Isaiah 54:9-17

Theme: Because of Jesus, God won’t be angry with His people, and His love can’t stop.

What might God to us? If we mess up, what is God going to do? If we miss an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus, what might God do? How is He going to react? What if we don’t give enough money in the collection plate? We know God sees how much we put in every week? What if it’s not enough? What is He going to do? What if we do something really big? I mean, what we did was shameful. We can’t believe we did it, but we did, and we even knew that it was wrong while we were doing it? What then? What if we commit the same sin again for 650^th time. We’re trying not to. We don’t want to sin. We just can’t seem to lose this sin. We hate it, but we haven’t gotten free of it yet. What is God going to do, when He’s told us a thousand times not to do it, and we did it anyway? What is God going to do, when He’s told us a thousand times to get up out of church and get it done, and we haven’t done it yet? We missed another opportunity? What will God do? What will He do?

Our imaginations run a little wild sometimes. We know that God is holy, we know that God is just. We know that He can’t just look the other way and let the sin go unpunished. So we wonder if maybe He’ll make us lose our job, as punishment. Maybe we’ll fall down and break an arm, like God pushes us down to get back at us for our sin. Maybe, if we sinned really big, maybe, if we sinned often enough, maybe, maybe, is it possible that God could take away someone that we love? What might He do to us? What will He do?

Would you like to know? We hear it directly from the mouth of God. In spite of our sin, even when we walk away, well, listen to God explain it. Verse 7:

“To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.

God is thinking back to another time when He made a decision on what to do with sinful human beings. God is thinking back to Noah and his family, when He made the decision never to destroy the earth again, as He had done with the flood. Remember a few weeks ago, we saw how He had set up a rainbow in the sky as a seal, a reminder, that the earth was no longer under attack. The bow was pointing away from the earth, now. The bow was pointing towards heaven. If anyone was going to be shot, it would be God Himself that would take the arrow.

Now, here, again, God is deciding what to do with sinful human beings who say the words and think the thoughts and do the deeds that are so hurtful, so repulsive. And God again makes the decision to not destroy sinful human beings. His anger will be diverted someplace else. He will not get angry with the sinners again. He made the covenant with Noah back in Genesis 9, and in verse 9 here, we receive His promise again:

I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again.

You heard it, from God’s mouth. I have sworn to not be angry with you. I will never rebuke you again. What will God do when we sin? He will not get angry. What will God do, when we sin, again? He will not rebuke.

I don’t know about you, but I love this verse, and I’m nervous with this verse. I love this verse, because God is guaranteeing, He is swearing on Himself to not be angry at you and me, anymore. Which sounds wonderful, but what about our sin? I mean, we do bad things. We think thoughts that would horrify anyone who could listen in. We have said words that have cut people, wounded our loved ones to the core of their person. We have done things that have hurt other people. We have done things that have hurt ourselves. We have rebelled. We have sinned. What about that? What does God do with our sins?

The answer is found in the previous chapter, chapter 53, Isaiah 53. Verse 5 of that chapter:

[The servant of the Lord, the Son of God, Jesus] he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

All the anger, all the rage, all the vengeance was blasted down on the head of our Savior and Friend Jesus. The pain of the cross was more than just nails through hands and feet. The agony was more than just the beating and whipping and punching. The real suffering on the cross, the anguish that Jesus took was the six hours of God’s blazing righteous anger smashing Him, destroying Jesus. Jesus took an eternity’s worth of hell for each one of us, an eternity’s worth of hell for every person who has ever lived. Billions and billions times the agony of an eternity in hell. This was the weight, the fierceness, the rage of God’s anger.

And it was all spent out on Jesus. Every last scrap of it vented on our Lord. There is no more anger left. No more anger, that is, for every human being who finds shelter in Jesus. No more anger for every human being who knows that Jesus took that anger for them. The anger was diverted away from anyone who has given their life to Jesus, but only from them. For those who don’t care about Jesus, who have not given their lives to the Lord, there is the anger of God, the eternity of hell waiting for them.

But don’t let that scare you, not if you really have trusted in Jesus to save you. This text is supposed to comfort, not to scare. God gives this word to assure us, not to threaten us into obedience. His anger is gone. His promise is sure. He will not, He will not, He will not grow angry with You, because of Jesus.

That’s a great promise, isn’t it? But, are you still feeling a bit nervous? It almost sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? It seems too easy. I mean, what is going to keep us from sinning? Why wouldn’t we just take advantage of Him? If it’s not His anger that keeps us on the straight and narrow, then what?

