Isaiah 54: Yahweh, The Covenant Keeping God

This podium is quite a bit shorter than yesterday, isn't it?

Well, thank you, uh Pastors Doug, Micah, um, and honestly, I I don't even the host of you that uh came together to help us pull that conference off yesterday, uh, I'm deeply grateful.

Um and I know my colleague Peter uh is as well that um we were able to come and and give those talks and really to quite an eager audience.

So just a great uh time yesterday.

And um I know some of you after yesterday's talk, and if you were even in Sunday school, some of you were like, okay, can the textual critic preach?

I'm wise to this.

I'm wise to this.

I'm wise to this.

Um, but I asked Pastor Micah um what I should preach on, and he said, Well, maybe just do something on um on the uh the power of God's word or or something like this, the effectiveness of God's word.

I said, Well, I think I'm gonna illustrate that anyway, from no matter what, because here's the textual critic who preaches confidently from God's word, because it is preserved for us, it is secure.

Okay.

And so I felt like no matter what I preached, I would hopefully model and illustrate that for you here this morning.

As someone who wades through differences, uh, again, for breakfast, um uh I am confident that what I'm preaching to you this morning is from God.

Okay.

So uh without any further ado, well, okay, I wanted to say one other thing.

I want to say one other thing.

I knew this was gonna be a rich experience.

I knew it.

Um, I just I I've known Micah for years.

We go all the way back to Louisville.

We were fellow church members at a Baptist church there.

Uh what I didn't know was how much more rich this would be when other friends from Louisville showed up uh last night.

And I have just I I'm here to bless you, but I have been so blessed uh by this trip.

And so thank you, brother.

And and uh you all know who you are uh heckling me in the back probably already.

But um, I'm just so grateful uh and blessed to be here.

Well, the sermon is from Isaiah 54.

I have entitled this message Yahweh, the covenant keeping God.

Uh, for those of you who don't know, Yahweh is the personal name of God in the Old Testament.

So everywhere I read Lord here uh in small caps is a translation for the divine name Yahweh.

Sorry, it's it's just the Old Testament student in me.

I have to use the name Yahweh.

So uh don't be thrown off by that, I hope.

Uh I know I have a fellow Yahweh um supporter here in the front row uh in Ethan, so I'm very happy about that.

So feel free to amen every time I use that word.

Okay, Isaiah 54.

This is on page 651 in your pew Bible.

I'm gonna read the whole chapter.

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 woman, says the Lord.

Enlarge the sight of your tent, and let your tent curtains be stretched out.

Do not hold back, lengthen your ropes and drive your pegs deep, for you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will dispossess nations and inhabit the desolate cities.

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.

Indeed, your husband is your maker, his name is Yahweh 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 is rejected, says your God.

I deserted you for a brief moment, but I will take you back with abundant compassion.

In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but I will have compassion on you with everlasting love, says the Lord your Redeemer.

For this is like the days of Noah to me, when I swore that the water of Noah would never flood the earth again, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.

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.

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, your gates out of sparkling stones, and all your walls out of precious stones.

Then all your children will be taught by the Lord.

Their prosperity will be great, and 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 is not from me.

Whoever attacks you will fall before you.

Look, I have created the craftsman who blows on the charcoal fire and produces a weapon suitable for its task, and I have created the destroyer to cause havoc.

No weapon formed against you will succeed, and you will refute any accusation raised against you in court.

This is the heritage of the servants of Yahweh, and their vindication is from me.

This is Yahweh's declaration.

On December 7th, 1941, a date that will forever live in infamy, President Franklin D.

Roosevelt said, What happened so uh what happened so that a world leader would make such a statement?

Well, of course, we know the history.

The Japanese were in the midst of negotiations with the U.S.

and on December 7th launched the greatest attack on U.S.

soil without declaration of war or any warning.

But what made this attack so awful was the prior treachery that happened between men in suits in civil contexts.

The Japanese had agreed with the U.S.

to demilitarize in Southeast Asia and to call off its aggression towards China on November 20th.

But they sent their fleet towards Pearl Harbor on November 25th.

