THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD

SERIES: ISAIAH 40 - 55

By Scott Grant

A place you’d like to visit

Do you feel, or have you ever felt, afflicted, as if you were caught in a storm, with no one or nothing to offer you any comfort? If you have felt that way, or you feel that way now, or you’re worrying about feeling that way in the future, what if I were to tell you about a beautiful place, a place where all its citizens were well-educated and treated each other with dignity and respect, a place of safety? Wouldn’t you want to go to that place? Maybe you’d even want to live in that place. I’ve got news for you: There is such a place. There is such a city. It’s name is not Atlantis or Oz or Utopia. I’ve got more news for you: You live in that city. It’s not Palo Alto or Mountain View or Menlo Park. It’ Jerusalem. Not the Jerusalem in the Middle East. It’s the heavenly Jerusalem that, in some sense, followers of Jesus have already come to. In another sense, we are still journeying toward it—or it is journeying toward us, for one day it will come down to earth from heaven.

It’s a mystery—how Jerusalem can be here, but not here. But it’s just as real as any earthly city, and if you are a follower of Jesus, you are living in it right now. In Isaiah 54:11-17, we learn that God has caused us to dwell in the greatest city in the world and wants us to enjoy its blessings. The city of God is characterized by its beauty, its education and its security.

In Isaiah 54, the Lord addresses Jerusalem. In verses 1 through 5, he addressed it as a woman. In the verses 11 through 17, he addresses it as a city. Throughout the chapter, he his telling Jerusalem how his New Covenant will affect it. It’s a New Covenant that affects us, who dwell in the city of God.

 

The beauty of the city (54:11-12)

The Lord addresses Jerusalem, which stands as a metaphor for Israel, as a city that is "afflicted," "storm-tossed" and "not comforted." This refers to Israel’s experience with Babylon, which sacked Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and carried her people into exile. The reference to being tossed in a storm comes on the heels of the Lord’s comparing the exile to the days of Noah (verses 9 and 10). Just as he promised not to flood the earth again, he promised not to be angry with Jerusalem again. The people, afflicted by Babylon in the Lord’s judgment upon them, feel as if they are caught in a storm, as the world was when the Lord judged it in the days of Noah. In the midst of this kind of affliction, the people wanted comfort but found none. As the Lord’s address to Jerusalem unfolds, the people will find ample reasons to take comfort.

The Lord will turn Jerusalem into a city of stunning beauty. Her stones will be set in "antimony," a colored hardening substance designed to highlight the city’s beauty. The foundations, battlements gates and wall will be adorned with precious stones. In the city of Jerusalem, precious stones were used only in the temple area. But when the Lord acts to restore Jerusalem, the entire city will be composed of precious stones.

This description of the future of Jerusalem is similar, though not identical, to the vision given to John, as recorded in Revelation 21. In Isaiah, the foundations are laid in sapphires; in Revelation, they are adorned with "every kind of precious stone" (verse 19). In Isaiah, the gates are composed of crystal; in Revelation, they are composed of pearls (verse 21). In Isaiah, the walls are composed of precious stones; in Revelation, they are composed of jasper (verse 18). John sees a vision of the new heaven and the new earth, the new creation—the way things ultimately and finally will be when God sets everything right.

The details of Isaiah’s vision don’t match those of John’s, but that doesn’t mean they’re talking about two different things. Neither vision is to be taken as a literal description of the way things will be. Each vision uses imagery, and the use of imagery is employed to evoke an even greater reality. In all likelihood, Isaiah and John are talking about the same Jerusalem—a glorified Jerusalem. The fulfillment of both visions is still in the future. Yet, the way this passage unfolds, and the way the New Testament speaks of Jerusalem, it is clear that the future, in some sense, has come forward into the present.

Isaiah’s Jerusalem is the one the Lord is building even now. It is the Jerusalem populated by—and even composed of—followers of Jesus. Peter says that followers of Jesus are like "living stones" who are being built up as a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). Paul says we are being "fitted together" and "built together" into a dwelling of God (Ephesians 2:19-22). In both those passages, the apostles are speaking of how the church, as God’s dwelling place, fulfills his purpose for the temple. In the New Jerusalem, there is no temple, because it is a temple, filled with the presence of God (Revelation 21:22). So we are the living stones that comprise God’s temple, which is also God’s city. Although we are waiting for God to bring down the New Jerusalem from heaven (Hebrews 13:14, Revelation 21:2), in some sense we have already come to this Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). This speaks of what we one day will be and, in some sense, what we already are.

