"The New Jerusalem" Sermon: Isaiah 54:11-17 (manuscript)

 

“The New Jerusalem”

[Isaiah 54:11-17]

May 9, 2021 YouTube

            We saw the work of the Suffering Savior achieve the bringing back to spiritual life from the spiritual death that all mere humans are born in, and because we are now spiritually alive, we know that God loves us eternally and has compassion on us and gives us His peace.  This is given to Jerusalem and all believers in part while we are on the earth now and will be fulfilled when Jesus returns and restores the Creation.

            At this point, we see the City of God, which is the New Jerusalem.

            First, we see what the New Jerusalem looks like (metaphorically).

            “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.”

            God is speaking to Jerusalem as she prepares to go into exile, and He is giving them an immediate and future hope that they will return, and the city will be rebuilt to the glory of God.  God is also telling them – and us – that the true and final city of Jerusalem is breaking forth and will come in all its fulness when Jesus, the Suffering Servant, returns to restore the Creation.

            The Temple that Jerusalem knows at the time of Isaiah – 700 B. C. – will be destroyed as part of the siege on Jerusalem.  The people will be afflicted, storm-tossed, and not comforted.  Despite the good news to come, they will have to endure war and death, illness, and exile.

            We look at our world – with all the devastation and death that Covid brings, with violent riots across the country causing massive amounts of damage, protests demanding justice and an end to racism, and we are likely to throw up our hands in frustration and confusion, so we are called to remember the Good News, the promises of God – the New Jerusalem that God promises to all who will believe. 

The New Jerusalem is populated with everyone who believes, no matter where they come from.  The New Jerusalem is the Church.

The New Jerusalem is the purified Church – the many rooms that Jesus is preparing.

It is described as a costly and magnificent structure:

“I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.”

The stones – who are all those who believe – will be set in antimony.  Antimony is a siler element that is used in making bearings and bullets – among other things.  It is a strong and stable element that (metaphorically) keeps us safe – solid and immoveable – forever part of the New Jerusalem.

The foundation is laid with sapphires.  Sapphires are a type of precious stone which are most often blue.

The pinnacles – the high peaks of the city – are made of agate.  You may be familiar with an agate.  It is a stone that doesn’t look like much of anything on the outside, but when it is cut open, one finds a solid rock with strata of multiple colors.

The gates are made of carbuncle – don’t think of the medical meaning of this word – it is a precious stone – usually red.

And the walls are made of all kinds of precious stones.

The Church – the City of God – the New Jerusalem – is a costly and magnificent structure. The Son of God became a human and died the most horrific death to save His people.  The salvation of the Church is a costly and magnificent work of the Suffering Savior.

John gives us another picture of what the New Jerusalem will be like – similarly stressing the costliness and magnificence of it.

“And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass” (Revelation 21:15-21, ESV).

Jerusalem prepares for exile knowing that she will return and eventually be brought into the City of God – with all believers.  It is a costly and magnificent structure, costing the life of Jesus.

Second, we see the atmosphere of the New Jerusalem.

“All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you.”

Here, we may find ourselves asking questions: “If there is no birth or death in the New Jerusalem, how can we talk about our children?  Does that mean our children no matter their age?  Or will those who die as children remain children in the Kingdom?”

We are looking at the fact that children in the Kingdom and children in the world and in biblical families prior to the Second Coming will be protected and secure from evil and strife – in the sense that God cares for them and makes His Word known to them and only allows things to happen to them (now and forever) that are for their good.

On earth now, all those who believe are taught by God through the preaching of His Word, and through the ministrations of God the Holy Spirit as we hear and read God’s Word.  And knowing Who God is and what He has said and promised puts us at peace.

Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father” (John 6:44-46, ESV).

So, those who are taught are taught by the Father and are drawn to faith in Jesus.  The only ones who believe savingly are those who have heard and believed the Word of God, because the Father draws them to belief in the Savior.

Those who believe are established in righteousness.  That is, since Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, keeping all of God’s Law, He credits that sinless keeping of the Law to all those who will believe, so we are seen as righteous in Jesus.

