His Perfect Love

Matt VanderVen: Maybe this is something you need to hear today, in light of all that you're going through. He wants them to understand something that's very important for every follower of God, and that is nothing is impossible for me. Nothing is impossible for me.

I imagine some of you are probably sitting here this evening where maybe circumstances in your life are not going the way you thought. Maybe there are other things going on and you're wondering, Lord, how are you going to meet me in this? How are you going to help me through this? Maybe somebody is broken here tonight and just needs to hear from the Lord and needs to know that God can do the impossible, because nothing is impossible to God.

Guest (Male): You're tuned into His Perfect Love. God watched as Israel went off in its own direction, away from Him. As many of us can attest, that is a bad move, one that leads to hurt and trouble. But in the passage before us today, we find the Lord drawing the nation back into His favor and promising to turn her mourning into singing.

Today, we'll take notice of an exhortation to worship in faith, receive encouragement to expand without fear, and get an explanation concerning the future, too. Here is Pastor Matt VanderVen in Isaiah 54.

Matt VanderVen: So please look at it again, Chapter 54. It's beautiful how he sets this up just to set up the chapter for you. He's going to begin with this imagery of barrenness and a woman without child. Certainly, it draws our minds, probably many of us, back to Abram and Sarah, and just speaking of a promise and how God even back then knew that He was going to come through Abraham and He was going to literally create a seed and enlarge what would be the people that we know now in the Bible as Israel, what first were known as Hebrews.

Even before that, God through Abraham, he was a Gentile. God had this massive, mighty, wonderful plan for salvation. He was going to even take someone that, quite honestly, had been—his father was an idol maker. Abraham's father. So he starts out in this chapter by explaining God's desire for all to come unto Him, all to come into that covenant of peace, all to be partakers, and not to forget that God has a divine plan for all of humanity.

Chapter 54, Verse 1: "Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman," says the Lord. "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes."

He's talking about here, he's giving us that idea of like a tent. You know, when you would take tent stakes down and you go to hammer those in, you kind of pull it out and it enlarges. The idea here is that he's talking about what his plan is to enlarge the nation of Israel, to enlarge His people. He's talking about how He's going to basically bring them back into the land.

Remember, at this point, they still have not even met the Babylonians, let alone gone into captivity, which they will for judgment. But He's been telling them about what it's going to be like when they're in their captivity. But He also now, as we know Isaiah's been going back and forth, He also gives them a future hope. So that He says, I'm not leaving you in that judgment. That judgment will serve a period and a purpose, but my heart is reconciliation to bring you out of it.

Part of what he's showing here is, can you imagine, again, how meaningful this would be for you when you would be—maybe you're near the River Chebar, like Ezekiel was, or just somewhere in Babylon like that, and you're thinking, Lord, how many more years? I've been in 50, 60, 70 years of captivity. Lord, I'm holding on here. I've left my homeland. Many of the people I loved and knew, they're not with me anymore. They're not with us anymore. They're dead. They've gone on.

Lord, what's going to come of this? All of the promises, the seed of David, and the Davidic covenant, and a Messiah, and Jesus—as they wouldn't know as Yeshua yet—but the Messiah, where is he going to come from and how is this going to happen? They're sitting in some idol Babylonian land. To read this, to have this given to them even 70-plus years before they're even taken into captivity, He's showing and proving God is going to tell them everything that His plan is.

So that when they find themselves in captivity, they realize that God is in control. Just as they're in that captivity, when God says, I'm going to bring you out of captivity and I'm going to deliver you, what are they going to say? God is in control. God's in control of all of it. That's what He's trying to show. He says, I'm going to enlarge you.

Can you imagine how hard that might be to even believe in the moment of being in captivity in a foreign land? Lord, this sure doesn't feel like you're enlarging us right now. We're basically here, we're slaves, it's—this is not what we expected. God's promises, He says, no, I'm going to enlarge your people. I'm going to bring you back to Israel.

He wants them to understand something that's very important for every follower of God, and that is nothing is impossible for me. Nothing is impossible for me. So he goes on and says, "Do not spare; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make desolate cities inhabited."

Really, Lord? How are you going to do that? I imagine some of you are probably sitting here this evening where circumstances in your life maybe are not going the way you thought. Maybe there are other things going on and you're wondering, Lord, how are you going to meet me in this? How are you going to help me through this? Maybe somebody is broken here tonight and just needs to hear from the Lord and needs to know that God can do the impossible, because nothing is impossible to God.

So he calls the ball. That's what he's doing here. Because as we read a few chapters back, God said, stop worshipping these idols that have no power, that have no foresight, that weren't there at the beginning of creation. He says, worship the one true God. He says, you want the litmus test to know that I am God? I will tell you the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning. No one else can do that.