From the perspective of Isaiah 54:11-12, what will we be, and what are we now? We will be beautiful, and we are, beautiful. More to the point, the Lord has made us—and is making us—beautiful. How does the Lord do this? The beauty of a stone only becomes visible when it is exposed to the light. It captures and reflects the light. We are the stones, and Jesus is the light (John 1:4-8). If you are a follower of Jesus, he has made something beautiful of your life. And he’s not finished yet. You’re being fit and prepared and polished to take your place in the New Jerusalem. What is it that makes this city beautiful? It’s you, as you reflect the beauty of Jesus. This tells us, of course, that we need to focus on Jesus to reflect his splendor.

This text not only gives us a way of looking at ourselves, it also gives us a way of looking at other followers of Jesus—to look for the beauty in them and to encourage them to focus on the light of Jesus, and to be patient as he brings out their true beauty. If you put a multitude of stones together, as God has done with the church, you’ve got something especially beautiful, even breathtaking.

The text also gives us a way at looking at the world and our place in it. Sometimes we see the beauty of the world, and sometimes we see its ugliness. Whether we’re drawn to the world or horrified by it, we need to know that God is building a city of true and lasting beauty in the midst of it. We’ve got something to offer the world—something that would make it beautiful. We’ve got the light, which has made us, and is making us, beautiful.

What, then, should we be doing with our lives? We should be participating in God’s building program by focusing on men and women, boys and girls, whether they be living stones (followers of Jesus) or stones that need life (unbelievers). It’s so easy to get distracted and join the world’s building program, which encourages you to glorify yourself.

Herod the Great re-built and beautified the temple in Jerusalem, seeking glory for himself. One of the disciples, struck by the beauty of the temple, remarked to Jesus, "Teacher, behold, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings." Jesus responded, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another which will not be torn down" (Mark 13:1-2). The words of Jesus were fulfilled in 70 A.D., when the temple was reduced to rubble by the Roman army. Jesus was telling his disciples not to be drawn by the "beauty" of the earthly temple and the earthly Jerusalem, which were destined for judgment. He wanted to enlist them in building the true temple and city of God. In the book of Acts, we find them doing precisely that. Their focus was—and our focus should be—the lives of people, not anything designed to garner personal glory. If our focus is on bringing glory to ourselves, we may find ourselves in the position of Herod, building monuments destined for destruction.

We are aesthetic creatures. We hunger for beauty. When we see it, and when we’re in the right mood, it causes our souls to gasp. What’s being spoken of is the beauty of a city. San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Every day, just the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, carloads of people are lined up waiting to get a parking spot in the rest area so that they can look across the bay to the San Francisco skyline. They want to see a beautiful city. When I stand up before the Young Adults Fellowship on a Sunday morning, I’m looking out on city of God. And I have to say, it’s a beautiful city. I’ve gotten to know many of you, and I know what God has done in your lives, I know how you’ve struggled and how you’ve grown, how you’ve wept and how you’ve rejoiced. It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful what God has done in your lives. And when all these stones are gathered in one place, as God has fit you together here, it causes my soul to gasp. I look out on the city and say to myself, "Now that’s beautiful!" Against the backdrop of this dark valley, the splendor of God’s living stones gathered to worship him is all the more striking. You are the city on a hill, the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)

 

The education of the city (54:13-14)

The Lord speaks of a time when all the sons of Jerusalem, all of its "residents" who are the spiritual offspring of Jesus, the Servant of the Lord (Isaiah 53:10), will be taught by the Lord. Jesus himself saw his ministry as fulfilling Isaiah 54:13 (John 6:45). In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon specific individuals such as prophets and priests, who taught the people. Teaching that the people received was somewhat indirect, and its effect was limited, as evidenced by Israel’s apostasy. In the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit is given to all (Acts 2:17). John says, "And as for you, the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need for any one to teach you; but as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in him" (1 John 2:27).

Because they are well-taught, the well-being, or peace, of these sons will be great. They will enjoy the Lord and his blessings. The peace of the sons, then, guarantees the well-being of the city.

