“O you afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with fair colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires. And I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal, and all your walls of precious stones. And all your children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established. You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear and from terror, for it shall not come near you (Isaiah 54:11–14).
The reason why some of us are not established in righteousness is because we don’t understand that we are righteous. We think we are unrighteous. When you don’t hear the true Gospel, you think that God is imputing sin to you. That’s the reason we aren’t established strong, steady, and secure. Some of the messages we preach make people feel that they are unrighteous. We tell people that they have to go on a fast so they can be righteous. I used to believe the same.
“In righteousness you shall be established: you shall be far from oppression” (Isaiah 54:14). If you are oppressed, it means you don’t know that you are righteous. You don’t know that your sins are forgiven. If you understood righteousness, you’d be far from oppression. For you shalt not fear (Isaiah 54:14).
You wouldn’t fear if you understood righteousness. Who or what can you fear if God is for you? And from terror; for it shall not come near you (Isaiah 54:14)
Verse 9, of the same Chapter says:” For I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you (Isaiah 54:9). This covenant that God made with Noah had no qualifications. I will establish my covenant with you [Noah]; neither shall all flesh be cut of any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth (Genesis 9:11).
God didn’t say, “If you do this, I’ll do that.” Noah’s covenant was unconditional no strings attached. It’s just a promise that no matter what the world does, God will never destroy the earth with a flood again.
In Isaiah 54, God was saying that this new covenant that Jesus has put into effect is like that covenant with Noah. It’s an unconditional, unqualified covenant in the same way that He swore to never again destroy the earth with a flood, “So have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you” (v. 9). For those who enter into this covenant, God is never, ever angry with you. He has never, ever rebuked you.
Now, the Lord will show you when you do something wrong. It’s not because it isn’t paid for. He has already paid for your sins. But God knows that when you yield to sin, you are opening up a door to the devil in your life. Out of love, the Lord will tell you not to do that not because He’s going to hold it against you or withhold His blessings. He doesn’t want Satan to have an inroad into your life.
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God will reveal things to you and say, “Quit doing this,” but if you feel guilt, condemnation, and unworthiness, it isn’t coming from Him. Religion is what makes you think that God is angry with you, has forsaken you, and put you on the shelf. That’s religion working through your own conscience condemning you. God is not the author of condemnation.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:1) God isn’t angry with you. He has sworn an unconditional covenant. Regardless of what you do, God isn’t angry with you. He is never going to rebuke you. All of those times that you’ve heard people stand up and testify, “I did something wrong and God has just been on my case” aren’t true. The Holy Spirit may have shown them that they were wrong, but it was their own conscience that was condemning them and making them feel miserable. At times you may have said, “Well, I sinned against God, and now He’s left me,” but it’s your own conscience that condemned you and cut you off from close fellowship with the Lord.
Think about all of those times you sang David’s prayer: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me (Psalm 51:10,11). I used to love this song so much and I would feel so “close to God”. Little did I know that I was sincerely lost. It’s wrong to say that prayer now. David prayed this because he was an Old Testament saint. But as a New Testament believer, God created in you a clean heart the very moment you were born again (see Eph. 4:24).
He promised to never leave you nor forsake you (see Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5). So every time you feel like God has left, you’re wrong. 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 hath mercy on you (Isaiah 54:10).
That brings us back to Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” God is now at peace with mankind. The war is over. He has made a covenant and signed a treaty. He’ll never be angry with us or rebuke us ever again. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil….stand therefore, having your… feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. (Ephesians 6:11,14,15).
Verse 15 says “the gospel of peace.” When you preach that ,“There’s war; God is angry and upset; if you don’t repent, He won’t bless you or move in your life” isn’t the Gospel of peace. The reason people aren’t responding better is that they haven’t heard the true Gospel. They aren’t hearing the same message Jesus proclaimed. Christ had read these scriptures in Isaiah. He wasn’t imputing people’s sins unto them. He knew what was happening.
Jesus understood that He was the Lamb of God and would pay the price and bear all the sins of the entire world. That’s why He was able to turn around and extend mercy toward sinners
We’ve allowed religion to blind us to the truth that Jesus has paid for all sin not only for the sins of believers, but also for the sins of the whole world. [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2). Everybody’s sins are paid for. Sin isn’t the issue. People aren’t going to hell because of their sin. They’re going to hell because they haven’t accepted the payment for their sin. They haven’t received the Lord Jesus Christ in their hearts.
They don’t know Him. They haven’t made Jesus their personal Lord and Savior. going to church, giving extra in the offering, or trying to be good that you’re “appeasing” God. You might be appeasing your own conscience, but have you ever truly personally trusted in Jesus? Have you received Him, or are you still trying somehow to barter with God? Are you trusting in the payment Christ made, or in your own good works, hoping that they’ll be enough for you to be saved? Be honest with yourself because eternity is forever.
You can’t do enough. There’s nothing you can offer that will ever supersede what Jesus has done. Jesus plus nothing equals everything. But Jesus plus anything especially your own effort equals nothing. Either you have to trust the Lord one hundred percent, or trust yourself, but there cannot be a combination of the two. You either have a Savior who earned you salvation by what He did, or you must earn salvation on your own merit, which cannot be done.
