ISAIAH 54: 11-17
FUTURE GLORY
[Revelations 21: 10, 18-21]
In the midst of adversity, God speaks through Isaiah to foretell of renewal, revival and a flourishing time to come. However bad the people of God’s present situation, the future before them is incredibly bright and secure. For the reunion of Zion with the ways of God brings material and spiritual blessings.
God establishes the disciples of His people in His righteousness. God is in the recovery and reproduction business and He wants us to live in the light of His resurrection promises. We can because He promises to guard us in His righteousness and keep us secure (CIT).
I. A PRECIOUS REBUILDING, 11-12.
II. ESTABLISHED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, 13-14.
III. THE HERITAGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS, 15-17.
Verse 11 begins to present the coming change in the situation of Zion. “O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires.
Zion, the afflicted city, had been through many troubles and instabilities, here called storms, and no one had comforted her (Lam. 1:2, 9, 15-17, 21). The Lord is intimately aware of the concerns of His people and has compassion for them. The Lord will build up the city with stones made of precious gems, symbolic of His care and esteem for the value of the city. The contrast is between a devastate city and a most glorious one. It is intended to represent the contrast between who we are and who we will become, between what we have experienced and what we will experience.
Standing on the hilltops of heaven, God sees the storms of affliction that have threaten and tossed you. Every wave, every pitch, every buffeting is discerned and felt by Him. He too has sailed through many stormy seas, and is acquainted with suffering. Though not comforted by man, you will be consoled by the divine Comforter.
He promises to lay a foundation and rebuild your life. He will spare no setting however costly, no stone however precious when He rebuilds you for life eternal.
The imagery of unearthly transformation continues in verse12. “Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones.
Sapphires, rubies, and crystal are very resplendent and beautiful, but they are all the children of fire. You will not have them unless prepared to pay the cost in blood, sweat, and tears. These jewels are produced of very ordinary elements, which have been subjected to tremendous pressure and terrific heat. When you have misgiving amid your fiery trials, remember that God is at work making the sapphires, rubies, and crystal of your eternal character. You will be incomparably compensated. [F.B. Meyer, Great Verses, 289] Remember to hope in the God who will see you through the storms and comfort you (2 Cor. 4:16-18).
II. ESTABLISHED IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, 13-14.
Verse 13 contains the promise and peace of discipleship. “All your sons will be taught of the Lord; and the well-being of your sons will be great.
Peace or well being comes from a right relationship with God. There is no way to have a right relationship with God with out being taught of God. God would have us learn His ways that we might be transformed into His precious character by His Spirit. As a result Zion’s sons will possess an abundance of well-being or peace (Phil. 4:7; Col. 3:15). Such peace only comes to those who know the Lord and are His disciples. [Young, Isaiah, Vol III, 370]
[In the Millennium, the children will be taught by the Lord Himself and will enjoy His peace. Bible Knowledge Commentary, OT, ]
Verse 14 teaches that real security is established in righteousness. “In righteousness you will be established. You will be far from oppression- for you will not fear-and from terror, for it will not come near you.
Righteousness is the practice of right thinking and behavior because of a right relationship with God. God promises that righteousness will bring about security (33:5; 46:13; 58:8; 62:1-2).
The promises of security speaks to three communities of faith. First it spoke to the exiled community. How precious all these promises must have been to them in the years when their very existence as a people seemed to be threatened from one day to the next. Second it speaks to us. It is the righteous who are secure in the love and the good purposes of God. This security holds them fast, even when the world is falling down around them (Lam. 3:21-26).
This changing world has no security. All things pass and fade; all the old and comfortable is replaced with the new and strange. If we look for security here, we shall never find it. But those who have submitted themselves to become disciples of the Lord, in whom peace and righteousness have come to dwell, can rest in the eternal purposes of God that is profound and undisturbed. That is security.
