Isaiah Chapter 54

[To Christ]

Isaiah 54

"'Sing, O barren,
You who have not born!
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.'" (v.1)

"'For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
For your Maker is your husband.
The LORD of hosts is His name.
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called the God of the whole earth.'" (vs. 4-5)

"'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,
And their righteousness is from Me,'
says the LORD." (v. 17)

NKJV​

Though the chapter refers to "barren" and "you who have not born," I think of it as having a further meaning than never married and without children. Since the chapter ends with "this is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me," (v.17) there seems to be a broader meaning; "barren" referring to our inner areas we have not yet surrendered to Him, so have not allowed His Spirit to fill those places. Then "have not born" gives me a sense of the thing which God wants us to birth before He will allow a person to bring any other type of completion. If we analogize all aspects of the chapter in this way - males and females, we are the bride of Christ - it may help to gain more of God's perspective on the loneliness of being without one secure human companion.


May His love fill every place in your hearts and spirits!
To Christ

 

[To Christ]

After posting, further thoughts about Isaiah 54 swam in - relating to Bible versions. I was then moved to check the Isaiah 54 NIV, and what a different picture from the NKJV verse I quoted! (I have only read through the Old Testament, Genesis to Malachi in the the NKJV. My reading of the O.T. has been NKJV, NASB, and KJV, except for specific verse searches.) Then occurred to me the verses (NKJV) where Isaiah 54 is quoted in Galatians 4:21-27:

"Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar-- for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children-- but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written"

"'Rejoice, O barren,
You who do not bear!
Break forth and shout,
You who are not in labor!
For the desolate has many more children
Than she who has a husband.'"

I had previously overlooked the word "symbolic." This is a funny reminder of, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." (2 Pet.1:20)

This thread may have better been placed in Bible Study. Perhaps God will lead to me to expand on the imagery in Isaiah 54 in a new thread there. Any input from those who have been previously comforted by revelations that emphasize Isaiah 54 as a comfort for all God's children who are winging it solo would be welcome!