Isaiah 54:1-10 EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD
Israel at this time was at a very low point in their history. They had gone through a succession of wicked rulers who had led them astray from God. The Kingdom had been divided and weakened. First the northern, and then the southern kingdom had fallen to their enemies. The land had been laid waste, the walls torn down. Even the temple of God where they worshipped had been ransacked and destroyed by their enemies.
Most of them had been taken captive to Babylon. Only a remnant of the people remained faithful to God, refusing to worship idols. But when they looked around, everything was gone. Their temple, their city, their nation, and their people, now held captive throughout the enemy lands.
Isaiah the prophet brought the Word of God to the people: Isa 54:1 "Sing... burst into song, shout for joy..."
But can the remnant really sing? Psalm 137 gave us an idea of their mood (Psa 137:1-4):
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" 4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
Isaiah says SING, for there is HOPE in God. God has not forgotten them...
(1) WE HAVE HOPE BECAUSE OF WHO HE IS - A Compassionate God
Isaiah 54:5-6 For your Maker is your husband... They are greatly LOVED... picture of Israel as wife, the Lord as husband.
54:6 "The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit."
54:7 "...with deep compassion I will bring you back."
54:8 "... with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you."
He is a loving God, with deep compassion for us.
And He is the Mighty God who can save us:
54:5 ...the LORD Almighty is His name - the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.
He is the Almighty God of all the earth - and He is our Redeemer. He LOVES the people of Israel and He is CAPABLE of saving them; bringing them back home to Jerusalem.
What God plans to do, no man can stop it. No nation, as big as Babylon can thwart it. This is the God we believe in today. Trust Him. Therefore they have reasons to SING, to burst into song and shout for joy.
Notice who Isaiah calls to sing (Isa 54:1): "Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labour...
The woman was called to sing while still barren, without a child. Circumstances have not changed but Isaiah calls the people to sing, because God’s plan will come true. It is not just a song of HOPE but a song of FAITH - trusting what God has prophesied will come true. He is going to bring His people back, because 5 ...the LORD Almighty is His name - the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.
We sing because we have hope. We sing because we have a great future. We can rejoice in the midst of difficult circumstances because what God has promised will come true. The journey may be tough, but the end point is SURE - we’ve a glorious future in Christ. That’s why Paul says, "18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (Rom 8:18). Everything will turn out well for those who trust Christ.
In this troublesome world today, we need to cling on to God. Hold on to His Word. God has not forgotten His people...
A sea captain once related a thrilling incident from his own experience.
A few years ago he was sailing by the island of Cuba when the cry ran through the ship, ’Man overboard!’ It was impossible to steer the ship in time, so he seized a rope and threw it over the ship’s stern, crying out to the man to seize it as for his life. The sailor caught the rope just as the ship was passing. There was no way he can pull himself up. The captain immediately took another rope and, making a slip noose of it, attached it to the other and slid it down to the struggling sailor and directed him to pass it over his shoulders and under his arms, and he would be drawn on board.
The captain said, "He was rescued, but he had grasped the rope with such firmness, with such a death-grip, that it took hours before his hold relaxed and his hand could be separated from it. With such eagerness, indeed, had he clutched the object that was to save him, that the strands of rope became embedded in the flesh of his hands!" - Charles H Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon says, "Has not God let down from heaven a rope to every sinner on the earth? Is not every strand a precious promise, and ought we not to lay hold of it as for our very lives?"
With Christ, it is an endless hope. Without Him, it will be a hopeless end.
Why were the people of Israel in such a state?
They have turned from God and worshipped idols. God disciplines those He loves, and punishment came through foreign enemies. Yet the affliction was only temporary.
(2) WE HAVE HOPE BECAUSE OF WHAT HE HAD SAID - Promise of Deliverance
54:7 "For a brief moment...
54:8 "In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment..."
54:8 " ...but with EVERLASTING kindness I will have compassion on you," says the Lord your Redeemer.
54:10 "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my UNFAILING LOVE for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
Can you see? God’s discipline is only a short while; His kindness, love is everlasting. He has "compassion on you" - emphasised. The Lord’s desire is never to condemn and destroy, but to redeem and to save. But we have to turn to Him, trust and obey Him.
Learn from the remnant of Israel - they remained faithful to God, refused to worship idols, they put their trust in Him - and later on they’ll experience His deliverance. The Lord said to Isaiah in Isa 49:23, "...Those who hope in Me will not be disappointed."
It’s amazing what God promised (Isa 54:1):
1"...for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman.”
This statement reminds us of what God promised Abraham - right at the beginning. Gen 22:17 "I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies..."
Abraham’s wife Sarah was then barren, childless; all the way, until she was an old woman 90 years old and no children. And then God brought forth a son, when no one believe it could happen. Look at Israel today - millions have come from her.
At this time, the remnants are like children of the desolate, barren without hope. They cannot believe anything good can happen. Yet they are called to believe the Word of God.
In 54:2-3 Isaiah calls them to: "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
It is an expansion in numbers and in space. God has done great things for them in the past, but here Isaiah wants them to know God is going to do a great thing for them in the near future. They can’t see it now, but it will happen. The remnant must put their faith in Him.
Later on in chapter 64:3-5 Isaiah talks to God and say,
3 ... You did awesome things that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled before you. 4Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. 5You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways...
Those who put their trust in Him, God will do great things through them.
What about us? Are we prepared for what God can do?
Are you going through a difficult time? Sing. Sing with joy. God will not let you down. Don’t turn away from Him. That will only bring us more pain and trouble.
Just before his first London crusade, Billy Graham was asked by a newspaper reporter, "Are you an optimist or a pessimist?" Billy said without hesitation, "I’m an optimist! I know God and I have read the end of the Bible and it assures me that we who are in Christ have the victory." Our God knows the end from the beginning and knows that His purposes will be accomplished.
In this world we will have trouble, Jesus said in John 16:33. The journey may not be easy but the end point will not changed - we have a glorious future with Christ.
Paul says, "17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Cor 4:17-18)
In these difficult days, we must remain faithful. In Him, we have HOPE. We have to pledge our allegiance to Him. Don’t be discouraged by the circumstances or disheartened by the hardship we are going through. The devil loves to see that happening, but we are going to have strong faith in God.
CLOSE with Rom 12:12 [read] "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
