Isaiah 54
Introduction
There is something special about a well-thrown, well-done celebration. I hope you have been part of a celebration that truly felt like a celebration, because it is exhilarating! When Katie and I got married, we were the first on both sides of our family to get married, and it was fun. I don’t remember a lot about the wedding ceremony itself—I have moments and snippets in my mind (a lot of them I’m sure simply because we have photos of that moment), but I remember a lot about our reception. It wasn’t super fancy—it was in my parent’s backyard with a tent and a DJ, but we had about 350 of our family and friends there and it was a blow-out party. So much so, that when we left around 10:30PM it was still cranking and went on well after midnight!
Now, granted, maybe you could argue that some people go a little overboard with some celebrations, but by and large, we could probably make the case that we often don’t celebrate important moments enough. Celebrations matter because there are many moments in life that matter. Even when we look to Scripture, we see many moments where celebrations happen.
Sometimes they are at a moment that doesn’t seem important enough to us it be met with great fanfare. When the angelic visitors come to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18 at Mamre, they appear as simple travelers. Yet Abraham and Sarah hurry to kill a calf and make bread and throw a welcome party for these visitors. If you drop by my house unexpected that may not be exactly your experience! If you are really hungry we always have some string cheese or Chicken-in-a-Biscuit, but I’m not sure if steak is on the menu at that moment! Maybe it should be more that way?!
We also see celebrations in Scripture when we would hope there would be celebrations. When the prodigal son returns home the father throws a feast for the family and the neighbors celebrating his return. The wedding feast at Cana where Jesus turns the water into wine (John 2:1–12) seems to be an amazing wedding party! A that party has been going on so long that most people may not notice the last wine from Jesus is the best! Even better, our union with our God again in the new heavens and the new Earth is said to be a wedding feast! A grand party where we celebrate that we are back with our God and Savior!
Servant Songs
We have been looking at the Servant Songs in Isaiah in the lead up to Easter and our celebration of what God did for us on the cross. We started looking at this section of Isaiah primarily because we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount, and Matthew has much of what Isaiah says in the Servant Songs on his mind as he is retelling the Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. Matthew has been seeing this servant prophesied about in Isaiah before him in Jesus as he has come for his people. He sees this servant Jesus as he is preaching this Sermon.
I want to spend these next two weeks looking at two sections that come right after the servant songs. First, I want to look at them to give you encouragement on how to think through prophecy in general. Prophetic literature can be weird, and it often uses odd imagery that takes some work to understand. But I also wanted us to spend two weeks here to see some of the beauty of what Isaiah is saying right after the Servant Songs.
Having just shown us the prophecies of God’s true and righteous servant, Isaiah calls us to celebrate in these chapters! He expects that as we have read the Servant Songs that we should be rejoicing! We should be ecstatic about what we have seen and read there. Everything has changed because of this servant, and we are now called to sing, to no longer be afraid, and to know we have been established in our relationship with God through this servant.
But what is it specifically that we should be noticing and celebrating?
Remember, Isaiah is writing to the kingdom of Judah who will be taken into captivity in Babylon in the next several hundred years. And much of the Servant Songs and what we read today is meant to be an encouragement for Judah and all of Israel as they are in exile and as they come out of exile. In fact, that is what you and I should notice today and celebrating. We should be celebrating that our God is:
The God of Exiles & Exodus
And that is because he is also:
The God of Covenants
These are two of the great themes about God throughout all of Scripture, and we see them both here in Isaiah 54 and 55 this morning. And these two themes matter greatly to you and I. We enjoy knowing this type of God in our life as well. And we are also going to see what is the outcome of knowing this God of Exiles and Exodus and this God of Covenants. We will see here in Isaiah 54 and 55 that BECAUSE our God is this God, we now have:
A Family
A Marriage
A Home
This is one of the great sections of the Old Testament that talks about the New Covenant that was coming through God’s servant Jesus. The covenant and relationship you and I are living with God right now! This section is beautiful because it reminds you and I of so many things that are true for us now in faith through what Jesus has done as God’s servant. And we are meant to celebrate! To rejoice! To be excited about what God has finally done through his righteous one.
Work!