He answers our questions, He calms our nerves, He gives us our reason to live for Him in verse 10:

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

There’s word there in verse 10 that we have to stop an notice, a word that explains the anger poured out on Jesus, a word that gives the reason for our obedience. In Hebrew it’s the word chesed, and in verse 10 here it’s the two words, unfailing love. It’s one of those words that is so big, it has so much meaning that it’s translated in a number of different ways. Unfailing love, here in verse 10. Lovingkindness, goodness, faithfulness, faithful mercies, everlasting kindness, you get the idea. It’s difficult to translate this word from Hebrew to English, just because of the languages.

But it’s also difficult to understand this word because we can’t comprehend an unfailing love. Most of the love in our lives can fail. There’s a really good chance the love will stop. Our friends look like they love us, but friends can turn on you, they can hurt. Even family, even husbands, wives can stop loving. We want to depend, we need to depend on love. But love from sinful people can sometimes let us down.

Not the unfailing love of God. Never the unfailing love of God. His compassion, His affection, His favor, His unfailing love won’t end. It can’t end. What will God do when you sin? How will He respond? He will love. He will love…you.

And the result of this love is peace and righteousness. Verse 13:

All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children’s peace.

It’s God’s love that teaches, not God’s anger. It’s His unfailing kindness that changes attitudes and transforms hearts, not the threat of punishment. We obey more as we understand God’s love more. Verse 14:

In righteousness you will be established

We are going to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts and souls and mind and strength because we are beginning to understand the depth of His love for us. He will not get angry with us. He will never stop loving us. He poured out His fierce rage on His Son, and He poured out His deep, intense love on us.

When we come face to face with this kind of love, this chesed, we want to serve Him that much more. When we know that He won’t respond in anger when we serve Him, even when we mess up, we have more courage to try. If we do fail, and we will, well, He fixes that, too, and even uses that for His purposes. With this confidence, with this guarantee, we are more likely to talk to someone about our relationship with Jesus when we know we can depend on the unfailing love of God. We are more likely to pray with someone, even if they don’t really believe in prayer, when we have God’s unfailing love supporting us. When we sin, we are more quick to repent. When we fail God, we run back to Him sooner. Instead of avoiding time with Him, hoping the guilt just goes away on its own, we draw apart with Him and spend some honest moments, admitting our failures and resting in His loving forgiveness. Maybe we’re not exactly sure what God wants us to do. Does He want us to serve Him as elder or deacon, or on a committee? Does He want us to teach, to lead a Bible study? Does He want me to go into ministry as a career, to become a minister or a missionary, a youth pastor, a church planter? Even if we’re not sure, we feel confident to try, knowing that God won’t respond with anger, but with love, unfailing love.

But our confidence gets shook sometimes when God’s love seems far away. We’re not so sure, sometimes, when it seems like God might be angry at us, when something happens that hurts, when we lose something or someone we love. We wonder sometimes when God seems far away. Sure, Isaiah 54 says that God won’t get angry, but it sure seems like it. Okay, we know that God loves us, but it feels like His love is about a thousand miles away.

Before we doubt, before we grow afraid, our loving Lord prepares us, still in verse 14:

Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;

You’re life is in Jesus. You’ve given your life to your Lord. You want to serve Him with your life. So when tragedy hits, when pain comes, that’s not coming from the Lord. He’s not doing that to you because He’s angry at you. He’s not attacking you. Instead, He’s protecting you. Verse 15:

whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

And His protection is as sure as His love. His defense is guaranteed. Verse 16:

“See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work.

He created anything that could harm you. He created anyone who could make your life miserable. So if He’ll never, ever be angry at you anymore, and if He’ll always, unfailingly love you, from now one, then, verse 17:

no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.

This is life as a child of God. This is how we move through this world, as God’s beloved servant. There is no more fear, no more terror, not of God and not of this world. God won’t get angry at us anymore. And this world can’t beat us.

What will you do with this freedom? How will you treat this love? Where will you go from here, knowing God won’t get angry, knowing the world can’t be you, knowing His love won’t stop, can’t stop, you are loved unfailingly? Will you love Him back by helping someone else escape His anger? Will you love Him back by showing someone else His love? Will you throw yourself unhesitatingly into service for your loving Lord? Will you accept His forgiveness, will you enjoy His freedom, will you be unfailingly loved?