When they broke their word and trust on November 20th, December 7th was the natural consequence to such betrayal and distrust.

But such examples of breaking trust or covenant are not limited to the international scene.

We have examples, don't we, of our own domestic politicians breaking their promises many times.

When these politicians prove to be unfaithful or unreliable, that is, their yes is not yes and their no is not no, we become more skeptical and cynical of their leadership capabilities.

We have experienced, many of us, probably, up close and personally, the brokenness that infidelity or breaking covenant and trust brings.

Whether we have been divorced ourselves or the children of parents who have been divorced, we have seen the consequences of the sin of distrust and of breaking one's word.

All of us have been let down, so to speak, by a friend not following through on what he or she said they would do.

In short, the Bible teaches that humanity, apart from Christ and his wonderful redemption, are not truth tellers, and they're not faithful and loyal people who keep their word.

We disappoint.

We are unfaithful to one another and to God.

We are weak, our yes is not yes, and our no is not no.

But now enter the gospel of Isaiah.

There is a God who is faithful and not like other gods, who are as treacherous as the pagans who worshiped them.

We read that in Deuteronomy 7.9 this morning.

I don't know if you guys knew that.

That was providential, maybe.

I don't know.

I mean, but but clearly, Deuteronomy 7.9, a clear declaration that Israel's God is not like other gods.

He is not capricious, but rather he is faithful and steadfast, keeping covenant with those who love him.

His name is Yahweh, isn't it?

And our God is in the business of repairing brokenness and redeeming traitors and transforming them into faithful members of his new covenant.

In fact, God reveals this plan in the scriptures in many, many passages, so that we can see just how faithful he is.

And in one of these passages is what we just read this morning in Isaiah 54.

I don't know if you picked up on this.

I'm just going to scan that from a big picture standpoint.

There are three women in distress in Isaiah 54.

Did you catch that?

Three women that are in distress in Isaiah 54.

The first one is referred to as the childless one or the barren woman in verses 1 to 3.

Then in verses 4 to 10, there's another woman, and we can call her the deserted woman.

She's abandoned, isn't she?

And then in verses 11 to 17, there's another woman whom we could call the afflicted or the storm-tossed woman.

In each of these sections of Isaiah 54, God's covenant ensures that each woman will be lifted out of their distress and put into far better estate.

These women probably refer, okay, to Abraham, Israel, and Zion or Jerusalem, and the covenants that were made with each.

These three sections describe, right, the exponential growth of Abraham's family, God's punishment of old Israel, and the reconstitution of the new Israel under the new covenant when they return from exile.

And lastly, the rebuilding of the city of God.

Undergirding these unlikely reversals in this passage is our covenant-keeping God, who promises to fulfill his promises to Abraham, Israel, and David by making a new covenant, which will include the nations and transform the people into a covenantally faithful and righteous city of God.

So let's let's dive into that first section then, verses one to three of Isaiah 54.

In verses one to three, Isaiah addresses the barren woman or this childless woman with otherworldly language.

This is really important to grasp here, right?

This barren woman is instructed to rejoice with three different words, right?

And then instructed to enlarge the place of her tent with all the necessary entailments in verse 2.

Now, again, barrenness, right, back then, like today, right, this is not usually a positive characteristic.

It's not a positive trait.

Barrenness was a serious economic problem in the ancient world in society where labor-intensive agriculture, right, placed a high demand on finding sufficient helpers.

Where descendants, right, are always considered a blessing.

Their lack was a problem.

No one was childless by choice.

Indeed, an old ancient Near Eastern myth includes barrenness among other infirmities, such as blindness, crippling, and incontinence.

Okay.

Now, given this context, right, I think that's important.

It's absolutely astonishing, right, that Isaiah instructs this barren woman to rejoice.

Normally, right, this condition would be one that would call for panic, sorrow, shame, and rejection.

However, Isaiah is not proclaiming the message of this world, is he?

Why does Isaiah instruct this barren woman to rejoice?

Well, in verse 3, we have our answer, right?

For you will burst out on the right and on the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and they will inhabit deserted cities.

