Isaiah 54: Victory for the Defeated

Take your Bible and turn over to Isaiah chapter 54.

Isaiah 54 · chapter mention

It's my desired end by the end of this morning that Isaiah chapter 54 will be one of your most treasured chapters in the Bible.

Isaiah 54 · chapter mention

In 1792, a young village shoe repairman by the name of William Carey stood up before a small gathering of Baptist pastors in Nottingham, England.

He was not a man of pedigree, he was not a man of prominence, he was a pastor of a small church, but he was a man gripped by the promise of God.

And his text as he spoke to that small gathering of twelve to thirty men was Isaiah 54, verses 2 and 3.

Isaiah 54:2

Enlarge the sight of your tent, for you will spread out to the right and to the left.

And so he preached from this passage that we're going to be looking at this morning.

And there's a refrain that he said several times in that sermon.

Expect great things from God.

Attempt great things for God.

Well, Kerry's sermon, as passionate as it was, was not very well received by many in that room.

In fact, one older pastor told him to sit down and to quit speaking the way he had.

This morning sparked the formation of the particular Baptist Society for the propagation of the gospel among the heathen.

That's a mouthful.

What it meant was it was the beginning of the modern missionary movement.

It began with a man who took Isaiah chapter 54 at face value.

Isaiah 54 · chapter mention

As a man who believed that there would be fruit coming from the suffering servants, obedience to the plan of God.

And that God was going to fulfill the promises of worldwide grace.

And so this morning we come to Isaiah chapter 54.

Isaiah 54 · chapter mention

We come to a passage that is not disconnected from what we just finished in the previous four weeks by looking at Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

This is the necessary sequel to chapter 53.

This is the first word after the finish of the fourth servant song.

We've stood in awe as we've watched and listened and read about this suffering substitute, this servant who was pierced for our transgressions and who was crushed because of our iniquities.

Isaiah chapter 53 ends with some statements of hope that this servant, obedient, would find prosperity even after death.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

And so Isaiah chapter 54 begins with rejoicing.

Isaiah 54 · chapter mention

Take a look at the first word.

Rejoice.

Why?

Because redemption has been accomplished.

And so in Isaiah chapter 54, we have the echo of Isaiah 53.

Isaiah 54 · chapter mention

And John Calvin put it this way.

After having spoken of the death of Christ, the prophet passes now with good reason to the Lord's people that we may feel more deeply in ourselves what is the value and the efficacy of his death.

And so this morning we're going to walk through the whole of chapter 54, and we're going to see it in three different headings.

As simply as I could put it, in verses 1 to 3, we're going to see gladness.

In chapters 2 and 3, we're going to see growth, and they're overlapping, yes.

And then in verses 4 to 17, we're going to see glory.

So gladness, growth, and glory.

And in those three words, we're going to learn to sing.

We're going to be challenged to stretch, and we're going to have confidence to stand.

It's a glorious chapter.

Well, let's begin where Isaiah begins with the song.

And so here, first of all, we have gladness, where we learn to sing.

And this chapter opens with a command that is so unexpected, it startles us.

Rejoice, childless one who did not give birth.

One of the last things that we heard was the sound of the silence of the land.

Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before our shears.

But now that silence is broken with song.

Suddenly we hear singing.

Rejoice, childless one, who did not give birth.

Burst into song and shout, you who have not been in labor.

For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of the married one, says the Lord.

And Isaiah 54 begins not only with a startling command, but also with a paradox.

A barren woman is told to sing.

Now we need to understand what barreness is.

And as a pastor, I've sat with ladies and also with families that have had to go through the difficulty of not being able to have children.

It's a painful experience.

But in this context, it's more than just a personal and family sorrow.

There's something more here.

Beyond that is a statement to the whole people of Israel.

And this is something that strikes against them in a covenantal worldview that they had.

Because children were seen as divine blessing, as covenant continuity, as well as social security and laughter and joy and hope that we have in our children.

You see, for them particularly was to live under the shadow of shame, which was not just social shame, but some indication, perhaps, a divine judgment.

That's how they would look at it.

Because Israel's identity was wrapped up in a word given to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

I will make you a great nation.

And if you couldn't perpetuate that as a family, you felt isolated from the promises of your people.

And so here in Isaiah chapter 54, Zion, the people of Judah are described as this barren woman.

Isaiah 54 · chapter mention

Where are they?

They're in exile.

They're in Babylon.

They are a people who have been defeated, disgraced, and desolate because of their willful defiance against God.

