Well let us turn to God's Word
and I want to return to the short portion we were looking at last
Thursday evening in Isaiah 54. I'll read again that passage
that we read on that occasion. Isaiah 54 from verse 15 through
16 and 17. 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 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 servants
of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. And
I said then we would concentrate more especially on verse 17,
but we only really looked at the first part of that verse,
the first sentence. The verse is made up of two sentences.
And tonight I want us to look at that closing sentence, the
words, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and
their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. And to say something
with regards to this heritage that is being spoken of at the
end of the chapter, and so really of course the words that we have
in this part of the verse throws us back on those things that
have been said previously all that is written in the chapter
and not only in chapter 54 but we can go back to chapter 53
I suppose we in a sense can go back to all that the prophet
has been saying in the course of his ministry the great truth
that he's been declaring thus far this is the heritage of the
servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith
the Lord When we think of the heritage, I suppose we can go
back to words that are said previously in the chapter, such as we find
in verses 11 and 12, a gracious word to those who feel themselves
to be in the midst of trial, so they were afflicted, tossed
with tempers 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." Looking at those words,
I immediately thought in terms of what we're told in the book
of the Revelation concerning heaven itself. And of course,
that is the great inheritance that awaits the people of God. And remember the description
that we find at the end of the Revelation in chapter 21, and
the words are so similar to those two verses that we've just referred
to. There in Revelation 21, at verse
10, John speaks of how he was carried away in the Spirit to
a great high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy
Jerusalem, descending out of heaven. from God, having the
glory of God. And her light was like unto a
stone, most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. And so he begins to describe
something of this vision. Verse 18, the building of the
wall was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like unto clear
crystal. and the foundations of the wall
of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.
The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third
a chalcedony, the fourth an emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth
sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth a
topaz, the tenth a chrysoprisus, the eleventh a jacinth, the twelfth
an amethyst, and Obviously, what is being spoken of back here
in Isaiah is a reference to the same thing. It's that blessed
inheritance that awaits the people of God, that glorious abode,
heaven itself, even the heavenly Jerusalem. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord. Many blessings, really, are spoken
of throughout the course of the chapter. And we said something with regards
to some of those things last time. There's God's great promise. There's the blessed truth of
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 5, 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, hear his blessing that comes to the
whole earth. The chapter, of course, begins with the promise
of the gospel so clearly spoken of in chapter 53, and that gospel
going out, as it were, to the Gentiles. Enlarge the place of
thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy inhabitation. Spare not, lengthen thy cords,
and strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt break forth on the
right hand and on the left. and then we read of the Gentiles. How God is doing a great work,
of course, in the day of grace in calling many sinners unto
himself. Who has Christ come to save?
Not just sinners amongst Israel, but sinners of the Gentiles.
He took not on Him the nature of the angels. He took upon Him
the seed of Abram. And Abram's seed, of course,
is those that believe. For as much as the children were
partakers of flesh and blood, he became flesh that he might
live and die as a man for sinners. And he is that one who is not
only spoken of as the husband there in verse 5, but the Redeemer. Those are parallel statements.
The Redeemer That's the kinsman redeemer, it's the Goel. It's
the same word that's used in Job 19.25, I know that my redeemer
liveth and he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. It's all that Boaz was to Ruth
when he would ensure that she should obtain that possession
in Israel, which was hers of course. because she was the widow
of Menorah and Boaz was the near kinsman to redeem that portion
that was hers by right. Here is the great promise. What
a promise it is that the Lord Jesus Christ is to his people
that kinsman. Bone of their bone, flesh of
their flesh. But then also in the chapter
the heritage spoken of it's not only God's promise of a real
union with the Lord Jesus Christ, but there's that blessed call
of the Gospel. Now God will call His people
to Himself. And who are those that are called?
Verse 6, The Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken, and
grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused,
saith thy God. And as God calls, so God does.