Now, this verse could mean, right, that Israel will rise up someday and conquer and subdue the nations by force.

But verse one makes this interpretation kind of improbable.

In verse 1, the married woman is the Israel of the old covenant, as Isaiah will make plain in verses 4 to 10.

So who then is this desolate woman whose children will be far more in number than the married woman?

The desolate woman, the barren woman, appears to be the battered and tattered Israel who returns from exile.

It is this desolate woman who comes back more numerous than when she went into exile.

From the standpoint of the New Testament, in Galatians 4, the interpretation of Israel's possessing the nations is quite clear.

Israel inherits the nations because the nations become part of the family of God.

Not by warfare, as we'll learn much later, right?

But by faith, by the faith of Abraham himself.

The chief barren woman in Israel's history, of course, is Abraham's wife Sarah.

And the imagery of living intents and the mention of descendants also appear to be allusions to this covenant with Abraham.

The language recalls the Abrahamic covenant, whose purpose in part, right, was to bless the nations.

According to Genesis 12, 1 to 3, Israel, as the married woman, failed to fulfill the covenant made with Abraham.

But the barren woman will miraculously fulfill the covenant by inheriting the nations and including them within the family of God.

Just based on these few verses.

Some of us have probably thought that Christian identity simply means I believed in Jesus as Lord, and I confessed my sin and rebellion to him, and I'm following him today by believing the same gospel of grace.

And if you're there, amen.

Amen.

This is, of course, true, but I think it's a little incomplete.

With passages such as Isaiah 54, 1 to 3, I think they teach us that when we trusted in Jesus, we became part of Abraham's family.

At that point in time, right, Abraham's story became our story.

Abraham's faith, right, credited to him as righteousness before God, became our faith, credited to us as righteousness before God.

Abraham's mission, though, this is the interesting part, of being a blessing to the nations, Genesis 12, 2 and 3, also has become our mission.

Believers in Jesus should seek to be a blessing to the nations by proclaiming the gospel of Christ to them and also by seeking justice and righteousness in all of our relationships.

No matter what one's vocation is, Christian, as members of Abraham's family, we should seek to be a blessing to those around us.

Their tent, the tent has been widened, enlarged, and we have entered in.

And as such, we have become part of that family, which is uh a distinct identity uh that I don't think we always quite grasp.

All right, moving on.

Israel, the deserted woman, okay, in verses four through 10.

This is a comp this is kind of a complex section.

There are three little sections.

If you have your Bible open, verses four to six is gonna be the section on Israel's husband, okay, a reconstituted marriage.

Verses seven to eight rehearses Israel being forsaken, where the exile is explained.

And then in verses nine to ten, we come face to face with the permanence of the new covenant with the new Israel.

In verses four to ten, Isaiah describes Israel as the deserted woman and her relationship to Yahweh.

In verses four to six, Yahweh is called Israel's husband, exhorting her not to fear.

In verses seven to eight, again, the exile is explained.

So let's look at verses four to six together.

Isaiah once again addresses a woman in these verses.

Since in Hebrew, all the second persons, right?

All the you's and yours in this passage, they're all feminine.

Hebrew has gendered pronouns, right?

You can be feminine or masculine.

And in this whole chapter, they're all feminine.

Isn't that interesting?

They're all feminine.

They're all addressing a woman.

And so here in these texts or in these verses, Yahweh is addressing Israel as his wife.

Yahweh is Israel's maker, husband, and redeemer, according to verse 5.

These terms in these verses make clear that Isaiah is recalling Israel's relationship with Yahweh, which began, right, when Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt as their redeemer, right?

By great signs and wonders.

He brings them out of Egypt.

And then he brings them through the wilderness and enters into a covenant with them at Mount Sinai, according to Exodus 19 and 20.

Awesome.

Why is that lost on us?

What the text calls signs and wonders, these plagues that we often call them, right?

The signs and wonders of God on full display, bringing out his bride from Egypt, from the bondage of Egypt, safely through the wilderness, right?

Cared for with manna and quail and led by pillars of fire and smoke.

