WWUTT 2169 Yahweh Takes Pleasure In You (Isaiah 62:1-12)

The Church as the New Jerusalem in Isaiah 62

Before we came to Christ, we were not known as a people of God. In fact, we were hated by others and hating one another, as said in Titus 3. But in Christ we have been given a new name when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of Isaiah, we're on to chapter 62, and we're still reading about things here concerning the church looking ahead to the people of God that are made up of all nations united together in Christ.

And the church referred to here as Zion, as we'll see at the beginning of Isaiah 62. So let me read through these 12 verses out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning.

The nations will see your righteousness and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name which the mouth of Yahweh will designate. You will also be a crown of glory in the hand of Yahweh, and a turban of royalty in the hand of your God.

It will no longer be said to you forsaken, nor to your land will it any longer be said desolate, but you will be called, My delight is in her and your land married. For Yahweh takes pleasure in you, and to Him your land will be married.

For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen.

All day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind Yahweh, take no rest for yourselves, and give Him no rest until He establishes and sets Jerusalem as a praise in the earth. Yahweh has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm, I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies, nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.

But those who collect it will eat it and praise Yahweh, and those who gather it will drink it in the courts of My sanctuary. Go through, go through the gates, clear the way for the people, build up, build up the highway, remove the stones, raise up a standard over the peoples.

Behold, Yahweh has announced to the end of the earth, say to the daughter of Zion, behold your salvation comes, behold His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him. And they will call them the holy people, the redeemed of Yahweh, and you will be called, sought out, a city not forsaken.

And given that I went ahead and told you before that reading that this is concerning the church, do you see how that applies as I read through that? Would have been one thing to just hear it read and not know that.

And, you know, you surely would have assumed, as is the context here, that this was talking about Israel, that God was going to restore Judah and put them back in their land and build up Jerusalem and their enemies would never have their way with them again.

But we know that though Jerusalem was restored after the Babylonian exile, well, even the exile to the Medes and the Persians, that eventually they did get handed over to the hands of their enemies again.

They were conquered by the Greeks and then later on by the Romans. So the things promised in this chapter had not yet come to fulfillment. They weren't going to come to Israel, but to the church. These things are absolutely being spoken to the people of God.

But it is all of us who are being described here in the things that we read about in Isaiah 62, even reading about how we'll be given a new name and we will be called the bride of God. And surely all that applies to the church.

So let's come back to the beginning of this here, chapter 62, verse 1. For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent. And for Jerusalem's sake, I will not keep quiet until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning.

So between the restoration of Judah, the building up of Jerusalem, the building of the temple, after those things you have, you know, it was a little bit of time after those things, but eventually you had this period of quiet, this period of silence, right?

It would have gone from about 400 BC to the time of Christ. We refer to that as the silent age. Nothing is being revealed there in those few centuries. God is not speaking through prophets. The people are just kind of waiting around for some answer from the Lord.

We've had this Messiah, this deliverer promised. When is he going to come? And there were some people that had popped up in that period of time that maybe Jews had thought, well, this must be the Messiah that we're looking for.

And they would have wanted some sort of emancipator who's going to free us from the tyranny of the Greeks, from Antiochus Epiphanes, or who is going to free us from the Romans when eventually the Romans would rule.

So we do have that period of silence there. But here's this promise that's given in Isaiah 62. I'm not going to keep silent. Centuries are going by. You have to wonder how many of the Jews would have been thinking, is God still here?

Is he remembering us? Did he forget about us? For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent, it says. And for Jerusalem's sake, the church is called the New Jerusalem, I will not keep quiet until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning.

And this is in reference not only to the declaration of the gospel, which through the preaching of the gospel, the church is understood, is realized for those who believe in the truth that is proclaimed, they are forgiven their sins, brought into the family of God, and they have everlasting life.

And it's also through the continued preaching of the word that the church is sanctified. So you have in Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. And so this proclamation will continue until her righteousness, and again, referring to the church, goes forth like brightness.

Verse two, the nations will see your righteousness and all kings, your glory, and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh will designate. So God is assuring his church here of his unfailing love.

He will not keep silent. He will come to them. He will call her by a new name, a pleasant name, a name that she has never been called by before. Now, the church is maybe what's being referred to here.

So, yeah, that's a new name. You know, the people of God have never been called that before. But I pointed out to you previously how Israel has been called that. Israel has been called Ecclesia. So that word Ecclesia or Ecclesia, however you choose to pronounce it, that's the Greek word for church, like where Jesus says in Matthew 16, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

The Greek word there for church is Ecclesia. So that same word appears in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament for the people of God. So it's not a unique word in the sense that Israel's never called that.