I am going to admit up front that prophecy takes a little work! The Old Testament in general is not most Christian’s strong area. And that is even more true with the prophets in the Old Testament. When you come to areas like this in Scripture, find faithful guides to help you through it. And by that I rarely mean YouTube videos or Podcasts—those can be hit or miss, and sometimes very unhelpful. Rather, grab a commentary by a trusted scholar and read more about the section of Scripture you are in. Even easier, buy a good study bible. In a good study bible like the ESV Study Bible or NIV Study Bible you get access to several hundred of the best scholars through their footnotes on every verse. It is like getting over a hundred mini-commentaries for your bible all in one book. I would highly recommend a study bible to anyone. I pray I can help be your guide in Isaiah this morning.
We are going to see how this God of Exiles & Exodus and the God of Covenants will be shown to us through the three different images we already mentioned: through the image of family and adoption, through the image of marriage, and through the image of a home or city. And we have mentioned this before, but this is a very standard pattern for Hebrew writing. Hebrew writing and teaching often examines the same idea from several different angles to give us a better perspective of the whole image. We see the same thing in Genesis 1 & 2 as we see creation described in two different narratives. We see this in 1&2 Kings and 1&2 Chronicles as the same stories are described from different perspectives. We see this here in Isaiah 54: Three images talking about the same beautiful, celebratory outcome of God’s work on our behalf through his Servant!
Isaiah 54:1–3: The Adoption of God’s Children
We start this morning by looking at verses 1–3 and the first reason to celebrate as we see God’s children brought out of exile in fulfillment of his covenant and then adopted and brought into his family!
1 “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
break forth into singing and cry aloud,
you who have not been in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
and strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
and your offspring will possess the nations
and will people the desolate cities.
(Isaiah 54:1-3 ESV)
Isaiah starts with a direct statement from God and a command from God. And his command is to sing! To celebrate! There is something joyful about to happen. A family is going to be expanded. This is a baby reveal of enormous magnitude. The reason this promise of an extended family is so amazing is because of how this family comes about. We start out here with the images of a barren woman, and a married woman who has children. The oddity is that the barren woman will have children. So many so, that she will have more children than the married woman.
This married woman is meant to image Israel when they were in the days of the Old Covenant, when they prospered in the land before they utterly turned their back against God. It was meant to bring back the memories for God’s people of their times in the land before exile, their life in Israel under David and the high moments of the Kingdom.
Conversely, the image of the barren woman was mean to bring them an image of what they were seeing just before and after their exile. They entered into exile and are coming out of the exile desolate, decimated and not the same people they were before. And God his people two reasons they should be celebrating—two promises. They should be celebrating FOR:
For: Children of the desolate will be more than the children of the married
For: You will spread and offspring will possess/inherit/occupy the nations
You can see here why this would be exciting for Israel. God is telling them they would be a nation again. Not only that, they will somehow “have” the other nations. Most of Israel read this as a return to the Davidic kingly reign and that this time they would rightly conquer the nations around them, and they would rule over them. But that isn’t the language here. The language is of someone who is “barren,” one who did not “bear” the children herself, who did not go through “labor.” This growth will not come from anything Israel does. In fact, it will come despite them.
Here, this new exodus for the exiles is not just Israel coming out of Babylon, but for others as well. For God’s other children. Israel has been decimated and brought out, but through his Servant, God is going to expand and create a much larger tent. And this tent will include the nations! From the view of the New Testament this promise becomes much clearer: Israel inherits the nations (has the nations) because they become part of the same family. They are not going to go out and conquer the nations, rather, they will see God adopt them into the same family—the new and true Israel—and they will together be the very people of God. They are now brothers and sisters with the Gentiles that God is bringing into their family. There is an exodus of exiles from Babylon in the literal people of Israel, but there is also a figurative exodus of exiles (Gentiles) out of Babylon (the world), and back into relationship with our God through Jesus Christ!
God is sharing how you and I become part of this new enlarged family, rooted in all that he has done throughout the Old Testament, joined together now in a new covenant. You and I, like Israel, were exiles in our sin. But now, through the Servant of God we are being brought out—a new Exodus, a much greater Exodus! Through this Servant and his sacrifice, we are now being brought out of exile.
