Let us turn again to God's Word
in the portion of scripture we were reading Isaiah 54 Isaiah chapter 54 I'll read from
verse 4 through 8 Isaiah 54 verse 4 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 spirits, The wife of youth,
when thou wast refused, saith thy God, for a small moment have
I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In
a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord
thy Redeemer. And the words in particular that
I want to seem to dwell on are those that we find here in verse 5. Beginning of verse 5, thy maker
is thine husband, for thy maker is thine husband. I've read several verses and
will make some reference to what he said in the context of what
we have there at the beginning of that fifth verse. But remember
the context more generally, the ministry of the Prophet, how
he's preaching, about a hundred years before the Babylonian captivity,
when Jerusalem would be sacked, the temple laid to the ground,
the people carried away into exile. But he does speak of these
things, but also he speaks very much that will not be the end
for Judah, that Jerusalem will yet be re-inhabited, that God
will save a remnant and even when the Prophet receives his
call and his commission and we have the detail of that there
in the 6th chapter he's given that word of assurance by the
Lord God that there will be a people yet though it be a very small
remnant at the end of chapter 6 He asked the question, Lord,
how long? The answer comes, until the cities be wasted without
inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly
desolate. All that that was going to befall
them then is God's judgment because of their sins, because of their
idolatrous ways. Jerusalem besieged by the Babylonians
falling, the people removed far away. As it says in verse 12,
the Lord hath removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking
in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth,
and it shall return, says the Lord God. There is the promising
of restoration. And again in chapter 10 and verse
21, the remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, the
mighty God. And so here in the portion that
we've just been reading, there's reference to the same, some events
that did come to pass. As it says in verse 7, for a
small moment have I forsaken them, but with great mercies
will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. And so We do well
to take account of the history that lies behind the words of
the prophecy of Isaiah. He is ministering in a very real
situation. He's God's servant there to,
in particular, little Judah. That's remnant really, just the
two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, the other tribes in the north,
Israel. They'd already been scattered,
as it were, to the four winds by the Assyrians. But God would
yet preserve his ancient covenant people. But, whilst we take account
of the historical context, as I've said many a time, we're
to surely recognize that what we have here is gospel prophecy.
There's no doubt about that when we read, as we did this morning,
the content of that 53rd chapter. It's quite a remarkable account
of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus, God's righteous servant,
as he's described in that chapter. How detailed is the account and
how we see its accomplishment in every part in the ministry,
and certainly in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
when we come here into chapter 54, the opening words of the
chapter, sing O barren, thou that didst not bear, break forth
into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not prevail with child,
for more are the children of the desert. than the children
of the married wife, saith the Lord." We see how the Apostle
Paul takes up these words when he's writing there in the New
Testament in the epistle to the Galatians and in chapter 4 of
that epistle. Look at the language that we
have, verse 21 following. He's dealing of course with The
churches in Galatia have been bedeviled by those legalists
who want to bring them, as it were, under the law of Moses. The gospel of the grace of God
in Christ said these legalists are not enough for salvation.
