ISAIAH 542008 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 54

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2008. Isaiah chapter 54, as we continue our study through the book of Isaiah, we've been looking at this prophet Isaiah and the many things that God has been speaking through him to the nation of Judah. And the nation of Judah has been on a major decline. They've been in rebellion.

They've been ignoring his prophets. They've been ignoring his words. They have not been listening when he has been commanding them to turn from their idolatry. And they have insisted on worshipping these false gods. They've insisted on their own way and worshipping those gods of the nations around them.

And as a result, they've become less and less as a nation. Their strength has dwindled. Their numbers have dwindled. And they're on the verge of being conquered.

The Assyrian army at the time of Isaiah greatly threatened Judah, but God promised they would not conquer Judah. But God also promised that the next world power, the Babylonian kingdom, would be the ones who would conquer Judah, take them into captivity, and God would be using that time as a discipline, as a judgment and a punishment for

for his people, for the land of Judah, because of their constant rebellion against him. And so much of Isaiah has been promising this judgment that was to come, that was coming as a result of their sin, that was coming as Babylon was being used by God to discipline his children. But as we've been studying through this latter part of the book of Isaiah, we've also been seeing much of what is yet to come.

Many of the things we saw early on in Isaiah have already come to pass. Judah was already conquered by Babylon, as far as we're concerned today. They've already been disciplined by God in that way. But there's also many things yet to come in the future that Isaiah still mentioned and is still yet to be fulfilled. The things concerning the millennial kingdom where the Messiah, Jesus Christ, will establish His thousand-year reign here upon the earth.

Many of the things we'll be looking at are still yet to be fulfilled for the nation of Judah as Isaiah is writing these things. And yet the wonderful thing about the scriptures is that even though we're reading from the prophet Isaiah who prophesied, well, it's guessing, doing the math on top of my head, which I don't do so well, so forgive me if my dates are wrong, but it's about 2600 years ago Isaiah is writing these things.

He was writing to the nation of Judah about an immediate threat and things that would take place within 100 years of his life or so, 200 years of his life. And yet they're still applicable to us today. And today as we look at chapter 54 especially, we have many promises from Isaiah. It's really from God through Isaiah to God's people.

And you and I as believers in Jesus Christ, the wonderful thing about this is not only are these things true of the nation of Judah and we'll get to see them fulfilled in the future, but we also get to experience these promises of God right now and can hold on to these promises of God for our own selves forever.

Because we are the people of God as well. And these promises carry over to us. As I mentioned it on Sunday, the Apostle Paul said, all the promises of God are yes and amen for us through Jesus Christ. We receive all the promises of God through Jesus Christ. And so as we look at these things,

There's several promises here that we can hold on to that should be very encouraging and refreshing to you. In fact, six promises I will be pointing out that God has made for His people, which today is you and I. And so we'll be looking at the application to the nation of Judah, but also not excluding the application for you and I and how these promises are for us today. Let's start out in verse 1. It says,

Verse 2, Verse 3,

For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited. Here as we start out in verses 1-3 of chapter 54, Isaiah the prophet is speaking to the nation of Judah, and he's comparing them to a barren woman. He's comparing them to a woman who has not had the opportunity to

Now, in those days, especially in the days of Isaiah, in the days of the Jewish people, there was a great disgrace upon a woman who could not bear children. Even though we saw in the history of God's people, there was many of those women who were not able to give birth.

Going back to Sarah, remember it was many years into her life, she was, I think it was 89 years old when she got pregnant with Isaac. She was a little bit up there, especially for our day, considering that she got pregnant and gave birth at about 90 years old. Rebecca as well, and several others as you go down the list, they were not able to have children.

And there was this great, well, there was this great shame that was placed upon a woman if she was barren. Now, Isaiah is likening the nation of Judah to a barren woman for that reason. Because the nation of Judah, well, if you remember, they came from a glorious background, right?

Under King David, under King Solomon, the kingdom reached glorious heights. There was great abundance as the people followed God and worshipped God. There was great victories and God gave them peace on all sides. And yet here today as Isaiah was writing these things, well they'd become limited to pretty much the city of Jerusalem. That was all that was left. Just one city of this once great nation left.

was all that was left. And they were about to be, God was promising, that they were all going to be carried away, that that city was going to be leveled. And so he compares them to a barren woman to illustrate the type of shame and disgrace that was upon them, being the opportunity that they had, and yet the way that they squandered it in rebellion against God.

