“For Zion’s Sake, I will not keep silent”

Isaiah’s heart breaks for the people of God. Though God has promised him that his hearers will not understand, he preaches. Though God has assured him that their hearts will remain hardened, he will not keep silent. Zion is the city of God, and Isaiah longs for it with a holy, passionate love- I imagine that he longs for it like the angels are said to “long to look” into the true heart of the gospel. He sees no fruit from his ministry, but in his heart he sees a city whose “righteousness goes forth as brightness.” This city, which has been forsaken, which lies desolate, will “be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord” & all the kings of the earth will see her beauty & righteousness.

Calvin: “He too might have been dismayed by the unbelief of that people, and might have lost courage when he saw that matters were every day growing worse, and when he foresaw that terrible vengeance. But, notwithstanding so great difficulties, he will still persist in his duty, that all may know that neither the massacre of the people nor their unbelief can prevent God from executing his promises at the proper time… no inconvenience or annoyance shall wear out his patience, and no opposition shall retard him from proceeding in the office of teaching which God has enjoined on him concerning the redemption of the Church”

 “But you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, 
and your land Married; 
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you”

“The Lord delights in you.” Wow. How liberating is this knowledge! How incomprehensible is its meaning! For what cause does the Lord delight in us? What is there in us that leads Him to promise that “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you”? There is nothing. And therein lies the beauty… It is by grace, for we could never hope to earn it. The great & sovereign King of the universe, by whom and for whom all things were created, who holds the very stars in their place & governs the movement of every particle in all of Creation, he will “rejoice over us with singing.” God’s giddy with love for us. A groom is ecstatic with the prospect of marrying his love, of truly and finally beginning their journey together, of growing indescribably more intimate… And here is the Lord, who needs nothing, whose people are in rebellion, who sees the final fulfillment of his plan of redemption when he will give us new names, when Jerusalem shall be ultimately restored, when heaven shall join earth, when He will dwell among His people and He will be their God, and His heart leaps. He is in love. He wants nothing more than to be with us, for us to enjoy His presence, to be lost in His gaze, to be held in His arms forever…

This is the day that Isaiah holds in His mind. Christ has gone to heaven to prepare a place for us. He is our perfect groom- the one who will fully satisfy, who loves us with a holy & perfect love, and who is ever faithful to us. For this reason, he never grew silent, never grew weary of reminding the people of the great, lavish, outlandish promises of God. And to think, he had never heard the name of His Messiah, never dwelt upon the wonders of the cross, and still he cries out day & night. How much more should we who have.

Tags: Isaiah