What is the meaning of "waters of Noah" in Isaiah 54:9?

Again, the Jew lies nationally under wrath. It lies upon them, "to the uttermost," as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:16. Yet, viewed in the light of the coming mercy, it is seen as "a little wrath," and the kindness that will be extended to them in mercy will be "everlasting." Hence "the waters of Noah" are cited; for as, when that judgment was over, God promised that such judgment should never happen again, so Israel will be beyond judgment for ever.

(Vv. 7,10). Moreover, if God had forsaken the nation in His wrath it will be with “great mercies” and “everlasting kindness” that He will regather them; and when restored it will be for everlasting blessing. Even as God has sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so He will no more be wrath with Israel. The mountains, that look so immovable may depart, and the hills be removed, but the kindness of God will not depart from the nation.

Meanwhile God Who remembered not Noah only but every living thing and the cattle with him in the ark, covenants not only with Noah and his sons and with his seed after them, but with every living creature, cattle, bird, and beast; and He so establishes His covenant as to cut off from every heart that trusted in Him the least fear of destruction of all flesh by a deluge any more, or of any such dealing with the earth. Without such a covenant, what could guilty man expect but repeated strokes of the same judgment which had just taken them all away? Would not old sins renewed and fresh sins added provoke like punishment? Not so; God's covenant with man and the earth interposes absolutely. "I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth." He will certainly judge and destroy otherwise, as He warns elsewhere; but it was no small comfort, when the world that now is began after the deluge, that God assured their trembling hearts against a blow so naturally and justly to be dreaded.

1895 321 Genesis 9:1-7 set out the blessing of God pronounced on Noah and his sons for the world that now is. Man henceforth was allowed animal food, yet forbidden to eat blood due to God; and government was put for the first time into man's hand for the protection of human life and the vindication of God where it was taken. Now Gen. 9:8-11 give the covenant God established with mankind and every creature set under man: the largest covenant God ever made, and still subsisting under a merciful pledge that cannot fail. Neither the one nor the other applied to the ante-diluvian earth. In the verses that follow (12-17) God deigns to give a sign or token of His covenant with the earth. Of a covenant with Noah we first hear in Gen. 6:18.

1895 257 Life is not all, nor life amply secured in the face of death and desolation all around. This the ark had been, not only to Noah and his house, but to every living creature which found shelter within. The power of death, the judgment of God, had fallen unsparingly on all that breathed outside; but the grace that provided salvation was equally evident. And the word of God was no less simple, intelligible, and in fact understood by all that believed it. Those who discredited the warning of God were the witnesses of its truth when the flood came and swept them all away. The waters of Noah did go over the earth, as surely as they shall go over it no more. A still more terrible destruction awaits it, however long it may seem to linger. The heavens and earth that are now by His word are kept in store, reserved for fire against a day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. The one is as certain as the other. But we according to His promise look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.

Let us now go and hear what a prophet has to say. Turn to the book of Isaiah, and note the magnificent way that prophet of Israel speaks. He is unfolding the certain and glorious future of Israel — the rejected nation of God at this moment because of their refusal of their Messiah, whose murder is a national sin — and he describes in the most beautiful way, that as a consequence of the God-glorifying pathway of Christ, delineated in his fifty-third chapter, they are going to be brought into wonderful blessing by-and-by. "In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, says the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah to me: for, as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on thee" (Isa. 54:8-10). That is to say, He bears witness by this prophet's pen, that, as "the waters of Noah" had most certainly rolled over "the world of ungodly," so they might depend upon it, that what He promised Israel should yet surely take place.

Thus, and thus only, our chapter flows in its own proper channel: the exclusion of Israel by-and-by and the appropriation of it to the church as its intended scope produce nothing but violence and confusion by that interpretation. It is not true that God has forsaken the church even for a small moment, nor that in a little wrath He hides His face for an instant from the Christian: such and so great is the efficacy of redemption. Of the Jew as such it is precisely the present fact: as surely will He yet gather in His mercy His ancient people for ever. "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In overflowing wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, says Jehovah thy Redeemer. For this [is as] the waters of Noah to me; since I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will no more be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, says Jehovah that has mercy on thee" (vv. 7-10).

No doubt the application to the Maccabean epoch falls incomparably short of the terms of blessing, and such views cast no small slight on the character of the word of God. But this is the fault, not of scripture, but of its misreaders. A people are in question who, having once stood in full favour and near relationship to Jehovah, forfeited it for a season, and finally are restored more than ever and for ever. There is but one such people: impossible that God should fail to have mercy on Israel. Guilty Christendom is doomed to destruction, and has no promise of restoration. Strong is the Lord God Who is to judge the Babylon that is now, worse and guiltier far than her of old (Rev. 17 — 18).

Thus does the great prophet join the great apostle. "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In overflowing wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, says Jehovah thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah to me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, says Jehovah that has mercy on thee" (Isa. 54:7-10). So perfectly coincides the teaching of Paul with the prophecy of Isaiah; as both are set aside by the figment that it is henceforth only a question of the church, in which merge all that believe, whether Jew or Gentile: as if God had cast away His people according to Gentile conceit!

The Jews who are in the land of Palestine after the church has been removed from this world come under the wrath of God for their transgressions, and in a special way on account of their rejection of Christ. On this people the Lord tells His disciples there shall be great wrath (Luke 21:23). This wrath will come upon them as a nation. When the storm is over He will be able to say to them, “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee; in a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, says the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on thee” (Isa. 54:7–10). The nations also shall come under His wrath for their sins, and for their persecutions of God’s earthly people, as we read in Isaiah 17, “The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters, but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold at even time trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.” The climax of these judgments shall be at the appearing of Christ, when the beast and the false prophet shall be cast alive into the lake of fire, their followers slain (Rev. 19:20-21) and all nations which have gathered together to fight against Jerusalem shall fall down slain on the mountains of Israel (Ezek. 39; Zech. 14). Then, He Says, “I will set My glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see My judgment that I have executed, and My hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against Me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.” The result of all the judgments shall be that both Israel and the spared nations shall be brought to know the Lord, shall submit themselves to Christ, and sit down at the feet of the Jew to be taught by him the right ways of the Lord (Ezek. 39; Isa. 66:19).

This is the judgment of the living, beginning with the opening of the seals (Rev. 6), and culminating in the revelation of the Lord Jesus, who will come with the angels of His might in flaming fire, taking vengeance upon them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power (2 Thess. 1; Rev. 19; Matt. 25). As far as Israel is concerned, this shall be “as the waters of Noah unto me,” says the Lord, “for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wrath with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on thee” (Isa. 54). But the nations shall once again, because of their rebellion, feel the brunt of His anger; for even a thousand years under the beneficent reign of the Son of God will not have changed the human heart, nor disposed it in the least toward cordial relations with God (Rev. 20:7-9).

Hence the importance of appreciating the deluge as God's then judgment of living man on the earth and of the creation subject to him there. It was used by the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 54) for Israel's comfort; for they must experience Jehovah's face hid from them in overflowing wrath for a moment, before His everlasting kindness rests on them — a state which is in no way true of them yet. So did the Lord compare the days of Noah with His coming or presence as Son of man to introduce the kingdom of the heavens, not in mystery as now, but manifestly over the earth (Matt. 24:37, Luke 17:26). And the apostle of the circumcision does not fail to illustrate and enforce his rebuke of the mockers at the close of the days by a solemn application of that divine intervention (2 Peter 3:4-7). But the Judge stands before the doors. Jehovah's end will be seen, that He is full of pity and merciful; and so we find the faithful Creator here.