They have no children, they have no labor pains, and they have no husband.

But they're called to rejoice.

Why?

Because the servant has come.

Isaiah 53.

The judgment, the judgment that the sinful people had brought upon themselves through their covenant apostasy has now been borne by another.

A life that would be produced in fruitfulness.

You see, the Lord is offering for them a hope of a glorious future, a joy of a people who could be restored, not by their efforts, but by his grace.

This was a God who had already chosen in their history barren people, Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel and Hannah, to showcase his power to bring life out of nothing.

And now he's calling them to say, believe on the servant who's come, so that you might see life out of nothing.

That's something to rejoice over.

The fact that God would even speak so tenderly, so kindly, so welcomely, so hopefully to them, what a wonderful mercy that is.

But there's more.

Because this barren woman in exile, desolate and disgraced and forsaken, is not only called to be received, but is told she's going to have children.

Take a look back at verse 10 of Isaiah 53 for a second.

The Lord was pleased to crush him severely, the servant.

When you made him a guilt offering, he will see his seed.

Take a look at verse 12.

I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as a spoil.

The servant of Isaiah chapter 53 is told that because of his obedience to suffering and death and fulfilling the plan of God, that from him was going to be a number of people.

Isaiah 53 · chapter mention

That a family would begin because of what he did.

And the place where that family would be begin is among that barren woman who is desolate and disgraced.

And Isaiah 54 is showing us that these people would be born, not out of their will, not out of their power, not out of their works, not out of their effort, but out of the servants.

And this is why in John chapter 1, John said that Jesus came to his own, in his own, received him not, but to as many as received him, to them he gave the authority to become the children of God who were born, not of natural descent or the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but of God.

John 1 · chapter mention

That servant is bringing forth children.

And so the promises of the servant's reward in chapter 53 are now being told that they will be actualized in chapter 54.

By grace, this once barren woman is now going to be the mother of a new people, those who trust in the servant.

I'd like you to turn over with me to Galatians chapter 4 for just a moment.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

Galatians chapter 4.

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

Apostle Paul is setting up a statement to the churches at Galatia not to trust in the law for their righteousness, but to rely upon faith in Christ.

And he sets up this contrast between Sarah and Hagar.

That Ishmael was born of the servant woman, and Isaac born of the woman of promise.

And in verse 25, he begins.

Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem.

For she is in slavery with her children.

But the Jerusalem above is free.

And she is our mother.

So what we have here is that the heavenly Jerusalem, the place where the Lord has inaugurated the new covenant, the place where he has brought his blood that satisfies the justice of God and covers the sins of all who believe.

Where he is now sat at the right hand of the Majesty on high, that place of the fulfillment of the redemption of humanity, the new Jerusalem, the heavenly one, is now our mother.

And that mother is giving birth to children.

And look what Paul does in the next verse.

For it is written rejoice, childless woman, unable to give birth.

Burst into song and shout, you who are not in labor.

Because take a look at the next verse that he says in verse 28.

Now, you too, Gentiles, you too, brothers and sisters in Christ, like Isaac, are children of promise.

Paul saw Isaiah 54 coming to fulfillment through the new covenant, through the unfolding of believers into the new creation of a new humanity, Jew and Gentile, reconciled and reborn through the gospel.

Paul writes these words.

And this is the reason why William Carey chose this passage to preach, to inquire, just to put out there for discussion the possibility, maybe among these twelve to thirty men, could we not have a conversation that perhaps God is going to do something with these words in our day.

And why he gave that unforgettable exhortation, expect great things from God.

Attempt great things for God.

This passage, let's go back to Isaiah, is why this barren woman should sing, why she should rejoice, because what is promised her is something far beyond her ability to even comprehend.

This woman under Babylon's rule left without a home or country, without a temple to worship in, shackled to the most powerful nation of the day.

This woman is going to live and flourish and marry and bear an innumerable number of people.

We sing because that suffering servant triumphs.

We just sang about it, didn't we?

Our God reigns.

And we pulled in Isaiah 53 into that song, didn't we?

Our God reigns.

And so we sang and we're called to sing.

And our doxology is this blessed be the God and our father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.

For he's chosen us before the foundation of the world.

What are we singing about?

This glorious truth that God has made children, forgiven people, justified because of the servant's death, who are now returning and renewed and rejoicing people.

The gospel does this.

Listen to the sounds of singing that the gospel brings as the Apostle Paul lays out in melodic tune the message of the gospel in his missionary efforts.

