Isaiah 54:9-17

Passage: Isaiah 54:9-17
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.
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 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 confute 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."

Journal: There is nothing that comes with a greater guarantee than a covenant proclaimed by God. He reminds Judah of the covenant that He made with Noah when He promised never to show His wrath again in the form of enveloping water. [v. 9a -- ". . . as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth . . ."] Here, He proclaims to Judah [as well as His children] that His compassionate love and peace will never leave His people regardless of the circumstance of the day. [v. 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."] That is, much like the waters of His wrath, His love and peace will envelope His people.

Further, not only will His love envelope His people in their human exile and struggle, but heaven awaits in all its glory, studded with brilliant gems. [v. 11-12 -- "O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones."] [See also Revelation 21.] The foundation of the peace of the redeemed child of God is laid by and in Christ. He is our great warrior, and in Him we cannot fail. [v. 17 -- "no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute 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 54:4-8

Passage: Isaiah 54:4-8
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.

Journal: Isaiah often speaks of the compassion of God. Today's verses point to His grace once again. [v. 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."] Note that the anger of God towards His children is for only a season, but that the love of God is everlasting. [v. 7 -- "For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you."] However, these relational postures are not by happenstance, for it would have been within God's perfect justice to allow His anger with a sinful people to be everlasting and His love to be severed as a sinful consequence. Yet, His grace has allowed for a redeemer that has given His children a positional standing with and for Him. [v. 5-6 -- "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. 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."] The "cast off" wife illustrates our positional standing as a sinful people; yet, He has "called" us as a husband to the wife of His youth. A reconciliation which is made possible only by our Lord and Savior. "Fear not, for you will not be ashamed . . ."

Heard 'Round the House:
This "highbrow" conversation occurred last night. I had been invited to a dinner for Sarah Palin that would cost a mere $1,000 per plate and Jill had suggested [tongue in cheek] that I go and take the whole family since it would only be $9,000 --
Alex: "We are going somewhere?
Song: "What dinner?"
Luke: "Who is Sarah Palin?
Mom: "She is running for vice president?"
Luke: "Why was dad invited to that?"
Mom: "A friend of his asked him."
Luke: "Is he going?"
Mom: "It would cost a $1,000 for just daddy to go. So, I don't think he will be going.
Song: "Is the food really good or something?"

Isaiah 54:1-3

Passage: Isaiah 54:1-3
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.

Journal: This is a message of encouragement for Judah as she faces the coming enslavement by Babylon. That is, some day the new Israel, the spiritual Israel, will spring forth from a remnant and spread to the far corners of the earth. The enslavement to Babylon is tantamount to the enslavement to sin. Yet, the desolation will not be permanent, for Christ has remedied the bondage and has secured the freedom of His brothers and sisters. God is our refuge, and spreads forth as our perfect and complete canopy. His faithfulness allows us to "lengthen [our] cords and strengthen [our] stakes."

Isaiah 53:10-12

Passage: Isaiah 53:10-12
10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring;
he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Journal: The sin of Adam became the sin of all people. The sin of God's children became the sin of Christ. The righteousness of Christ became the righteousness of God's children. This threefold imputation is at the heart of the Gospel, and the heart of the Gospel is penned by Isaiah in Chapter 53. Our verses today indicate that God Himself is at the heart of the Gospel, pulsating with each heartbeat. [v. 10 -- "Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand."] He has saved "many," and the guilt of the many intersected on the cross with the righteousness of the One. The ugliness of the many necessitated that the Father turn His back on the beauty of the Son. This was double anguish, for our Savior bore our sins in both agony and in complete isolation. He became our Hell, and brandished Hell for us bearing our great transgression [speaking, of course, of His separation from the Father]. Yet, this separation and isolation could not hold His righteousness and innocence, and He has returned to the Father triumphant, carrying us along in His righteous perfection. [v. 11 -- "Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities."] He intercedes today on our behalf - the perfect for the imperfect, the righteous for the unrighteous. [v. 12b -- ". . . because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors."] Without Him, we are nothing. Without Him, life has no meaning. He is all that we need, for He became everything that we are.

