Let us turn to God's Word in
the portion that we read in Isaiah chapter 54 Isaiah chapter 54
and the second verse. Enlarge the place of thy tent
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitation. Spare
not Lengthen thy courts, and strengthen thy stakes. Isaiah chapter 54 and the second
verse, here we have that promising of enlargement. Enlarge the place
of thy tents, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy inhabitation. Spare not, lengthen thy courts,
and strengthen thy stakes. Now, in the previous chapter
of course, We find familiar words, I'm sure, that great prophecy
concerning the Lord's suffering servant, that prophecy of the
Lord Jesus Christ in all his substitutionary suffering when
he made that great sacrifice for sins. And so, not surprisingly,
when we come to the New Testament Scriptures, we discover many
references to the words that we have in Isaiah chapter 53. But there is also reference in
the New Testament to the words that we have here at the beginning
of the 54th chapter. And we have it of course in that
portion that we read in Galatians chapter 4, the opening words
of the this fifty-fourth 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 desolate
than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. And we have it of course there
in Galatians 4, as I said, and we take account of the context,
the quotation, of that verse from Isaiah is found in verse
27 of Galatians 4, it is written, Rejoice thou barren that bearest
not, break forth and cry, thou that prevailest not, for the
desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband.
The Apostle Paul then is appealing back to these words in Isaiah
and the context is one in which he is clearly speaking of the
Gospel over against the law, the contrast between Hagar and
Sarah, between the bond child Ishmael who was born after the
flesh and the son of promise which was Isaac and he says that
here at the end of Galatians 4 we have this allegory that
these are the two commoners and so when we come to the quotation
from Isaiah 54 He is speaking there clearly of the greater
blessing, the enlargement that will come under the Gospel. We know when we read the history
of Abraham concerning how Sarah was barren for so many years
and yet the promise comes in Genesis chapter 18 that Sarah
shall have a son. the great promise that is fulfilled. This is the seed of Abraham and
his seed is to be as the stars of the heaven, the multitude
and the sand which is upon the sea shore. The great blessing
then that will come because Isaac is a wonderful type of the Lord
Jesus who is the true seed of Abraham, who is that son of promise,
the promised Messiah So what we read in the New Testament
in Galatians chapter 4 is very much the key whereby we can understand
what is being said here in the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah. It is a promise that has to do
ultimately with enlargement under the Gospel. Enlarge the place
of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy inhabitations,
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."
Well, as we come to consider the words particularly The second
verse for our text this morning. First of all, I want us to consider
what we have here is an unbounded prophecy. An unbounded prophecy. It has to do, as I've said, with
the Gospel, with the coming of Christ and the great success
of the Gospel. We need to remind ourselves of
that, of course. We feel that we live in a day
of small things. And it is right of course that
we recognize the doctrine of the remnant, but ultimately there
is to be that success under the gospel, this is the promise.
But first of all we must of course take account of the historical
setting, the context in which this prophetic word was first
given. Isaiah His ministering round
about 700 years before the birth of Christ. That was the period
when he exercised his ministry. And it was something like 100
years before the children of Israel would be taken into captivity,
taken into exile. It was in 605. B.C. that the Babylonian captivity
began. And Isaiah in the course of his
ministry certainly foretells that dreadful event. In chapter
39 he speaks of it to the godly king Hezekiah. There, at the end of chapter
39, words spoken to Hezekiah, Isaiah says, verse 6, Behold,
the day is come that all that is in thine house, and that which
thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried
to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, saith
the Lord, and that thy sons that shall issue from thee which thou
shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs
in the palace of the king of Babylon. Clearly then, 100 years
or thereabouts before that dreadful calamitous event, Isaiah the
prophet tells the king what is going to happen. There is going
to be a period of exile. And by means of that event, what
God is doing of course is to sift the house of Israel. And by means of that period of
captivity God will preserve a true spiritual remnant in the midst
of the nation we know. We know that they are not all
Israel, they are not all of Israel. At the end of Romans chapter
2 Paul makes it plain that he is not a Jew which is one out
with them. circumcised in the flesh, but
the true circumcision is that that takes place in the heart,
that is of the Spirit. He makes it plain, thus Paul
then writing to the Romans, both in chapter 2 and in chapter 9,
that the true Israel is a spiritual Israel, the true Jew is a spiritual
Jew. And This is what God does by
means of that awful 70 years of exile in Babylon. He sifted
the house of Israel. He says again by another of the
prophets in Amos chapter 9, Lo I will command and I will sift
the house of Israel as corn is sifted in a sieve. Yet shall
not one grain fall to the ground. The true spiritual people of
God are to be preserved. And we know that as Isaiah is
exercising his own ministry some hundred years before that event,