Even they are called the Ecclesia. The church is called the Ecclesia. God's people are called out from the world to himself. That's what's being demonstrated there. Whether it was in the Old Testament or the New Testament, that is the word that's used.

But of course, on the New Testament side of things, we're not calling ourselves Israel. We're calling ourselves the church. So it could apply to that. I will call you by a new name. But most likely here, what's in reference is the fact that this is a people that is being called to God that has never been known by anything else before or the way that the world has understood and known them is not the name that God calls them.

They have never been called this name before. This name is unique to them now who are in Christ. And this, you know, I think of 1 Peter 2, 9 in a lot of this and what we're reading here in Isaiah 62. So in 1 Peter 2, 9, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you would not receive mercy, but now you have received mercy. Now, those statements there are in fulfillment of things that are said in Hosea.

They were the names of the sons that Hosea had from the prostitute wife that he had married, who was Gomer. And he was to name his children these names. You are not a people. You would not receive mercy, but now you have received mercy.

And that was all foreshadowing looking toward the church, according to what Peter says here in 1 Peter 2. So some of that appears to be thematic in Isaiah 62 also. So in being called by a new name, we're being called something that we weren't previously known by.

Your name was Matthew, and now I'm going to call you Mark. It's not something like that. And again, it could refer to church, the name church, since that is unique to the people of God in the New Testament in a certain sense.

But since that name does appear for Israel in the Old Testament, I don't think that's necessarily the reference. Again, it is the fact that we are labeled in Christ. We wear his name. So this is the new name that we've been called by, a name that the mouth of Yahweh has designated.

For it was the angel that told Joseph, you will call him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So it's in Christ we wear this name, and we are known as children of God. Verse 3, you will also be a crown of glory in the hand of Yahweh and a turban of royalty in the hand of your God.

Once again, going back to 1 Peter 2, 9, you are a royal priesthood. And we read in Revelation about wearing golden crowns that we will even cast down before.

His feet.

We're given crowns in heaven that we may give those crowns back to him, that we may proclaim with our worship that I am here not by anything that I have done or accomplished. It is completely the work of God and by his mercy and grace that I have walked into heaven's.

Gates.

We have a reference to gates here in Isaiah 62 as well. So then verse 4, it will no longer be said to you, forsaken, nor to your land will it be any longer said, desolate. But you will be called my delight is in her and your land married.

Now that's not the exact verbiage that we have there in 1 Peter 2, but thematically it's the same. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you would not receive mercy, but now you have received mercy.

My delight is in her. We are no longer the objects of God's wrath, but in Christ we're the objects of his love and his affection. We're not desolate. We're not left abandoned. As Jesus said to his disciples, I will not leave you as orphans.

I will come to you. We have been occupied by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. The end of verse 4, Yahweh takes pleasure in you and to him, your land will be married. Now, as this is being said to a people who have not yet been exiled, remember once again that all of this is being prophesied 100 years before Judah is going to be exiled into the hands of Babylonian captivity.

Then once in exile, they will come back to this language and they will think as it had been prophesied by Isaiah that this is about the land that we're going to reoccupy. We're going to go back into the promised land as it had been given to us, and it will be married to God and who can take it from us.

But then of course, we know that it was taken from them again. So what could this possibly be in reference to? Not the Jews, not the Jews in the ethnic sense, but those who are truly in Christ. We who are married to him, remember the church being called throughout the New Testament, the bride of Christ.

Verse 5, for as a young man marries a virgin, your sons will marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you. Some language here that's similar to what we read in Song of Songs.

Now, Song of Songs is not a direct allegory. It is allegorical. It's just not a direct allegory. And that means that what you read there in Song of Songs is an account, a poetic account of a man and a woman courting one another.

And we understand that the way that the Hebrews would have understood it. But then allegorically, it points to the way that Christ loves his church, because all marriage is that. Paul says that in Ephesians chapter 5, that marriage is given as a picture of the way that Christ loves his church.

That is the greater relationship, the way that Christ loves his church, even greater than the way a husband loves his wife. But as marriage is the picture of the way that Christ loves his church, so Song of Songs, it is right allegorically to connect that to an understanding of this being a foreshadowing, even prophetically speaking, of the way that Christ would love his church.

And so that is being said here even in Isaiah 62, 5. So in this next section here, verses 6 to 9, this is talking about now how the church cannot keep silent. So at first, in verses 1 through 5, I will not keep silent.

I will call you to myself. I will proclaim my message until my people are realized through the hearing of that message. But then in this next part, it's being said to those people that are called to himself, they're not to keep silent.

Look at verse 6. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all day and all night. They will never keep silent. You who remind Yahweh, take no rest for yourselves. Now, this is on the walls of Jerusalem.

