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1:10It touches upon issues of ecclesiology, that is, how do we understand the church. It touches upon issues of eschatology. What are things to come? It is a verse that touches upon all of those. And it is Paul's punch point as he is In this debate with those who are wanting to impose the law as a means to bring about God's blessing. Galatians chapter 4, verse 27. For it is written, Rejoice, barren woman, who does not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor. For more numerous are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband.

2:05Barren. The idea is to be pulled up by the roots. No ability to bear fruit anymore. Barrenness. Step with me for just a moment into an image of desolation. It is night. The silhouette of a cloaked woman appears among the ashes and the still burning smoke of a once great city. Among the ruins of the devastated landscape lies her home and the members of her family. Too old to be of any concern or of any value to her conquerors, she is left enslaved and starving in the aftermath of her war-torn homeland.

2:58This picture of desolation. Is all too familiar in human history. But there is no more vivid image of hopelessness that is portrayed in the Bible than that of a woman bereift of her husband, bereift of her children, who is too old to begin a new life. That is what desolation looks like. And perhaps this poverty of soul describes some of us here today. You know, life has a habit of taking us to the very end of ourselves, doesn't it?

3:47Sometimes our once great dreams and ambitions and hopes are often devastated by the painful realities of life. Optimism for the future is replaced by cynicism and bitterness. But life goes on. And it must go on in the aftermath of devastation, and our focus then changes from thriving to mere survival. Yeah, life has a habit of taking us to the end of ourselves. And sometimes we are brought low because we are reaping the consequences of our own sin.

4:30Sometimes we're brought low because of the consequences of somebody others, somebody else's sin. Or sometimes it's a combination and relationship, devastation, consequences of sins. Both parties. Sometimes we come to the end of ourselves simply because we are human and we realize our limitations, our inability to be sovereign over our situation and control our circumstances, and even sometimes our own bodies. And we're humbled. Sometimes we're brought low just because bad things happen and we have no idea why.

5:14And we can be left feeling as useless and unfruitful as a barren widow. Now, suppose for a second, in this war-torn image of desolation that I've just described, that a shaft of light shined upon this childless widow and commanded her to rejoice. And that this voice from heaven gave her every good reason to rejoice. Would you be interested? And what that voice had to say? Would you be interested in hearing why she should rejoice even in her desolate situation? Would you be interested to know how she could even rejoice in such circumstances? If so, keep listening. Because today I want to talk to you about the rejoicing that is commanded to a very desolate person.

6:32Rejoicing that is commanded to a very desolate person. We're working through this mini-series, this section between verses 21 and 31. This is the third part in this little mini-series. Look back at verse 21 and make sure you understand that remember that Paul is speaking to those who want to be under the law. Look at verse 21. Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? And then he goes on to literally talk about or to talk about two sons. Abraham had two sons, two literal sons, born of two literal women. Verse 22: For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh. And the son of the free woman according or through the promise.

7:35Two sons. And then he goes on to describe them allegorically. Verse 24: This is allegorically speaking. For these two women are two covenants, one proceeding from Mount Sinai, bearing children who are to be slaves. She is Hagar. Now, this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem. For she is in slavery with her children, but the Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. So Paul uses these two women to speak allegorically about two mother covenants, two covenants that bring about relationship with God. What is your relationship with God and what is it based upon? You remember, Abraham and Isaac had, I'm sorry, Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. They were both related to Abraham, but they were related to him on two very different circumstances.

8:37Abraham was related to Isaac through the son of promise. He was related to Ishmael through the son of a slave. The slave would never be an heir, not with the son of promise. You see, we're all related to God one way or the other. And just like Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac were related to Abraham, so we are related to God in one way or the other. We are either related to Him through a covenant of His grace in Jesus Christ, or we are related to Him by a covenant of performance, living up to His standards.

9:21One is a slave, one is an heir. And then what Paul does in verse 27, Paul cites a verse from Isaiah, Isaiah 54:1, that commands this barren and desolate woman to rejoice. Rejoice, barren woman, who does not bear. Rejoice. It's a strong term. Put yourself in a state of rejoicing. Rejoice. Gush forth. Break forth with expressions of joy. Shout. Shout. Exult in God. Shout for joy. And notice that this is the very last thing that he says to those Judaizers. Because look at what happens in verse 28. And you, brethren, notice what he does? He shifts the audience, doesn't he? And you, brethren, he's going to start talking to those. Who are of the family of faith, you brethren. So he's just been talking. Tell me, verse 21, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? And then he puts his final punch by quoting Isaiah 54:1. What in the world is he doing?

