Isaiah 54:1-4 – The Glory of Christ’s Children
We have here a picture of a married woman with many children and another woman unable to have children. The married woman is unfaithful Israel and Judah. This married woman was the one who professed to be the people of God. Yet they went into all sorts of idolatry.
The picture here is of someone who is singing, singing a song of joy and of thanksgiving and of praise to God for something she did not expect could ever happen. She who had never been able to have children now has far more than the one who claimed to be the one with the power, and the prestige, and the wealth. The true Israel of God grows and thrives this time now with children brought in from afar as well. She is like a tree. Paul picks up on that imagery in Romans 11, where we have this beautiful olive tree, and some branches are broken off from it because of unbelief. But branches are brought in from a wild olive tree and grafted in. They grow, and they thrive, and they do well. And that’s a picture of the one people of God, made of Jew and Gentile, all growing together in the one Israel of God. And now, in fact, there are more of the desolate, those who come from the Gentiles than from the Jews.
How big is this new family? Well, we see this in verses two and three. The gospel goes out to the nations. And most of you reading this are living fulfillment of this prophecy. The picture here is of a household living in a tent. More panels of the tent must be woven, stakes must be pounded in deeply, the ropes must be let out, because God’s family is rapidly expanding. This is what we’ve seen already, and what we have yet to see further. It is with confidence that we may and must go forward because we inherit it all. The tent must be enlarged. Jesus sees His seed, and Jesus brings forth more.
There is no shame, then, for the children of God. No shame for their mother. She will have joy in a husband who has redeemed her, children that He has provided, and all her shame is gone, as the people of God, the bride of Christ, becomes more beautiful with the folly removed, along with the other filth and spots and blemishes. She rejoices in her husband, with her children gathered about her in a multitude that no one can number, the many who are justified. All of them rejoice in the Husband, rejoice in the giver of life, rejoice in the One Who gave Himself, that they might live and thrive.
Question
- What is this passage a picture of?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that Christ is saving people in many nations.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.