And there is something else going on here in Isaiah 54. God is using language that is purposefully bringing you and I back to his covenants. His promises with his people. The image here is meant to make us think of Abraham and Sarah. Sarah was barren, yet God promised he would give her and Abraham offspring. We see in Genesis 12, 15, and 17 similar allusions to expanding their tent and all their offspring just like God is saying through Isaiah here. And, like God also promised to Abraham, we are seeing another Exodus where exiles are being brought out and back to God. Just like God promised Abraham that his family would be exiled to Egypt but be brought in the Exodus, we are seeing something even greater this time in Isaiah! This exile and exodus is both for God’s people and the nations.
God’s promises to use Abraham and his family not only to make a people for himself, but to also bring the nations to him in worship. And we are meant to see how this promise to Abraham is now going to be fulfilled specifically through God’s Servant, Jesus Christ! We begin to see this fulfilled through Jesus even during his life in the New Testament when the Samaritans begin to see and worship Jesus. We see this aspect of the Abrahamic covenant beginning to come true in Acts 8 as the Ethiopian eunuch is saved and baptized. We see it as Paul goes out to all the Gentiles to see them saved. We are seeing this promise come true even today as God’s people from every tribe, nation, and tongue are coming to know him as their true Servant God.
Application:
Stop and consider this for a moment. I know holidays can sometimes be odd and create all sorts of feelings and thoughts about family. But you are promised that you are now part of God’s family. You belong to his people, and you never again have to worry about if you belong. In Jesus you are in the family of God again. You have a perfectly loving father who cares for you better than any earthly father. You have a family of friends who—though imperfect today—are truly there for you and love you. What an amazing gift! God did not bring us out of exile in an exodus and through his covenantal love to just anything. He brought us out and into a family!
It is this reality of God’s exiled people coming out in exodus by God a who keeps his covenants that is being imaged in this chapter and is looked at from several angles. Here it is from exile to exodus to a family. And it is this exodus and covenant keeping God who also has a marriage with us as we will see next.
Isaiah 54:4–10: The Reconstituted Marriage
Look with me at Isaiah 54:4–10:
4 “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;
be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5 For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
6 For the LORD has called you
like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
says your God.
7 For a brief moment I deserted you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
8 In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says the LORD, your Redeemer.
9 “This is like the days of Noah to me:
as I swore that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
and will not rebuke you.
10 For the mountains may depart
and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
(Isaiah 54:4–10 ESV)
The image changes here from different types of mothers and the idea of family to that of husband and wife. A marriage. Remember, at Mount Sinai, when God gives Israel his law, that moment is talked about in wedding terms. Israel prepares themselves as they would for wedding, being pure for their husband who is coming to them. And God pronounces his covenant to them:
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.””
(Exodus 19:5–6)
Israel was married to God through the Mosaic covenant. Yet because of their sin against their husband, they were sent away. As we talked about when we discussed divorce and remarriage earlier this year, this is one of the ways we see the idea of divorce in Scripture and it is through God who divorced his people. Israel, because of their unrepentant sin, has been set aside by God in divorce.
Isaiah has talks about this divorce in chapter 50. We also have Hosea, the prophet who is a contemporary to Isaiah, who is actually living out this image of adultery and divorce in his own life before the northern kingdom of Israel (right before their exile). Hosea has married a woman that God has told him to marry and who God has said will not be faithful. This is to image who Israel (and Judah) have become. They have been unfaithful to God and gone after other gods. Hosea divorces this wife and sends her away. But, as God says here, he won’t remember her youthful transgressions anymore, and God says he won’t remember Israel’s transgressions. He will bring them back to him and reconstitute the marriage. Hosea brings his wife back just as God brings his people back. All because of what the Servant has done.
Everything is changing because of this Servant! This servant is bringing exiles out of the land in a new exodus, but it isn’t to just any land or to any situation. He is bringing them out to a family and he is bringing them out to marry them! Just like God brought out Israel to Sinai to marry her there in the giving of the law, here again God is reconstituting his marriage to his people. But this marriage is even better the first!
This time, God’s Servant has taken the reproach of the people on himself, so now, God will gather back up his people, he will have compassion, and he will be not just their God but their intimate and loving husband. Hosea talks about this as well:
“And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.”