Men have something to do themselves. They have to become debtors to
the law in some sense. How in our fallen nature we're
so wedded to the idea of works, wedded to the thought of a covenant
of work, something to be done. But how Paul addresses these
believers in the churches in Galatia, tell me, you that desire
to be under the law, Do ye not hear the law? For it is written
that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other
by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants. The one from the Mount Sinai,
which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar, For this Agar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia. And answereth to Jerusalem which
now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which
is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written,
Rejoice thou barren that bearest not. break forth and cry thou
that travailest not for the desolate have many more children than
she which hath a husband you see here in verse 27 Paul is
appealing to the very words that we have at the opening of Isaiah
54 and this scripture is fulfilled Paul is saying in the gospel
And he says at verse 28, Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are
the children of promise. What we have here then before
us this morning is the promise of the Gospel. And it is clear
here that we have the calling of sinners of the Gentiles. Having
a great prophetic 53rd chapter, we come into the next chapter
and here at verse 2. Enlarge the place of thy tent,
let them stretch forth the curtains of thy inhabitation. Spare not
lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes, for they shall 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. And so we're not exaggerating
Anything in the Word of God that's before us this morning, if we
say that this has to do with this day of grace in which we're
living, all of this is fulfilled in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And so, bearing these things
in mind, I want us to come to these verses that I've read from
verse 4 through 8 for our text. is thine husband. This is the
great promise. But let us look more carefully
at the words. Who is the one that is being
spoken of? Who is the one who is the great
subject matter of this gospel promise, which we have particularly
here in verse 5? 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. We see a number of truths concerning
this One, who stands at the very center of the Gospel of the grace
of God. We read of that One who is the
Creator. Thy Maker it is. There in verse
5, the opening part of the verse, Thy Maker. The Psalmist says,
Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that made us, not
we ourselves. And what does God do in creation? He reveals Himself. Oh, we know
the heavens declare His glory and the firmament show us His
handiwork. We see the majesty of God, the
might, the power of God in all His works of creation. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of
his mouth. The psalmist says he spake, and
it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. It was simply by his word, his
fear, that God brought all things into being. There is then a revelation
of God. He is the maker, the creator
of all things. The invisible things of him from
the creation of the earth are clearly seen being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power. And God,
says Paul in Romans 1, therefore are they without excuse. There
is no excuse for the folly of atheism. The fool says in his
heart, there is no God. And this is the God, you see,
that's revealed to us here in the words. This is the God that
we see in our text this morning, this Gospel text. He is the creator
of all things. And then also we see in the second
place that this God is that one who is sovereign. the Lord of
hosts is his name. In Romans chapter 9 and verse
29 the Apostle speaks of him as the Lord of Sabaoth. Sabaoth is simply a translation
of the Hebrew word for host, who is the Lord of hosts all
the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and
He doeth according to His will among all the armies of heaven
and all the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay His hand
and none can say to Him what doest thou? who is that one then
who is over all things in heaven and in earth And now the Prophet
continually declares the glories of this God, the sovereignty
of this God. He's dealing in many ways with the people who
are bent on idolatry. They're wanting to be like the
nations round about them. This is a hundred years before
the Babylonian captivity. And this was the great sin of
course of the people. They were idolaters. They made
idols like all their neighbouring nations. And the Prophet speaks
against that folly, and declares the sovereignty of God. He says,
Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there
is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me. Declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times of things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand. and I will do all my pleasure. For what can be likened to such
a God as this? To whom will you liken me, and
make me equal, and compare me that we may be like? This is
the challenge that the prophet is making to the foolish idolaters
there in chapter 46. The Lord God, He is the Sovereign
God. And see, How he uses this name
here in verse 5, the Lord of hosts is his name. And Lord,
as we see it here in our authorised version in capital letters, indicates
it's that covenant name. It's the Great I Am, that I Am,
the Unchanging One. Because it reminds us of his
covenant. So it reminds us of the sovereignty of his grace.
or that Christ abounds, even where sin abounds, Christ doth
so much more abound. How He is determined to save
and will save. He is the Sovereign God. And
then also here, with regards to the One being spoken of, we
are told that He is the Holy One. The Holy One of Israel it says he's the God of the whole earth
he's sovereign over all peoples but he is that one who has a
peculiar relationship with Israel you only have I known of all
the families of the earth and yet they were as sinful as any
of the nations or he is the Holy One And the Prophet, of course, is
so mindful of that, because as we've already said, we have that
detailed account of his call and his commission to be the
Lord's servant, the Lord's Prophet, there in chapter 6. And what
is he favored to see? He sees a vision of the throne
of God. King Uzziah had died. The king was dead. Long live
the king. You see, there is a king who
never dies. There is a throne that's never
vacated. And that's what he says there
in the sixth chapter. He's in the temple and he has
this vision of God and His glory. And he describes it. And the
angels, those seraphim, those burning ones, those bright creatures,
those sinless creatures, all about the throne of God. And
what did they cry? One said unto another, Holan,
Holan, Holan, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of
thy glory. Oh, he is thrice holy, he's holy
father, he's holy son, he's holy spirits. The great mystery of
the Doctrine of the Trinity, that God is One, Hero Israel,
the Lord our God is One Lord, and yet, though He be One, He
is Three. Three in One and One in Three.