The Lord says in verse 14 that this peace cannot be shaken, saying to Jerusalem, "In righteousness you will be established." The Lord, in his righteousness, or his covenant faithfulness, will act to establish Jerusalem. A victory over enemies, particularly Babylon, is envisoned here. Jerusalem will be far from the oppression and terror of the enemy and will therefore have no reason to fear. The Lord’s victory over the enemy and his protection of the city will establish Jerusalem, not its armies or fortifications. To enjoy true peace, however, the people have to be taught about the Lord’s righteousness so that they understand that their city is established, that they are far from oppression and terror.

This text points ultimately not to the defeat of Babylon but to the defeat of the true enemy, Satan. He is the one who oppresses and terrorizes God’s people. God, in his righteousness, or covenant faithfulness, acted by sending his Servant, his Son. Jesus defeated Satan through his death and resurrection (Colossians 3:13-15, Ephesians 1:19-21). The Lord has thereby "established" us as "Jerusalem," his people. Although Satan continues to rail against us, our destiny as God’s people is secure. To understand this security, and to enjoy the peace that God gives, we need to be taught. The Lord, through his indwelling Holy Spirit, teaches us. This does not mean, of course, that we do not need other teachers. The Holy Spirit takes the word, as we soak in it ourselves or as it is taught to us, and applies it to our lives. In many respects, the Holy Spirit simply teaches us what God has already done for us and what he has already given us (Ephesians 1:15-23). We can therefore know and appreciate that the Lord, in his righteousness, has acted to establish us by sending his Son to defeat the enemy and grant us peace.

We have an enemy that doesn’t want us to know about God’s righteousness, who doesn’t want us to know that we’ve been established, who doesn’t want us to enjoy God’s peace. So we need to keep coming to the word and allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us the truth.

I am convinced that God has called me to teach his word. I am equally convinced that it will have limited effect apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. That’s why, in the process of studying, I’m praying that God would use his word to change hearts, mine first of all. Each day of the week leading up to the times that I teach, I’m in prayer. And if someone else is teaching either Sunday or Wednesday, I’ll be praying for that work, too. I believe the word of God, made alive by the Holy Spirit, can change your hearts. I believe the Holy Spirit will take the word and teach you so that you can enjoy the Lord and his blessings—so that your peace will be great and that the peace of the city of God will be great. That’s why I’m so passionate about teaching the scriptures. I want the city of God to be populated by well-taught sons and daughters who know the peace of God. And if the city of God is populated by well-taught sons and daughters who know the peace of God, then surely it will fulfill God’s design for it in this world. It will be a city set on a hill and the light of the world, a beacon of hope in a world that knows no peace.

Good educational systems benefit a city, a region or a nation. How much more should teaching the word of God, activated by the Holy Spirit, benefit the city of God, which in turn blesses the entire world?

God’s city is characterized by the love of learning. Do you love to learn? Your love of learning may have been squelched by an educational system that you learned how to work. Study hard, get the grades, get into the good school, get the job, make the good money. And when it comes to the scriptures, perhaps you think you’ve had the love of learning knocked out of you by a church system that beat you over the head with the Bible, or perhaps the scriptures seem arcane and difficult to decipher. Whether you can identify a love of learning or not, it’s there. And if the Holy Spirit dwells within you, it’s definitely there. You just may need to nurture it a little bit.

The Holy Spirit enters our life and shows us God’s love and gives us love for God. Once you love someone, what do you want to do? You want to understand how to relate. You want to understand that person and speak to that person. You want to learn to understand that person’s language. The more you learn about the scriptures, the more you learn God’s language. Do you want to learn about a love for you that is so great that it would cause you to jump up and down for the rest of your life if you could manage to understand just a fraction of it? You bet you do! You love to learn! All of you. "All your sons will be taught of the Lord."

And you have the ability to learn. The Holy Spirit not only motivates you to learn about God, the lover of your soul, he enables you to learn. You can do it! You have the motivation and the ability. So get cracking. Crack open your Bibles. Study. Take classes. Go to Bible studies. Listen. Ask questions. Learn. But watch out; this stuff is addictive. And contagious. Before long you might find yourself wanting to teach others.