Now, at this time, they were a people who walked around with their heads down, shuffling their feet around the city, around the town. They didn't have great occasion for pride. They didn't have great occasion to rejoice. They had been disgraced. They had no might. They had no power. They had no army. They didn't really have any warriors, no fighters. They didn't have riches. It's all been carried away. They're in a very shameful situation.

And so God relates to them in this way and gives this picture of a barren woman that they would understand this picture of shame, this place that they are in as a nation. The nation of Judah, the nation of Israel is barren. But the promise of God here is they will be blessed. And so he tells them to sing, O barren, you who have not borne.

Sing, rejoice, cry aloud. That's not crying and wailing in mourning. It's crying aloud and rejoicing in excitement. He's calling the people to rejoice. He's calling the barren woman, the nation of Judah, to rejoice. Although they were in this state where they felt great shame and had deep disgrace, they

He says, it's time to be excited. It's time to have great and overflowing joy. He says, for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman, says the Lord. God says, I'm going to bring forth from you more descendants than the nations around you. He's speaking of the nation of Judah, comparing them so that they would understand their place of shame, but also to understand God's call for them to rejoice. Rejoice.

You're barren now, but you're going to be blessed. But they were ashamed. What was it that caused them to have this great shame? Well, as we've said, it's mostly because of their rebellion against God. Their refusal to honor God and to give Him the rightful place in their lives. He will be dealing with that, as He's already been dealing with that over and over in the book of Isaiah. Their continual insistence on worshiping other gods.

on having a divided heart and it brought them great shame. What is it, if you were to look at your life, what is it that brings you shame? Kind of makes you hang your head a little bit and lose some of the smile on your face and the laughter in your heart. What is it that you feel in your life is, well, it's really such a disgrace. I think we all have those things and

We can remind each other of those things and relive those pains, relive those agonies, relive those things that we experienced, those shames that we've gone through and those areas in our lives that we don't really like to talk about, those areas that we don't like to bring up. They've brought great shame and disgrace to us.

Perhaps it's not something in the past for you, but it's something in the present. Perhaps right now there's this great shame upon your life because of certain situations that you're experiencing right now. What is it that causes you great shame? God says to Judah and to you and I, sing. You're in a place of great shame. You're in a place of disgrace. Rejoice!

He goes on in verse 2 saying, enlarge the place of your tent and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Don't spare. He says, lengthen your cords. The idea is that you're dwelling in the tent and you need to make the tent bigger. You've got a four-person tent. You need a ten-person tent because, well, God's going to pour out His blessings.

He says, strengthen the stakes. Make sure you've got that tent secure. Make sure you've got that holding strong because we're going to be so full that you're going to be pressing against the sides. You're going to be overflowing with blessings, God is saying.

He says, you shall expand to the right and to the left. Your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited. Even the cities that are untouched, even the cities that, well, nobody inhabits them anymore. You're going to overflow so much that those cities are going to be inhabited. God is promising great blessing for those who are barren, for those who are full of shame, for those who are in a place of disgrace.

Now here's the amazing thing about the God that we serve. This chapter, Isaiah 54, is a great reminder of it. It's one thing to recognize that God will... Well, we talk about the book of James, right? Count it all joy, brethren, when you go through various trials because you know that the testing of your faith produces patience and patience when it's had its perfect work. The rest of the verse, of course, eludes me, but you understand the point.

We count it all joy. We go through trials. The enemy comes against us. There's persecution. There's outside attacks. And we understand, yes, we can count it great joy. We can rejoice in it because we know that through that God is doing a great work. And that's one thing. And that's a wonderful promise to hold on to. But here consider the nation of Judah at this moment. The place of shame that they're in, the place of disgrace that they're in, is not because there's other people around them that have just decided to persecute them.

It's not that they're righteous and that the people around them are wicked. They're being judged by God. They're being disciplined because of their wickedness and rebellion against God. They're being disciplined by Him. And even in the midst of that, He says, sing, rejoice. I'm going to bless you abundantly. See, here's the thing that we need to get through our heads that is so difficult for us so many times. We love to beat ourselves up.

To condemn ourselves and push ourselves into the dirt. Thinking, yes, I deserve this. I blew it. I did it. It's my fault. I did this and I did that. We condemn ourselves far longer than often God condemns us or disciplines us. Although they deserve to be in this place and although it was their own doing that put them there, God says, okay, now rejoice. You put yourself in this place of great shame. Yeah, it's your fault. You did it. But I...