We're coming to this Name that we have, Thine Husband, for Thine
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 thine husband." Now, doesn't that speak
of union? A man and his wife. The Lord God, the husband of
Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ, the bridegroom. of his bride which is the church
and it's interesting to think of union it struck me this week
I was reading reading a sermon by an old Scots minister and
it was just something he said that really struck me quite forcibly
he quotes a word of scripture there in 1st Corinthians 6.17
and the word is he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit he
that is joined to the Lord the believer who is joined to the
Lord, is one spirit. And I thought on that, and it
struck me. Union. What is union? Well, the
closest of all unions, the closest of all relationships, is of course,
that that we see when we think of God. When we think of the
unity that's in the Godhead. God is one. And yet God is three
persons. He is God the Father, He is God
the Son, He is God the Holy Spirit, but not three God, one God. And
we cannot really comprehend how this can be, but I say again,
it must be the closest and the most intimate of any union that
is ever possible. or where reason fails with all
her powers, there faith prevails and love adores. That's the most
wonderful union of all. God is one God in three persons. But there's a second union that
is like unto that when we think of the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When we think of God's manifest
in the flesh It's what the theologians call the hypostatic union, that
in the Lord Jesus Christ there's one person, and yet in that one
person there are those two natures, because he is God, and he is
man, but the two natures aren't mixed together, they're distinct
natures, and yet he is one person. And the wonder of it, even when
he's a little babe, so dependent on his mother, he's a real man-child,
he's a true human, and yet that little babe is never anything
less than the Eternal Son of God. He's one person. And it's brought out, of course,
in the language of the creeds. There are three great creeds
of the early church, the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed and the
Athanasian Creed. The Athanasian Creed is named
after Athanasius who was the great champion concerning the
true doctrine of the person of the Lord Jesus as God equal to
the Father equal to the Holy Spirit and he didn't write this
creed, but it's given that name, Athanasian, after him. And this is what it says in the
creed concerning the unity that's in the person of the Lord Jesus,
that he is God-man. This is what the creed says,
it's a long creed, but I'll just quote a short extract, who although
he be God and man, Yet he is not two, but one Christ. One, not by conversion of the
Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God's. One altogether, not by confusion
of substance, but by unity of person. Not by confusion of substance,
but by unity of person. it's like onto that first great
mystery which is God, God is one and yet God is three and
Christ is one person and yet in that one person there are
two natures and then when we come to think of human relationships well the most intimate of all
human relationships of course is that between a man and his
wife. Now that's clear. That is the
teaching of the Word of God. They become one flesh. The consummation of the union.
We have it there right at the beginning, Genesis 2.24. Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave
unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. that's the most intimate of all
human relationships and yet you know there is a relationship
that we as human beings can know that is closer than that and
I come then to what I was reading earlier in the week and the text
there in 1st Corinthians 6.17 he that is joined to the Lord
is one spirit a man and his wife have one flesh
The believer who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit. There's
no union more intimate than that. And that the Lord, you see, should
take this name unto Himself. Thy Maker is Thine Husband. Oh, this is the one that's spoken
of here in this great promise of the Gospel. Thy Maker is Thine
Husband. and well you know how the Lord
Jesus so loves the church that he gave himself for her and so
what do we read here in the text here in this fifth verse is thy
redeemer always thy redeemer and it's
a great word this word redeemer as we have it in the Old Testament
It speaks of the kinsman-redeemer. The kinsman-redeemer. We're told
in Leviticus 25 and verse 25 that if a man had become so poor
in Israel that he'd sold all his possession, there was one
who might be able to redeem that possession for him. His nearest
kinsman. His nearest kinsman. was the
one he was to look to. And the whole idea is further
explained. It's said in Leviticus 25, 25,
but it's explained in a little more detail in Deuteronomy. In
Deuteronomy 25 and verse 5, if brethren dwell together and one
of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not
marry without unto a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go
in unto her, and take her to him, to wife, and perform the
duty of her husband's brother unto her. And it shall be that
the firstborn which he beareth shall succeed in the name of
his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. That's the kinsman-redeemer.
