[Thou] afflicted, tossed with tempest, not comforted! Behold, I will set thy stones in antimony, and lay thy foundations with sapphires;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and I will make thy battlements of rubies, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of precious stones.
This promise is spoken to a city that is battered and without comfort. God answers her not with pity but with jewels, which raises three questions: what the stones mean, who the city is, and whose beauty this is.
One writer describes the state Jerusalem is in when this promise comes.
Isaiah 54 gives the result of these events for Jerusalem in those days. Jerusalem is seen as barren and desolate, after rejecting Him who came to be her husband. But now, through the grace that has made the LORD her righteousness, she is told to enlarge the place of her tent and spread out the curtains of her home... For a little while God has treated her as a rejected wife, but has now comforted her with everlasting mercies.
The jewels of this verse are part of that comfort. They are how the mercy shows itself.
So the prophecy is not only of everlasting mercy restoring the ancient people. Along with it come images of beauty and glory with which the LORD will adorn them. Truth will be theirs, for they will all be taught by the LORD. They will enjoy peace too, great peace. Established in righteousness, they will be far from oppression and fear.
Translators have questioned the older English "windows of agates."
The passage in Isa. 54:12, "I will make your windows of agates" is better translated, "I will make your battlements, or pinnacles, of rubies."
The Hebrew word itself points to a stone that sparkles, and windows in that world were not glazed.
The Hebrew word comes from a root meaning "to strike fire," so it means a sparkling gem, a ruby — "a shining, sparkling precious stone, probably a carbuncle, so called from its red sparkling colour." Some have thought this meant the agate was transparent, and that the windows were glazed with agates. But windows were not glazed then. Others translate the word "minarets, pinnacles, battlements," and instead of "agates" many prefer rubies.
The gates too are fiery. A carbuncle is "a stone of a fiery sparkling nature" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
Notice the repeated "I will make." The city produces none of this.
They are a glory that can be put on. The high priest carried the names engraved on the stones. But there was nothing inherent in them, no bond of union between God and them... It is glory, not a sharing in the divine nature.
The heavenly city of Revelation also has jewelled gates. One writer compares the two:
When the Lord sets up the earthly capital city in the magnificence of the millennium, He says to her: I will make your gates of carbuncles (Isa. 54:12). The fiery-red splendour of these gates on earth is quite unlike the soft, shimmering beauty and purity of the pearl gates of the heavenly city... This keeps the heavenly character of the church, a people not of this world, clearly before us.
Another writer reads these stones as a clue to the jewelled wall of the city in Revelation:
Perhaps in Isaiah 54 we have a pointer to the meaning of the stones... Israel in the millennium is going to be marked by this beauty. So the wall in Revelation 21 seems to have more of a Jewish character than to be a picture of the church.
This promise has been used to defend lavish church buildings. Kelly quotes one writer's reply:
Dr. Newman quotes this passage from Isaiah 54 as a prophecy and authorisation of the lavish splendour of the Church of Rome. This is clearly to use the passage in the way of application. Protestants will say that it is a wrong use of it... But what disagreement can there be about the primary sense of the passage? Who can deny that the prophet's words apply first of all to the restored Zion, however we may apply them afterwards?
Vine takes the same promise and turns it toward God's people:
This promise of jewels is the beauty and perfection of Christ, which is put upon us.
- Storm — God treated this city as a rejected wife for a little while. Now He comforts her with everlasting mercies.
- Stones — "Windows of agates" is better read as battlements or pinnacles of rubies. The carbuncle gates are a stone of fiery, sparkling colour.
- Given — Every part begins with "I will make." Precious stones picture a glory put on, not a nature owned.
- Earthly — The fiery gates here are not the pearl gates of the heavenly city. Scripture keeps the two apart.
- Applied — The words apply first to restored Zion. Used rightly, they picture the beauty of Christ put on His people.
And all thy children [shall be] taught of Jehovah, and great shall be the peace of thy children.
Isaiah 54 speaks to Jerusalem as a wife once set aside and now taken back. Verse 13 names two gifts for her restored family: teaching from God, and great peace.
Commentators read the chapter as Jerusalem's reversal, after she had rejected the One who came to her:
Isaiah 54 gives the result of these events to Jerusalem in those days. Jerusalem is seen as barren and desolate, after rejecting Him who came to be her husband. But now grace has made Jehovah her righteousness. So she is called to enlarge the place of her tent and to spread out the curtains of her home. That grace counts all those gathered during her desolation as her children… For a little while God has treated her as a rejected wife, but has now comforted her with everlasting mercies.
Verse 13 stands out from the promises just before it:
The closing verses of this chapter show some of the blessings that will belong to Israel when the covenant is established. Verses 11 and 12 may speak of material favours, but verse 13 shows spiritual blessing. All the true children of Israel will be taught by God, and His teaching truly works. Their peace will be great, because it rests on righteousness, as the next verse shows.
How far does "all" reach? Writers tie the promise to the new covenant:
There is much ground for believing that all who survive of Israel at the start of the Millennium will be saved, and that the whole nation will be saved throughout the thousand years… The new covenant is to be made with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. In that covenant God undertakes to put His law inside them and to write it on their hearts: "And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."
One writer draws out who guarantees a result that wide:
So it will be when the new covenant is established with both the houses of Israel… There will then be no question of teaching, each his fellow-citizen, and each his brother… That the result covers everyone shows that God is the One who ensures it. Under human teaching, however good, we see every level of ability, and at best knowledge far from perfect.
