Did you know that God made an oath to Christians never to be angry with us or punish us?
Isaiah 54:9-10 (NLT) “Just as I swore in the time of Noah that I would never again let a flood cover the earth, so now I swear that I will never again be angry and punish you. 10 For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
Does this apply to us?
The skeptic in us might wonder, “How do I know this promise belongs to me today?” This passage comes immediately after Isaiah 53, which is the prophecy about the suffering servant, concerning Jesus’s death to make many righteous.
Isaiah 53:11 (NLT) When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.
The original Bible did not have verses and chapters. Translators added those to the translations hundreds of years later. Isaiah 54 is within the same context as Isaiah 53 and continues the thought. This is a blessing applied to those who would be counted righteous because of the Messiah’s anguish.
Paul applies this chapter to New Covenant Christians
At the beginning of chapter 54, Isaiah states
Isaiah 54:1 (NLT) “Sing, O childless woman, you who have never given birth! Break into loud and joyful song, O Jerusalem, you who have never been in labor. For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband,” says the Lord.
Paul quotes this scripture in Galatians 4 and applies it to Christians under the New Covenant. Notice that Paul describes two Jerusalems: one corresponding to the Old Covenant Jerusalem that existed in the first century, and the other to the New Covenant Jerusalem that is from above. This revelation serves as a secret key to interpreting Isaiah.
Galatians 4:21-28 (WEB) Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman. 23 However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. 24 These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. 25 For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written,
“Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you who don’t travail. For the desolate have more children than her who has a husband.” Isaiah 54:1
28 Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
Isaiah 54 applies these promises to the bride and servants of God
The chapter continues, and it becomes even more apparent that he is speaking about Christians. Notice, in the passage below, how God describes the relationship with the old Jerusalem as perishing, while the relationship with the new Jerusalem prospers with grace, just as Paul mentioned in Galatians.
Isaiah 54:2-17 (NLT) “Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense! 3 For you will soon be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities. 4 “Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. Don’t be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. You will no longer remember the shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhood. 5 For your Creator will be your husband; the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth. 6 For the Lord has called you back from your grief— as though you were a young wife abandoned by her husband [Old Covenant Jerusalem],” says your God. 7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will take you back [New Covenant Jerusalem]. 8 In a burst of anger I turned my face away for a little while. But with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer. 9 “Just as I swore in the time of Noah that I would never again let a flood cover the earth, so now I swear that I will never again be angry and punish you. 10 For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you. 11 “O storm-battered city, troubled and desolate! I will rebuild you with precious jewels and make your foundations from lapis lazuli. 12 I will make your towers of sparkling rubies, your gates of shining gems, and your walls of precious stones. 13 I will teach all your children, and they will enjoy great peace. 14 You will be secure under a government that is just and fair. Your enemies will stay far away. You will live in peace, and terror will not come near. 15 If any nation comes to fight you, it is not because I sent them. Whoever attacks you will go down in defeat. 16 “I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals beneath the forge and makes the weapons of destruction. And I have created the armies that destroy. 17 But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; their vindication will come from me. I, the Lord, have spoken!
These promises apply to God’s wife (“For your Creator will be your husband”); they apply to God’s servants (“These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord”). In the New Covenant, Christianity is known as the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-33; Revelation 21:2; Galatians 4:21-28) and as servants of Christ (Galatians 1:10; Revelation 7; 22:3-6). Thus, Christians can confidently say, after evaluating this passage in context, that it applies to them.
God’s oaths cannot be broken or changed
Although God is free to change his mind when He threatens or offers something (Jeremiah 18:5–10), He can never change His mind when making a sworn oath. If God were ever to violate His oath, it would constitute a sin, implying that He would be obligated to bring about His own demise.
Jeremiah 34:18 (NLT) Because you have broken the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows.
Deuteronomy 23:21-23 (WEB) When you vow a vow to Yahweh your God, you shall not be slack to pay it, for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you; and it would be sin in you. 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, it shall be no sin in you. 23 You shall observe and do that which has gone out of your lips. Whatever you have vowed to Yahweh your God as a free will offering, which you have promised with your mouth, you must do.
Leviticus 5:4-5 (WEB) “‘Or if anyone swears rashly with his lips to do evil or to do good—whatever it is that a man might utter rashly with an oath, and it is hidden from him—when he knows of it, then he will be guilty of one of these. 5 It shall be, when he is guilty of one of these, he shall confess that in which he has sinned;
Numbers 23:19 (WEB) God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and he won’t do it? Or has he spoken, and he won’t make it good?
Numbers 30:1-2 (WEB) Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded. 2 When a man vows a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
2 Samuel 21:1-2 (WEB) There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
2 The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn to them [Joshua 9:3-21]; and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah);
Judges 11:30-31,34-35 (WEB) 30 Jephthah vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, “If you will indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand, 31 then it shall be, that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be Yahweh’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.”
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34 Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house; and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are one of those who trouble me; for I have opened my mouth to Yahweh, and I can’t go back.”
Psalm 15:1-2,4 (WEB) A Psalm by David. 15 Yahweh, who shall dwell in your sanctuary? Who shall live on your holy hill? 2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right, and speaks truth in his heart;
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4 (WEB) in whose eyes a vile man is despised, but who honors those who fear Yahweh; he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn’t change;
Psalm 24:4 (WEB) He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.
Hebrews 6:17-18 (WEB) In this way God, being determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us.
Have faith
Think about the implications this oath has on our relationship with God. Christians can no longer say God is angry with us or punishing us for any sin. He swore to never be angry with us or punish us. Furthermore, He swore to never break His covenant of blessing or “shalom” with us. What a comforting oath! Let’s put faith in God’s generous gift to us!