And in Exodus 19, it's not that Yahweh brings him, brings Israel to the mountain.

It's fascinating.

We read closely.

Israel is brought to himself.

I brought you to myself.

As a husband takes and extends the hand to his bride.

Do you see that?

It is a marriage ceremony at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19.

Indeed, a marriage metaphor, then, in these verses in Isaiah, is entirely appropriate, since Yahweh entered into a covenant relationship with Israel at that time.

The woman in verses four and six is widowed and forsaken.

The imagery conjures up a woman in the ancient world who would be filled with shame and would be uncared for in the state of widowhood.

She would be pushed to the margins of society.

One proverb from ancient Sumer puts it this way: poverty is the widow's lot.

Do you see that?

This person in this state is automatically assigned to poverty.

The state of abandonment describes Israel in exile here.

According to verse 6, Yahweh called Israel as a forsaken woman and grieved of spirit, and as a woman of youth when spurned.

She was impoverished, dejected, and rejected by Yahweh when she went into exile.

It's impossible for us to imagine this, frankly.

We can try.

I think we have lim I think we have small, maybe micro examples in our own lives.

But it's impossible for us to imagine that the God who delivered us out of Egypt, brought us to Mount Sinai, also disciplined us in exile in Babylon.

And the reason why that's impossible for us to imagine is because of this next section on the New Covenant.

Because the New Covenant doesn't work this way, as we'll see here in a moment.

So verses seven to eight, all I want to all I want to highlight here is that the exile is being explained.

Note the glorious contrasts in verses seven and eight.

In verse seven, the forsaking of Yahweh is but for a little while.

But the compassions with which Yahweh will gather Israel will be great.

The opening of verse eight, the streaming or flowing anger of Yahweh as he judges and punishes his people in exile for their idolatry, for their sin, still contains a contrast.

For a little while, the text says, Yahweh hid his face from Israel, but with eternal steadfast love, he will have compassion on them.

Live in the contrast today, right?

Let's live in the contrasts.

We may experience for a little while the discipline of the Lord, right?

But he only disciplines those children whom he loves.

But for a little while, for his eternal steadfast love, will have compassion on us.

The separation here, even with old Israel, is only for a little while, while compared to the eternity of the steadfast love or covenant love with which they will experience when Yahweh brings them back from exile.

How can Isaiah be so certain?

How can Isaiah know these things?

How is he to communicate this permanence, the eternity of this covenant love in the life of God?

What could he possibly point to?

Well, maybe unexpected, but he has another covenant by which to compare this constancy of the new covenant in verses 9 and 10.

He talks about the covenant that God made with Noah and creation.

That's just not maybe, it's not predictable in some ways, is it?

Because we forget, we forget the Bible, don't we?

We forget key moments in the Bible's uh narrative.

But verse 9 says, This is like the days of Noah to me.

Just as Yahweh judged the world in the form of a flood, and then promised not to do so again, so Yahweh judged Israel in exile and has sworn not to be angry with her again.

In verse 10, he appeals to creation, right?

The cosmic pillars, the mountains, may withdraw, and the hills may totter.

But Yahweh's loyal covenant love will not be withdrawn from her, and his covenant of peace will not be shaken.

That is, total chaos and upheaval may occur, but the new covenant relationship between Yahweh and his people will be completely stable.

This relationship, this covenant is described by the Hebrew word shalom or peace.

All will be set right.

Everything will be made right.

These three women in distress will all be lifted from their low estate to a better estate.

Does that make sense?

This is our God.

This is the gospel of Isaiah.

In order to appreciate this covenant of peace and its comparison with the Noahic covenant, I think it's helpful again to reflect on the history of human rulers.

How many times have rulers or governments made promises that they have not kept?

I mean, from day to day, week to week, year to year.

They can't keep their word for very long.

And yet it's absolutely amazing that Yahweh promised not to destroy the earth again with a flood thousands and thousands of years ago.

And his commitment to this promise has not wavered or totered.

The promises of the new covenant, you see, work similarly.

Yahweh has committed to being with his people forever.

