Prepare for your Blessing

We don’t know exactly when Isaiah wrote this section of the book of Isaiah, but it is clear that he was addressing the people of Israel who had been taken into Babylonian captivity because of their unfaithfulness to God.

They had become like a desolate woman.

It is amazing that God gave this command and vision to his people Israel at a time when they were at their lowest point.

The Babylonian captivity, which lasted 70 years, was Israel’s darkest hour.

God allowed it to happen because his people had been unfaithful to him.

Isaiah compares Israel to a barren, desolate woman.

God spoke through his servant Isaiah to plant God’s hope in the hearts of hopeless and despairing people.

God is a God of mercy and forgiveness.

Furthermore, God still had a purpose and a plan for his people, even though their situation seemed hopeless.

His purpose would take a surprising turn.

So in verse 1 of this chapter, Isaiah says to this barren, desolate woman,

Isaiah 54:1 NASB95

“Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.

God had a plan to make this desolate people fruitful.

He had a plan to save them and bless them and use them to be a blessing to the world.

The people had broken their relationship with God their Creator and true Husband.

Before the relationship could be restored, he had to deal with the sin problem.

In Isaiah 53, God gave them the promise of the Messiah.

Isaiah 53:4–8 NASB95

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

God’s plan to save his people and the world starts with the promised Messiah who would take all of our sins on himself and give us healing and peace and a right relationship with our God.

Jesus would be the great and real fulfillment of this prophesy.

In Isaiah 54, he describes the sorrowful and hopeless situation of the returning exiles.

The good news is that he loves them. He would heal their wounds and take away their sins.

So, even the sinful people have hope.

God’s grace is free to sinners who receive it, but it is costly to God.

In Isaiah 54, God plants hope in their hearts, he confesses his love for them and promises to redeem them.

So he says, „Sing, burst into to song, shout for joy, because the children of the desolate woman are more that those of her who has a husband, says the LORD.

He acknowledges that they are without hope and with joy or meaning in life, then he challenges this despairing woman to do something that seems impossible for her to do.

He says, “burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor;” He promises her that she will not end her life as a desolate woman.

He gives her hope and vision. He says, “Enlarge the place of your tent.”

God is telling us to enlarge your tent,

What does this mean to enlarge your tent?

Describe a tent

Physical....describe how other countries build with the expectation of expanding

Emotional

Expand Your thinking?

Believe the unbelievable

Hebrews 11:1–7 NASB95

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

2 Corinthians 4:18 NASB95

while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 5:7 NASB95

for we walk by faith, not by sight—

The Power of HOPE

Testimony of Nathan & Victoria

Jeremiah 29:11 NASB95

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Isaiah 40:31 NASB95

Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

.......Next Message

The Past is the Past Leave it there

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/thirteen-practical-steps-to-kill-sin

2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB95

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Isaiah 43:18–19 NASB95

“Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.

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