The theme of this segment is God's love for His people. He can dispose of His righteous anger quickly, and He delights to bless His people.
The prophet emphasized the gracious character of Yahweh as the source of restoration for His people. Returning to the metaphor of the Lord's people as the his wife (51:17-20), Isaiah presented the joyful prospect of reconciliation due to the Servant's work.603
"The only appropriate response to a great work of God is joyous praise, which is exactly what we find here, not for the first time (cf. e.g., 12:5; 26:1; 35:10; 42:10-11), nor for the last (cf. 61:10-11)."604
54:1 The theme of the barrenness of human strength and the bounty that the Lord can provide supernaturally is common in both Testaments (e.g., Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth, et al.). Here we have another instance of rejoicing because God would miraculously bless those who, because of unbelief, were formerly spiritually barren and unproductive (cf. 1 Sam. 2:1-10; Gal. 4:27). They would become more fruitful than those who enjoy blessings apart from relationship with God. It would be cruel to ask a barren woman to sing for joy unless you gave her what would make her happy. But that is precisely what Isaiah did because of what the Lord would do.
"Just as God could make a barren Sarah more fruitful than a fertile Hagar, so he can take those who are dead in trespasses and sins' (Eph. 2:1, AV) and use them to bring abundant blessings to the entire world."605
54:2 Women were responsible to erect and maintain the family tents in the ancient Near East, so it was appropriate for the Lord to call this formerly barren woman to enlarge her tent. She should prepare for a larger family with urgency and exuberance (cf. Jer. 10:20). The figure is an old one reaching back into the patriarchal period of Israel's history and the wilderness wanderings. Most Israelites did not live in tents in Isaiah's day. This type of living recalls, therefore, the Lord's faithfulness to the patriarchs in fulfilling His promises to them and to the Israelites in bringing them into the Promised Land.
54:3 The number of God's people would increase, as God promised Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3, 7; 28:14). Future generations, from Isaiah's perspective, would dispossess the nations (cf. the conquest of the land, Deut. 9:1; 11:23; 12:2; 31:3). Believers would take over what had belonged to unbelievers.
"Many Gentiles will undoubtedly be surprised and even chagrined to find that Israel is to have the leading place in the earth."606
54:4 God's third command (cf. vv. 1, 2) was not to fear. These were not idle promises; God would stand behind them and bring them to pass. Sarah initially felt ashamed because she did not believe the Lord would give her a child (Gen. 18:12-14; cf. Gen. 16:4; 1 Sam. 1:6, 25; Luke 1:25). Nevertheless, God stood by His promise, gave her a child, and she had no reason to feel ashamed. The relative barrenness of God's people throughout their lifetime would end and their reproach would pass away. Israel's youth included Egyptian slavery (cf. Jer. 2:2-3), and her widowhood involved Babylonian captivity.
54:5 The cause of this reversal of fortunes is the husband of this woman, God. He created her and redeemed her. Since He made her, He could remake her. He took up the role of the kinsman redeemer to provide children for this barren wife (cf. Boaz). He is the Almighty Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel (the transcendent yet immanent God), the God over the whole earth.
54:6 The Lord called His people back to Himself even though they had been unfaithful to Him (cf. Hosea). He would transform their attitude from that of an abandoned and brokenhearted wife, because her sins had separated her from her God, to that of a new bride whose relationship with her husband was unstained.
54:7 The Lord's brief separation from His people because of their sins was short compared to the long relationship of intimacy that lay ahead for them (due to the salvation that the Servant provided).
54:8 God did not lose control of Himself when His people sinned, but He became very angry because sin destroys people and breaks the fellowship that He desires to have with them. He had to turn away from sinners (hide His face from them) because He is holy. But that distance was short-lived compared with the everlasting compassion that His loyal love (Heb. hesed) requires.607The Lord would buy His bride back to Himself.
54:9 Yahweh's restoration of His people to Himself would be permanent; they would never again experience estrangement from Him. As the Lord kept His promise to spare humanity from another universal flood, so He would keep His promise to spare humankind the judgment of separation from Him again. He would neither flood them with His anger nor rebuke His people. This looks toward an eternal change in the relationship between the Lord and His people.608
54:10 Even the most substantial and immovable of things do not compare with the firmness of God's promise.609Even global changes would not alter this promise to preserve His people in intimate relationship with Himself. This promise is so firm and formal that it constitutes a covenant, a covenant guaranteeing peace with them and for them (Heb. shalom, wholeness of divine blessing).610Yahweh would do this because He has compassion on His people; He desires to bless them.