I'm going to bless you. I'm going to enlarge your tent. I'm going to take this and you think it's your worst shame and your worst disgrace. You think it's unrecoverable, the place where you are at or the place where you've been. I'm going to show you different. I'm going to blow your mind and explode blessings into your life. In Hebrews 12, verse 11 says,

The author of Hebrews says, no chastening seems to be joyful at the present. And I think we could all say amen to that. But painful. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. God says, discipline in your life. Yes, it's as a result of your sin. It's a result of what you've done. This place that you've put yourself in. And so I bring discipline. But I don't bring discipline to strip you of everything and leave you like that.

I bring discipline so that afterwards it can yield its fruit, that there can come forth fruit from it, that there can be abundance that comes out of it, that I can bless you abundantly and expand your tent and grow your territory. And so it's great cause to rejoice, to sing, because God has promised, you will be blessed. Oh, but I messed up and I did this. You will be blessed.

At the end of chapter 54, just to make sure this is clear in our hearts. Verse 17, he says, No weapon formed against you shall prosper. We'll get to that. And every tongue which rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn. We'll get to that. But notice this next part of verse 17. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And their righteousness is from me, says the Lord.

These things, these promises that we're looking at here in chapter 54, this is the heritage, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And so this evening, if you're a servant of the Lord, rejoice. Even if you feel that you're in a place of great shame and disgrace because of what you've done and where you've brought yourself in your life, rejoice. Rejoice.

Because you will be blessed. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. If you serve the Lord, you can count on this. You can guarantee this. You will be blessed. Can you just remind the person next to you about that? Just tell them, you will be blessed. This is so hard for us to grasp. It's so difficult because we get so involved in a works-based relationship with God.

And we always think that He relates to us in the same way that we relate to one another. That we bless others when they're good to us, when they bless us, and when they do good things.

But God says, even when you messed up royally, even when you put yourself in the mess that you're in, even when you've brought yourself great shame and disgrace, and you've been in rebellion against God, listen, if you turn to God, if your righteousness is from Him, which comes by faith in Jesus Christ, if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, if you serve the Lord, you will be blessed.

God has blessings in store for you. He's going to expand your tent and blow your mind with the things that He wants to pour into your life. And so there's great cause to rejoice. And you think, but I'm barren. I mean, look at the people around me. And you look at the people around you and consider in contrast to the things that cause you great shame. What causes you shame?

Well, I just, man, you know, I'm this old and I don't own a house and my friends that are this age, they all have houses and I'm in this place because, oh, when I was young or I've been living this way and I don't have these resources and I don't do that or I'm in,

this situation and this career and I haven't got to management yet and I'm still, you know, just flipping the burgers and I'm just still there. I'm in this place of shame and disgrace because I can never listen to my boss. I'm always disobedient and yell at people and I can't listen to instruction and obey it or whatever it is. We look at the people around us and think, man, they have it so great and I'm barren. I have nothing. God says, rejoice. He has blessings in store for you. God says,

will bless you. That is the heritage. It's the inheritance. It's the right of His servants, of those whose righteousness is from Him. See, it's not our righteousness. It's not me doing good works and so therefore I will be blessed. God doesn't relate to us in that way. It's my faith in Jesus Christ. As we saw on Sunday, entering into the rest of God by faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the fullness of God's plan for us by faith.

You will be blessed. Going on to verse 4 and 5, it says, Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed, neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame, 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.

Here now Isaiah goes on to say, do not fear. Why should you not fear? Well, promise number two this evening, you will not be ashamed. You will not be ashamed. Whatever it is that you're ashamed of in your life, those things that bring you and cause you great shame right now, those things that you're going through that you would describe as a disgrace in your life right now, he says, don't fear because you will not be

be ashamed. What is it going to be like for you to stand before God? Again, we quickly condemn ourselves. We quickly judge ourselves and it's so easy to think that we're going to stand before God ashamed. And yet the promise of Scripture in Romans chapter 10, it tells us whoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ will never be ashamed. We don't have to stand before God in shame.

