WWUTT 2129 Comfort for the Afflicted Ones (Isaiah 54:1-17)

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For the last few weeks, we have been reading about Jesus Christ who suffered on our behalf in Isaiah 53.

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Now we move on to read about those who will benefit because of Christ's suffering for us, when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

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Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

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Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone.

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In our study of the book of Isaiah, we are moving on now to chapter 54. We've spent the last four weeks in chapter 53 reading about those prophecies made concerning Christ who would take our iniquities upon Himself.

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It would please God to crush Him, putting Him to grief so that through His offering, our sins would be forgiven and we would be restored to fellowship with God.

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Now as we come into chapter 54, we're actually going to go back to something that was introduced in chapter 52, referring to the afflicted, who would be delivered from their afflictions.

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And how are we delivered? Because Christ is afflicted on our behalf. So let's come now to chapter 54.

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I'm going to begin by reading verses 1 through 10 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the

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Lord. Shout for joy, O barren woman who has not given birth.

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Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor.

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For more numerous are the sons of the desolate one than the sons of the married woman, says

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Yahweh. Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings.

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Do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs, for you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your seed will possess nations and will resettle the desolate cities.

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Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame. And do not feel dishonored, for you will not be humiliated.

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But you will forget the shame of your virginity and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

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For your husband is your Maker, whose name is Yahweh of hosts, and your

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Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the God of all the earth.

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For Yahweh has called you, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected, says your

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God. For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion

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I will gather you. In a flood of fury I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness

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I will have compassion on you, says Yahweh your Redeemer. For this is like the days of Noah to me, when

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I swore that the waters of Noah would not overflow the earth again, so I have sworn that I will not be furious with you, nor will

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I rebuke you. For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but my loving kindness will not be removed from you, and my covenant of peace will not be shaken, says

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Yahweh who has compassion on you. Let me go ahead and finish out the chapter here.

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This is verse 11. O afflicted one, storm -tossed and not comforted, behold

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I will lay your stones in antimony and your foundations I will set in sapphires.

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Moreover I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones.

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All your sons will be taught of Yahweh, and the peace of your sons will be great.

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In righteousness you will be established. You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear, and from terror, for it will not come near you.

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If anyone fiercely attacks you, it will not be from me. Whoever attacks you will fall because of you.

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Behold I myself have created the craftsman who blows the fire of coals and brings out a weapon for its work, and I have created the bringer of ruin to wreak destruction.

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No weapon that is formed against you will succeed, and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.

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This is the inheritance of the slaves of Yahweh, and their righteousness is from me, declares

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Yahweh. So all of what Christ goes through on behalf of his people is applied to this people being described here in chapter 54.

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Now of course who's directly being addressed are those that have been sent into exile in Babylon and later to the

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Medes and the Persians, and all of this being prophetically stated because at the time that this prophecy was given that had not yet happened.

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So it would be in those days when they would be under Babylonian exile that they would look back on the words of God that came from the prophet and they would see that he still meant good for them, to deliver them, a deliverer would be sent for them, and by the affliction that he goes through on their behalf, their iniquities placed upon him, so they would be forgiven and restored to God.

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Now we know that this doesn't pertain to merely the Jews, but also to us

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Gentiles, us among the nations who would hear the message of the gospel and by believing in Jesus, likewise our sins would be forgiven.

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We would be delivered from our affliction. We would even be given a place where all of this shame and animosity that we receive from the world would be no more.

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So let's come to the beginning of chapter 54, shout for joy O barren woman who has not given birth, break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor, for more numerous are the sons of the desolate one than the sons of the married woman.

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The children of the desolate are those who are returning from exile, but we know this was even a type and a shadow of those who would be called out from the world to Christ.

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So ultimately it's all of the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, not just those who are going to come back to the earthly Jerusalem.

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So it is said in verse two, enlarge the place of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings.

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Do not hold back, lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs. In other words, there's going to be so many of you that your previous habitation is not going to be large enough.

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That's the picture that God is giving here. And once again, pointing to the fact that not just Jews would be brought into fellowship with God, but even

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Gentiles from around the world for you will spread abroad to the right and to the left and your seed will possess nations and will resettle the desolate cities.

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That's not talking about physical places on the earth. That's saying from the nations, from peoples all over the earth, there will be a people of God that will be drawn to him and your seed.