that Isaiah's ministry was also to be a separating ministry,
a sifting ministry. He was told, was he not, when
he received his call and his commission, Back in the sixth
chapter, God says to him, Go, tell these people, Hear ye indeed,
but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make
the heart of these people fat, and make their ears heavy, and
shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with
their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and
be healed. What a strange ministry he is
to preach, and yet, In his preaching the people's ears will become
heavy, they will not hear him, their eyes will be shut, they
will not discern or understand the things that he is saying
to them. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until
the cities be wasted without inhabitants, and the houses without
man, and the man be utterly desolate, the captivity. And 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 tent, and it shall return. All God will preserve is true
Israel. God will preserve that spiritual
seed that is in the midst of the nation. In chapter 10 and
verse 21, the remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob unto
the mighty God. Now this I say is the historical
setting, the context in which this man Isaiah is called to
be God's prophet and to exercise his ministry. His ministry is
to sift and to separate and God will accomplish that ultimately
when the captivity comes. But coming again to these words
that we have here in our text. Enlarge the place of thy tent
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation.
Spare not, lengthen thy courts and strengthen thy stakes, for
they shall break forth on the right hand and on the left. It's
a promise of restoration. They will be brought again out
of captivity. and they will return to the land
and the desolate cities are to be rebuilt and are to be inhabited
and of course the principal city is Jerusalem and the rebuilding
of the temple. But when we look at the words
here we see that the reference is to something more glorious
than the restoration from captivity. I say there is really here a
gospel fulfillment. We have mention of the calling
of Gentiles. Thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles. The calling of the Gentiles.
But it is interesting that the language that we have here in
the third verse is in many ways a repetition of the promise that
God gave to Jacob at Bethel, back in Genesis chapter 28, when
Jacob, remember, having stolen the birthright from his brother
Esau, is then sent by his father to find a wife amongst the family
of his own mother, Rebecca. Rebecca is concerned to preserve
Jacob and Jacob departs and there in Genesis 28 we read about how
the Lord visits him as he sleeps at Lodz. But he renames the place
Bethel, the house of God, the gate of heaven. The Lord appears to him and reassures
him and gives a gracious promise to him. The promise there in
verses 13 and 14 of that particular chapter, chapter 28, and verses 13 and 14. He sees the ladder set up on
the earth on the top, reaching to heaven, the angels of God
ascending and descending on it, and then the Lord standing above
it and the Lord speaks to him, I am the Lord God of Abraham
thy father and the God of Isaac the land whereon thou liest to
thee will I give it unto thy seed and thy seed shall be as
the dust of the earth and there shall spread abroad to the west
and to the east and to the north and to the south And in thee
and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Now, interestingly, if we look at the marginal reading there
in verse 14, we see that the expression spread abroad in the
Hebrew literally means to break forth. Thy seed shall be as the
dust of the earth and thou shalt spread abroad, thou shalt break
forth. to the West and to the East and to the North and to
the South. And it's the same language that
we have here in verse 3 of Isaiah 54. They shall break forth on
the right hand and on the left. And thy seed shall inherit the
Gentiles. It's really a repetition of the promise that was given
there at Bethel to Jacob. And of course, the promise goes
back further than that the promise is given, is it not, to Jacob's
grandfather to Abraham in chapter 22 of Genesis where we read about
Abraham, his obedience to the strange command that God
gives him God is testing him and commands him to offer his
son, whom he loves, his son that he had received miraculously
by promise. When Sarah was past the age of
childbearing, he is to sacrifice his son, and he is willing to
do what God requires of him. But God, of course, makes provision
of a lamb. There is that ram caught by its
horns in the thicket that is to be sacrificed. in the place
of Isaac. And then in that 22nd chapter
of Genesis, God gives promise to Abraham. Verse 16, By myself have I sworn
saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and dost
not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will
bless thee. and in multiplying thy will multiply
thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which
is upon the seashore and thy seed shall possess the gate of
his enemies and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed because thou hast obeyed my voice. There is the
promise given to Abraham there in Mount Moriah the promise given
to Jacob in Bethel, and the promise here as we have it in the book
of Isaiah. And interestingly, the promise
follows immediately upon that 53rd chapter that speaks so much
of the suffering servant. The theme really in Isaiah 53-54
is the same theme that we have there in Genesis 22. It says, Abraham is prepared
to make the sacrifice And there is the sacrifice. There is the
great doctrine of substitution of that land that is offered
in the place and in the stead of Isaac. And here, in chapter
53, we read of that great sacrifice that Christ makes as the antitype
of all these things in the Old Testament. And what follows is
this great promise. It is, I say, promise of the
