Back in Isaiah 50 we were introduced to the idea that God regarded Israel as his bride. But she had been unfaithful too many times so as punishment she had been driven away for a while. But in the chapters that followed we read of the Saviour who will provide for her restoration even though she was unworthy.
In chapter 52 we read of their return triumphantly to Jerusalem. But then we had chapter 53, where we were introduced to Jesus.
We saw how God is outside of time, that he has a view of the world that stretches from eternity past to eternity future. So when he speaks of his children, either natural or adopted, yes he is speaking to the returning Jews, but at the same time he sees countless more who will return to him from every nation through the work of his Son.
Isaiah 54
1 ‘Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labour;
because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,’ says the Lord.
In those days it was considered a failing for a married woman not to have children.
In God’s eyes his chosen people had not produced children who had loved him faithfully.
But now his redeemed people will again fulfil their destiny.
2 ‘Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back;
lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
When in captivity, or returning to derelict houses, the people would have reverted to living in tents – much like the one illustrated. As the family grew, you simply added more stakes and covering
Here the whole nation is described as a tent, spreading out to left and right, incorporating other nations.
4 ‘Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
Fear, shame, disgrace, humiliation, reproach. They had suffered all of this in captivity but now that is all in the past – forget it, says the Lord!
5 For your Maker is your husband – the Lord Almighty is his name –
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.
6 The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit –
a wife who married young, only to be rejected,’ says your God.
But don’t forget who I am – Creator, Redeemer, Almighty God – and Husband. I am bringing you back.
7 ‘For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
8 In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,’ says the Lord your Redeemer.
As he has explained before, sin has to be punished. You can’t hope he doesn’t see or care. So yes, his people had to experience the terror of being abandoned and cast aside. But now, with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,’ says the Lord your Redeemer.
God’s love is unconditional and he has compassion on us all. In Jesus he has provided a way for us to be redeemed, and adopted into his family as full sons and daughters.
9 ‘To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.
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.
God has returned to reclaim his wayward people. Not because of some merit of their own, but simply out of his great love and mercy. This will be a turning point in the life of his people. No more will he bring other nations to punish them.
More than this he will establish a covenant of peace but perhaps not here, and not yet. Again we are taken forward, beyond the coming of the ‘New Covenant’ with Jesus. We are given a glimpse of the New Jerusalem
11 ‘Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli.
12 I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace.
14 In righteousness you will be established:
tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you.
What an encouraging picture for the returning exiles as they saw the ruins of their once-great city.
15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
16 ‘See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
17 no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,’ declares the Lord.
God says: Let me repeat, you have only been attacked because I have allowed it. It won’t happen again. Who do you think it was that created the blacksmith and the tools for war that he produced?
That would be so comforting for God’s chosen people Israel who have constantly lived in fear of attack.
But, and there’s always a but. This assumes a people who will continue to trust the Lord. Whenever we turn away and effectively say ‘I don’t need you God, I’ll look after myself’, then God will always allow us freedom to go our own way and suffer the consequences. I’ll say no more (2026).
Before we move into the next chapter, look again at the second part of verse 16. How do you understand ‘it is I who have created the destroyer’?
This can refer to past attacking kings – Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar.
Or it could be the Devil himself, originally an angel, created completely good and without fault – but also with free will. See Isaiah 14:12-15
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
(Also Ezekiel 28:13-17) God created Satan, but not the sin within him. At its root, sin is the opposite of obedience to God. Having given his creation free will, to obey God or not, we ourselves can also create sin.
Isaiah 55
1 ‘Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
At first reading this is unfathomable, like Jesus offering ‘living water’ to the woman by the well in Samaria (John chapter 4). There, water was a metaphor for spiritual life. Here the things on offer are food for our souls.
So much of our lives is spent on earning money to buy things that can never satisfy, being deaf to the things Jesus offers – ‘Listen, listen to me’ he says.
3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.
Listen (again) says God. I have poured out my love to Jesus and it is that covenant relationship that is being offered to you.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples. 5 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendour.’
Jesus has gained the victory and has again taken his rightful place at God’s right hand in heaven endowed with splendour, and that will attract multitudes to come to him.
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Here is an offer and a warning. Well illustrated by Holman Hunt in his picture ‘The Light of the World’. Here Jesus is standing outside a door, locked on the inside. Prepared to come in if his knock is answered and the door is opened. But the time will come that he moves on, and the opportunity is lost
8 ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.
9 ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
What a profound statement. We often picture Jesus or God as having human thoughts and attitudes, but that is so wrong.
Yes we were made in God’s image, and we have a measure of intelligence, but never imagine that God is so limited.
God is Almighty, and his intelligence and understanding is infinite. His thoughts are simply not like ours, and his ways are just not like our ways – there is no comparison – they are simply ‘higher’. So when we ask ‘why did God do that? Or why doesn’t God do this? It is impossible to even begin to answer.
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
When God created the world he chose that by combining two gases together they would make the unique substance – water – and he made it essential for the creation and sustenance of all living things.
It is the same with The Word – Jesus (John 1:1-14) – he made him to uniquely accomplish all God’s purposes. Initially in creation, but then in the sacrificial act of redemption. As a result:
12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn-bush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure for ever.’
The new heaven and new earth will be unrecognisably different – and so vastly better! Yes he invites us to join him there, he even prepares a place for us, but heaven is God’s domain, ‘This will be for the Lord’s renown’.
Isaiah 56 – another awkward chapter break.
1 This is what the Lord says: ‘Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
2 Blessed is the one who does this – the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps their hands from doing any evil.’
But if you are going to be part of this 'no rules' new covenant, then out of love for the Lord your actions will have to match his.
3 Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.’ And let no eunuch complain, ‘I am only a dry tree.’
4 For this is what the Lord says: ‘To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant –
5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure for ever.
In those days, if you had no male descendants to carry on your family name, the stigma was worse than that of a barren woman. As we saw earlier, fear, shame, disgrace, humiliation and reproach were now all in the past – forget it, says the Lord! See what I will give in exchange – verse 5.
6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant –
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.’
8 The Sovereign Lord declares – he who gathers the exiles of Israel: ‘I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.’
God’s new covenant is all-encompassing. Because of Jesus, his grace and mercy is offered freely to everyone.
