Isaiah 62 - Turned from Deserted into a Delight

Take your Bible and go to the book of Isaiah, chapter 62.

Isaiah 62 · chapter mention

Isaiah chapter 62.

Isaiah 62 · chapter mention

We've been working our way through Isaiah since September 2024, and we're reaching the final few pages of this great and wondrous book.

We're in Isaiah 62.

Have there been times in your Christian life where you felt like God has gone quiet?

You're not alone in that.

William Cooper, a man you might know as the songwriter for a song like There is a Fountain Filled with Blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins.

You might know him as the hymn writer.

God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.

Create him.

All of us should really have memorized, actually.

He said this in his journal or wrote this in his journal.

I feel unutterable despair.

God has cast me off forever.

Wow.

Cooper loved God, and yet he expresses there that what is a very painful way of describing that he feels God is silent and even left him.

Like us, sometimes we pray and we feel like uh the prayers are just bouncing back off of the ceiling right at us and didn't go any higher.

Or we read scripture and it just feels like we're staring at ink rather than the living word of God.

Cooper said at another time, he said, I cannot find the God I love.

I don't know where he's at.

Charles Spurgeon, pastor of the largest church in the world in the 19th century, pastor in London, went through a season of time that was so dark and so despairing.

He said, I could not pray, I could not read.

I could only trust.

And he described lying on the sofa in his study, even so down he was unable to lift his head.

And he said, This I felt as if I had never known the Lord at all.

Later, he talked about that, and he said a comment that maybe you've heard before.

When I couldn't trace his hand, I learned to trust his heart.

You might have heard that before.

In those seasons of darkness, they and we can lose the sense of joy and delight in the Lord that others often have and seemingly never never lose.

But in those times, God was holding them as much as when they were joyful and happy and delighted.

He wasn't silent and he wasn't absent.

He was working in ways that perhaps they didn't understand, but he was working in them nonetheless.

And so you might be here this morning, and you might have, or will have, might have had, or will have, those times where you're going to ask those same questions.

Where is God?

Has he forgotten me?

Well, Israel knew that feeling.

They had been sent into Babylon and were in exile.

Their land and their temple were in ruins.

Their identity as a nation, a people of God, had been shattered.

They became a mocking to the nations.

And in their own mind, they had etched in their hearts about themselves these words, forsaken.

That's a stark word.

And in this emotional landscape, Isaiah 62 speaks with shocking words.

And so let's take a look at it and let us feel and hear the heartbeat of God.

And we're going to look, first of all, at the first five verses where God determines to reverse his people's shame.

And we get to verse 1, and the very first thing that we hear in verse 1 is God speaking.

Now, without even seeing what he has to say, that alone is a pretty significant thing.

Just remember this emotional landscape that we just talked about about Cooper and Spurgeon and Israel and us.

Into this world that seems silent and full of confusion, God breaks in.

And he breaks in with a declaration that is very startling in its intensity.

Listen to it, verse one.

I will not keep silent because of Zion, and I will not keep still because of Jerusalem until her righteousness shines like a bright light and her salvation like a flaming torch.

Wow.

God speaks here before Israel even lifts her eyes.

And before she even prays, God declares his determinations.

Now pause there for a minute because this is not how we would expect this chapter to open up.

We would expect, you know, Israel to be crying out, a prayer of repentance, maybe.

We might expect a plea of mercy or some sense of awakening in them of spiritual need.

But it doesn't start there.

It doesn't begin with Israel's voice, it begins with God's voice.

And he's saying here, I haven't forgotten you.

And I'm not done with you.

Because this chapter that we're going to look at here is not about Israel clawing its way back to God.

It's about God having the people overhear his determination to love them.

It's about God speaking about his unstoppable resolve to accomplish a glorious future for them.

Now that's certainly a gospel pattern, isn't it?

Before we seek God, he seeks us.

Before we call on him, he calls us.

Before we move toward him, he's already moved toward us.

And here God is saying, I am not going to keep silent.

And he tells us why.

For Zion's sake.

