In Scott Brown's sermon on Isaiah 54 and 55, he explores the profound themes of God's everlasting love and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The sermon emphasizes the transformative power of Christ's work in the lives of believers, which is not merely a moral or philosophical guideline but a profound spiritual renewal. Brown highlights the rich metaphorical language used in these chapters, such as the barren woman singing and the expansion of tents, to illustrate the blessings and growth of God's kingdom. The sermon also delves into the symbolism of the rainbow, explaining its true biblical significance as a sign of God's covenant and mercy, contrasting with its contemporary cultural interpretations. The imagery of a beautified city with precious stones is used to depict the true church, emphasizing the spiritual wealth and security provided by God. Brown encourages believers to immerse themselves in the metaphors and imagery of these chapters to gain a deeper understanding of the gospel and God's love.

Isaiah 54 verses 9 through 17. For this is like the waters of Noah to me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Oh, you afflicted one, tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems and lay your foundation with sapphires.

I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established, you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Indeed, they shall surely assemble, but not because of me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.

Behold I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire who brings forth an instrument for his work and I have created the spoiler to destroy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is from me says the Lord. Please pray with me. Oh Laura God we do thank you for your word we thank you that you have sinned for we thank you for the promise that you will accomplish through it all your purposes Lord we do thank you for preaching every word.

We pray that you would be with Mr. Brown, that you would help him by the power of your spirit to proclaim your word with boldness and with clarity. Lord we do pray that it would come down like rain upon the earth, that you would cause it to be like water for your people and that you would bring forth fruit. Lord, we do thank you for the opportunity to be in your presence and to hear this preaching and teaching this day. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

We find ourselves here in Isaiah chapter 54 in midstream of God's rivers of delights as he, God himself is the voice speaking in Isaiah 54 and he's declaring the power and the beauty of his work in people's lives. He's declaring two primary things. First of all, just what does Jesus Christ do to people? And secondly, what does that mean for the church? How should that shape your understanding of who you are as the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ?

And really, the most important issue for anybody to resolve is this matter of what are the true accomplishments of the atonement of Jesus Christ. What is the effect of his sacrifice? What does it mean to you? What does it mean to those who are truly saved and therefore part of the true church? And again, we have this revelation of who Christ is and what he's up to and what kind of community he's putting together in the world.

And it really contradicts often many of the ways that we think about Christ or Christianity. If you think Christianity is a moral system or a superior way of living or the most reasonable philosophy or the best principles for success in marriage or maybe you're like Thomas Jefferson and you just think they contain the best relational practices and if you treat people like Jesus did then everything would be so much better. Or maybe it's the Protestant work ethic, you know, of Max Weber, who, the German economist. Maybe it's, maybe Christianity, you know, could be thought of as just something that's so beneficial to your work ethic. It just makes you more successful.

And we often have these very pragmatic, worldly ideas about Christianity. While the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in a person's life absolutely affects every single one of those areas, It's not the primary matter. The primary matter, the heart of Christianity, is Christ working in the heart of a person in order to deliver them from all of their great liabilities that they have as being born with the curse upon them. And so Christianity is really all about the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and for our purposes the tangible effect that it has on people's lives. And so in Isaiah chapter 54 we see this disclosure and we're continuing in Isaiah's celebration of the work of Jesus Christ on his cross to atone for the sins of repentant sinners.

And this focus is the focus of both Isaiah 54 and 55. It's an unbroken hymn of praise about the power of the atoning work of Jesus Christ. So that's the center of it all. Now chapter 54 is an outworking of chapter 53 where the substitutionary atonement of Christ is described. Now we see the fruit of it in chapter 54 and 55.

Chapter 54 has a little bit different emphasis than chapter 55 does. The emphasis of 54 are the blessings of God's everlasting love expressed through his son's atonement. And then chapter 55's emphasis is a call to seek the Lord because he is so good. And, you know, so that's sort of where we are in Isaiah. Also, just to get your coordinates about you in terms of the flow of the theology that Isaiah is presenting, chapters 54 and 55 stand at the conclusion of a very long section that started in chapter 40.

