Isaiah 54:11 - Meaning and Application

Very precious promises are given here to the church in a low and troubled state. God not only says that he will keep loving his people through their troubles, as he did before, but that he will bring them back to their former well-being, and even lift them to greater blessing than they had ever known.

In the last chapter, we saw the humiliation and exaltation of Christ. Here we see the humiliation and exaltation of the church, for if we suffer with him, we will also reign with him. Notice, first, the church’s distressed condition in God’s providence: “O afflicted one, tossed by storms, and not comforted” (Isaiah 54:11). This is like a ship driven from its anchor by a storm and carried out into the sea, where it seems close to being swallowed by the waves, with no kind friend to comfort it or help it think more hopefully (Ecclesiastes 4:1).

This was the condition of the Jews in Babylon, and later, for a time, under Antiochus. It is also often the condition of Christian churches and individual believers. There are fights outside and fears inside. They are like the disciples in a storm, ready to perish, and their faith seems very weak.

Second, notice the glorious condition the church is brought into by God’s promise. God sees the afflicted and troubled state of his church, and he comforts her when she is most discouraged and has no other comforter. When God’s people are afflicted and tossed about, they may hear him speaking tenderly to them in these words. He notices their griefs and fears, the troubles they are under, and the comfort they need. When they mourn over themselves, God mourns over them and speaks with pity, “O afflicted one, tossed by storms, and not comforted,” for in all their affliction he is afflicted.

But God does more than pity them. He promises to lift them out of their trouble and encourages them with great things he will do for them, both to give them prosperity and to secure it.

First, where she now lies in shame, God promises what will become her beauty and honor, making her content before God and pleasing in the eyes of others. This is pictured with the image of a city, and it fits well, because the church is the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Jerusalem now lies in ruins, like a pile of rubble, but it will not only be rebuilt, it will be made beautiful and will appear more splendid than ever. Its stones will be laid not only firmly, but richly, with beautiful colors. They will be glittering stones (1 Chronicles 29:2). Its foundations will be laid with sapphires, the most precious of the stones named here, for Christ, the church’s foundation, and the foundation of the apostles and prophets, are more precious than anything else. Its windows will be made of agates, its gates of carbuncles, and all its borders, meaning its walls and boundaries, will be made of pleasant stones (Isaiah 54:12).

This was never true in a literal sense, but it suggests several things. Since God has kindly taken it on himself to build his church, we should expect great and unusual things to be done for it and in it. It also shows that the glory of the New Testament church will far exceed that of the Jewish church, not in outward display, but in the gifts and graces of the Spirit, which are far more valuable, such as the wisdom that is more precious than rubies (Proverbs 3:15), the precious onyx and sapphire, and the topaz of Ethiopia, which cannot compare with it (Job 28:16, Job 28:19). It also teaches that the wealth of this world, and the things people count most precious, should be despised by true members of the church, because they have no value in comparison with what is far better. What the children of this world store up as treasure, and too often keep in their hearts, the children of God use as pavement and place under their feet.

Second, this promise is given in the particular things that will be the church’s beauty and honor, namely knowledge, holiness, and love, the very image of God, in which human beings were created, renewed, and restored. These are the sapphires and carbuncles, the precious and pleasant stones, with which the gospel temple will be enriched and made beautiful, through the power of those doctrines which the apostle compares to gold, silver, and precious stones, to be built on the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:12).

Then the church is truly glorious when it is filled with the knowledge of God, and that is promised here: “All your children shall be taught by the Lord” (Isaiah 54:13). The church’s children, being born of God, will be taught by God. Since they are his children by adoption, he will care for their education. It was promised earlier that the church’s children would be many (Isaiah 54:1), but God now makes sure we do not think that a large family will mean neglect. He takes that work into his own hands: all of them will be taught by the Lord, and no one teaches like him.

This first means the provision of teaching and the right teaching methods, set up by divine command. They will all be taught by God, meaning they will be taught by the people God appoints, whose work will be guided and blessed by him. He will order the way they are taught, and through his word and worship, he will spread much more light than the Old Testament church had. Care will be taken to teach the church’s children so that knowledge is passed from one generation to the next, and all, from the least to the greatest, are enriched by it.

It also means the Spirit’s light in the heart. Our Savior quotes this promise and applies it to gospel grace, showing that it is fulfilled in all who come to believe in him (John 6:45). He says that only those who have heard and learned from the Father come to him by faith, those who are taught by him as the truth is in Jesus (Ephesians 4:21). There will be a rich outpouring of the Spirit of grace on Christians, teaching them all things (John 14:26).

The church is also glorious when its members live in love and unity with one another: “Great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13). Peace here can mean all good things. Just as where there is no knowledge of God, no good can be expected, so those taught by God to know him are in a good path for blessing in both this life and the life to come. Great peace belong to those who know and love God’s law (Psalm 119:165). But peace often means love and unity, and that is likely the sense here.

All who are taught by God are taught to love one another (1 Thessalonians 4:9). That love keeps peace among the children of the church and keeps them from falling out along the way. When holiness rules, then the church’s real beauty is seen, as Isaiah 54:14 says, “In righteousness you will be established.” The reformation of life, the return of purity, the fair use of public justice, and honesty in dealings among people are the strength and support of any church or state. The kingdom of God, set up by the gospel of Christ, is not about food and drink, but about righteousness, peace, holiness, and love.