Finally, these promises speak of the end of history, "when time and change shall be no more," when the Creator will call all things to an end and the Holy City, the congregation of those made righteous by the blood of the Lamb, will dwell securely forevermore. [Oswalt, Isaiah, 429]
In the second half of the verse the prophet commands oppression and terror to be distant from these righteous. They no longer fear for the Lord will protect them from tyranny (1 Pet. 3:14). Dear Lord, speak this command over me.
III. THE HERITAGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS, 15-17.
Verse 15 contains another assuring promise. “If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me. Whoever assails you will fall because of you.
Whatever trouble may come to them, God will not have sent it to them as a means of judgment and destruction, which was the case surrounding the events of the exile. Although God is in control of history, and nothing happens outside that control, He is not a puppet master whose sovereignty requires that every individual event be initiated by Him. We live in a fallen world where trouble comes to all people. But those who are living in obedience to the righteousness of God need not fear Him causing us to be fiercely assailed. Our conflict is neither a sign of retribution nor discipline, but merely of the patience of God in allowing free will of man and the cause and effect of the world to take their natural course.
As long as you live on earth and strive to follow God, you will have enemies. Don’t worry about them or what they can do, just be established in righteousness. Your enemies shall surely fall. The verse states that is no doubt about it, they shall fall because of you.
[In the millennial kingdom no nation will be allowed to defeat Israel because the Lord has decreed it. Nations rise and fall on the basis of His word. Bible Knowledge Commentary, OT, ]
God states that all instruments and agents are at His disposal and under His control in verse 16. “Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and brings out a weapon for its work; And I have created the destroyer to ruin.
Since God is the Creator who creates not only the warrior (the destroyer) but the weapon in his hand, and not only the weapon but even the blacksmith who made the weapon, we should not think that anything can come to us that will contradict God’s purposes for us. [An emphatic declaration that God is the maker of the weapon and the maker of their maker as well as the maker the warrior who wields them.] Isaiah’s point should not be overlooked. He is saying that no part of creation is exempt from the purposes of God, but that all things will serve the purposes of our Creator.
Now God does not promise us that trouble will not come. Indeed, Jesus promised His disciples just the opposite (Mt. 10:25), and both Peter (1 Pet. 4: 12) and Paul (Rom. 8:17) echoed that teaching. But He does promise His presence in the trouble, and He promises us that He will not allow it to tear us from His embrace. There are destructive agencies around us on all hands but they are all under the mighty hand of God. They cannot overstep the limits He assigns. [When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. He restrains the wrath of his foes, and surrounds him with a rock fortification.]
[In the past He allowed the destroyer (Babylon) to overcome His people, but for those established in rightiousness, this will never again occur. ]
Verse 17 presents the conclusion of this section. “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.
Whoever attempts to use weapon or tongue against the people of God will not succeed (will not take effect or accomplish its designs), because God is not sending that trouble and all things must eventually serve God’s purposes. They may be able to injure God’s servants, even to the extent of appearing to destroy them, but the fact is that will not be able to do so.
Those who decide to make trouble for the people of God should think very carefully. For those who make the trouble have another kind of assurance: they will fall and the fall will be great!
When people speak against you and misrepresent the truth and falsely accuse you they shall be put to silence with your godly lips and life-style. God will use you to prick the conscience of multitudes [as with Paul’s life and writings and preaching]. The Lord will fight the battles with you. He will refute, repudiate and rebuke all the evil forces that wage war against you. God promises protection and security for those who walk uprightly with Him.
The end of verse 17 is a summation statement for this whole segment or chapter. This is a new inheritance, not just a promised land but promised security. Peace and safety are the heritage-the inheritance of those who trust in the Lord. The servants (the singular Servant will not longer occur in Isaiah) are true believers, both Jew and gentile (56:6-8) who are faithful to the Lord..
The word translated vindication is the same word translated righteousness in verse 14. The righteousness of the people of God is from the Servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ, the only righteous one. He is the One who makes us righteous.
CONCLUSION / RESPONSE
As servants of the Lord this promise is also for us. But it is not our own righteousness that qualifies us to claim it. Rather it is because we are in the Righteous One, Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Remember, peace will never come to those who do not appreciate what they already have in Christ and His promises.