So chapter 40 began with, Comfort, yes, comfort my people says your God. And now we find ourselves at the very end of this section in chapters 54 and 55. And this is also a conclusion to the servant songs as you recall there are four very specific servant songs that begin in chapter 42 of Isaiah and 53 is the last one and now this is sort of a reflection of these servant songs and and they all have to and everything here has to do with with the power of Jesus Christ at work in a person's life, what does it do? And as a result, what is the church like? How do you view the church?

And what the Lord is saying here is that this is what the true church is all about here. And so both these chapters are really a call to stop and rejoice in the shed blood of Christ and what he has done for you. I pray that that's what happens with us. We're gathered here, we've been going through Isaiah for two years, And now here we are in chapter 54. And we have these two chapters here before us.

Let it soak in. Soak in the blessings of salvation. See what great things God has done. So chapter 54, 55, they are specifically focusing on the success of the seed, the prosperity, the triumph of Christ. And there are many, many aspects of it.

And however, even though we see these things written on the page, the Church often doesn't exactly feel this way. We sometimes feel in a state of defeat. The smallness, our slow sanctification, our struggle with sin. These things give us pause about ourselves and about the Church itself. But here is a declaration of what we ought to be rejoicing in as a result of the church.

We often have our thinking clouded because of the temporal events in our own lives, our feelings, different things that are happening to us because we really do think the whole universe is centered on us and it's all designed to bless us. Well it's actually not that way because God is doing something greater and here we're sort of lifted out of us a little bit and shown what he is doing in his true church. Now this This section is full of imagery and metaphor. And I really, I hope as we are in these sections here, in 54 and 55, that we can somehow really get in touch with the metaphors, because they really matter. They declare the glory of the sacrifice of the Son of God.

Isaiah is the king of metaphor and these chapters are just so rich with them. And I've identified eight metaphors here and they're in your outline. If you see your outline you can see the flow of these metaphors and in verse 1 You see the barren are singing. That's a metaphor. That's a picture a barren a barren woman is singing You know she's childless that The discouragement of her failed expectations are all over her.

And her dreams have been broken and things didn't work out like she expected. But something intervened. Jesus Christ. And she's now singing. It's a beautiful picture.

The church is personified by this lonely wife who's finally loved and she has a husband now. It's a metaphor, It's a picture of this personification and then the tents are expanding you get a whole nother image now now It's a tent there's a tent and it's stakes are being driven deep And it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger and there's no room so there there have you have to make more room and it's a picture of how the tent is getting larger in the Kingdom of Heaven. The fruit will be multiplied. But the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed. You might not think it is, but it is.

God has proclaimed that it is. Do you view the church that way? The way that we see Christ's sacrifice and and his church, it matters so much particularly to God here as he's speaking through Isaiah. And here you have this this this this encouragement really to be bold in making investments in the Kingdom of Heaven. You know, plant churches, you know, be involved in personal evangelism, strengthen the church, spread the Word of God, spread out the tents, don't just stay where you are.

That's a message for us as church how much further should these tents be spread and then the next image is is you have these fearful who are not ashamed this is in verse 4 you have You have this picture of fear and shame and disgrace and widowhood. It's such a terribly depressing picture. And he's picturing your life before Christ. But you're no longer a widow and you're no longer shamed and you're no longer disgraced. Again, this metaphor of the reproached widow is brought before us.

And then there's another one. Then you have in verses 5 through 8, the forsaken are gathered. And then we run into this phrase, your maker is your husband. Another metaphor. What is a husband?

What is a maker? And all this imagery of a youthful wife being refused but then yet mercy gathering her and then with everlasting kindness mercy falls upon her and then and then in in in verses 9 through 10 we'll cover this in just a moment A covenant is kept and you have this vivid imagery of Noah and a flood and anger and then you have a city that's beautified in verses 11 through 12. A city. Now he's calling us a city. He's saying that when the shed blood of Jesus Christ is applied, you become a city like this city.