Jesus took up this line in John 6, in connection with the Father drawing people to Him. How does the Father draw?
The way the Father draws is by divine teaching, according to the word, "They will all be taught by God". The Father enlightens the soul. He convicts it of its need of Christ on the one hand, and reveals the glory of Christ on the other. So the soul is driven by need and drawn by grace to Christ.
He treated a promise about Israel's future as already at work:
The Lord found in Isaiah 54:13 a forecast of this inward work of the Father. Israel's children will be redeemed and restored when the age to come dawns. He knew that what He is going to do in them, He was doing then, and He is still doing today.
Commentators differ on how far "all" reaches today. One writes that "the word 'all' cannot be applied today as in the millennium" (L. M. Grant).
The New Testament applies this teaching in two directions:
In the New Testament the Holy Spirit takes these truths, which belong first to Jerusalem and her children in the coming day, and applies them to us now. In 1 Thessalonians 4:9 we read, "you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another." John 6:45 quotes the promise too. In John, the teaching of God turns the soul to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Thessalonians it instructs those who have come to Him to love one another.
One word in the verse can be read two ways:
The Hebrew language was originally written without vowel points… It is questioned whether in Isaiah 54:13 it should be read 'your children' or 'your builders' — a question the vowel points would have decided.
- Wife. The verse speaks to a city treated as a rejected wife, then comforted with everlasting mercies. The children are grace's gift to the desolate.
- Taught. God's teaching works, and it reaches every one of them. No one will need to say to his neighbour, "Know the LORD."
- Drawn. Jesus applied the line to the Father's drawing. The Father shows the soul its need and Christ's glory, so need drives and grace draws.
- Now. What God will do for Israel's children in the age to come, He was doing then and does still. He also teaches believers to love one another.
- Peace. The peace is great because it rests on righteousness, as the next verse shows.
In righteousness shalt thou be established thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.
Isaiah 54 promises restoration to a nation that has been barren, and verse 14 names the ground it all stands on. Two questions follow: whose righteousness is this, and when does the freedom from fear arrive?
The promise does not begin at chapter 54. Commentators tie the restoration to the suffering Servant described just before it.
We start with a prediction of the coming exaltation of the once humbled Servant of Jehovah. Then we consider Him in His rejection, when His soul became an offering for sin. His shame and suffering did not destroy every prospect of His glory. They are the secure foundation on which His glory will rest forever... Then in Isaiah 54 we read of the restoration and blessing of Israel that follows. That nation, barren until now, will burst into song.
The previous verse promises great peace to the city's children. That peace is not left hanging; the next line supplies what it stands on.
God will teach all the true children of Israel — and His teaching works. Their peace will be great, because it rests on righteousness, as the next verse shows.
"In righteousness you shall be established" — but whose righteousness? The chapter answers three verses later, where God calls it His own.
The next mention of "servants" comes in Isaiah 54:17: "This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord; and their righteousness is from Me." It is not from the law, nor from their own works, but from God.
Another writer names what that righteousness secures:
When Israel stands in righteousness worked out by God, neither weapon nor word will prevail against them. Notice how strongly this passage stresses righteousness — righteousness the suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 worked out on their behalf. It reminds one of the way righteousness stands at the very front of gospel testimony, as we see in Romans 1:17.
One writer puts the whole promise for the restored nation in plain terms.
The LORD will teach the nation, and great will be their peace, for God will establish them in righteousness. No one will oppress them any longer, and they will not live in fear and terror.
Yet the verse removes fear, not enemies.
Truth will be theirs, for Jehovah will teach them all. They will enjoy peace too — great peace. Established in righteousness, they will be far from oppression and fear, though not free from hostile intention. We know this from Ezekiel 38 — 39 at the beginning of the thousand-year reign, and from Revelation 20:7-9 at its end.
Some read the chapter as fulfilled when the exiles came home from Babylon. One writer rejects that, though he allows the principle a wider use.
Isaiah 54 looks on to that day. It was in no way applicable to the remnant that returned from Babylon. The principle does apply, and is applied, to the grace of God. Through faith in Christ, the gospel brings in so many unexpected children of Abraham (Galatians 4). But the direct and complete fulfilment can only come as a whole, when Israel's sorrows end. Then God will gather them and establish them in righteousness, as far from oppression as from fear... It cannot be until Christ comes again.
Writers differ on how far the verse stretches. Kelly holds to the first meaning. Vine points to the New Testament, which takes this language and applies it to believers now.
We need not be anxious about our spiritual growth and prosperity as we remain in Christ. Scripture says, "All your children shall be taught by the Lord; and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established... you shall not fear." In the New Testament we see again how the Holy Spirit takes these truths and applies them to us now. They belong first to Jerusalem and her children in the coming day.
The same righteousness answers every accusation:
Christ is made to us righteousness as well as redemption from God, so that we can now boast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:30). Who can condemn Him? Who can condemn those whose righteousness He is?
- Cause — the Servant's suffering in Isaiah 53 is the secure foundation. Chapter 54's song of restoration grows out of it.
- Gift — "in righteousness" does not mean their own record. God says of them, "their righteousness is from Me" — not from the law, not from their works.
- Peace — verse 13 promises great peace and verse 14 gives its ground. Peace rests on righteousness, never the other way round.
- Reach — hostile intent remains, but oppression, fear and terror go. The verse promises safety in the middle of hostility, not the absence of it.
- Result — commentators differ on scope. Full fulfilment waits for Christ's return and Israel's restoration. Yet the New Testament already applies these words to believers, whose righteousness is Christ Himself.