Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 08 June 2008
1. For the sake of Zion I will not sit still, and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest, until
her righteousness goes abroad like brightness and her salvation as a flame burns,
2. and nations will see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory ,
and you will be called a new name, as the mouth of Jehovah will brand it.
3. You will be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah
and the diadem of the kingdom in the palm of your God.
4. It will never again be said of you, “She is forsaken,”
and your land will never again be said to be desolate,
for you will be called “My delight is in her,” and your land, “Married,”
for Jehovah has delighted in you and your land will be married.
5. For a young man will marry a virgin, your sons will marry you,
and [as] the rejoicing of a groom over a bride, your God will rejoice over you.
6. Upon your walls, Jerusalem, I have caused guards to visit all the day and all the night continuously, they will not sit still.
Those who cause to remember Jehovah, let there be no breaks for y’all.
7. and do not give Him a break until He will establish and until He will set
Jerusalem to be a praise in the land.
8. Jehovah has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of his strength,
“I will never again give your grain to be food for your enemies,
no will sons of foreigners drink your juice for which you toiled.
9. for those who gather it they will eat it and praise Jehovah,
and those who collect it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.
10. Pass over, y’all; pass into the gates; face the way of the people.
Heap up, heap up the highway, de-stone [it], raise a banner over the peoples.
11. Look, Jehovah has caused [it] to be heard to the end of the earth,
Say to the daughter of Zion,
“Look, your salvation has come!
Look, His reward is with Him, and His work is before His face,
12. and they will be called The People of the Holy One, the Redeemed Ones of Jehovah,
and you will be called Sought After, the Un-Forsaken City.
There is an old African story about a man who chose for himself a wife from among his people and then went to her father to negotiate for her. It was customary for a suitor to offer two to four cows to the father to prove that he could provide for his bride-elect and to offer something in exchange for the precious gift of a daughter.
The man in our story, however, was not like most men. Instead of offering just a few cows, he offered 10 fine cows to the father in his bid for her hand in marriage. The father gladly accepted the offer!
This made quite a stir in the village. What did this young man see in that young lady that was so valuable as to pay 10 cows for her? Was there something the neighbors had missed about this remarkable young woman? Word began to spread to other villages – there was a 10-cow woman in their district.
The young man treated his new bride like a queen, for he had paid a queen’s dowry for her. Likewise, the villages treated the new wife with respect, for she was no ordinary 2-cow woman, she was a 10-cow woman! And all this treatment was not lost on the young woman either. She began to act less like a commoner and more like a great lady, for after all, she was a 10-cow woman!
And thus through great sacrifice and wisdom, one African man transformed an ordinary woman into an extraordinary wife.
In a similar manner, God, with great wisdom and through great effort and sacrifice has transformed a group of very ordinary sinners into an extraordinary bride for Himself. Isaiah calls this woman Zion, today we call her the church.
v.1 “not hold peace/keep silent/hush/be inactive” or “rest/be quiet/take repose”
s ILLUSTRATION: Trembling Leg Syndrome – can’t sit still – 6th gr. teacher asked me if I was a shaker.
s Who is speaking? God. This is parallel to other statements He has made already in Isaiah:
o Isa 18:4 For thus Jehovah said to me: "In My establishment, I will sit still and look on…
o Isa 42:14 “I [Jehovah] have held my peace from eternity; I will keep still; I will restrain myself…”
o Isa 57:11 …Was it not I myself who held still – and that for an eternity, yet you do not fear me!.. 13. When you cry out, let your collections [of idols] deliver you! … But the one who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and he will take over my holy mountain!
o Isa 64:12 Will You refrain Yourself for these things, Jehovah? Will You keep still & afflict us?
o Now God steps into action here in Chapter 62 and in Isa 65:6 …I will not keep silence, but will pay, even pay into their bosom,
s God’s stillness/inaction relates to His holding back His anger from immediately destroying people who are in rebellion against Him.
o When God steps into action, it is according to His two-pronged plan (1) to bring judgment upon the wicked and (2) to provide salvation for His elect.
s When God steps into action, the goal of His work is to make righteousness and salvation shine forth so that He is glorified.