not just redeeming the man's possession but redeeming his
name in Israel and of course this is what lies behind what
we're told concerning Boaz and Ruth remember her husband Marlon had
died and here is Ruth she's returned
with her mother-in-law Naomi to Bethlehem and she's desolate,
she's a widow, childless. But the near kinsman is Boaz. And remember how, well, we've
considered it in times past, something of the history that
we have there in the book of Ruth in chapter 3 and again in
chapter 4. In chapter 3 she's lying at the
feet of Boaz. And he says, who art thou? And
she says, I am Ruth, thine handmaid. Spread forth therefore thy skirt
over thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman. For he is
the one who is to redeem her position, as it were, as the
wife of Marlon there in Israel. Spread thy skirt over me, for
thou art a near There was a kinsman nearer, but he doesn't want to
take on that responsibility at all. That's the story, isn't
it? There in chapters 3 and 4. So it is Boaz who takes the desolate
Ruth to him. He does spread his skirt over
her. And you know, that's the imagery
that we have in Ezekiel with regards to the Lord's and his
dealings with poor, desolate sinners. That great 16th chapter,
long 16th chapter there in the book of Ezekiel. And what do
we read? Verse 8. The Lord God speaking
to Israel when I passed by thee and looked upon Behold, thy time
was a time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered
thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. Then washed I thee with water, yea, I truly washed away
thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee
also with broided work, and shod thee with badger skin, and I
girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk,
I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy
hands, and a chain on thy neck, and I put a jewel on thy forehead,
and earrings in thy ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine
head. Thus wast thou decked with gold
and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk, and broided
work, thou didst eat fine flour, and honey and oil, and thou wast
exceeding beautiful. and thou didst prosper into a
kingdom it's the same imagery you see it's the work of the
kinsman redeemer and we think of the language of Job concerning
the Lord Jesus I know that my redeemer lives and he shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth it's the same word that we have
here in verse 5 thy Redeemer." Oh, it's the Lord Jesus who is
the fulfillment, of course. He is that Redeemer. He is that
kinsman. For as much then as the children
were partakers of flesh and blood, we are told, oh, He likewise
took part of the same. He doesn't take upon Him the
seed, the nature of the angels. He takes upon Him the seed of
Abraham. He's made in the likeness of
sinful flesh and for sin. Oh, He's the great Redeemer.
He's the bridegroom of the church. He's the husband of every believer.
And he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit or the intimacy
of that blessed relationship. The one that's being spoken of
then in this gospel passage But let us look a little before we
close this morning, we'll come back to these verses later, but
God willing we'll come back to them, but just a little about
the ones who are being spoken to. We said something with regards
to the subject, the subject matter of the promise, who's being spoken
of, but who's being spoken to? The
opening words of the text, 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. 4 And then there's
the words we were just looking at in verse 5 concerning thy
maker, thine husband. And then again at verse 6, For
the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken, and greedy
in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith
thy God, or the one spoken to. You are these as sinners. This word is addressed to sinners. For we know all have sinned.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But alas,
all the multitudes, dead in trespasses and sins, though all are sinners
in God's sight, there are but few so in their own. To such
as these our Lord was sent. They are only sinners who repent.
It's those who have some sense of where they are, surely. What
do we read concerning those who are being addressed? They are
ashamed. They shall not be ashamed, it
says. Thou shalt not be put to shame. Thou shalt forget the
shame of thy youth. Look at the word that we have
here in verse 4. Three times we have that word
shame. In fact, in a sense we have it four times. Because the
expression, neither be thou confounded. The beginning there, fear not
thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded. It literally means to put to
shame. to blush with shame. That's the
idea. It's the parallelism, isn't it,
that we see in God's Word here, certainly in the Old Testament,
the Hebrew language. You get the same truth repeated,
the use of different expressions, synonyms as it were. 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.
