“Restoration and Hope”
Isaiah 54:1-17

Today’s Scripture begins one of the most beautiful pieces of literature in the entire Bible. This is where God writes a love song to Zion, His estranged bride, letting her know of all the things He is going to do to restore her. What a great place to take a pause in our study of Isaiah, as we get ready to celebrate the gift of God, the baby Jesus, who came to be our means of restoration. Next year we will continue with chapter 55 of Isaiah which is the actual invitation God gives to His bride, asking her not to miss out on what is already hers, due to her unbelief. 

Today’s Scripture can be broken down into two sections. The first section, verses 1-10, God speaks to Israel in the image of a disgraced woman. The second section, verses 11-17, Israel’s image changes from a disgraced woman to a ruined city. In both sections, God provides restoration and hope. 

The disgraced women are seen as:
barren, vv. 1-3
the widow, vv. 4-5
and the divorced one, vv. 6-8
At the time Isaiah wrote this, in the ancient Near East, almost the worst fate for a woman was to have no children. Yet in verses 1-3, for those who have experienced God’s grace, their fruitless lives will be changed into unexpected abundance, she shall have more children than if she had had a husband. 

The widow was also considered a disgrace in many parts of the ancient world. The only way a woman was able to contribute to society was through her husband. Without one, she became a liability. Yet, God says here that she is not without a husband, because He, her Maker, will be her husband. 

Not only is he her Maker, He is the Lord Almighty, Yahweh of heaven’s armies, and most of all her Redeemer. This was a promise not for just the Israelites, but we read that “God of all the earth!” would make this happen. How could one be sad? 

But if these two types of women were disgraceful, there was still one more disgraceful than these, the divorcee. At least in widowhood your husband left involuntarily. For the divorced woman, there was rejection. This was exactly what had happened to Israel. She had failed God, and been cast out of her home. Yet, God had a plan to bring her back to himself. Verse 7, 
“For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.” 
God’s anger was for a moment, however, His compassion is everlasting. The Servant came to satisfy the righteous anger of God, so that God’s unfailing love would be available for those who were open to receiving it. 

Isaiah has made it clear, the captivity of the Israelites was not their biggest problem. It was a physical manifestation of their spiritual life. Their real problem was their alienation from God’s presence. Yet, in these verses we are promised God’s “unfailing love” and his “covenant of peace.” Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

In verses 11 – 17, Isaiah now uses the image of a ruined city. The people are compared to a city that has been “lashed by storms,” “subjected to tyranny and terror.”  Yet God reminds them that He is the One who created it all, and He is the one who can change it all. Listen to what He will change it to: “stones of turquoise,” “foundations with sapphires,” “battlements of rubies,” “gates of sparkling jewels,” and “wall of precious stones.” And how can a sinful, rebellious Israel experience these promises. Verse 17 reminds us that it comes by becoming servants like the Lord.

This passage prepares us for the Advent season by reminding us of the heart of the gospel. Through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, who become like us, human, God has found a way to reconcile us to Him. God did not wait for us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and get our act together. Even though He could have been justified by doing so. And the chasm that was created between us and the creator was of our own making. Had God decided to wait in His lonely, isolated moral perfection, for us to come to Him, well, He would have been waiting for eternity. Don’t you think He knew that. He proclaimed it in Ezekiel 18:4, “The one who sins is the one who will die.”
Yet, when you read the last verse of chapter 18 in Ezekiel, you discover the nature of God, for it reads, 
“For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” The word “anyone,” means, anyone, even the most heinous criminal, was created by God, and is loved by God. 

How do we recognize God’s unfailing love and everlasting kindness, His covenant of peace?

How does the barren woman, become surrounded by laughing children? 

How does the widow become married to the most wonderful husband in the world?

And the rejected divorcee, how does she come to realize that her rejection was for but a moment but her acceptance is forever? 

Description of “The Bridge.” 

By God, becoming human, an innocent human baby, starting out in a manger, and ending in a borrowed grave. 
That is the true face of God. 

What we deserve is a stern judge, who dispassionately reads to us the endless list of our sins and then dictates the punishment exactly how we deserve it. 

What we get, is a Father, our Maker, the God of all the earth, who has gone to all lengths, to make certain that we do NOT get what we deserve. The judgement has been taken away, by the judge, so that we stand acquitted. 

There’s a story about a judge whose own son was brought before her for a crime he had committed. The judge felt a deep grief that her son would violate the laws upon which she based her entire life. Tears welled in her eyes and she listened painfully as the evidence against her son was presented. The courtroom sat in silence wondering how the judge would rule. Would she just give him a reprimand in an act of mercy? Would she give him the minimum penalty for the offense? 
Much to their surprise, she handed down the maximum fine, upholding the law to its fullest degree. 
The son was in shock, for he knew that he couldn’t pay the fine and was anguished at the thought of imprisonment. He looked up at her in disbelief.
But then something happened that nobody expected. She stepped down from the bench, took off her judge’s robe, told her son how much she loved him and then paid, out of her own pocket, the fine she had just handed down.  Not everyone understood what she had done. As a judge, she showed her commitment to honor the law to its fullest, but she then stepped down from that seat of honor and showed her love for her child. Her son never understood the depth of his mother’s commitment to the law until that moment, and, until that moment, he never knew the depth of his mother’s love for him. He felt deep sorrow for the pain he had caused her and for those he had hurt by his act of crime. 
With his head bowed, and his tears flowing freely, he asked for her forgiveness, which she willingly and freely gave to him.
When we look back at Isaiah 54, we read that from God’s perspective, verse 9, He will never pronounce judgement again. From His perspective, there is no weapon forged against His people that will ever succeed again, verse 17. God has taken all punishment and discipline upon himself. At least that is what is seen from God’s perspective. 
What happens, when we do not avail ourselves of God’s grace and mercy? What if we choose to use God’s grace and mercy as a means to easily continue in our life of sin? What if the son in our story had given his mom a high five and laughed as he exited the courtroom? 
It’s much like God finishing His cleaning up the garbage dump we have been living in and turning it into a beautiful garden. 
He looks at the garden and says, “You will never have to be hungry again.” From God’s perspective, that may be true. However, that is assuming that we will continue to live in the middle of the garden. Yet, how many of us move over, back next to the garbage dump? And still try to claim the promises God has given? We will discover that living outside of God’s grace, has it effects. 
The covenant of peace is ours forever. We read last week in chapter 53:5, “The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” We have been accepted, however, in order to experience the forever covenant, we need to continually be willing to live under its terms. 
Next you should be asking, but what are the terms? 
Out of God’s love for us, He provided the perfect sacrifice, the payment required for our sins. What He asks in return is for us to live within the guidelines of the garden, Jesus put it this way when He answered Matthew 22:37-40,
Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
Those two pegs have the word “LOVE” written above them. “For God so LOVED the world,” and we are called to do the same, with all our passion, prayer and intelligence. May we choose to stay in the garden and invite those around us to join us. 
Let’s pray.