gathers his people to himself with great mercies will I gather
thee he says all the time to Shiloh that the
gathering of the people is to be the Lord will call the people
to himself all that the father giveth me you say shall come
to me either cometh to me I will in no wise cast out and as there
is the call so there's also that promise of God's gracious teaching
verse 13 all thy children shall be taught of the Lord great shall
be the peace of thy children and how that word of course is
referred to in John chapter 6 and and there at verse 45 it is written
in the prophets and they shall be all taught of God the very
words that we have in this chapter then are taken up in the gospel
they shall be all taught of God says Christ and everyone that
hath heard and have learned of the Father cometh unto merry
all that the Father has given to him they come to him it's
a great promise of the new covenant that they shall be taught. The
consequence of that teaching is the coming. The promise of
the covenant as we have it there in Jeremiah 31 and verse 34 and
those words again taken up in Hebrews chapter 8. They shall
teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother but
they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest
says the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity
and I will remember their sin no more that's the teaching of
the gospel even the forgiveness of sins and then as there is
teaching so there is a divine keeping the Lord watches over
his people and that's really what we were thinking about last
time the first part of the 17th verse,
no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Every tongue
that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. And as we were considering those
words, I spoke in particular of the certainty of God's purpose,
how his decree is absolute. We did make some reference to
the historical context. Isaiah is ministering, of course,
some hundred years previous to that terrible judgment that would
fall upon them by means of the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. And our God is sovereign in the
judgment that will come upon them. God is the one who has
created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, that bringeth
forth an instrument for the work. He has created the waster to
destroy the enemies that will come and will be successful. They're under God's sovereign
hand. And well, Jeremiah reminds us, doesn't he, of that truth
in Chapter 25 of Jeremiah we see how that a man like Nebuchadnezzar
is specifically named in verse 9. And again at verse 11, God says
there at verse 9 in Jeremiah 25, Behold, I will send and take
all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadrezza,
the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this
land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these
nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make
them an astonishment, and then hissing into perpetual desolations. And then verse 11, this whole
land shall be a desolation and an astonishment and these nations
shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. All God's sovereignty
is absolute. All our times are in His hands,
all those events that come to any man, they're under the hand
of the Almighty. But as God is sovereign in in
judgment, them going into exile, so God is also sovereign with
regards to their restoration. Because that would also occur.
He would raise up another. He would raise up Cyrus, the
Medes and the Persians to overthrow the Babylonians and there would
be release for those of Israel who had been taken into captivity. Or no weapon formed against thee
shall prosper. Every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. Eventually then
God overthrows the Babylonians, the might of Babylon and we remarked
last time now that we have specific reference to Cyrus who would not appear to nearly 200 years
after the writings of Isaiah Remember the words in chapter
45, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right
hand I have hold, and to subdue nations before him. And I will
loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved
gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before them,
and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates
of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. The Lord God can
speak, of this man as if he is speaking to the man who is not
yet born that he is the Lord's servant the last verse of the
previous 44th chapter that said of Cyrus he is my shepherd and
shall perform all my pleasure even saying to Jerusalem thou
shalt be built and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid
and so the decree was passed as we read in the opening words
of the book of Ezra by Cyrus the Persian. No weapon formed against God's
children can ever prosper. The Lord will keep his saints
in all ages. His decree is an absolute decree.
The great comfort of believing in the sovereignty of God. But
then Besides his decree, his design, it's strange, isn't it?
We remarked last time on those words, those three words, not by me,
at the beginning of verse 15. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, all these nations who would come at various times in
Israel's history, they shall gather together, but not by me." And we remarked, it's a strange
word, it seems to suggest that God is not sovereign, but it's
to be interpreted, I said, in terms more of God's design. They're not by me in terms of
destruction. They are His servants. and God
will preserve his people through all those bitter years when the
enemy seems to be prevailing. Whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake, it says at the end of verse
15. No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper. Every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. Oh, God's design is a gracious
design. He is chastening, He is correcting
His people. But He's not going to destroy
His people. I know the thoughts that I think towards you, He
says. Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected
end. He will bring them again out
of captivity. All the comfort then that we
find here with regards to the The heritage of the people of
God, their God is a sovereign God. In the midst of all the
trials and all the troubles that might befall them. He is only
working out his own purpose, but his way, all his way is in
the sea, his path is in the deep waters. And his footsteps, they're
not known. There's a mystery in all these
things. But when we When we fail to last it is God who calls,
it's God who gathers. When we are made to feel our
great ignorance it's the Lord God who has to come and teach
us. These are the promises that he
gives. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord. When we
feel weak he is the one who will afford protection and keep us
and preserve us. But then when we come to this
heritage at the end of the verse we see the principal thing is
the last thing that's spoken of. Their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord. All this is the ultimate of their
heritage. A righteousness which comes from
the Lord God Himself. Though those who understand anything
of the Lord's ways and the Lord's dealings, those who are real