And in Christ Jesus, this promise is fulfilled and is being fulfilled.

Before ascending into heaven, right?

Christ promised his disciples that he would be with them until the end of the age.

As God is faithful to his word, you see, let us be faithful and truthful in all of our dealings with one another.

Let us be faithful in the home, in the church, and in the workplace.

Let us imitate our God, who has kept his promises to Noah for thousands of years, by just doing what Jesus instructs.

Letting our yes be yes and our no be no.

Right?

Anything beyond that is from the evil one, he says, right?

But man, just to get to that point, to speak truth to one another.

This brings us to the final point from this text.

Zion is rebuilt and safe, according to verses 11 and 17.

Now, again, things are getting a bit more obscure here.

There's not an obvious woman in this text, is there?

Like there were in this section, like there was in verses 1 to 3 and verses 4 to 10.

But again, we have these feminine pronouns in Hebrew used all the way through.

All the you's, all the yours are about Zion.

The CSB I noticed puts the word Jerusalem right there in the text.

Poor Jerusalem, storm tossed and not comforted.

I will set your stones in black mortar and lay your foundations in Lapis Lazuli.

This text is about a wretched and poor woman who is now the destroyed city of Zion.

By the way, cities is feminine.

This is not, uh this should not surprise us too much.

Uh, we like to speak of America, the beautiful, yes, and how many feminine pronouns are in our patriotic songs about this country.

The ancient Romans referred to the capital city as Mother Rome.

Okay.

And if you read Psalm 87, Zion is presented as the mother in which the nations are born.

Zion was the place where God had established his name and where the temple was built.

It was where David set up the capital of God's kingdom.

Indeed, Psalm 48, verse 8 sings of Zion as the city of our God, which God will establish forever.

Psalms 48:8

Now, some of you are like, but wait, this text is talking about Zion as storm-tossed and not comforted.

How does that work with Psalm 48?

How does that work?

Well, not as straightforwardly as we tend to think, but it does work in God's grand plan of redemption.

In our passage this morning, the focus is not on the physical city.

In other passages in Isaiah, the focus is also not on the place or the bricks and mortar, but the city's citizens.

Okay, I want to say that again.

In our passage, the focus here is not on the place or the bricks and mortar, but the city's citizens.

For example, if you have your Bible, turn back to Isaiah chapter 1, verses 26, 21 to 26.

Isaiah 1:26

In this passage, we're told Zion, the faithful city, had become a harlot.

Originally, Isaiah says, Zion was filled with justice and righteousness lodged in her.

But now murderers.

Only after punishment and exile consumes Zion's dross, Isaiah says, will she be called, quote, the city of righteousness, the faithful city once again.

There's a in that short section there, there's a crazy reversal, isn't there?

He is describing her in all of her wretchedness and filth in Isaiah 1, 21 to 23, but by the end she will be called the faithful city and the city of righteousness again.

These are not, of course, descriptions of the bricks and the mortar and the and the buildings.

I know we're in New York City here.

We tend to reduce, right, a city to its skyline and these kinds of things, but that's not what Isaiah cares about.

Isaiah cares about the characterizations of the people of the city, the citizens that inhabit her, so to speak.

So in verses 11 to 12, Isaiah describes the rebuilding of the city.

Surely it will be the most beautiful city ever seen.

All of the precious stones used for the building materials point to the costliness, preciousness, and permanence of the city.

I'm gonna have to skip over all the gemstones and things that he mentions, but man, glorious, glorious description.

But at the end of verse 12, all of Zion's surrounding wall will be set as stones of delight or precious stones.

Clearly, the city will be beautiful.

But what makes the city beautiful, right?

That's that's what I'm kind of kind of wanting to draw you into here.

What makes this city beautiful?

What makes it stand out?

Uh the end of verse 11 uh or 12 captures this really well when it talks about, yeah, I will make your fortifications uh out of rubies.

And the fortifications there are literally suns, according to the footnote in the CSB.

These are suns or shields that reflect the sun.

They're so bright, okay, that they were that that Isaiah calls them little suns on the on the walls.