Isaiah 53:7-9

Passage: Isaiah 53:7-9
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Journal: Isaiah foretells the trial, death and burial of Christ. The prophecy is with definitive precision, as he references that Christ was "with a rich man in his death." [Matthew 27:57-60 --When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away."]

The abuse of the slain lamb is evident in the words of Isaiah -- "oppressed;" "afflicted;" "slaughter;" and "stricken." Yet, in the midst of it all, our atoning savior went to the sacrificial table in resolute and focused solitude - the "silence of the lamb." [v. 7 -- "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth."] His perfection [v. 9b -- ". . . although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth."] became our perfection. His holiness became our holiness. He suffered so that we might escape our torment.

Isaiah 53:4-6

Passage: Isaiah 53:4-6
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.


Journal: A priest performs sacrificial work for the sinner. Christ, the ultimate and final priest, was the ultimate and final atonement for the sin of His brothers and sisters, the children of God. He suffered not for His own sin but, instead, for my sin. As I sin now, His suffering increases. As I stumble and fall, His knees and elbows are bruised. As I cry out in rebellion, He screams out in anguish. [v. 4-5 -- "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed."]



While God's grace prevailed upon sin to be forgiven, God's justice demands that sin be punished. Thus, our punishment became Christ's punishment. It is one of the three great imputations [transfers] revealed in God's word. Adam's sin was imputed to us all. The sin of God's children was imputed to Christ on the cross. The righteousness of Christ was imputed to God's children. Thus, both the grace of God and the justice of God are preserved. It must be, for God can only be God, and He is never something less than what He is and what He will always be. [v. 6 -- "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."]





Heard 'Round the House: Last night I was bombarded with riddles. It started with Anna telling me a couple of zingers and then Luke joined in with one of his own. It went something like this . . .


Luke [age 12]: A crime happened in the house one Sunday evening. The Dad was getting the paper. The Mom was cooking. The daughter was watching TV. The son was playing video games. Who did it?


Daddy [pondering]: Well, I am wondering why the Dad would be going to get the paper in the evening.


Luke: You're close , but that's not it. There is no paper on Sunday.


Dad: What do you mean? There is a paper every day of the week.


Song [age 10]: The Sunday paper is the most important paper Luke - it's the biggest.


Anna [age 8]: Luke, it's the mail that doesn't come on Sunday.


Luke: Oh yeah. OK, I meant Dad was getting the mail . . .

Isaiah 53:1-3

Passage: Isaiah 53:1-3
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Journal: Isaiah 53 is quoted extensively in the New Testament, even by Jesus Himself. John referenced Isaiah 53:1 [John 12:38] -- "so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 'Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?'" In fact, it has been pointed out that the entire ministry of Jesus, from His baptism, to His teaching, to His suffering, to His death, to His resurrection, and to His ascension is laid out in Isaiah 53. The chapter also evidences His roles as Prophet, Priest and King.

These first three verses point to His role as Priest and the sufferings He endured to fulfill that role. The physical suffering of Christ, painful and traumatic as it was, it was only a portion of the suffering He undertook on behalf of His brothers and sisters. There was great mental anguish as well, as He endured disappointment, anxiety, loneliness and rejection. [v. 3 -- "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."]

He was a man of sorrows. The human perspective views the cross as His great defeat. That is, even the symbol of the cross itself was associated with a curse. Yet, the glory of God was not defeated at the cross, for the redemption of man, for whatever reason, brings Him immeasurable glory. Satan could not help himself, as if eating delicious fruit juiced with poison. He was there, screaming into the ears of his children to "crucify Him, crucify Him." [Luke 23:21] His own rebellion was leading to his own destruction. The Son of man, and His ascension from death, reclaimed the redeemed from the clutches of Satan. There is no greater picture of sin getting bound within itself, like a rope caught in a propeller until the motor freezes from the restriction. Christ was a man of sorrows. We are children of hope.