His sufferings will result in Israel’s great blessing
54
📚“Sing, O barren one, you who have not borne
a child! Break forth
into singing 📖,
and shout aloud,
you who have not travailed
with child!
For the children of the desolate one are
more than the children of
the married woman”, says the LORD.
54:1 This verse raises some questions that need to be answered if we wish to interpret this chapter correctly. Who is the “barren one”, the “desolate one?” Who is she who has a husband? What was Paul trying to show by quoting this verse in Gal 4:27? The answers to these questions are a bit complicated.
First, the barren and desolate one is Jerusalem or Mount Zion as representing the nation of Israel. We judge this by the context of chapters 49–52 (see Isa 49:14, 19-21; 51:17; 52:1) and by vs 6-8 of this chapter. This prophecy of the “barren” one looks far into the future from Isaiah’s day (as do most of the prophecies of chapters 40–66).
Second, she “who has a husband” is also Jerusalem representing the nation Israel. The husband was none other than Jehovah God Himself (v 5; Isa 50:1; Jer 3:14). This means that sometime after the giving of this prophecy, Israel, after being forsaken for a while, will be redeemed and made new and will become far more fruitful than the old Israel.
Third, in quoting this verse Paul was showing the difference between law and grace. The nation Israel under the law speaks of bondage and rejection. Israel under grace will mean freedom, acceptance, and fruitfulness. The difference is between the two covenants – the old given through Moses, the new given through Christ. The writer of these notes does not believe that Paul is teaching in Galatians (or anywhere) that the Church of the New Testament is the new Israel. He is teaching that now whether we are Jews or Gentiles we must be saved in the same way, the way of grace, and that the Jerusalem in heaven, God’s holy city, is the mother of all believers. In this chapter and in Isaiah as a whole we see that eventually the nation Israel, the Jewish people, will be brought back to God, brought into all the blessings of the new covenant; that she will be like a wife restored, and will become far more fruitful than she was during the long ages of the Old Testament.⚜
2 📚“Enlarge the place of your tent,
and let them stretch out
the curtains of your dwelling places.
Do not spare.
Lengthen your ropes,
and strengthen your stakes.
3 📚For you will spread out to the right
and to the left,
and your offspring will inherit
the Gentiles 📖,
and cause the desolate cities
to be inhabited.
54:2-3 Here is a prophecy that the future new Israel will have more territory and more power than ever before. See Isa 26:1, 15; 33:20-24. Compare Isa 2:1-3. Is there no spiritual application to the New Testament Church? We may well think so. It is similar to Matt 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:45-48; Acts 1:8.⚜
4 📚Do not fear,
for you will not be put to shame,
nor be disgraced,
for you will not be humiliated.
For you will forget the shame of your youth 📖,
and will no longer remember the reproach
of your widowhood 📖.
5 📚For your Maker is your husband.
The LORD of hosts is his name.
And your Redeemer is
the Holy One of Israel.
He will be called the God of the
whole earth 📖.
6 📚For the LORD has called you,
a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
and a youthful wife when
you were rejected,
says your God.
54:5-6 Jehovah was husband to Israel under the law, but because of her sin, He rejected her as a nation. The husband was as though dead to her. Israel in the future will be “remarried” to Jehovah (see Hos 2; 3:5). Eventually God will restore the nation to Himself, not as Lawgiver, but as Maker and Redeemer. It is very difficult to see how verses like these can possibly refer to the Church of the New Testament which is Christ’s body. But as elsewhere in Isaiah, after making the proper interpretation of these verses, we can see spiritual truth that may apply to believers now. Since God Himself is our “husband”, how fruitful we should be in proclaiming the Gospel and bringing others to experience the new birth!⚜
7 📚For a brief moment 📖
I have forsaken you,
but with great mercies 📖
I will gather you.
8 📚With a little wrath 📖 I hid my face
from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have mercy on you,
says the LORD your Redeemer 📖.
54:4-8 For an understanding of these verses an understanding of Rom 7:1-6 and Rom 11:11-29 is necessary. See those portions with their notes.⚜
9 📚For this is like the waters
of Noah 📖 to me;
for as I swore that the waters
of Noah would not again
flood the earth,
so I have sworn that I would not be angry
with you again,
or rebuke you.
54:9 The same nation that was an object of His anger will no longer (after He restores them in the future) taste of it again.⚜
10 📚For the mountains will depart,
and the hills be removed,
but my kindness will not depart
from you,
nor will my covenant of peace 📖 be
removed,
says the LORD who has mercy
on you.
11 📚“O you afflicted,
tossed with a tempest,
and not comforted, see,
I will lay your stones with
fair colours,
and lay your foundations
with sapphires.
12 And I will make your battlements
of rubies,
and your gates of crystal,
and all your walls of precious stones.
54:11-12 These gems indicate something of the future glory of Jerusalem.⚜
13 📚And all your children will be taught
by the LORD 📖,
and great will be the peace 📖
of your children.
14 📚In righteousness 📖 you will be
established.
You will be far from oppression,
and you will not fear;
and far from terror 📖,
for it will not come near you.
15 📚See, they will surely attack,
but it will not be
from me;
and whosoever attacks you will fall
for your sake.
16 📚See, I have 📖 created the blacksmith
who blows the coals in the fire,
and who brings out an instrument
for his work;
and I have created the destroyer
to produce ruin.
17 📚No weapon that is formed against
you will prosper 📖;
and you will condemn every tongue
that rises against you
in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants
of the LORD,
and their righteousness is from me 📖”,
says the LORD.
54:15-17 Jerusalem (and the nation it represents) will be absolutely secure and victorious. After their final restoration God will never again send enemies against them as He did before.⚜
54:17 Whether we think the people addressed in this chapter (and similar chapters) in Isaiah means a future new nation of Israel or the present Church of the New Testament has no bearing on the spiritual lessons and practical applications of truth we can learn from them. We may certainly apply a verse like this to ourselves now as believers.⚜