There are watchmen all day and all night. They will never keep silent. What is the purpose of the watchman? Well, we typically think of the watchman as watching out for bad guys. You know, he's up there on the wall looking for danger, and he's going to warn the rest of the city whenever a danger is coming.

But sometimes the watchman is looking for any kind of visitor that's going to come. Sometimes he's looking for the messenger that's coming with news, or he might alert the city that there are sojourners on their way.

Something to that effect. The watchman stands there at watch for anything. And that's the way the watchman is being pictured here. Not so much looking for danger, although that is one aspect of his job, but anything he should be looking out for.

And the picture of the watchman is a picture of a man in prayer. Remember that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told his disciples to watch with me and pray. Watch and pray. Remember that? So that you may not fall into temptation.

And this is that same sort of a thing here. The people of God. They've been called out by God, but now they must be watchers. They must watch and pray. The picture here in verses six to nine is a people of prayer all day and all night.

They will never keep silent. You who remind Yahweh, take no rest for yourselves. Remind Yahweh of what? The different petitions and intercessions that we would be making before God. Verse seven, and give him no rest until he establishes and sets Jerusalem as a praise in the earth.

Give him no rest. That's capital H until he establishes capital H. So you exhaust God with your prayers. It's kind of what it's saying. Give him no rest. You keep coming to him with your appeals, with your prayers, as said in First Thessalonians five, pray without ceasing.

We are continually appealing to our God, for it is he who lifts us up and sustains us until the very end. He establishes us as a praise in the earth. Verse eight, Yahweh has sworn by his right hand and by his strong arm.

I will never again give your grain as food to your enemies, nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored. Now, remember, new wine is evidence of a bountiful crop. So yeah, we've got good crops of grain and corn and everything else, but even beyond that, we've had a good yield in the vineyard.

And so the vats overflowing with new wine show God's blessing and his provision for us. So foreigners, enemies are not going to drink that. We will take it in, and the church loses nothing of anything that God has given to us.

There's an already and a not yet about this. God has given it to us. We are blessed with it now, but we've also not reached the final enjoyment, that wedding feast of the lamb that we will all be partakers in when we are with Christ in glory.

Verse nine, but those who collect it will eat it and praise Yahweh, and those who gather it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary. As Jesus said in Matthew 16, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

So our enemies can't ever take anything like this from us. We have an inheritance in the heavenly places that an enemy can't take away. Remember Jesus' instruction in Matthew 6, store up your treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal.

So what we have in Christ can't be taken from us. Jesus in John 10, I give them life and no one is able to snatch them out of my hand. In this last section here, we're concluding this in verses 10 through 12 with go through, go through the gates, clear the way for the people, build up, build up the highway, remove the stones, raise up a standard over the peoples.

You have a king that is leading his procession in victory and all of the peoples are invited to celebrate the victory with him. That's the picture of the king with the people walking through the gates, clear the way for the people, build up the highway.

Verse 11, behold, Yahweh has announced to the end of the earth, and that is all the people of God. They come from all the ends of the earth. Say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him.

These are words that come back in to Revelation 22, 12. Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Christ, our salvation, who gives the reward to those who have been clothed in his righteousness and will bring judgment to those who did not follow him, who remained his enemies. Verse 12, and they will call him, or I'm sorry, and they will call them.

So in the eyes of all the people, all the earth, they will be known as the holy people, the redeemed of Yahweh. And by the way, this goes back up to, you will be known by a name that you've never been known before.

You will be called by a new name, which the mouth of Yahweh will designate. That new name is holy. You have never been holy before. But now you are holy in Christ. You've been forgiven your sins. You've been clothed in his righteousness.

You are a holy people. They will call them the holy people, the redeemed of Yahweh. And you will be called, sought out, a city not forsaken. Remember that Jesus said, the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.

When Romans 3, 11 says of us, there is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. We did not even have a heart or a desire to seek him, but he sought for us. And he called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

And now in Christ Jesus, we are called his people.

Amen.

Living as the Holy People Redeemed by Yahweh

And now knowing this, my friends, knowing how this has been spoken over us in Isaiah 62, we must live righteously. We must be that holy people, that redeemed of Yahweh. Whatever sin is in your life, get it out.

Desire to live in the holiness that he has called you to, being shaped and conformed in the image of Christ and continuing as watchmen to proclaim all day and all night, never keeping silent until Jerusalem is set as a praise in the earth.

Until that day when the new Jerusalem is united with Christ forever in glory, may we continue to pray and seek him and desire holiness until that great day. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here.

We thank you that this was so prophetically said about us so very long ago, that we can see what Christ has accomplished and is doing through us even now. And may we continue to proclaim the gospel in the earth.

The gospel that by hearing it and by putting faith in Jesus, people are called out of darkness and into your marvelous light. And may we walk in the light as he is in the light. In Jesus name.

Amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast, or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

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