A) He is glorified when it is clear that v.1 “brightness” “righteousness” and “salvation” only “come forth” from God!
o
Where does salvation come from?
Isa 12:2a God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid:
o
Whose righteousness is it?
God says it is HIS: Isa 51:8b …my righteousness will exist forever,
and my salvation to generation upon generations.
Isa 59:17a He put on righteousness as the breastplate and a helmet
of salvation on His head…
o
Who will bring this righteousness forth?
Isa 61:11 For like the earth brings forth her sprouts… the Lord
Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to sprout before all the
nations.
o In every one of the previous 20 uses of the word “righteous” in the book of Isaiah it has been something lost by the people and which comes in from outside of them - from God!
o
Where does the “glory” come from? Again from God!
Isa 60:1 Get up, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of
Jehovah has risen upon you... and His glory upon you will be seen!
Isa 66:19 I will set a sign among them, and I will send their escapees
to the nations… to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither
have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the
Gentiles.
o
If you want this light in
your life, turn to God for it:
Isa 50:10b …Whoever walked dark places and there was no brightness
for him, let him trust in the name of Jehovah and lean into his God.
Isa 60:19 the brightness of the moon will not shine
for you, but Jehovah will become for you everlasting light…
o God is relentlessly at work building His church through saving people and making them righteous. When we see people trusting in God and being saved and living out righteousness so that they are like a bright city on a hill, we glorify God because only He can create this.
B) This righteousness and salvation are to shine forth like v.1 “flame that burns/burning torch/blazing lamp”
s The next time that this verb for “burning/blazing” is used is in Ezekiel 1, describing the glory of the presence of God.
s The first three times in the Bible that this noun (torch) or verb (burning) are used are also describing the glory of God as He appeared to Abraham (Gen 15), Moses in the burning bush (Ex. 3:2), and to the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 20:18).
s I think this appearance of God’s salvation and righteousness as a burning flame is an allusion to an appearance of God – more specifically Jesus.
s
Isaiah has mentioned God’s coming
judgment against sin and purification from sin in terms of this
same “burning”:
Isa 30:27 Look, the Name of Jehovah has come from afar: His anger is burning,
and there is heavy smoke rising. His lips are full of indignation, and his
tongue is like a consuming fire. (This is the first part of God’s
two-pronged plan: judgment against sin.)
Isa 4:4 the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion
and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from her midst by a spirit of
judgment and by a Spirit of burning. (This is the second part of
God’s two-pronged plan: salvation and purification from sin. See also Isa 1:31
and 10:17)
s God is incessantly working so that His people, the church, will more and more match the sinless glory of Himself!
s When we live out Christ-like righteousness and proclaim the glory of God, people will be attracted to that and the church will grow.
C) v.2 Gentiles will see your righteousness and all kings [will see] your glory
s
For a king to take note of
someone’s glory, it must be glorious indeed! (Calvin)
Shining righteousness and salvation are the imprint of our God who ranks far
above any king or president. They shout, “God has been here, and He outranks
you!”
s Ultimately your righteousness and your glory is Jesus the Messiah to whom God said in Isa 49:7 … “Kings will see and they will stand up [out of respect], and princes will prostrate themselves...”
s But this glory and righteousness of Christ is seen by the world through the church: Isa 60:3 And nations will walk toward your light and kings toward the brightness of your rising.
s It is this glorious church, the bride of Christ who emerges in the following verses.
1. “crown of beauty/glory/splendor” (v.3)
s
These people used to have a
crown, but it wasn’t a crown of beauty, it was a crown of pride:
28:1 Woe, proud crown of Ephraim’s alcoholics… 3 The
proud crown of the alcoholics of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot. 4
And the fading flower of the beauty of his glory ...
