Isaiah 54:1

Isaiah 54:1 says, Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.  Isaiah said that when God delivered them from Babylonian captivity that they were to break forth in song and cry aloud.  The nation of Israel had been like a baren woman, with very few people being added to the nation.  There were also more children who didn’t believe in God than there were who did, which would be like the children of a wife.  Matthew Henry points out that only about 42,000 returned from Babylon, which was about a fifteenth of the number that had left Egypt.  We need to pray that the number of Christians in the world today doesn’t begin to decrease, but I am afraid it will.  Still, we must obey God’s command to carry the gospel to the whole world. 

Verse two adds, Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;  Isaiah said they were to prepare for the nation to grow once more. They had been defeated and reduced in numbers, but by faith in God, that was going to change.  As followers of Christ today, we need to always look for God to increase our numbers, but all we can do is witness to and pray for the lost.  The increase will always be up to the individuals and God. 

Verse three continues, For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.  Isaiah said they were going to break forth in all directions and that they were going to increase by reaching the Gentiles and calling them to become a part of God’s family.  God never intended for the people of Israel to think that they alone could be saved, but they were always to reach out to the Gentiles with God’s word.  We today are not to think that God is only going to save just certain people, but we are to reach out to the whole world with the gospel.  No group of people, of their own merit, is better than any other in God’s sight. 

Verse four states, Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.  Isaiah called on the people of Israel no longer be afraid and to forget their shame from before, when they had been enslaved and many women left as widows.   There would be no reason to dwell on these memories any longer, just as there is no reason for us to look back on our lives, which may have been lived in shame before God, once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Since God has forgiven and erased the sins from our slate, we don’t need to allow them to hold us back now. 

Verse five adds, For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.  Isaiah added that God was their husband, since the church is the bride of Christ.  The husband is supposed to be the head of the earthly family, protecting and providing for the family, and God is the head of His family, the church.  He is the Redeemer, the only one that there is.  He is also the Holy One of Israel.  When Jesus Christ came to live, die, and be resurrected for the forgiveness of our sins, He wasn’t some new God.  He was still the God that the people of Israel had worshipped for all those years, and even more than that He was the Creator of everything.  He was to be called the God, not just of Israel, but of the whole earth.  As Christians, it is our responsibility to do our best under the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit to share the gospel with the whole world.