Now remember, this is not a Zion who is improved.

This is not a Zion who is spiritually awake.

This is not a Zion who's finally repented.

This is not a Zion who's gotten their act together.

This is a God who loves these people.

That's why.

Why is he determined to act toward them?

Not because of what they have done, but because he loves them.

God told them that in Deuteronomy.

I chose you out of all the nations of the world, not because you were the greatest or the strongest or the mightiest or what have you.

He basically says, I love you because I loved you.

And here he's saying it again.

I will not be quiet because of you, because I love you.

And then he says, notice how he says this, I will not be quiet until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, as a bright light, and her salvation like a flaming torch.

Now that's vivid language, the pictures of what it is, but the resolve is there, right?

The determination is there.

This active pursuit of God on the beheart of his people that's not going to stop until they shine with his own glory.

And it's not something that they're gaining, it's something that God is giving them.

And he says, your salvation will be like a burning torch, bright, blazing, unmistakable.

And he continues this resolve by giving us different ways of understanding it.

Nations will see your righteousness, all kings, your glory.

Now look at the end of verse 2.

You will be given a new name that the Lord's mouth will announce.

And what has been part of our discussions with uh Ben and Naomi?

What is GB2 going to be called?

Grandbaby 2.

It's got to have a name, right?

And so they've been rolling names out, and some of them are connected to each of them and some of the some people and things that are important to them and us as families.

They're not just labels, though, are they?

Names are important things.

And particularly in scripture, they they carry a significant weight about identity and about destiny, and even incorporated in the story of their life.

Their names are often very, very significant.

In Israel's old names, take a look at verse four.

You will no longer be called deserted, and your land will not be called desolate.

Well, those are horrible words.

Imagine in second grade writing, like, okay, folks, we're gonna do a little spelling exercise here.

We're all gonna write our names.

And here you are with your monster-sized pencil, and you're like, desolate, forsaken, deserted.

Imagine having that hang over you.

What's your name?

Forsaken.

Wow.

And it was about the land, but it was also about the people.

This was what they thought about themselves in their hearts.

They've been cast out of the land, they'd been taken away to Babylon, they were in exile, forsaken, were they?

God says, No more.

No more.

No more.

You're going to be given a new name that is going to come out of the Lord's mouth toward you.

The king of Babylon's not going to call you a new name.

You're not going to find some new name for yourself.

The Lord's going to give you a new name out of his own mouth.

He just strengthens it with that sort of picturesque term.

And what are those words going to be?

Verse 4.

Instead, you will be called, My Delight is in her.

And your land.

Married.

Wow.

Forsaken.

Desolate.

Deserted.

Gone.

What are you going to write your name now?

My delight is in her.

Married.

Wow.

Names of belonging.

Names of joy.

Names that say, you aren't forgotten.

You aren't forsaken.

You aren't desolate.

You're mine.

And you're going to be my bride.

How wonderful that is.

Jesus takes up the language of this very verse here.

And in two places, to two of the seven churches of the book of Revelation, chapter two and verse 17, and chapter 3 in verse 12, he says this let it let anyone who hears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

The one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him an a white stone, and on the stone a new name is inscribed that no one else knows except the one who receives it.

And then in chapter 3 and verse 12, the one who conquers, I'll make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he'll never go out.

And I'll write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven for my God, and my new name.

And envelops that new name into the idea of the bride, the bride of Christ, as it talks about later in the book of Revelation, that new Jerusalem.

And so Isaiah's marriage language here becomes the New Testament's climatic picture of the fullness of redemption.

And God says this in very breathtaking ways.

Take a look at verse five.

As a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you.

And as a groom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

God is determined to act in such a way, he's not simply forgiving, and he's certainly not forgetting his people.

He is going to be pursuing until they are in the place of full and welcome, wholehearted delight.

Some of you might have felt like, spiritually speaking, your name has been forsaken.

Spiritually speaking, you felt like your name is desolate.

Some of you have perhaps wondered, is God disappointed with me?

Uh is he tired of me?

Is he frustrated with me?

