Morning Light – March 30, 2017 – Isaiah 54: No Weapon Formed Against You

Morning Light – Isaiah 54
Today: [Isaiah 54] No Weapon Formed Against You. In chapter 54 of Isaiah the prophet calls upon us to break out in rejoicing because our judgments are passed and the clemency of God in Christ is now poured out in our behalf. We are encouraged in our thinking to enlarge the place of our habitation and to spare not the expectation of increase and blessing because we are now recipients of the mercies of God in Christ. Because of the shed blood of Calvary, not one weapon of the enemy, however cunningly devised will have any effect against us because in every assault of hell against our lives, Jesus steps in to protect and shield and deliver us from every attack.
Streaming live daily at: http://bit.ly/2luPMYU
[Isa 54:1-17 KJV] 1 Sing, O barren, thou [that] didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou [that] didst not travail with child: for more [are] the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; 3 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 5 For thy Maker [is] thine husband; the LORD of hosts [is] his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
In Isaiah 54 the promise of God is to heal our desolations. There would come a time during the captivity of Babylon that the temple would be destroyed and the city leveled but God’s promise that out of devastation would come rejoicing and fruitfulness. There are times we make decisions and choose directions in life that lead us into very difficult trials and great loss. God’s promise is that He will not leave you there in the place of suffering. In the previous chapter, we see that all we like sheep have gone astray but because the Lord has put upon Jesus the transgression of us all – our song will be restored to us. God does not ignore our sin or pretend that it doesn’t exist. He sent Jesus to intervene and to step in between our transgression and the just consequences of divine justice. Thus, the encouragement of heaven is to believe the good report and to partake by faith of the promise and the blessing that is only earned through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who was brutalized on the cross in our behalf.
Isaiah declares to us that now is the time that we might enlarge the place of our tent and to stretch forth the curtains of our habitation. He goes on to say, “spare not” for we can trust in God that we will “break forth on the right hand and upon the left…” In other words, the plan of God is not to diminish us but to enlarge us and increase us in every area of our lives. This is more than just a promise of God to a broken and destroyed city. It is the promise of God to all that believe in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross. Because of the broken law that man could never live up to we have been brought to Christ and in that place of hiddenness in Him the everlasting kindness of God and the mercy of God is heaped upon us from the Lord who now declares Himself to be our redeemer. He redeems us from the consequences of sin and the implications of the fall and restores to us the entitlement of Edenic perfection declaring us in Christ to be just as if we never sinned.
9 For this [is as] the waters of Noah unto me: for [as] I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. 11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, [and] not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. 12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. 13 And all thy children [shall be] taught of the LORD; and great [shall be] the peace of thy children. 14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. 15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, [but] not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake. 16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue [that] shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This [is] the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness [is] of me, saith the LORD.
Having accepted Christ can we ever again fall under the wrath of God. Verse 9 says that God’s clemency toward us is as the waters of Noah that should no more go over the earth. Service to God in Christ is not a matter of being conscripted by the terror of God to be good and obedient Christians. We obey out of love. It is the life of sacrifice lived not in fear of retribution but in the light of the work of the cross that moves us to become the living sacrifices that Paul spoke so eloquently of in Romans ch. 12. The covenant of peace that Isaiah speaks of in verse 10 is the covenant that is ratified in Christ as the lamb that takes away our sin and brings us into a familial relationship with the creator of the universe. He goes on to promise us that not only in ourselves would we receive this blessedness but also our children would be taught of the Lord and great would be their peace. Are you concerned for your children? Here is the promise of God. Your children shall be far from oppression and the terror that puts others to flight will not come near you nor your loved ones.
Verse 14 promises us that in righteousness you will be established. The righteousness spoken of is not based upon adherence to the mandates of religious cultural conditioning. Paul declares in 1 Cor. 1:30:
[1Co 1:30 KJV] 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Our righteousness is not found in a moral code or religious instruction. Our righteousness, sanctification and redemption is wrapped up, expressed and found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior we are constituted righteous in the eyes of the court of heaven. For this reason verse 17 affirms to us that no weapon formed against us shall prosper and every tongue that rises against us will be condemned, not by the testimony of our own goodness for we have none. Our vindication is in our great advocate the Lord Jesus Christ who steps us to answer every accusation against us by pointing to the shed blood of the cross. Regardless of what the enemy may hurl at you or come against you to destroy you – your vindication and your protection is in the redemption that Jesus wrought for you at Calvary and through faith in that great work in your behalf you are set free and delivered from every device of the enemy against you.