When Weapons Prosper

I. No weapon formed against you

Isa 54:17 no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”

This particular verse is often used to encourage amidst hardship.

It is widely taken as a personal promise from God about this life without much regard to the context of the passage it is found in.

My question this morning is what happens when it feels like weapons are prospering against us for a season?

Do we have a theology that prepares us to see God, ourselves, and the world around us rightly?

Pastoral concern: I find that the way this verse is used reveals a problem we have in the church. The people of God have a lot of staying power.

I think this is mostly because God is good and is at work in 1,000 ways you don’t see or feel at any given moment.

But the way the verse is used often leaves us only to “believe harder,” and to just bare through the storm.

It doesn’t actually exhort us how to pray and what to hope in during trial.

Trial in the New Testament

1 Pet 4:12-19 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

2Tim 2:3-13 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

Rom 5:3-5 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Jas 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Hebrews 2 and Daniel 7 bear witness also to the pattern that the saints must follow after the Son of Man in passing through suffering and then entering into glory in the age to come.

With this Jesus also agrees saying, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved…24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. (Matthew 10:22-25)

Context of Isaiah 54

Isa 54:1-3 “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.

Here Sarah is given as a picture of Israel’s prophetic destiny as a whole.

The promises to Abraham didn’t seem within reach, but the prophet tells the people here to continue to sing and say the promises

The chapter comes in sequence to the suffering servant of Isa 53. It is because of Christ bearing the wrath of God against sin in the place of all who would be joined to Him by faith that the people of God can sing and say His promises back to Him. We can believe Him to bring to pass everything that Jesus paid for.

Isaiah 54:4-6 “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.

Israel is told that this promise to Abraham would include healing from the shame of Israel’s history of abandoning Him to chase after idols.

Isa 54:7-10 For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer. “This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

The Lord is picturing forward to the time of trouble that Israel will endure at the end of the age.

The Lord pictures this as His “severe mercy” upon here to wake here up from her hardness of heart.

He compares the time to the times of Noah in that just as the ark was provided for Noah and His family, that the Lord will provide escape at the end for those whom He chooses.

Isa 54:11-17 “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. 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. If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”

Promises of restoration in the age to come are made to an Israel that had just been “storm-tossed” and “afflicted.”

The prophet is turning the people’s hope toward a day when Israel would be a rebuilt nation, who’s architecture will be hand-crafted by the Lord Himself. He will be a faithful bridegroom to her who will heal her shame. She will be a righteous people able to inherit the promised land forever. And there will be a day when no weapon formed against her will ever prosper again and no one who conspires against her will ever succeed. There is a day that marks a fixed end to suffering forever.

Conclusion

The way that the prophets offer hope Israel as she undergoes the Lord’s discipline is by pointing her to a fixed end to her suffering and a Day in which the Lord completely restores her, fulfills all His promises to her, and displays His goodness to her.

It is that future hope that offers the people of God strength to stand in present trial.