Romans 15.

Christ has become a servant to the circumcised on behalf of God's truth to confirm the promises to the fathers, and so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written.

And this is Romans 15, verse 8 and 9.

Romans 15:8

Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles.

I will sing praise to your name.

And again it says, Rejoice, you Gentiles, with my people.

And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles.

Let all the peoples praise him.

Isaiah 54 is a song.

A song of happy people, a song of the redeemed.

It is the logic of grace.

This is God's grace to undeserving people.

You are forgiven.

Sing.

Sing.

Gladness is the fruit of salvation, and joy is the sound of redemption.

I love what Calvin said.

The church is a place where the gospel is preached.

The gospel is good news.

Good news makes people happy.

Happy people sing.

It's the logic of grace.

If we've truly grasped that Christ has covered every one of our sins, past, present, and future, if our life is eternally secure within the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, if hell is no longer our forwarding address, then we sing.

We stand to inherit every blessing in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus.

So joy should erupt out of our hearts.

We are the children of the desolate one.

We're the fruit of the servant's suffering.

We are the gathered sons and daughters of grace.

And so let joy shape your week and let it reframe your hardships.

Right?

Let it reframe that.

Like this barren woman, if God could speak words of life and flourishing to her, he can certainly speak words of life and flourishing to you.

He can.

And there's many of us who could attest to the fact that he does.

And if you're here this morning, you don't know Christ as your Savior.

And if you're watching this sometime down the road on YouTube, and you're pondering whether or not God can bring life out of the tragedy of your soul.

He can cause you to sing.

Now let's move on.

We see here, first of all, this wondrous, wondrous statement of gladness, where we're told and taught how to sing.

But in verses two and three, we're also called to grow.

To grow, to stretch, to stretch.

Look at verse 2.

Enlarge the sight of your tent.

Let your tent curtains be stretched out.

Do not hold back.

Lengthen your ropes and drive your pegs deep, for you will spread to the right and to the left, and your descendants will dispossess nations and inhabit the desolate cities.

And because she's going to be the mother of a multitude, she needs to think about becoming the mother of a multitude.

And that means making accommodation for that multitude to come in.

That means enlarging her tent.

That means stretching out those curtains.

That means pulling and lengthening those stakes and ropes and driving them deep in an enlarged way.

This is not cautious expansion.

This is exuberant confidence.

Do not hold back, God says to her.

Because she's about to face a population explosion in her family.

The imagery draws from the wilderness when the people truly were dwelling in tents.

But now the dwelling place of God among the people is going to expand.

This tent is not shrinking, it's stretching.

The family is not dying, it's multiplying.

The cities that were once desolate are now going to be repopulated.

It's going to happen.

This is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise.

When Abraham was pulled out into the sky to see the sky, and he was told without New York City light pollution to look up.

And he said, Can you count the stars?

That's how many descendants you're going to have, Abraham.

This is the outworking of the servant's mission.

When we read in the second servant's song in Isaiah 49 and verse 6, listen to what the Lord says to the servant.

It is not enough.

It is not enough for you to be my servant, raising up the tribes of Israel.

I will give you to be a light for the nations.

And that prophetic anticipation reaches into the glorious places of Revelation 21.

The nations walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

The tent is expanded to include all of the children of the servant.

And you, brothers and sisters, are children of the promise.

It's all of us.

This growth is the reward of the servant's obedience.

Isaiah 53, 11.

By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many.

Many.

And here are the many being gathered.

This is the missionary vision.

This is the tent being stretched because the servant had succeeded.

This is the expansion of God's people.

And it's not just a hopeful wish, it's a guaranteed outcome of the servant's obedience.

And I want to give you just a couple examples.

In the middle of deep persecution and trouble, John Calvin wrote the first edition of his Institutes to the King of France in the hope that it would modify that strong and desperate opposition against the people of God.

Why did Calvin write those words in that time?

Because the Academy of Geneva was sending out missionaries into France.

And in the documents found in the registrar of the Company of Pastors, there were 88 missionaries sent to France between 1555 and 1562.

But there's more.

Historian Robert Kingdon found evidence of 151 missionaries in 1856 alone being sent into France.

And by 1562, it's estimated that there were 2,160 Reformed congregations in France.

And Calvin wrote to Bullinger about what was happening in Normandy, and he said that there were gatherings of three to four thousand people who were gathering to hear the preached word.

