The New Nature of the Church

Observations from Isaiah 54:1-3.

The people of God are made new. Not only are we made new in Christ, but we have a different nature, in a sense, than our brothers and sisters did before Christ came. We live in a different epoch, and that characterizes us uniquely. Isaiah will be our guide in observing what these things are. He says in Is. 54:1-3:

“Shout for joy, infertile one, you who have not given birth to any child; break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor; for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman,” says the LORD. “Enlarge the place of your tent; stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare them; lengthen your ropes and strengthen your pegs. For you will spread our to the right and to the left. And your descendants will possess nations and will resettle the desolate cities.”

Isaiah 54:1-3 helps us understand what some our differences are from our Israelite kin. In this passage, three ways are highlighted: our worship, our house, and our place. Before diving into these points, however, we need to briefly set up the proper covenantal framework of this passage by answering this question: Who is this barren woman, and who is the slave woman?

Bible study of one verse often takes us on a trip to different places in Scripture, and Isaiah 54:1 is a perfect example of this.

To answer the question at hand, we will need to go all the way to Galatians 4:21-31, where Paul provides for us a clear and concise commentary on the Isaiah text. In the first half of this text, Paul lays out for us that the two children of Abraham (Ishmael and Isaac) have mothers that represent two covenants. Hagar is the figurative “mother” of those in bondage to the law (the old covenant) and Sarah is so to the “children of promise” (v. 28), the children of God. Paul further explains that Ishmael was born of the flesh, and Isaac of the Spirit (v. 29).

Because Paul quotes Isaiah 54:1 in the Galatians chapter, we can infer that Sarah is the barren woman now rejoicing for the birth of her child. Isaiah writes of Sarah’s sons being more numerous than the slave woman (Hagar), a reference to God’s promise to make Abraham a great nation (Gen. 15). Because Paul also tells us that we are the children of promise (Gal. 4:28), of Sarah, then she represents God’s plan of redemption, his people, the church universal. Armed with this understanding of the Isaiah passage, we can examine it as a description of the church rather than a promise to the nation of Israel.

We worship in response to the person and work of Christ.

When reading Isaiah, you will likely notice several “servant songs,” or descriptions of Christ, that fill multiple chapters throughout the 40s and early 50s. The final one is in 53, the famous description of Christ as a “man of sorrows” (53:3). Each one of these servant songs is followed by a call for breaking forth into praise, and in this case that is our passage in 54:1, which calls us to “Shout for joy” in its opening words. Because every one of these descriptions of Christ is followed by a call to worship, we can see that the church ought to respond in worship at hearing of our great savior and king. Think of this like a dam full of water that breaks open: the water can no longer be held back, but flows over everything in its path and is impossible to miss if you are anywhere nearby. Such should be our worship.

There are a few specifics of what we should respond to that will help us implement this into our lives:

I. The person of Christ. The servant song of Isaiah 53 takes great lengths in describing who our Servant is. In 53:11, Christ is described as the righteous servant, alluding to his holiness. In v. 12, he is called the humble one who poured out his soul to death. Back in v. 7, he is described as one who is submissive to the will of God, and is portrayed as our strong and mighty savior in v. 4.

II. The Work of Christ. Not only does the servant song in ch. 53 describe who Christ is, but it also covers what he has done. In v. 5, Isaiah tells us that he was the one who suffered for us. In v. 10-11, he is not only just, but also the justifier, pointing to his legal accomplishments for his people. In v. 12, it tells us that he bore the sins of many.

Because of both the person and work of Christ, we worship. At the description of who our Lord is and what he has done, we break forth into unhindered praise. This is what ought to characterize the people of God’s church.

We Have a New House

When Israel was first constituted as a nation in Exodus, Moses was given instructions to build a tabernacle. Among all the elaborate details of the instructions, one thing is clear: It was not designed to be permanent. In Isaiah 54:2, we see allusions made to the materials used (ropes, pegs, curtains, a tent). None of these are final. They were all designed to be packed up, moved, and put down again (Ex. 40:36-38).

Isaiah makes it clear that the new covenant people of God are not the same. If your place is to be enlarged, then it once was small. No longer does the Spirit of God dwell in a tent, but in the hearts of men everywhere (I Cor. 3:16). If your pegs were to be strengthened, then they once were weak. Christ is a much better and more sure cornerstone than any peg or rock used in the tabernacle (I Pet. 2:4-8). Such is the nature of our “house” as it were.

We Have a New Place

Our final verse, 54:3, speaks of the broad nature of the church, promising that the children of the promise “will possess nations and will resettle the desolate cities.” Brothers and sisters, we are not confined to a people group. Praise God! Most people reading this were not Hebraic Jews. This is because the gospel knows no bounds—it will fly at its will and take captive whomever it desires (Gal. 2:15-16). Isaiah tells us that God’s people will “spread out to the right and to the left.” National Israel was the people of God in the old covenant. Unlike Israel the nation, the church will go (and has now gone) into the nations abroad and oust their former master, the Captan of our salvation taking souls prisoner for himself. Satan has deceived them long enough, and now we see the gospel continuing to permeate through the nations as he is bound and his power is kept from them (Rev. 20:2-3).

Application

In light of this exposition, I hope to draw out a few application points for our lives. What does all of this mean for us?

First, our life must be lived as a response of worship to God for who he is and what he has done. If at the mention of Christ in scripture there is praise, so must there be in the lives and hearts of his people. In a regulative liturgy, we have adoration (responding to God revealing himself to us) and proclamation (responding to his salvation for us), to elements of response. Our response of worship must not be there only, but also in all of life. We must live as a people moved to worship because of who our Christ is and what he has done for his people. The psalms are replete with references of and passages of worship. In Genesis, we see how the being and work of God moved people to worship (Abraham in 12:7, Isaac in 26:23-25, Jacob in 28:16-22, and even Joshua in the presence of the preincarnate Christ before fighting Jericho. The examples do not stop there. We must be moved (in a breaking forth sort of way) to worship Christ.

In addition to this, I would encourage you to not grow weary in the building of the kingdom of God. If the church really is to grow, we ought to take that work seriously. Go and tell the nations of Christ. If the nations really are open and Satan is bound, then take advantage of this! If our footing in the new covenant is truly more firm than those in the old, then plant down deeply into your local church. As Paul tells us, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially those who are of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:10).

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