"How was it possible for God to enter into the Sinai Covenant with his people? They had to be delivered from Egypt by Moses, my servant' (e.g., Num. 12:7). How is it possible for God to enter into a (new) covenant of peace with Israel and all the nations of the world? It is possible through the deliverance brought about by the self-sacrifice of my Servant,' who is the expression of the eternal love of God. Break forth with a shout!'"611
"Just as the Noahic settlement was formalized into a perpetual covenant, so the work of the Servant leads to a covenant pledging peace in perpetuity."612
Throughout this passage more than just the deliverance of Israel from the exile is in view. More than the deliverance of Israel from sin is in view. The deliverance of all humanity from sin by the Servant is in view. However, Israel is the primary focus of the prophecy.
Isaiah changed his illustration from a restored wife to a rebuilt city, but the point remains the same.613The people of God can anticipate a glorious future. The prophet was not describing the rebuilding of Jerusalem following the Jews' return from exile. He was using the image of rebuilding a city to convey the joy and security that lay in the future for all God's people, particularly Israel.
54:11-12 Presently God's people were wretched, but they would be redeemed. They were bereft of support, without stability, and in despair, all of which God in His compassion noted. They would enjoy richness, abundance, completeness, and variety. Antimony was a black powder that masons added to mortar that held stones inplace. It set off the beauty of the stones by providing a dark background for them.614Foundations of sapphires (lapis lazuli, a prized dark blue stone) would be foundations of the highest quality and greatest beauty. The battlements Isaiah saw were bright red rubies. The gates were clear crystal, and the walls were a mosaic of other precious stones.615This picture of wealth, stability, and confidence contrasts strongly with the conditions of poverty, insecurity, and despair in verse 11. The key is God, who will affect the change: "I will."
54:13 All the spiritual descendants of the redeemed then would be disciples of the Lord. They would follow Him faithfully, and they would enjoy the highest quality of spiritual life (cf. 1:26).616
54:14 The righteous would be secure in the love and plans of God. Oppression and terror would not come anywhere near them, so they would not fear (cf. 32:17).
54:15 Whatever trouble might come to them would not come from God as discipline, as in former times. Moreover, God's people would be able to overcome all their opponents. This indicates that conditions for the redeemed will not be completely placid at this time, as they will be in the eternal state where nothing offensive will assail God's people. Isaiah rather described conditions during the first part of the renovation of all things, the Millennium.617
54:16 Whatever happens to the redeemed then would be by the will of God who not only raises up destroyers to destroy and provides the weapons that they use but creates the blacksmiths who make the weapons. All that the people of God would experience would be part of God's good intention and design for them.
"This verse is very instructive for the study of divine providence. It teaches that nothing occurs, not even the destroying acts of the enemies of God's people, apart from God Himself. At the same time we are not to blame Him for the evil that men do (cf. the express statement of the previous verse), but in His secret providence God governs the efforts and actions of men and employs them as the instruments of His anger."618
54:17 Even though opponents might arise, they would be ineffective against God's people. Hard steel or a hot tongue, two forms of antagonism that represent all forms of it, would not prosper. Yahweh's vindication of His people would be the heritage of His servants then. That heritage would include restoration to intimacy with God (cf. vv. 1-10), and, for Israel, fulfillment of the promises in the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3, 7).
"Beginning here and throughout the rest of the book, Israel is referred to as servants(pl.), and the Servant who restores his people to the covenant and brings justice to the nations is not referred to again as such [contrary to the AV]. . . .
"The purpose then in the shift to the plural at this point seems to be to finalize the distinction between the servant' of the Lord, who receives benefits, and the Servant' of the Lord, who makes those benefits possible."619
The historical setting for the fulfillment of this prophecy is the time following the Servant's full redemption of His people. This full redemption will take place at His second advent.620Thus the joy Isaiah described in this chapter will come to fruition during the Millennium and thereafter, throughout eternity.
