us on Christ our foundation. Everyone he calls in, he's created.
When you see that new Jerusalem coming out of heaven, it's his
people. He's planting his people as the
new heavens and the new earth. And he says, and I'm going to
say to Zion, I'm going to say to my people, thou art my people.
That's what he's doing. He said, how am I going to give
you a goodly inheritance? You're going to call me my father.
And he said, and I'm going to call you my people. That's why
he put his word in the mouth of his messengers. That's why
he's covering his people with his hand. Thou art my people. That's what he's going to say
to all Zion. And so he commands us now with this great assurance.
Watch verse 17. Now he's speaking to us here.
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which has drunk at the hand of
the Lord the cup of his fury. Thou hast drunken the dregs of
the cup of trembling and wrung them out. Look at verse 22. Thus
saith thy Lord, thee Lord, and thy God that pleaded the cause
of his people. Behold, I've taken out of thy
hand the cup of trembling and the dregs of the cup of my fury.
Thou shalt no more drink it again, but I will put it into the hand
of them that afflict thee. Christ did this. He drank the
cup of the fury of God's wrath in place of His people. But God
here speaks to you and me who are Jerusalem and says, you awake,
you've drunken that cup already. You and I are going to drink
this sweet cup of wine to remember Christ shedding His blood and
that's the cup He's given us to drink. But for us, He drank
the cup of God's wrath. He drank that cup of fury. He
is the one who pleads the cause of His people. And He has pled
the cause of His people. And He says to you and I, you
won't drink it again. You will not drink it again.
So He says, Awake, stand up, O Jerusalem. Your righteousness
is established. Your justice is satisfied. Now
He says, verse 18, back up there, He describes their day and He
describes our day. And He says, this is why I am
sending you forth. There's none to guide her among all the sons
whom she's brought forth. Neither is there any that taketh
her by the hand of all the sons that she's brought up. These
two things have come unto thee, and who shall be sorry for thee?
Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword. By
whom shall I comfort thee?" He's saying there's nobody in this
land, in this world, that can comfort my people. But He said,
I'm going to comfort them through this gospel. I'm going to call
them through this gospel. I'm going to give them these
blessings through this gospel. And so He says to us, that's
why I'm sending you. If He called you, and He's blessed
you, and He's increased you, He's not going to stop calling
you. He's not going to stop blessing you. He's not going to stop increasing
you. Because He has a people He's going to call out, and there's
nobody else to do it. and he's going to do it through
his church, through his people. Now look again, he says, I, even
I am he that shall comfort thee, I'll comfort my people through
this gospel. So he says to us in Isaiah 52.1, Awake, awake,
put on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city, for henceforth there shall no more
come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. These ones I'm
calling, I'm going to circumcise them in heart, and I'm going
to purify them in heart, and they're going to be washed in
the blood. Every one of them. He's talking about His spiritual
Jerusalem, His spiritual Zion. So He says to us, shake thyself
from the dust. Arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bands
of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. When He's redeemed us,
He's taken that yoke of bondage off of us. He says now, shake
it off. Shake it off. Arise from the
dust. Shake it off. For thus saith the Lord, you
sold yourselves for naught. You shall be redeemed without
money. And that's what He's done. He's redeemed us without money.
Verse 5, He says, now therefore. Verse 4 just tells us that they
were in Assyria. And he says, verse 5, Now therefore,
what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away
for naught? They that rule over them make
them to howl, saith the Lord. And my name continually every
day is blasphemed. That's a good description. The
Assyrian here is a good picture of all falsehood, all false worship,
all vain works religion. And making my people to howl.
They are putting heavy burdens on my people. They are binding
and yoking and biting and devouring my people. But he says, I am
calling them out. Now watch this, verse 6. Therefore,
now he sends Isaiah and the children of Israel to preach. Just like
he sends us to preach his gospel. But
now watch what he does through the gospel, verse 6. Therefore
my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in
that day, the day when He calls His child, they are going to
know in that day that I am He that does speak. Behold, it is
I." Didn't He say, He said, I even I am He that comforts you? I
am the one who comforts my people and He says here, my people shall
know my name. In that day, He said, I alone
call them, I alone bless them, I alone increase them. And He
does this throughout the life of faith. And when He does it,
every time He does it, He says, they shall know I am He that
does speak. Behold, it's I. It's I. So what He's telling them and
what He's telling us is no matter how dire things may appear, He
says, hearken to Me. Now look back at Abraham. I called
him alone. I alone blessed him. I alone
increased him. And he says, that's what I'm
going to do for you. That's what I'm going to do for
my people. Don't fear men. Don't fear things. Don't look
around and get despondent because of your circumstances. He said,
I'm the Lord of hosts. I gave you your circumstances.
Look to me, he said. Look to me. I've covered you
in my hand. I've put my words in your mouth.
You're going to preach it because I'm calling all of Zion and they're
going to be brought before me and I'm going to say, you're
my people. You're my people. And so as long as he has a lost
sheep, this gospel age is going to continue. His church is going
to continue. His people are going to continue
because he said, they shall know me from the least to the greatest.
They're going to know me. And when He calls you, and He
comforts you, He blesses you, and He increases you with this
good news, what do we say? Verse 7, How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth
salvation, and says unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. That's what He teaches us over
and over and over. Thy God reigneth. Look to Him. Look to Him. He's the only one that can wake
us up and make us look to Him. He's the only one. And when He
does, He'll bring you to call on Him. And He'll bring you to
call on Him. And He'll bring these blessings
home to your heart and you'll see, I have nothing to worry
about. I have absolutely nothing to
worry about. I have eternal life. Why fear that which is not eternal? That's so of you, believer. That's
so of me. We have eternal life. Everything
we can see with these eyes is going to vanish. But His people
are forever by His everlasting righteousness. I pray He bless
that. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Oh God, our Father, we ask you
to cause us to hearken to you, cause us to listen to you. This is your word to your people.
Make us hear you. Lord, renew us, strengthen us,
awaken us. so that we call upon you and
trust you so that we see just how established you've established
your people in Christ. We see how capable you are of
lifting us up, of strengthening us, of correcting us, of leading
us. Just as You brought all our salvation
from the beginning, You'll accomplish it to the end. Lord, comfort
Your people with these words. Strengthen Your people with these
words. Make us truly look upon the mountains and see that Christ
is Him that comes. Make us hear Him and know His
name, that we might rejoice and this proclamation of peace and
this proclamation of your gospel, that we might be comforted knowing
that our God reigns. Lord, we need you to make this
word effectual. We ask you for that. Forgive
us, Lord, for looking at the waves and forgive us, Lord, for
where we failed you, where we've sinned, where we've fallen. And
Lord, keep us being an encouragement to one another. Keep us being
a comfort to one another, reminding one another of these great promises
you've given us. Lord, don't ever let us put the
yoke on one another. Help us to help one another,
lift each other from the dust. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.