Gospel and the great success of the Gospel. We read then back in Genesis
28 of blessings on the East and the West and on the North and
on the South and so here also we have breaking forth on the
right hand and on the left and we have the Gentiles being brought
in. that stone that we read of, that
stone may be those hands in Daniel chapter 2 that fills the whole
earth. All it is the promising of the
success, the enlargement of the gospel that comes after Christ
has accomplished his great work of redemption. And we sang just
now in our opening praise that lovely hymn of William Cooper's
somewhat truncated I suppose it's not all the verses that
we have in the book often the hymns that we sing there are
various verses omitted there are a couple of verses in that
hymn that certainly Cooper has in mind these words of our text
Behold at thy commanding word we stretch the curtain and the
court come thou and fill this wider place and bless us with
a large increase. Lord, we are few, but thou art
near, nor short thine arm, nor deaf thine ears. O, bend the
heavens and come down and make a thousand hearts thine own.
Surely the hymn writer, the poet there, is mindful of this great
promise of enlargement, a promise, I say, that clearly flows from
what we have in the previous chapter, and there at the end
of chapter 53 of course, there is the promise that he has given
to Christ. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall
be satisfied by his knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify
service. Who does he justify? He shall
justify men and multitude. 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." There's a spoil. He has not suffered,
he has not bled in vain. "'Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more,' says William Cooper in another
of his hymns. And so here you see we have that
that flows from the sufferings of Christ. Enlargement under
the Gospel. Enlarge the place of thy tent,
and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations.
Spare not, lengthen thy courts, and strengthen thy stakes. Well having considered something
of the prophecy, the promise that we have in the text, We
do well, of course, to take account of just who this promise is being
addressed to, who this promise belongs to. We are not to be
so presumptuous as to grasp at God's Word. All the Armenian
likes to speak like that, claiming the promises as such, as if we
can of ourselves do such a thing. We would not presume with God.
We would wait upon God. We want God to come. We want
God himself to make his word real to us. We want God to apply
his promise to us. And what do we see here? Well,
we see that these words are addressed to a particular people. And I want us to consider something
of the characteristics of those to whom this word belongs, the
ones to whom God is speaking. I say that Isaiah's ministry
is very much a separating ministry, a discriminating ministry, we
might say. And so too here. First of all,
the word is addressed to a barren and a desolate people. Sing,
O barren, thou that didst not bear break forth into singing
and crying aloud, thou that didst not prevail with child, for more
are the children of the desolate. It is the barren, it is the desolate
ones. Now, again we have to notice
of course the immediate context in which the word is first given
because Isaiah is preaching to the Jew. He is a prophet whose
ministry is certainly to that little southern kingdom which
goes by the name of Judah. We see that in the opening words
of his book, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw
concerning Judah and Jerusalem. in the days of Uzziah, Jopham,
Haz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah. And so he is speaking you see
to Jerusalem and the other cities of the kingdom of Judah. And
at the end of verse 3 we have this word make the desolate cities
to be inhabited. How, when God's judgment came,
when the children of Israel were taken into exile, Jerusalem was
left solitary, bereft. The lamentations of Jeremiah,
out of the city sits solitary, that was full of people. How
is she become as a widow, she that was great among the nations,
and princess among the provinces? How is she become tributary? Verse 4 there in that first chapter
of Lamentations. The ways of Zion do mourn, because
none come to the solemn feast on her. All her gates are desolate,
her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in
bitter. That was the consequence, of
course, of God's judgment, when God deals with them, when God
comes to stiff them. And when we read of the restoration,
remember the news that comes to Nehemiah concerning the sad
condition that Jerusalem is in. There were those who had returned,
under Ezra the scribe, they had engaged, they had begun the building
of the temple, but still Jerusalem is in such a desolate condition. In the opening verses of the
book of Nehemiah, this is the message that comes to him. The remnant that are left of
the captivity there in the province are in great affliction. and
reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is
broken down. The gates of Har Har burned with
fire. Oh, it was awful. The scene that
confronted men like Ezra and Nehemiah when they returned after
the captivity. But there is, you see, to be
the fulfilment of the promise of restoration. Just as God's
solemn words of warning and God's awful judgment came, his word
proved to be true concerning those sins that came upon them
when they were taken into exile. So God's word of promise that
there would be a restoration, that also had to be fulfilled. And we have that promise. in
Isaiah, he doesn't just speak of God's judgment, yes he does
tell the king Hezekiah those things that are going to befall
his children, his descendants, but then in chapter 49 here,
in verse 19 we read these words,
thy waste and thy desolate places and the land of thy destruction
shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants.