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Those are the offspring from you. They will possess nations. And of course, Christ comes from Judah and the disciples themselves were

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Jews. It is from them. The gospel goes out and everyone who comes to faith are offspring.

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We are the children of faith that have, that have been adopted into the family of God because we have heard the gospel and believed it.

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Your seed will possess nations and resettle the desolate cities. Verse four, do not be afraid for you will not be put to shame and do not feel dishonored for you will not be humiliated, but you will forget the shame of your virginity and the reproach of your widowhood.

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You will remember no more. Now this statement, the shame of your virginity, this is like we're not supposed to be shamed of ashamed of virginity, right?

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Aren't we supposed to be abstinently pure sex is intended for marriage.

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So if you're not married, remain abstinent. What is meant here by the shame of your virginity? Well, again, this is speaking of somebody who was desolate.

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Somebody who has not had a husband, somebody who has not produced offspring. That's a shameful thing for a woman to have not been able to find a husband or been able to have children.

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Remember that Hannah, who was the wife of Elkanah, had no children and she prayed that God would give her a son and he gave her

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Samuel. But in her prayer, she said, Yahweh, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and do not forget your maidservant, but will give me a seed amongst men that I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life and a razor shall never come on his head.

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Speaking that she would subject him to a Nazirite vow. But notice there that she says the fact that she has had no children is her affliction.

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So at this point in time, in this day and age, it was a shameful thing for a woman.

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She considered it a shame to not have a husband and not be able to have children. So therefore, this statement here, the shame of your virginity will not be remembered.

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The reproach of your widowhood, you will remember no more. It was a struggling thing for a woman to not have a husband and to not have children.

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And so here, as God is giving this promise, it is to say you'll have many children.

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So the fact that you have had no offspring, the shame of this will not be remembered anymore.

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There will be so many children that you will have that you won't even remember that there was a day where you had none.

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And of course, this is all pointing to the fact that through the gospel, many children would come into the people of God.

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Verse 5, for your husband is your maker. Your husband is your maker.

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So how am I going to have all of these offspring? Well, because the God of heaven and earth is the one who is your husband and will produce for you these offspring.

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His name is Yahweh of hosts, and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel who is called the

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God of all the earth. And that goes back to the suffering servant who was described in chapter 53.

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This is your redeemer. He is the one who is putting forth the payment that is needed for you to be brought out of exile.

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And again, all of this is spiritual. It is pointing to the fact that Christ is going to come and he is going to redeem a people for himself through his sacrifice, through the sacrifice that was described in chapter 53.

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Consider these words from 1 Peter 1, 3, blessed be the God and father of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you.

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He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

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This is the deliverance that is promised in the son, our redeemer,

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God of all the earth. Verse six, for Yahweh has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected, says your

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God. For a brief moment, I forsook you, but with great compassion,

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I will gather you in a flood of fury. I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness,

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I will have compassion on you, says Yahweh, your redeemer. And this is God assuring

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Judah and also speaking to all of us who would have faith in Jesus Christ that we have not been forgotten.

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He will accomplish his purpose. To the Jews in particular, consider Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the plans that I have for you, declares the

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Lord, a plan to prosper and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future. And he's talking to the

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Jews about the fact that they won't be destroyed in exile, but he will deliver them out and fulfill the promises that he has made through this people, his intention that he has with them, because it is from them that the savior is going to come.

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You might also consider the book of Hosea when I remember Hosea had this wife named Gomer who was continually unfaithful to him.

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And yet the Lord told Hosea to take a wife of unfaithfulness. And when she's unfaithful, that he's to take her back again, because this was prophetically pointing to the fact that Israel would be unfaithful and yet God would bring them back to himself.

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We, likewise, have been unfaithful to God and yet God would make us his bride, the church who is the bride of Christ.

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And we are made up of men, women, various tribes, tongues, and nations on earth from all over the world.

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People have been brought into this singular kingdom in which Christ reigns.

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For a brief moment, I forsook you, God says, but now with great compassion,

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I will gather you. Going on in verses nine and 10, for this is like the days of Noah.

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When I swore that the waters of Noah would not overflow the earth again, so I have sworn that it will not be, that I will not be furious with you, nor will

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I rebuke you. For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but my loving kindness will not be removed from you.

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And my covenant of peace will not be shaken, says Yahweh who has compassion on you.

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There was a time when God was mad at us. His wrath was even upon us.

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As said in John 3 36, those who do not have the son, the wrath of God abides on them.