So they're reflecting this grand beauty and light of the sun.

What draws, what or what, what then creates the beauty of this city?

What is what is in it that that causes this effulgence of light to come out?

Again, if it were a physical city like the one we are in right now, right, we might say it's the skyline or some such.

But in perhaps a surprising twist in Isaiah 54, I think Isaiah interprets the metaphor of the precious stones in verses 13 and 14.

And he tells us the beauty of the new city is found in its newly created and formed citizens.

Look with me again at verse 13.

Then all your children will be taught by Yahweh that their prosperity or their shalom, their peace, will be great, and you will be established on a foundation of righteousness.

That's what's going to make this city beautiful.

But what does it mean?

What does it mean?

It's not the actual precious stones that will make the city beautiful, for the beautiful stones actually symbolize the citizens themselves here.

According to Isaiah, God will keep his covenants with Abraham and Israel by creating and forming a new people, the city of truth, the faithful city.

And eventually that city, those citizens, will inhabit a new place, according to Isaiah.

Right?

Read all the way to the end of the book, 65 and 66, is about a new heavens and a new earth, that only God's people, his servants, will inhabit.

God is creating the people now for the place later.

That is what is happening here.

The city of truth.

In fact, 1 Peter 2, verses 4 and 5 picks up on the same theme, doesn't it?

1 Peter 2:4

When Peter calls the members of Christ's church who are believers, living stones, and he calls Christ Jesus the living stone.

God's people are God's building materials for his great city of truth.

Now, at first, maybe the idea of God teaching people is lost on us.

What would it mean for Yahweh to teach people?

Have you thought about that?

It's kind of interesting.

Then we remember, though, that the one servant, the suffering servant himself, in Isaiah chapter 50, verse 4, he was said to be like the ones whom God taught.

Isaiah 50:4

That is, he was perfectly formed and prepared to do the will of God, even to suffer and die for his people, as Isaiah 53 eventually predicts.

That is taught, isn't it?

To know how to sustain the weary with a word.

He awakens me each morning, he awakens my ear to listen like those being instructed.

That is, he's being prepared.

Do you see this?

And then prepared for what?

Well, look at verse 5.

The Lord God has o has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, right?

He's willing, he's ready to do the will of God.

I was not rebellious, I did not turn back.

Man, verse 6 describes some s some trouble, though.

I gave my back to those who beat me, and my cheeks to those who tore out my beard, and I did not hide my face from scorn and spitting.

The Lord God will help me.

Therefore I have not been humiliated, therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

The one who vindicates me is near, who will contend with me.

Man, that's a glorious passage in its own right.

But what's the point of being taught by God?

You are pre you are formed and prepared to follow God's will, even into great suffering and persecution.

Do you follow that?

Yeah, that's something we need to wrestle with here even as we continue.

Because now we're not talking about the suffering servant in 5413.

We're talking about God's citizens of God's city being taught by him, which means that we are being perfectly formed and prepared to do his will also, even to suffer and die.

Whatever the Lord has for us.

Now, one thing I want to say, this is the only this is only the beginning, being taught by the Lord.

Look at Isaiah 54, 17.

Uh, that's actually on the other page there, yeah.

652.

In Isaiah 54, 17, the ones Yahweh teaches are explicitly called the servants of Yahweh.

And this is a title of honor.

In verse 17, the city is the final resting place and inheritance for the servants of Yahweh who suffered because of their faithfulness to Yahweh.

These servants are linked to the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

As the servant was taught by the Lord, right, as we just read in Isaiah 50, verse 4, so are his servants taught by the Lord, right, in Isaiah 54, 13.

Isaiah 50:4

As the one servant suffered afflictions, Isaiah 53, verse 4, so did they in Isaiah 54, 11.

Isaiah 53:4

Do you see this pattern?

Right?

Something about the student not being greater than his master.

Yes.

What he underwent, we will undergo.

Okay?

As he suffered afflictions, so did they.

But as the servant will be vindicated in Isaiah 50, verse 8, and also 53.11, so will the servants be vindicated, right?

