word of life - Isaiah 55

THE PANORAMA OF THE KINGDOM
Five Meditations on Isaiah 55
5 - GOD'S RENOWN
(Verses 12-13)
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"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle tree will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
Isaiah 55:13b
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THE CONCEPT of these last two verses of this glorious chapter in Isaiah is indeed so wide to be beyond the mind to conceive or the heart to comprehend. It reaches from the immediate joy of redemption to the culmination of redemption in eternity. Its centre is God and his glory, but includes the wonder of redemption and its eternal security.

This whole chapter is leading to this glorious conclusion. Everything is leading to this revelation. The open invitation to redemption in verses 1 and 2; the foundation and assurance of this promised invitation in the everlasting covenant purpose of God in verses 3 to 5; the effective call to be redeemed in verses 6 to 7; and the wise heart of love in God which conceived redemption in verses 8 to 11; all these are leading to this glorious declaration that in the redeemed God gets great renown which will be for an everlasting sign of his glory.

God deserves all glory and honour for he is eternal God glorious in his character and attributes, but above all this, his glory is enhanced with the surpassing glory of what he has achieved in the redeemed and what redemption declares of his love and wisdom.

Verse 12 speaks of the blessing which will abound to all who are redeemed by responding to the invitation of God to be pardoned and accepted. Verse 12b and 13a speak of the wonder of what God has achieved in this redemption, which is illustrated in the whole of creation. Verse 13b tells us this will all bring everlasting renown to God. Let us consider these three stages in this revelation.

THE BLESSING OF REDEMPTION

When the soul responds to the invitation of God and receives the free pardon offered, it does indeed find that it delights in the richest of fare. This is expressed in the words "You will go out with joy and be led forth with peace".

Joy and peace are the two great fruits of redemption. The prophet speaks of the experience of them in our daily living. "You will go out" and "You will be led forth" is speaking of our daily living. Notice the change. Our daily lives are marked with joy. Joy is something deep within us which can't be taken away by immediate temporal experiences. We may be facing great trial that destroys our happiness. We may be depressed severely through the nature of our experiences, so that life seems hardly worth living. Yet in all these, as well as the good times, the joy which comes from God is still there for it is based on eternal verities.

We go out with the joy because our life is hid in Christ with God. That is that we are God's people and God's family, because redemption has brought us into this relationship with God. God will never forsake us or let us go. Through the trials and difficulties that this life brings, we know that we belong to God and that heaven is our home, and whatever time may cause us to suffer, eternity in the love of God awaits us. This joy is bound up in the fact that our relationship with God cannot be lost by our sin and failure, however terrible or grievous it may be, because in the eternal covenant of God, God looked upon us as we were in sin, and determined then in Christ to meet all the needs and requirements for us to have a place in his family, and eventually be fit for this privilege. We have this joy of certainty that our eternal well being has been and is secured by God alone in Christ.

This joy also is bound up in the loving relationship that we have with God by sovereign grace. We are beloved by God with a love that, knowing the worst about us, still determined to set his love upon us, and thus can never be lost. Whether we feel this love at any one time, we know that it is none the less sure and true. Sometimes our joy passes bounds because we are made to feel this love in our hearts and experience more deeply than usual by the gracious operation of the Holy Ghost who dwells within us. But this love is still ours when we do not feel it or deserve it.

So also is it with Peace. Peace is a great blessing of redemption which encompasses every area of our lives. It is expressed in these words "We are led forth in peace". Who is the one leading us forth? Is it not the Lord himself who has redeemed us! So we begin with this Peace of the Gospel which is peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are sure and secure in the acceptance and love of God because in Christ God has secured all that achieves peace with him, and secured it forever. This peace continues because in life we are led forth by none other than Christ, and he is guiding our footsteps, and guarding us not only from straying in the wrong way, but also guarding us from harm. We are at peace also because the one who leads us forth is almighty God, who is over all his creation, and none can withstand his will. We are at peace because in redemption we are sure that his purpose towards us is love and mercy, and that this is shown in his securing for us complete redemption in Christ, which once received is complete and therefore can never fail or be lost.

The whole of the New Testament constantly speaks of this joy and peace in believing, which, though dimmed sometimes by experiences in this life, can never be taken away or destroyed. There is also the joy and peace of the triumph of God and his Christ in redemption. We shout for joy because of the great and permanent victory that God has won over sin and Satan, death and Hell. It is a victory which is beyond the mind to grasp and comprehend, but it is a complete victory which has reversed for the believer forever the curse brought upon him or her by the sin of Adam.