And there were so many of them, they had to do it outside because there was no building in that area that could hold them.

Spiritual fruit, despite the suffering, because many of those missionaries were killed when they went into France.

And that's why Calvin wrote his Institutes and appealed to the king.

Don't kill these men.

They're bringing truth to the country.

And the missionary movement from Geneva helped establish a vibrant reformed presence in France and laid the groundwork for the Huguenot tradition.

And we have a Huguenot in our midst right now.

Hani.

We love you, Honey.

All the way to our day still.

Carrie.

After preaching this sermon to 12 to 30 men and one old guy saying, sit down and shut up.

A few other guys got around him and said, Let's have some more conversations about this.

And they started a small little band of that rather lone word or phrase for starting a missionary society.

And Kerry and his colleague in 1793, John Thomas, arrived in India.

Translating the Bible into over 30 languages, founding a college in 1818.

And from Kerry's model and the growth of the gospel in India came the London Missionary Society in 1795, and the Church Missionary Society in 1799, and the American Board for the Commission of Foreign Missions in 1810.

And out of that one sermon preached in a small Baptist chapel in 1792 came the work of the gospel throughout Asia and Africa.

From one sermon on Isaiah 54.

Expect great things for God.

Attempt great things for God.

And so from Kerry's small society in Nottingham, North came an explosion of mission agencies all across Europe and America and Asia and Africa.

And today believers live in what was once considered a barren mission field.

So what must we do?

What must we do today?

Was this just a promise for 1792?

Or is this a promise for 2025 as well?

Well, We must live with gospel expectancy.

That's what we must do.

We must not be a bunker hunkering down.

Oh, it's getting so much worse out here.

We need to progress.

I read this morning.

And uh I'm I'm not quite altogether fully righteous in my anger here.

There's a there's a bit of dug anger mingled in here, but I hope you can appreciate it.

Where a guy was moaning and groaning from Texas, mind you, about the election of the New York City mayor.

Now, I'm not going to speak about whatever good or ill he may bring to the city of New York.

That is not my position.

But this guy was a Christian.

And he he once lived in New York City.

And he said this morning, I'm so glad I left New York City.

I got out of there just in time.

Serious?

C.T.

Studd said, There are people who would love to dwell under the sound of chapel bells.

But I want to start a mission, a yard from the gates of hell.

We're New Hyde Park.

We are a stones throw from the gates of hell, if you want to use that as a metaphor.

Why wouldn't we set a mission up?

A mission based upon the work of the servant, a mission based upon the expansive promises that God is going to bring a multitude to Himself.

And so we live in view of this gospel promise.

Yes, it's going to be difficult.

And yes, it might just be like those French missionaries who lost their lives for the sake of the gospel.

But the work of that gospel fruit bears its witness even in our midst today.

So let us make room in our hearts, in our lives, for others to come in, to share the gospel with our family and our friends and our neighbors.

By us collectively continuing to pray for the nations.

For us to be discipling leaders for the next generation, by giving into our Timothy fund and inviting people into internships and equipping them for gospel ministry and taking our best and sending them out.

Let us continue.

This passage calls for bold faith.

Do not hold back.

And it's not because we're strong, it's because the Savior is risen.

That's why.

The servant has secured a harvest, and he means to bless even the childless ones with the fullness of that blessing.

So let's not shrink back.

Let us stretch our ropes.

Get in the tent.

Just get in the tent.

Why would you be outside the stretch of the mercy of God?

Outside the wondrous promise of forgiveness and eternal hope and life everlasting.

Really is hanging on to your sin better than that?

Is it really?

Does it offer you more fullness?

Does it offer you anything after your last breath?

Can it grant in your greed and your lasciviousness any profitable thing?

This tent is a glorious tent, and it can reach into your life.

This brings us one last point.

We have been told to be glad.

We have been exhorted to grow.

We can sing and we can stretch.

But now we're told about something of glory here.

A confidence in which we can stand.

Take a look at verse 4.

Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame.

Don't be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced, for you will forget the shame of your youth, and you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.

What tender words these are.

Deep reassurance that this community of exiled, disobedient people in Babylon are going to be secure.

That they're going to be loved.

That they're going to be protected.

And they're going to be enveloped in such a way that they won't even remember the shame before.

Look at verse 5.

Indeed, your husband is your maker.

His name is the Lord of armies, and the Holy One of Israel is your redeemer.

He is called the God of the whole earth.

For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit.

A wife of one's youth when she's rejected, says your God.