And they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children
which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall
say again in thine ears, The place is too straight for me.
Give place to me that I may dwell. All there is going to be a blessed
increase. And Jerusalem is going to be
people to gain. This is the promise we have there
in chapter 49 that we have here in our text this morning. In
larger place of thy tent, let them stretch forth the curtains
of thy habitation. Spare not, lengthen thy cords,
and strengthen thy stakes. So, we recognise now in the first
instance, it is a word of real encouragement to that godly remnant
that is going to be preserved during the period of 70 years
exile. They have this to look forward
to. For as God's judgment has come, so God's restoring mercies
will yet be made manifest. And there will be a glorious
accomplishment of the promise of God. But as I said, I sought
to emphasize this morning The word ultimately has to do
with spiritual matters. It's a gospel word. It's a word
that belongs to that new covenant. As is my point there at the end
of Galatians chapter 4. It has to do with this day in
which we are living, this day of Christ. following the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the fulfilment of the prophecy
that we have here in chapter 53. As Christ has made that one
sacrifice for sins forever and he is to see of the travail of
his soul. So who are these that are being
spoken to? We're not just to come to this
portion of scripture and to consider it historically interesting as
that might be. Surely, as we come to God's Word,
we want to know, does this belong to me? Is this God's Word addressed
to me this morning? We see then that the Word here
is to be interpreted in a spiritual fashion. These are Gospel promises,
and who are they suited to? Well, they are precious to such
as are made to feel their own barren and their own desolation. Is that how we come under the
Word of God? We look to ourselves, we look into our own hearts and
we see so much to discourage us. So often we're in a low place,
we're so desolate, we feel our barrenness, we want to be fruitful,
we want to know and see something more of those blessed fruits
of the Spirit of God that Paul speaks of in Galatians chapter
5. And yet, alas, what do we see? We see so little of real spiritual
fruit. And we mourn. We mourn over our
barrenness. But here is our comfort, you
see, that the Gospel is suited to such characters as theirs. They that are whole have no need
of oppositions, but they that are sick Christ says, I came
not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Now, all
are sinners. All have sinned, all have come
short of the glory of God. There is not a just man upon
the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Who are the sinners
in that Christ is speaking of? Well, they are contrasted with
the righteous. There, of course, as He minds
the scribes and the Pharisees, those self-righteous ones. He doesn't come to call those
who feel themselves so self-sufficient. He comes to call, to minister
to those who feel their sins, those who feel their balance,
those who feel their desolation. This is the ones to whom the
promised end is being addressed. And we have to examine ourselves
and prove ourselves and know ourselves. This is us. that we
come with all our great emptiness, all our great need. We recognize
that we must receive all from the Lord Jesus Christ. We have
nothing of ourselves. We can only be the recipients
of His grace and His goodness. The barren, the desolate people
are the ones that the Word is addressed to, but also, also,
These people that the word is addressed to, I say they are
praying people. They are praying people. Look
at the words of the text. Enlarge the place of thy tent,
let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations. Spare not,
lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. Now what does it
mean if we are receiving that word from God, will we not turn
God's promise into prayer? For when we come to the Word
of God, when we read the Scriptures, do we have that desire? What
God says to us, we want to return to Him. And how do we return
God's promises to Him? We turn them into prayers. O Lord, enlarge our scanty thoughts
to know the wonders Thou hast wrought. Those lines by the Moravian
Kanzinzandor. He wanted God to enlarge his
scanty thoughts. Do we feel that sometimes our
thoughts of God are so inadequate? We feel that our experience of
God is such a small experience really. Our conviction of our
sins is not very deep. We feel little real dependence
on the grace of God. And these things trouble us and
grieve us. But we know that we cannot claim
what is not truly our own. We are fearful, we don't want
to be presumptive with God. And yet on the other hand we
so often feel that we are so shut in because of our own belief. Oh, we need to pray, and can
we not learn to pray? and learn from the prayer of
that remarkable man, Jabez, that we read of there at the beginning
of the first book of Chronicles. In the midst of chapters that
probably we don't read, we have these lists of names, names that
are difficult for us to read, to pronounce, and yet When we
don't trouble ourselves to read such portions as we find in the
opening chapters of 1st Chronicles, we don't trouble to read these
chapters and these verses, we miss such a gem as what is found
there in 1st Chronicles 4 and verses 9 and 10 where we have
a description of this man Jabez. Jabez was more honourable than
his brethren and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, because
I bear him with sorrow." His name means sorrowful. His name
means sorrowful. You see, remember what we said
concerning those to whom the promise is given here in Isaiah
54, a barren, a desolate people, a sorrowing people. The people
who are troubled and grieved when they look to themselves
and the barrenness of their own life. and we read of this man
Jabez and we have the record of his prayer there at verse
10 Jabez called on the God of Israel saying O that thou wouldest
bless me indeed and enlarge my coast and that thy hand might
be with me and that thou wouldest keep me from evil that it may
not grieve me and God granted him that which he requested Now
amongst the petitions of his prayer, he wants his coast enlarged.
