Isaiah 54 Act I: Israel on the Shelf; the Church on Center Stage

1. Isaiah 54 Act I: Israel on the Shelf; the Church on Center Stage Act II: Israel Regathered at Last!

2. ISAIAH CH 54 690 BC

3. Isaiah 54 54, Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. I inadvertently deleted the page I’d written on verse 1; and, strangely, I didn’t have it backed up, either. Weird. The upshot is this: the OT is replete with women who considered themselves second-class due to barrenness: Sarah, Rebekkah, Rachel, Manoah’s wife, Hannah, Michal and then Elizabeth. In each case, God requited them and reversed their shame with boys, except in the case of Michal, who seems to have blasphemed the very Spirit that was upon David – that should be instructive. It was the Gentiles who did not bear (in this case, the Christ – that was the honor of Israel. Nevertheless, the Gentiles get even more children, via the New Birth, in the days of the Gospel, which are ongoing. Read Acts 15 and Galatians 5-6 to see the NT implications. Profound.

4. Isaiah 54 54, 2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; Verse 1 morphs Israel into the Church. Verse 2 is mostly a prediction (and an admonition) that the Church will (and should) “go into all the world and preach the Gospel”. Thus, verse 2 predicts the spreading of the blessings, benefits and salutary side effects associated with the Gospel, eventually, worldwide. The “spare not” clause tells us that there is no amount of money or effort that should limit the Gospel’s spread. As long as there are those who are willing to 1) give, and 2) go, the Lord will supply the need, because it is His call and His purpose (Romans 8:28). And His resources know no limitations. As to Israel, this seems very much like the expanding territory of Israel since her return in 1948. Successive wars of “extermination” brought on by the Arabs have only resulted in Israel acquiring more territory.

5. Isaiah 54 54, 2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; BTW, if you ever wondered why the Mormons have “Stakes”, it goes back to this verse. They have applied that term to the early outposts in the colonizing of Utah and Arizona, and to the present-day attempts to expand into other regions of the world. So now you know… The rest… Of the story. Of course, we would not agree that this verse applies to Mormonism; but they are free to appropriate it as their own peculiar metaphor.

6. Isaiah 54 54, 3. For thou shalt 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. To “break forth” is to make inroads or breakthroughs, especially wherever there is opposition to one’s progress. It’s like breaking through enemy lines; breakthroughs, beachheads, etc., usually portend the taking of territory. “Break forth” is also used in scripture to illustrate the power of light over darkness (e.g., Isaiah 58:8). Both aspects are very illustrative of how the Gospel spread quickly into Asia, Africa and Europe. “The seed” of the Woman, mentioned in Genesis 3, is indicative not only of the Virgin-born Christ, but also of HIS Seed, which is the Gospel, Redemption, the New Birth, and sanctified righteousness. “Inherit the Gentiles” certainly refers to the transformation of blatantly violent and pagan tribes into the most civilized people who ever walked the earth.

7. Isaiah 54 54, For thou shalt 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. Of the Church, “desolate cities… inhabited” very well describes the places like Ephesus, Corinth, Alexandria, Rome and even Jerusalem, in the wake of the Church’s inroads among their populations. The cities’ zombies, or “dead men walking”, were joined by, and replaced by, tens of thousands who had experienced the new birth. Of Israel, “desolate cities… inhabited” nicely applies to the prophecies fulfilled in our lifetime, wherein many of the old cities of Israel, which had lain in ruins for centuries, are now occupied and thriving. Finally, also of Israel, in the New Heaven and New Earth, it would appear that Revelation and Ezekiel show that Israel will “inherit… the land”, and that the “Nations” (Gentiles) will be living there. (Revelation 21:24-26; Ezekiel 47:22-23, etc.)

8. Isaiah 54 544. 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. Verse 4 brings to mind the shame of barrenness, telling (I think) both Israel and the Gentiles that the shame of 1) Israel’s temporary rejection and 2) the Gentiles’ alienation will be addressed in a beneficial way. As we said, the Gentiles get 1) Christ for a husband and 2) spiritual offspring without number. But Israel, afflicted by blindness in part (and thus confounded and stumbling about among the nations they had so despised and looked down upon), shall have their sight restored when they 1) come to Christ and individually join the Church during these times, or 2) “look upon Him whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10), and receive Him en masse at a time yet future, near the end of the “time of Jacob’s trouble”, the Great Tribulation. This makes both Jew and Gentile forget their former shame and desolation. Great promise! I love happy endings!