But Isaiah goes on in that same chapter 28 to speak of the future day that
He is also speaking of here in chapter 62: 5 In that day Jehovah of
Hosts will turn into the crown of beauty and into the diadem of glory
for the remnant of His people,
s Remember that the “beauty/glory/splendor” is not to draw attention to ourselves, but rather to God - they were planted by Jehovah to beautify Himself. (60:21b and 61:3c)
s The “royal diadem” is:
o What Job wore when he exercised the office of a judge (29:14),
o Then we see God removing it from the Jewish officials in Ezekiel 21:31 when Judah was rebellious and sent into exile,
o But it was promised again for the future through God in Isa 28:5,
o And then placed upon Joshua the High priest’s head in Zech 3 after the exile.
o
That Joshua was a type of the
Joshua/Y’shua to come as Zechariah states 6 chapters later:
Zec 9:9-17 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of
Jerusalem! behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation
is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey… 11 As
for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your
prisoners free from the waterless pit… 16 On that day the LORD their God will
save them, as the flock of His people; for like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on His land. 17 For how great is His goodness, and how
great His beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine
the young women.
o Then when you are in glory, Jesus will place this crown on your head! 1 Peter 5:4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
s Delitzsch comments that this is not God’s crown, as though anyone of us had the rank to crown Him king, rather this is in His hand, something He has been handcrafting. This is what the world has watched him make. “The whole history of salvation…taking…and perfecting the kingdom by Jehovah… [is] the history of the working out of this crown.”
s You – feminine singular Zion/the church – and you as an individual in the church – are that exquisite crown that God has been handcrafting. Do you believe it? Do you know how glorious you are and what glories await you?
2. A new NAME marks the people as saved and it brings glory to God
s In the entire Bible, the phrase “you will be called” appears only in the book of Isaiah, and only three times outside this chapter:
o 1:25 And I will turn my hand upon you and I will smelt away your dross like the pure, and I will run off all your alloy. 26. And I will cause to turn your judges like the first, and your counselors like the beginning. Then afterwards, you will be called the righteous city…
o 58:12 And those from you will build the old dry places - you will raise up foundations of generation upon generation, And you will be called “Breach-repairer” “Restorer of streets to dwell in.”
o 61:6a But as for you, you will be called priests of Jehovah; “Ministers of Our God”…
s A new name illustrates a new nature and a new relationship.
o When Paula married me, she took on a new last name. She was no longer a Shetter, she became a Wilson. She was no longer her parent’s responsibility, she became mine.
o When our first child was conceived, I took on a new name. I still remember how strange it was when our pastor asked all the fathers to stand up on Father’s Day, and I, for the first time, stood up. I hadn’t been a father before, but now I am a different person with new relationships – there are 9 children now who call me by this new name, “Papa!”
s v. 2 mentions that God will “call” His people by a “new name” these names are found in v.4
s The old names are “forsaken… desolate” (v.4)
1.
They forsook God, so God forsook them
and desolated their country in the exile:
Isa 1:4 Oh, nation of
sinners, people heavy with iniquity, seed of evildoers, children of destroyers;
they have forsaken Jehovah, they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they have turned away backwards… 7 Your country is desolate; your cities
burned with fire. In front of you foreigners consume your ground; it is desolate,
as overthrown by foreigners. (cf. 64:10, 65:11a)
2. Isa 60:15 Instead of your being forsaken and being hated and no one passing through, now I will position you for majesty forever, a joy of generation and generation!
