“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 54:1)
A song is an expression of the heart, that's why music is so moving. It flows from one person's heart and affects those who hear it. If it is a song poured out of a broken heart, it breaks ours. If it is a song of praise, it makes us grateful. It is truly a hard heart that has no song nor can be affected by another's. Here we have a song that ought to make the coldest of Saints hot with fervor and love for our Lord and what He has done for us.
What is the occasion of this singing? This happy chapter comes right after the chapter of our Lord’s suffering. Our stripes were laid on his back in chapter 53, our sins upon his shoulders, our griefs he has borne, and our sorrows he has carried! That is the occasion; all our sins have been laid on him, and our shame was laid in the grave with our Lord, and we bear it no more!
Sing because you were barren, but now you are going to have to enlarge the place of your tent for all the children you will bear. Sing because the gospel seed has taken root in your heart and brings forth fruit unto eternal life, not only in you but in those around you. Sing for our barrenness has passed away and now in Christ Jesus, we break forth on the right hand and the left. There is fruit in what was a barren wasteland, my life is light where it was once total darkness. Sing, shout, praise the Lord, our barrenness is past!
Sing because your shame is past! The days of our youth, like the nation of Israel, were riddled with shame and regret, but no longer! Our sins were laid in the grave in the previous chapter, and we have resurrected with our Lord in this chapter to sing of the wonderful deliverance of our Lord.
Sing because thy maker is thy husband, the God of the whole earth! He who formed us has bound himself to us in an everlasting covenant of love! He who formed us has redeemed us and like Ruth, that barren bride who had no hope of children or inheritance, but was found by a kinsman redeemer, so have we! He found us in the field searching for grace to glean but now we are married to a man who owns the field and we have been betrothed into the royal lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Sing because as the waters of Noah will never return, neither will our reproach and judgment. The torrents of God’s wrath were poured out on our Savior, and there is not a single drop of wrath left for us! All of it was poured out by the Father and drunk up by the Son, only peace for us! Oh, how we ought to sing! At the top of our voices, with all of our hearts! The waters of His judgment, wrath, and rebuke have subsided, and the Holy Spirit has lighted in our hearts until the day we set foot into that new world!
Sing because His covenant is surer than the mountains and hills, although they will depart and pass away, His promises of peace never will. When this world has waxed old as a garment and the Lord has put it away, when the elements have melted with the fervent heat, when all that we have ever known is changed, our God and His word will be just as sure as He ever has been!
Sing because no weapon formed against thee shall prosper. There will be weapons formed against you, and there will be tongues rising against us, but we can sing even during such times because of the promise that they will not prosper!
Sing lastly and above all that this is the heritage of the servants of the LORD! If you are a servant of the Lord, then this chapter is for you, not only for the Nation of Israel in a physical and literal sense but these promises apply to every servant, because Jesus died for our sakes. We have an inheritance, a heritage of joy and singing! He took our death, we have received his life; he took our sin, and we received his righteousness; he took our sorrows in the last chapter, and now we receive his joys! Sing because this is not a gift of our righteousness but a gift of his righteousness! Sing because it is not based on your righteousness but on his! All of these benefits are certain because they are of him, not of us! Sing, Sing, Sing because “Their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”
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