The Heritage Of The Redeemed
Isaiah 54:1-17
August 11, 2024
We just finished what is perhaps the greatest chapter in all of Scripture
On the atonement of Jesus.
We saw the Suffering Servant and His work was fully explained to us.
• We saw why He was scorned.
• We saw why God put Him through it.
• We saw why Christ Himself was eager to endure it.
• We saw the satisfaction of both God and Christ in what He did.
The cross became crystal clear to us in that wonderful chapter.
Jesus came to be the substitute for sinners and to redeem His people.
Now that that great chapter is over, ONE GIANT QUESTION LOOMS:
WHO IS IT FOR?
Now I know we saw the wording,
• Especially in verses 4-6 of that chapter.
• Words like “our” and “us” and “we”.
But we also read verses which seemed to narrow the field.
• Verses like 53:8 which said that “He was cut off out of the land of the living
for the transgression of My people”
• We read like in 53:11 that He will “justify the many”
• We read in verse 53:12 that “He Himself bore the sin of many”
That wasn’t universal language.
That did not speak of a universal atonement in which all men are made right before God.
There is clearly a select group being spoken of.
So, even if you are intrigued by the work of the Servant in ch. 53
There still has to be some wonder as to who it is for.
Human logic would tell you
• That it is for the best, or the most worthy.
• That’s who gets the benefits in our world.
• The hardest workers get the promotions.
• The students with the best grades get the scholarships.
• The athletes with the most natural ability get the recognition.
And that is the way most people think about religion.
So if Jesus Christ is going to come and justify the many
Then surely the many there are the cream of the crop,
The best of the best, the most deserving.
WHO IS THE MANY?
Well tonight we open the next major leg of Isaiah’s closing segment.
You might call this segment: THE INVITATION
Now that the atonement has been explained
And the means of salvation is made clear, now the call goes forth.
It is the call of God to “the many” that they might take hold of this glorious redemption and all the benefits that go with it.
You may have even noticed that we titled this chapter:
“The Heritage of the Redeemed”
(54:17b) “This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.”
It is God spelling out exactly
What the atonement of His Servant purchased for “the many”.
It is like a man seeking to marry a woman
And first explaining to her all the wealth of his estate before he proposes.
That is very much what Isaiah 54 is.
It is God’s call to “the many” to come forward and take it.
BUT IT IS THE GROUP WHOM GOD SPECIFICALLY ADDRESSES
AS “THE MANY” THAT THE WORLD MIGHT FIND SHOCKING.
• For God DOES NOT call out to the scholars…
• God DOES NOT call out to the accomplished…
• God DOES NOT call out to the noble or worthy or strong…
• That is to say, “Not the good folks”
Instead, the chapter is directed to the bottom of the barrel.
We see words like:
• (1) “barren”
• (1) “desolate”
• (4) “shame”
• (4) “reproach”
• (4) “forsaken”
• (6) “grieved”
• (6) “rejected”
• (11) “afflicted, storm-tossed, and not comforted”
That is not the pick of the litter.
That is not the ones whom the world would have expected.
And yet this group of rejected failures are told:
• (1) “shout for joy”
• (1) “break forth into joyful shouting”
• (1) “cry aloud”
• (4) “fear not”
We see here, what has been consistent of God throughout the Scriptures:
Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”
God always reaches out to the poor and the broken.
His offer of salvation does not go to the seemingly most deserving,
But to the least deserving.
He DOES NOT offer a nudge to those who almost made it over the hump,
• He goes to those who fell off the ladder,
• Who are broken on the ground,
• Who have totally given up trying it again,
• And He offers them a way over.
Luke 5:29-32 “And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
We saw it with another tax collector later in Luke’s gospel:
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
We love the famous 15th chapter of Luke
• Where we learn about the lost coin and the lost sheep and the lost son,
• All of whom were found and brought great rejoicing.