(Hosea 2:16–20, ESV)
Hosea talks about the same marriage that God will make again with his people. He also talks about a covenant that God will make in that day. And Hosea also uses the imagery of the Noahic covenant just like Isaiah. A covenant with the whole world. A covenant that will abolish the bow—the same sign of the rainbow where God’s bow of war is pointed up now, away from his people, because he will take the wrath meant for us. This marriage is meant to be a new sign of God’s enduring love for his people just as the Noahic covenant. Isaiah calls this new covenant a “covenant of peace” here and also uses the image of the Noahic covenant
God’s previous and momentary wrath (well, momentary from a generational perspective) is no comparison to God’s love and mercy:
“The mountains will give way and the hills will totter, but [God’s] hesed, his covenant faithfulness and love, will never be taken away in the new covenant. That is why it is called a covenant of peace.”
(Gentry and Wellum, Kingdom Through Covenant, 498)
We see here God’s is bringing back exiled Israel through their exodus into a marriage better than they were originally brought into at Sinai. This time he is bringing them back into this marriage through his own suffering, love, and life that was in service for them. He has served his people in suffering for their sins that they might come back to him as his beloved! He has demonstrated covenant love like a marriage and is joining himself to his people again!
And this isn’t just for Israel! We have already seen here how God’s exiled people being brought out of their sin and back to God in the first part of Isaiah 54 includes the Gentiles, and we should assume that it is all of God’s people who brought back in marriage to him as well, not just Israel. But in case you might question if this is really for Gentiles as well, listen to Hosea:
“And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’””
(Hosea 2:21–23, ESV)
God promises through Hosea that the gentiles are included in this marriage. “No Mercy” and “Not My People” are the children born to Hosea’s unfaithful wife as she was sinning against him and are meant to be an image of the gentile nations. And here God says he will have mercy on “No Mercy” and he will say to “Not My People,” “You are my people” and they will say, “You are my God.” Those are wedding vows. It’s a marriage ceremony between God here, a statement of love and belonging to one another. Not only for Israel but the nations.
Application
Stop and think about this again for a minute. You are brought out of exile to a family and to a relationship with God that is imaged as a marriage. And not a marriage that can fail or lose love. This is a God who will never turn his back on you because his Servant has taken any rebuke for your sin and now gives you his perfect life. God will never turn his back on you and I in this relationship. No matter what you do, through faith in Jesus your God will never turn away from you. He is forever bound to you and you to him.
God again brings us back to his covenants here through the reminder of the Noahic covenant. The Servant brings us out of exile to show us that he is the God of Covenants and to ensure our covenant with him was assured. That we would be enjoined to him, forever, through the work of his servant Jesus. God’s people will never be sent away again because of their sin, because of the servant. That is a beautiful picture! God looks on you and I now in Jesus with the love of an expectant groom longing for his bride to be with him. There is peace between God and all his people in Jesus, and this love is as secure as the Noahic covenant.
We have all been exiled in our sins like Israel was exiled in her sin. We all have been brought out of that sin in a great exodus like Israel from Egypt and Israel from Babylon. And we have been married to God in a beautiful ceremony where we can now say, “You are my God.” And this is all through Jesus Christ!
Isaiah 54:11–17: The City of Righteousness
And the image gets even better. I feel like I say that often when we are reading these beautiful images of our joy in Jesus, but how amazing is it that God promises expand again and again as we gaze on our Servant Savior Jesus!
11 “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of agate,
your gates of carbuncles,
and all your wall of precious stones.
13 All your children shall be taught [discipled] by the LORD,
and great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness you shall be established;
you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15 If anyone stirs up strife,
it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
shall fall because of you.
16 Behold, I have created the smith
who blows the fire of coals
and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
17 no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD
and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”
(Isaiah 54:11–17 ESV)
This same reality is talked about again but with another image: the image of a city. A home—a place where you live. Here, the battered and afflicted people of Israel, Jerusalem, are imaged as a new city being built up by God. A city with a sure foundation, beautifully adorned with precious stones. And in this city all of God’s people will be discipled by Yahweh himself. This is the new Zion on God’s holy hill. This is a new Eden where God’s people are brought back for healing and safety. This is the final resting place for the servants of God.
Early on in the Servant Songs we talked about how the plural servants at the beginning of Isaiah were Israel, the ones who failed to follow God and live in righteousness. A “plural” use of the word servant. Then comes one servant, singular, who will live righteously and do all God has asked to serve God and his people. Now, out of this one servant who has righteously done all God has asked, comes many servants again.