10:50Well, I want you to see who this woman is and how she is enabled to rejoice even in her desolation, so that you can have a new perspective on whatever it is you're going through and marvel at God's magnificent gospel revealed in Jesus Christ. Question number one: Who is this barren woman? We'll probably spend a good bit of the morning just answering this question: Who is this barren woman? Who is this sterile woman? Who is this woman that is incapable of bearing children?

11:37And Isaiah commands her to rejoice. And what kind of lasting impression is Paul trying to make on these Judaizers in the context that we're studying? Well, to answer these questions, I want to first look at Paul's context. Then I want to go back and look at Isaiah's context, and then I want to come back to Paul's context. This is a classic example of the New Testament using the Old Testament for a purpose. I mean, you can be sure. I mean, this is a big issue in how to interpret the Bible. You can be sure that Paul understood what Isaiah 54:1 meant. And I can assure you that Isaiah 54:1 never meant anything other than what it always meant. And Paul recognized that. If you come into the Bible and you start expecting that Paul had no idea what he was talking about, then you're left not knowing what you're going to be talking about either. It's an arrogant position to assume that the New Testament writers had no idea what was going on in the Old Testament, somehow rips the text out of its Old Testament context and then just pontificates.

13:06It's a very arrogant position, and it's a very unstudied position because I can assure you, the New Testament writers understood, certainly Paul understood exactly what was happening in Isaiah 54 and verse 1. And I can say that externally, but I can also say that internally. And what I mean by that is when I look at Isaiah 54, 1, and I looked at how Paul quoted it. He quotes it from the Septuagint, and he quotes it verbatim. I mean, word perfect. He quoted it perfect. Every tense, every verb, every number, every gender, masculine, singular, neuter, every word, word perfect. Now, that tells me one of two things: either he had that memorized word perfectly, or he had an Isaiah scroll in front of him. Either way, I can assure you, he understood the text he was using. He understood the context in which it was given.

14:19And so we are looking for an interpretation that fits with both Isaiah's context and Paul's. I'm going to talk to you about hermeneutics here, how you study the Bible. This is what I call hand-in-glove hermeneutics. There's these kind of hermeneutics that, well, you come to a text and you get a couple of points that work well. And you're kind of like, you get your hands, or you're kind of like you can't quite get the fingers in the gloves. It doesn't quite fit real well. And you put the glove on and say, ah, Got it.

15:02And then you go, and I guess you can go build a house like this. You might have a few things knock off the issue. But then there's another kind. What we're looking for is kind of that hand and glove. Something where all the points of the text are looked at carefully, understood, and related well. And that's what we're looking for. We are looking for something that fits well with both Isaiah's context and with Paul's context. And there are two things to keep in mind. We are looking for a woman who is both barren and has no husband. Look back in 4:27. Rejoice, barren woman. For more numerous are the children of the desolate than the one who has a husband. Implication: this woman cannot have children, she does not have a husband. So we're looking for such a character in both contexts: Isaiah's and also, keep in mind, Paul has already told us he's speaking allegorically. He is literally speaking allegorically. What that means, we are to approach this text literally and understand that Paul is using an extended metaphor, and we're trying to get into his mind and understand the connections that he was making. So, who is this woman? Let me give you the options in Paul's context.

16:31Well, in Paul's context, he's been talking about the Jerusalem above. In fact, she is the nearest antecedent. You look back in verse 26, but the Jerusalem above is free, she is our mother. Is she the one to break forth with rejoicing? Can it be said about the Jerusalem above that she is barren? Probably not. No. Can it be said that she doesn't have a husband? No. Paul's not talking about the Jerusalem above. Sarah. Even though Sarah isn't mentioned directly, she is certainly implied. It's one of the mothers. Is it Sarah? Well, she was certainly barren.

17:23And she fits with being desolate. She rejoiced greatly upon having Isaac. Great example of what rejoicing looks like when one comes to the very end of themselves. So that's Sarah. But can we think of Sarah as not having a husband? No. She had a husband, very clearly, Abraham. No, Paul's not talking about Sarah here. Hagar. What about Hagar? She fled into the wilderness into a desolate place. And even though Genesis 16, 13, Expressly states that Hagar became Abram's wife, maybe we could think that she was one who really didn't have a husband. She wasn't loved. Maybe so. Talk an allegory.