But it is vitally important to understand why Jesus told these 3 parables:
Luke 15:1-2 “Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
All 3 of those parables, especially the third,
Were to explain the heart of God in saving sinners.
We love:
1 Timothy 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”
Isaiah 54 is totally consistent with the rest of Scripture
That when God saves sinners
He saves the lowest and the least, not the biggest and best.
He is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.
AND THAT IS HIS MESSAGE HERE.
He is calling sinners to salvation and He is adamant
That He is calling the worst of sinners.
Look even to the next chapter:
Isaiah 55:1-2 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.”
It is a clear point isn’t it?
Well that is the segment we have now entered.
Having revealed the means of atonement and forgiveness,
Now the offer of salvation is going forth.
Now we are listening to God’s invitation!
We are going to break chapter 54 into 3 main points.
#1 THE AUDIENCE
Isaiah 54:1-8
This is actually the same point we just made,
• I just want to make sure you have a good understanding of exactly who God is addressing here.
(1a) “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;”
The first specific person mentioned is THE BARREN WOMAN.
And if you understand this through Bible eyes you will understand the scorn and shame that went along with that.
• This is a woman who could bear her husband no children.
• This is a woman who was left without a posterity.
• This is a woman with no future.
• This woman was considered in the O.T. to be cursed of God since it is God who opens and closes the womb.
That is why you see women like Hannah:
1 Samuel 1:8-11 “Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. She, greatly distressed, prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.”
Hannah referred to her inability to have children as “affliction”.
Remember Rachel’s confrontation of Jacob?
Genesis 30:1 “Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.”
The point is, this is a big deal.
This is a barren woman.
Now, if we want a spiritual parallel here
We would liken this woman to a person who has no works or accomplishments to brag about.
• This is a person who has done nothing of remembrance.
• This is a person with an empty resume.
• This is a person who has no reason to boast of any accomplishment.
You might, if you wanted to be especially harsh,
Refer to them as useless due to their fruitlessness.
If you think that one is low and harsh, look at the next.
Here we see THE REJECTED WOMAN
The spiritual parallel here is of
• One who did do works, but they were totally unacceptable, perhaps even immoral,
• And thus totally rejected by God.
Think about Cain whose offering was rejected by the LORD.
Verse 4 speaks of “the reproach of your widowhood”
• But you should know that the root word there for widowhood is simply a word that means “forsaken”.
This becomes even clearer down in verse 6
• Where we read “Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected.”
This is a woman in whom fault was found
And thus she was sent away by her husband.
This certainly hits home in the narrative of Isaiah:
Isaiah 50:1 “Thus says the LORD, “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”
Incidentally, that has really been God’s message to Israel through Isaiah,
Though not always through the analogy of a wife.
Isaiah has compared them to bad sons:
Isaiah 1:1-3 “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.”
Isaiah has compared them to a bad city:
Isaiah 1:21-23 “How the faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers. Your silver has become dross, Your drink diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.”
Isaiah has compared them to a bad vineyard:
Isaiah 5:3-6 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. “I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, But briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”
THEY ARE A REJECTED PEOPLE.
And yet, that’s exactly who God is now offering atonement to.
SO God has just revealed to us the glorious atonement of Christ,
And how sinners can be justified through His substitutionary death.
And to our utter dismay
The first people God runs to in order to offer this atonement is
• The barren woman who has done nothing of value
• The rejected woman whose works were totally displeasing.
GOD SAVES SINNERS.
SO:
• Are you sinful?
• Have you blown it?
• Are you ashamed of what you’ve done?
• Do you think yourself unworthy of salvation?
Then you are qualified for salvation!
For Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
That is the audience.
#2 THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Isaiah 54:1-8
We see the audience God addressed,
But now we see how God addressed them
And the announcement is pure delight.
To that BARREN WOMAN who had done nothing of any value,
God tells her to look on the atoning work of Christ and, “Shout for joy”
He says, “you who have borne no child; break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;”
And the promise here moves beyond simply being forgiven.