Isaiah 50:8

In 54, 17, and their vindication is from me.

You see, indeed, the many who are formed and taught by Yahweh are called servants of Yahweh, because they follow in the footsteps of the one servant.

Their heart emulates his heart.

They suffer as he suffered, and they will also share in his glory, as indeed he has already entered his glory.

In other words, the citizens of the new city of truth will resemble the servant of Yahweh Himself, both inwardly and outwardly.

The new city of truth's beauty is derivative at the end of the day.

The beauty comes as they are as the servants imitate the servant.

And more and more as the servants imitate the servant, the more beautiful that city will be.

But Isaiah does not even stop there.

Isaiah was a masterful communicator who really knew how to keep his audience on the hook.

He does not give his audience everything at one time.

Man, I'd love it if he did.

That would make my job a whole lot easier.

But he did not communicate everything at one time, but rather he proclaims these single truths over several contexts.

Isaiah has revealed that the new covenant community will be servants who emulate the suffering servant.

But he has not yet answered the question about who the people are.

But since Abraham, right, was kind of alluded to in chapter 54, verse 2, Isaiah subtly reveals that this people will be an international people, doesn't he?

And he gets to that point in Isaiah 56, 6 and 7, which say this.

As for the foreigners, that's you and me.

That's you and me.

As for the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of Yahweh, and to become his servants.

There's that word again, servants.

All who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold firmly to my covenant, I will bring them to my holy mountain and let them rejoice in my house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar.

For my prayer will be for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

Note that these servants now are said to minister to Yahweh.

This is priestly language in the Old Testament.

And they are also called to be his servants.

That is, not just Israel or the new Israel, but foreigners now are also citizens of this new city.

Do you follow me?

Citizens of this city of truth.

The servants of Yahweh will be both Jew and Gentile.

All the peoples will come to Yahweh's house of prayer.

When it says that they'll offer their sacrifices and they'll be acceptable, that means they are bona fide, legitimate, genuine members of the city of truth.

Foreigners in the Old Testament weren't even allowed in the temple.

Isaiah is saying not only are they going to come into the temple, they're going to offer acceptable sacrifices, just like every bona fide member of Israel.

Do you follow me?

Okay, that is glorious.

That is the gospel according to Isaiah.

Now, the language of taught by God, I want to be maybe quick here, though this is going to be hard for me to resist.

But Jesus quotes this exact verse in Isaiah 54, 13.

He quotes it in John 6, 44 and 45.

He says that no one, Jesus talking, 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.

Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

You see, clearly, Jesus believes that the new covenant is here and now.

All who come to Jesus through what we sometimes or maybe normally refer to as regeneration have been taught by God.

Once, right, we were ill-formed, sinners with hearts hostile to God's ways.

But one day, God's Spirit enlivened our hearts to love Him and to love one another.

This is called being taught in the Bible.

God formed you, he taught you from the inside out to be his servants.

So prominent was this idea that when Paul addresses the Thessalonian church in 1 Thessalonians 4, 9, and 10, he actually creates a new word.

He says, Now concerning brotherly love, you Thessalonian believers, have no need for anyone to right you.

For you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.

But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more.

That is, make the beauty greater.

Continue to make the beauty greater by loving each other as God in Christ has loved you and as you have been taught by God to do so.

The New Testament teaches that the New Covenant, including its members taught by Yahweh, is here and now.

Paul employs this crucial truth here about the new covenant while exhorting the Thessalonian church to love one another.

He's just saying, be more of what you already are.

Now that's a beautiful city, isn't it?

But there's even more reasons to admire its beauty.

Last point here, hopefully.

In verse 14a, we see that you, again, that is, the city of Zion, will be established in righteousness.

Again, the verb is feminine, indicating that the city, consisting of its citizens, will be established in righteousness.

Isaiah's prophecies of judgment are directed towards the national and religious spheres in Israel.

But there's no question that Isaiah directs many judgment oracles towards the social spheres of the nation.

In chapter 1, 26, 21 to 26, which we looked at already, again, Isaiah describes how the faithful city became a harlot.