Is he forsaken and deserted me?

Isaiah 62 says no.

Says no.

No.

No, that that's not your name.

It's not your story.

It's not your identity.

You are to be called my delight is in you.

You are to be called mine.

Married.

Just keep that locked into your heart.

The next time you think your prayers are going nowhere.

The next time you wonder if I can't find the guy I love, like Cooper said.

The next time you say, I I can't, I I can't trace his hand.

Just remember, what you're feeling in that emotional landscape is not the reality of who God is.

Okay.

You may not be able to perceive it, but he's doing something.

He's doing something because he loves you.

I was talking to my son last night, and he was talking about having to give uh some medicine to his little to Callum.

And Callum's like, no more, no more, no, you know, and Matt Matt's like, he said it was the most heartbreaking thing to have to give this medicine to Callum, who didn't want any of it.

And I said, Boy, you're bringing back some memories, Matt.

I said, think about the Lord.

How often we think, I just don't want that in my life.

And God says, you need it.

It's going to be good for you.

Okay.

In verses six and seven, we move forward and deeper into this wondrous chapter.

We find that God is not only taking away the shame of his people, but he's also going to appoint intercessors to look out for redemption.

This is some remarkable language here.

He speaks about watchmen that he places, that God himself places on the walls of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, verse 6.

I've appointed watchmen on your walls.

They will never be silent day or night.

Well, who are these watchmen?

They're not soldiers standing for danger, and they're not, they're not guards standing there with weapons in their hands, and they're not defenders waiting for an approaching enemy.

Who are they?

Well, they're going to be there vigilant and vigil.

Verse 6 At the end, there's no rest for you, but look what these in it these people are to do, these watchmen.

There is no rest for you who remind the Lord.

Do not give him rest until he establishes and makes Jerusalem the praise of the earth.

Well, that's a strange way of talking, isn't it?

That God is appointing these people to stand, figuratively speaking, on the walls of Jerusalem, and they're not looking for enemies.

They're looking to God and saying, God, we are talking to you until all of your perfect will is fully accomplished.

And we're not going to leave you alone.

We're going to have 24-7 shifts of us speaking to you to do what you said you would do.

Wow.

These are people that believe God's word and they're going to persistently intercede until God fulfills that purpose.

And God says, I'm the one that set them there to do this.

I'm the one who's given them this assignment.

I'm the one who's put this burden on their hearts.

I'm the one who has raised them up on behalf of my people to keep my promises before me.

They will never be silent, day or night.

A little bit.

And why Habakkuk says, I've set myself as a watchman.

Or when Jeremiah announces God's future restoration, even while he's talking about their exile, standing where God set them.

And not just being a messenger to the people, but being a voice to God.

We get to the New Testament and we find this old, old, old man who's waiting for the consolation of Israel.

And Simeon says, God, you told me I wouldn't die until I see your salvation.

God, I'm still waiting.

And he goes in the temple and he sees baby Jesus.

And he says, Now I can die.

My watch on the wall is over.

I can quit pestering you, God, about bringing this deliverance because now I've seen it.

Jesus has showed up.

Anna, listen to what is how it describes her.

She speaks, listen to this, to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

There are people in real time and space who are doing exactly what Isaiah is recording here is what God said is going to happen.

That there are people who are persistently going to the throne of God and saying, We're not letting you go until this happens.

And God tells them, You who remind the Lord, no rest for you.

Do not give me rest until I establish Jerusalem and make it the praise of the earth.

What is he saying to us here?

To stay with what God has promised, to keep it anchored in our soul, to continue to bring God's word back to himself.

Now, is God saying, look, I need a Post-it note now and again.

You know, I'm busy.

I've made the whole universe, and you know, it takes a lot to take care of that.

And there are a lot of you people on earth.

You know, it's just like 24-7.

I've got to be God to everything and everybody.

And uh, you know, occasionally I could I could use a reminder here.

Could you could you just like tickle me now and again?

Is that what he's saying?

Of course not.

It's not that God needs the reminder that he forgets or that somehow he needs push to get involved.