And then, verse 13, children are instructed. And then the eighth image is that the righteous are preserved and you have these pictures of enemies being gathered against you. But there's something they don't know. They do not get it. They think that they are out to destroy the Church of God.

God says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I put them there to exalt the Church of God. So you just see these images. Now, the atoning sacrifice, what does it mean? What does it mean to you?

What does the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ really, does it mean nothing? And I think one of the implications of this is if the atoning sacrifice doesn't really mean anything, then you're in big trouble with God. And you should cry out to God that he would save your soul so that the atoning sacrifice is what it is for those who are the called according to his purpose. And what we learn here is that the atoning sacrifice was for the barren to sing, for the tense to expand, to be saved from disgrace, to gather the forsaken, to keep a covenant, to beautify a city, to instruct children, and to preserve the righteous. That's the essence of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Now, next week we're going to go to Isaiah 55, and Mike Davenport is going to bring a message on Isaiah 55, the first part of it. And the flow of imagery just keeps on going. It's like a river full of fish. Just yesterday, my family was in the ocean, and something happened that has never happened to me. There were so many fish around me, thousands, millions of fish.

Everywhere I stepped, I stepped on two or three fish. That's never happened. I've seen fish, I've been in the middle of a school and they swim around you, but nothing like this in my life. Well here, here you have this flow of imagery in Isaiah 54 and 55. It's just like that.

There's an everywhere you step there's an image. It's a glorious beautiful image to teach you about the love of Jesus Christ. So when you get to 55 you have somebody who's thirsty. There's water. There's somebody who's totally out of money.

There's wages, there's milk, there's wine, there's bread, there's delight, there's abundance, there's David. There's a sower and seed and there's an eater. And even The mountains and the hills are breaking forth with singing, and the trees are clapping their hands. You know, Isaiah leaves no stone unturned. He leaves no tree, No piece of bread, no road, nothing.

He leaves nothing without explanation. And he brings all these images in order to show us just the beauty of salvation. It's such a remarkable picture. The imagery and the metaphor is so critical. And as we continue through Isaiah 54 and 55, I just want to encourage you to be very aware of the imagery.

And particularly those of you who have children, the imagery is there. It's not just for adults. It's to help children understand the beauty of the Lord. You know, our family was on vacation at the beach like I referred to earlier and I had seven of my grandchildren with me and we memorized Matthew 827 because we were at the beach where it says even the wind and the waves obey him so we're out in the wind we're out in the waves and I'm saying to my grandchildren do you feel that wind on your face? What does that remind you of?

God, Almighty God, and His control. And we're out on the sand, we've memorized Genesis 22, 17, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as of the sand That is on the seashore the wind the sand The Sun the door the path I mean, it's everywhere You cannot turn your eye to anything in this world without having some reminder of the beauty of God. And Isaiah is going to take you through so many of these images that are for us. Okay, so when we arrive at verse 9, which is the beginning of where we're gonna pick up where Dan left off last week, we notice that God calls his people to remember his promise to Noah and a great flood. So there again, there's another image, a great flood, waters covering the earth, springs of water coming out and the wicked being destroyed.

And here Isaiah is using this metaphor, this actual historical event that has become a metaphor for many other things to communicate his plans for his people and his faithfulness toward his people. And you find this whole theology of the flood of Noah and the rainbow, the actual rainbow that is the sign of this covenant of faithfulness is fulfilled in Christ. So the flood is an illustration how God hid his face from Israel, that's verse 8, and how he'll keep his promise to preserve his people. And this is, I think this is sort of at the end of a point that Isaiah has been making since verse 5, that the forsaken are gathered. And he's speaking of these these turbulences in life that take place, the judgment of God, and in this context primarily it's the Babylonian captivity, but it's far greater than the Babylonian captivity because it means more than that.