what an emphasis there is here then on shame on shame I've referred
already to the language that we have there in that 16th chapter
of Ezekiel look again at what we read in the early part of
that particular chapter in Ezekiel 16 at verse 2. Son of man, cause
Jerusalem to know her abominations, and say, Thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land
of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, thy
mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity in the
day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou
washed in water to supple thee, thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all. Verse 6, When I passed by thee,
and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, Lay! Yea, I said unto thee, when
thou wast in thy blood, Lay! Oh the Lord, you see, what does
he say here to the prophets? Cause Israel to know her abominations, or
she's to know what she is. The Lord will have His people
to understand what their true state is, cause them to be ashamed. In verse 6, the Lord hath called
thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit a wife of youth
when thou wast refused. Again, the language that we have
here, here is one who feels forsaken, here is one who is refused, here
is one who's grieving. When the Lord deals with his
people, does he not bring them to that? They grieve over what
they are. They feel themselves forsaken,
cut off, refused. They reflect on their lives and
the sins of their lives. He grieves them, He fills them
with shame. Whom I lift with shame, my sins
confess, against thy law, against thy grace. The language that
we have there in the hymn 761 is really a paraphrase. It's
Isaac Watts' paraphrase of parts of Psalm 51. You know, he wrote
a paraphrase, didn't he, of all the Psalms. And he tells us in
the preface to to his paraphrases of the Psalms that he is attempting,
as it were, to put the Psalms in Christian dress. And now the
believer feels the truth of what he says in that little couplet
we just quoted. My lips with shame, my sins confess
against thy law, against thy grace. Oh, we sin not only against
the Lord of God, transgressors of the law, but how we despise
the grace of God our Father again the language that we have in
that 16th chapter of Ezekiel at the end of the book or the
end of the chapter I should say Ezekiel 16.62 I will establish
my covenant with them and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that thou mayest remember and
be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of
thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee. For all that thou
hast done, saith the Lord God." Or when God comes and we know
peace with God through the sacrifice of Christ, that one who is the
propitiation for our sins, that one who was born the wrath of
God that was had just as peace with God through the Lord Jesus
Christ. What does he say there when he
establishes that covenant? It's the covenant of grace, it's
the gospel. It's what we have in these verses that we're considering
here this morning. The gospel of the grace of God,
when we know it, are we not ashamed? When we think of our past lives,
when we think of our present lives, how we continually feel
that we are yet falling short of the glory of God. The psalmist
says it, Psalm 44 and verse 15, My confusion is continually before
me, and the shame of my face hath covered mine. What with
those friends who stand in need then of such a gospel. How does
it begin, the text? Fear not. Fear not. Do you know any fear
not's? And they are addressed to those
shame faced ones. Those grieving ones. Great fear not's we find here
in this book of the prophet. In chapter 41 for example. Look at what he says here at
verse 10. Fear thou not. I like that, it's not just fear
not, but the singular pronoun is inserted there in the middle,
it's so personal, so direct to an individual. Fear thou not,
for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will strengthen
thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness, And then again at verse 13, I,
the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee,
Fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Oh, he's the Redeemer
of his people, and yet he's the Holy One, the God who can by
no means clear the guilty. but how Christ has paid the price
of their redemption and so the Holy One is also their Redeemer
and the words of our text 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 anymore 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 thou wast refused
saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken
thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, But with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Oh, the Lord be pleased and to
bless His word to us. We'll come back, if the Lord
will, and consider something more from this great gospel promise. The Lord bless His word to us.
Let us now sing our concluding praise this morning. It's the
hymn 580, the Tune Kings College, 716. My soul with holy wonder
views, the love the Lord the Saviour shows to wretched dying
man, so strange, so boundless is his grace, he takes the vilest
of our race, with him to live and reign. He'll charm them with
a holy kiss and make them know what union is. He'll draw them
to his breast, a smiling eye upon them cast, which brings
them to his feet in haste, each singing, I am blessed. 580, June 716. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy,
holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, So strange, so boundless is His
grace He takes the highest of the priests With Him to live
and pray He'll charm them with He'll draw them to His presence. A smiling eye upon them comes,
Which brings them to His face. I'm blessed, forever blessed. My rags are gone and I am dressed
in colors white as snow. I'm married to the Lord, His beauties I can never explain,
nor of His glory