A National Proclamation about the City of God
Notes
Transcript
INTRO:
INTRO:
AG: Love Like God Does
TS: In Isaiah 54:1–17 Isaiah describes the relationship between a special wife and her husband. Jerusalem is the wife and God is the husband. God reminds them about their special relationship with Him based upon His unconditional Love. NOTHING would change God’s love for them.
RS: We are encouraged and challenged by God’s love this morning. We are loved unconditionally and we are challenged to love like God does.
I. The grieving wife (54:1–4)
I. The grieving wife (54:1–4)
1. Who she is (54:1):
1. Who she is (54:1):
“Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.
She represents Jerusalem, pictured both as a barren woman and as a sorrowing widow because of the sins of her youth.
Jerusalem was in sorrow for a season due to her sins
Her rebellion against God had led to the fall of the nation and captivity.
Babylonian Captivity
The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, captured and destroyed the temple, and led away in exile the leading citizens, and thus brought Israel’s first kingdom to an end.
Craig A. Evans
Those left mourned and lamented and those in captivity also mourned.
In the exile and dispersion, Israel had been destitute and disgraced.
2. What she is to do (54:2–4):
2. What she is to do (54:2–4):
“Enlarge the place of your tent, And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes.
For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.
“Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth, And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
The time of bareness is ending.
She is to enlarge her house, preparing for the multitude of children that will soon be hers.
A future was coming which will blot out the reproach.
God was promising a glorious restoration and blessing in the future for Jerusalem.
Though sins had and would still lead to Israel’s bareness, God promises ultimately to enlarge her borders to encompass the world in the Final Kingdom.
II. The glorious husband (54:5–17)
II. The glorious husband (54:5–17)
1. Who he is (54:5):
1. Who he is (54:5):
For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.
He is none other than her Creator and Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel and God of all the earth!
They could forget their shame because the of the glory of the husband:
They are a chosen people and blessed by God
God’s goodness and glory outshine all the shame.
2. What he does (54:6–17)
2. What he does (54:6–17)
a. God had once briefly punished Jerusalem (54:6–10):
For the Lord has called you Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Like a youthful wife when you were refused,” Says your God.
“For a mere moment I have forsaken you, But with great mercies I will gather you.
With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” Says the Lord, your Redeemer.
“For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
She was rejected temporarily due to her sin, but God was taking her back in.
Waters of Noah
Just as God promised to never destroy the Earth again by flood, He took an oath to never be angry again with Israel. This is fulfilled in their final restoration at some point in the future.
b. He now forever blesses her.
Though topography will change in the end, God’s love would endure
so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’
God’s love:
The Hebrew word Hesed (HIGH SAID), THIS WORD IS ONE OF THE WORDS IN THE HEBREW LANGUAGE REPRESENTING LOVE.
• Why is this word important to know?
• The Love of GOD is important to understand because it what everything else we need to know about God is constructed.
When one has lived a life far from God, how does God feel about that person, when one is living a life in rebellion towards God, is there any hope for that person?
We find the answer in LOVE
In a nutshell the word HESED is not a only a feeling, it is an actions, HESED moves on the intervene on behalf of loves ones, it moves one to come to the rescue of the one in need.
Hesed is not a romantic love, is a FAITHFUL love that is reliable.
Hesed is the type of love that keeps a person praying for a lost loved one for years and years. It is a spouse who lovingly takes care of their spouse whose health has deteriorated to the point the ill one does not even know their husband or wife any longer.
This is the basis for God’s forgiveness and His restoration of Israel and us when we have rebelled.
His faithful love fueled by His compassion keep Him from forsaking us forever!
Notice the restoration in the following verses.
c. The city is restored to a state of unparalleled beauty (54:11–12)
“O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones.
The city is made of precious jewels.
The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
In the messianic Kingdom, Jerusalem will be rebuilt.
It will be glorious beyond our understanding.
g. He instructs, protects, and prospers Jerusalem’s citizens (54:13–17)
All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children.
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.
Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
“Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire, Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.
They have a just government, and their enemies stay far away.[1]
Her enemies will fail
They (and us) will be protected by the Lord Himself.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
If we find that we have been in rebellion, realize like Israel, God’s love is faithful
• This does not mean that you can do whatever you want and not face the music (He disciplines those He loves), but it means that in the midst of your rebellion, God loves you and WANTS you back with Him.
• You are never too far from God, His love surrounds you, you cannot run too far to be out of the reach of God’s love.
[1] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Is 54–55.