The thought is how God gathers the forsaken like a bride who was forsaken. She is gathered into the arms of her husband and now there's this different metaphor to explain the same thing. It's the flood and God rescuing people out of the flood. My understanding of this is that God through Isaiah is using this metaphor telescopically to picture what it would mean to be delivered from Babylon the Babylonian captivity like what we read earlier in Psalm 126 our mouths were filled with joy our hearts were rejoicing when delivered from the Babylonian captivity that's a picture of salvation That happened to show you what salvation in Jesus Christ is all about. And so deliverance from Babylon is a metaphor for the type of deliverance that we find in Jesus Christ.

And my understanding of Scripture is that the various deliverances from bondage like Egypt that you see in Scripture, they just point to the ultimate deliverance in Jesus Christ. We're giving a trail. God is dropping the crumbs along the trail to lead us to Jesus Christ. He gives us Egypt, he gives us Babylon, he gives us the great flood in order to help us to think through what God is doing in the world and how he governs all of history for his own glory. And so he's comparing now the Babylonian captivity to the flood that Noah had experienced.

You see that? And he's comparing it with Christ. And it appeared that the whole church was wiped out, but it wasn't in the flood. And so there's this covenant that's kept in verses nine through 10. This is God's promise to Noah.

For this is like the waters of Noah to me, verse 9. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you." So in Noah's day, God raised up a flood. In Isaiah's day, God raised up the Babylonians and the Persians. And in our day, the Lord raised up Jesus Christ in order to save us. So he's making this comparison.

There's this desolation of captivity that is compared to the desolation that one experiences before they repent of their sins and embrace the atonement of Jesus Christ. Now there are two aspects of verse 9. First of all there's the flood waters, the meaning of the flood waters. And the second is the rainbow language that's in the second part of the verse. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you nor rebuke you." So he's speaking of his swearing that he would no longer destroy the earth in that same way.

And the sign of the swearing was the rainbow. And you know, the world has made a big deal out of the rainbow recently. The world has stolen the rainbow and twisted its meaning. And here we have a sense of the true meaning of the rainbow, okay, in this passage. And it seems like everywhere you look today somebody's displaying a rainbow.

One was broadcast on the White House, another on the Empire State Building, Niagara Falls. And you might expect San Francisco International Airport had the image of the rainbow displayed upon its buildings. Whenever you see the rainbow displayed in our culture, you need to understand what the rainbow really means. And Isaiah 54, 8-12, explains a good deal of what the rainbow should say to the whole earth. And what the rainbow says is that God will preserve his people to the end and he'll destroy the wicked who reject him.

That's what the rainbow means and I'd like to give you, there are a number of references to the rainbow in the Bible and I'd like to give you six things that the rainbow signifies and by the way Homosexual rights is not one of them. It's not in the list But here's here's the first it's it's it signifies God's covenant. You'll find this in Genesis 9 verses 11 through 17 The rainbow is specifically a declaration of God's covenant. I set my rainbow in the cloud and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. That's verse 13 of Genesis 9.

Verse 14, it shall be when I bring a cloud over the earth that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh the water shall never again come to flood to... The waters again shall never become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth and God said to Noah this is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth." The second thing that the rainbow signifies is the mercy of God. It's a symbol of reconciliation of God to man. God looks upon man according to the shed blood of Jesus Christ and his sins are passed over and they will not be destroyed.

It is a sign of God's mercy upon sinners. Thirdly, it actually is a sign of the appearance of Christ Himself. Ezekiel chapter 1 verses 26 to 28 make this very clear. Where in Ezekiel, in this passage it says that Christ looked like a rainbow. Christ looked like a rainbow.

How blasphemous is it when Christ, His imagery, is declared to proclaim something so contrary to everything in His kingdom. But Ezekiel 1, 26-28 says that Christ looked like a rainbow on his throne. Number four, a rainbow actually surrounds Christ in Revelation chapter 4 verses 2 through 4, that the rainbow is surrounding him in his throne in heaven. Among other things, carnelian, a rainbow resembling an emerald encircled the throne and around the throne were 24 other thrones. So this Christ is surrounded by a rainbow.