While the church is now in danger, God promises what will protect and secure her. He says that in the day of trouble, when there are threats outside and fears inside, she will be safe from both. There will be no fears within, as Isaiah 54:14 says, “You will be far from oppression.” Those who have oppressed you will be removed, and those who might oppress you will be held back. So you need not fear. You can think of danger as far away, because you are in no present risk. You will be far from terror, not only from evil itself, but even from the fear of evil, because it will not come near you to harm you or frighten you.

People are truly far from terror when they are far from oppression. It is one of the greatest fears a nation can face when the rod of government becomes the serpent of oppression. Against that there is no safe wall and no place to run. There will also be no attacks from outside. Even if enemies try to insult God’s people, invade their land, or surround their cities, they will fail, as Isaiah 54:15 says. It is allowed that they will gather against you, so you must expect it. The joined force of hell and earth will keep renewing its attacks. As long as there is a devil in hell and a persecutor outside it, God’s people must expect repeated alarms.

Yet God will not support their enemies. He will not give them permission or favor. They may gather together, joining hand to hand, but it is not by his command. God gave no such order to them as he did to Sennacherib, king of Assyria, when he said to take spoil and plunder (Isaiah 10:6). And so their attack will end in their own ruin. Whoever gathers against you, no matter how many or how strong they are, will not only be defeated, but will fall because of you, or fall before you. This will be the just punishment for their hatred against you. God will make them fall because of the love he has for his church, the care he takes of it, the prayers of his people, and the promises he has made to them. “They will fall,” as Psalm 27:2 says, “so that you may stand.”

To give us strong confidence in God’s protection of his church, the power of God over her enemies is clearly stated in Isaiah 54:16. They have no power except what is given to them from above, and the One who gave it can limit and restrain it. They can only go as far as God allows. First, they cannot carry out their plans without weapons, and the smith who makes those weapons is God’s creature. God gave him his skill to work in iron and bronze (Exodus 31:3-4), including the skill to make tools for war. It is sad to think how clever and busy people are in making instruments of death and finding ways to kill one another. The smith blows the fire hot so the iron can be softened and then hardened into steel, bringing out a tool for those who want to destroy. This is the iron age, the age of war. But God created the smith, and so he can tie his hands, making the enemy’s plan fail for lack of weapons and supplies.

The smith who forges weapons may also stand for the council of war that shapes the plan, stirs up conflict, and brings out the design for battle. Even that can do no more than God allows. Second, the enemy cannot carry out war without soldiers. God is the one who created the destroyer. Military men often take pride in their ranks and titles, and even common soldiers may call themselves gentlemen. But God calls them destroyers, made for ruin, because wasting and destruction are their work. They may think their own skill, hard work, and experience made them soldiers, but it was God who created them and gave them the strength and spirit for that dangerous task. So he can not only restrain them, but also use them to carry out his own purposes.

The promise of God about the safety of the church is then set down solemnly as the inheritance of the servants of the Lord (Isaiah 54:17). It is something they may depend on with full confidence: God will protect them from their enemies, both in war and in courts of law. First, he will protect them from field enemies who try to destroy them by force and violence, by the edge of the sword. “No weapon formed against you,” though skillfully made by the smith who blows the coals (Isaiah 54:16), and though cleverly used by the destroyer, “will prosper.” It will not be strong enough to do real harm to God’s people. It will miss its mark, fall from the hand, or even turn back on the one who used it against them.

The church is blessed because no weapon formed against it will succeed for long. In the end, the foolishness of its enemies will be plain to everyone, because they are only preparing tools of ruin for themselves. Second, God will protect his people from legal enemies who try to crush them under the appearance of law and justice. When weapons of war do not succeed, there are still tongues that rise in judgment. Both kinds of enemies belong to the gates of hell, which fought against the church. The gates of a city held its courts as well as its armories. The tongues that rise in judgment against the church are those that claim authority over it, as if God’s children were their lawful captives, pretending they have the right to oppress conscience. Or they are tongues that misrepresent God’s people, accuse them falsely, and use slander and lies to make them hated by the public and vulnerable to the government.

This is what the enemies of the Jews did when they stirred up the kings of Persia against them (Ezra 4:12; Esther 3:8). But these insulting and threatening tongues you will condemn. You will have the means to answer their proud demands and silence their hateful lies. You will do it by doing good (1 Peter 2:15), by living in a way that shows even your enemies in their consciences that you are not what they claim.

You will condemn them, meaning God will condemn them for you. He will bring your righteousness out into the light (Psalm 37:6). You will condemn them as Noah condemned the old world that mocked him, by building the ark and saving his household, even while they laughed at him.

The day is coming when God will judge the wicked for all the harsh things they have said against him (Jude 1:15). The last words of this verse refer not only to this promise, but to everything before it: “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.” God’s servants are his children, because he has prepared an inheritance for them that is rich, secure, and cannot be taken away. God’s promises are their lasting possession (Psalm 119:111), and “their righteousness is of me, says the Lord.”

God will make clear to others that their cause is right. Their case belongs with him, because he knows it, and he will plead it. Or the meaning may be that their reward for righteousness, and for all they have suffered wrongly, comes from God, the one who judges the earth and with whom there is truly a reward for the righteous. Or it may mean that their righteousness itself, everything good and right in them, comes from God, who works it in them. It comes from Christ, who is made righteousness for them. In those for whom God plans a future inheritance, he will work righteousness now.