18:14However, can we consider her as being barren? No, she had a child, for sure. And the angel of the Lord met Hagar and promised her descendants way too many to count. So she cannot really be thought of as childless. Then there's always that interpretation that gets thrown. Well, it's the church. It's the church. No, the church is not barren, and the church is not husbandless. That leaves one more, and we could chase a bunch of different rabbits, but really, these are the main. There's one more, and that is the present Jerusalem. Look, Paul has just mentioned the present Jerusalem in verse 25.

19:05He likened the present Jerusalem to Mount Sinai, that is under the law. He likened the present Jerusalem to Hagar, that is, enslaved to a performance-based relationship. The Jerusalem of Paul's day was not bearing heirs. It's not bearing the kind of children that God was looking for, but slaves. And in this sense, the present Jerusalem was desolate of the kind of children that God blesses. It is also husbandless. One who has no relationship with God the Father.

20:00Yeah, the present Jerusalem, just looking in Galatians, is the best fit. But who is she? And is there an answer? Or do we go down what I call the route of gumbo hermeneutics? Gumbo hermeneutics. You ever had gumbo? Yeah, it's good stuff, isn't it? Sometimes you can't recognize what you're eating. And gumbo hermeneutics is that, I have no idea what I just put in my mouth, but man, it was good. You ever heard those kind of interpretations? Like, man, I know it's just good in the end. I don't know what it's saying, but man, it's good. Well, that's what I call gumbo hermeneutics. And sometimes I resort to that because sometimes if I don't understand exactly what the scripture is saying, but I see good things to celebrate, I jump in and celebrate. I have no idea what that means, but man, I know it's speaking myself. Something good. Well, that's what I would call gumbo hermeneutics.

21:09Where you say, I have no idea what I just read, but it's good. I have no idea what I just put in my mouth, but it tastes good. But is there an answer? And the answer is, yes, there's an answer. That's Paul's context. We're going to need to go to Isaiah's context and understand what's happening in the book of Isaiah and see what it was meant then. Because I can assure you, it doesn't change meaning just because a few years go by.

21:51Well, so let's turn to Isaiah 54. I read it a little bit earlier. Isaiah 54:1, shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child, break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, for you who have not travailed, for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman, says the Lord. Now keep in mind the context, the greater context of what's happening in Isaiah. It's dealing with the Jerusalem of Isaiah's day. And the Jerusalem of Isaiah's day is going to come under God's Judgment. Isaiah is prophesying the coming judgment under the Babylonians and also prophesying the judgment that's to come and also prophesying the restoration that is to come.

22:46And why? Why is Isaiah dealing with this? What's the problem? Jerusalem failed to keep the Mosaic covenant. Isaiah 48, 18. Isaiah 48, 18 says this. As God is rehearsing what is coming upon, the present Jerusalem of Isaiah's time, he's telling them why it's coming upon. Isaiah 48, 18, if you had only paid attention to my commandments, then your well-being would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sand, and your offspring like its grains. Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from my presence. There is no debate, and no real significant debate, or no real significant question, that in the context of Isaiah, the desolate, barren woman is the present Jerusalem of Isaiah's day. It's clear. She's going to be desolated.

23:57And she's going to be desolated for failures. To live up to the Mosaic covenant. And yet, even though Jerusalem would experience desolation, Isaiah prophesied a glorious future for the city that was going to be characterized by many children. In fact, so many children that a future Jerusalem, personified as a woman, is going to be astonished. Look at Isaiah 49:21. Isaiah 49, 29, when these conditions come up on this future Jerusalem. Isaiah 49, 21, then you will say, This woman Jerusalem, you will say in your heart, who has begotten these for me? Since I have been bereaved of my children and am barren and exile and a wanderer, and who has reared these? Behold, I was left alone. From where did these children come from? The idea: here's this future Jerusalem. Where did all these children come from? I am, my children have been cut off. I am barren. I can't have any children. I'm in exile. I'm a wanderer. And I am left alone. That is, I have no husband.

25:30Where did all these children come from? It's what Isaiah is prophesying. It's going to be so astonishing. What God is going to do for a future Jerusalem, you're going to say, where in the world did all these children come from? Well, that's the picture that Isaiah paints of Jerusalem of his day. She's going to be bereaved, barren, and left alone. And this really is a good description of Jerusalem after Babylonian exile. Listen to Lamentations 1:1. How lonely sits the city that was full of people. She has become like a widow who was once great among the nations.