He looks like a rainbow. His covenant is declared with the rainbow. His mercy is declared with the rainbow, but we're not done with that. The delay of the impending judgment of God is also declared the rainbow. Whenever you see the rainbow you have to remember the judgment of God.

Part and parcel of God's covenant with his people is that he will destroy the wicked. He has made a covenant as well with the wicked. He will keep his promise. And you see this in Genesis chapter 8 verses 21 and 22. Number 6 it's also figured of the final judgment that you read about in 2nd Peter 3 verse 10.

Where the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night and the heavens will disappear with the roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything in it is laid bare. So though God will not destroy the earth with water, He will do it with fire. So, next time you see a rainbow, those are six things you can think of that come from Scripture. You can see why perhaps these people have tried to accommodate the rainbow to mean something so contrary to its true meaning.

The remnant will be protected and that's why we read here that I would not be angry with you nor rebuke you. Now who is that for? The scripture is very clear. It is for the repentant. It is for those who believe in Jesus Christ.

It's for those who have who have embraced with all of their heart Their Savior and his shed blood for them. Those are the ones that God is not angry with That's why it says I will not be angry with you or rebuke you The meaning is that God will never be angry or rebuke you in the same way that he was angry with the wicked in the days of the flood and destroyed them. He'll preserve his remnant and there are elements of his anger and his rebuke that Christians experience for their own good. That's not what he's talking about here. Because what we learned in Isaiah 53 is that the anger and the rebuke fell on Jesus Christ.

The anger and the rebuke of this kind doesn't fall on his church. The discipline that he brings to this church is because he loves them and he's preserving them. The discipline and the judgment that he brings upon the world is because he's telling them that he's going to destroy them. And that's the difference. But the rebuke has been delivered to Jesus Christ.

All the rebuke that you ever deserved was laid upon him. And then in verse 10 we see that his kindness in his covenant doesn't shift. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed. He's talking, I think, about the flood. But my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

So he's saying that the most substantial thing you can think of, the mountains and the hills, you don't think of them as being removed, but even though he would remove those in a flood, his mercy is not removed. His love cannot be removed away from his remnant. They should put to rest all thoughts that you have of trying to earn God's love. You know, I think it's very common in the church where you find people who think, if I was just a little bit better, God would love me more. If I could just get this right, God would love me.

How untrue that is. That is a lie of the devil. God doesn't love you more because you got something right. You got something right because of his mercy. And God is saying my love is like that.

It's like a mountain that cannot be moved, But even if I moved it, my mercy is never removed. How about that? You know, do you sense His mercy? Do you know it? Even here today, Here we are in his church.

It's so critical that we understand the fundamental aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That his mercy is never removed. Never, never, ever. He says, I will never leave you or forsake you. And here he's saying, my mercy will never leave you or forsake you.

Never. Not for a single second. Something might happen and you think, well, where's God's mercy? There's mercy in everything that he does to his people. In verse 10 there are three things that cannot be removed.

Kindness number one. His covenant, number two, will never be removed and his peace from that covenant and His mercy. Those three things. So we need to remember the rainbow. We need to remember what the rainbow really means.

And it signifies that God will not destroy his blood-bought people. He will destroy the wicked on that last day. They will do their thing. They'll live on borrowed time. They can broadcast their image of a rainbow on the Niagara Falls every day of the year.

God is waiting. God is biding his time because he will bring all things to judgment. God will act. Don't let the rainbow mislead you. It's a beautiful picture.

But then the city is beautified. Not only is the covenant kept with various evidences, now the city is beautified. Now we're being brought into another image, a remarkable image. This is This is the city of God. You have the city of man, you know, which operates by the pride of man.

You have the city of God that operates by the grace of God. And so in verse 11, you see what the city is all about. Verse 11, oh you afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted. Behold I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and I lay your foundations with sapphires I will make your pinnacles of rubies your gates of crystal and all your walls of precious stones so there's this beautification that's going on And the first part of that beautification is that the afflicted are cared for by God. Christ takes his people out of their spiritual poverty and he gives them riches from heaven.