Only after the judgment of God and the exile consumes Judah's dross will she be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city once again.

In Isaiah 54, 14, the promise is that Zion will be established in righteousness.

That is, the citizens will treat one another with justice and righteousness and covenant faithfulness.

And this covenant love for one another will shine as brightly as a jeweled and sparkling city in the sunlight.

It is not the bricks and mortar that are in view here, it is the citizens of the city of God who by their righteous and covenantally faithful deeds, they will shine in a ruined and dying world.

And how attractive will that city be?

Now, just in case some in here are not entirely persuaded that I should be applying this promise of the new Zion to us in Isaiah 54 to the church, I want us to look briefly at Ephesians 4.25 together.

Just in case, Ephesians 4.25.

We won't exposit all of this, but I don't think we need to.

Because when Paul says in that verse, speak truth each with his neighbor, Paul is quoting from Zechariah 8.16.

And all of Zechariah 8, that whole chapter, is about the new Zion and speaking truth, that is, living faithfully with each other, letting our yes be yes and our no no with each other is the chief virtue of the citizens of God's city of truth.

And Paul is now conveying to the church at Ephesus that they are the city of truth, that Isaiah and Zachariah were anticipating.

And of course, Isaiah and Zachariah's visions were dependent on grand promises to Abraham, that he would make him into a great nation or a great city.

God had promised to build a city of truth, bring about a new creation, which would be characterized by faithfulness and covenant love.

And Paul says that we are that city today.

Do you follow?

We are the city of truth because we are the citizens of the new Zion.

This is an international city, not located in any one region or place.

It's spreading across the entire world.

Since we have been taught by Yahweh, our hearts have been transformed to worship Him and to love each other.

We fail to treat one another with loyal covenant love.

Yes.

We're not always faithful in our speech and actions towards one another and towards others in our wider communities.

Let us aim for greater authenticity and transparency within the new covenant relationship, which binds us to God and to one another.

And of course, we'll still struggle to treat one another with the righteousness of God, which should characterize again all of our relationships.

Sometimes, indeed, we do become abusive towards others with our speech and actions, instead of using our speech and actions, right, for the edification of the body.

Without knowing it, oftentimes we oppress others when we should be working for their joy and liberty in Christ.

As the living stones which are being built into the city of God, we must be conscientious about the righteousness which should characterize the people of the city.

The church has the unique responsibility to demonstrate this righteousness to the rest of the world.

And may we be that sparkling and dazzling sight that Isaiah envisions here.

One last point from the rest of the chapter.

We're not going to say much about it.

Zion will be safe.

I take that to mean no longer is Yahweh going to send us into exile.

That's done.

That's not going to happen.

Any weapon formed or any hostile action against is not from him directly, though he has formed and created all, and all, and there will be some who will come against us for sure.

But we're not to look at God as our direct primary agent of hostility ever again.

Zion will be safe.

That is, Zion will be free to live righteous lives.

For the worst that can happen to us is what?

Death.

Death is the worst that can happen to us.

You know why?

Because we are safe with God.

I take it that Paul in Romans 8 seems to actually be alluding to these verses.

Who can bring any charge against God's elect?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

The city will be the final inheritance of the servants of Yahweh, and it will be their vindication and righteousness as well.

So may we rest in the gospel and in God's righteousness procured for us by Christ Jesus on the cross and in his resurrection.

And in light of that, may we seek to outshine each other in loyalty and in love and in righteousness as we relate to each other.

May we outshine one another.

May the city of truth shine brightly here in New York City and elsewhere.

Shall I pray?

Let me pray.

Our Father and our God, we come before you as oftentimes these women depicted here in this chapter.

We don't show up with perfect lives.

We're oftentimes storm-tossed.

We're oftentimes deserted by others.

I just pray that this chapter, this text, would impress upon our minds and hearts that because of the new covenant, you are with us.

You are for us.

We are safe in your everlasting, steadfast love.

And because we are safe, we are free to live righteous lives before you and with and before each other.

Bless our efforts.

May the city of truth grow here in New York City and elsewhere.

In Christ's name.

Amen.