sinners in their own eyes, how they fail to need righteousness
the Lord himself says in his ministry in the gospel they that
are whole have no need of the physician but they that are sick
I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance all
that blessed call of the gospel he comes to the sinner that one
who fills above all a need before a God who is of eyes too pure
to behold iniquity and cannot look upon sin. And that promise
that we have also in Jeremiah, Jeremiah 23, 6. This is the name
whereby he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. And of course, the husband gives
his name to his bride. Thy maker is thine husband, the
Lord of hosts is his name, the Redeemer. the Holy One of Israel
and so what do we read in Jeremiah 33 16 this is the name where
which she shall be called the Lord's our righteousness and
so we have it here in verse 14 in righteousness shalt thou be
established in righteousness shalt thou be established. And how has it been accomplished? It is by the coming of Christ,
made of a woman made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law. Christ has made peace for the
sinner. that one who was in a state of
alienation from God, all of us by nature, enemies in our minds
by wicked works, but made nigh by the blood of Christ. And so
we read here at the end of verse 13, great shall be the peace
of thy children. How was Christ made peace? Remember the language of the
Apostle when he addresses his epistle to the church of the
Colossians there in the opening chapter of Colossians at verse
20. Having made peace through the
blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself
by him I say whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight all sin is gone here in his love
not that we love God but that he loved us says John and sent
his son to be the propitiation for our sins to bear in his own
person, all that holy wrath of the Lord God against sin. Peace
through the blood of his cross. And of course, as I said, when
we read here of the heritage of the Lord, this is the heritage
of the Lord, I said we can look back not just to the content
of this 54th chapter, we can go back Throughout the book we
can go back certainly to chapter 53 and there of course we learn
of that one who is the Lord's suffering servant. And the language so graphic a
description of Christ in his sufferings. Verse 4, 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 iniquities, the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes
we are healed. Oh, it's peace through the blood
of His cross, that great sin atoning sacrifice. And then of course at the end
of that 53rd chapter, doesn't the Prophet speak of
the blessed inheritance of the people of God. What is their
real heritage? Well, Christ is the sea of the
travel of his soul. He shall be satisfied. By his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify men, for he shall
bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong. He has an inheritance himself
and he divides that with strong sinners, with great sinners.
Because he poured out his soul unto death and was numbered with
the transgressors and bared the sin of many and made intercession
for the transgressors, for sinners, for the greatest of sinners.
This is the sinner's inheritance then, not only peace but righteousness. My righteous servant shall justify
many, it says. And when we read here at verse
14, In righteousness shalt thou be established, the verb there,
to be established, is basically, literally, the verb to stand. In righteousness shalt thou stand. and we think of the language
of Kanzinzendorf, the Moravian, of course, in that great hymn
that we're going to sing just now, Bold shall I stand in that
great day, for who ought to my charge shall lay, while through
thy blood absolved I am from sins, tremendous guilt and shame. Oh, the The heritage is this that the
sinner can stand, justified, acquitted. Justification, of
course, a legal term, so clearly. And we see that when we turn
back to the Lord of Moses and the task of the judges in Israel,
those opening words of Deuteronomy 25. If there'd be a controversy
between men and they come unto judgments, that the judges may
judge them, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the
wicked." It's the task of the judge. It is God as the judge. And what does the judge do? He
justifies the righteous. He declares the righteous person
to be the innocent one. He acquits the person. And he
condemns the wicked. And how amazing it is that the
sinner in Christ is that one who stands justified, acquitted.
It's our standing before God. And this is the gospel that the
apostles were preaching, as we see in the Acts. We have that
record, don't we, of Paul's preaching at Antioch. Antioch in Pisidia
there in chapter 13. And he declares, verse 39, by
him, that is, by Christ, all that believe are justified from
all things that they could not be justified by the Lord of Moses. The law condemns, but in Christ
all the sinner is justified. And Paul understood that. Paul
understood that, how he writes freely and in such a fulsome
fashion in his epistles of the great truth, the great doctrine
of justification, in that portion that we read. His own great desire
to be found in him, he says, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith. Oh, this, this is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord. What a heritage it is. And we have it in the language
of the wise man. Remember how in Proverbs chapter
8, that wonderful chapter which speaks to us of The wisdom of
God is the Lord Jesus Christ that's there in that chapter.
What does he say? Verse 8, I lead in the way of
righteousness that I might cause those that love me to inherit
substance, and I will fill their treasures. Well, is that what
we desire, to have that precious truth of our justification? What a substance it is, what
a treasure it is, to be well established in that great doctrine
that was so much rediscovered at the time of the Protestant
Reformation. This is our inheritance. The
psalmist says, Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is
none upon earth that I desire beside them. My flesh and my
heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion
forever. believers portion their righteousness
is of me saith the Lord and then the closing verse of psalm 17 it struck me just the other day
reading through that psalm the very last verse of psalm 17 David
says as for me I will behold thy face in righteousness As for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness." We're in the very likeness, then, of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the heritage of the servants of the Lord.
Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Well, let us,
as we conclude, Before we come to prayer, sing that hymn that
I referred to of Kansinzendorf. It's 103. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty are, my glorious dress, midst flaming worlds in these
arrayed, With joy shall I lift up my head, Bold shall I stand
in that great day, For reward to my charge I'll lay, While
through thy blood absolved I am From sin's tremendous curse and
shame." The hymn 103, the tune is Rockingham 398. so