He takes them out of their afflictions and their disturbances and he comforts them. And the Lord explains their condition with three more metaphors. First, afflicted. She's in a state of poverty with no resources. Second, she's tossed with tempest.

That means she has no stability. She's pushed around like a vagabond. She's beaten down from all the external forces over which she has no control. The winds blow and the waves run high and she's afflicted and she's not comforted. She's in despair.

This is the spiritual state of the person who has not been born again nor received an eternal inheritance. It's the condition of the old man and discouragement rules and reigns. It's a long season of trouble until you turn. And it speaks of God's awareness of the hardships and the brokenness of people and how he desires to rescue them. He doesn't dismiss our condition.

He supplies his grace for it. The Jews experienced this in Babylon. They experienced it under Antiochus and the other Roman emperors. But here we find that God is the one who comforts the afflicted. And so then he speaks of what it looks like in the following words.

Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems and lay your foundations with sapphires." So this is the comfort of God through the riches that he bequeaths to his church. And it shows how God sees his church and how he loves his people. He carries them out of their troubles and then he makes them wealthy. They pass through the fire, but he has treasure with him and he gives it to his children In the same way that Christ was poor yet making many rich and the imagery here of the riches of the kingdom of heaven Are displayed now this imagery is not new to Isaiah nor to any other Righteous Jews that this This idea of being beautified with stones is an old idea. But notice what he says that the stones are laid.

I will lay them. In other words, they're going to be set. These stones are going to be set down in the same way that precious stones are set in their various settings. And lay your foundations in sapphires. There's so many places you can go to to hear how God uses this imagery.

You could go to Job 28-16 or Exodus 28 particularly and see this. But it's about the beauty of the righteousness of Christ upon his people he speaks of pinnacles I will make your pinnacles as of rubies the word pinnacles is usually translated sun rising And there's this red stone like the redness of the sky in the morning. I will make your pinnacles of rubies. Your gates of crystal. Gates are figurative of the public places where matters of the community are decided.

There's this fiery glow from the judgments of the people of God who've been rescued. Then there are walls. All of your walls will be precious stones. This may be a word related to boundaries, and the boundaries of God, these walls, these protections perhaps, they're delightful, they're precious, they're beautiful. You know, in this first phrase, I will lay your stones with colorful gems.

The word here has to do with mascara. It's a word used for mascara in the same way that mascara would draw attention to the eyes. So these settings are like mascara in a beautiful woman's eyes. This imagery is prefigured in Exodus 28 verses 6 through 9. There are 12 stones that depict the 12 tribes of Israel that are on the garments of the high priest.

In the first row is garnet, topaz and ruby. The second row sapphire, diamond and emerald. In the third row agate, amethyst and turquoise, in the fourth row jasper, beryl and carnelian, and they're all mounted in gold and it's the the garment of the high priest of the Old Covenant and and they're laid there so that the tribes of Israel would be over the heart of the high priest and they're like jewels to him. The people of God are like jewels to him. And it should help us to ask a question.

How do you view your brothers and sisters? Like jewels? It's so easy in our frailties, our own personal frailties and the frailties of others to forget who we are. And you know, here we are gathered. And it really matters how you see each other.

Do you see them the same way the high priest did in the old covenant? Or do you see them the same way that David saw them when he was building, when he was preparing for Solomon to build this temple. Because in 1 Chronicles 29, she's compared to a jewel studded city. Her temple is, and much of this very same language is there It's and this is the beauty and the glory of the New Testament Church far above The glory of the Old Testament Church But we're given these signposts to help us understand how God thinks about His people, His remnant. And they're like jewels to Him.