I will call the ball and tell you that you will go into judgment for your wickedness and idolatry, Judah. But I will also bring you out of that judgment, and I will bring you back into the land, and I will establish it. Not only will I do it, I'll even do it through a king that you haven't even heard of. I'll use his name, Cyrus, 140 years earlier. Remember, we talked about that?

So he's talking to the people, he's trying to encourage them. That makes sense because look what he says in Verse 4, something that you would need to hear. Maybe something that you need to hear right now tonight: "Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed." Why would he say that? Ashamed of what? Ashamed that you trusted in God? That people are mocking you? Nebuchadnezzar, all the people mocking you? Oh, you Christians, you serve the one true God. He made it awfully easy for me to come in and conquer you. Where's your God?

Where's your God if he's so big and strong and mighty? I'm sure they were getting mocked as they were brought into captivity and put in chains and shackles as they were dragged back to Babylon. They saw men and women, even young children, killed in front of them. Where's my God? God reaches out and says, do not fear. He says, I promise you, you won't be ashamed for trusting in me. This is for a little time.

"Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame." And neither will any of you here tonight. You place your faith and trust in Jesus, and I know the world is getting darker and you're telling people about the hope of Jesus Christ, and maybe you're even being mocked for it. Let me tell you something, you will not be disgraced, nor will any of you be put to shame. For the testimony of Jesus Christ, for His own name's sake, will He do the deeds and promises.

"For you will forget the shame of your youth." You're going to forget the things you did in your sinful past, in your youthful ways. And this is—oh, man—"and I will not remember." An infinite God who can remember everything and anything, outside of time, omnipresent, always everywhere, seeing and hearing everything, and He declares, "and I will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore."

He says, I won't remember that. I won't remember what it was like when there was idolatry and sin and all the things you were doing. He says, I choose never to see that again. It's not even a distant memory. It's not a memory at all. Do you see how good God is? He doesn't want anything in the way of His love, nothing to taint His love.

He goes on to say, "For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts"—He uses the title, the God of the angel armies—"is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth." Look at the six titles, by the way, in just the few verses here. He will give Himself six titles just within these few verses: the Lord of Hosts, the Redeemer, the Holy One, the God of the whole earth.

"The Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused," says your God. "For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you." Just circle that in your Bible for a minute. It's for a mere moment, all that we go through in this life. It's a mere moment. But with great mercies, I will gather you.

What's He saying? He's saying even though you were like a widow because you broke covenant, Israel, you broke covenant with me. Judah broke covenant with God. He says, you were a widow. He didn't divorce you, God didn't; you left me. Israel and Judah left God. He says, I never left you.

But what He does here is He comes back and He says, no, no, I want you to know. Like a youthful wife when you were refused, says God, for a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. The whole idea goes back to Verse 5, what He already said: "For your Maker is your husband." What He's doing is He's claiming Israel once again. He says, you are my wife, unfaithful in the past, but faithful God still wants her to be His wife. Something many human husbands would never, ever do.

"With a little wrath I hide my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you," says the Lord your Redeemer. Isn't that beautiful? What a beautiful, wonderful ending He gives to this. "For this is like the waters of Noah to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so I have sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you."

Isn't that remarkable? You want to understand God's unconditional love and just what it looks like? This example you have in Scripture here before you, this speaks of the truth that draws us back to the knowledge of the Bible, that after the flood came a fresh start. After we repent from sin, God brings reconciliation, and what comes with that? A fresh start. Isn't that beautiful? Everlasting, unconditional love. He says, I'm not going to be angry with you, nor rebuke you.

"For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall never depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has mercy on you. It is mercy. It is not something that Israel or any of us could ever deserve, that kind of unconditional love. It is mercy. It is favor from God that could never be merited or earned.

What I love about this is he describes the creation around him and how—you ever seen those time-lapse movies or documentaries where sometimes they'll show grass and it starts real little and it grows up? Or they'll show a field of wheat and it time-lapses, or like the rising of the sun and the setting of the sun? I'm always mesmerized by those time-lapses, just to see. And then to think, sometimes they even do it year after year, season after season, where they even show trees getting larger and the rings getting older.

All the things happening in a forest. So many of us think about the forest—what do they say? You can't see the trees through the forest, the idea of everything. But if we could get close enough to get into the forest, if we could just sit there like one of the little squirrels and just watch everything happening around us, I think we'd be so amazed with God's provisions. Even the squirrels are taken care of. All of the animals, neither worry, nor have fear or anxiety.