THE JOY OF CREATION

The middle section of these verses, that is verse 12b and 13a, express what has happen in redemption. When Adam sinned God pronounced a curse on all his creation. This is what God told Adam in Genesis 3:17-19 - "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground". This expresses the truth that all creation suffered because of the sin of Adam. Plants would find it difficult to grow. The ground would bring forth alien growth which did not have the comfort and joy of the rest. Creation suffered and is suffering because of Adam's sin. Paul expressed this in Romans 8:20 when he says, "For the creation was subject to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it." Then in verse 22 Paul writes, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."

The prophet Isaiah has been inspired in the language he uses in Isaiah 55:12b and 13a to express the joy of creation in what Christ has achieved and brought into being by his great atonement. Creation sees in this great redemption the fact that the curse has been removed, and that only time stands in the way of the whole creation being returned to the blessing and fruitfulness that existed before sin brought curse upon it.

It is indeed pictorial language, but the words do express the reality of the removal of the curse by Christ's great victory. The pictorial language expresses the greatness of Christ's triumph on the Cross and in his mighty resurrection, and points to the coming in of the fullness of redemption at Christ's return, when the new heaven and new earth will replace this cursed world, and creation again will join in the joy of the redeemed in that eternal glory.

THE JOY AND GLORY OF GOD

Verse 13b looks at the whole of the revelation of this wonderful chapter, and looks at the wonder of redemption, and the wonder of the redeemed and what God in Christ has done in our lives and will do in our lives. It sees this mighty work of God's grace, love, power and wisdom as a visible sign made known in the redeemed. It is made known now in time, but as through a mist because the work is not yet complete. It will be made known in eternity when the redeemed are presented spotless before the throne of God, in the glory of the image of Christ that has been worked in them. This is God's greatest glory.

God's glory shines in the wonder of his person and character. It shines in the glory of his power and wisdom in creation. It shines in his just and immutable rule. Much more does his glory and will his glory shine for all eternity in the work he has done in saving us and renewing us in his image, and fitting us for eternal glory.

This renown for God will be an everlasting sign which will not be destroyed. How this enhances the joy of our security in Christ. God's purpose is to get great glory and renown for all eternity by his great and wonderful redemption. Because of this, he could declare it to be a certainty in this chapter of Isaiah even before Christ had come and won redemption. Because of this God could declare the end, the renown to his name which redemption would bring, in this revelation, and say it was to be an everlasting sign which would never be destroyed.

It is a source of great joy to understand and know that God is working in us a so perfect and sure work of salvation that we will be a source of renown to him for all eternity, and for all creation to wonder at and glorify God for.

THE JOY OF BLESSED ASSURANCE

If the redeemed are to be for God's renown, and the work to gain this renown is in the hands of God alone, it leaves us with this glorious assurance that, come what may, our salvation is sure.

What a joy it is that God chose us in Christ in this way before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4). What joy it is that God determined in love to bless us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1:3). What joy it is to know the security this eternal purpose of God conveys.

When we feel our failure and know the corruption still in our flesh, it is a wonderful assurance to know that our redemption is entirely in the hands of God and his purpose, and that God will not fail because it is to be an everlasting sign of his renown that will never, for all eternity, be destroyed.

This same revelation of Isaiah is expressed by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 1. In verses 6 we read that redemption was "to the praise of His glorious grace". In verse 12 we read that it was "for the praise of His glory". Again in verse 14 we read the same testimony that it is "to the praise of His glory".

This great theme should be our chief est joy that in all the blessings God bestows upon us in Christ, God gets to himself so great and eternal renown. It is the purpose of our being to glorify God. We were created for this. When sin entered the world, we ceased to fulfil this purpose for which we were made. Now in Christ, what joy it is in experience, as well as in knowledge, that again we have been brought by the grace and power of God to fulfil the purpose of creation and new creation.

CONCLUSION

In coming to the end of this chapter with its great revelation of God's mercy and love, we are led from the wonder of his great love and mercy to this infinitely wide concept that in this mercy and love, God has brought us to be part of an eternal plan that causes us to be for all eternity fulfilling the purpose of our being, which is to bring glory to God.