I will take you back with abundant compassion.

This is the reversal of that covenantal judgment that they faced by way of their exile.

This is Judah once disgraced, once cast off as a forsaken wife, once storm-tossed and not comforted, as it says in a verse just below this.

But now, because the servant has borne her iniquity, the Lord is reclaiming her.

The Lord has called you.

I hid my face from you for a moment, but I'll have compassion on you with everlasting love.

And so he now speaks to these people that didn't want to hear him.

Words of restoration and beauty and permanence.

Take a look at verse 10.

Though the mountains move and the hills shake, my love will not be removed from you, and my covenant of peace will not be shaken, says your compassionate Lord.

He envelops all of these words in beautiful terms.

He's not just a guy who's on a Coast Guard boat that throws you a rope.

He's a husband.

He's not merely a protector, he's a redeemer.

He's not merely the God of Israel, he is their compassionate Lord.

And then Isaiah shifts into a stunning image of glory and restoration in verses 11 and 12.

Poor Jerusalem, storm-tossed and not comforted.

I will set your stones in black mortar and lay your foundations in lapis lazuli.

I will make your fortifications out of rubies and your gates out of sparkling stones and all your walls out of precious stones.

And then all your children will be taught by the Lord, then their prosperity will be great, and you will be established on a foundation of righteousness.

You'll be far from oppression, you'll certainly not be afraid.

You will not be far from terror.

On it goes.

Into a glorious future, in which all of the most precious of items on earth are simply the foundations upon which they'll walk.

These people, cut off from the land of the living, disgraced, are now adorned and walking in a city of jewels.

And their foundation is one of righteousness.

This is not just a gloriously prophetic vision, it is a statement of reality.

This is about a bride adorned by her husband.

And it's no wonder why the Apostle John in Revelation chapter 21 picks this up.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

And he says, Come with me.

I'll show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven.

Remember the heavenly Jerusalem, Galatians 4?

Our mother?

You remember that?

The fulfillment of the new covenant?

Coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed with God's glory.

Her radiance, like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

A city had massive high walls and twelve gates, twelve angels at the gates.

Now listen, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel's sons were inscribed on those gates.

There is out of that barren woman.

People out of their midst that are bejeweled just like Isaiah promised.

But there's more.

Yes, there were three gates on the east, and three on the north, and three on the south, and three on the west.

And the city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.

Because the children of the childless one include Jew and Gentile.

That glorious heavenly Jerusalem, bejeweled when it was once forgotten, is now gloriously filled and populated with Jew and Gentile believers in the Lamb who was slain.

Isaiah saw this centuries before.

He saw the fruit of the servant's work, a people, Jew and Gentile together, beautified by grace and secured by Christ bringing them into the promises of the new covenant.

Now let's take a look at verse 13.

Then all your children will be taught by the Lord.

Their prosperity will be great.

Who are these people inhabiting this bejeweled city?

The ones who are taught by the Lord.

John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

Strange place, right?

Let's go over there for just a second.

John chapter 6.

People are watching Jesus perform miracles, feed people, and they're thinking, we've got our king, we've got the next ruler, we're going to take down these dirty, rotten Gentiles.

We are going to be unshackled from Rome.

We are going to conquer.

We are going to have glory, glory, glory.

And Jesus walks away from them.

Because he's building a different kind of people.

Not people who are filled with indignation and selfish ambition, but a people humbled and a people broader than the people of that day would even understand.

And as he's speaking to them in John chapter 6, and he says in verse 43, stop grumbling among yourselves.

John 6 · chapter mention

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.

It is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God.

Isaiah 54, verse 13.

Isaiah 54:13

Now, who are these people?

Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father, everyone who understood Isaiah 54 comes to me.

Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God.

He has seen the Father.

Truly I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Here he's speaking.

And if they listen to the Father, like they claim to be able to do, they would embrace Christ even when he goes to the cross.

Because then they would see him come out of the grave.

Now keep your finger in John 6 just for a second because we're going to come back here.

Let's go back to Isaiah 54.

Because we need to move past verse 13 into something amazing.

You will be established on a foundation of righteousness.

You will be far from oppression.

You will certainly not be afraid.

You will be far from terror.

It will certainly not come near you.

If anyone attacks you, it's not from me.

Whoever attacks you will fall before you.

Look, I've created the craftsman who blow on the charcoal fire and produces a weapon suitable for its task.

I've created the destroyer to cause havoc, but no weapon formed against you will succeed.