26:24She who was once a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer, like a widow foraging among ruins. Lamentations 1:4, the roads of Zion are in mourning because no one comes to the appointed feasts. All her gates are desolate. And then in Lamentations 2, 17, the reason comes out. Lamentations 2, 17, the Lord has done what he purposed. He has accomplished his word, which he commanded from the days of old. Where's that? In the Mosaic law. The Mosaic law prophesied these curses that would come upon the nation.

27:09He has thrown down without sparing. He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you. He has exalted the might of your adversary, just like he said he would do if they wouldn't live up to the performance standards of the Mosaic covenant. But wow, big question. Who in the world can bring forth children during a time when Israel is in exile and desolate? Who can do such a thing? Isaiah is going to go on and look at 51, verse 1, Isaiah 51, verse 1, and he's going to speak to a specific group of people. And he's going to say, he says, this, listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who want what's right and pursue righteousness, who seek the Lord, you who are amongst this desolation, pending desolation, listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave birth to you in pain. When he was but one, I called him. Then I blessed and multiplied him. When did God call Abraham? Abraham, when he was mighty and full of number, when he was desolate. That's when he called him. That's when Abraham was in a position to where God could really use him. When Sarah's womb was barren and she understood her desolation and it was far beyond anything that man can do. That's when God stepped in.

28:57See, God calls people oftentimes in their humbling circumstances. You see, we cannot be useful to him until we are really brought low. It's true with Sarah. It's true with the nation of Israel. It's true with everybody since. But then they are to look to Abraham. They are to look to their covenant mother. That promise. Faith alone. They are to have the same kind of faith as Abraham. This is what Isaiah is telling the Jerusalem of his day. Look to Abraham. Have the same kind of faith as them. Trust in the promise. Trust in him. Very same message that Paul is saying in his day.

29:46And then Isaiah spends a lengthy section beginning in Isaiah 52, verse 13, and goes through all of 53, describing the work of the suffering servant. How in the world is Israel or is Jerusalem going to bring forth children in a time of her exile? It's impossible for her. That's the work of the suffering servant. And then, look at how this section ends. Verse 53, 11. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong, because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for transgressors. And it's in this context, right after the crushing or the crucifixion of God's righteous one, that now Isaiah has a means to really comfort the desolated Israel, the desolated Jerusalem that's about to come.

31:12And that's where we pick up the very next thing, right as he finishes Isaiah 53, then Isaiah 54 starts with these words. Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have been pulled up by the roots. Shout for joy. O barren one, you who have borne no child, break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed. The word for travailed in the Hebrew means danced. Travailed in childbirth. You who have not travailed, for the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman, says the Lord.

31:58So, as the result of the many children that the desolated Jerusalem is to have, God issues several commands in the next verses. In Isaiah 54:2, enlarge the place of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwelling, spare not, lengthen your cords, strengthen your pegs. In other words, in that culture, if you wanted to expand for another children, what did you do? You added another layer to your tent. You expand, you go different directions. All this is tent language, expanding. And he goes on to say, look at the reasons in Isaiah 54, 3, for you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations, and they will resettle the desolate cities.

32:43And the future, the future. He goes on to Isaiah 60, gives just some snapshots. And there's so much here of this glorious future that is coming for physical Jerusalem. Jerusalem of the future. Lift up your eyes, Isaiah 60, verse 4. Lift up your eyes round about and see. They all gather together. They come to you. Your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will be carried in the arms. Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice. And he says this in verse 10, Isaiah 60, 10, In my wrath I struck you. And he struck them with a literal destruction, a physical destruction upon the city.

33:36No reason to change hermeneutics here. And in my favor, I have had compassion on you. Your gates will be open continually. They will not be closed day or night, so that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations with their kings led in procession, for the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish. All that to say, in Isaiah's context, the city that was laid desolate and unable to produce children, much like Sarah's barrenness, will one day have more children than she could ever imagine because of what God is going to do, not because of what Jerusalem is going to do.

34:23And God is going to accomplish this work through his suffering servant. That's the reason to break forth with joy. To have such a servant, to have such a God who would send his son to accomplish this, to root out, to take out our spiritual barrenness and unite us to him. Just like he did this with Sarah. He's prophesied to do this with Jerusalem. And he does this with everyone who will put their faith and trust in him.