s The new names: “Hepzibah… Beaulah…People of the Holy One, the redeemed of Jehovah… Sought after… unforsaken city”
1. “Hepzibah” (v.4) means “my delight is in her”
o In the Pentateuch, this word is used exclusively of the delight a husband has in his wife (Gen. 34:19, Num. 14:8; Deut. 21:14; 25:7-8),
o Throughout the history books, it is expanded to indicate making any superior happy – such as the king. (Judges 13:23; Ruth 3:13; 1 Sam. 2:25, 15:22, 18:22-25, 19:2; 2 Sam 15:26, 20:11-20, 23:5, 24:3; 1Kings 5:8-10; 9:1&11, 10:9-13, 3:33, 21:6, 2 Kings 21:1, 1Chron. 28:9; 2 Chron 9:8-12; Neh. 1:11, Esther 2:14, 6:6-11)
o Now God says that what He will take delight in/what pleases Him - is Zion, His church, You. You turn His head. You get God excited. He is in love with you!
2. “Beulah” means “married”:
o It shows up in v.5 For as a young man marries a virgin…
o God’s people appeared to have been forsaken by God, and indeed they were abandoned for a time because of their unfaithfulness to God, and they went into exile. (Isa 17:9, 27:10, 32:14) But now it would be evident that they were married again.
s
Case in point: Almost 200 years
before Isaiah, when the kingdom of Israel had just divided between the north
and south, King Asa’s wife was named Azubah/Forsaken (I Kings 22:42); now in
Isaiah’s day, the wife of King Hezekiah was named Hephzibah (2 Kings 21:1).
Isaiah used a contrast in historical names as an illustration of what he
was talking about. There would be a dramatic change in circumstance for
God’s people formerly rejected and now beloved by God.
v.12 gives us more new names: the first is:
3. The Holy People, or the People of the Holy One
s
People are not naturally holy.
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23)
s Our sin separates us from the Holy God, so to be called people of the Holy One, or a Holy People necessitates a change in nature from unholiness to holiness.
s This is what Jesus did. He changed our nature by taking our sin upon Himself on the cross and suffering the punishment of hell for our sin.
s He became “Forsaken” and “Desolate;” He cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
s and to all who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God Jn 1:12
4. “The Redeemed of Jehovah”
s Jesus’ payment of the punishment for sin is what buys us – redeems us so that we become the possession of God.
5. “Sought after”
s This is the opposite of “forsaken” back in v.4
s
Refers to the Head of the
church – Jesus, the Root of Jesse
(11:10 In that day it will be the Root of Jesse who stands as a signal
of the peoples--to Him the nations will seek...)
s and it refers to the church
i. as our Saviour came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10) – His seeking of us is actually the reason why those who are being saved seek Him!
ii.
as the nations
seek us out to know how to get right with God.
This is why Peter exhorts us to “be ready to answer anyone who asks you to
give a reason for the hope that is in you” (I Pet 3:15)
6. “City not forsaken”
s You’ve heard of places being called Godforsaken, but this will be the Unforsaken City.
s Matt 28:20: Jesus said, “I am with you always”
s Heb 13:5 “I will never leave you or forsake you”
s God is a giver of new names
o He gave a new name to Abram (Great father)/Abraham (Father of many nations)
o and Jacob (He deceives)/Israel (He prevails with God),
o So there are new names for us who persevere in faith (“conquer”) - Rev 2:17.
SUMMARY: God is the maker of a people who will be a glorious crown, and He will give this people wonderful new names to bring forth their new nature. There is a third figure to describe the glory of the church, and that is marriage:
3. A Marriage - v. 5 “so shall your God rejoice over you”
s “Beulah” also is used to describe the covenant relationship of the Lord God with His people:
o Isa 54:5 For your Maker is your Husband – “Jehovah of Hosts” His name. (Isa 26:13, Jer 3:14, Mal 2:11)
o This is a new covenant relationship, as Jer 31 explains: "Behold, the days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband… 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jer 31:31-33)
o In the New Covenant, the relationship of God and the church is still pictured as a marriage: In Revelation 19:7 the union of Jesus with His church is called a marriage, and in Rev. chapter 21 the church (“the new Jerusalem”) is called “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
o Marriage is a picture of the relationship between God and His people.