Now of course, it's the Old Testament and the Israelites all have their
allotted portion in the land of promise. But is there not
a spiritual significance here? Is there not the desire to be
blessed indeed, or that thou wouldst bless me indeed, he says,
and indeed blessing, enlarge my coast or that God would enlarge
his coast the coast of his soldiers that he might know more of God
that God might come and reveal more of himself to him now I
know when we come to our own day we have to acknowledge it
is truly a day of small things it is a day of small things and
we are not to despise a day of small things or the least spark
of grace in our souls should cause us to be very thankful.
Be thankful for small things. But we're not to be satisfied.
We should desire a larger portion. Surely we should. David says
in the psalm, I will run the way of thy commandments when
thou shalt enlarge mine heart. Or do we want to walk and run
in the way that is pleasing to God, the way of his commandments?
Well, God has to enlarge our heart. God has to give us a greater
love for His Word, for His Precepts, that we might truly delight in
them and walk in them. This word I say is addressed
to a praying people, a people who have true spiritual desires,
they want to be enlarged. And here is God's promise, He
says enlarge the place of my tent. Let them stretch forth
the curtains of thine habitation. Spare not, lengthen thy cords,
strengthen thy staffs. Oh, if the pride that it might
yet be fulfilled in us, the particular people there, barren, desolate,
mourning over their lack of fruit, and yet crying to God, calling
upon God, desirous that they might know more of And also,
these people to whom the word belongs are a pilgrim people. They are a pilgrim people. The
language that we have here in our text this morning, the figure,
is one that's taken from common practice in Israel in those days. And it's still true, of course,
of the Bedouin tribes in the Middle East who live in tents. they live in tents and the tent
has to be enlarged when? it is enlarged as the family
grows this is a word you see that's
spoken to a pilgrim people the people who have no permanent
dwelling they live in tabernacles and
in tents and we know that God's people are truly such pilgrims
here upon the earth, that is what was true of Abraham, and
of Isaac, and of Jacob, and of all the fathers as we are told
in Hebrews 11 verse 9, by faith, this is Abraham, by
faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country
dwelling in Tabernacle with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him
of the same promise, for he looked for a city which has foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. O no continuing city, you say,
but looking for one that was to come. The pilgrim people are
the ones to whom this word of God is being spoken. Now is that true of us? Are we
those who are mindful of spiritual things, heavenly things? We look
not at the things which are seen, the things which are seen are
temporal. Always the unseen things, the eternal things that we are
concerned about this morning. We desire to set our affections
on those scenes that are above where Christ sitters at the right
hand of God are we truly a spiritual people as we come into the house
of God we want to meet with our God we want to be fed by our
God we want to know a little season of real fellowship with
Him because we feel that we are in an alien country this world
lies in the wicked one we don't make our nest in this life, but
we seek that life that will be eternal in the heavens. God comes to us and God encourages
us in His Word, but we will not seek His blessing in vain. He says, Enlarge the place of
thy tent, let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation.
Spare not strengthen thy court and strengthen thy states, and
o'er to take that word and to plead it with Jabez, o'er that
thou wouldst bless me indeed and enlarge my coast. May the Lord bless his word to
us.