9. Isaiah 54 54 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. For Israel: This verse must surely puzzle Israel to this day. God did not divorce Israel; He merely threatened to. Still, Israel has run away from God for other “lovers”, so they are estranged. There is little or no real communication (much like the Prodigal Son with his father). It also is puzzling to Israel these days because it refers to the Redeemer, the much-anticipated Messiah, as the God of the whole earth. For we know that, when the Messiah DID come to earth and claimed to be the God of the whole earth, they crucified Him for it. But here God says they’re still married. And He promises better days. For the Church: this is simply a straightforward reference to the Bride of Christ (insofar as the OT ever speaks in a straightforward manner about Christ ).

10. Isaiah 54 54, 6 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. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 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. As promised on the title page for this chapter, Act II of Isaiah 54 is about Israel’s regathering at last, and the prophecy makes that turn right here. God speaks of the estrangement as but a moment. Remember that a day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and vice-versa. And then, the regathering, the kindness and the mercy. We have seen in other chapters what this entails. Refer back to the “unified theory” we have presented, concerning the Rapture of the Church, Daniel’s 70th Week, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, the Great Tribulation spoken of by Jesus, the sealing and power-preaching of the 144,000, the Two Witnesses, the shepherding of Israel into the wilderness for their protection during the latter part of that time, and the mopping up of Israel’s enemies in Isaiah 63, the grapes of wrath.

11. Isaiah 54 54, 9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. Just as God promised Noah after the Flood was all over, “never again”, so God promises, I think, that once He regathers Israel, they won’t be uprooted again (Amos 9:15). Again, as God promised that His covenant with Israel was not only unbreakable, but that He had in store for them a new and improved covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-37), here He expresses His dedication to them in a new way that is more steadfast than the earth itself. In this metaphor, God also takes the opportunity to say that the mountains will be removed, not by a flood, but, as He tells us in Revelation, by seismic upheavals (Revelation 6:14). Still, He embraces Israel forever.

12. Isaiah 54 5411 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. 12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. God here is treating Israel to a view of Heaven. In no way do I think that He is setting Heaven before them as a destination shared by all Israel or all Jews. Not at all. But, John 1:12, He lays out this promise to “as many as received Him”. Revelation gives glimpses of Heaven in terms of precious and semi-precious stones, their colors and radiant beauty; and here we see just a brief example in the OT. God puts this reward forth as an incentive to see the trouble through to a brighter day: “afflicted, tossed, friendless”. This is what helps us all any time we are beset. It reminds me of Hebrews 12:2-4 and 12-13. There is powerful motivation for us in knowing that our Lord and Savior endured so much as an example and a strengthening for us during weakness.

13. Isaiah 54 5413 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. This harks back to our study in Chapter 11, and contains both Messianic and Millennial references. In the Millennium, we won’t even recognize the relationships; much as the OT Israelites couldn’t see the upcoming Church age; so let’s review: 11:6-9 Millennial earmarks (wolf/lamb; leopard/kid; calf/lion/child) 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 11:10 sign of the Cross, the Church 10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

14. Isaiah 54 5414 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. The righteousness is God’s, we now know. Israel is re-established despite their unbelief. But, no more oppression, no more pogroms; no more exiles; no more Holocaust. Far from terror (amazing that word, that has become so much a part of our 21st-century everyday language, is even prophesied – but there it is). That is partly fulfilled, with the building of the wall that keeps the Palestinian Philistines out of the Jewish areas around Jerusalem. This WallReally Works! Try it!

15. Isaiah 54 5415 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. God prophesies the trouble Israel will have once He has regathered them. He assures Israel that this time, they are not there with His permission. He assures Israel that the enemies of Israel will fall. 16 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. 17 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. Watch out, Arab armies; watch out Muslim Brotherhood; watch out, United Nations!