When we get to the end of this life, when we enter into eternity, we're not going to look back and be ashamed. Be living with that shame and that disgrace for the rest of eternity and the rest of our lives. Now Israel had much to be ashamed about. They knew God. They had the word of God and yet they departed from God. And we have a saying, we would tell them, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

And perhaps you would say that to yourself or to someone around you or other people have said it to you. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. There was great reason, great cause for them to be ashamed. And yet, God's promise is, do not fear for you will not be ashamed. He says, you will forget the shame of your youth. Now, when we're in a situation that has caused us great shame and disgrace, it very often seems like the end of the world.

And we'll never escape this shame. We'll never escape this dark cloud that hovers over us as a result of what we have done and the mistakes that we've made and the ways that we've blown it. But God's promise is, you will not be ashamed. Even though you've messed up royally. Even though you've blown it just like Judah and Israel. You will not be ashamed. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. We're going to look on Sunday at the high priest.

And because we have this great high priest, we can go before the throne of God with boldness. Not because we've earned it. Not because we've deserved it. Even when we've blown it, we can go before the throne of God with boldness, with confidence. God's promise is, you will not be ashamed. Now again, they had great reason to be ashamed. In the book of Hosea, God uses this prophet Hosea

to make, well, a pretty bold statement against his people. He tells Hosea, Hosea, here's what I want you to do. You're going to be a testimony to my people. I want you to go and get married to a prostitute. Go marry a harlot. I'm sure that's not the wife that Hosea had in mind for himself, but it was the wife that God gave him as a witness to the rest of the nation.

In Hosea chapter 1 verse 2, he gives him this command to go and to marry a harlot. He says, for the land, that is the land of Israel, has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord. And so God uses this relationship to demonstrate to the people the shame that they should have because they had departed from the Lord. Spiritually, they had committed harlotry, turning and worshipping these other gods.

We would tell Judah, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. But God says, do not fear, for you will not be ashamed. Why? He tells us in verse 5, for your maker is your husband. And although Hosea was to marry this harlot, this prostitute, he was to take care of her and love her. Even though she was not faithful, he took care of her and loved her. He modeled for us, he modeled for Israel,

The way that God relates to His people. That even when we're unfaithful, He takes care of us. Even when we've blown it, He loves us. The heritage of the servants of the Lord is that you will not be ashamed because your Maker is your husband. Your Maker, the One who created you, is also committed to you, to provide for you, to meet your needs, to care for you, and to love you. The Lord of hosts is His name. He's your Redeemer.

He's bought you out and purchased you. You're His own. And He is called the God of the whole earth. The God of all creation has loved you and purchased you. And He cares for you and He's committed to you. And as we often quote, He will be faithful to complete the work that He began in you.

And so you can hold fast to this promise. You will not be ashamed. Although you might be overwhelmed with shame now, you will not be ashamed. Although you think you will never escape those mistakes and those things in the past, you will not be ashamed. It's the heritage of the servants of the Lord. Verse 6, For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused, says your God.

Verse 7, for a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says the Lord your Redeemer. Here in verses 6 through 8 we see the next promise, and that is that although you may feel forsaken for a moment, God will have mercy on you with everlasting kindness.

God will have mercy on you with everlasting kindness. How long is everlasting? Longer than the Energizer buddy? Duracell, the Everlast battery? Yeah, it's longer than that. When God says everlasting, well, it doesn't run out. He will have mercy on you with everlasting kindness. His kindness will not run out.

He will not cease to be kind to you. He says there in verse 6, The Lord has called you like a woman forsaken. Now again, going back to the picture of Hosea, his wife Gomer was a woman who had been forsaken. He has called you, he says, like a youthful wife when you were refused. This was a place of great shame. This was a place of great disgrace. If there was a young woman and she was set to be married, but then...

The husband or the one, the husband-to-be refused at the last minute to enter into that commitment and that covenant. It was a disgraceful thing. Without going into details, it was a thing that would bring great shame. And he says, the Lord had called you when you were like that. When you were in a place of great shame, when you were in a disgraceful place, I've called you. Similar to what we read in the book of Romans that

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It wasn't because we were so good and wonderful that Christ died for us. It wasn't when we were on our best behavior that Christ died for us. But when we were in the midst of our sin and in the midst of our rebellion against God, in our shameful and disgraceful condition, is when God called us and died for us and redeemed us. And here He's disciplining His people and He says in verse 7, For a mere moment I have forsaken you.

