Isaiah 54: Success of the Servant Calls for a Response
Introduction: Recall the beginning of the servant song, 52:13, “Behold my servant shall act wisely [margin, “shall prosper”]” – The opening of the song promised success. Chapters 54-55 will emphasize the prosperity of the Servant and call for a response from the people.
- 54:1 “Sing”
- 54:2 “Enlarge the place of your tent” (command to expand)
- 54:4 “Fear not”
- 55:1 “Come”
- 55:2 “Listen diligently”
- 55:6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found”
The conclusion of the overall picture is, God has removed every obstacle for man to seek him and find him. There is no reason for man to fear or to believe that God will not accept him. The Lord now sends out a message of comfort (54:4-17), not a message of wrath or judgment. Note the connection between chapters 54 and 55. 54:1, “Sing” because of the victory that has been accomplished for you. 55:1, “Come” and enjoy a feast that someone else paid for. Because of the Song (53), we now know how the promises of restoration come to pass as spoken in the earlier chapters.
Three pictures of restoration are given in 54:
- 1-5 the family is restored
- 6-10 the marriage is restored
- 11-17 the city is restored
54:1-5 The Miracle Family
A barren woman is able to sing. Her barrenness has ended, but not because of a natural occurrence. The Servant’s work has miraculously taken away her shame. How did this happen? The Servant’s “seed” (53:10, same word as “offspring” in Gen. 22:16-18), heals the barren state. This is a reminder that the true children of God are only made his children by the power from above, the power from God (Cf. John 1:13). Consider:
This is why God waits to give Sarah a child long after either her or Abraham can produce children naturally.
This is why there is a contrast with Hagar and Ishmael, who seem mock Sarah and seem for the moment to be the heirs. Paul actually uses Hagar and Ishmael as allegorical examples of the physical nation (Gal. 4:21-31).
This is why Ezekiel 36:25-27 states that God will cleanse, God will give a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone, God will give a new spirit, and God will put his Spirit within us, causing us to be careful to obey his commandments. Everything is about God giving the new life and even recreating us into his image.
This is why Nicodemus must be born from above in order to be in the kingdom of God. We must be birthed by God.
This is the reason Peter said we are born again, “not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” It is only with his seed in us that we can live forever because it is based on the living power of the Servant’s resurrection (1 Pet. 1:23ff).
This is the reason we must see the waters of baptism as a symbol of the heavenly cleansing taking place and not as a human work like magic pill equivalent to physical circumcision. In Col. 2:11-12, Paul said baptism was a “circumcision made without hands” through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And, this is the reason we do not baptize children who have not experienced death in sin and cannot conceptualize the difference between a human effort and a birth from above.
Notice also who she is called “the desolate one,” which is in contrast to “her who is married” or “her who has a husband” (NIV). We now see the utter despair of Sarah. For 14 years her role seemed to be reversed, with Hagar boasting her fruitfulness and true marital status in a foreshadowing of Israel’s desolation and the desolation of all mankind. It is complete hopelessness, and that was our condition, and that is the reason Sarah can sing, we can sing, and the world can sing.
Vs. 2 again implies an evangelistic spirit connected to the power of the Lord. The Lord has made the kingdom something that the whole world desires because of the blessings offered.
Vs. 3 restates the land promise. “Your offspring will possess the nations” fits Genesis 22:17, “Your offspring will possess the gate of your enemies.” (NIV: “Your offspring will dispossess the nations.”). The “desolate cities” are repopulated – after the Lord has destroyed the world powers that afflicted his people: Psalm 2:8, “I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.”
Vs. 4: The command is to “fear not” because they will no longer be put to shame. The Lord has now reversed the shame Israel felt when she was left desolate. NET translates, “disgrace of abandonment” instead of widowhood, arguing that one can be a widow either by the death of her husband or his abandonment. Abandonment fits exactly what God had done, as is stated in verse 7. But now, God’s return to them and repopulating their nation will cause them to no longer remember the days of desolation. And so it is true with us!
Vs. 5 is a transition to the marriage picture. Guess who is your “Husband” and “Redeemer?” He is actually your creator; he is the Lord of hosts; he is the Holy One of Israel; he is the God of the whole earth. Impressive.
54:6-10 Restored Marriage
Israel has been like a wife deserted and cast off. And indeed, the Lord did briefly desert her, though he did not finalize the divorce (50:1). But now with great compassion and everlasting love, the Lord will bring her back to himself. Note the contrast between a “brief moment of desertion” and “everlasting love.” This desertion will not happen again!
Isn’t it interesting that since Israel would not respond to the repeated pleas of the Lord for her to return to him, that it was necessary for the Lord to “bring her back” (NIV, vs. 7). This could only be done by the work of the Servant.
Vs. 9-10 In fact, God’s promise of everlasting love is so sure that just has he made a promise to Noah and sealed it with the sign of the bow, he will no longer be angry with his people nor rebuke them. How can that be? Because the Lord will have changed his people. They will no longer be disobedient, but will be “taught by the Lord” (vs. 13) and be “established in righteousness” (vs. 14).
The basis for the promise is that “the steadfast love of the Lord shall never depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed.” There are two principles we need to know about the concept of the steadfast love of the Lord:
This is who God declared himself to be when Moses asked to see his glory (Exodus 34:5-6). The Lord is “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.” This is the very nature of God and parallels what was said about Jesus, “…and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only Son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Psalm 89:24-37 is an excellent description of what it means for God to have steadfast love toward us. It isn’t that the Lord will disregard sinfulness and rebellion. In fact, “he does not leave the guilty unpunished” (Ex. 34:6), but he will never remove the opportunity for a person to return to him. He will continue to forgive sins as long as his people rely on him. Cf. 1 John 1:7.
54:11-17 The Restored City
The foundation and stones with which the city is rebuilt are a combination of beauty and strength.
Vs. 13 indicates the character of the people of the city. They will all be taught by the Lord. This matches 2:3 where the people are going and inviting the nations to come to Zion to be taught by God. Jesus quoted this text in John 6:44-45 to explain how people will be “drawn” to him; they will be taught by God. By learning about the Lord, they are drawn to love him. Think how this directs our method of teaching!
Vs. 14: Righteousness is the reason the city will be established and therefore protected by the Lord. We need to always know what trusting in the Lord looks like – it looks like living righteously.
Vs. 15-17 No one is able to succeed in destroying the city:
Anyone stirring up strife against them will fall because of them.
There is no reason to be concerned about weapons of warfare because God is the one who has created the smith who produces the weapons. If the smith is only human, then the weapons against them that he makes have no power.
Further, there will be no accusation that can be used against them because it is the Lord who is justifying them. Cf. Rom. 8:33-34, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
Verse 17 concludes with the promise that this vindication is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Notice that “servants” is plural. After 53:11 the singular, “servant” is never used again, testifying to the fact that the Messiah has now produced an offspring of servants who replicate his work of laying their lives down so that the nations can see the light.
Conclusion: Chapter 55 will give us more pictures of blessings for those who come to the Lord’s feast. But we have seen in chapter 54 an amazing array of blessings as a result of the Servant’s offering for guilt. Those blessings are the strongest motivation we have to learn about God and be drawn to our Savior. What an amazing work he did. Our Creator made himself a human offering for sin and guilt in order to bring us back to him. We would not return on our own and we could not return on our own. And so he was crushed for our iniquities, which penetrated our hearts so deeply that we run to him; we are drawn by the cords of his love. Therefore the three great responses of the chapter: sing…enlarge…fear not.
Berry Kercheville