They're not wondering, how am I going to make it today? I got to go out and do my squirrel job. They're not talking like that. It's very simple. It's not, does God love me or what's my purpose or why am I here? I've never seen a squirrel come up and go—they have Italian squirrels. I mean, there's Italy, right? I've never seen a squirrel go up and go, come on, like, what's going to happen? Why? Because they understand the order of things and they know that God loves His creation.

When you think about that time-lapse, just what it's like that all the things around us change. How many of you were born in this area? Raise your hand for me real high if you will. I'm just curious. So a few of you, maybe 15 of you, maybe even more. It's interesting to me. I know where I'm from, there was not a lot built up around, and then there started—I can only imagine in this area with all the fields and things what it must have been like.

Probably in different neighborhoods, I got to meet the farmer, or excuse me, heard of the farmer that actually walked this land a generation before it got handed down to the next person that we ended up buying it from. That farmer walked this land with his wife and they would pray over this land as they would walk and say, God, this is your land and one day I pray it will be used for you.

Do you realize that was over a hundred years ago? And here we are today. That man and his wife prayed us in. Prayed this building here. And yet all these things around us, wheat fields, soybeans, corn, all these things coming across. God is trying to say that all these things happen around us. Grass withers and dies, new grass comes every year.

He says, look, my kindness shall not depart from you. The mountains, yeah, they're going to depart. The hills, they're going to be removed. The things that you look at, the things you count on, all that is actually temporal. The things you think are going to be there like the mountains and—we're in a little dip and a bowl here, we can see the mountains—He says those things one day, they're going to all be gone. But my kindness will never, ever leave you.

My covenant of peace will never, ever leave you. I'm going to have mercy on you perpetually. It will never, ever leave you. Who has ever said that to you in your entire life? No one. No matter what you've done to them, no matter how you've wronged them, they have literally said to you, you know what? The mountains will fall, the earth will be destroyed, but my love will go on everlasting to everlasting and you will be with me for all of eternity.

That's poetic from the Lord. I mean, this is poetic in the way he's writing this, describing His heart. "O you afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted!" Does that sound like anybody here maybe tonight? Do you ever feel like that? You're just being tossed around? What a week maybe you've been having. Things going on at work, things breaking, who knows, car trouble, all these kinds of things that we encounter. Many of us on a weekly, monthly, or even sometimes a daily basis.

"O you afflicted ones, tossed with tempest and not comforted! Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones."

What does that describe to you? Anybody who's with us on Sundays? Have we not just been in the passage where we were looking at the foundations of the New Jerusalem and how He describes the walls and the foundations with these precious stones and gems? "All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children." That's every father and mother's heart.

"In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you." That's what He's saying to Israel. I'm going to bring you out of this captivity in near fulfillment. I'm going to bring you back to your land where you're going to have peace and security for a time.

Then we know a few hundred years thereafter, obviously Antiochus Epiphanes is going to go in and desecrate the temple. But then shortly thereafter, Jesus Christ comes after the intertestamental period. But the far fulfillment of this is ultimately he's talking about not only the millennial reign but the New Jerusalem.

Have you ever thought about it? I was just talking with the staff recently and I said, have you thought about heaven? When we say, "I'm going to meet you in heaven," "look forward to seeing you in heaven," have you ever thought about saying, which heaven? What do you mean? Are you talking about the third heaven that Paul's talking about, or are you talking about the New Jerusalem and the new earth?

Where are you going to meet me? Which one? I mean, obviously, you're going to end up in both. But it's interesting. God has such plans for us. He says, I'm going to take your terror from you. It's not going to come near you, Israel, Judah. "Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of me."

I mean, just imagine a time without fear. Such a heavy weight lifted. Everyone fears. Everyone fears. What they fear is different, but everyone fears. There'll come a time where no one will fear. No one will fear. "Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake." So even if they try to raise an army, they are not going to stand against God.

"Behold, I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the spoiler to destroy. No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord."

Next time somebody asks you what's your heritage, you open right to Isaiah Chapter 54 and you quote Verse 17 to them because that is your heritage, Christian. That is the heritage for every single Christian. That's your heritage that is written by God. "No weapon formed"—He originally gave it to Israel, His chosen people, and then through salvation to the Gentiles, the born-again Gentiles—it's now for you as well, a gift.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Say that to yourself. "And every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord." That sounds to me like a victory speech or declaring a victorious creed.

Guest (Male): On that note of victory, we'll draw today's His Perfect Love to a close. Pastor Matt VanderVen has been in Isaiah Chapter 54 today. You can hear the study from Pastor Matt VanderVen again when you visit hisperfectlove.org. Catch up on what you may have missed in Isaiah at hisperfectlove.org. Look for us on oneplace.com and most podcast platforms.

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