For a mere moment, but with great mercies, I will gather you. He's providing this contrast. The mere moment, it's just, I don't know, the hand motion that's appropriate for a mere moment, but the short amount of time, as opposed to these great mercies. A little wrath, he'll go on to say, in contrast to everlasting kindness. A little wrath, everlasting kindness. God says, you feel forsaken.

for this little time. The word forsaken here, it's interesting. It can mean to abandon, but we know that God didn't abandon them. It also can mean to let something go free. And that's exactly what God has done. He has allowed them. They chose to rebel against Him. And so He let them go free. He let them make that decision. He let them rebel against Him.

and experience the consequences for that action. That's the nation of Babylon coming against them and taking them away captive. That's all of the attacks of the surrounding nations that they've been receiving up to this point. They were receiving the consequences for what they had done. God allowed them to make that choice and to rebel against Him. But the emphasis here is on the contrast between the little bit of time of this discipline, of this judgment...

of this punishment that they were receiving in contrast with the great amount of time, the blessings that he had in store for them. Although you may feel forsaken for a moment, for a little while, with everlasting kindness, God will have mercy on you. He's going to have mercy on you with everlasting kindness for the rest of eternity. He's going to be kind and merciful to you.

That is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. That is your inheritance. For those whose righteousness is in Him, that's those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, our heritage is that for the rest of eternity, He will be merciful towards us and not give us the judgment that we deserve. He will not deal with us according to our sins. And He will be kind to us for the rest of eternity. This is the heritage that you and I have as believers in Jesus Christ.

Although we may experience a little bit of difficulty right now, although we may experience the consequences for our sins right now, as we compare the everlasting kindness to the little bit of discipline, we realize it's just a mere moment. It's like what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 17, he says, "...our light affliction, which is but for a moment..."

is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The affliction that we face, even if it's self-inflicted because of our rebellion against God, it's but for a moment. And even though it's our fault that we're here and God is disciplining us, it is working in us the fruit, the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

It is working in us. God is using this and He's going to, through this, produce abundant fruit in our life. And for the rest of eternity, He's going to pour out mercy and kindness upon us because that is our heritage as servants of the Lord. It's a mere moment. Although it doesn't feel like it when you're in the middle of it. I understand that. I'm there. I've been there. It feels like the rest of your life. It's going to be like this forever.

You can't see beyond this problem, this shame, this disgrace that you've experienced, the effects and the consequences of those decisions that you made a long time ago, perhaps, seem to haunt you to this day. Seems like you'll never escape that, but it's, understand, in light of eternity, it's just a mere moment. And so, if I was to come to you and say, I'll sell you this ATM card, it will always have money in the account, right?

It will never be brought down to a zero balance no matter how much you spend. Infinite resources on this card. It'll just cost you $2. Is that a tough decision to make? Is that a tough thing to decide? No, $2 for infinite resources? Sure, absolutely. I got it right here in my pocket. God says, it's just a mere moment. It might feel like eternity for us. But what you go through, what you're going through, what you're experiencing, the affliction you face, it's...

It's just a mere moment. And the effects of that, as you endure, as you walk with God in the midst of that, it's producing in you fruit that will abound for the rest of eternity. That's your heritage as a servant of the Lord. That's your promise. That's your right as a servant of the Lord. Verse 9.

God now gives us another picture. He says, this is like the waters of Noah to me. The waters of Noah. The waters of Noah.

In the waters of Noah, as they receded, God produced a sign promising that He would never flood the earth again. Remember what that sign was? A rainbow. In the same way, He has produced a sign that His kindness will not depart from you and His covenant of peace shall not be removed. And what is that sign? He says right here, the mountains shall not depart and the hills be removed. It's a little dark outside, so we might not be able to see Him, but right behind us over there is...

The Cleveland National Forest, if I'm not mistaken. And last I checked, they're a little bit higher elevation than where we are right now. Walk outside tomorrow and look and make sure that Big Bear is still there. And every time you see Mount Baldy, realize this is the sign of God's covenant. His covenant that His kindness will not depart from His servants.

And His covenant of peace will not be removed. Just as He put the rainbow in the sky as a promise, as a sign of this promise that He had made that He will not flood the earth again, God said, this is like the waters of Noah to me. Because I've made a promise, I'm not going to be angry with you nor rebuke you forever. My spirit's not always going to strive with man as God had said earlier. Although there is a time of discipline, there's a time of chastening, this is not going to continue for eternity.