What is he doing here?

He's telling us, I want you to love what I love.

I want you to look for what I'm going to do.

I want you to keep it focused on my behavior and my actions.

Even in the moments of quiet and stillness, keep looking for it.

Have an expectation of hope in your heart.

God wants us to share his heart.

And that's one of the biggest reasons why we pray.

Because the God who's determined the end has also determined the means by which that end is accomplished.

He's going to do his purposes.

But wondrously, he brings us into those purposes by putting those things on our heart and in our prayers.

We pray, we labor, we intercede, not to talk God into doing something, but because he already cares about those things and he's put that burden on our heart.

This is why Jesus took a widow and talked about her persistently begging for assistance and saying, This is how you should pray.

You should always pray and not faint.

Sounds like Isaiah 62, right there, doesn't it?

This is why, when you pray, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be thy name, right?

Your kingdom come, your will be done.

Pray in Isaiah 62, right there.

And this is where it touches us.

How often many of us have prayed for an unconverted child or spouse or friend, and we don't see any change yet.

We've prayed for a marriage that feels very, very fragile.

We've prayed for ourselves in a sin that seems to cling to us too closely.

We prayed for revival in our homes or in our church or in our country.

And we wonder if those prayers even matter after a while.

Come to Wednesday night prayer at seven o'clock, and we've prayed all the time these kind of things.

Does it really matter?

Is God really here?

Is anything gonna happen?

Isaiah 62 says, don't rest.

Don't rest.

Because he's inviting us onto the wall to be a watchman who persistently prays.

He invites us to join him in the work that he's accomplishing in his time and in his way.

This is why Wednesday night prayer is such a beautiful, beautiful, and vibrant part of our life as the body of Christ.

I know several of you, seven o'clock's thought, it's not an easy time to come.

And you live some distance and you make it here on Sunday, but Wednesday night would be impossible.

Understand that.

But it's a time when the watchmen gather.

The ones who can be on the wall, the ones who bring the promises of God back to God, the ones who persistently offer these petitions week after week, and say, Lord, do, Lord, hear, Lord, accomplish.

Because he is building his church and he is strengthening his people.

And he's brought our hearts into what he's doing when we pray.

Let's keep moving.

God has promised to restore them and remove their shame.

He's said he's going to set up watchmen who are going to persistently pray until his purposes are accomplished.

And then in verses eight and nine, he swears this oath to secure this reversal that he's begun.

He's not going to leave it to chance.

Verse 8: The Lord has sworn with his right hand and his strong arm.

I will no longer give your grain to your enemies for food, and foreigners will not drink the new wine for which you've labored.

For those who gather grain will eat it and praise the Lord, and those who harvest the grapes will drink the wine in my holy courts.

This is where the language just intensifies all the greater.

Up to this point, God has spoken about his determinations and his passion, that he's not going to keep silent, that he's going to keep his people talking too.

But now he speaks with determination, an oath to seal it.

The Lord has sworn with his right hand and his strong arm.

Whenever there's an oath that God makes in the Bible, it's time to pay a lot of attention because God doesn't do that very, very often.

He doesn't use these words casually.

And it's never just simply picturesque rhetoric.

This is meant to steady some trembling hearts so they know without without a shadow of a doubt, God is serious about this.

The Lord has sworn with his right hand and his strong arm.

In the ancient world, and also in our time, at least it used to be, that when somebody made a solemn pledge, they were meaning to keep that.

I remember even hearing the words that the shake of a man's hand was bond enough.

These days it's like, you thought I was gonna promise.

Or they'll go ahead and shake the hand and just stab you in the back while they're doing it with the other one.

But God, who has no one higher to speak about, everything's lesser than him.

He can't call to anything higher.

So he says, I'll swear by my own arm.

His power, his character, his nature is on the line here.

He's going to stake his very being on this promise.

That's how intense this gets.

Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Deuteronomy 28 · chapter mention

If they failed to follow God, they were going to face the consequences.

And the consequences were very real and tangible on a seasonal basis.