35:01And it's with these words, because of the work of the suffering servant that God told Isaiah to comfort the Jerusalem that was about to be desolated in Isaiah's day. Now, that's Isaiah. Let's come back to Paul's day. Let's come back to Galatians. Who is this woman? Well, keep in mind who Paul is addressing. Who's he addressing? He's addressing those who want to be under the law. Verse 21, tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?

35:42The desolate woman in Isaiah 54 was the present Jerusalem of Isaiah's day, who was under the curse of the law because they could not live up to the standards of the law. She was unable to produce the kind of children that God could bless, so she was berift of her physical. Children and sent into Babylonian exile. Now, the present Jerusalem of Paul's day was also under the curse of the law. A far more ominous desolation was on the horizon under the Romans. In fact, Jesus himself tells us, Matthew 23, 27, or 23, 37, Jesus says, This, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.

36:46Behold, your house is being left to you desolate. For I say to you, from now on you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. You see, the Jerusalem of Paul's day was striving to obey the law apart from faith in the Christ revealed in the law. And that's the same of the Jerusalem today as well. Their covenant mother is Hagar. Their religion is a work of man, and they are not producing the kind of spiritual children that God desires because God is not their husband.

37:31And this accords very well with Isaiah's context and with Paul's context. So, who is this barren and desolate woman in Paul's context? It's the present Jerusalem of his day. And her only basis for rejoicing is the work of the suffering servant that is going to bring about a good in her future. The suffering servant prophesied in Isaiah, who is Jesus Christ, the one who Paul has been proclaiming there in Galatia and they have embraced. Paul is saying, Look, the law is our tutor to lead us to Christ. All who come, all who are taught of the law, will come to themselves, come to the end of themselves.

38:34So, who is this woman? The present Jerusalem. That is who Paul is talking about. That is who Isaiah was talking about. And everything he says, in my opinion, is still true today of the present Jerusalem. Now, that's the first question. Don't worry, we're not going to spend as much time on the second. How is she enabled to? Rejoice. So that there's rejoicing after this desolation, this prophetic desolation and prophetic rejoicing. What is the basis of that? How? Why? How is she unable to rejoice? Look at the second part of verse 27. For more numerous are the children of the desolate than the one who has a husband. Now think about how do you console a barren woman? Proverbs 30 15 says this: there are three things that will not be satisfied, four that will not say enough, sheol, earth that is never satisfied with water, and a fire that never says enough, and there's one right in the middle, and you all know it. What is it? The barren womb.

39:51How do you comfort, console a barren woman? Well, God comforted her by telling her she is going to have lots of children. That's how he comforted Sarah. You're going to have a child. What? Ha ha. Laughter. But the question is not really a why, but a how. We know the reason why she should rejoice. Look back. He's already told it, though she is barren, though she has no husband, she is promised to have many children. More numerous are the children of the desolate. You're going to have more children. Rejoice because you're going to have more children. Now you've got a problem. You're barren, your body, you can't produce children. Number two, you don't have a husband. And you're going to have to have lots of kills. Now, that seems like a lot more impossible situation than even Sarah's. Sarah had a barren womb, but she had a husband.

40:52So to be barren and to not have a husband makes birthing children a far more impossible task, wouldn't you agree? And yet, the promise is that she is going to give birth to many children. This condition is far more impossible than that of Sarah's. The promise is given to a desolated Jerusalem. How can Jerusalem, in its desolation, possibly hope to see the kind of children that God wants? It's called the work of the suffering servant. The Jerusalem of Isaiah's day, and just like the Jerusalem of Paul's day, neither were able to produce the kind of children who had the same faith as Abraham, but her future involves many like that.

41:49And because of that, Jerusalem, personified as a widow, could look forward and is called to rejoice because of God. Promise. Just like Sarah was told you're going to have a child. Could it be that I'm so old? Laughter. Even Abraham, everyone's going to laugh. How could this be? God could bring this about. You see, the faithful. Desolated Jerusalem was told to rejoice because of God's promise. She is called to believe a similar promise that Abraham was to believe. In your seed, all the nations are going to be blessed. It's all about the seed. It's about what God is doing through this individual.

42:41You see, her rejoicing had to be by faith in what only God can do. That relates to us as well, isn't it? Sometimes when we come to the end of ourselves, called to look to God. But the question isn't merely a why question, but a how question. Yes, he's going to give more children, but how? The promise is that Israel in her desolation is going to produce more spiritual offspring than her days under the law. How can this be possible?