But this time, they are holy like he is holy. Servants who are now living in the city with God. The servants will walk and live as THE servant walked and lived. As Jesus was discipled (50:4) so are they (54:13). They have suffered affliction (54:11) as did Jesus (53:4). And as he will be vindicated (50:8), so will they be (54:17). They are called servants of the Lord because they follow in the footsteps of the perfect servant. This is a remade Zion and Eden and the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant where the king rules perfectly over his people in love, protection, and discipleship.
These servants are to sing (54:1), they are to not fear (54:4) because they are being established in righteousness (54:14). That means we—the servants of God—are receiving the fruit of his sacrifice (53:10) and being given it in Jesus.
This is the city of David, Jerusalem, at the height of the Davidic covenant on steroids. This is the temple and tabernacle gone global and gone permanent. Where Jerusalem was grand, this is even better! Where the temple and tabernacle was bold, this is perfectly beautiful. This is the perfect dwelling place of God with his people now and forever more, through his Servant.
Application:
Friends, you not only have a family and a perfect relationship with your God like a marriage—you also have a home. A place where you and I will spend the rest of eternity with our God in relationship with him and walking with one another. This is our heritage, Isaiah says. This is our vindication of our faith.
Summary
In the course of the 17 verses of Isaiah 54 we have the most amazing and beautiful promises of the gospel that are unpacked in most of the New Testament. How God is bringing back his exiled people Israel out of Babylon and into the land, but also how he is going to bring all his exiled children out of sin in the world and into HIS family, to his marriage, and into his forever city. Here in Isaiah 54 we are being shown how all of God’s covenants come to fruition, are fulfilled, and now are reconstituted in THE new covenant secured by this gracious, perfect servant.
This is a new covenant in Jesus, a covenant of peace, as God says through Isaiah.
"[This new covenant] brings the numerous seed promised in the Abrahamic covenant, it brings the righteousness between God and humans and among humans aimed at in the Israelite covenant, and it establishes the city of God ruled by the David king. All this is as certain as the promises to Noah.”
(Gentry & Wellum)
This new covenant does everything ever promised in all other covenants and supersedes them all because it was done by God himself in mercy and grace to his people—Jews and Gentiles—through faith in the work of Jesus Christ alone. He is showing us here how he is truly:
The God of Exiles & Exodus
The God of Covenants
And he is bringing us out of Exile in fulfillment of his covenants that we might have:
A Family
A Marriage
A Home
Exile brought about by our sin and rebellion. Exodus brought about by his sacrifice and death and resurrection. An family/adoption, a marriage, a citizenship bought through his everlasting and enduring covenant of peace. What more could we ask for? What more reason do we need to celebrate?
Application/Conclusion
What should we do when we see all this? How should you and I respond to this passage this morning? I would suggest three answers:
Come, Behold, & Celebrate!
This is exactly what Isaiah says after all this. Look at Isaiah 55:1–5 with me:
1 “Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
(Isaiah 55:1–5 ESV)
Come
Friends, anyone can come and find, free of charge, God’s mercy in Jesus. God is inviting you and I to come and take what he is offering. I pray for most of you this is a beautiful reminder this morning of what God has done for you, and you will look to him this morning in thankfulness because of what he has done. But for some of you this is new. You have a God who served you through the cross that you might come out of your exile from sin and know the covenantal love of God, through his people, to you, and find you have a family, a perfect relationship, and a home.
Behold (Incline)
Similarly, we are all called here to see Jesus, the witness to the people. Behold. Incline. Leans toward. Jesus is our servant leader. He is calling a nation that Israel did not know would be called, a nation that will run to Jesus. That is you and I. God wants to make an everlasting covenant with you in his hesed, his sure love ,that he has for this new David, Jesus. If you haven’t come to Jesus, behold him and come now! CALL
Celebrate
And lastly, we are called to celebrate. We have seen that already through the language of singing, not being afraid, and knowing we are established in Isaiah 54. And we see it here in Isaiah 55 as well. These three ideas are all summed up in this middle verse:
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Listen, meaning behold/incline yourselves to know God.
Eat, meaning come to the table and know God. come
And lastly, but not least, DELIGHT! Find delight in this God who has served you in these remarkable ways.
Benediction
Rev. 1:5b-6 - To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