 

The security of the city (54:15-17)

The Lord says that if there are any future attacks upon Jerusalem, he will not be leading them. This marks a change from the past. Earlier, in reaction to Israel’s rebellion against him, the Lord would raise up enemies, such as Babylon, to judge Israel. Isaiah says that the Lord in these cases, at least for a time, became Israel’s enemy (Isaiah 63:10). The Lord is saying that there will come a time when such will no longer be the case.

What brings about this change? It’s the New Covenant, in which God, through the indwelling Spirit, guarantees that his people will continue in relationship with him (Hebrews 8:6-13). Because of the sacrifice of Christ and the presence of the indwelling Spirit, he no longer "finds fault" with his people (Hebrews 8:8).

Not only will the Lord not be leading any attacks against his people, but those leading them will fail in their efforts. This Jerusalem will be impregnable. Although Jerusalem will not be attacked by the Lord, it will be attacked. The war is still on. Satan still takes aim at God’s people. But the decisive victory has been won through Christ, and ultimate victory is secure. Jesus said he would build his church, his Jerusalem, "and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it" (Matthew 16:18).

After the time of Isaiah, and even after the time of Christ, the Lord fought against earthly, corrupt Jerusalem one more time. Just as he had raised up Babylon some 650 years earlier, he raised up Rome in 70 A.D., which leveled Jerusalem, just as Jesus predicted. So again, when we look at Isaiah 54, we know that the Lord is talking about a different Jerusalem.

The Lord can make such promises to his people because he is sovereign over their enemies—he has created those who make weapons and use them. He can therefore say to his people that no weapon formed against them will prosper. That doesn’t mean that weapons are not used, and used effectively, even to kill God’s people. It means that no enemy can remove any of God’s people from his eternal city. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28).

Neither will any accusation stand against God’s people, for God has "canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14). No tongue is able to effectively accuse us because we’re innocent, thanks to the blood of Christ. On the contrary, anyone who accuses us we will condemn, not by pronouncing condemnation but by making their condemnation obvious through our innocence.

Of course, behind all enemies and accusers is Satan, whose name means adversary, and whose title, the devil, means slanderer. His weapons are the "flaming missiles" of deception (Ephesians 6:16). He is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10). Not to worry: His destiny is the lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:10).

The Lord now speaks to his "servants." Up to this point in Isaiah, the word has always been used in the singular—the "servant" of the Lord. It was used of Israel, only to show that Israel failed in its vocation as the servant of the Lord. It was then used of the one of who was to fulfill that vocation—the Servant of the Lord, who the New Testament identifies as Christ. Now the offspring of the Servant, those who dwell in the city of God, are called servants of the Lord. Just about the highest honor to be accorded to one in the scriptures is to be called a servant of the Lord. Jesus himself is called the Servant of the Lord. He shares that title—and that honor—with us.

The servants are given a "heritage." The word was often used of the land of Palestine, given to Israel as its inheritance. Thus the land was its heritage. The heritage that the Lord is speaking of here is the security that his people will have in the land that he gives them. Even now we dwell in the safe and secure land of heaven, but one day heaven and earth will be married, and we will inherit the entire earth, and every threat, both real and imagined, will be removed from us.

Finally, the Lord says that these servants who dwell in the city will be vindicated by him. The word translated "vindication" is the same word that is translated "righteousness" in verse 14. In verse 14 it referred to the righteousness, or covenant faithfulness, of the Lord to act. When he vindicates his people, he is acting again in covenant faithfulness. Not only are the people in his city secure, and not only will every accuser against them fall away, but they themselves will be vindicated—shown to be the true people of God and honored as such.

The thrust of this section is the security we have as God’s people living in his city. Here’s what such security means:

That’s security! It’s a security, if we understand it, that liberates us to enter this world with confidence. What’s the worst that can happen to you in this world? Getting sick? Being killed? Being hurt emotionally? So what? No illness, no death, no emotional injury can take away your place in the eternal city of God, where death is swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54).

 

Be comforted

Are you afflicted? Storm-tossed? Not comforted? Be comforted! You dwell in the greatest city in the world. Enjoy all that it has to offer. Appreciate the beauty of its living stones. Get educated. Feel secure.


Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ("NASB"). © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Where indicated, Scripture quotations were also taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ("NIV"). © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Isaiah 54:11-17
21st Message
Scott Grant
January 7, 2001