Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1306
“For a small moment have I forsaken you, but with great mercies will I gather you. In a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord your Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go o ver the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the Co venant of My peace be remo ved, says the Lord that has mercy on you.” Isaiah 54:7-10.
THIS precious passage is the property of all true Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We might not have ventured to say this if it were not for the last verse of the chapter, which assures us that it is so. “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, says the Lord.” The matchless promises and assurances of this chapter do not belong to the Jews, alone, nor only to the Gentile Church, nor even exclusively to the whole Church considered as a community—they are the property of all who are sons and servants of the living God. Isaiah speaks of both sonship and service. “This is the heritage,” or portion obtained by heirship, which implies sonship. The promise, then, is ours, if we have been born into the family of Grace.
But then, all God’s sons are also servants, even as the Firstborn among many brethren became a Servant of servants for our sakes. Judge yourselves, dear Friends, as to whether you are sons of God by birth and servants of God by choice, for if you are, then you may take these promises to yourselves. In the last clause it is written, “Their righteousness is of Me, says the Lord.” In this we can claim our part, for we have no righteousness of our own! But it has pleased the Lord to work a righteousness for us and a righteousness in us, since we stood in great need of both of these. Neither could we, by any means, have procured them for ourselves. If the Lord Jesus had not been made unto us both our justification and our sanctification, we could have had no hope of seeing the face of God with acceptance.
If we are sons by regeneration and servants by the renewal of our nature. And if our righteousness, both imputed and imparted, is found in God, alone, then the text is ours most richly to enjoy! Stand not back from a table so richly spread, but eat and drink abundantly of its dainty provisions. If this is our heritage, the Lord says to us as He did to Abraham, “Lift up, now, your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which you see, to you will I give it.”
Before going further I would call your attention to the position of the wonderful chapter now before us. It may seem to be a commonplace remark, but its position is remarkable as following the 53rd Chapter of Isaiah—that clearest of all prophecies concerning our Lord! The 53rd of Isaiah is the saying of the great minstrel Prophet concerning the sufferings of the despised and rejected of men! And it is followed by this golden chapter. By the way of the Atonement we come to enjoy Covenant blessings. Fresh from the woes of Calvary we are able to bear our own griefs without repining—and with the great Ransom in full view we are convinced of our security before the Lord.
You will never have faith enough to comprehend the extent of the heritage prepared of the Lord for you, except as your eyes are strengthened by gazing upon Him whom it pleased the Father to bruise for us. When we have the fullest sense of the sufferings of Jesus and of the love which brought Him to bear the iniquities of His people, we are then in the most fit state to comprehend the wonders of Covenant Grace and to appreciate the priceless mercies which come to us by the way of His substitutionary Sacrifice. Carrying in your hearts such words as these, “Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions and He was bruised for our iniquities,” let us draw near to the treasures which are spread before us. May the Holy Spirit assist us!
The people of God are often very severely afflicted. They are tried in Providence and they are vexed by the wicked among whom they dwell. At times it seems as if their lot were far less desirable than that of the ungodly. The best of saints have been tempted to envy the worst of sinners when they have seen them in great power, spreading themselves as a green bay tree, while they, themselves, have been as withered plants. The saints are chastened and the sinners are enriched—this is no small test of faith! What is worse, at times the children of God are the subjects of great spiritual griefs and derive no comfort from their religion. They judge themselves to be deserted by their God and they enquire within themselves, “Is His mercy clean gone forever? Will He be favorable no more?”