In 1 Corinthians 3, 10-13, you find the same imagery where there's a foundation of gold and silver, precious stones, or there's wood, hay, and straw. So this language is not new to Isaiah. In the last book of the Bible, in Revelation 21, the Apostle John uses these jewels to signify the church and the twelve apostles and it's a description of the citizens of the city. And in that city in verse 18 and chapter 21 of Revelation the construction of its wall was of jasper and the city was pure gold like clear glass and it goes on and on and on but then he says but there was no temple in it for the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple All of this was pointing to Jesus Christ and the temple that he makes in your heart and the temple that the people of God are. So on the one hand you know the people of God are his treasure, you are his treasure.

On the other hand, the church is like gemstones and gold in beautiful settings to God. This is the way God views his church. And what is your attitude toward your church? The true Church of Jesus Christ. The jewels are beautified by the light that shines in them.

Revelation talks about the light comes from the Lamb of God. And so, you know, what's the effect of this atoning sacrifice? Is it anything? Is there any effect of Christ's atoning sacrifice? Well, the barons sing, the tents expand, those who are disgraced or not, The forsaken are gathered.

The covenant is kept. The city is beautified. And then we come to the next. The children are instructed. That's verse 13.

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. God will give his children a wonderful education. They will not be neglected. And this is what happens to people in the church. They've been thinking wrongly about so many things most of us grew up thinking like Marxists unfortunately, and it probably is going to take your whole life long to undo that and And often we find ourselves offended by the teaching of the Bible, because it is heavenly and we are worldly, and it unmasks our carnal thinking.

God is holy, and as Paul said, his law is holy, just, and good. And so you come into the church and the scriptures confront you with a completely different world view. Your whole definition of sin and man and mercy and justice gets turned around. And you're taught to think a completely different way. That's why the Apostle Paul said that you're being renewed in your mind.

Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Stop thinking like this world. This is the great beautification that God does to his people. It does make his people weird. It does make his people thinking completely different about everything.

They see through different eyes. And so they judge things differently. They calculate value differently. Everything is different. The first shall be last.

The last shall be first. But you are taught by God. We have these Supreme Court justices in our brains that have been speaking to us for a long time and they're corrupting us. But then we come to the Word of God and all of our Supreme Court justices inside of us are contradicted. And he teaches us how to think and live differently, different than anybody else.

And our differences actually become an offense to the world. This is explicitly fulfilled in Jesus Christ in John 6, 45. Verse 44 says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day and it is written in the prophets as they shall be all taught by God therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me." Jesus Christ says that Isaiah's words were fulfilled in him as he gathers his disciples together and teaches them in his church. We also know that the Holy Spirit is the teacher in John chapter 14 verse 26, that He is sent to teach you all things. Then the church will be given teachers in Ephesians chapter 4, and in Ephesians chapter 6 parents will be given teachers to teach their children and what's the result great they shall have great peace and their children will have great peace they'll be taught to love one another as Paul says in 1st Thessalonians 4.9.

So there's this teaching that goes on. And then number eight, the righteous are preserved. Verse 14, In righteousness you shall be established, and you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.

Behold I've created the blacksmith who blows the coals and the fire who brings forth an instrument for his work and I have created the spoiler to destroy no weapon against you shall prosper and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is from me says the Lord. So you see this continued beautification. You see that all the attempts to destroy the church will fail in verse 14 through 17. This is fulfilled in Christ when he said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. This being restored in righteousness is not establishing good works as your salvation, but it's the righteous instruction that God uses to establish you.

He's been speaking of being taught and now this instruction establishes you. He's not saying that you'll have no trouble, but he is saying that the trouble that you receive will not destroy you, but the trials that God sends will always strengthen you and purify you. In the same way that He removes dross and tempers steel, as He confronts the wrong thinking that you have, He strengthens you through that. His righteousness causes you to outlast the hills in a changing, shifting world. The righteousness of Jesus Christ and His Word is your only security.

It's the only thing you can really trust in to be true. And then in verse 15 he gives proof of this, that many will rise against the church here. Indeed they shall surely assemble but not because of me. These are people who are banding together to destroy the church. They've not assembled to glorify God, they've not assembled to bless his church.