“For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,” says the LORD.”
See this barren woman was weeping and grieving
Because she had done nothing of significance in her life.
She was leaving no legacy, no posterity, no children.
Her life would be forgotten with no trace nor memory of her.
And through Christ God offers her a greater purpose and posterity
Than any woman ever achieved through her own efforts.
Let me put it to you another way.
God just promised her, through the atoning work of Christ, “a future and a hope”.
In fact:
(2-3) “Enlarge the place of your tent; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; Lengthen your cords And strengthen your pegs. “For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left. And your descendants will possess nations And will resettle the desolate cities.”
God tells this woman, “You’re gonna need a bigger house!”
Just to make sure we are understanding the gospel ramifications here.
• Have you ever heard of something like this?
• Have you ever heard of God taking a barren woman and promising her
descendants that will spread across the world and possess nations?
Yes!
If you’ve read the story of Abraham and Sarah.
Galatians 4:21-28 “Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written, “REJOICE, BARREN WOMAN WHO DOES NOT BEAR; BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR; FOR MORE NUMEROUS ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE THAN OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND.” And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.”
What was Paul’s point?
What is the gospel implication here?
GRACE PRODUCES A BIGGER BLESSING THAN WORKS EVER WILL.
Wasn’t that true for Sarah?
God took the useless and by grace used them for the greatest purposes.
And let’s look at our other woman, our REJECTED WOMAN.
And God has quite a message for her too.
(READ 4-8)
The simple message and overall message is that
YOUR SHAME AND REPROACH ARE REMOVED.
WHY?
Because I’m going to call you back to Myself.
• I’m going to have compassion on you.
• I’m going to reenter a covenant with you.
• I’m going to marry you again.
All of the reproach you bore in that nasty divorce
I’m going to absolve through a beautiful wedding.
But again, have you ever heard of a story like that before?
• Have you ever heard of a immoral woman being sent away and then taken
back by the LORD?
You have if you’ve read about Hosea and Gomer!
• Gomer was a prostitute.
• She bore Hosea 3 children.
• The third one he named Loammi which means “not mine”
• Hosea sent her away.
But what happened next?
Hosea 3:1 “Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”
You see the gospel there right?
It is God announcing to the useless and the vile
That through the atoning work of Christ
They will be made fruitful and beautiful.
That is the announcement of the gospel.
• You are sinful, and your works have accomplished nothing.
• All you have done has been riddled with mistakes and failure.
• Based on your own works or ability you have no reason to smile at the future,
• And you have no reason to expect that anyone will value your life.
But Jesus Christ came to this earth.
• He was a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
• He bore our sins and He took our shame.
• “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.”
• “By His scourging we are healed.”
What was barren is made fruitful through Christ.
What was vile was made beautiful through Christ.
The least acceptable becomes the most attractive.
The least worthy becomes the most sought.
Because of Christ those with no future now have a future.
Because of Christ those with no hope now have hope.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
That is the announcement.
• God calls out to the barren and tells her to “shout for joy”
• God calls out to the rejected and tells her “Fear not”
And first and foremost I just want to know if you can see yourself there?
This announcement is NOT FOR the fertile woman or the fruitful woman who is saturated in pride because of all she has accomplished.
This announcement is NOT FOR the noble wife who has managed to keep her husband and her dignity in the community.
God is opposed to the proud, but He gives His grace to the humble.
If you are a broken failure, the gospel is for you.
Incidentally, this is exactly the message which God will preach to Israel.
He will call her back to Himself as well, once she realizes
That her works are of no value and her accomplishments are a sham.
But the message is clear,
God forgives sinners through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
The Audience, The Announcement
#3 THE ASSURANCE
Isaiah 54:9-17
I shared with the youth at REGEN the story of Iris Blue, I may have shared it with you as well.
• You can google her and you’ll love the testimony.