Their harvest would be stolen, their vineyards would be plundered, their labor would be wasted.

They would feel like life is full of vanity and futility.

Why?

Because they needed to examine their hearts, because they had been disobedient to their promises to God.

Their experience would be one of loss, of gnawing frustration, and of humiliation.

But now God is saying, No more, no more.

Those days of loss are going to be over.

Those days of shame are going to be over.

Those days of humiliation and being plundered by your neighbors are going to be over.

They're going to be over.

All of these curses are going to be rolled back.

And all of the covenant blessings are going to be restored.

And he adds something beautiful at the end of this.

Those who gather the grain, they're going to eat it, and they're going to praise the Lord.

And those who harvest the grapes will drink the wine in my courts.

This is more than just agricultural stability here.

This is about a life that's restored to wholeness and fullness in every way.

A fruitful land and feasting in God's presence.

As a consequence of their covenant abandonment, they had lived through seasons where everything they worked for was taken away and they didn't care to be in God's presence.

They planted, others harvested.

They labored, other people enjoyed the fruit of it.

Their lives were one long string of disappointment and loss.

And God says, no more.

You're going to enjoy, you're going to harvest, you're going to taste with joy, you're going to be happy in my presence.

That's what's going to happen.

You're going to flourish in every way, and you're going to flourish before me and with me.

Because worship isn't just something you're going to be doing.

Worship's going to be the center of all your blessings.

You're going to eat the fruit of all those blessings in my presence.

What wondrous words these are.

Now take a look at verse 11.

We're going to jump just ahead for a second.

And I want you to see a phrase here.

Look, the Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the earth.

Say to daughter Zion, look, your salvation is coming.

And note the last phrase: his wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him.

So it's going to happen.

And the New Testament gives us some indication of how that's going to happen and where that fullness is going to lie.

Because in Revelation chapter 22, just after describing the New Jerusalem and giving an indication to the not sure what that was, the wondrous bride of Christ, and all the feasting, you hear the feasting word, and all the fullness word, and the married word, and the eating in God's presence motifs.

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

Jesus himself says in Revelation 22, Behold, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me.

Jesus picks up these words and says to his people, that day is still coming.

That day is coming.

Because the reward is not a trophy or a prize or just some extra grapes on a table.

It's the new creation.

It is when nothing ever is going to be stolen again, when nothing ever is going to be wasted, when nothing ever is going to be lost.

Isaiah 62 is giving us a window into the future of a day when everything is there before God with fullness and with complete and utter praise to him.

God swore an oath that he's going to bring the final restoration of his people.

And that final restoration still is anchored in our hearts as hope.

We're still looking forward to that day.

But God says, remember, I promised it on the basis of who I am.

It will happen.

It will happen.

And this is important for us.

Because we live and we pour ourselves out on behalf of our families.

We pour ourselves out on behalf of where we work.

We pour out ourselves in care of the Lord's people.

We give ourselves and our relationships, and sometimes it just feels like every effort we make just fizzles away, and any fruit of it disappears.

Because we still live in a world where that happens.

We live in a world where our labor sometimes feels wasted.

We live in a world where the harvest seems to be lost.

We live in the world where the sanctuary feels empty.

We live in a world where the curse is still visible in a thousand, thousand, thousands of different ways.

Broken relationships and weary bodies and broken hearts and anxiety of mind and spirit, and this gap between what we hope for and what we actually experience.

And Isaiah speaks to us in this world.

And he says, I've promised a day.

And it's going to happen.

Just anchor yourself there.

Anchor yourself in that day when nothing will be stolen, nothing will be wasted, nothing will be lost, when you'll experience the fullness of joy and never again have frustration, and where worship will fill the whole sphere of who you are.

There'll be a bounty beyond your ability to capture.

Because Jesus said, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me.

It's with me.

You see, our future is not fragile.

It's anchored in who God is.

It's an oath-secured future.

Just like Paul told us, we have an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that doesn't fade away.

Kept in heaven for you, in which it'll be revealed in the last time.

Right, Paul?

Yeah.