s The comparatives (like/as) in most translations of verse 5 are not actually in the Hebrew text, so it is possible to read verse 5: “For a young man will marry a virgin, your sons will marry you, and there will be the rejoicing of a groom over a bride” i.e. there will be a future for Israel where there is marriage and happiness again after the brokenness of the exile.
o Jer 7:28-34 …This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips… 34 And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste… Jer 33:10-11 "Thus says the LORD: In this place of which you say, 'It is a waste without man or beast,' in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man or inhabitant or beast, there shall be heard again 11 the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD: "'Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!'
o 61:10 I will be extremely glad in Jehovah; my soul will rejoice in my God, for he has caused me to be clothed in garments of salvation, with a cloak of righteousness He has covered me, like the bridegroom executes the office of a priest beautifully and like the bride puts on her instruments.
s But in v.5, the emphasis is on the rejoicing of the groom, as it says that your God will rejoice over you.
o Zep 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by his love; He will exult over you with loud singing.
o I think that a comparison is being drawn between the intercourse of a husband and wife and the excitement God has in union with us who love Him.
o Marriage is a picture of a much deeper and eternal relationship with God. Marriage is until death do us part, but the church is forever.
o If you are single, you will be tempted to think that the goal is marriage, but that is a lie from the devil. That will not fulfill you. The goal is that deeper and eternal relationship with God of which marriage is only a picture.
o This is why God can’t sit still. He is so excited about what you are developing into, and He is so excited about sharing His house with you.
o Matt. 18:12-14 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
o God seeks us out in our rebellion and rejoices to save us and make us His bride!
s In verse 5 the land (or Jerusalem) represents the church today. I think this can resolve any confusion in this passage about God marrying you and your sons marrying you:
1. Salvation results in new people entering into union with God through faith in Jesus,
2. and since they are united with Christ, they are also united with the body of Christ (the land).
3. Thus the land (the church) is married to Christ and the sons also marry into the land (the church) through their union with Christ.
4. This is speaking of the explosive growth of the church throughout the world after Jesus’ death and resurrection, and of the great joy that brings to God.
1. First off, you must believe this is true:
a. Believe that God is, and that He is at work (v.1, Heb. 11)
b. Receive Him as your Lord/husband/master (v.4),
c. Don’t fight against His fingers as He crafts you into a glorious crown (v.3) (Not like Paul who kicked against the goads – Acts 26:14)
d. Believe that Jesus Redeemed you by paying the price for your unholiness to make you one of His Holy people (v.12)
e. Believe that God loves you and rejoices over you (v.5)
f. What if the 10-cow woman doubted that her husband really paid 10 cows? Doubts take away your glory!
2. Praise God for sharing His glory, righteousness and salvation with you:
a. Only He can create salvation and righteousness, so only He should get the glory! (v.1)
b. Remember that the “beauty/glory/splendor” is not to draw attention to ourselves, but rather to draw attention to God - they were planted by Jehovah to beautify Himself. (60:21b and 61:3c) – so Praise Him!
3. Grow in God’s glory
a. Become more like him, strive to follow His instructions about righteousness (until her righteousness goes abroad like brightness v.1),
b. v.3 you will be a crown of beauty and a royal diadem in God’s hand so accept the shaping He does in your life.
c. Live up to the name of “Holy” (v.12) - Col 3:12-14 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. 14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
4. Draw others into the shared glory of the church
a. When we live out Christ-like righteousness and proclaim the glory of God, people will be attracted to that and the church will grow.
b. You will be called “sought out” (v.12) – be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you, and follow the example of our Lord in proactively seeking and sharing His good news with the world.
c. Let the righteousness God develops in us be bright, let His salvation burn like a fire for the world to see! (v.1)
d. Nations will see your righteousness and all the kings your glory (v.2) and they will marry into you (v.5) – new believers will join the church, the glorious bride of Christ!
Nate Wilson’s website – Isaiah Sermon Expositions