• But she was basically as immoral of a woman as you can imagine, but a man led her to Jesus on the sidewalk one say. She has the famous quote, “I knelt down a tramp and I stood up a lady.”
• But what Iris also shares in her testimony is that from the time she gave her heart to Jesus she immediately started doubting her salvation.
• She said she just kept calling the guy who led her to the Lord wanting to pray the prayer again to make sure it worked.
• She tells the story of how she called him at 2 in the morning doubting and he asked her, “Do you usually call people at 2 in the morning doubting your salvation?” She said, “No”. He said, “See, you’re different” and he hung up.
But what Iris was talking about was the response of a person
Who just received an offer that was too good to be true.
That is exactly what the gospel feels like to those who really receive it.
• If you’ve been spiritually bankrupt and poor in spirit.
• If you have grieved over your sinfulness.
• If you have been willing to submit to anything Jesus wants for salvation.
• If you have craved mercy
• If you have hungered for righteousness
• And if you really, in the purity of your heart just wanted salvation because you knew you didn’t deserve it.
Well, when Jesus reached in and saved you, it feels too good to be true.
Why would He give a future and a hope to a useless and immoral sinner like me?
• I have borne Him no children, I have produced no benefit for Him.
• I have been nothing but unfaithful and have blasphemed His name.
• Why would He be willing to marry me anyway?
• Why would He be willing to give me a posterity?
It just is so far opposite of anything this world offers.
BUT ALSO:
What if I mess up and He sends me away again?
Well, that is what we deal with here in the second half of this chapter.
• God looks at the barren woman, to whom He has just promised children.
• God looks at the rejected women, to whom He has just proposed.
And perhaps He perceives the doubt or skepticism in their eyes
SO GOD POURS OUT ASSURANCE.
3 reasons why that unworthy redeemed woman can be certain that God will never again leave her or forsake her.
1) AFFIDAVIT (9-10)
Jesus liked to use the analogy of Noah and the flood, specifically when He talked about judgment.
• Jesus taught that the second coming would be like the flood in the sense that men will be totally caught off guard by the judgment that will fall upon them.
But here God appeals to the story of Noah for a different reason.
God looks past the flood to the promise made to Noah after salvation.
And what was that promise?
Genesis 9:11 “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”
GOD MADE AN OATH.
• God swore out an affidavit that He would never flood the earth again.
• No matter how immoral we got, He would never flood the earth again.
Here is the question: HAS HE?
Has he ever gone back on that promise?
And of course the answer is “No”.
And what is the point of God then to this barren and rejected woman?
Namely this: GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES
• If God said He would give you children, He will give you children.
• If God said He would have compassion on you, He will have compassion on you.
The writer of Hebrews uses that same understanding of God’s character in his letter to the Hebrews.
Hebrews 6:17-20 “In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
The writer of Hebrews is referring to God’s oath in Psalms 110:4
But the point is the same.
When God swears He will do something it is sure and settled.
And that is what God says here
To the undeserving sinners He has determined to save,
“I have sworn that I will not be angry with you Nor will I rebuke you.”
How can God make such a promise?
• Surely we will sin again.
• Surely we will offend Him again.
How can He promise such a thing?
• Because Christ has already borne all His wrath and God was satisfied.
IN FACT, God’s promise that He will never be angry
Is the most certain and sure thing that you have in your life.
Ever been to the mountains?
• They look unmovable, they are always there, they are enduring.
• One might think that they are the most certain thing we have in this world,
• But even they are not as certain as the promise of God to never again be angry
with His children.
(10) “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” Says the LORD who has compassion on you.”
The Psalmist wrote:
Psalms 46:1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.”
When God says it, it is certain.
He will not remove His compassion from you…EVER.
2) ALTERATION (11-14) (start with 11&12)
You will notice I hope all the references to security in these 4 verses.
“stone” – “foundations” – “battlements” – “gates” – “walls”
Those are all fortifying aspects of security.