In the Kingdom, there will be no oppression or fear.  However, in this life, all who believe will have oppression and fear and persecution for our faith.  Yet, we must understand that God does not sin, and He does not make others sin, but God uses the sin of others to accomplish His plans.

The atmosphere of the New Jerusalem, then, is one of peace, knowledge of God, and protection.

Third, we see the safety of those in the New Jerusalem.

“Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy;”

God tells Jerusalem – and us – that God called the people who oppose the people of God into existence.  God created the people who know how to make weapons of mass destruction.  God created the people who desire to ravage and destroy the people of God – like the Assyrians, like the Babylonians, and so forth.  And God created all those people who hate Christians and want to stop them from preaching the Word of God and who want to kill all those who believe savingly in Jesus.

And someone might ask, “Well, why did God create these people in the first place if He knows who they will be and how they will come against His people?”

One reason is that God wants Jerusalem – and we – to understand that God is omnipotent – He is all-powerful – and He is utterly sovereign over all of Creation.

God allows the wicked to do evil according to God’s plan.  God does not force them to do evil, and God is Sovereign over them as they choose to do evil. The wicked cannot lift a finger to do anything unless God allows it.

“no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.”

You may have heard this section of the verse wrongly interpreted to mean that believers cannot be hurt by any weapon – that we have protection such that we cannot be shot or poisoned and so forth.  And, that believers have only to say the word, and they will refute anything wrong that is said about salvation.

This is ridiculous on its face:  Christians are tortured, lied about, falsely imprisoned, and killed all the time and throughout history.  Certainly, the believers who understand that Jerusalem will be exiled into Babylon will not say, “I’m a believer; it can’t happen.”

Albert Barnes explains this passage by saying, “The sense here is, that it shall not have final and ultimate prosperity. It might be permitted for a time to appear to prosper - as persecutors and oppressors have done; but there would not be final and complete success” [https://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/commentaries/bnb/isaiah-54.php#.YJaR7YeSnIU]

The text does not tell us that neither weapons nor falsehoods will never have any victory over us, but that they will not have ultimate victory over us.

Jesus says, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28, ESV).

Jesus says that evil people will attack believers with weapons and will tell lies and spread untruths about us, and, for a time, we shall be persecuted, tortured, and killed. Yet, all these things that occur are under God’s sovereign control and cannot ultimately overcome or destroy us.

Paul writes, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39, ESV).

Multitudes of evil will come against individual believers and the Church, but it will not totally overcome us – we will not lose our salvation due to it.  The evil ones do not have the power or authority to take God’s people out of His Hands.  We are forever His and with Him eternally.  Because the Suffering Servant took our place – He is our Substitute – before the Father.

“This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”

            What is “this” that all we believers inherit?  The New Jerusalem – everlasting life with God in the Kingdom.  It is our heritage – our right – God’s Providence for us – that we shall be received into the Kingdom according to the vindication that God gives all we who believe through Jesus.  Our eternal life in the Kingdom is nothing we did, but it a gift from God.

            Speaking of Jesus, John records, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13, ESV).

            All those for whom the Servant lived and died will be eternally safe in the Kingdom.

            Jerusalem – and we – are comforted to know that the Eternal Kingdom of our God is costly and magnificent, because it is bought through the work of the Servant.

            In the Kingdom, we will continue to know God more fully – as we have already begun in studying God’s Word and hearing biblical preaching.  We shall be made righteous and be at peace.

            And all we who believe will eternally be safe in the Kingdom.  While we remain on earth, the wicked will cause the suffering of the Church in many ways, but God has the wicked on a leash and will only allow them to do what God decrees.  Ultimately, they are nothing to be afraid of.

            Let us pray:

            Almighty God, we thank You for the assurance that all those who believe in Jesus as God and Savior will be eternally received into the New Jerusalem – the Kingdom of God.  We thank You for telling Jerusalem and all believers that Your Kingdom is magnificent, yet costly in the death of Jesus. We thank You that we will have peace in the Kingdom and will not be ultimately defeated by the evil people on the earth.  Give us strength by the Holy Spirit and find us in faith when Jesus returns.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.