And you will refruit any accusation raised against you in court.

This is the heritage of the Lord's servants, and their vindication is from me.

This is the Lord's declaration.

There is a confidence to stand because there's a vindication in the courtroom of God that no accuser can bring and rightly hold on to these who are the children of the barren one.

Now let's go back to John 6 for a second.

Now let's go to verse 37.

You've heard these words, many of you?

Everyone the Father gives me.

Huh?

Who gives these people to the Father?

Or who the Father gives to the Son, these people?

Sounds a bit like Isaiah 53, doesn't it?

Sounds a bit like Isaiah 54, doesn't it?

Well, it should.

Because Jesus, as we just saw in a few verses later, has Isaiah 54 very firmly in his mind as he's saying all these things.

What?

He is saying this.

He is saying that those who come, everyone the Father gives me, will come to me.

And the one who comes to me I will never cast out.

For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

Isaiah 53, the servant.

This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose none of those he's given me, but should raise them up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

Where is the security of your eternal hope found?

In Christ alone.

Right.

Remember these words.

After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied.

By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities.

Therefore, I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he willingly submitted himself to death.

This is the Lord granting to his son, the servant, the offspring of his obedience to the Father's will.

And that's who we are.

And this is why he said that they are in his hands and in his father's hands, and they will never ever be released.

Where do you have your hope?

In this, in this alone, that the servant has secured our future, and our future is one so glorious that jewels strewn across the city are simply there to bejewel the pieces of furniture and the artifacts of foundations and walls.

And the streets, well, they're gold.

But the greatest thing of all is in the center of that city, is a place where there's need of neither night nor day, because the Lamb is in the midst, and flowing from him is a never-ending stream of health and life and benefit to all who believe.

There'll be no want, no need, no darkness, no sorrow, no sadness, no tears.

Just everlasting joy.

This is it.

We can do this.

Let this steady your heart.

And let this let this embolden your witness.

He has brought us from disgrace into glory.

He's brought us into a place where no accusation will ever stand.

No weapon formed against us will succeed.

This is Isaiah 54.

Could it not now be named among one of your most favorite chapters?

Just remember this.

Isaiah 53 and 54 are not simply adjacent because one is fifty-three and the next number is fifty-four.

They are inseparably linked to one another.

And this chapter is not just some poetic interlude, it is a prophetic unveiling of what the servant's work would accomplish.

A new people, a growing family, a secure city, an unfailing future.

This is the growth of the gospel in Christ.

This is the barren woman who started with eleven men, fearful in an upper room, who went out into the streets of Jerusalem with a few others in Acts chapter 2 and preached Christ.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

This childless woman started to have children.

And those children began to proclaim.

Trouble came, and they scattered, and they went as far away as to Antioch, but they carried the message there, and lo and behold, it took root there.

And from Antioch, men like Barnabas and Paul were called out, and they shared the gospel in places of Greece and Turkey and as far away as Rome.

And the gospel took root and it grew and it grew and it grew.

And the tent stretched and stretched and stretched.

Oh, sing, childless one.

Sing.

For the children of the childless one will be more numerous than the children of the married one.

Don't hold back.

Stretch while you sing and stand in the confidence that God gives us because our end is glorious.

This is Isaiah 54.

This is who we are.

And so when we move in the next few minutes next door, into that gem, we're not just packing pencils into a box.

We're not just sticking erasers into the hands of a little child who made a mistake on a paper and needs to rectify it.

We're not just giving a little girl or boy a little toy to hug and to play with until it becomes like all of our toys.

We're putting into that gospel hope, into the hands of little boys and girls around this world a message of life.

We're stretching the tent.

We're lifting the stakes and lengthening the ropes and then driving them down deep again before we uproot them and lengthen them some more.

That's what we're going to be doing.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for the glorious words that this chapter holds for all who believe.

We thank you for your immeasurable mercy to include us into these words.

That they don't just speak of someone else.

They speak to us.

They don't just talk about some people in a faraway time and a faraway place, of just temporal encouragements for a time.

They speak of eternal life and hope and glory.

They speak of the significance of our days, of the ability for your power to work through our weaknesses, to accomplish your eternal purposes, for you to take even the worst moment of our life and turn it into a point of dramatic change.

And so, Father, we pray.

We pray with song in our heart.

And we pray with the confidence to stretch.

And we pray, Father, with the courage to stand, because your word is true.

Amen.

Amen.