43:24Israel's suffering servant, the same Jesus that Paul is proclaiming. And what was happening, people were coming alive. Faith in the God of Israel, who is a servant of Israel, Jesus Christ. So, this is the one whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This is what was promised to Abraham. This is the Christ that Isaiah preached. This is the Christ. That Paul was preaching, that the Galatians had embraced. And now they're thinking about going back to the law. They're listening to these Judaizers. And Paul is saying, tell me, you who want to be under the law.

44:13So how is Paul using this? Well, from Paul's perspective, Israel had rejected Jesus. And yet, the gospel was going forth, producing the kind of children that God wanted. People by faith. Same kind of faith as Abraham. God was bringing about children of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ apart from the works of the law. And Paul is telling these Judaizers, tell me, you who want to be under the law, have you not considered Jerusalem's past? She was brought to desolation for her failure to keep the law. There is no blessing. Under the law, he says, Tell me, have you not listened to what it says? Do you not understand your past? Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand Jerusalem's future? That it has nothing to do with the law but faith in the promise and the work of Israel's suffering servant. That's what Paul's telling. Tell me, do you not understand your past? Do you not understand the prophetic future? Neither one of them involved the law, and you are wanting to go back to the law.

45:36And then in verse 28, he shifts gear. And you, brethren, not speaking to the law, speaking to those under the law, you're like Isaac, the children of promise. We'll cover that next time. But you see, those who wanted to be under the law needed to understand what the law said about the law. Either Jerusalem's past or future provides a basis for justification by the works of the law. And that's Paul's punch as he speaks to those who want to be under the law. Well, as we think about this in our own context, yes, we're looking at these promises that God has made to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, still good.

46:34He is one who keeps faith, one who brought Jerusalem to the end of the law, curses of the law, literally, is also going to bless them in the future. How does that relate to us? Well, as we survey the Bible, we keep coming across this common theme of rejoicing that takes place after desolation. And in the haunts of desolation, even our own personal times of barrenness and desolation, God steps in and does something that only He can do.

47:18What was it that brought about Sarah's rejoicing? She understood her barrenness. Do you understand your barrenness? You cannot produce anything, cannot be spiritually fruitful on your own. But what was it that brought about Sarah's rejoicing? Well, it was the promise of the seed. It was the conception of the seed. It was the bringing forth of the seed that would bless all the nations. That's what caused Sarah to rejoice. It was not simply changed circumstances. It was not that she had won a Up Hagar, or perhaps she got publicly vindicated before her peers. No, it was being part of what God was doing in the world to bring about the blessing upon all mankind. That is the gospel.

48:19And the prophetic view of Jerusalem's desolation, she becomes like a widow, but there is a glorious future for her. Jerusalem has to be brought low under the law before she can be fruitful. Her desolation was necessary and will be necessary for her renewal. Well, we can understand this. You know, our humbling circumstances are in God's hands. You think about our situation. He knows how to bring us low, but they're for our good. God brings us to the end of ourselves so that we can have a blessed relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. Our humbling circumstances are occasions for faith to drive us to Him, and then God can step in. It's in the midst of our recognition of our own spiritual barrenness that God can step in.

49:28And when we come to the end of ourselves and we're Face to face with our own barrenness, that's when the soul looks to God. And I would encourage you, if that's you today, that you use your humbling circumstances to look to God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Don't go the opposite way. Turn bitter and cold and despair of life. But they are occasions for faith. God wants you to come to the end of yourself so that you can find your life in him.

50:08We can rejoice because of who God's servant is and the transformation that he is bringing in our present and in our future. He will bring about spiritual fruitfulness in all of his people in his time. But we've got to be, and for that, we can rejoice. And we can rejoice because we are part of what God is doing through the sea, just like Abraham, just like Sarah could rejoice because she was part of what God was doing in the world through her humbling circumstances, situations where only God could get the glory. So it is with us today. Let him transform our hearts and our future, and let us rejoice in his suffering servant. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth of your Son, the work of your Son.

51:09He removed our guilt and shame. It wasn't your pleasure to expose us, shame us for eternity, but to cover us and redeem us and put in us a spirit of sonship. That we reach out and cry out to you, and Abba, Father, you desire to show yourself to your people, and we welcome you today. Father, we cry out from our humble circumstances and ask you to step in and do whatever pleases you to bring about great fruitfulness and blessing to your name. And if we can play any part in that, we rejoice. And thank you in Jesus' name.

52:01Amen.