What we also see is that
God is not only establishing them, but beautifying them.
• “I will set your stones in antimony”
• “your foundations I will lay in sapphires”
• “I will make your battlements rubies”
• “your gates crystal”
• “your entire wall of precious stones”
We get images here of the heavenly city which is certainly arrayed with beautiful stones even as Isaiah reveals here.
I like to see this imagery also similar to how we would view a wedding ring.
• It is a band, marked with a precious stone, and it is a symbol of commitment, of
covenant, and endurance.
But there is even more pictured here than that.
Notice also verses 13-14 “All your sons will be taught of the LORD; And the well-being of your sons will be great. “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.”
• God speaks of all the sons being “taught of the LORD”
• He speaks of them being established “in righteousness”
Do you understand the reference?
Jeremiah 31:33-34 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
That teaching, that clothing in righteousness is the New Covenant where God promises to do in us what we could not do for ourselves.
We love Ezekiel’s version.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
God talked about the New Spirit and the true washing and the absolute change of heart that would occur.
If you still aren’t seeing the promise then look to the New Testament.
Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
Do you see it now?
• It is Christ washing us.
• It is Christ adorning us in His beauty.
• It is Christ making us a bride He will never want to leave.
CHRIST WILL NEVER SEND YOU AWAY
1) Because He said it wouldn’t.
2) Because He is washing you every day and you are more desirable to Him today than you were the day He married you.
And He will keep doing that until you are without blemish.
Your sanctification is one of the reasons
You should have such assurance.
He is altering you to be more desirable to Him.
3) ADVOCATE (15-17)
Now we come across that other fear.
We call them “skeletons in the closet”
• I know He saved me.
• I know I’m not the person I used to be, He is changing me.
But what happens if someone from my past comes up and reminds Him of something I was?
• What happens if someone comes and tries to tempt me back into sin?
• What happens if slip up and someone runs to Him to expose my new failure?
And incidentally, someone will!
Revelation 12:10 “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.”
What then?
Well first of all, that accuser won’t be from God.
“If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me.”
• God isn’t looking for ammunition on His bride.
• He’s not the kind of husband who sets traps to trip up His bride.
• He’s also not the accusatory kind.
Secondly, they take their life in their hands when they do that.
“Whoever assails you will fall because of you.”
That is to say, the day they attack His bride
Is the day they sign their death warrant.
(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.”
If they try to destroy you, I will destroy them.
And then THAT FAMOUS VERSE
That gets applied to all sorts of goofy situations.
(17) “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.”
That does not mean
• If someone points a gun at you and pulls the trigger that God won’t let the bullet kill you. Check history, it happens.
No, he’s talking about the accusations of the enemy
That are meant to cause God to stop loving you
And to send you away again.
And God here says,
• “There is not a word that can be spoken,
• There is not an evil deed you can be accused of,
• There is not a testimony against you
• That can ever succeed in its purpose.”
How many times have we read it?
Romans 8:31-39 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Do you understand that?
• We have an advocate.
• We have the Son of God who continually intercedes on our behalf.
The One who paid our debt,
Constantly reminds the Father that our debit is paid.
God looks on the rainbow and is reminded to never flood the earth again.
God looks on Christ and is reminded that we are forgiven.
AND NOTICE THOSE CLOSING WORDS.
It is a great invitation and incentive
To every barren rejected sinner in the world.
“This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.”
In other words:
• This is what a woman can expect if she marries Me.
• This is what you can expect from God if you trust in Christ.
He will save you in spite of your past.
He will give you a future and a hope.
And what He promises He will never revoke.
Who wouldn’t want a salvation like that?
What barren immoral woman in her right mind would turn down such an offer?
And that is why in the very next chapter we read:
Isaiah 55:1-2 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.”
That is what you call a proposal!
• God has laid out for us what those who trust in Him can expect.
• And then He extends His arm to you and says, “Come!”
What a glorious heritage is promised to those who are redeemed.