Sometimes they assemble within the church, sometimes outside of the church. There are internal attacks against the church where people rise up internally to condemn the true church. And the Apostle Paul is warning them in Ephesus for this very thing that wolves would rise from among them. The people are assembling with the church and against the church. But yet God is sovereign, in verse 16, over all the enemies of the church.

Behold I've created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work. And I have created the spoiler to destroy." So not only does he even rule the wind and the waves, he also rules all the enemies of God. And he rules the spoiler. He rules the spoiler. How about that?

God, here's such a remarkable picture. God makes the people who hate the church to create weapons against the church. He's in control of their blacksmiths. He's running their production lines, right? You know, the weapons are popping off the assembly line.

God is supplying all the materials. He created all the people. He gave them all the gifts to do what they do. And they've made all these marvelous weapons against the church. And God is saying, well, I did that.

I created the blacksmith. He blows the coals with the fire. Where did he get the wind? He rules the wind and the waves. Where did he get anything?

He doesn't know he's being used as a pawn in God's great plan. And He makes the people, He creates their attitudes, He shows them how to make the weapons and how to use it. He teaches them how to use the weapons. And then he says in verse 17, no weapon against you shall prosper. Don't worry about it.

No weapon against you shall prosper. This is the great security of the people of God. This is why we should fear no man. This is why we should fear We should never fear following the Lord and the things that it might do to us socially or economically. Because this is the truth right here.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper. And Then he speaks of something that's often more devastating to us. I think there are probably a lot of people who wouldn't so much mind being killed as they would being slandered. But here he says, every tongue which rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn. You meaning God.

Now Isaiah is speaking. After speaking of these weapons, physical weapons, then he speaks of the tongue, the one that's the most damaging to us. And then he says this at the very close, he says, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is from me, says the Lord. All of these things that he's mentioned are the heritage of the servants of the Lord. All of these things are the results of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

All of these things happen to those who love God and are called according to His purpose, who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and who believe that He is their only hope for atonement for their sins. And they've turned to Him and they love Him and these are the things that all happen. The barren are singing, the tents are expanding, the fearful are not ashamed, the forsaken are gathered, the covenant is kept, the city is beautified, the children are instructed. And finally, the righteous are preserved. And his resurrection becomes their resurrection.

His righteousness becomes their righteousness. His power becomes their power. His weapons become their weapons. His truth becomes their truth. And so, so what's the effect of his atoning sacrifice?

Was it anything? I mean, what, what, I mean, how, how could a man dying on a cross mean anything 2, 000 years ago up to today? And this is what it means, all these things that are here. Now, I want to take a few minutes and talk about a way of application here because I want us to try to saturate ourselves in these words in Isaiah 54 and 55. I want to encourage you to read through the contours of the metaphors and the imagery so that you really understand the gospel, you understand the love of God.

It's declared so beautifully here. It speaks of how good God is to his people. It explains why you should turn to Christ. It explains why you should set aside all the stupid, irrelevant things that you think about and do, and to see Christ in his kingdom alone. It should teach you how to manage your time.

It should teach you how to manage your time. It should teach you how to understand everything going on around you. So let's spend the next three weeks really reading these two chapters, because they are summary chapters of a very, very long section that we've been in for a very, very long time since chapter 40. And then we move on to other matters. Now I just, I pray that we would be so immersed in the metaphors, in the imagery that's here, the typology.

Because the typology that's here is a good reference point to help us understand the typology of the Bible and the typology of nature, the typology of everything that God created. Why did God create the world anyway? Why did he orchestrate all of this creation and history? Why did he cause you to be born? And I think the answers are here, and the answers are found in the metaphors.

He's giving us all these metaphors to help us understand the gospel. And the question is, do you really understand the gospel? And I guess I would just like to suggest you can never completely understand it. You must continue to seek it and see it. It is so vast.

It is greater. It's more beautiful. It covers more things than you can even imagine. And you know, have you ever noticed, you know, how the world is filled with beautiful things and pleasures? Have you ever noticed that his beauty is absolutely everywhere?

All these things are metaphors for God and his salvation. All of them, they all point in one direction.