No, there's going to be kindness. And my kindness will not depart from you. My covenant of peace will not be removed from you. The promise that you and I have is that we will never be without God's kindness. His kindness is still with you right now. And even though you may have blown it, and even though you may be in a place of great disgrace and shame, His covenant has not been removed. Even though God disciplines us,

He has not cast us off. His kindness will not depart from us. Verse 11,

God says, This chapter, Isaiah chapter 54, is a message of hope, of refreshing, of encouragement that's especially pointed to the afflicted one.

The one who, like Judah, has experienced the shame and disgrace and the consequences and result of disobedience to God. And yet even in the midst of that, and even though we bring it upon ourselves by our disobedience to God, God's message is not of, well, it's not a message of give up, walk away, why don't you quit, I'm so upset with you, I'm done with you, you blew it.

You had all these resources and all these opportunities and boy, did you really mess it up. You're a disgrace. Get out of my sight. God does not say that. He says, yes, you blew it. Yes, I'm bringing judgment. Yes, I'm disciplining you. But it's for a purpose. And I'm not taking my covenant from you. You're going to be receiving everlasting mercy and kindness from me and you will not be ashamed.

Oh, you afflicted ones. Oh, you, when you're experiencing affliction, when you're going through difficulties, when you're facing hardship, when you're experiencing such trouble. He says, when you're tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems and lay your foundations with sapphires. He goes on to describe this, well, this building that's made of all of these priceless stones

Gems and stones. These valuable materials. God says, I will rebuild you with precious stones. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. God will rebuild you with precious stones. You've destroyed your life. I've destroyed my life. That's for sure.

I can make a mess of things. I have made a mess of things. I continue to make a mess of things in my life. And yet, God's heritage for me is that He will rebuild my life with precious stones. Our sin, our rebellion, messes things up, brings destruction in our lives. It tears down things that have been set up and established in our lives. But God does not give up on us.

And He doesn't leave us in that wrecked state. He doesn't leave us desolate. What God has been promising to Judah is that the nation of Judah is going to be taken captive and the city of Jerusalem is going to be leveled. But He doesn't leave it that way. He says, I'm going to rebuild it. Your life may be leveled. You may have leveled your life with the effects of the choices, the consequences of the decisions you've made. But God will not leave you in that state.

He will rebuild your life with precious materials, everlasting materials, starting with your own body. Now your body might be breaking down because of the effects of the life that you have chosen to live. And you might have illness, you might have chemical imbalances, you might have issues in your body as a result of drugs or alcohol.

internal, external, you might have all kinds of physical problems because of the life that you've chosen to live. The consequences of rebellion against God. And yet, God will rebuild. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul says, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Speaking of the rapture of the church, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible is put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. The body that you are living in, that has suffered the consequences of the life that you have chosen to live, will be changed. The corruptible body that you have.

The broken down body, as life continues to wear you down, it will be changed. And this corruptible will put on incorruption. That's just physical. That's just looking at our body. We could look at our relationships, the relationships that we've destroyed, just messed up. God says, I'm going to rebuild with precious stones, precious materials. Every aspect of our life is affected by sin. But the good news is that every aspect of our life will be rebuilt again.

by God in a way that is far greater than we could ever imagine. He says, You're going to be far from oppression. You will not fear. You'll be far from terror. It won't come near you. Verse 15 says,

Indeed, they shall surely assemble, but not because of me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake. He says, there will be those who come against you, but they're not coming against you because of me. There will come a time as my discipline has had its work, as this fruit comes forth, that those who come against you will not be those enlisted by me to bring discipline upon you. They're going to take that upon themselves, but they're going to fall.

They will not be successful because I did not raise them up for that. Verse 16, 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. God raised up Babylon and He used them as His instrument to deal with His rebellious people. They were His instrument. They were His tool because that discipline needed to be brought forth in their lives.

And yet, the final promise of God, verse 17, 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. The final promise we see today is that no weapon formed against you shall prosper.

As a servant of the Lord, your heritage, your right, is that no matter what weapon is formed against you, it will not prosper. No matter what scheme people can come up with, no matter what attacks they can bring against you, whether it be personally in your life, there in the neighborhood, there in the workplace, whether it be financially, whatever the case may be, however it may come at you in your life in its various forms,

No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Understand the depth and the meaning of that for just a moment. There is no scheme, no plan, no plot that can effectively take away from what God has in store for you.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.