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As said in Ephesians chapter two, we were children of wrath like the rest of mankind before we came to faith in Christ.

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But in Christ Jesus, he is not furious with us anymore. And he has furthermore said that his loving kindness will not be removed from us.

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My covenant of peace will not be shaken. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we will remain with God.

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We will never be removed from him. Again, back to first Peter 1 4, that we are to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you.

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So it is being kept for us. We will not be cast away from God. We will be delivered into his kingdom.

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Philippians 1 6, I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Christ.

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Jesus saying in John 10, no one is able to snatch them out of my hand.

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My father who is greater than all who gives them to me. No one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand.

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I and the father are one. We are forever united with God through Christ and nothing will snatch us from his hand.

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So now the last portion here, verses 11 to 17, oh, afflicted one.

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Now, once again, we who are afflicted will be relieved of our affliction by the one who is afflicted on our behalf, and that is

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Jesus Christ. So, oh, afflicted one, storm -tossed and not comforted. Behold, I will lay your stones in antimony.

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Now, what this means, antimony was a kind of metal. The stones are what are precious and colorful.

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And whenever stones were set in antimony, they would make the colors of the stones come out all the more brilliant.

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So what is being said here is that I'll lay your stones so that your brilliance may be seen.

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There will be a permanent fixture as antimony was so that the stones will be fixed, but it will also bring out the luxuriousness and the beauty of them.

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Now, couple this with the statement that comes at the very end of this particular section, 11 to 17.

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It says that their righteousness is from me. So we're talking about how the righteousness of God that is given to us who are followers of Christ will be brilliantly seen.

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God will show this brilliance through his people and your foundations I will set in sapphires.

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So once again, not only will the foundations be be solid stone unmovable, but they'll also be brilliant and colorful.

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Verse 12. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies and your gates of crystal and your entire wall of precious stones.

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All your sons will be taught of Yahweh and the peace of your sons will be great.

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By the way, that is the reference that Jesus makes in John 6, 45.

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So in John 6, 44, you're probably familiar with this with this verse. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.

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And then it's this verse from chapter 54 that's referenced in John 6, 45.

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It is written in the prophets and they shall all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me.

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So once again, all your sons will be taught of Yahweh and the peace of your sons will be great.

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And this is specifically talking about those who believe not any and all people who will be taught of God.

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But those who believe in God have been taught by God. They believe because they have been taught by God and the peace of your sons will be great.

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Once again, the peace that surpasses all understanding, as Paul describes it in Philippians chapter four, is ours in Christ Jesus.

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We're no longer at enmity with God, but we have peace with God because Christ has made peace.

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The peace of your sons, of your offspring will be great in righteousness.

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You will be established just like we read earlier about how I will set your foundations in these precious stones.

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Your righteousness will be established. You will be far from oppression for you will not fear and from terror for it will not come near you.

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God will deliver us out of all these things that happen in the world. Jesus saying to his disciples in this world, you will have tribulation, but take heart.

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I have overcome the world. If anyone fiercely attacks you, it will not be from me.

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Whoever attacks you will fall because of you. Behold, I myself have created the craftsman who blows the fire of coals and brings out a weapon for its work.

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And I have created the bringer of ruin to wreak destruction. So God's judgment will come upon those who do not believe in him or afflict his people.

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So verse 17, no weapon that is formed against you will succeed. And every tongue that accuses you in judgment, you will condemn.

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This is the inheritance of the slaves of Yahweh and their righteousness is from me declares

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Yahweh and the very thing that God demands is the thing that he gives. He demands righteousness.

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He gives righteousness through Jesus Christ, the perfect spotless sacrifice who gave himself for us, our iniquities placed upon him so that all who believe in him, our sins are forgiven.

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We will not perish under the judgment of God, but we will stand firm in that day and the brilliance that will be seen in us will be the righteousness of God that is given through Jesus Christ.

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Let's finish there and end with prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read today. And I pray that it gives us hope.

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It lifts our countenance that we may look upon God with gratitude and thankfulness, knowing that we who were once the objects of your wrath with whom you were once angry, you are angry with us no more.

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You've lifted us up out of that despair. You have cleansed us of our sins. You have covered our nakedness and our shame with your righteousness.

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And so may we walk before you as righteous in these days, not going after the ways of the world or the passions of our flesh, but we do that which is pleasing to God.

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And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

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It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. This has been When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

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and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.