{"id":25871,"date":"2023-04-09T22:00:30","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T05:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-52_13-53_12-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-03-28T23:52:52","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T06:52:52","slug":"isaiah-54","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-54\/","title":{"rendered":"Restored Because of Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 54\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 54.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah 54:1-8 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the\u00a0LORD.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Do not be afraid; you will not suffer 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.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For your Maker is your husband– the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty is his name– the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will 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.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0your Redeemer.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-8:\u00a0 Back in Isaiah\u2019s time there were three situations that were specifically difficult and shame-inducing for Jewish women: being barren, being a widow and being a divorcee.\u00a0 Isaiah compares God\u2019s people to a barren woman in verses 1-3, a widow in verses 4-5 and a divorcee in verses 6-8.\u00a0 But in each case His point is that the LORD is going to take away His people\u2019s shame and restore them to a place of glory, joy and blessing.\u00a0 From a barren woman, God is going to supernaturally bless His people with far more descendants than she could ever have had naturally (v1).\u00a0 She will have so many children that she will need to find a bigger tent and her territory will expand into other nations (v2-3).\u00a0 We see much of this prophecy fulfilled already in our day.\u00a0 For through Jesus\u2019 cross and resurrection, God is delivering His people from captivity to sin and is using His people to give birth spiritually to many more \u201cchildren\u201d, that is, believers from other nations.\u00a0 That is why Christ\u2019s church of believers is the largest, most multicultural family that has ever existed or will exist.<\/p>\n

To a weeping widow that is God\u2019s people, God is going to become a husband.\u00a0 He is going to provide for her and give her security (v5) such that she will forget any reproach she had from having lost her husband (v4).\u00a0 Before we were married to God\u2019s laws, but the law died to us and us to the law, and now we have a new husband, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Finally, picturing God\u2019s people as a divorced woman, Isaiah says that God is going to restore His people and be her husband once again (v6-7).\u00a0 Because of what Jesus would do on the cross for us, God\u2019s anger will be replaced by everlasting kindness and compassion (v8).\u00a0 It shows that God\u2019s anger lasts only a moment but His favour lasts a lifetime.<\/p>\n

That is the salvation that God brings: it\u2019s not a shaming salvation but restoring salvation, one that restores our peace, joy and God-given glory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 54:9-10 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“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.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Though 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\u00a0LORD, who has compassion on you.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 9-10:\u00a0 Just as God made a new covenant in the days of Noah, so God is announcing that He is making a new covenant with His people, such that His wrath and anger will somehow be permanently removed while His unfailing love and compassion will stay.\u00a0 Jesus would accomplish all of this at the cross, receiving God\u2019s wrath in our place so that we can forever be acceptable in God\u2019s eyes and at peace with Him.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 54:11-12 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 11-12:\u00a0 It is no coincidence that in Revelation 21 God\u2019s people together are pictured as a city whose foundations and walls are made of precious jewels.\u00a0 It\u2019s because God is taking His people, His bride, His city which has endured much affliction, and giving her a greater glory than anything she had before.\u00a0 That\u2019s what God does with each one of us individually, and all of us together as His church, when we come to Him: He adorns us with His most precious assets.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 54:13-17 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0All your sons will be taught by the\u00a0LORD, and great will be your children’s peace.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In 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.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“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 work havoc;
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the\u00a0LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the\u00a0LORD.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 13-17:\u00a0 God is going to deliver His people from captivity to sin and bring them to a place where they will never have to fear anymore.\u00a0 They won\u2019t have to fear what will happen to their children and whether those children will follow the LORD, for God will teach them and they will have peace (v13).\u00a0 Righteousness will replace tyranny (v14).\u00a0 Attackers, accusers and their weapons will have no chance of prevailing (v15-17).\u00a0 For God has vindicated His people through Jesus Christ.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Praise God that the picture Isaiah writes down here from God is a picture of what heaven will be like.<\/strong>\u00a0 Praise God also that we can experience a partial taste of this glory, victory, security and peace today when we trust in Jesus and even more when we get to heaven.<\/p>\n

Thank You Father that what we read in Isaiah 54 is our reality both in part today and fully in the future.\u00a0 Thank You Jesus for being the Saviour who made our captivity to sin a thing of the past, and allows us to step into a new way of relating to God as a happy mother of children, a restored widow and a woman in love again with her husband.\u00a0 Thank You for Your salvation which comes without guilt, shame or condemnation, only grace and kindness.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Isaiah 54.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!
\n\u00a0
\nIsaiah 54:1-8 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0“Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the\u00a0LORD.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-8:\u00a0 Back in Isaiah\u2019s time there were three situations that were specifically difficult and shame-inducing for Jewish women: being barren, being a widow and being a divorcee.\u00a0 Isaiah compares God\u2019s people to a barren woman in verses 1-3, a widow in verses 4-5 and a divorcee in verses 6-8.\u00a0 But in each case His point is that the LORD is going to take away His people\u2019s shame and restore them to a place of glory, joy and blessing.\u00a0 From a barren woman, God is going to supernaturally bless His people with far more descendants than she could ever have had naturally (v1).\u00a0 She will have so many children that she will need to find a bigger tent and her territory will expand into other nations (v2-3).\u00a0 We see much of this prophecy fulfilled already in our day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25871"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25874,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25871\/revisions\/25874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}