Our security doesn't rest on our grip of God.

Our security rests on God's strength of who He is.

And that leads us to the last one in verses 10 to 12.

We've heard God's determination to restore his people.

We've heard his call to persistent intercession.

We've heard his oath-bound promise to reverse our shame and secure our future.

And now in verses 10 to 12, he turns to his people and he commands us to prepare for the salvation that he's bringing.

What does he say there?

Verse 10.

Go out, go out through the city gates.

Prepare a way for the people.

Build it up.

Build up the highway.

Clear away the stones.

Raise a banner for the peoples.

Look, the Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the earth.

Say to daughter Zion, look, your salvation is coming.

His wages are with him, and his war reward accompanies him.

God is saying, I'm bringing that salvation.

I'm going to be restoring my people.

I am gathering in the nations.

Now make room.

Prepare your hearts.

Make a way.

Remove the obstacles.

Lift up a banner that the peoples could see, so they'd know where salvation is found.

A highway.

Isaiah's talked about highways before in Isaiah chapter 40.

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

He talked about a highway that God travels to rescue his people.

In Isaiah 35, I think it is, he talks about a highway in which the people are returning back to God.

But notice this highway.

This is a highway for the nations to travel on.

This is a highway for the peoples to see the banner that the people of Israel are raising up, saying, This is where salvation is, and they don't have any impediments to come to that banner, because the highway has been laid clear.

You see, the people were not merely to be spectators, but participants in God's work, inviting pilgrims to the place of salvation, building the highway, clearing the stones, lifting the signal, because he wants the nations to see it and to come to it.

John the Baptist, no wonder, the very beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ said to the people of Israel, It's time to prepare the way for the Lord.

Make the rough places plain and the crooked places straight, and the high places low, and the low places flat.

It's time.

It's time.

Jesus took his disciples and he said, You're going to begin in Jerusalem, but you're going to be laying out a highway for the nations.

When you go to Judea, and then you're going to go to Samaria, and then you're going to go to the othermost parts of the earth.

You're going to make a banner of where salvation lies.

And the nations are to hear the message of life.

That God has come.

God has come to his people.

God has brought the deliverance.

And this messenger is us now as we continue this.

That we talk about this one who is his wages are with him, and his reward accompanies him.

And he identifies himself in Revelation 22 as our Lord Jesus.

And he said, Speak about it.

Because salvation is a person.

No wonder Simeon said, My eyes have seen your salvation, when he looked at Jesus.

No wonder Anna spoke with wonder to those who were waiting for the consolation of Jerusalem's deliverance.

When Jesus showed up, even as a little baby, before he could even utter a word, they recognized God was fulfilling his glorious purposes, that this was the moment.

Now look at the last word.

You will be called cared for, a city not deserted.

What a glorious reception it is.

To be those people who were once had forsaken, deserted, desolate, written across our chest.

To be now said, You're mine.

And I count you as holy because you are now bought and redeemed.

And you are forever cared for and sought out.

You will never be deserted.

I know in our experiences and in our emotional environments, we can often feel alone.

We can often feel like God isn't there.

We can often wonder if He's actually silent and never speaks into what we need.

I know.

But Isaiah 62 says that's not true.

It's not true.

Whatever momentary silences, whatever momentarily distance you might feel, is not an indication that God isn't there or doesn't care.

Or can't work because he said here he does and he will.

And the day will come when you'll see it and you'll be able to say, I am fully loved, because I have been fully seen and I am fully embraced and I am forever cared for.

And so now I'll forever rejoice.

What glorious truth.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the glorious promises that you give in this word.

Thank you for how they extend not only to a people cast away in Babylon and exile, but to speak throughout the ages, even into our very room here, to give us hope and to anchor our hearts in you.

And Father, I pray that we might live in recognition that you're the God who refuses to be silent, that you're a God who will accomplish your purposes, that you're a God who has sworn an oath, that you're a God who brings salvation, that you're a God who restores and gives us new names.

Help us to act as what we are people who are delighted in, people who bear a new name, and people who are married.

And we pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.