Never Again

Isaiah 54:1–10

“Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD. “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband— the LORD Almighty is His name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit— a wife who married young, only to be rejected,” says your God. “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer. “To Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”

“The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in His heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of humanity, even though every inclination of her heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease (Gen 8:21–22).” God said, “never again” will He flood the earth catastrophically after Noah. This is the promise we receive today in Christ in the lips of the prophet Isaiah, God will never again be angry and leave us, His people of the New Covenant, desolate and devoid of His presence (v. 9) and so God through the prophet encourages us to stretch our tents to receive His blessings (vv. 2–4) because of the redeeming work of the LORD Jesus. The Apostle Peter explains of baptism like the flood of Noah’s days, “this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you — not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him (I Pet 3:21–22).” We have been washed and made clean in Christ’s blood and are now continued to be purified by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. His words early in the book of Isaiah, “Come now, let us settle the matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool (Isa 1:18).” Our sins He will remember no more (Heb 8:12). Today, let us pray in praise and gratitude with the Living Life writer: “Father, I praise You for being a God who is full of compassion toward Your people. May I not take that for granted but remember the high price You paid for our relationship to be restored. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”